This is truly a remarkable time. Doomsters may lament that, like frogs in slowly-heated water, the populace will gradually acclimate to lower standards of living and diminishing freedoms until it's too late to mount an opposition. What we are seeing instead is that, at a very organic and personal level, resistance is mounting. It may be true that most people will not put up a fight until their heels are at the edge of the cliff, but we are reaching the point at which the choice of fight-vs.-tumble-into-the-abyss is starkly before us. If this sentiment were confined to only one or two jurisidictions, these pockets of resistance would not hold--but peoples across the West are finally being pushed to the breaking point. This is only the beginning of a very tense year, but there is hope.
There is something very basic and true everywhere and always has been: people dislike being cold in their own homes. They hate that more than anything. It comes even before being hungry. You can tolerate hunger a little better if you are not freezing.
Yes, I thought the same thing when I looked at this 'journalist's' photo. She does not look like she spends much time home bound in a freezing apartment.
I was born in and spent most of my life in NYC where it was incomprehensible that heat and hot water would not be routinely covered by one's rent. O for those glorious years of raging steam radiators and cotton sweatshirts being sufficient to get one through winter indoors.
My first apt. in the area I live in now was carved out from an old house and my living space was excluded from the main house's heating system. It had electric baseboard heat instead--in a state with extremely high energy costs. I finally turned on the heat that first November when three pairs of socks could not keep my feet from freezing. My electric bill in the worst of winter averaged over $500/month and I kept that place as cold as was humanly endurable. That experience schooled me real good.
My brother and I shared a bedroom in a very nice NYC coop apt. on the northern side of the building and we had a room divider and the radiator was on his side and this was in the years before God created polyester fiberfilled comforters.
There's that moment when you wake up and want to stretch your legs out and you retract 'em again like someone shoved a hypodermic into your heels.
Lo, with my mother in the ground these fourteen years I still can't figure out why she never gave me an extra blanket.
Ha-Ha, I know that feeling of stretching out and retracting your legs. I still sleep with my legs pulled up so they fit inside my nightdress! I know that lack of money was why we didn't have enough blankets. My father worked at a printing works and he brought home felt covers that they used to cover the machines and my mother washed them and put them on our beds. Strange that your mother didn't supply more blankets when it sounds like she could have though.
Same push back happening in Canada. Western countries MUST get rid of our WEF globalist- compromised governments. We are ALL waking up to their insanity. The WHO pushing their ‘Pandemic Treaty’ on sovereign countries is a joke and Teadros is on media today whining that conspiracy theory ppl and mis-information is SINKING his ‘treaty’. No. It is that people see what is going on. Western countries are DONE with the insanity of these globalists and their climate HOAX tool used to go after our natural resources and NOW attacking our FARMS!!! Defund WHO, UN, WEF and the world will heal.
I'm loving it - i.e. the restrained rage in your comment. I feeling it too. I wanna see it spread like wildfire around the world in 2024. Like a new "pandemic" that seems to energise the average worker while causing globalists to suffer a fit of apoplexy before dying (preferably suddenly).
In the optmistic glow of the 1950s, when boys' comics foretold of a world where we would be zipping around in atomic-powered flying cars, the founding fathers of the EEC wrote in the preamble to the Treaty of Rome that they came together "Affirming as the essential objective of their efforts the constant improvement of the living and working conditions of their peoples" and, for the trente glorieuses, that promise was more or less adhered to and it was what mainstream politicians all promised, in their different ways.
Fast forward to the modern era of the Maastrict and Lisbon treaties, and there is a shift in tenor in the preamble to the overarching framework of the Treaty on European Union, which states a rather more qualified aim to "promote economic and social progress for their peoples, taking into account the principle of sustainable development". That more modestly stated and qualified aim now looks prescient: the degrading of living standards has been offset by technological wonders like smartphones, but as the Net Zero mania begins to take a real grip, even those diversionary toys are under threat becasue of the resource implications for manufacturing and powering them, to which we have to add the ripping away of the mask of liberalism by the Covidian demands for, er, masking, and other inane restrictions on freedom of movement and expression. As you say, this could be the year the frogs come to the boil.
Off topic, but I am sure many British people are not happy to hear that NATO Generals wants to send their (as yet unborn) children and grandchildren off to fight Russia . . .
@Eugyppius - I tremendously enjoy your beautifully scathing prose - you have turned it into an art form - it is a truly impressive display of precision-crafted English language. Pleasure to read - Bravo - keep it up!!
'There is good news here in the USA: Trump has moved from leading the corrupt, incompetent and senile Biden in the polls, to CRUSHING him. Biden's approval rating is sliding consistently below 40%, and Trump has a "favorablity rating" higher than his, and it's rising. Not only is there hope, there is great hope and concrete reasons for holding it.'
I don't mean to rain on your parade but there are screen shots saved from election returns on German media on election night (2020) that showed DJT with the electoral college in the bag; the numbers had all been upended in the dark of night once the mail-in ballots were counted.
At this point, the "greatest country in the world" is in no position to prevent the repeat of another banana republic election. (This may come down to prayer and fasting, and to begging for intervention by an angel.)
I see Biden is trying to improve his popularity by promising women some relief on government control of the sovereign rights to their bodies. Timeo Danaeos et dona ferentes! Same for politicians from Delaware.
This is what I don't get: "I see Biden is trying to improve his popularity by promising women some relief on government control of the sovereign rights to their bodies." Huh?
Not sure what to write. Biden, in his campaign will promise women that he will take decisive action to reestablish government protection of a woman’s right to reproductive autonomy. But…. Lifelong prevaricator that he is he will do no such thing.
Got it. Thanks. Of course not. He's never done anything honest or productive for anybody, except when he got in bed with the consumer credit card companies to make Delaware a profitable home for them.
I was commenting on a note about the Biden/Trump popularity. The Latin says, “I fear the Greeks even when bearing gifts.”—said of the Trojan horse, I believe.
As an American, I can only hope that our occupation of Europe, and the rest of the globe for that matter, will end sooner rather than later. Maybe then the resources spent securing the World's borders can be diverted to securing America's borders.
The key to happiness is minding one's own business.
Refocusing real horsepower on America and its people would lift the spirits of millions of citizens now staggering under the weight of medical problems and junk employment.
