ArthurinCali has a good read on how the population in Africa looks to be stretching well beyond their and our ability to feed it. It dovetails with what’s been on my mind lately. There needs to be a new way of interacting with the third world areas. So far nobody seems to have hit upon it.
Author: photog
Guest Contributor – Milo Mindbender – 08JAN2025 – Africa Always Wins
It appears to repeat history to say ” Africa always wins” referring to the continent not the people. Historically the only time the Africans continent is productive is when under a native or forgien rule that quelshes any discontent this has been repeated ad nauseum in almost every portion of that continent. Having to deal with the dictator dujoir is a fact of life, and the cost of doing business. China might just have to discover this for themselves, European nations did from the early 19th through the late 20th centuries, no matter how hard you tried the tribal influence overrode progress every time.
Global Let’s Make a Deal – Part 1
Now that we’ve had a taste of what it’s like to let the third world move into your first world country, I’m pretty sure the majority of Americans can see why it’s a really bad idea. Many of these people are incapable of living in an advanced society. They have neither the skills nor the discipline to find a place for themselves in the modern world. And thus, we see the reason for deportation. Our society would have to support on many levels people who would not be productive members of this country.
Now let’s pull back a little and look at the really big picture. The Earth as a whole. Look at the continent of Africa, the Middle East, Latin America. Not all of these areas are made up of nothing but failed states full of squalor and crime. But a lot of it is. Even look right at our neighborhood. Haiti is about 650 miles from Key West. This is a place that has always been desperately poor and politically dysfunctional. A case could be made that the most stable it’s ever been was under the dictator “Papa Doc” Duvalier. Sure, he stole everything that wasn’t nailed down but he eliminated the gang warfare that exists whenever a strongman isn’t in charge.
Currently, the Haitian government has ceased to exist and the streets are ruled by gang leaders who occasionally dabble in cannibalism to intimidate their rivals and, come to think of it, everyone else. So, what we see is the kind of stone age tribalism that existed in prehistoric times. But now instead of hundreds or thousands of cave men we’re looking at places that have millions or even billions of people adding to the chaos.
I guess the easiest answer to what should be done is to build walls at our borders and let them sort it out for themselves. That is one solution. My guess is that would slowly return these areas to the population densities that existed before the Industrial Revolution. I say this because I assume the incredible increase in the population of Sub-Saharan Africa is completely dependent on food and medicine and technology that is provided by Western countries. If these things were taken away there would be an initial dying off of the population followed by a new equilibrium population at a much lower level than currently found. And stabilized in this way life would eventually resume its pre-colonial pattern with tribal people living a subsistence existence.
But that is a temporary condition. In the long run most of the third world locations will be considered useful for their mineral or other resources. For example, the Republic of Congo has a large list of minerals that are considered critical for many important industries. So even though it is one of the poorest and least stable places on Earth, Western (and Eastern) countries are greatly interested in the right to extract this wealth. But what to do about the Congolese?
And this same question applies to many other places. What is the path forward when the people who live somewhere are hopelessly backward? The old colonial model was to come in and take over and treat the natives as essentially subjects. Think of the British in India or Africa. They organized the natives into employees in the industries that the British saw as profiting Britain. So, agriculture or mining or whatever wealth could be extracted. Well, if we remember out twentieth century history, that didn’t work out in the end. Basically, the communists taught the natives about the concept of the consent of the ruled. And thus, we see the fragments of the various colonial empires looking around and trying to figure out how to rule themselves as successfully and efficiently as the Europeans did. But for the most part, the third world is still the dysfunctional third world. Something new is needed.
What it seems to me will have to evolve is a symbiotic relationship between the first and third worlds. Currently we cut a deal with whatever strongman is running Congo or Venezuela or Libya and he takes 90% of the money that belongs to his people. And this goes on until the next leader takes over and the same pattern repeats. It seems to me that we are in a position to help ourselves but also pull some of these places into modernity. I’m not talking about trying to turn Afghans into feminists or any nonsense like that. I’m wondering if we can create a buffer state within these backward places that can act as an incubator for progress.
Let’s think about that for Part 2.
