Ever hear of a place called Burkina Faso? We won’t test you. It is a landlocked country in West Africa, surrounded by six countries: Mali to the north; Niger to the east; Benin to the southeast; Togo and Ghana to the south; and Ivory Coast to the southwest. Its largest city is Ouagadougou.
Yesterday, a Canadian that was captured a few days ago was found dead. He was abducted after nightfall by a dozen gunmen on a mining site owned by Vancouver-based company called Progress Minerals near the border with Niger, in an area that the government says is under growing threat from armed jihadists.
Earlier this month, a Canadian man and an Italian woman went missing in Burkina. They have not been found.
While the first guy was working for a mining company, the couple was there to save the world. Can we talk? Burkina Faso is not a place for any white person to be. Period. End of story. Not working for a mining company and certainly not trying to save them from themselves. Some places are just not worth whatever monies will be had nor whoever can possibly be saved.
Prince Philip, husband of the Queen and 93 years old, was in a car accident today. A nasty car accident where his car rolled over and he had to be pulled out through the sunroof. Can we talk?
No doubt you are thinking what we are thinking. Why is a 93 year old man still driving? Even if he has all his facilities and all his hearing, which is doubtful, his reflexes are that of a 93 year old man – s.l.o.w. Which is why elderly people have their licenses taken from them.
No doubt da Queen will ensure that from now on, he has a chauffeur to drive him wherever he needs to go. And where exactly was Phil going?
Earlier this week, Nancy Pelosi, Democratic speaker of the House, felt that President Trump should not be giving his State of the Union speech on January 25. Until Washington reopens, he should be silent.
Well, today Trump called her bluff. A few minutes before she was to leave on some kind of hello mission to the troops in Afghanistan and the Middle East, Trump told her that instead of using a government plane, she should either stay home or go commercial. Cancel your trip until Washington reopens.
Blanche, you can imagine that this did not go over well with her sizeable delegation who it appears drove around Washington in a chartered bus until it was determined that they were not going anywhere.
Some are calling Trump’s move petty. Unfortunately, so is Pelosi’s move. Just because she speaks s.l.o.w.l.y and distinctly does not mean she is also not petty, which she is. And why exactly is she and many of her cohorts going to express appreciation to the troops at the taxpayers expense? That little trip was going to cost many, many MANY millions of dollars.
The US of A is stuck in a quagmire with little hope of getting out anytime soon. Blanche, did you see that Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is polling as high as Trump? Seriously? This is what the US now wants? Free tuition, housing, food, medicine, hospitals? Someone with a bigger mouth than Trump and who is faster on social media?
It gets better. Cortez is now on the House Financial Services committee headed by none other than Maxine Waters. Do not fall into her mouth.
Last June she said the following: “Let’s make sure we show up wherever we have to show up,” And if you see anybody from Trump’s Cabinet in a restaurant, in a department store, at a gasoline station, you get out and you create a crowd. And you push back on them. And you tell them they’re not welcome anymore, anywhere.” They deserve each other.
As for the Democrat party, they are spiralling to a place that they will sincerely regret going to as it very well could cost them the next election.
Brexit is a mess and very difficult to understand. We searched many places to try to make sense of what is going on there and why. We hope this makes things a bit clearer.
…This past Tuesday, Prime Minister Theresa May lost a vote on her proposal to exit the EU, ergo Brexit.
…The negotiations for the exit between Europe and Britain formally began in June 2017 and lasted for nearly a year and a half. The EU has begun putting a contingency plan in place, in case May is unable to come to an agreement with Britain, to minimize what could be a chaotic and damaging divorce.
…May now has until Monday to present a backup plan to Parliament. But she is running out of time to come up with a deal that would be supported by a deeply divided Parliament: a faction of her own Conservative Party has advocated a “hard Brexit,” the opposition wants closer economic ties with Europe, and parties are split about terms regarding the Irish border.
…May has indicated that she will appeal to the European Union in Brussels for concessions and try again to win parliamentary approval, but the bloc is unlikely to renegotiate without a clear path forward.
…She could also call a second referendum, an option favored by some opposition politicians who hope that voters have changed their minds. But she has so far opposed this option.
…The Ireland problem, which could stall the entire Brexit deal:
A position of last resort is to maintain an open border on the island of Ireland in the event that the UK leaves the EU without securing an all-encompassing deal.
At present, goods and services are traded between the two jurisdictions on the island of Ireland with few restrictions.
The UK and Ireland are currently part of the EU single market and customs union, so products do not need to be inspected for customs and standards.
After Brexit, all that could change – the two parts of Ireland could be in different customs and regulatory regimes, which could mean products being checked at the border.
The UK government does not want this to happen. The EU has also said it does not want any hardening of the border. Goods coming into Northern Ireland from elsewhere in the UK would have to be checked to make sure they met EU standards. Any separate status for Northern Ireland from the rest of the UK is seen as potentially damaging to the union as a whole.
As such, Prime Minister Theresa May continually rejected the EU’s proposal saying it would threaten the constitutional integrity of the UK.
Rumors are that May is going to throw Ireland under the bus to get a Brexit deal done in six weeks. Time will tell.
Good Shabbos We’ll talk
Comentários