I agree. Germany and Japan plus many other nations must boot the U.S. out and reclaim their sovereignty as a free and independent people. But the entire western world is enslaved by the banking cabal in the City of London and other financial centers. A network of central banks that create fiat currencies by the trillions out of nothing is the mechanism of plunder and enslavement. Read: The Great Taking by David Webb for details.
I hope so! I’m sick of American tax dollars paying for Europes defense and whatever bullshit current transition to green energy scam. I wish the US would close every base outside of the USA , cut all foreign aid, including defense to everyone, everywhere . All of that money wasted on people who spit on American, they don’t deserve it. Then America can take care of its own people and problems. Also, don’t ever call America again when you have a problem, anyway we’ll block your number and social media like a toxic ex. Btw, I’ve been living in Europe for the past 12 years in Italy. The euro totally fucked this country thank you very much.
I came to Germany 22 years ago, and the country in its present state is unrecognizable compared to the place I arrived in way back then. I thought I had left behind me a government that surely was the most hypocritical in history. Starting non-stop, permanent wars all in the interest of exporting women's rights, unisex public bathrooms, and the right to choose to treat the unborn like inconvenient bowel movements etc. I also had a very high opinion of Germany, based on very thin evidence. I thought the western European social democracies were going to be utopian compared to the United States. Laughing just writing these words. I was confronted by the REAL Germany when my freelance business collapsed and I learned first hand how people who are really the working poor are treated here. They are treated such that it is very easy to imagine Germany's rulers simply want them dead or mentally and spiritually broken, leaving them powerless to resist. If the were just a little honest they would simply send the poor to forced labor camps. Three times I built my business up again, because perhaps the greatest blessing of having grown up American was the idea of living at the expense of other people, at the expense of the guy who drives a taxi on the night shift, maybe with 3 kids and a wife suffering from cancer. I should have no qualms about dipping into that guy's bank account. That's what European social democracies (the welfare state) call "social solidarity". The welfare state is the prime cause of the fall of Europe. It robs a people of all their dignity, honor and self-respect. The fundamental principle of the welfare state is "How do I get my fingers into my neighbor's wallet." It is often said that a people get exactly the government they deserve. And the Germans richly deserve their present state of affairs. However, I sincerely hope they will come to their senses and stop this lunacy. As for me, I'm on my way soon out of this horrible country, running as if chased by a pack of wolves (my health insurer and the German tax authorities). Sorry for going on so long. Thank you for the forum, and God bless you all!
You are right. Living next door to you, I remember a time when people were ashamed to be living on welfare and wanted out as fast as they could. Liberal Governments have successfully removed the stigma attached to that. Just curious. Where do you plan to escape to Prodigal?
The AfD is going to roll into town in a major way but meanwhile Germany has gotten permission to move troops through Poland to the border taking on some pipe dream of the “defense of Europe”. ZU VIEL IST ZU VIEL!
Hi Prodigal, see you removed your earlier reply. Still, here goes. I know how you feel. Don’t Know of good escapes. Hungary perhaps? The best place at any rate is one with few people and a large amount of self sufficiency. Enjoy the travel and planned visits with friends. Best of luck to you!
Reminds me of the attacks on Trump that only make him stronger. At a certain point, people become numb to the propaganda because it's so obviously undermined by reality.
The latest push to inflame Trump hysteria “he’s gonna be a dictator!” seems not to be having the desired effect. Kinda like people got tired of being scared of covid.
To be sure everyone secretly wants to be a dictator. How many first-time parents have discovered, from time immemorial, the strange thrill of being able to say to a weaker person "because I said so?" We have to fight against that with every fiber of our being. Even when the kids are grown up!
I hear you, BUT, I happened on a YT site recently and was astounded by the comments. An endless amount of hate and fear for Trump. It had to do with whether or not he might flee the country to avoid jail. I guess especially after all the covid BS, I was just hoping there would be a clear majority of people awake. Propaganda DOES work on some people.
The government/media aristocracy's reliance on politically-motivated prosecutions and social media censorship has driven many (if not most) liberals to Trump.
Eugyppius, you could change a few words here and there and this article would also fit Canada to a "T".
Ever since the spring of 2020, Canadian media has been holding the people to account, rather than the politicians . . . but I guess that's to be expected when the ruling party (and big tech) are funding the media. Ultimately, the media is now paid to influence the public and that is almost entirely what they're currently attempting to do - but it's for the greater good, remember!
Also, your comment about the great-sounding slogans incessantly regurgitated by the Soc Dems and Greens: I think you really hit on something there. Why just last night I attended an arts event that was populated by 70-80% white, 40+ yr old, women, and during a short conversation I had with one of them (in the education industry) we both agreed that the increasingly high cost of living (especially food) was crushing families, but then only a minute or two later she told me she "didn't want to get political, but we're at the point now where the government needs to buckle down and spend more money on social services". Umm ok, because clearly the government hasn't been spending like a drunken sailor for the last 4 years! I don't think there is much critical thought of held beliefs among a pretty high percentage of the population. I didn't care to chit chat much with her after that.
Most people seem to want socialism, especially women. Not the poster version, workers of the world etc. Just the "benefits". Free stuff and a safety net. They believe it is free.
You are correct. Most do not apply critical thinking. Nor do they care. They believe government can do anything because for most of their lives the costs have been distributed or invisible. Now that is changing.
I sure hope not. I'm not a woman, but from what I can see it sure seems like Western women are hammered by gender/feminist propaganda from cradle to grave, and given that they are the more neurotic sex, on average, I suspect it's possible to 'weaponize' them just as much as it's possible to 'weaponize' other defined groups.
Women are more malleable than men. What they are subjected to amounts to abuse in my view. Most of it runs counter to their own interests. You will note the feminists don't sell equality so much as they sell a lifestyle. Empower yourself to go on fancy holidays and live in a nice house etc. All so they can realize their own ambitions. The main criticism of feminism is they ignore female nature, which is true. Hence the epidemic of women on antidepressants.
Too many people just want to be NICE, and they really can't see beyond the end of their nose just how awful they wind up being to so many others. -- My go to example is the person who stops in a right of way lane to let someone in from a side street with no clue what an as_ they've been to the 10 cars behind them.
Good example. The good in front of me is prioritized over the bad I cannot see.
My fave example is people demonstrating they are in favour of mass immigration. Then asked if they will take in a refugee to their home. All the excuses come out. I am renting. I don't have space. Virtue is fine when someone else is paying.
