Friday, December 14, 2018

eentellesteeng nyu-ju ahlticaws

Several French generals apparently formed a cohort and published an open letter to President Macron that contains the language

En décidant seul de signer ce pacte, vous ajouteriez un motif de révolte supplémentaire à la colère d’un peuple déjà malmené. Vous vous rendriez coupable d’un déni de démocratie, voire de trahison à l’égard de la nation.

In deciding, alone, to sign this pact [the UN migration pact, which tilts toward open borders], you heap yet another reason for revolt upon the anger of an already mistreated people. You render yourself guilty of a denial of democracy, and even of treason toward the nation.
[my translation]

I saw the original entry on Gab, where some commenters are wondering whether a palace coup (the French president lives in a literal palace) mightn't be far behind. Personally, I think not. It's hard to imagine a Thailand-style military coup happening in what is, despite the spreading rot, one of the great pillars of the West.

By the way, the name of the above-linked site, Riposte Laïque, gives away its bias. We use the word riposte in English, primarily as a fencing term for a type of counterstrike after a parry, but also in a metaphorical sense as a pushback against certain ideas, arguments, and movements. The term laïque is related to English words like lay, laical, laity, and laicism, all having to do with something that is non-clerical (in a church-magisterium context) and of the people. So if, at this point, you're thinking that the website overlaps with Trumpian nationalism/populism, you wouldn't be far wrong. The French-language comments beneath the article mostly look as if they could have been written by English-speaking Gabbers.

Another article I read was equally interesting, if for no other reason than that it took a surprisingly measured, balanced tone in describing the current Brexit situation. The article is by Lord Ashcroft, and it's titled "Polls Show that Voters Are Hardening Against a Brexit Compromise." An excerpt:

My latest research finds that few believe the draft Brexit deal honours the referendum result, or that it beats remaining in the EU on our current terms. And while voters overall still think, just, that Mrs May’s deal is better than no deal, Tories as a whole now disagree, as do Leavers by a wide margin.

I was able to read the full article on my phone just an hour ago, but when I tried to call the piece up on my office's desktop computer, a paywall was in effect, and when I tried again to access the article on my phone, the same paywall was there. So proceed with caution. It's often possible to circumvent paywalls by finding other, non-paywalled websites that have published the same article. Just do a search based on a sentence or two copied from the snippet that you're able to see.

A third interesting article was this one, which says that a panel studying the Parkland, Florida, shooting has concluded that it might be a good idea for teachers to have guns. While I'm not really for arming college students on campuses (too many drunken parties that could go wildly wrong with guns in the picture), I'm all for arming teachers. Wild-eyed gun-grabbers mischaracterize this scenario as one in which untrained teachers waddle around stupidly, taking dangerous potshots during a firefight with a mass killer. This is not what's being advocated. Here's what's actually being put forth:

The panel also voted to include a controversial proposal allowing classroom teachers to carry guns in schools if they go through a selection process that would include background checks and training. Such a change would require the state Legislature’s approval.

The wild-eyed criticisms, all rooted in baseless fear (and it's ironic that the other side of the aisle likes to portray the pro-gun lobby as fearful), come from the same corner that paints the NRA as a racist, Nazi organization intent on fomenting violence throughout the country, when in fact the NRA has always advocated responsible gun ownership and, as far as I know, not a single NRA member has ever proved to be a mass shooter. Anyway, yes: I think teachers who train with guns should be allowed to carry them at school. Nightmare scenarios, such as a teacher angrily whipping out a .357 upon seeing two students fighting in the hallway, have zero chance of occurring. Have a little more faith in humanity than that.


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