Is Germany Becoming Germany — Again?

Victor Davis Hanson

Merkel’s evident anti-Americanism is a familiar refrain. 

"The more things change, well, the more they . . . So it is with the perpetual German resentments of the U.S.

"Recently German chancellor Angela Merkel reminded us of that German fixation, when she made some astounding statements to the German media that revealed what many Americans had long ago surmised.

"Merkel all but announced that Germany, or for that matter Europe itself, is no longer really an ally of the United States: “There is no doubt that Europe needs to reposition itself in a changed world. . . . The old certainties of the post-war order no longer apply.”

"She insisted that Germany views the democratic United States as not much different from autocratic Russia and Communist China: Urging Europe to present a united front in the face of Russia, China, and the U.S., she said, “They are forcing us, time and again, to find common positions.” And Merkel concluded that therefore Germany must find “political power” commensurate with its economic clout to forge a new independent European path." . . . .

Don Surber's Highlights of the News for June 7th; some excerpts.

Don Surber

. . . "ITEM 6: Ladybugs.

"On September 20, 2018, NBC reported, "Where have all the ladybugs gone? Scientists worry as non-pest insect population dwindles. Scientists say light pollution and global warming may be to blame for declining insect population."

"We found them.

"The Associated Press reported, "A huge blob that appeared on the National Weather Service’s radar wasn’t a rain cloud, but a massive swarm of ladybugs over Southern California. Meteorologist Joe Dandrea says the array of bugs appeared to be about 80 miles wide as it flew over San Diego Tuesday."

"That proves global warming is over. Praise President Trump.

"ITEM 7: Climate Home News reported, "Joe Biden has promised to crack down on China’s coal power spree in other countries if elected US president in 2020."

"In 2008, he said, "No coal plants here in America. Build them, if they're going to build them, over there in China."

"He's a political weathervane.

"A big, dumb, creepy, sleepy political weathervane.

"ITEM 8: Agence-France Presse reported, "As most US farmers feel the brunt of the trade war with China, some, like garlic and honey producers who have struggled for years, are applauding new, higher tariffs on Chinese goods.

" "'It's been a pretty exciting time for us in Gilroy, California,' Ken Christopher, whose family runs Christopher Ranch, the nation's largest garlic grower, told AFP.

" 'Though nearly all garlic consumed in America was grown in the US prior to 1993, that changed almost overnight when Chinese exporters began flooding the US market with their product, all but wiping out garlic growers across the country, Christopher said."

"Be American. Buy American. Ward off vampires with American garlic." . . .

California Is The Future The Liberal Elite Wants For You

"California will continue to circle the drain, and barring revolution – a real one, with all the attendant bad stuff for the ruling class – there’s no coming out of it. They’re dining on zebras in the Caracas zoo and yet the socialist revolution marches on. California is no different; it’s just a decade behind the Venezuelan vanguard."

Townhall

"California has morphed from paradise into a garbage state run by garbage people for their own garbage benefit and amusement. The “garbage” part is literal – once the Sierra Nevada mountains symbolized the state; now, towering heaps of trash and human waste do. Welcome to what the Democrats want for all of America. Just watch your step. Literally. 

"If it were not for the climate, something the liberals in charge of my state have nothing to do with as much as they think they do, it would likely be a nearly empty desert once again. But the sun shines, the beach beckons and the palm trees sway over a population of morons who keep electing proggy fascists to run the place. Which they are doing, right into the ground. 

"Where once people flocked to make their dreams come true, you now pay multiples more for a UHaul heading out than heading in. The great California middle class, made up of the Normal people whose hard work and ingenuity made it the Golden State (even though Hollywood types got the publicity), is fleeing to places where they can afford to live, and where the government doesn’t hate them. 

"And hate them Sacramento does . . ."

. . . "Already, petty crime has been effectively legalized. Crooks get a free pass on the first $950 a day they steal." . .

