Elections--Here And Abroad

Starting with the United States' presidential election, have Biden and Harris switched brains?

• Joe Biden, 81, describes himself as a black woman during radio interview--Daily Mail. Actually, it was a bit more than that:

    The gaffe-prone president, 81, stumbled over his words during Thursday's interview with Philadelphia's WURD, seemingly mixing himself up with his Vice President Kamala Harris.

    'By the way, I'm proud to be, as I said, the first vice president, first black woman... to serve with a black president. Proud to be involved of the first black woman on the Supreme Court. There's so much that we can do because, look... we're the United States of America.' 

• Giddy Kamala Harris calls Biden 'vice president' at July 4 event, as growing calls for him to step down stoke rumors she'll be 2024 nominee--Daily Mail
  

More seriously, though, Biden gave a 22-minute interview with ABC anchor (and former Democrat strategist) George Stephanopoulos which most charitably has been described as "rambling". Paula Bolyard at PJ Media lists some of the worst questions and answers in the interview, including:

    "Are you the same man today as when you took office three years ago?" [Stephanopoulas] asked.

    "I am [the same] in terms of success," Biden claimed in that creepy whisper he trots out when he—well, I don't know why he does that. He ticked off his "peace plan for the Middle East" and the expansion of NATO. "I took on Big Pharma. I beat them." He took credit for the U.S. inventing "that little chip, the fingerchip" (not a typo... listen closely) as he pointed to his pinky finger.

* * * 

    Asked if he's had a full neurological exam since the debate, Biden retorted, "I get a full neurological test every day with me." It was clearly a scripted line and he repeated it twice more in the interview.

    "Have you had the specific cognitive tests?"

    "No. No one said I had to," Biden said.

    He tried to offer proof of his wellness by ticking off world leaders he's spoken to recently but stumbled over names and events. 

    Shockingly, Stephanopoulos continued to demand answers about Biden's cognitive condition. 

    "Watch me. There's a lot of time left in this campaign," said the president.

    "George, I'm the guy who put NATO together," he lied. "I'm the guy that shut Putin down," he lied again.

    "I've already done it," he added. "I mean… I just… anyway… I don't want to take too much credit. I wouldn't be running if I didn't think I [unintelligible]." After a long pause, he began again, "Look… " then trailed off. 

Bolyard hypothesizes that Stephanopoulos' role was to finish off Biden. However, it must be remembered that other leading Democrats had given Biden a 2-week "grace period" to try and reverse falling polls following the debate last week and reassure top donors; so this interview may have been intended as this opportunity. As the New York Post editorial board summed up the interview:

    Rather than ask tough questions about President Biden’s mental deficiencies and the message it sends to our allies and enemies, [Stephanopoulos] begged in a dozen different ways:

    Do you really think you can beat Donald Trump?

But in the end, this is all political drama because:

• The Fix is In: Washington State Abolishes Residency Requirement for Voter Registration--Gateway Pundit.
• Rumble Video: Heritage Investigation Finds 10% Of Illegals Aliens Investigated Are Registered To Vote
•  Wisconsin Supreme Court overturns ruling that barred most ballot drop boxes--NBC News.
  

    Meanwhile, across the pond, "Britain wakes up to new government as Labour Party wins election in a landslide." Rishi Sunak, the Indian serving as prime minister while the conservative party was in power, has been replaced by Keir Starmer of the Labour Party. The article notes:

As election night rolled through the small hours, the scale of Labour’s win sharpened into focus. With the counts remaining in just two of the 650 constituencies represented in Parliament, Labour had secured 412 seats — six short of its highest-ever total. The Conservatives won just 121 seats, which would be the worst result in its almost 200-year history.

But, the story adds:

    Starmer has acknowledged that things will not be easy for Labour. “Now this wound, this lack of trust can only be healed by actions not words, I know that,” he said.

    The party inherits a stagnant economy, crumbling public services, rising child poverty and homelessness, and a National Health Service that, though taxpayer-funded and beloved, has become decrepit and dysfunctional.

    Meanwhile, prisons are about to overflow, and some city and regional governments are about to go bankrupt or have already done so. Several colleges also look likely to go bust.

    The party itself also has potential problems. Opinion polls and interviews suggested that many voters were motivated not by love for Labour but rather by a desire to punish the Conservatives for 14 years of scandals and policy missteps. It raises the prospect that Labour’s support — while wide — could be shallow and brittle, shattering just as easily as it came together.

