A couple of hours ago, Theresa May's faux Brexit went down to the biggest defeat any government has suffered in the Commons for a century. It was something I touched on earlier in the day with Danielle Smith, former Wildrose Party leader in Alberta and now top-rated morning host at 770 CHQR in Calgary. Danielle and I started with China and its deathbed demography, but moved by process of the latter to Europe and the enfeebled state of United Kingdom sovereignty. Click below to listen:
~Today featured a double-bill of radio for me, beginning with Dave Allen at 570 WSYR in Syracuse, New York, where Dennis and I will be next month, at the Crouse-Hinds Theatre, named for the propagators of the traffic light. Dave asked me about the show and the government shutdown (which is not, so far as I know, related):
By the way, at Syracuse, as at all our tour dates, with VIP seating you get to meet Dennis and me after the show. More details of Syracuse and our other New York/Pennsylvania gigs here.
~Last night, because of Tucker's sharp opening monologue on Russia, we didn't get to my favorite California story of the day - the two cats renting a studio apartment for $1,500 a month. What a state: the kitties are hogging all the prime real estate, yet out on the streets of Los Angeles and San Francisco it looks like one overflowing litter tray. For some reason, cat lover though I am, this struck me as an ominous portent of tomorrow, of a world where the felines rule, and man has to squeeze in through the people flap in the bottom of the back door. Any day now we'll be hearing that Barbra Streisand has sold her pad at Malibu to some tabby who got thirty mil from Miramax because Harvey Weinstein used to get her to scratch his back.
~On Wednesday, I'll be starting the day at 8.30am Eastern with Jim Quinn at WYSL The Voice of Liberty in Rochester, New York - where I'll be appearing at the Kodak Center with Dennis Miller in a few weeks' time.You can listen live to me and Jim here.
If you dig the classic rock (and judging from the Mark Steyn Cruise a lot of Steyn Clubbers do) I'll be with Kimberly & Beck on Radio 95.1 at 3pm Eastern Wednesday.
Afterwards, I'll be joining Rich Zeoli on The Big Talker, as I still think of it, WPHT in Pennsylvania, where Dennis and I will be appearing in Reading and Wilkes-Barre.
And I'll be rounding it out at 5pm Eastern with my regular Wednesday date with John Oakley at Global News Radio 640 in Toronto.
If you're a member of The Mark Steyn Club, feel free to add your three-ha'porth on Brexit, demography, classic rock, feline real estate et al in the comments.
Comment on this item (members only)
Submission of reader comments is restricted to Mark Steyn Club members only. If you are not yet a member, please click here to join. If you are already a member, please log in here:
Member Login
42 Member Comments
For people that denounce the oppressive regime of People's Republic of China and are proud of the Constitutional Republic of USA. I found this illuminating post in "Politics of China" section of Quora. ( https://www.quora.com/What-do-mainland-Chinese-people-think-of-the-democracy-in-Taiwan/answer/Mo-Chen-79)
"What do mainland Chinese people think of the democracy in Taiwan?
Mo Chen, lives in China (1989-present)
Answered Apr 26, 2018
In the 1990s and 2000s, we were jealous of Taiwan having democracy.
We hated that our Government being so corrupt and oppressive. People go to Retention, Jail, and even Labor camps for speaking against the Government.
Taiwan is the "good China" at that time, they bring technology and talent to China, advanced management model, and new way of looking at things.
People risk their lives trafficking into Taiwan illegally to seek higher life quality and freedom.
Then, China's economy goes boom, Government opened up. Labor Camps are abolished because it was "barbaric and unreasonable". The most serious punishment for speaking against the Government now is to have your Social Network Account banned for 3 days.
We bitched about government's wastefulness on building Highway network, and high-speed trains. Thinking they are just a front for washing CCP's dirty money.
But we stopped bitching about it when sitting comfortably on an 8-hour journey from Shanghai to Chongqing. It used to take 2 days.
We stopped bitching about it when we drive on the highway, and it is newer and having less potholes than that of USA.
In Beijing's People's Hall, we have CCP members discussing the fate of the nation and making decisions that mattered.
In Taipei's Legislation Hall, I saw people throwing chairs and water balloons at each other over petty issues, and getting televised, which reminds me of the MMA or Ultimate Fighter shows. It made me quite sad and disappointed.
Taiwanese politicians care little about the fate of Taiwan, they care about if they can stay in power in the upcoming election.
Truth be told, even if someone were to care about the fate of Taiwan, what can they really do? Pro-China? Taiwanese will not vote you, so you get kicked out of your office very soon; Anti-China? The Chinese will hate you and hurt you economically, which makes Taiwanese voters angry again, so you get kicked out of your office all the same. It's just impossible to make it work.