I'm the one pushing in! and refusing to let someone else push in, in other words quite a nasty person on the road! I am everything but malleable, ask my family and friends, but I have to admit most of my friends are until they ask my opinion, so bad that I have a friend now that does not believe anything before she ask my opinion.
Maybe I can give you some hope. I spoke to a white, 40+ yr old, university educated female friend in Calgary recently, who went along with every stupid COVID rule and posted extensively about her compliance on social media... She said she hoped that I would not hang the phone up on her: but she really likes Pierre Poilievre and asked if I knew who Douglas Murray was, because he is awesome.
Hopefully they don't have the power to pull what Trudeau did in forseeing the calamaties (and corruption) tied to the pandemic (yes, I believe he was aware of it ahead of time).
He simply pulled the election forward in time so that he could extend his own reign for several more years, and did so in a way so as to keep any semblance of opposition from forming in time to appeal to the people.
Now look at him. He's looking more and more like a panicked political pinata. And the people are lining up for a swing.
"Yes, nothing portends “dismantling democracy” as much as holding free and democratic elections at a moment when too many people have the wrong opinions..."
Indeed follow the Biden model where DNC barred primary voters because all the cancelled debates and barred competitors still can't make Genocide Joe look popular.
And then the Democrats panicked and began exhorting the populace with rising urgency to "write in Biden!" And Dean Philips got 20% anyway, and cross-over Dems couldn't save Nikki in the Great Sabotage.
Well they still have their over 9000 legal efforts to jail Trump for the insurrection forces that forgot to take guns & stop the "fascist" movement of the populace!
The Democrats' method of choosing their presidential nominee relies on 'superdelegates' in order to give the party heirarchy the ability to ignore popular sentiment. This virtually guarantees that their candidate will be unpopular.
I recommend reading the AfD's platform, which can be found online in English. I read it and found it quite reasonable. Do NOT believe what journalists say about them.
There are many "far-right" parties in that boat. Very normal, sensible policies. One I read recently was ensuring ports and airports are not owned by foreign entities. That seems very sensible to me but is viewed as hard right xenophobia. Yet if you asked most people they would agree.
Same as in Canada - the "far right" scary party has policies that were seen as standard conservative fare from only 15 or 20 years ago.
(An important difference is that the scary party holds zero seats in Canada, because traditional conservative voters refuse to see how much their traditional conservative party has shifted to the left, plus they don't seem to want to acknowledge their parties clear ties to globalist efforts throughout their history . . . or they think that being concerned about it makes one a conspiracy theorist).
Wading through this cautiously. At least the AfD has the audacity to define what they call 'four classic functions' of government (which is perhaps in and of itself why they are now being so vilified): domestic and foreign security, justice, foreign relations, and financial administration. As a minarchist, I would say that at least making the attempt to define a proper and (one would hope) limited role of government is valiant, however the last two listed functions have sufficient vagueness to compel the reader to look at the devil in the details within the AfD's Manifesto - and it doesn't look pretty. Perhaps our author could confirm this translation of Javier Milei's resounding 'Afuera!' - 'Raus!'
Ah, the old effigy-hanging hand-wringing has reached your shores as well.
There was a very crude gallows that made its way to the Capitol on our worse-than-Pearl-Harbor day known as January 6th. Our leftist media has taken that single item and elevated to the point that its intent was to physically hang Then-VP Mike Pence. I doubt it would have supported a sack of potatoes.
We are mirror-image countries at this point in time, and I fear for all of us.
Gallows: I personally saw photos and video showing hundreds of examples of marches and demonstrations against the Demon George Bush where protesters carried images and effigies of Bush being hanged--- many times these posters and dummies were also burned. Somehow this was never featured in the media and certainly was never criticized, or taken to mean that the protesters were fascists on the "wrong side" of history. Not. One. Peep.
Indeed, Sheryl. I remember photos of some leftist guy carrying a sign that read something to the effect of "Bush is a war criminal! Bomb his f-ing house!". but all that's okay.
They are "othering" us, or dehumanizing us if you prefer. That way, if they're "forced" do bad things to us, they'll have no remorse, for we're beneath them.
Agreed; they've been othering and demonizing anyone or any organization that dissents from whatever Hell this brave new world is that they are imposing on us. It seemed to really kick in after 9-11. At first I could engage with others about what our best course of actions should be, but I was really puzzled at the mainstream acceptance of the idea that what we really needed to worry about was rampaging white people attacking every Muslim they could get their hands on. This fear persisted even after it became clear that it just wasn't happening.
But gradually I couldn't discuss much of anything on line, even mild respectful observation from what I thought was a liberal position were being met with hostility and closed-minds. I realized that there was this inexorable push from the far Left; kind of like a steamroller really. Even small push-backs on whatever the day's insanity was were denounced as "far Right" and of course, the clear message was that anything that was "far Right" was by definition nazi-ism and racist and the most awful thing imaginable. Soon, there was no longer any territory for centrists or center-right to stand upon because we were ALL "far Right" and anything "far Right" can be destroyed with a clear conscience.
This belief that the only reason why people don't like them is that they haven't explained their views well enough has a whiff of narcissism. A narcissist doesn't accept rejection, so they make up excuses for why they are only rejected in theory, but are actually well liked.
they’re generally done by telephone. i think a shy tory effect is very likely part of what’s happening here. notably, the missing AfD support is not going to the major parties but rather to smaller operations including the (still socially acceptable) Wagenknecht party.
Boris Reitschuster (a German independent journalist) pays for polling that is more extensive than is typically done by regular news outlets. I believe the polling company has a pre-existing, well-defined cohort of people that they question regularly. Unfortunately, most German voters are still asleep and I'd be very surprised if there was a significantly large group "shy" AfD voters.
I judge Germany and the Germans very harshly after many years here, but don't want that to mean they are any worse than all the other sheep nations, has just been the flavor of my personal hell for 2 decades. BUT my feeling is that the worm turned for the Germans with the savage, unforgiveable response of German govt. and especially German police during height of covid crackdowns. There was resistance. Polite and peaceful, but still. There were "Montag Spaziergänge" (Monday strolls) ... which was just everyday Germans whose big whoop of a protest was to walk around their towns on Monday evenings. That's all, just the most minimal signal of disapproval. No violence, no arson or bullhorns (least as I recall). And yes, thank God for journalists like Boris Reitschuster and for that revolutionary little gadget the mobile phone camera. Because seeing tame, super civilized German retirees body slammed by German police and struck in the head with their clubs ... even the obedient Germans then knew something very, very wrong was happening. Something new.