The British public were fools. Starmer pretended to be a Briton--displaying the Union Jack, mouthing the appropriate words about reigning in the budget and restricting immigration--but the Labour party has always been a soft-communist party. Perhaps the election was to punish the Tories, but it will see the British public punished as Labour is now free to pursue what it will view as a socialist mandate. 

    Unlike in the United States where we are stuck with the Uniparty no matter what, the UK had a choice and could have gone with Nigel Farage and his Reform UK party. Farage, as you might remember, was quite the gadfly to the EU when he served in the European Parliament and was a key force behind Brexit. But while Farage won a seat in the UK's House of Commons in this election, his party only won 5 seats total.

    And in a look at the future of British politics, four Muslim candidates running under a pro-Gaza campaign won seats in Parliament as well.   

    Britain's Labour Party suffered significant election setbacks in areas with large Muslim populations on Friday amid discontent over its position on the war in Gaza, despite a landslide victory in the parliamentary vote.

    The party, which has long counted on the backing of Muslim and other minority groups, saw its vote fall on average by 10 points in seats where more than 10% of the population identify as Muslim.

    Finally, turning to France, "France: Left and Pro-Establishment Parties Unite to Keep Le Pen’s National Rally From Power." As I noted several days ago, the French election system has a second round of elections (sort of a run-off election) where a candidate to the National Assembly does not win an outright majority. The second round eliminates candidates that earned less than 12% of the popular vote, and then runs a second election for the remaining candidates. But, as feared, the far-left candidates are withdrawing from the race in the hope of uniting votes with the intention of keeping the National Rally from gaining an outright majority in the Assembly. 

    More than 200 candidates, ranging from Communist to pro-EU parties, have dropped out of the race for the second round of the vote. The move is expected to unite the vote behind candidates considered most likely to beat their National Rally rivals in individual constituencies.

    “More than 210 left-wing or Macronist candidates qualified for the run-off round of the legislative elections have already withdrawn in order to block the far right from winning a majority, according to a provisional count by AFP,” the state-run France24 TV channel reported Tuesday.

But even if the National Rally (NR) can't win a majority, it doesn't mean that the NR can't stymie Macron's leftist-Globalist agenda: "If the National Rally falls short of a majority and decides to join the opposition, this, too, could spell trouble for President Macron, who will have to contend with a large hostile bloc in the parliament." 

• See also, "Candidates in pivotal French legislative elections drop out in tactical move ahead of final vote"--CBS News.
  

    So why the strong opposition to NR by elites and their brown-shirt allies?

    The NR opposes Macron’s pro-EU policies that erode French sovereignty and transfer power to unelected Eurocrats in Brussels. The right-wing party is also opposed to the EU’s open borders policy that is causing a demographic shift in Europe as the continent is swarmed by illegal immigrants from Muslim-dominated North Africa and the Middle East.

    Electoral gains by the French right-wing party could have a spillover effect in neighbouring countries, EU political elites fear. “A potential victory of the far-right Rassemblement National (RN) in France’s snap legislative elections has sparked fears of a wider Euroscepticism wave across the bloc, compounding the far-right’s surge in the recent EU elections, the pro-EU news website Euractiv noted recently.

The second round of elections are Sunday.

Bombs & Bants #133 (Streamed 7/3/2024)

 VIDEO: "Episode #133" (45 min.)

Video: Wrong Assumptions People Make As To Street Fights

Fight Science recently released a video ostensibly on the topic of "4 MISTAKES Older People Believe in Street Fights that Everyone Knows." I'm not sure why he singles out "older people" in the title because the four wrong assumptions he discusses are probably common among all age groups. 

    The first assumption is sort of interesting because it is the assumption that a fight or attack will occur within a certain context such as when doing something stupid, at stupid times, in stupid places, with stupid people. But as the video points out, while following Farnam's rules can reduce your risk, violence can occur anywhere and at anytime: at the grocery store or shop, just walking down a street minding your own business, etc.

VIDEO: "4 MISTAKES Older People Believe in Street Fights that Everyone Knows"

Fight Science (6 min.)

The Enrichment Report #1

 Some articles demonstrating how the West is enriched by diversity and inclusion:

• "Jewish senators alarmed by Alito’s pro-Christian agenda"--The Hill. From the lede:

Jewish Democratic senators are alarmed by conservative Justice Samuel Alito’s sympathy for basing government on Christian principles — something he expressed at a Supreme Court gala when he endorsed the idea of returning the nation to a place of “godliness.”

