Czech Republic Plans To Combat Terrorism By Arming Its Citizens
Posted: July 3, 2017 Filed under: Crime & Corruption, Global, Guns and Gadgets, Law & Justice, Mediasphere, Politics, Self Defense | Tags: Alphabet Inc., Anti-competitive practices, Comparison shopping website, Competition law, Czech Republic, European Commission, European Parliament, European Union, Google, Margrethe Vestager Leave a commentCzech Republic Votes To Put Gun Rights In Constitution.
‘In reaction to the recent increase of security threats’
Jacob Bojesson The lower house of the Czech parliament voted to put gun owners’ rights in the constitution Wednesday, arguing it protects citizens from Islamist terrorists.
The European Commission passed stricter gun laws in December in response to a growing terror threat. The Czech Republic was one of three countries to oppose the changes, and it is now about to make it legal for citizens to use firearms to protect the security of the country.
“This constitutional bill is in reaction to the recent increase of security threats, especially the danger of violent acts such as isolated terrorist attacks … active attackers or other violent hybrid threats,” a draft of the bill reads.
Critics argue the changes will never take effect as European Union directives overrule the proposed legislation.
“Putting it in the constitution is therefore nonsense,” Jan Farský, the deputy mayor of Chovanec, told Hospodarske Noviny. Read the rest of this entry »
Is President Obama Liberalism’s Gorbachev?
Posted: November 14, 2016 Filed under: Education, Global, History, Russia, Think Tank, White House | Tags: 2003 invasion of Iraq, Cold War, Czech Republic, Donald Trump, European Union, Hillary Clinton, Mikhail Gorbachev, Russians, Soviet Union, United Kingdom, United States Department of State, Vladimir Putin Leave a commentThe Ruling Class of America is not up to the challenge of leading America in the world, partly because it has engaged for several generations now in a process of reverse merit selection.
“Having been a college professor for many years I saw students become ever more confident of their own intelligence and their own preparation while they were becoming less able to do the most elementary things.”
As the ruling class wannabes, has beens, might’ve beens and I ams gather for today’s inauguration ceremony to offer laud and narcissistic supply to the most perfect exemplar of the ruling class that they have ever seen, Codevilla’s observations about the rapidly imploding ratio of competence to confidence among America’s elite are a breath of contrarian sanity.
“That’s what happens so often to ruling classes: they protect themselves against their competitors. Their greatest interest is in perpetuating their own cushy positions.”
The discussion is available here. Although the first section is devoted to foreign affairs and the second to the ruling class, this column will focus on the second of the two topics. What follows are my notes from the wide ranging and fascinating discussion. I hope you won’t limit yourself to my jottings about the conversation, but go on to the conversation itself. The following is a collection of paraphrased quotes from Codevilla.
“The Soviet system was completely closed. Our system becomes more closed as the years go on….today’s American ruling class differs from even a generation ago…now they come to the ruling class almost exclusively from the most prestigious universities and through institutions which are connected to government.”
The Ruling Class of America is not up to the challenge of leading America in the world, partly because it has engaged for several generations now in a process of reverse merit selection.
[Order Jerry Bowyer’s book “The Free Market Capitalist’s Survival Guide: How to Invest and Thrive in an Era of Rampant Socialism” from Amazon.com]
Our ruling class has practiced negative selection for several generations now. I point you to a very, very interesting piece of research by a man called Ron Unz.
“Very few people now rise independent of the ruling class itself: you have to rise through the ruling class to get to the ruling class.”
Ron Unz, a wealthy entrepreneur, has just conducted interesting research on the admissions policies of America’s elite universities and has found that there is an iron quota against Asians in these universities: a limit of roughly 16 percent in these universities, even though the proportion of Asians relative to other ethnic groups among high achievers in the country has risen…they account for something like 40 percent of high achievers in the national merit scholar competition, national math and science competitions, etc.
“Our ruling class rules on the basis of sheer, unearned self-confidence. They are not up to running the nation, its economy, its markets, its school system, its philanthropies or its foreign affairs. It is a ruling class of pygmies who walk on stilts and call themselves giants. They are not giants and the moment the rest of us realize this, the long con is over.”
