L Miller

From Martin Iles, reposted: Having lived in the USA for nearly two years, I've realised something. The USA and the remainder of the Western world are no longer aligned. We all laugh and mock when the Americans say, "Freedom!" because we truly think we're as free as they are. Wrong. We're not. Not even close. The laws, the mindset, and the behaviour, is totally different in this regard. Most of all, the governments are totally different. The USA's convictions around core freedoms are on a scale we do not share. Meanwhile, Donald Trump wins the popular vote, the electoral college, the House, and the Senate... a man who, in every other Western country, is held in open derision, if not contempt. For these and other reasons, we are not the same. Yet the West, including Australia, fully expect to rely on the USA for our very survival. If the world turns bad (which will happen - only a question of time), then the whole West, without America, is toast. So, you may ask - if we're not very aligned ideologically, then it must be that we bring something to the party militarily? Well, no... actually... we don't matter that much militarily. The USA has about 470 ships in its navy, including 11 aircraft carriers, 69 submarines, 75 destroyers... plus 110 new ships in the pipeline. Australia has about 30, including 3 destroyers, 7 frigates and 7 outdated submarines. The UK does a little better, with about 60. Meanwhile, the US has over 14,000 military aircraft. A staggering number. Australia has 252 military aircraft. The UK has 556. The US army has just shy of 1,000,000 uniformed personnel in its military. Australia has about 45,000. The USA spends 3.4% ($968 billion) of its GDP on defence. Australia spends 2% ($36.4 billion). The US spends as much as the next 15 largest military-spending countries (including China) combined. The USA has a fighting culture. The men shoot things (a lot) and hunt things, the veterans get favoured in everything from parking spots to boarding planes. A uniformed young man is thanked in the street a dozen times a day. "Oh, the Americans and their guns!" we say, in our smug way. Yes, they have a warrior culture. We do not. We don't have to, because we're a leech on theirs. How many young British men are willing to fight for their country? Now ask the same regarding young American men. The difference is about as wide as it could be. Militarily, we don't offer squat. Meanwhile, look at the way Australia works against America's interests by loving on China. China made us rich and we stay close. This is a Marxist regime with expansionist aims. Again, you have to spend time in the USA to realise just how vast a gulf there is between us on China. Europe, too. They let China have their way everywhere from Germany to Greenland, all the while importing Islam and sending their own people to court for saying hurty words. Somehow, we have landed the deal of a lifetime with the USA that says, "when the baddies come, you'll save us ok?" Because we can't save ourselves. And we live in peace. But we keep gnawing away at freedoms, keep enabling China, and get flabby and disinterested about our military because Uncle Sam's got it. And, let's be honest, Americans are widely looked down on. To add insult to injury, we don't think that highly of our protectors. So, the USA is finally saying "enough." I am here, I can tell you what the vibe is, and that's it. Trump is doing what people want in this regard. They're over it. And we come across all shocked and hard done by. We behave like people with no self-insight at all. Yes, the global alliance system is all over the place now. From America's perspective, it's about time. And I must say, though I be a proud Australian, I am forced to agree. Something has to change.

𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐕𝐀𝐑𝐃’𝐒 𝐎𝐖𝐍 𝐒𝐓𝐔𝐃𝐘 𝐄𝐗𝐏𝐎𝐒𝐄𝐃 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐓𝐑𝐔𝐓𝐇 𝐀𝐁𝐎𝐔𝐓 𝐃𝐈𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐒𝐈𝐓𝐘 — 𝐒𝐎 𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐘 𝐁𝐔𝐑𝐈𝐄𝐃 𝐈𝐓 𝐅𝐎𝐑 𝐅𝐈𝐕𝐄 𝐘𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐒 Robert Putnam is not a conservative. He’s not a Republican operative. He’s not a Fox News commentator. He’s a 𝐇𝐚𝐫𝐯𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐟𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐨𝐫, a past president of the 𝐀𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐏𝐨𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐒𝐜𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐀𝐬𝐬𝐨𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧, a recipient of the 𝐍𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐇𝐮𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐌𝐞𝐝𝐚𝐥 — awarded to him personally by 𝐁𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐎𝐛𝐚𝐦𝐚 𝐢𝐧 𝟐𝟎𝟏𝟑 — and the author of 𝘉𝘰𝘸𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘈𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘦, one of the most cited books in modern political science. He is, by any measure, a pillar of the liberal academic establishment. And in 2001, he completed the 𝐥𝐚𝐫𝐠𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐬𝐭𝐮𝐝𝐲 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐧 𝐜𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐜 𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐀𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐚 — nearly 𝟑𝟎,𝟎𝟎𝟎 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰𝐬 across 𝟒𝟏 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐬 nationwide — and the results destroyed the central premise of the diversity industry. What did he find? In the most diverse communities, 𝐧𝐞𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐛𝐨𝐫𝐬 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐟 𝐚𝐬 𝐦𝐮𝐜𝐡 as they do in homogeneous settings. The greater the diversity, the 𝐟𝐞𝐰𝐞𝐫 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐯𝐨𝐭𝐞. The less they 𝐯𝐨𝐥𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐞𝐫. The less they 𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐲 and work on community projects. 𝐕𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐜𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐜 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐭𝐡 — trust, cooperation, friendship, community engagement — were 𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫 in more diverse settings (Putnam, 𝘚𝘤𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘷𝘪𝘢𝘯 𝘗𝘰𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘚𝘵𝘶𝘥𝘪𝘦𝘴, 2007). And here’s the part nobody mentions: the distrust wasn’t just between different racial groups. Trust declined 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐚𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐦𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐠𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐩. Diversity didn’t just erode inter-group cohesion — it eroded 𝐚𝐥𝐥 cohesion. People in diverse communities didn’t just distrust their neighbors of other races. They distrusted 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐞. Putnam called it “𝘩𝘶𝘯𝘬𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘥𝘰𝘸𝘯” — withdrawing from collective life entirely. So what did Putnam do with these findings? He 𝐬𝐚𝐭 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐟𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐬. He told the 𝘍𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘛𝘪𝘮𝘦𝘴 in 2006 that he delayed publication until he could “𝘥𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘭𝘰𝘱 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘢𝘭𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘯𝘦𝘨𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘦𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘥𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘺” — in other words, he wouldn’t release the data until he could attach a politically acceptable spin. He later admitted he feared his work would be “twisted” and used in the immigration debate. He worried about facing the same attacks that destroyed Daniel Patrick Moynihan after his 1965 report on the breakdown of the black family — another set of inconvenient data that was suppressed for decades because it didn’t fit the narrative. The 𝘕𝘦𝘸 𝘠𝘰𝘳𝘬 𝘛𝘪𝘮𝘦𝘴 covered it once. In 2007. The headline: “𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘋𝘰𝘸𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘋𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘺.” Then it vanished. No follow-up investigations. No Congressional hearings. No policy reconsiderations. The largest empirical study on civic engagement in American history — and the political class treated it like it never happened. Ask yourself why. A 𝐇𝐚𝐫𝐯𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐟𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐨𝐫 with 𝐎𝐛𝐚𝐦𝐚’𝐬 𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐦𝐞𝐝𝐚𝐥 𝐨𝐧 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐟 produced peer-reviewed data from 𝟑𝟎,𝟎𝟎𝟎 𝐀𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐬 showing that forced diversity corrodes the social fabric — and the institutions that worship diversity as a religion decided the data was too dangerous to discuss. They didn’t refute it. They didn’t replicate it and find different results. They just 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐢𝐭. Because the findings don’t threaten a policy. They threaten an 𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐲. 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐠𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐚 𝐦𝐞𝐝𝐚𝐥. 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐛𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡. 𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐥𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐧𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 — 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲’𝐫𝐞 𝐡𝐢𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠.

He should get a medal, and a battle axe with which to finish the job Or at least he would in a justice oriented society But the West is ruled by communists who revel in anarchotyranny, so the citizen will be punished by the state for defending his daughter and the migrant criminal who abused a little girl will face no consequences

what unpopular opinion about ABORTION can put you in this position???

Until recently, Hamideh Soleimani Afshar and her daughter were green card holders living lavishly in the United States. Afshar is the niece of deceased Iranian Major General Qasem Soleimani. She is also an outspoken supporter of the Iranian regime who celebrated attacks on Americans and referred to our country as the "Great Satan." This week, I terminated both Afshar and her daughter's legal status and they are now in ICE custody, pending removal from the United States. The Trump Administration will not allow our country to become a home for foreign nationals who support anti-American terrorist regimes.