. . . "It’s doomed. And what’s important to understand is that the liberal elite wants the same thing for the rest of America. To our ruling class, California is not a cautionary example. It’s the goal for our whole country." . . .

Garrison

Illegal Alien Invasion Part Of Left’s Plan To Control Electoral College

OAN "Following the loss of the 2016 election, Democrats are scrambling to make sure they control the electoral college the next time round. Illegal aliens could be a big part of their plan.

"One America’s Pearson Sharp explains."

Joe Biden: Leader-in-Waiting of the Free World

Tony Branco

Joe Biden is relishing a fight with Trump over China

Throughout his long political career, Biden was never known as a bright bulb.  But his comments on China after decades of Chinese economic and cyber-warfare against America are staggering, even for him.

 "The Pathetic Joe Biden " . . . "David Harsanyi has a terrific Twitter compilation of Biden’s long-record of support not only for the Hyde Amendment, but for restricting partial-birth abortion, and once upon a time even the Mexico City policy (first adopted by the Reagan Administration in 1984) that bans U.S. foreign aid for abortion overseas. I especially like this old quote from Slow Joe: “I don’t like the Supreme Court decision on abortion. I think it went too far. I don’t think that a woman has the sole right to say what should happen to her body.”

"The standard line of the media is that it is Republicans who have become extreme on abortion. It might be worth reviewing some history to show just how radicalized in abortion absolutism Democrats have become. Remember George McGovern, the candidate  of “acid, amnesty, and abortion”? Actually the last item in the list is incorrect. McGovern entered the 1972 campaign season with the position that abortion was a matter that should be left to state legislatures (which is the default Republican position today), and he successfully resisted attempts at including a pro-abortion plank in the Democratic platform in 1972. He openly rejected abortion-on-demand.  There must be regulating legislation, McGovern thought: “You can’t just let anybody walk in and request an abortion.” . . .

How can any Republican ever govern with all this liberal propaganda against him?

Rich Terrell

Hillary proclaims she won the popular vote and Bobby O'Rourke is praised for coming close to Ted Cruz; what was all that favorable press coverage worth to them as in-kind campaign contributions?

Today in hating Trump  "The media constantly bends, folds and mutilates everything President Donald John Trump does because the press is run by Peter Pans who will never grow up.
"Their obsession with faking news about President Trump is koi fishing.
"This refers to a particular event on November 6, 2017.
"CNN's story was headlined, "Trump feeds fish, winds up pouring entire box of food into koi pond."
"Feeding fish is a breaking international news story?
"Buried in the story was this paragraph: "The move got Trump some laughs, and a smile from Abe, who actually appeared to dump out his box of food ahead of Trump."
"Appeared?" . . .

CNN Editor Believes Bette Midler Would Destroy Trump in Election . . . "Katz’s claim was posted a day after Midler tweeted a fake quote of Trump calling Republicans “the dumbest group of voters in the country.” Midler later apologized for sharing the debunked quote. However, Midler’s apology made her look a little too sane for her liking, so she proceeded to fume over Trump’s tuxedo." . . .

Central Park Five Miniseries Repeats Lie that Trump Called for Death Penalty for Minors  . . . "It is false to claim that Trump called for the boys to be killed. For one thing, he was calling for bringing back the death penalty in the state of New York in general. He said in an interview with Larry King at the time that he supported the death penalty only "if the woman died" and if perpetrator was "at a certain age. If they're minors, they should be treated very strongly." All of the boys were minors at the time and would not have been subject to the death penalty if it were reinstated, anyway.
"Don't forget, in 1989, New York City was experiencing an extremely high crime rate, and residents were losing patience with city efforts to get it under control. The subject of the death penalty was a popular topic of conversation at the time so it wasn’t particularly unusual that Trump weighed in with his opinion. Nonetheless, ever since, media outlets have continued to promote the trope that Trump wanted to execute innocent children as though it is a current news story in their never-ending Trump derangement.
"It’s not the truth but it fits the narrative that the left pushes about President Trump – that he is a racist and hates black and brown people. It’s ridiculous. Unfortunately, it is not at all surprising."

