Monthly Archives: March 2023

Canada’s “Surge”

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Canada has started objecting to the illegal alien irregular immigration influx that nation is experiencing across its own southern border. Even The Dallas Morning News has the right of Canadian government personnel’s whining [emphasis in the original].

For those who live in places where mass migration isn’t a problem, it’s easy to take a tone of moral superiority and look down on those who have to balance humane treatment with security.
But when the problem lands on their doorstep, it’s surprising how quickly that tone changes and the attitude that something must be done takes root.

And

Certain Canadian leaders have preened about their nation’s welcoming spirit. In 2017, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told Canadian television that “I always sort of laugh when you see people who are—not many of them, but—intolerant or who think, ‘Go back to your own country.’… No! You chose this country. This is your country more than it is for others because we take it for granted.”

Now it’s

Fast forward to this week. Trudeau is pushing the Biden administration to stem “the flow of irregular migration into Canada[.]”

Whatever happened to the Trudeau Immigration Principle of You chose this country. This is your country more than it is for others because we take it for granted?

Here’s a quick table that puts Trudeau’s, et al., whining and hypocrisy into a bit of context.

Population Inflow CY2022 Inflow per 100,000 population
Canada 39,300,000 39,540     101
US 333,300,000 2,400,000     720

International Military Support for Ukraine

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There is some growing angst about the amount of treasure and weaponry that we’re sending to Ukraine in support of that nation’s effort to defeat the barbarian Russian invasion and to drive the barbarian back out. Typical of the angst is Victoria Coates’ (a former Deputy National Security Advisor to former President Donald Trump) beef, which includes concern about the amount of aid the US is providing compared to that provided by the European nations on whose ramparts the barbarian would be should he overrun Ukraine:

Given the fact that the Germans and the French are not doing anything close to this in terms of support is shameful. This is not our job. This is Europe’s backyard. Europe needs to shoulder this burden.

To an extent, Coates’ beef is valid; however, as the table below shows, the European shortfall is not at all universal. Most of these data are drawn from statista; for Sweden and Finland they come from the Kiel Institute for the World Economy.

Nation Amount Sent Billions GDP Billions (IMF) Percent GDP
Poland $2.55 $716.00 0.356%
US $46.56 $25,035.00 0.186%
Great Britain $5.13 $3,198.00 0.160%
Denmark $0.59 $387.00 0.152%
Sweden* $0.85 $604.00 0.141%
Finland* $0.36 $281.00 0.128%
Norway $0.62 $505.00 0.123%
Netherlands $0.90 $990.00 0.091%
Canada $1.35 $2,200.00 0.061%
Germany $2.47 $4,031.00 0.061%
Italy $0.65 $1,997.00 0.033%
France $0.69 $2,778.00 0.025%
*Converted from € a/o 2Mar23

 

Poland actually is providing more support relative to the size of its economy than we are. That shouldn’t be surprising, though, as the memories of the barbarian’s occupation and depredations of their nation remain fresh in Polish minds. Poland also has taken in the most Ukrainian refugees; although a factor in that is the border the two nations share, which shortens refugee travel.

Great Britain, shorn of EU political limits, is right up there with us.

The real European shirkers, especially given their extant military establishments, are Germany and France, as noted by Coates, and Italy. Their behavior is truly shameful, especially for Germany, whose eastern States were under the barbarian’s jackboots not so long ago, also. The shortfall for France is not so surprising, for all the shortfall’s…disreputableness…given that nation’s constant efforts to make nice with Russia.

My claim here is not that the we should cut back on our material—and materiel—aid to Ukraine, but that we should push—pressure—those European nations who are shirking to do much more. Were those nations to meet their obligations—moral as well as material, and not only to Ukraine but to their own peoples and to their obligations toward each other under the spirit of NATO—Ukraine would be in a much better position to destroy the barbarian invasion.

Our Woke DoD Managers

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Here’s Lloyd Austin’s Pentagon in action, via a memo he had sent to the public affairs offices of the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines and National Guard on Feb. 10:

In recent years, many sponsors of sporting events have instituted a tradition of requesting uniformed military members to unfurl and hold giant, horizontal US flags during events as an expression of patriotism and love of the country[.]
While many, including military members, view these displays as inspiring and patriotic…uniformed service members may not participate directly in the unfurling, holding, and/or carrying of giant, horizontal US flags that are not displayed during community outreach events.

View these flag displays as patriotic. Not just view them as patriotic, these flag displays are patriotic. Austin’s memo is disgusting. Barring our military personnel from participating in these flag displays—displays of the flag which symbolizes the nation for which these men and women are sworn to defend, even to die in the defense—is too woke by half. Austin needs to be dismissed. Not allowed to resign, dismissed.

Full stop.

In Which I disagree with DeSantis

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Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) has written in his new book, The Courage to be Free: Florida’s Blueprint for American Revival, that (Fox News‘ paraphrasing)

…left-wing company employees pressuring their executives to reflect their political values and “woke” CEOs using their corporate bully pulpit to exert their influence.
“This is especially true as the movement for [ESG] responsibility within corporate America has gained traction[.]”

I disagree, and this is a much broader problem than the ESG movement. Company executives who understand who is in charge of the companies they run only feel the political or “social justice” pressure of their employees that they choose to feel. The employees work for them, and they work for the companies’ shareholders. There is no bidirectionality to the governing hierarchy.

Company executives who surrender to their employees’ political/social justice demands are unfit for their roles in company governance: they’re abject cowards.

An Empty Gesture

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OMB Issued a memo barring the installation of TikTok on most Executive Branch facilities and the removal of currently installed TikTok from those facilities.

Most of them.

…limited exceptions to the restrictions outlined in this memorandum for law enforcement activities, national security interests and activities, and security research.

Never mind that TikTok is subordinate to, a subsidiary of, ByteDance, a People’s Republic of China-domiciled company. ByteDance, as a PRC-domiciled company, is bound by the PRC’s national intelligence law that makes it beholden to the Communist Party of China’s intelligence community to conduct intelligence-gathering as demanded by that intel community. Never mind, either, that as a subordinate facility of ByteDance, TikTok is required to conduct that espionage whenever ByteDance passes the requirement along.

Why, then, is the Biden administration allowing this enemy nation espionage tool to penetrate our own police forces and intelligence community?