“Nothing makes me want to put the opposition in power more than reading the deluge of commentary about why it is a grave sin to want the Scholz Clown Car out of government. You could not devise a better pro-AfD guerilla publicity campaign if you tried.”
----------------------
This is true everywhere. I keep waking up every morning thinking I hope Trump wins and having to smack myself into wanting everyone to lose so I can restore my self-respect. Really tiring and not the exercise best for my cardiovascular system.
I like the gallows and see nothing wrong with their original purpose when it comes to politicians, elected and unelected (eg WEF) who are constantly trying to f*** us over.
This is not an overstatement. You could literally feel totalitarianism silent but crushing hand hanging above, on a thread, like Damocles Sword during the c19 calamity.
Stalin and Mao would've paid well for the blueprint our current overlords fashioned for the Clampdown.
Our chances of changing anything are slim. Governments are so powerful and they have managed to make us very dependent on them. It is difficult to imagine a country without politicians even for me. Imagine for the normies; they say they hate the politicians but they cannot live without them. I don't know how dependent we actually are or to what extent it is an illusion.
Things are no longer as they used to be. Imagine in the middle age, the king sent some guys to gather the taxes in a small town, they just kicked them in the ass and they were gone. Those peasants just noticed that taxes were just a theft. But now we feel that without taxes the country does not work, and to some extent it is true because the government has monopolized many areas.
I think modest goals are important right now. A lot of the worst insanity was enabled by our incredible prosperity. It is very bad that we're losing that, but in exchange at least we will have new political opportunities.
Yes, I just wanted to point out how different things are now. I sometimes hear people remembering the American revolution against the English, but that is not possible now.
Apart from that, I cannot stop thinking that China has to be behind all this stupidity. They are benefitting tremendously:
- We buy to them electric vehicles, batteries, windmills, solar panels...
- We export to China our jobs.
- Our society is demoralized.
- If we don't use the coal, they will use it, more and cheaper.
- US military is destroyed both materially (Afganistan) and morally (woke).
I completely agree that China (and Russia, and all other non-Western countries) are benefiting from the stupid mistakes of our rulers, but I fear they don't really have to do a lot. This is mostly an exercise of self-inflicted harm.
I imagine if some peasants did that the tax collector would come back with a sword and a torch the next time. People comply when they’re afraid of what happens when they don’t. Look at Canada. What Trudeau did to the truckers was just ruled unconstitutional, but during those two years some people had their lives destroyed. It’s little consolation to them now. The Jan 6 fedsurrection had the same purpose. Make an example out of a few and the rest will fall in line.
Rulers always needed to keep a balance between too much taxation and too little. Tax collection was often a type of negotiation between the rulers and the ruled. However, once government became democratized and bureaucratized, we became used to accepting what was asked of us because after all, we elected these people and they supposedly reflect our will, and also because we accepted the consequences of "rule of law"..
Yes, this could happen but up to quite recently (150 years ago) in the UK for example, the long arm of national government was not that long and individuals, families and village communities sorted out a lot of issues for themselves. Communication and travel took much longer so it was easier to escape and/or ignore what was going on in the capital.
Yes! Seems a lot of people are remembering this and talking about it, especially because the EU so desperately wants to strip all autonomy from local populations: "Subsidiarity is a principle of social organization that holds that social and political issues should be dealt with at the most immediate or local level that is consistent with their resolution. The Oxford English Dictionary defines subsidiarity as "the principle that a central authority should have a subsidiary function, performing only those tasks which cannot be performed at a more local level".
But see eugyppius' last essay. We must stand up for ourselves and our values wherever and whenever possible. Not to do so will only empower them further.
The bottom line is that media empires are crumbling and no longer have the power to sway public opinion that they once had. We can point to propaganda and other untruths as the basis for cutting their own throats.
But governments are also panicking about the loss of influence that they can leverage the media for promoting on their own behalf, and THAT scares both groups.
In reality, there is too much banking and government operations that rely on the internet. And imagine the uproar if sports programming were to be interrupted.
There's no way way for them to do that without serious blowback.
This is truly a remarkable time. Doomsters may lament that, like frogs in slowly-heated water, the populace will gradually acclimate to lower standards of living and diminishing freedoms until it's too late to mount an opposition. What we are seeing instead is that, at a very organic and personal level, resistance is mounting. It may be true that most people will not put up a fight until their heels are at the edge of the cliff, but we are reaching the point at which the choice of fight-vs.-tumble-into-the-abyss is starkly before us. If this sentiment were confined to only one or two jurisidictions, these pockets of resistance would not hold--but peoples across the West are finally being pushed to the breaking point. This is only the beginning of a very tense year, but there is hope.
There is something very basic and true everywhere and always has been: people dislike being cold in their own homes. They hate that more than anything. It comes even before being hungry. You can tolerate hunger a little better if you are not freezing.
Yes, I thought the same thing when I looked at this 'journalist's' photo. She does not look like she spends much time home bound in a freezing apartment.
I was born in and spent most of my life in NYC where it was incomprehensible that heat and hot water would not be routinely covered by one's rent. O for those glorious years of raging steam radiators and cotton sweatshirts being sufficient to get one through winter indoors.
My first apt. in the area I live in now was carved out from an old house and my living space was excluded from the main house's heating system. It had electric baseboard heat instead--in a state with extremely high energy costs. I finally turned on the heat that first November when three pairs of socks could not keep my feet from freezing. My electric bill in the worst of winter averaged over $500/month and I kept that place as cold as was humanly endurable. That experience schooled me real good.
Being cold in bed at night is an enduring memory of my childhood, so I totally get it.
My brother and I shared a bedroom in a very nice NYC coop apt. on the northern side of the building and we had a room divider and the radiator was on his side and this was in the years before God created polyester fiberfilled comforters.
There's that moment when you wake up and want to stretch your legs out and you retract 'em again like someone shoved a hypodermic into your heels.
Lo, with my mother in the ground these fourteen years I still can't figure out why she never gave me an extra blanket.
Ha-Ha, I know that feeling of stretching out and retracting your legs. I still sleep with my legs pulled up so they fit inside my nightdress! I know that lack of money was why we didn't have enough blankets. My father worked at a printing works and he brought home felt covers that they used to cover the machines and my mother washed them and put them on our beds. Strange that your mother didn't supply more blankets when it sounds like she could have though.
