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.
Michael Trueblood
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.