What you’ve got here is a ruling class in these universities which has perpetuated itself and has become more like itself, and has excluded alien elements. The element most excluded happens to be also the most numerous, which is to say ‘white non-Jewish Americans,’ and hence the overwhelming majority of high achievers. Yet the percentage of white non-Jewish admittees has continued to drop; there is especially a virtual absence of Christians among these admittees. The point being that this ruling class, which is increasingly styling itself as meritocratic, is anything but meritocratic and has renewed itself by cooption. Read the rest of this entry »
‘Faux Passeport Syrien’: Paris Stadium Attacker Got to Europe Using Fake Syrian Passport
Posted: November 16, 2015 Filed under: France, Terrorism, War Room | Tags: Aegean Islands, Alexis Tsipras, Athens, Balkans, Coalition of the Radical Left, Croatia, Czech Republic, EUROPE, European Union, Greece, Hungary, Lesbos, Member state of the European Union, Middle East, Refugees of the Syrian civil war, Serbia, Syria, Turkey 1 CommentGreece’s migration minister, Yiannis Mouzalas, during a news conference in Athens on Sunday. Greek authorities say the man posing as Ahmad AlMohammad took a ferry to the port of Piraeus, arriving on Oct. 8, before traveling north through the Balkans. Photo: angelos tzortzinis/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images
“Greek authorities on islands such as Leros, Lesbos and Chios have confronted thousands of arrivals every day in recent months as refugees and other migrants make the short sea crossing from Turkey in inflatable boats.”
Authorities in France and Greece have said that fingerprints taken from the remains of a suicide bomber outside France’s national sports stadium, the Stade de France, match the prints of a man who entered Europe via the Aegean island of Leros on Oct. 3.
“Short of staff and equipment, Greek police carry out only a simple procedure that involves taking people’s data and fingerprints, and sometimes asking them a few questions, before giving them permission to travel onward, deeper into Europe.”
Police on Leros registered the man under the identity in the passport he showed them: Ahmad AlMohammad, 25, from Syria. The same passport was found near the man’s body outside the stadium on Friday night.
[Read the full story here, at the WSJ]
Whoever the man was, he posed as one of the many refugees fleeing Syria’s war—including the violence of Islamic State—to enter Europe through its lightly controlled frontier in the Aegean Sea. Read the rest of this entry »
Paris Attacks: President Francois Hollande: ‘We Will Lead the Fight. It Will Be Ruthless’
Posted: November 13, 2015 Filed under: Mediasphere, War Room | Tags: Agence France-Presse, Bernard Cazeneuve, Czech Republic, EUROPE, European Council, European Union, France, Islamism, Jihadism, Minister of the Interior (France), Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs (France), Paris, Terorrism 1 CommentPresident Hollande spoke in front of the Bataclan concert venue shortly after police ended a siege on the building that officials say left around 100 people dead.

French President Francois Hollande (C), flanked by French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve (Rear L), French Prime Minister Manuel Valls (R) and President of the French National Assembly Claude Bartolone (2nd R), addresses reporters near the Bataclan concert hall in central Paris, early on November 14, 2015. A number of people were killed in an ‘unprecedented’ series of bombings and shootings across Paris and at the Stade de France stadium on November 13, and the death toll looked likely to rise as sources said dozens had been killed at the Bataclan popular music venue. AFP PHOTO / MIGUEL MEDINA/AFP/Getty Images)
Reports from survivors indicate that the attackers may have mentioned Hollande during the attack.
Les Monde journalist Elise Barthet said several survivors were being interviewed by police in a bar near the Bataclan venue. According to Barthet, two witness said one of the shooters said “everything is the fault of your president.” (more)
Source: Live updates: mashable.com
Controversial EU ‘Refugee’ Relocations from Front-Line States Starts Friday
Posted: October 6, 2015 Filed under: Asia, Global, Japan, Mediasphere | Tags: Brussels, Czech Republic, Dimitris Avramopoulos, Duty, Eastern Europe, EU, EUROPE, European Commission, European Parliament, European Union, Hungary, Jean Asselborn, Member state of the European Union, Refugee 1 CommentBRUSSELS – The EU said a controversial program to relocate 40,000 refugees within the bloc from overstretched front-line states would formally start on Friday when a group of Eritreans will travel to Sweden from Italy.