Actually, I think she needs a sandwich
Speaking from experience, you are absolutely correct. Politicians, who have not been either cold or hungry, gravely underestimated this simple truth.
This especially go for the fat cats in South Africa that even stole the relief packages from starving children during Covid!
Same push back happening in Canada. Western countries MUST get rid of our WEF globalist- compromised governments. We are ALL waking up to their insanity. The WHO pushing their ‘Pandemic Treaty’ on sovereign countries is a joke and Teadros is on media today whining that conspiracy theory ppl and mis-information is SINKING his ‘treaty’. No. It is that people see what is going on. Western countries are DONE with the insanity of these globalists and their climate HOAX tool used to go after our natural resources and NOW attacking our FARMS!!! Defund WHO, UN, WEF and the world will heal.
I'm loving it - i.e. the restrained rage in your comment. I feeling it too. I wanna see it spread like wildfire around the world in 2024. Like a new "pandemic" that seems to energise the average worker while causing globalists to suffer a fit of apoplexy before dying (preferably suddenly).
In the optmistic glow of the 1950s, when boys' comics foretold of a world where we would be zipping around in atomic-powered flying cars, the founding fathers of the EEC wrote in the preamble to the Treaty of Rome that they came together "Affirming as the essential objective of their efforts the constant improvement of the living and working conditions of their peoples" and, for the trente glorieuses, that promise was more or less adhered to and it was what mainstream politicians all promised, in their different ways.
Fast forward to the modern era of the Maastrict and Lisbon treaties, and there is a shift in tenor in the preamble to the overarching framework of the Treaty on European Union, which states a rather more qualified aim to "promote economic and social progress for their peoples, taking into account the principle of sustainable development". That more modestly stated and qualified aim now looks prescient: the degrading of living standards has been offset by technological wonders like smartphones, but as the Net Zero mania begins to take a real grip, even those diversionary toys are under threat becasue of the resource implications for manufacturing and powering them, to which we have to add the ripping away of the mask of liberalism by the Covidian demands for, er, masking, and other inane restrictions on freedom of movement and expression. As you say, this could be the year the frogs come to the boil.
Off topic, but I am sure many British people are not happy to hear that NATO Generals wants to send their (as yet unborn) children and grandchildren off to fight Russia . . .
What happens if the able bodied don’t want to be conscripted ? Gaol might be more appealing than the Eastern Front
I saw that too ... I wonder, what happens if you decide that don’t want to be conscripted ? Gaol might be more appealing
It will never be too late to oppose the aristocracy of stupid ideas.
@Eugyppius - I tremendously enjoy your beautifully scathing prose - you have turned it into an art form - it is a truly impressive display of precision-crafted English language. Pleasure to read - Bravo - keep it up!!
The AfD support is spiking up in an organic manner precisely because Germany is Imploding.
Deindustrialization is the natural result of decoupling from Russia & the rest of Eurasia.
The People will eventually revolt to stop living standards from cratering.
The US occupation of Germany (& Europe) will end!
The Populist Triumph in Germany is inevitable!
Unfortunately, the current state of the UK suggests that it is not inevitable at all...all of the West seems to have become feminized losers...
And now the parasitic political class expects it's young men to go fight wars on their behalf.
Let the feminists go, they're the ones who voted us into this mess.
Not my young men....Let them use the women, trannies and POC...I'm sure that will go well...
(For those interested)
If you wish to read (& listen!) to more of My commentary, here is my Main Stack:
https://thefallofthewest.substack.com
Thank You Kindly to everyone!
As I post below:
'There is good news here in the USA: Trump has moved from leading the corrupt, incompetent and senile Biden in the polls, to CRUSHING him. Biden's approval rating is sliding consistently below 40%, and Trump has a "favorablity rating" higher than his, and it's rising. Not only is there hope, there is great hope and concrete reasons for holding it.'
I don't mean to rain on your parade but there are screen shots saved from election returns on German media on election night (2020) that showed DJT with the electoral college in the bag; the numbers had all been upended in the dark of night once the mail-in ballots were counted.
At this point, the "greatest country in the world" is in no position to prevent the repeat of another banana republic election. (This may come down to prayer and fasting, and to begging for intervention by an angel.)
I see Biden is trying to improve his popularity by promising women some relief on government control of the sovereign rights to their bodies. Timeo Danaeos et dona ferentes! Same for politicians from Delaware.
This is what I don't get: "I see Biden is trying to improve his popularity by promising women some relief on government control of the sovereign rights to their bodies." Huh?
Not sure what to write. Biden, in his campaign will promise women that he will take decisive action to reestablish government protection of a woman’s right to reproductive autonomy. But…. Lifelong prevaricator that he is he will do no such thing.
Got it. Thanks. Of course not. He's never done anything honest or productive for anybody, except when he got in bed with the consumer credit card companies to make Delaware a profitable home for them.
What do you mean?
I was commenting on a note about the Biden/Trump popularity. The Latin says, “I fear the Greeks even when bearing gifts.”—said of the Trojan horse, I believe.
As an American, I can only hope that our occupation of Europe, and the rest of the globe for that matter, will end sooner rather than later. Maybe then the resources spent securing the World's borders can be diverted to securing America's borders.
The key to happiness is minding one's own business.
Refocusing real horsepower on America and its people would lift the spirits of millions of citizens now staggering under the weight of medical problems and junk employment.
I agree. Germany and Japan plus many other nations must boot the U.S. out and reclaim their sovereignty as a free and independent people. But the entire western world is enslaved by the banking cabal in the City of London and other financial centers. A network of central banks that create fiat currencies by the trillions out of nothing is the mechanism of plunder and enslavement. Read: The Great Taking by David Webb for details.
I hope so! I’m sick of American tax dollars paying for Europes defense and whatever bullshit current transition to green energy scam. I wish the US would close every base outside of the USA , cut all foreign aid, including defense to everyone, everywhere . All of that money wasted on people who spit on American, they don’t deserve it. Then America can take care of its own people and problems. Also, don’t ever call America again when you have a problem, anyway we’ll block your number and social media like a toxic ex. Btw, I’ve been living in Europe for the past 12 years in Italy. The euro totally fucked this country thank you very much.