Vox Day has maintained for years that there is no such thing as shared "Judeo-Christian" values and this seems to support that conclusion.

• "Lesbian Duo Baffled as to Why Muslim Gang Would Pummel Them. Who Wants to Break the News?"--PJ Media. A lesbian couple in Halifax, Nova Scotia, was beaten by a group of Syrian men, with one of the women telling reporters, "I didn't expect something like this to happen, especially with it happening during pride month as well."
• "Lawsuit: Northwestern Law School Is Biased Against White Men In Faculty Hiring"--TaxProf Blog. From the lede:

A lawsuit filed Tuesday against Northwestern University opened a new front in the legal battle against affirmative action, alleging that its law school hires less-qualified people of color and women over White men for faculty positions in violation of federal anti-discrimination laws.

• "Nashville father, Dahal Umesh, kicked to death by Bishal Rai, at concert outside Top Golf"--New York Post. A Nepalese man attending a Nepalese rock concert, killed by another Nepalese man when he (the deceased) attempted to break up a fight.
• "Wife, 69, is killed in front of her horrified husband after armed robbers attack them at upmarket Newport Beach mall before she is dragged into a parking lot and run over by suspect's white Toyota"--Daily Mail. A white couple visiting from New Zealand attacked by two armed black men, and the wife run over by a third black man serving as the getaway driver. The suspects had also fired wildly at the couple (and probably bystanders) and led the police on a high speed chase before being apprehended.
• "Counting The Violent Cost Of Biden's Bloody Border Policies"--The Federalist. Not including their initial crime of crossing the border, "[s]ince the Democrat [Joe Biden] took office during fiscal year 2021, aliens illegally residing in the U.S. have been convicted of more than 66,000 crimes, including murder, manslaughter, assault, battery, domestic violence, burglary, robbery, larceny, theft, fraud, driving under the influence, illicit drug possession and trafficking, illegal possession of weaponry, and a slew of sexual offenses like rape."
• "Analysis: Mass Immigration Drastically 'Reshaping' the American South"--Breitbart. The Great Replacement was intended to reshape the demographics of the United States:

The South has the largest share of the foreign-born population today where 19 million foreign-born residents live, followed by the West with almost 16 million, the Northeast with 10.3 million, and the Midwest with 5.7 million.

• "Illegal Migrant Accused of Raping Teen Released on $500 Bail — Despite Pleas from Border Officials"--Truth Press.
• "Illegals Getting More Gun Rights than Americans"--Frontpage Magazine. Discussing how police departments in certain Democrat enclaves are recruiting illegal aliens to work as police officers.
• "CAL FIRE cancels all fire permits in San Diego County, but illegals are still building them"-- American Thinker. The article begins:

    Illegal migrants bring in a lot of things with them as they cross into the U.S. They bring in trash and dump it on protected lands, and they bring in diseases thought long eradicated to spread into the U.S. Some smuggle contraband such as fentanyl to pay their smuggling fees. These things have all gotten some attention.

    But one that hasn't is wildfires. As migrants cross into the U.S. illegally, often at night, they get cold and they build fires, without permits, creating a massive wildfire risk.

Avoiding Ammo Mishaps

Blue Collar Prepping recently published a couple articles on avoiding mishaps using the incorrect ammunition in a firearm:

• "Prepper's Armory: Ammo Mishaps, part 1"
• "Prepper's Armory: Ammo Mishaps, part 2"

    Part 1 concerns ammunition which is clearly a different caliber than the chambering of the weapon, but could still load into the chamber and fire. Possibly with catastrophic results. A couple specific examples mentioned in the article is .380 ACP into 9x19mm (probably 9x18mm as well) and .300 Blackout into .223/5.56 NATO. In the latter case, not only do I not take .223/5.56 to the range if I'm going to be shooting .300 Blackout, and vice-versa, but I also use different types of magazines so I can tell by touch the difference between one of my magazines that is loaded with 5.56 and one I've loaded with .300 Blackout--in my case, I use a metal magazine for one and a Magpul for the other. 