“The EU formally agreed the plan last month despite the opposition of some Eastern European states worried about a popular backlash to migrants.”
“First relocations within EU take place on Friday” following an agreement by interior ministers in September, the EU’s home affairs office said in a tweet. “Eritrean refugees will be relocated from Italy to Sweden.”
An EU source told AFP that a flight will leave Roma Ciampino airport in the morning and take the first refugees to Sweden.
“First relocations within EU take place on Friday…Eritrean refugees will be relocated from Italy to Sweden.”
EU Migration commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos is expected to give a press conference in Rome.
The number of refugees being moved on Friday was not revealed, but Sweden agreed on July 20 to take 821 refugees from Italy and 548 from Greece as part of the commission’s plan to relocate 40,000 refugees from the two front-line states over two years. Read the rest of this entry »
Charen: ‘Hillary Clinton Has Nothing To Offer The Country Except Her Sex’
Posted: June 13, 2014 Filed under: Politics, U.S. News, White House | Tags: Clinton, Cold War, Czech Republic, Hillary Clinton, Iraq, Mona Charen, New York City, United States 3 CommentsEnthusiasm for Clinton’s candidacy is based on identity politics, not substance
For National Review Online, Mona Charen writes: Have you seen the “Ready for Hillary” bumper stickers? I’ve seen one already, and wondered about the implied insult to the current occupant of the White House. You’re “Ready for Hillary” when the greatest statesman of our age isn’t even halfway through his second term?

Hillary touts her book in New York City (Andrew Burton/Getty Images)
Are you ready because Clinton’s tenure as secretary of state was such a rousing success? As of this writing, Islamist forces are marching south from newly conquered Mosul and Tikrit in Iraq. Wasn’t Clinton the chief architect of our foreign policy when we failed to negotiate a status-of-forces agreement with Iraq in 2011?
“She managed to parlay her status as wronged spouse into a Senate seat, and to leverage her status as failed presidential candidate into the job of secretary of state.”
Reviewing that history in September of 2012, the New York Times quoted an administration spokesman: “As we reviewed the 10,000 option, we came to the conclusion that achieving the goal of a security partnership was not dependent on the size of our footprint in-country, and that stability in Iraq did not depend on the presence of U.S. forces.”
That worked out well.
“She now plans to milk her status as unsuccessful secretary of state into the presidency.”
M.I.T. Reality Check: The U.S. Won’t Match Russia’s Gas Exports to Europe for Years
Posted: March 21, 2014 Filed under: Economics, Russia, Think Tank | Tags: Crimea, Czech Republic, European Union, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, Liquefied natural gas, Natural gas, RUSSIA, United States Department of Energy Leave a commentNo matter how fast export facilities for liquefied natural gas are approved, it will be years before the U.S. can challenge Russia’s position as a dominant supplier.
Mike Orcutt writes: The crisis in Crimea has prompted calls for the U.S. to ramp up natural gas exports to Europe by quickly approving new facilities capable of liquefying the fuel and sending it overseas. The argument is that this could undermine Russia’s strategic power by reducing Europe’s heavy reliance on Russian gas.
The numbers on natural gas exported to Europe show just how simplistic this argument is. Russia dominates the market, and regardless of the speed of the approval process, it will take several years and tens of billions of dollars of investment for the U.S. to come close to Russia’s exports.
In 2012, pipelines carrying Russian gas supplied 34 percent of all the natural gas sold in the European Union by non-E.U. countries. Several nations, including Bulgaria, Lithuania, and the Czech Republic, rely on Russia to supply over 80 percent of their natural gas needs. Around 80 percent of the gas exported to Europe travels by pipeline; the rest arrives as liquefied natural gas (LNG).