It's not that Taiwan's democracy has failed, but what was offered to the Taiwanese politicians was impossible choices. If watching the show "House M.D." has ever taught me anything, it's that, it's really not House being a narcissistic assh*le to the patients, but it's that destiny had given these people crappy choices, and House is just forcing these people to face the reality, accept their fate, and live with it.
The least I can do as a Mainland Chinese, is to not place any judgement on Taiwan's politics, calling them "stupid" for choosing DPP over KMT. Because let's face it, KMT isn't exactly "pro-China" as many Taiwanese voters think."
Did not know what is the difference between DPP and KMT. Found in Google an article dated Nov. 27 2018 which reacted on the heavy losses that DPP suffered in recent elections by the hand of KMT. The KMT, born on the Chinese mainland, generally takes a softer stance on cross-strait relations than the pro-independence DPP. It shows that Mo Chen that wrote his comment 8 month earlier has better understanding of the Taiwan reality than the Taiwanese themselves. Essentially pointing toward peaceful unification of Taiwan with mainland China similar to unification of Hong Kong with mainland China in the not too distant future which might be less distant by the turmoil in the guarantor of Taiwan independence the Constitutional Republic of USA. There is another important point that the comment of Mo Chen illuminates is the freedom of expression in PRC criticizing the government might result in being banned from positing on Social network for 3 days. In USA and in Canada you can be banned for life and persecuted not only for what did you say recently but for what did you allegedly say or do when you were in high school 40 years earlier. It is time for Mark Steyn club members to wake up and realize that the world is changing not only fundamentally but faster than the climate. In spite of the predictions of Al Gore and of AOC.
Great interview (as usual).
For the luxurious cat pad those kitties have, they seem rather sad to me. I wonder what effect a Feline Groovy cd looped and piped into their environment might have on them. Also, perhaps a couple of little budgies hanging out in a cage just out of their reach might provide some extra amusement and exercise their little cat instincts.
Speaking of demographic shifts... After a few more caravans, who's going to be left south of the Rio Grande to do the work that Americans won't do?
Hundreds of millions of Mexicans and Central and South Americans. Continents, and subcontinents, across the Atlantic and Pacific are the new source of border-crossers. They converge via boat and airplane at - surprise - the most logical point, Panama. Jimmy Carter handing away the canal the US built to Chinese control was nuts.
It's not completely accurate that no one is being screened before crossing the Rio Grande. Panama is grand Central America station; not a destination; and facilitates, rather than tries to stop, the transit from Panama to the US. Knowing this, some of the "migrants" simply turn themselves in to Panamanian authorities to get their transit non-papers stamped. The US is a partner, providing high-tech equipment to Panama, which can detect some terrorists before the others are waved through, picked up by their Uber driver, and taken to the Rio Grande. It's like the question on US immigration forms: Are you, or have you been, a member of a terrorist organization? (Answering "yes" does not necessarily disqualify you from consideration.) It roots out the honest terrorists - if they're honest enough to turn around and terrorize home.
I don't know why people--the PM most of all--should feel sorry for the PM: this mess wasn't of her making. I suppose it could have been managed better, but I don't see how it could have been managed successfully. A so-called hard exit seems the only sensible conclusion to so many insensible antecedents. Brexit, to me, is another example of bad policies left to fester until no solution seems practical. I put it in the same "basket of deplorables" as unchecked illegal immigration, ballooning national debt, and deathbed demographics: by the time we decide to do anything about the particular problem, there's nothing we can do. Do not for one second think I am a Remainer. I'm as Up-Yours-Delors as they come. A Sherman tank (Yank in rhyming slang) myself, I woke up the morning after the referendum elated by the result--an elation exceeded only by the result of the 2016 presidential election. But Brexit exists not in a vacuum, but in a mulligatawny of European centralization (in Brussels by name, in Berlin by power), economic and cultural gulfs (which may yet lead to not just Grexit, but potentials for Frexit, Italexit, Nexit, etc., etc.), Irish disunion, and other intractable obstacles. I hail Britain's decision to abandon the sinking ship of European integration; I just hope she doesn't pulled down by the suction.
It isn't that May didn't manage it well; it's that she presented a lie to the public ("Brexit means Brexit") and tried to push it through as Brexit.
Why doesn't she just push through hard Brexit, which is what the people voted for? I don't understand why it is so hard to do. And she would be a hero to half the country instead of a turd to both sides, as she is now.
Is there something I'm missing as an American, that is preventing her from just doing what the people voted for? Or is it simply just another example of the decline of a once-great United Kingdom and also the decline of their quasi-conservative, ever more enervated Tory party?
Pushing through hard Brexit would mean the people are in charge. This is post-democracy. Elites with allegiance to other elites are in charge. Allegiance by the governing class to country is quaint and passé. The future is a conglomeration of the powerful, across borders, transcendent of the people traditionally organized in western polities. The Tory Party is faux-conservative, the people are in decadence and the civilization is in decline. It's a bad idea to give up sovereignty ("Say, could I please have my sovereignty back"? - What's your recourse?)
