World View: Silvio Berlusconi Threatens to Bring down Italy's Government

This morning’s key headlines from GenerationalDynamics.com

• Pakistan’s Imran Khan detained by US immigration during fund-raising trip
• Burma acknowledges a genocidal scorched-earth policy against Muslim Rohingyas
• Former Carter aide calls activist press a ‘fundamental threat to democracy’
• Silvio Berlusconi threatens to bring down Italy’s government with him
• Barack Obama unable to do math beyond seventh grade

Pakistan’s Imran Khan detained by US immigration during fund-raising trip

Imran Khan

Former Pakistani cricket superstar Imran Khan, now an anti-Americanthis weekend on a fund-raising tour for his bid to win next year’sPakistan presidential election. Many expect Khan to win, as he’s beendrawing huge crowds. (See “Hope and change Pakistan candidate Imran Khan draws huge crowd in Karachi” from last November.) On Saturday, Khan was taken offan international flight from Canada to New York and questioned by USimmigration officials over his views on drone strikes and “holy war.”U.S. immigration authorities did not give the reason for detaining himbriefly, but a spokesman said, “Under US immigration law, applicantsfor admission bear the burden of proof to establish that they areclearly eligible to enter the United States. In order to demonstratethat they are admissible, the applicant must overcome all grounds ofinadmissibility.” Few Americans have the vaguest clue who Imran Khanis, but moderate Muslim groups in the U.S. know who he is and havebeen protesting to US secretary of state Hillary Clinton to revokeKhan’s visa. Guardian (London)

Burma acknowledges a genocidal scorched-earth policy against Muslim Rohingyas

Burma’s government has acknowledged that the violence in Rakhine Statein western Burma (Myanmar) is spiraling into genocide and ascorched-earth program, following the release by Human Rights Watch ofsatellite photos of five villages where violence has taken place. Aswe reported yesterday, most of theviolence is being perpetrated by Buddhists in the Rakhine ethnicgroup, directed against Muslims in the Rohingya ethnic group.Independent and Human Rights Watch

Former Carter aide calls activist press a ‘fundamental threat to democracy’

Pat Caddell, who was an aide to President Jimmy Carter and who has workedin several other Democratic administrations, says he is “nauseated” byby active participation of the mainstream media in covering up anynews, such as the news about Benghazi, that might be harmful toPresident Obama’s reelection chances. In a speech earlier this week,he concluded:

“But all I want to conclude to this is that we face afundamental danger here. The fundamental danger is this: I talkedabout the defense of the First Amendment. The press’s job is tostand in the ramparts and protect the liberty and freedom of allof us from a government and from organized governmental power.When they desert those ramparts and decide that they will nowbecome active participants, that their job is not simply to tellyou who you may vote for, and who you may not, but, worse–and thisis the danger of the last two weeks–what truth that you may know,as an American, and what truth you are not allowed to know, theyhave, then, made themselves a fundamental threat to the democracy,and, in my opinion, made themselves the enemy of the Americanpeople. And it is a threat to the very future of this country ifthat–we allow this stuff to go on. We have crossed a whole newand frightening slide on the slippery slope this last two weeks,and it needs to be talked about.”

I can only agree with this. I’ve written several times in 2007 andlater that NBC News and the New York Times actively sided withal-Qaeda in Iraq against the United States, and as far as I’mconcerned, they’re guilty of treason. Whether Obama or Romney wins onNovember 6, the mainstream media will continue to be a danger to ourcountry. The Gen-Xers at these institutions are behaving just likeGermany’s Lost Generation in the 1930s that created the Holocaust.That’s how generational hatred works during generational Crisis eras.To say that they’re a danger to America is not an overstatement.Accuracy in Media

Silvio Berlusconi threatens to bring down Italy’s government with him

Berlusconi glumly waving last November, after being forced out of office (AP)

Italy’s colorful former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi was convictedand sentenced to four years of jail time on Friday for corruption.However, he will appeal the decision and, at age 76, it seems unlikelythat he’ll ever go to jail. Puffing with anger, Berlusconi called thecourt hearing a fraud, and said, “Ours is not a democracy but adictatorship of the judges.” He’s threatening to withdraw his party’ssupport from the government of supposedly non-partisan technocrats,headed by Mario Monti, that took power when he was forced to step downlast year because of the financial crisis. However, Italy’s economyhas significantly worsened since Monti took power, as it has incountries around the eurozone. Berlusconi was prime minister threetimes in the past: 1994-5, 2001-6, and 2008-11. While prime minister,his “bunga bunga” parties with aspiring starlets became world famous.However, he is also currently on trial, charged with paying for sexwith underage girl and trying to cover it up. He denies anywrongdoing. BBC

Barack Obama unable to do math beyond seventh grade

Appearing on the Tonight Show earlier this week, President BarackObama was asked about helping his daughters with homework, and said:

“Well, the math stuff I was fine with up until aboutseventh grade. But Malia is now a freshman in High School and I’mpretty lost.”

This explains a number of things about the last four years. I have noidea how much math Mitt Romney understands, but it would be nice forour country’s President, whoever he is, to at least be able to dosimple algebra and geometry. In fact, he’d know a lot more about howthe world works if he understood a little calculus as well.

What does it say about Harvard Law School that someone can graduatebarely able to do 7th grade math? As an MIT graduate, I can say thatthis confirms a number of things that MIT students say about Harvard.

As I’ve written many times, the analysts on CNBC are too stupid to beable to a simple division of prices by earnings, to get a correctprice/earnings ratio. They earn multi-million dollar bonuses, butthey can’t do simple math. Maybe they all went to Harvard BusinessSchool. Daily Mail

KEYS: Generational Dynamics, Pakistan, Imran Khan, Canada,Burma, Myanmar, Rakhine State, Rohingya,Pat Caddell, Jimmy Carter
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