I came to Germany 22 years ago, and the country in its present state is unrecognizable compared to the place I arrived in way back then. I thought I had left behind me a government that surely was the most hypocritical in history. Starting non-stop, permanent wars all in the interest of exporting women's rights, unisex public bathrooms, and the right to choose to treat the unborn like inconvenient bowel movements etc. I also had a very high opinion of Germany, based on very thin evidence. I thought the western European social democracies were going to be utopian compared to the United States. Laughing just writing these words. I was confronted by the REAL Germany when my freelance business collapsed and I learned first hand how people who are really the working poor are treated here. They are treated such that it is very easy to imagine Germany's rulers simply want them dead or mentally and spiritually broken, leaving them powerless to resist. If the were just a little honest they would simply send the poor to forced labor camps. Three times I built my business up again, because perhaps the greatest blessing of having grown up American was the idea of living at the expense of other people, at the expense of the guy who drives a taxi on the night shift, maybe with 3 kids and a wife suffering from cancer. I should have no qualms about dipping into that guy's bank account. That's what European social democracies (the welfare state) call "social solidarity". The welfare state is the prime cause of the fall of Europe. It robs a people of all their dignity, honor and self-respect. The fundamental principle of the welfare state is "How do I get my fingers into my neighbor's wallet." It is often said that a people get exactly the government they deserve. And the Germans richly deserve their present state of affairs. However, I sincerely hope they will come to their senses and stop this lunacy. As for me, I'm on my way soon out of this horrible country, running as if chased by a pack of wolves (my health insurer and the German tax authorities). Sorry for going on so long. Thank you for the forum, and God bless you all!
You are right. Living next door to you, I remember a time when people were ashamed to be living on welfare and wanted out as fast as they could. Liberal Governments have successfully removed the stigma attached to that. Just curious. Where do you plan to escape to Prodigal?
The AfD is going to roll into town in a major way but meanwhile Germany has gotten permission to move troops through Poland to the border taking on some pipe dream of the “defense of Europe”. ZU VIEL IST ZU VIEL!
Hi Prodigal, see you removed your earlier reply. Still, here goes. I know how you feel. Don’t Know of good escapes. Hungary perhaps? The best place at any rate is one with few people and a large amount of self sufficiency. Enjoy the travel and planned visits with friends. Best of luck to you!
Reminds me of the attacks on Trump that only make him stronger. At a certain point, people become numb to the propaganda because it's so obviously undermined by reality.
The latest push to inflame Trump hysteria “he’s gonna be a dictator!” seems not to be having the desired effect. Kinda like people got tired of being scared of covid.
I know. It is hideous to hear that hysteria!
the left are the dictators
To be sure everyone secretly wants to be a dictator. How many first-time parents have discovered, from time immemorial, the strange thrill of being able to say to a weaker person "because I said so?" We have to fight against that with every fiber of our being. Even when the kids are grown up!
Successfullly raising kids requires some authoritarianism. I dislike parents who treat Family as a democracy.
I hear you, BUT, I happened on a YT site recently and was astounded by the comments. An endless amount of hate and fear for Trump. It had to do with whether or not he might flee the country to avoid jail. I guess especially after all the covid BS, I was just hoping there would be a clear majority of people awake. Propaganda DOES work on some people.
The government/media aristocracy's reliance on politically-motivated prosecutions and social media censorship has driven many (if not most) liberals to Trump.
Eugyppius, you could change a few words here and there and this article would also fit Canada to a "T".
Ever since the spring of 2020, Canadian media has been holding the people to account, rather than the politicians . . . but I guess that's to be expected when the ruling party (and big tech) are funding the media. Ultimately, the media is now paid to influence the public and that is almost entirely what they're currently attempting to do - but it's for the greater good, remember!
Also, your comment about the great-sounding slogans incessantly regurgitated by the Soc Dems and Greens: I think you really hit on something there. Why just last night I attended an arts event that was populated by 70-80% white, 40+ yr old, women, and during a short conversation I had with one of them (in the education industry) we both agreed that the increasingly high cost of living (especially food) was crushing families, but then only a minute or two later she told me she "didn't want to get political, but we're at the point now where the government needs to buckle down and spend more money on social services". Umm ok, because clearly the government hasn't been spending like a drunken sailor for the last 4 years! I don't think there is much critical thought of held beliefs among a pretty high percentage of the population. I didn't care to chit chat much with her after that.
Most people seem to want socialism, especially women. Not the poster version, workers of the world etc. Just the "benefits". Free stuff and a safety net. They believe it is free.
You are correct. Most do not apply critical thinking. Nor do they care. They believe government can do anything because for most of their lives the costs have been distributed or invisible. Now that is changing.
Maybe Islam is right about women after all....
I sure hope not. I'm not a woman, but from what I can see it sure seems like Western women are hammered by gender/feminist propaganda from cradle to grave, and given that they are the more neurotic sex, on average, I suspect it's possible to 'weaponize' them just as much as it's possible to 'weaponize' other defined groups.
Women are more malleable than men. What they are subjected to amounts to abuse in my view. Most of it runs counter to their own interests. You will note the feminists don't sell equality so much as they sell a lifestyle. Empower yourself to go on fancy holidays and live in a nice house etc. All so they can realize their own ambitions. The main criticism of feminism is they ignore female nature, which is true. Hence the epidemic of women on antidepressants.
Women are not "victims". They are allegedly adults who have agency.
To this I must object 😊 I a a woman still working at 72 to support myself!
Too many people just want to be NICE, and they really can't see beyond the end of their nose just how awful they wind up being to so many others. -- My go to example is the person who stops in a right of way lane to let someone in from a side street with no clue what an as_ they've been to the 10 cars behind them.
Good example. The good in front of me is prioritized over the bad I cannot see.
My fave example is people demonstrating they are in favour of mass immigration. Then asked if they will take in a refugee to their home. All the excuses come out. I am renting. I don't have space. Virtue is fine when someone else is paying.
I'm the one pushing in! and refusing to let someone else push in, in other words quite a nasty person on the road! I am everything but malleable, ask my family and friends, but I have to admit most of my friends are until they ask my opinion, so bad that I have a friend now that does not believe anything before she ask my opinion.
Maybe I can give you some hope. I spoke to a white, 40+ yr old, university educated female friend in Calgary recently, who went along with every stupid COVID rule and posted extensively about her compliance on social media... She said she hoped that I would not hang the phone up on her: but she really likes Pierre Poilievre and asked if I knew who Douglas Murray was, because he is awesome.
Hopefully they don't have the power to pull what Trudeau did in forseeing the calamaties (and corruption) tied to the pandemic (yes, I believe he was aware of it ahead of time).