California City Officials Fight To Keep Chick-Fil-A From Doing Business

Daily Wire

" 'A San Mateo County official is pushing to stop a Chick-fil-A restaurant from opening up in Redwood City," reports CBS Local news. "The McDonald’s restaurant on Whipple could soon be tuning into a Chick-fil-A, making it the chain’s 13th restaurant in the San Francisco Bay Area."
"San Mateo County supervisor David Canepa told reporters he is seeking to prevent the restaurant from obtaining an "architectural permit" due to its founder, Dan Cathy, previously expressing support for traditional marriage and for donating funds to pro-marriage groups.
" 'This would not go before the city council — because it’s an existing use, it would just be administerial for the planning commission," Canepa said. "When people think of the Chick-fil-A logo — what they think of is anti-LGBTQ."
"Canepa hopes the community pressure will be strong enough to persuade Chick-fil-A away from doing business. "What we are trying to do is to make sure Chick-fil-A — if they want to do business here — that there is a lot of pressure here and that they should do the right thing and withdraw their application," he said.
"Craig Wiesner of the San Mateo County LGBTQ Commission supports Canepa in his quest to stop Chick-fil-A from opening in the city. Ironically, he told reporters in the very same sentence that city government should not prevent companies from conducting business while simultaneously calling on the community to prevent Chick-fil-A from conducting business." . . .

Flashback to the Obama days:

One of few non anti Chick fil a cartoons

Trump's hardball on Mexico ... is working

Monica Showalter  "Risky as President Trump's tariff threat tactic on Mexico is, it appears to be ... working.

"Trump's hardball measures have gotten Mexico to deploy some serious measures to keep the migrant surge into the U.S. from becoming a flood. Somehow, a trade treaty works best when there's a security treaty underlying it, and Mexico thus far seems to recognize this. The markets, by the way, are noticing.

"According to Fox News:

Reports in the evening indicated that Mexico's negotiators with Washington have offered to immediately deploy 6,000 National Guard troops to the border with Guatemala. Additionally, Mexico has reportedly agreed to a major overhaul of reasonable asylum protocols, which would require asylum applicants to seek permanent refuge in the first country they arrive in after fleeing their home countries.

"...and...

Also on Thursday, Mexico's financial intelligence agency announced it had frozen the bank accounts of 26 people who it claimed "have presumably participated in migrant smuggling and the organization of illegal migrant caravans."

The agency said it had detected money transfers from central Mexico to six Mexican border cities presumably related to the caravans.

"Here's another one, a particularly satisfying one cited by Breitbart:

Mexican authorities arrested two men suspected of promoting and organizing the migrant caravans that moved thousands of migrants from Central America to the U.S. border. Officials claim that the two men demanded money from Central American migrants in exchange for getting them illegally into the U.S." . . .

How to get Mexico to pay attention to our border incursions...  . . . "The tariff threat appears to be getting some results, as we see in news reports. 

"At the same time, do not underestimate Mexican public opinion.  In other words, most Mexicans do not like the caravans walking through their country either.

"As I've said before, President Trump's unconventional approach is often a step ahead of his critics.  On this issue, he is again." . . .

Amazing photographs of the Normandy beaches

Wikipedia

Notice the hedgerow country that was a deathtrap for so many troops that survived the murderous beaches - only to be killed by ambush among the tall hedges.

.

Aerial photos of D-Day Normandy sites captured by drone

. . . "This photo taken on Thursday May 30, 2019 with a drone shows Pointe du Hoc, near Colleville-sur-Mer, Normandy. At the Pointe du Hoc, where Allied forces had to scale cliffs to silence Nazis guns, the limestone and clay cliffs have eroded but remains of the fortified location part of Germany's Atlantic Wall defensive system are a powerful vestige of WWII. (AP Photo/David Vincent)" . . .

