The Council has spoken, the votes have been cast, and the results are in for this week's Watcher's Council match up.
"The sky is falling! The sky is falling!" - Chicken Little
"Victoire de la liberté ! Comme je le demande depuis des années, il faut maintenant le même référendum en France et dans les pays de l'UE MLP."(“Victory for Freedom! As I have been asking for years, we must now have the same referendum in France and EU countries.” ) - Tweeted by the leader of France's Front National, Marine Le Pen.
“America is proud to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with a free independent UK. We stand together as friends, as allies, and as a people with a shared history.” - Donald J. Trump
This week's winning essay,Joshuapundits's Brexit - The Triumph Of Freedom Over Tyranny is my reaction and analysis of the Brexit vote, why it happened, what the real issues at stake were and what the effect is likely to be. Here's a slice:
"This happy breed of men, this little world,
This precious stone set in the silver sea,
Which serves it in the office of a wall
Or as a moat defensive to a house,
Against the envy of less happier lands,-
This blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England."
Britain has voted on whether to stay in the EU or exit. In spite of the 'leave' campaign being massively outspent, demonized in the press and harangued and threatened by foreign leaders including America's President Obama, the British made their choice and they chose clearly to leave.
President Obama in particular had a significant effect on the vote. After his speech threatening that if Britain left the EU they "would go to the back of the queue as far as trade is concerned" and that the special relationship between the U.S. and the UK would be changed, the poll numbers for leave skyrocketed. Nigel Farage, leader of the eurosceptic UK Independence Party (UKip) quipped that Obama's little screed was so helpful to the Brexit camp that he should "come over more often."
The election itself told a clear story about where Britain is today. England and Wales largely voted for Brexit, with the exception of pockets in large cities like Muslim-dominated Tower Hamlets in London. Northern Ireland voted remain, but that was thanks to majorities in locations closer to Eire, the Irish Republic.
The real giveaway was Scotland, which voted 'remain' by almost two to one. More on that later, but the United Kingdom isn't really united anymore.
The issues boiled done to this in Britain's case: money, migrants and sovereignty.
Just take a look at this figure: According to the latest UK Treasury figures, the UK's net contribution to the EU for 2014/15 was £8.8bn - nearly double what it was in 2009/10. What they got back in the form of 'rebates'(mostly in the form of regional development grants and payments to farmers) was just £4.6bn in 2014/15. And this amount doesn't take into consideration various taxes and fees levied on a suffering British public, nor the high cost of complying with EU diktats on virtually all aspects of daily living.
Speaking of EU diktats, another significant factor in this election was Mutti Merkel's unilateral decision to open the EU gates to over a million Muslim migrants with more to come. The unelected EU bureaucrats, believe it or not, actually passed 'legislation' mandating that all EU countries take in a set amount of these Muslim 'refugees' or face a €300,000 fine per refugee for every one refused entry. That fell through when a number of countries flatly refused to comply, but the very fact that the EU minions felt they had the right to try and impose it did not escape notice. That was especially true in Britain where they already have a significant problem with their existing Muslim population, many of whom are disproportionately on the dole.
Another factor, of course, is the schengen visas, which allow these 'refugees' -or for that matter, migrants from any EU country once they're accepted as residents - to automatic access to Britain without any formalities or vetting.
And the final reason was not just that the UK is one of the successful nations in the EU whose taxpayers were propping up countries with failed economies like Spain, Greece and Italy among others. It was the increasing strangulation of national sovereignty by unelected bureaucrats in Brussels.
Behind all this, of course, was an effort to bind Germany to Europe, climaxed with German de facto domination in the name of “European unity.” It's the Germans whom benefit most from the EU scam, since it allows them to value their exports in cheaper euros rather than higher value Deutschmarks. And former East German STASI member Angela Merkel has a first hand knowledge of how such totalitarian control works.
It's no accident that Merkel's new proposal in reaction to Brexit involves transforming what's left of the EU into a kind of superstate, where EU countries would have no control over the right to have their own army, criminal law, taxation system or central bank, as well as control over their own borders, which means they too will be inundated by Muslim 'refugees.'. All of these factors will be controlled and mandated from Brussels:
The foreign ministers of France and Germany are due to reveal a blueprint to effectively do away with individual member states in what is being described as an “ultimatum”. [...]
The plot has sparked fury and panic in Poland - a traditional ally of Britain in the fight against federalism - after being leaked to Polish news channel TVP Info.
