Category Archives: Nationhood

When In The US, Speak English

Conservatism, English, Israel, Nationhood, Republicans

I remember an old joke that was told in Israel, and was aimed at the ultra-orthodox who dress oddly and won’t speak Hebrew:

An Israeli in shorts and a Tembel Hat is walking down the street, when from across the street an ultra-orthodox Jew in black garb shouts obscenities at him in Yiddish. These Jews believe that speaking Hebrew before Messiah arrives is heretic. To ensure messiah comes (often referred to as the longest coming in history), the Jew has to remain weak, dispossessed and persecuted—a sickly spirit without a corporeal country.

The Israeli shouts back, “Speak Hebrew, goy!” Goy means non-Jew.

Kova Tembel:

This reminds me of Donald Trump’s retort to Jeb Bush rattling off in Spanish on the campaign trail. The Trump retort was, incidentally, not only righteous but culturally conservative in the extreme. CNN:

Trump took a jab Wednesday at Jeb Bush for using Spanish to dismiss the mogul’s conservative credibility.

… “I like Jeb,” Trump told Breitbart News. “He’s a nice man. But he should really set the example by speaking English while in the United States.”

Trump was referring to the former Florida governor’s comments to reporters on Tuesday about Trump’s policies.

“El hombre no es conservador,” Bush said, which translates to, “This man is not a conservative.” …

We Are The World

Europe, IMMIGRATION, Nationhood

Sanctimonious British and American media have covered the refugee crisis in Europe with distinct disdain for … the native populations. After all, aren’t the latter strangers in their own land? What right have they to worry about and wall-off their small piece of the world?

The Greeks, you will agree, have enough problems of their own. The islanders of Kos struggle to make a living. But now they have to fight for their small, compromised corner of the country. The Greek island lives off tourism. This will not last.

So many migrants have slipped into the small Greek island that its 30,000 population is struggling to cope amid rising fears that disgruntled tourists will begin boycotting the idyllic holiday destination, a long-time favourite of Britons.

The new — and very unwelcome — arrivals sleep under trees in the park, on sun loungers at the beach, and on the ground by the police station. Or they take their chances at a dirty, makeshift camp, set up in a derelict hotel close to Lambi beach where the traffickers’ inflatable dinghies creep in each dawn with their next load of human cargo.

(Daily Mail.)

A picture of refugee men ogling British tourists:

Brave Okanogan County Firefighters Fight & Fall Defending Community

Homeland Security, Nationhood

Three of our state’s brave firefighters have died battling the wildfires raging in Okanogan County, in north-central Washington. According to KING 5’s John Langeler, “Okanogan County Sheriff Frank Rogers says the three who died were in a vehicle that crashed but that the ‘crash did not kill them.’ His office was investigating the scene Thursday, then will turn it over to federal investigators, who will try to determine how the fire overran the firefighters.”

The best way to get a glimpse into these precious lives lost is to listen to those who knew and loved them. So very sad:

Kurdish Separatists: They Fight ISIS, But Threaten Statists

Federalism, Foreign Policy, Iraq, Just War, Middle East, Nationhood, States' Rights

The Turks lump together as terrorists both the Islamic State and the paramilitary wing of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, which is fighting ISIS. “Kurds in Iraq and Syria are among the most formidable opponents of the extremist group.” And the US agrees. Americans, after all, hate separatists. It reminds them of their lost right of secession, removed by force by Abe Lincoln. Born of a loose confederation of independent states, Americans now favor a strong, overweening central state, and they want to see the same in the tribal lands of the Middle East.

Turkey’s military has been ramping up attacks on Kurdish separatists since last month. The government decided to join the U.S.-led military campaign against Islamic State while simultaneously launching assaults on the PKK, which is listed as a terrorist organization by the U.S. and Turkey.

MORE.