. . . "In this photo taken with a drone, a dummy paratrooper representing a WWII paratrooper from the 82nd Airborne hangs on the bell tower of the church of Sainte Mere Eglise, in Normandy, France, Thursday, May 9, 2019. Seventy-five years ago, American paratrooper John Steele dangled from a clock tower in Sainte-Mere-Eglise after his parachute got caught during the D-Day invasion, and survived. (AP Photo/David Vincent)"

Trump hugs the last survivor of Omaha Beach’s company A: The President pays tribute to 'tough guy' who stormed the beaches in ‘suicide wave’ and saw half of his comrades killed in minutes

Actually this Company A suffered more than half casualties; they lost about 95%.

UK Daily Mail

"Donald Trump today offered a rare show of emotion when he hugged a 94-year-old veteran who stormed the beaches of Normandy during the Second World War. 

The President embraced former Private Russell Pickett and praised him as a 'tough guy' at the moving ceremony at the American cemetery in Colleville-sur-Mer in Normandy. 

"Private Pickett, who was aged 19, was among the elite troops of Company A, 116th Infantry, who were specially chosen to storm the sands of Omaha Beach during the first wave of the D-Day landings. 

"Their mission was so dangerous it was known as D-Day's 'suicide wave' - and the men gained notoriety for their ferocious fighting of the Nazis 75 years ago today - but unfortunately 50 per cent of them became casualties.

"The former private in the 29th Infantry Division was immediately injured by German gun fire as he ran on the sand and he still suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder." . . .

. . . "During the invasion, Trump said, 'Ray ran back into the water. He dragged out one man after another. He was shot through the arm. His leg was ripped open by shrapnel. His back was broken. He nearly drowned. He had been on the beach for hours, bleeding and saving lives when he finally lost consciousness. He woke up the next day on a cot beside another badly wounded soldier. He looked over and saw his brother Bill. They made it. They made it. They made it. At 98 years old, Ray is here with us today with his fourth Purple Heart and his third Silver Star from Omaha. Ray, the free world salutes you. " . . .

Also in this very same company with Private Pickett were the Bedford Boys: 

The Bedford Boys: A Time for Remembrance and Gratitude

. . . "On D-Day, 34 young men from Bedford and Bedford County were serving in Company A, one of the units spearheading the initial assault on the Normandy beaches. Before the day was over, 19 of those young men of Company A were dead, the highest per capita D-Day losses of any community in the nation. One soldier lost his twin brother. Two other brothers died there. Three more Bedford soldiers died in subsequent fighting. Another young Bedford soldier, Benjamin Hubbard of F Company, also lost his life that day." . . .

Pictured here: Company A, 116th Infantry, 29th Division: 95 % casualties in the first wave at Omaha Beach; June 6th, 1944

The UK Guardian reported in 2003: The suicide wave  "On 6 June 1944, the elite troops of Company A, 116th Infantry, stormed the sands of Omaha Beach as part of the first wave of the D-Day landings. Within minutes, most were dead, including 19 men from one small town in rural Virginia. In this extract from his gripping book, Alex Kershaw details the lives and deaths of these young men, and tells here for the first time how the bravery of a British naval officer helped save many of the Bedford Boys...   Read part two of 'The suicide wave' here" . . .

British singer Chris De Burgh had a deep reverence for those who fought in WW2 and paid homage to them in this song from the 1980s:  Say Goodbye To It All

The Real COST of ILLEGAL Immigration, and It's Not Avocados

Socio-Political Journal

"Last week, more than 1,000 immigrants surged through the U.S. southern border near El Paso, Texas — the largest number ever encountered by U.S. Border Control and Protection, with the previous record being set in the month of April, which was 424.

"This unprecedented invasion spurred President Donald J. Trump to slap a 5 percent tariff on goods from Mexico in an effort to get the Mexican government to take seriously the problem of undocumented immigrants crossing the U.S.-Mexico border.