Speaking of the shutdown, for some time now, I have not been getting notified that my comments are online or that I've gotten replies to my comments. Is anyone else having this problem? Is this a result of the shutdown?
Not that you'll ever know I've replied, Steven, but I, too, stopped receiving notifications--until I found them in my spam file! I thought it was just me, and I don't know what changed, but no matter how often I move a notification from spam to Inbox, the next one still goes to spam. Spooky.
If only there was some way to tell if anyone is replying. I should've said in my post that I've checked the old spam filter several times and the notifications aren't going there. Hmm, I wonder how many marriage proposals I've missed out on....
Oh well, if it doesn't get fixed soon, I guess Steyn will just have to make good on his double your money back guarantee.
Mark replies:
Well, Steven, as I type, it says (as it does on all previous posts by you) "Email approval note to commenter" with a big check mark next to it. This is the first we've heard of this complaint, so, if others are afflicted by it, please let us know.
I had the same problem starting January 3rd. I thought I was just the can getting kicked down the road and this was the Steyn Club members giving me the hint. So part of me thought, time for a leave of absence, but I contacted Lori at the club and she fixed it.
A Frentrance (Molotov cocktails, tear gas, etc.) might be the only viable way out for the indentured servants of Blighty. Large enough bumps in the road might slow down or throw off course the juggernaut that is the phasing out of the democratic west.
Some time in the last year, Stu on the Glenn Beck radio program talked about an experiment in which mice were given the best environment and all the food they wanted.... eventually the mouse population crashed. I wonder if we aren't seeing the same issues with "advanced" cultures of humans. Provided with all they "need" ... they just don't populate.
i would love to come see you and mr miller in reading...it would only be about four hours away....
unfortunately, i have too much trouble visiting my own son "only 90 minutes away".....due to the pain from sitting still in the car after one neck injury in 2000, and one broken back from 1967....
i believe that the "Americans with Disabilities Act" requires that you and Mr Miller do a show IN MY OWN HOME, where i can be comfortable watching you.....i will supply a sumptuous dinner for both of you, and your staffs....also, we can sleep up to seven, before we have to resort to floor space....you're welcome to bring cots, if you need them....
let me know what you prefer to eat, and i will find out how to cook it....assuming i don't already know.....i am a really good cook.......also, i would need a list of your preferred beverages......
looking forward to you conforming to the Americans with Disabilities Act......email me, you know the name, you know the numbah....
Funneee! Good luck with that chuckie, but if you manage to strike up a deal, i'll cook up some delicious chicken leek fricassee smothered in white wine sauce for the Adorable-Deporable duo and entourage. I would have homemade dark chocolate dipped Madeleines for dessert. I'm practicing today. How large is your kitchen?
I didn't know you were a "human rights activist".
About bloody time someone called him out. When was the last time Mark stood up for the rights of the transgendered? Huh? Or refugees? Or people seeking to exercise their reproductive rights?
All he ever does is prattle on about free speech. Human rights activist? Pfft. Guy's a total poseur.
I agree, he also seem quite dismissive of Macedonian content farmers.
I know! Not to mention those brave feminists campaigning for their right to wear a burka. It's like he doesn't even care.
Steyn is the ideal advocate for #MeowToo.
Paws-atively dahling, Kate!
:)
He's a Ku-fur! A dirty, infurdel!!! Off with his paws!
:) There'd been an "awareness ribbon" with Mark in charge.
Putting a lander on the far side of the moon is quite an accomplishment, for China that is. The U.S. has been on Mars for quite some time and several years ago the New Horizons spacecraft did a flyby of Pluto and Charon, and is now examining an object called Ultima Thule in the Kuiper Belt.
Mark is absolutely right regarding the Chinese economy. It is an export based economy that specializes in stealing and copying Western technology then selling it back to us. Any who has ever dealt with them in matters of technology, and I have, knows this all too well. Even their weapons technology is lifted from the West. What domestic focused activity there is in China is mainly in the real estate arena, which is a bubble that makes the U.S. and European bubbles of 2006/07 look tame by comparison.
Furthermore, what passes for "middle class" in China would not be considered so in the U.S. or Europe. For example, poor people in the U.S. have toilets in their homes. Not so for "middle class" Chinese. In fact, a recommendation made to Westerners traveling in China; bring your own toilet paper or learn to hold it until you get back to your "foreigners only" hotel.
Finally, beyond their own demographic problem I would say that the Chinese face a bigger problem from the demographics of the developed World. When your economy is based on selling stuff to Westerners what do you do when there are fewer and fewer Westerners to sell stuff to?
what do you do when there are fewer and fewer Westerners to sell stuff to?
