With the surprising upset victory of David Cameron’s Tory party in the UK last week, David Frum wrote this article noting how conservative parties in the rest of the Anglosphere, specifically the UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand are all riding high while US Republicans, while doing nicely at the congressional level still seem stuck at the presidential level, preoccupied with a series of concerns that seem to separate them from not only Democrats but the bulk of independent swing voters. The GOP could definitely win the 2016 election. But if they do, it will probably be much more about the difficulty any party has securing a third term in the White House than a real shift in the dynamics which have been in play in the last two election cycles, or arguably the last six.
A heretofore gay friendly town in Arkansas, best known for being the site of the so-called “Christ of the Ozarks” statue is being roiled by an anti-discrimination backlash.
With Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu now settled down to a new coalition government – his fourth – with what is literally the slenderest coalition possible, there’s a raft of stories like this one in the Israeli press about how Netanyahu has gone from a shattering resurgence to ignominy and helplessness in less than two months. It is, as I put it a couple days ago, a government already at war with itself.
There is a great deal to be gleaned from last week’s UK election: an unexpected and highly consequential victory for the Tories, a major setback for post-Blairite Labour and a real question about whether Labour can manage to remain a potential majority party without its base in Scotland. For that matter, despite the failed independence referendum vote, is there a future for the United Kingdom? All that aside I wanted to note one eye-popping result that you may not have heard about if you’re only reading the top headlines.
Two police officers were fatally shot in Hattiesburg, Mississippi last night when a speeding traffic stop erupted in gunfire. A bystander who came upon the officers said one asked “… ‘Am I dying? I know I’m dying. Just hand me my walkie-talkie.'”
Chris Christie says he’s ready to move on from Bridgegate and “stop apologizing.”
Top DC-based anti-Islam group says Jade Helm 15 hysteria is distracting attention from threat of imposition of Sharia law and Muslim Brotherhood infiltration of the White House, Ferguson, Missouri, etc.
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Secretary of Defense forced to deny that Pentagon is planning military takeover of Texas.