"The mainstream media, predictably, started lamenting on how the price of avocados for American consumers may potentially increase a few cents, and completely ignored the $200 billion American taxpayers pay each year in illegal immigration costs. Not to mention the cost of illegal drugs on our youth, and the cost to education and health care on American taxpayers.

"So, let’s take a look at these dollars and cents.

"According to a recent analysis done by Chris Conover, an American Enterprise Institute adjunct scholar, “all told, Americans cross-subsidize health care for unauthorized immigrants to the tune of $18.5 billion a year.”

"Although current federal policy prohibits federal tax funding of health care to unauthorized immigrants through Medicaid or Obamacare, “rough estimates suggest that the nation’s 3.9 million uninsured immigrants who are unauthorized likely receive about $4.6 billion in health services paid for by federal taxes, $2.8 billion in health services financed by state and local taxpayers and another $3 billion bankrolled through ‘cost-shifting,’ i.e. higher payments by insured patients to cover hospital uncompensated care losses, and roughly $1.5 billion in physician charity care,” Mr. Conover wrote in Forbes.

"Public education of illegal immigrants’ children is also hemorrhaging the American taxpayer, as under federal law, all students are eligible to receive schooling regardless of their immigration status." . . .

"ANGRY PELOSI Slams Her Hands on Podium as She Attacks Trump’s Proposed Tariffs on Mexican Imports"

The Democrats are preventing Trump from securing the border
. . . "The answer can be found in Section 7 of the U.S. Constitution, which says, “All Bills for raising Revenue shall originate in the House of Representatives…” The Democrats control the House of Representatives, and they have prevented him from getting the funds he needs for his other border security measures.

"For instance, the Democrats refused to provide funding for a border wall. Left with no other options, Trump declared a national emergency so he could start construction of the wall with money that had been appropriated for other purposes. But he still doesn’t have his wall, and the crisis at the border is escalating.

"He is turning now to border security measures that he can implement without additional funding, such as imposing a tariff on goods imported from Mexico. I expect others to follow." . . .

Deep State: First, the attempted coup. Now, the political prisoner ...

Monica Showalter  . . . Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez "gets a day off the idiot list for this principled political opposition. And whether she knows it or not, she's taking on a very sick political situation quite correctly."
. . . 

"Well, it's going on now, and Russia's Putin administration must be smiling in disgust at the U.S. hypocrisy, doing to Manafort exactly what the Russians did to Magnitsky and then haughtily placing sanctions onto the Russians as a human rights issue. And they didn't even know Manafort, Manafort's earlier crimes involved Ukraine, not Russia. 

"We are looking at a travesty of justice here, based on a deep state still way out of control. Ocasio-Cortez has put her finger on something important and for once, she's right."

Thomas Lifson: Dems need to be careful what they wish for

"It’s always dangerous to call for a standard for President Trump that you cannot live up to yourself. With Nancy Pelosi reportedly out to imprison President Trump, and House Oversight Committee chairman Elijah Cummings claiming that he “deserves the mark of impeachment, top Democrats seem to be calling for serious penalties for misconduct.  Real law & order fanatics?

"Maybe they should think that over, as Andrew Kerr of the Daily Caller News Foundation reminds them:" . . .

House Oversight Chairman Elijah Cummings’s wife has funneled hundreds of thousands of dollars from her charity to her private for-profit organization, according to a previously undisclosed cost-sharing arrangement that multiple experts said raises red flags.
Maya Rockeymoore Cummings’s charity, the Center for Global Policy Solutions (CGPS), paid her for-profit venture, Global Policy Solutions LLC, over $250,000 in “management fees” between 2013 and 2015, according to the charity’s audited financial statements covering those years. The management fees were paid in addition to a cost-sharing agreement where the charity pays for its share of equipment, personnel and other expenditures.
Rockeymoore Cummings’s charity is funded by companies with interests before her husband’s congressional committee, according to the Washington Examiner.

. . .

Townhall