    The author also mentions old revolvers that may have been modified from an older (and now obscure) cartridge to one more widely available: he specifically cites .455 Webley revolvers with cylinders modified to accept moonclips in order to shoot .45 ACP, and shooting .38 Special in revolvers chambered for .38 S&W. I will add in the later instance that .38 Special is too long to fit in the majority of .38 S&W revolvers because the cylinders are too short, but there are certain models of revolvers that were made with longer cylinders that can accept .38 Special. I will also note that the British military's .38 S&W load (sometimes designated the .38/200) should not be used in standard .38 S&W revolvers because it uses a much heavier bullet and higher pressures than the standard .38 S&W loading. 

    The second article deals with calibers with identical or almost identical cartridge dimensions as each other, but wildly different loads and/or bullet dimensions that can lead to higher pressures than can be tolerated. Examples cited are the .38 ACP cartridge (yes, .38 ACP and not .380 ACP) which is almost identical in dimensions with .38 Super but loaded to lower pressures; the 7.63 Mauser and 7.62 Tokarev; and the German change around 1900 from an 8×57mm Mauser Patrone 88 to the 7.92×57mm Mauser S Patrone loadings. Despite the number designations, the latter actually used a larger diameter bullet which makes it dangerous to shoot in rifles intended for the former. (Wikipedia indicates that the German military transitioned from the former to the latter in 1904).  

    The author also mentions the possible dangers from older rifles rechambered to a different caliber where either (i) the barrel/chamber aren't intended for the higher pressures of the new chambering, or (ii) the new chambering is not marked or indicated on the barrel which might still show the old chambering. I'll add that some (probably the majority of the capable) rifle instructors will not allow students to use "sporterized" military bolt action rifles in their courses for this very reason. They don't know you and aren't going to take your word that the rifle is safe to use. No, this is not from personal experience, but something I've come across in my reading. 

Fears of Attack and No Cell Reception Deter Women Trail Runners

 A couple of weeks ago, Greg Ellifritz posted an article in which he related his encounter on a hiking/running trail with a woman carrying a knife in hand, probably for self-protection (see "The Girl With A Knife"). He was hiking up the trail while the woman with a knife was coming down the trail toward him. With no room really to move off the trail because of how steep was the hillside, the two had to pass on the trail. It presents an interesting "what would you do" scenario, and Greg gives his thoughts and reasoning for how he reacted and defused the situation. He also followed up with a later article more generally discussing self-defense for hikers (see "Hiker Self-Protection Strategies"). See also his article, "Best Backpacking Gun?" (spoiler, he generally uses an S&W 317 "kit gun" carried in a Safepacker Concealment Holster in remote areas where he is unlikely to encounter predators, but will upgrade to a .357 for areas where he is more likely to encounter 4-legged predators or 9mm where a 2-legged predator might be more common). 

    The articles about the woman with the knife were in the back of mind when I read the following from MedicalXpress: "Fears of attack and no phone signal deter women trail runners, finds study." It notes a recent study published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, which asked 548 regular trail runners about their preferences and concerns when engaged in the sport, and relates, in part:

    The leading concern for all trail runners (women and men alike) was slipping or falling (55.1%). The concerns of men and women differed, however, when asked about encountering other people or wild animals, and the loss of phone reception on trails.

    Women respondents reported a far greater fear of other people (38.9%) and cougars (32.4%) than men, (12.6% and 21.2% respectively). In addition, 50.8% of women were concerned by loss of reception, compared with 33.8% of men.

 I would bet that hikers have similar concerns. 

Uh Oh! Professor Dungeon Master Has Prostate Cancer

"Professor Dungeon Master" who runs the Dungeon Craft YouTube channel reveals that he has prostate cancer and discusses his treatment and encourages his male viewers to get a prostate exam. 

VIDEO: "I Have Cancer. Let's talk about it."

Dungeon Craft (8 min.)