08JAN2025 – Quote of the Day
The practical reason for freedom is that freedom seems to be the only condition under which any kind of substantial moral fiber can be developed — we have tried law, compulsion and authoritarianism of various kinds, and the result is nothing to be proud of.
Albert Jay Nock
08JAN2025 – Photo of the Day
How Sweet It Is
I watched a few video clips today. There were a few highlights. Justin Trudeau did his sad face and said he will resign his office as PM in March. Oh, boo, hoo. Very sad, too bad.
And then I saw that sideshow with a smiling Kamala next to Speaker Johnson as she read out the numbers on her Electoral College loss to Donald Trump in the November election. Yay, Kamala! You go girl! Brat Summer Kamala, woo hoo! That’s the fun way to imagine a future of winning unencumbered by pathetic present-day failure.
So that’s the four-year anniversary of J6. Well, that’s a pretty good day. I guess it could have been better. Maybe Joe Biden wandering into a jet engine or off a parapet. But it will definitely do. So that will be the last of J6 for the rest of eternity. Well, not quite. We can expect some Congressional investigations that may end up in Kash Patel’s lap to prosecute. But that’s a story for another day. Let’s just say there won’t be any more anniversaries on the news.
When I think about what the next few months will be like I’m guessing most of what we’ll see will be the Senate cabinet approval hearings. And the captured media will broadcast the likes of Adam Schiff, Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren and Chuck Schumer grandstanding rumors and slander against all of the Trump nominees. That’s only to be expected.
But it makes me wonder what kind of strategy is being formulated by the principals in meetings with Trump right now. After all, time is short and there’s a lot to do. Hopefully they’ve long ago assembled long lists of government employees based on either actual crime against the American people or responsibility for divisions or areas of the bureaucracy where crimes were committed.
As an example, if I were Kash Patel I’d search out the documents that declared that white men made up the most dangerous terrorist threat to the United States and get all the names associated with that decision. Then these people could be brought into the Senate and made to testify. And they would have to provide some factual basis for these pronouncements. Of course, at the end of the whole thing they’d be fired for sure. But toying with them would be fun. It would be sort of like the show trials that Stalin and his boys used to put on in Moscow. Who knows? Some of them might even name names when tempted by the hope (false of course) of saving their jobs. Maybe they’d give up Wray or Garland. But either way it would be fun.
If Trump wanted to really increase his popularity, he could go back to his reality tv roots and set up a weekly program on X or Truth Social or wherever, on which he provided a running tally of how much money he had saved the US government by firing bureaucrats. And he could highlight the show with a profile of some especially over-paid leech that also had caused some particularly egregious harm to the American public. I want to nominate Rachel Levine as the stand out for week 1. This eye sore has been a boil on the neck of this country ever since it was first announced he would be donning the skirt and wig as United States Assistant Secretary for Health in the Department of Health and Human Services. And just to add insult to injury he is now an “admiral” somehow.
Trump could reuse his “You’re fired” tagline but instead of calling the show, “The Apprentice,” he could call it, “The Ejected.” Maybe he can have a graphic that shows the victim being launched from his office chair and follow a trajectory that lands somewhere novel each week. One day it could be into the ocean or maybe a shark tank, another time it could be one of those industrial scale wood chippers, the ones you can throw a whole redwood into. Now of course no one would actually be harmed but think of how much fun it would be imagining it.
Well, as you can see, I’m letting my imagination get the best of me. But that’s what it’s like before Trump takes office. Later on, the reality of the constraints that government puts on the president will sink in. But for now, it’s Rachel Levine in a trajectory headed for the moon. How sweet it is!
07JAN2025 – Quote of the Day
[Isaiah’s Job; The Atlantic Monthly (June 1936) (Part 14)]
One of the most suggestive episodes recounted in the Bible is that of a prophet’s attempt — the only attempt of the kind on the record, I believe — to count up the Remnant. Elijah had fled from persecution into the desert, where the Lord presently overhauled him and asked what he was doing so far away from his job. He said that he was running away, not because he was a coward, but because all the Remnant had been killed off except himself. He had got away only by the skin of his teeth, and, he being now all the Remnant there was, if he were killed the True Faith would go flat. The Lord replied that he need not worry about that, for even without him the True Faith could probably manage to squeeze along somehow if it had to; “and as for your figures on the Remnant,” He said, “I don’t mind telling you that there are seven thousand of them back there in Israel whom it seems you have not heard of, but you may take My word for it that there they are.”