You kill them and steal their countries. The Maories only just beat the Europeans to New Zealand, but they feasted on the original inhabitants.
This is raw nature,
According to Miller two cats are just a pair of Hollywood hipsters.
I can't figure out which China Mark is talking about. The one I'm thinking of produces everything, and that encompasses more than merely the rubbish of the world. The West outsourced everything including what to make and how to make it well.
China recently landed a rubbish bin with wheels on the hind quarters of the moon and are talking to it from a tin can in a halo orbit around a Legrange point beyond the moon.
They're so much more advanced! They're sprouting potatoes on the far side without light or heat! Genetically-modified potatoes or proof they always ship us the inferior light bulbs? Or...or...?
I'm not sure its fair to say Australia is cowed by China. Australia recently banned Huawei from being involved in the 5G network (joining the US and New Zealand). This is massive slap in the face for China and could have huge economic consequences for them. Other countries are yet to follow. Canada is still thinking about it... probably very deeply in light of current events.
According to later reporting, the Department of Defence in Canberra barely cast an eye over the 99-year lease proposal for the Port of Darwin. Maybe not cowed, but careless? Or coerced?
Something interesting that Mark mentioned - and which PK has raised - is the overlap of China-Africa demographics. The world map visual of "countries by sex ratio" (wikipedia) for the under-15-years cohort is pretty striking.
Could Australia go toe to toe with China right now? Better yet.... if a Democrat was in the White House .... how would Australia fare if it had to go it totally lone? I fear Australia is a Taiwan in the future or a proxy state should no one else care.
I don't really know why Darwin signed the Ports lease but, in a time of conflict, a lease can just be torn up. Having your enemy's software embedded in your phone system would be a problem that is not so easily overcome.
You raise a good point David. I recall some time ago when the States over here in the U.S. were selling assets and doing lease back agreements with foreign nations in an attempt to raise cash. In one particular instance I believe Indiana sold or leased its main toll road to the Dutch or some other country for 50 years or something like that. There were cries of "but what if we go to war with the Netherlands? They'll close the toll road on us!"
Actually, no they won't. As empires throughout history have learned, you only really own something to the extent that you can defend and keep it. Let the Chinese blow a lot of money they don't have on facilities in Africa and South America. Then let's see them defend it if things get hostile in any of those places.
With 1,500 Marines based there, Washington was understandably miffed to learn about it after the fact.
The Huawei ban was essential. In the bigger scheme of things, Robert's concerns are well-founded.
Kate, it is very striking indeed! Every year the world is becoming a much more dangerous place for women.
I would comment a bit more on that and also the Chinese/African "overlap" but since my last comments on the topic were not published, even though they conformed to the guidelines and contained no links, I won't bother. Apparently this is a safe space.
"Every year the world is becoming a much more dangerous place for women."
Absolutely 100% correct, PK. Not least of all because the "toxic masculinity" of the "patriarchy" is being smashed. The West really is #TooStupidToSurvive.
Do you remember after 9/11, George W was President, there were plans for having Dubai providing nuclear security at our Florida ports.
From NBC AP update on 2/21/06:
"The president on Tuesday defended his administration's earlier approval of the sale of London-based Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Co. to Dubai Ports World, despite concerns in Congress it could increase the possibility of terrorism at American ports."
"A senior Homeland Security official, Stewart Baker, said this was the first-ever sale involving U.S. port operations to a state-owned company. "In that sense this is a new layer of controls," he said. Baker added that U.S. intelligence agencies were consulted "very early on to actually look at vulnerabilities and threats."
President George W Bush threatened to veto any obstructions from Congress, but in the end, if I remember correctly that sale did not occur.
I have a vague recollection of that Fran, but I was thinking more along the lines of sale involving hard assets as opposed to service companies. For instance, the "sale" of Uranium One, which has Uranium assets in the Western U.S., to a Russian company. While it looks bad for Hillary having this approved on her watch at State (and it should look bad, don't get me wrong) in the long run I'm not terribly worried about it. It simply takes an administration with the cajones to say "you don't own that anymore" to reverse the deal. Heaven knows the Russians have provided more than sufficient pretext to do that.
Yes, that looked very bad and I think that was one of the many things she did that cost her the election but it's true that there were others sitting in on that deal that gave the nod, right? The people in the Deep State come straight to my mind, President Barrack Hussein "I'll have more flexibility after the election" Obama. Who the heck can prove President Trump did anything or said anything close to that? What actually did Trump do in Russia. As far as I know he never even built a Trump Tower there, not even a public golf course, not even a hot tub. Hillary and Obama teamed and schemed to get rid of Trump because he disrupted their international money schemes. I'm a plain Jane of so so brain depth and even I know that.