The public broadcaster reports that the bombshell proposal will be presented to a meeting of the Visegrad group of countries - made up of Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia - by German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier later today.
Excerpts of the nine-page report were published today as the leaders of Germany, France and Italy met in Berlin for Brexit crisis talks.
Given the sentiment in Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic, I doubt this will be well received. And Britain's exit has sparked calls for referendums in other EU countries, particularly Denmark, the Netherlands, Sweden, Finland and Austria as well as the Visograd countries.
The numbers have undoubtedly gone up since this poll was taken prior to Britain voting to leave.
Of course, France's socialist government has refused to hold a referendum since Hollande's government feeds on EU subsidies. But even if the highly unpopular Hollande isn't removed from office before then, he and the Socialists will have to answer to the voters in 2017. And Marine Le Pen's National Front is growing by leaps and bounds.
The same is true in the Netherlands, where Geert Wilders' Freedom Party (PVV) is likely to double its seats in the Dutch Parliament.
In reaction to Brexit, Wilders said, "We want be in charge of our own country, our own money, our own borders, and our own immigration policy."
“If I become prime minister, there will be a referendum in the Netherlands on leaving the European Union as well. Let the Dutch people decide.”
So, what are the likely effects?
Much is being made of the drop in the British Pound and the stock market. What's hardly being mentioned is that Germany's economy has been hit far worse.
Much more at the link.
In our non-Council category, the winner was Robert Avrech of Seraphic Secret with How To Kill An IslamoNazi submitted by The Watcher. Full disclosure, aside from being a good friend, Robert is also an award winning screenwriter, producer and an awesome writer in general (check out his 'The Hebrew Kid And The Apache Maiden' some time.)
Here he shows exactly why, sketching out a certain scenario in Israel almost like a script, except this one is entirely real. As they used to say in the old Michelin tour guides, well worth the detour.
Here are this week’s full results. Only Fausta and Angry White Dude were unable to vote, but neither was subject to the 2/3 vote penalty for not voting:
Council Winners
- *First place with 3 votes!-Joshuapundit-Brexit - The Triumph Of Freedom Over Tyranny
- Second place *t* with 1 1/3 votes –Bookworm Room – George Will's clarifying stance
- Second place *t* with 1 1/3 votes –Puma By Design – For Progressives, Compassion for Victims of Islamic Terrorist Attacks is Not an Option
- Third place with 1 vote –The Razor – Keep Calm And Carry On
- Fourth place *t* with 2/3 votes –The Glittering Eye -Britons Vote to Leave European Union
- Fourth place *t* with 2/3 votes –GrEaT sAtAn”S gIrLfRiEnD – Fallujah's forever war
- Fifth place *t* with 1/3 vote –VA Right! - So, Did Anyone Fall for the Fake ‘Gun Control’ Votes?
- Fifth place *t* with 1/3 vote –Stately McDaniel Manor – The Freddie Gray Case, Update 35.7.2: None Are So Blind…
- Fifth place *t* with 1/3 vote –Angry White Dude – George Will Says He's No Longer A Republican - Yes He's A Perfect Republican
Non-Council Winners
- First place with 2 1/3 votes! –Seraphic Secret – How To Kill An IslamoNazi submitted by The Watcher
- Second place with 2 votes – Free Range International- Shoot Back submitted by Bookworm Room
- Third place with 1 1/3 votes –David Goldman (Spengler) – A Pax Sinica in the Middle East, Redux submitted by Joshuapundit
- Fourth place with 1 vote -Foreign Policy – Angela Merkel Doesn't Have A Brexit Plan Either submitted by GrEaT sAtAn”S gIrLfRiEnD
- Fifth place *t* with 2/3 votes -Corey Robin – Neera and Me: Two Theses about the American Ruling Class and One About Neera Tanden submitted by The Glittering Eye
- Fifth place *t* with 2/3 votes -The Volokh Conspiracy –Chief Idaho federal prosecutor warns: “The spread of false information or inflammatory or threatening statements … may violate federal law" submitted by Stately McDaniel Manor
- Sixth place *t* with 1/3 vote -The Federalist -8 Best Quotes From Thomas's Texas Abortion Dissent submitted by The Daley Gator
- Sixth place *t* with 1/3 vote -John Hindraker/Powerline – Trump’s Declaration of Independence submitted by The Watcher
See you next week!
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