He simply pulled the election forward in time so that he could extend his own reign for several more years, and did so in a way so as to keep any semblance of opposition from forming in time to appeal to the people.
Now look at him. He's looking more and more like a panicked political pinata. And the people are lining up for a swing.
Similar thing in Spain with a lot of corrupt deals being done
Giving women the vote is the worst thing we ever did. Period.
🤬
Or Australia
"Yes, nothing portends “dismantling democracy” as much as holding free and democratic elections at a moment when too many people have the wrong opinions..."
Indeed follow the Biden model where DNC barred primary voters because all the cancelled debates and barred competitors still can't make Genocide Joe look popular.
And then the Democrats panicked and began exhorting the populace with rising urgency to "write in Biden!" And Dean Philips got 20% anyway, and cross-over Dems couldn't save Nikki in the Great Sabotage.
Well they still have their over 9000 legal efforts to jail Trump for the insurrection forces that forgot to take guns & stop the "fascist" movement of the populace!
It's almost like the Democrats are his crypto reelection committee.
Fortunately he can still be elected in jail and then he can pardon himself and he is capable of doing it.
Its occurred to me that very, very, very few people can hold the following two ideas in their mind at the same time:
1) I believe I am right, and things should be done the way I say
2) If I lose an election, I have to accept that things cannot go my way, better luck next time.
If I lose it honestly
The Democrats' method of choosing their presidential nominee relies on 'superdelegates' in order to give the party heirarchy the ability to ignore popular sentiment. This virtually guarantees that their candidate will be unpopular.
I recommend reading the AfD's platform, which can be found online in English. I read it and found it quite reasonable. Do NOT believe what journalists say about them.
There are many "far-right" parties in that boat. Very normal, sensible policies. One I read recently was ensuring ports and airports are not owned by foreign entities. That seems very sensible to me but is viewed as hard right xenophobia. Yet if you asked most people they would agree.
Do not believe what the journalists say about them? I'm shocked, SHOCKED I tellz ya!
Same as in Canada - the "far right" scary party has policies that were seen as standard conservative fare from only 15 or 20 years ago.
(An important difference is that the scary party holds zero seats in Canada, because traditional conservative voters refuse to see how much their traditional conservative party has shifted to the left, plus they don't seem to want to acknowledge their parties clear ties to globalist efforts throughout their history . . . or they think that being concerned about it makes one a conspiracy theorist).
People's Party of Canada (the scaries) platform: https://www.peoplespartyofcanada.ca/platform
Does anyone have a link?
I can imagine everyone I know describing them as modern day Nazis.Would be nice to point the, to some facts.
Personally I only really know of Christine Anderson and her wonderful work in the EU speaking out against the covid tyranny.
https://www.afd.de/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/2017-04-12_afd-grundsatzprogramm-englisch_web.pdf
Wading through this cautiously. At least the AfD has the audacity to define what they call 'four classic functions' of government (which is perhaps in and of itself why they are now being so vilified): domestic and foreign security, justice, foreign relations, and financial administration. As a minarchist, I would say that at least making the attempt to define a proper and (one would hope) limited role of government is valiant, however the last two listed functions have sufficient vagueness to compel the reader to look at the devil in the details within the AfD's Manifesto - and it doesn't look pretty. Perhaps our author could confirm this translation of Javier Milei's resounding 'Afuera!' - 'Raus!'
Ah, the old effigy-hanging hand-wringing has reached your shores as well.
There was a very crude gallows that made its way to the Capitol on our worse-than-Pearl-Harbor day known as January 6th. Our leftist media has taken that single item and elevated to the point that its intent was to physically hang Then-VP Mike Pence. I doubt it would have supported a sack of potatoes.
We are mirror-image countries at this point in time, and I fear for all of us.
Gallows: I personally saw photos and video showing hundreds of examples of marches and demonstrations against the Demon George Bush where protesters carried images and effigies of Bush being hanged--- many times these posters and dummies were also burned. Somehow this was never featured in the media and certainly was never criticized, or taken to mean that the protesters were fascists on the "wrong side" of history. Not. One. Peep.
Indeed, Sheryl. I remember photos of some leftist guy carrying a sign that read something to the effect of "Bush is a war criminal! Bomb his f-ing house!". but all that's okay.
They are "othering" us, or dehumanizing us if you prefer. That way, if they're "forced" do bad things to us, they'll have no remorse, for we're beneath them.
Agreed; they've been othering and demonizing anyone or any organization that dissents from whatever Hell this brave new world is that they are imposing on us. It seemed to really kick in after 9-11. At first I could engage with others about what our best course of actions should be, but I was really puzzled at the mainstream acceptance of the idea that what we really needed to worry about was rampaging white people attacking every Muslim they could get their hands on. This fear persisted even after it became clear that it just wasn't happening.
But gradually I couldn't discuss much of anything on line, even mild respectful observation from what I thought was a liberal position were being met with hostility and closed-minds. I realized that there was this inexorable push from the far Left; kind of like a steamroller really. Even small push-backs on whatever the day's insanity was were denounced as "far Right" and of course, the clear message was that anything that was "far Right" was by definition nazi-ism and racist and the most awful thing imaginable. Soon, there was no longer any territory for centrists or center-right to stand upon because we were ALL "far Right" and anything "far Right" can be destroyed with a clear conscience.
To them, anything to the right of Bernie Sanders is "far-right", and the MSM's of the US and the EU are all in lock-step with that narrative.
It's the world's fascist "anti-fascists" at work.
This belief that the only reason why people don't like them is that they haven't explained their views well enough has a whiff of narcissism. A narcissist doesn't accept rejection, so they make up excuses for why they are only rejected in theory, but are actually well liked.
Just a whiff? I don't mean to be rude, but you gave me a good laugh with that one.
Do you think there are "shy" AfD voters, kind of like how Trump polled low back in 2015 and then suddenly won? How are these polls conducted?
they’re generally done by telephone. i think a shy tory effect is very likely part of what’s happening here. notably, the missing AfD support is not going to the major parties but rather to smaller operations including the (still socially acceptable) Wagenknecht party.
Are the ;polling companies reliable? Could the number be a lot higher and covered up?
Boris Reitschuster (a German independent journalist) pays for polling that is more extensive than is typically done by regular news outlets. I believe the polling company has a pre-existing, well-defined cohort of people that they question regularly. Unfortunately, most German voters are still asleep and I'd be very surprised if there was a significantly large group "shy" AfD voters.