Immigration Is A Strength--Some Recent News Stories

• "Lawsuit claiming Meta prefers foreign workers over US citizens revived by appeals court"--New York Post. Ironically, the plaintiff is an immigrant that had obtained U.S. citizenship but passed over in favor of foreign workers because they are paid less.
• "Chilling footage shows illegal migrant who 'suffocated woman on her 21st birthday' dragging her limp body out of house"--Daily Mail.
• "Masked gang kill one and wound five in terrifying Kalashnikov and shotgun attack on wedding ceremony in France"--Daily Mail. Believed to be part of a conflict between Turkish drug smugglers.
• "Shock reality for US of Venezuela's epic drop in MURDER as 'thugs who think crime is part of regular life' come to America"--Daily Mail. Venezuela's murder rates decline as they export their murderers to the U.S. 
• "NYC Jewish family pummeled at 5th-grade commencement by attendees shouting 'Free Palestine,' mom says"--New York Post. Attackers were an Arabic speaking family. The NYPD determined it was not a hate crime. Got to keep those negative statistics down.
• "Med school system displaces Americans in favor of foreigners, report finds"--The College Fix. These findings came from a report looking at why U.S. medical schools do not produce more doctors, despite shortages. Part of this was a conscious decision by the American Medical Association to limit the number of new doctors by restriction medical school admissions. But there was also this:

In connection, the report also found the number of foreign-educated doctors in the U.S. has “skyrocketed” in recent decades. The percentage of doctors trained in the U.S. went from 91 percent in 1981 to 75 percent in 2024. Meanwhile, the percentage of foreign-educated doctors went from 9 percent to 25 percent, according to the report.

• "GERMANY: Woman Convicted Of “Offending” Migrant Gang Rapists Receives Longer Prison Sentence Than The Rapists"--The Publica. The victim of the rape was a 14-year-old girl. The criminals were "multiple groups of migrant men" who independently attacked girl in Hamburg’s Stadtpark over the course of one night. "Among [the nine men] charged, none were of German heritage. The rapists were identified as a Pole, an Egyptian, a Libyan, a Kuwaiti, an Iranian, an Armenian, an Afghan, a Syrian, and a Montenegrin." Eight were let off with probation, while the ninth was sentenced to 2 years and 9 months of prison. 

    The case caused outrage in Germany, both for the brutality of the rape itself and the lenient sentences given to the rapists. As a result, one of the men had his identity and phone number circulated on Snapchat by furious sleuths.

    Angered by the news of the case, a 20-year-old woman from Hamburg messaged the number through WhatsApp. The unnamed woman called him a “dishonorable rapist pig” and a “disgusting miscarriage.” She added: “Aren’t you ashamed when you look in the mirror?”

    The targeted rapist then reported the woman to police, and she was charged with sending him insulting messages.

The woman has now been convicted and sentenced to a weekend in prison for her remarks — meaning that she will have spent more time in jail than 8 of the 9 rapists. ...

Leftists Supporting Democracy Protest/Riot Over Election Losses In France

French President Emmanuel Macron's party, Renaissance (formally En Marche!), was humiliated in the first round of parliamentary elections on June 30 by the more conservative National Rally (RN). Consequently, fearful that it might spell the end of their democracy and the start of democracy for everyone else, Leftists rioted. According to the Daily Mail:

    Rioting engulfed the streets of Paris last night as thousands of enraged left-leaning voters set light to rubbish, smashed up shop windows and launched fireworks after Marine Le Pen's RN steamed to victory with 33% of the first round vote.

    Hordes of riot cops were dispatched across the city, particularly in the French capital's Place de la République where the police clashed with flare-toting rioters into the early hours of the morning. 

* * *

    Barricades designed to keep crowds controlled were overturned as countless protesters poured into Place de la République and climbed the iconic statue showing the personification of France, Marianne. 

    Bins were uprooted, with their contents spread all over the tarmac and promptly set alight as protesters circled touting banners, flares and projectiles.

    Young women trying to enjoy nights out in the city were forced to stand behind armoured cops who forced back the activists with batons and tear gas as firefighters were called in to douse the blazes set by protestors.

The article explains that voting for members of the National Assembly takes place over two rounds. In the first round of voting, anyone receiving a majority of votes gets the Assembly seat for which they were running. If no one gets a majority, the election for that seat then proceeds to a second round of voting. The person that gets the most votes in the second round--even if it is not a majority--wins the seat. 

    The second round is open to any candidate that received 12% or more of the vote in the first round, although a candidate is free to withdraw and sometimes do in order to boost another candidate's results. For instance, in this case, "[s]enior figures in the New Popular Front, the left-wing coalition that came second in the first round, have pledged to pull out of any races where NFP candidates came third and RN candidates came first, in order to allow citizens to vote out the far-right." And "Macron's Prime Minister Gabriel Attal, who is likely to be forced to resign after the second round, warned that the right was now at the 'gates of power' and implored voters to block the RN in the second round set for Sunday July 7."