Albert Jay Nock
07JAN2025 – Photo of the Day
Change to Get Behind
Greetings folks. In 2025 the big news is corporations (and the federal government) will be bringing all their workers back to the office again. I guess a five-year vacation is about enough. With an actual president in charge, it seems like people will need to stop watching YouTube videos all day and start wearing pants again. But not you Jeffrey Toobin. That ship has sailed.
The new meme that’s out there coming from the Left is “Let’s forget the past and find common ground.” Which translates to “We tried to destroy all of you and Trump but failed so how about we make believe we don’t hate you in exchange for you doing everything we tell you to do.” It’s such a tempting offer. It has almost everything, except us winning. You see this from Democrat congressmen and senators. They’ll tell you how nothing will be passed without their approval so the compromise position is Republicans let them dictate the acceptable legislation agenda.
I guess we’re about to find out if Johnson and Thune are any better than Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell were back in Trump’s first term. It’s a cinch they can’t be any worse. Luckily, I think Trump has learned a thing or two in the interim and he won’t let these turkeys screw things up like their predecessors. In fact, maybe Trump intends to administer the government more or less by executive order. If I were in his shoes, I think I would declare a national emergency and pay for the deportation by commandeering private resources like airliners and rail transportation to funnel these people into Mexico and let the Mexicans figure out how to get rid of them.
And I’m only half joking about how to handle the deportations. I think a national emergency will allow him to sideline every local democrat judge who will attempt to block his every move. Because it truly is a national emergency and whatever he has to do to fix this is justified and in the long run cost effective. I can’t even imagine how many billions of dollars are currently spent on the feeding, housing, medical care and judicial costs for these tens of millions of illegal aliens.
But this is just me talking. Does Donald Trump have a plan that will accomplish the things he says he will do and does he have the nerve to follow through on those plans in the face of relentless opposition from the Democrats in congress, in the courts and all of the deep state personnel who will do everything imaginable to prevent this from happening?
I think Trump should stage the deportation process to allow himself as much cover as possible. He should start by deporting all the serious criminals; the felons and the gang members. Practicing on this soft target will deflect a lot of the outrage and at the same time give him a chance to find all of the pitfalls and roadblocks that exist. Also, he can use them as the worst case for what he can expect from the home countries of the aliens. One of the Central American countries (can’t remember if it’s Honduras or Guatemala) has already stated that they will retaliate for their citizens being deported by evicting American troops from their country.
Well, it doesn’t sound like much of a threat. After we finish transferring their criminals back home, we can then pack up our troops and send them home. Win, win.
I guess, like everyone else, I’m anxious to see what Trump looks like in action. I don’t expect miracles but I’m curious to see just how hard he punishes his enemies in the federal executive agencies. Kash Patel will be the test case. He’s on record as saying he wants to shut down the FBI building and turn it into a museum. I hope he doesn’t. I’d prefer he just empty out the building, one fired FBI agent at a time until it’s down to single digit occupancy. Now that’s change I can get behind.
06JAN2025 – Quote of the Day
[Isaiah’s Job; The Atlantic Monthly (June 1936) (Part 13)]
In any given society the Remnant are always so largely an unknown quantity. You do not know, and will never know, more than two things about them. You can be sure of those — dead sure, as our phrase is — but you will never be able to make even a respectable guess at anything else. You do not know, and will never know, who the Remnant are, nor what they are doing or will do. Two things you do know, and no more: First, that they exist; second, that they will find you. Except for these two certainties, working for the Remnant means working in impenetrable darkness; and this, I should say, is just the condition calculated most effectively to pique the interest of any prophet who is properly gifted with the imagination, insight and intellectual curiosity necessary to a successful pursuit of his trade.
Albert Jay Nock