The Perfect Metaphor for 2016

Nothing that I could possibly write about Brexit or US politics or Venezuela or anything else (and all related mass hysteria on social media)  could be better than this image as a metaphor for the entire kit and kaboodle:

#Flood water pushes a burning #home down a creek in #WestVirginia. #wvwx
🎬 Amanda Carper pic.twitter.com/zJSMe95nLk

— AMHQ (@AMHQ) June 24, 2016

Leaving Venezuela

A personal account.

Quote of the Day: The Wreck of Venezuela

And why has it come to this?  

The reason? A brain-dead rejection of basic economics, and a hardline, anti-market approach of the worst possible kind. There are maximum prices, other price controls, profit controls, capital controls, nationalisations, expropriations and every other statist, atavistic policy you can think of. An extreme left wing government has waged war on capitalism and won; and as ever, ordinary people are paying the price.

The Real News Is In Ukraine and Venezuela

Honestly, the media frenzy over Sochi is beginning to look pretty misguided next to horrific reports coming out of Ukraine and Venezuela.

UPDATE: See the story of the Ukrainian skier who left the Games to join protesters at home.

The French Philosopher vs. the Venezuelan Strongman

Bernard-Henri Lévy takes on Hugo Chavez and the useful idiots who are his fans.  Here's a taste of it: "to pretend that the overall record of Chavezism has been positive is an insult to the Venezuelan people."

Venezuela's Chávez Dead; Exiles Rejoice

Venezuelans in south Florida respond with cheers.

Wouldn't This Cause More Car Wrecks

As people try to aim for the mimes?

The Miseries of Chavez's Venezuela: Beauty Queen Edition

I had mentioned this previously, but this time there is a bonus. Check out this lovely combination of beauty, heart, and nerve as the outgoing Venezuelan Miss Universe Stefania Fernandez holds her own protest.  Look carefully at the flag.  It has only seven stars, meaning it is a pre-Chavez configuration. I shall post the photo as (a) evidence, (b) fan service, (c) both? 

Protest babe.

Living in Venezuela Can Be Murder

Venezuela's homicide rate is worse than Iraq's.  I had no idea.

The HopeChange Chronicles: Krauthammer on Foreign Policy

It's everything I've been saying for a while now and then some.

Top 10 Apologies Obama Hasn't Made Yet

Now these are apologies I would not mind hearing. HOPECHANGE!

Protests in Venezuela and Che Guevara Chic

Hmmmmmmm. And this.

Quote of the Day + HopeChange Chronicles: Obama's Foreign Policy

Caroline Glick is not impressed:

From Iran to Venezuela to Cuba, from Myanmar to North Korea to China, from Sudan to Afghanistan to Iraq to Russia to Syria to Saudi Arabia, the Obama administration has systematically taken human rights and democracy promotion off America's agenda. In their place, it has advocated "improving America's image," multilateralism and a moral relativism that either sees no distinction between dictators and their victims or deems the distinctions immaterial to the advancement of US interests.

The whole thing is beyond even the most extremist parody of Realpolitik's worst excesses.

Even more damning is this passage:

So if Obama's foreign policy has already failed or is in the process of failing throughout the world, why is he refusing to reassess it? Why, with blood running through the streets of Iran, is he still interested in appeasing the mullahs? Why, with Venezuela threatening to invade Honduras for Zelaya, is he siding with Zelaya against Honduran democrats? Why, with the Palestinians refusing to accept the Jewish people's right to self-determination, is he seeking to expel some 500,000 Jews from their homes in the interest of appeasing the Palestinians? Why, with North Korea threatening to attack the US with ballistic missiles, is he refusing to order the USS John McCain to interdict the suspected North Korean missile ship it has been trailing for the past two weeks? Why, when the Sudanese government continues to sponsor the murder of Darfuris, is the administration claiming that the genocide in Darfur has ended?
The only reasonable answer to all of these questions is that far from being nonideological, Obama's foreign policy is the most ideologically driven since Carter's tenure in office. If when Obama came into office there was a question about whether he was a foreign policy pragmatist or an ideologue, his behavior in his first six months in office has dispelled all doubt.

An additional thought: Is it now safer and more beneficial/advantageous to be one of America's enemies than one of her friends and allies?

I can't quite believe it's come to this. But even the most cursory glance at Obama's domestic policies reveals pretty much the same desire to operate on ideology despite the strictures of objective and practical reality. It's almost the active, aggressive desire to live in defiance of reality. Seriously, why else would any sane person decide unprecedented government spending and interference in the private sphere is the way to resuscitate a moribund economy? what person with even a rudimentary grasp of international history could have given the (in)famous "Cairo Speech" with a straight face?