I judge Germany and the Germans very harshly after many years here, but don't want that to mean they are any worse than all the other sheep nations, has just been the flavor of my personal hell for 2 decades. BUT my feeling is that the worm turned for the Germans with the savage, unforgiveable response of German govt. and especially German police during height of covid crackdowns. There was resistance. Polite and peaceful, but still. There were "Montag Spaziergänge" (Monday strolls) ... which was just everyday Germans whose big whoop of a protest was to walk around their towns on Monday evenings. That's all, just the most minimal signal of disapproval. No violence, no arson or bullhorns (least as I recall). And yes, thank God for journalists like Boris Reitschuster and for that revolutionary little gadget the mobile phone camera. Because seeing tame, super civilized German retirees body slammed by German police and struck in the head with their clubs ... even the obedient Germans then knew something very, very wrong was happening. Something new.
“Nothing makes me want to put the opposition in power more than reading the deluge of commentary about why it is a grave sin to want the Scholz Clown Car out of government. You could not devise a better pro-AfD guerilla publicity campaign if you tried.”
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This is true everywhere. I keep waking up every morning thinking I hope Trump wins and having to smack myself into wanting everyone to lose so I can restore my self-respect. Really tiring and not the exercise best for my cardiovascular system.
I like the gallows and see nothing wrong with their original purpose when it comes to politicians, elected and unelected (eg WEF) who are constantly trying to f*** us over.
After a fair trial, of course.
of course. But the rope makers are working, nonetheless. In case.
Or follow the French example and use the guillotine.
Wouldn't mind seeing a few of these assholes heads rolled down the street.
So many 1930's vibes...sooo many.
If there had been an AfD during the Weimar era, perhaps they would have been elected instead of the socialist worker's party.
agree
This is not an overstatement. You could literally feel totalitarianism silent but crushing hand hanging above, on a thread, like Damocles Sword during the c19 calamity.
Stalin and Mao would've paid well for the blueprint our current overlords fashioned for the Clampdown.
Our chances of changing anything are slim. Governments are so powerful and they have managed to make us very dependent on them. It is difficult to imagine a country without politicians even for me. Imagine for the normies; they say they hate the politicians but they cannot live without them. I don't know how dependent we actually are or to what extent it is an illusion.
Things are no longer as they used to be. Imagine in the middle age, the king sent some guys to gather the taxes in a small town, they just kicked them in the ass and they were gone. Those peasants just noticed that taxes were just a theft. But now we feel that without taxes the country does not work, and to some extent it is true because the government has monopolized many areas.
I think modest goals are important right now. A lot of the worst insanity was enabled by our incredible prosperity. It is very bad that we're losing that, but in exchange at least we will have new political opportunities.
Yes, I just wanted to point out how different things are now. I sometimes hear people remembering the American revolution against the English, but that is not possible now.
Apart from that, I cannot stop thinking that China has to be behind all this stupidity. They are benefitting tremendously:
- We buy to them electric vehicles, batteries, windmills, solar panels...
- We export to China our jobs.
- Our society is demoralized.
- If we don't use the coal, they will use it, more and cheaper.
- US military is destroyed both materially (Afganistan) and morally (woke).
- I could go on...
I completely agree that China (and Russia, and all other non-Western countries) are benefiting from the stupid mistakes of our rulers, but I fear they don't really have to do a lot. This is mostly an exercise of self-inflicted harm.
The harm comes from above. It is a top-down thing imposed by the elites. Society didn't ask for 70 genders.
I imagine if some peasants did that the tax collector would come back with a sword and a torch the next time. People comply when they’re afraid of what happens when they don’t. Look at Canada. What Trudeau did to the truckers was just ruled unconstitutional, but during those two years some people had their lives destroyed. It’s little consolation to them now. The Jan 6 fedsurrection had the same purpose. Make an example out of a few and the rest will fall in line.
Rulers always needed to keep a balance between too much taxation and too little. Tax collection was often a type of negotiation between the rulers and the ruled. However, once government became democratized and bureaucratized, we became used to accepting what was asked of us because after all, we elected these people and they supposedly reflect our will, and also because we accepted the consequences of "rule of law"..
Interesting
Yes, this could happen but up to quite recently (150 years ago) in the UK for example, the long arm of national government was not that long and individuals, families and village communities sorted out a lot of issues for themselves. Communication and travel took much longer so it was easier to escape and/or ignore what was going on in the capital.
Yes! Seems a lot of people are remembering this and talking about it, especially because the EU so desperately wants to strip all autonomy from local populations: "Subsidiarity is a principle of social organization that holds that social and political issues should be dealt with at the most immediate or local level that is consistent with their resolution. The Oxford English Dictionary defines subsidiarity as "the principle that a central authority should have a subsidiary function, performing only those tasks which cannot be performed at a more local level".
Fair point.
But see eugyppius' last essay. We must stand up for ourselves and our values wherever and whenever possible. Not to do so will only empower them further.
good point
el gato malo wrote an excellent piece recently on the deconstruction of media empires: https://boriquagato.substack.com/p/new-journalism-and-new-world-order?publication_id=323914&post_id=140888486&isFreemail=false&r=ow5al
The bottom line is that media empires are crumbling and no longer have the power to sway public opinion that they once had. We can point to propaganda and other untruths as the basis for cutting their own throats.
But governments are also panicking about the loss of influence that they can leverage the media for promoting on their own behalf, and THAT scares both groups.
I think if the governments were truly frightened, they would simply unplug the internet (because of climate change, of course).
Oh, they’ll unplug OUR internet (or power, etc) just not theirs.
Be careful what you wish for.
In reality, there is too much banking and government operations that rely on the internet. And imagine the uproar if sports programming were to be interrupted.
There's no way way for them to do that without serious blowback.
Can they pull it off for a week or two?
And then extend another two weeks to flatten the curve? (ouch, ouch) ducking and running.
"The people who set up these displays are not literally demanding that Scholz, Habeck and Lindner be hanged."
Maybe not yet, but a couple more years of intentional de-industrialization and the hanging crowd might gain some momentum.
It's not the sort of thing that you can say in public under the current circumstances.
"The system's like really complicated! That means it's everyone's fault (that means it's nobody's fault, particularly not mine *cough*)!
If we'd just let in more illegals and hired more bureaucrats all would be well....