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It used to be that when someone made a statement, then made another statement that implied something completely different, we had a name for that. We called it a contradiction. And it wasnt considered a good thing. Not too long ago, contradictions could end political careers in this country. When Tim Murphy said publicly that he was pro-life, but then privately told a woman to kill her baby, he had to resign from Congress. Al Franken met the same fate, after he bought into the #MeToo hysteria, then fell into its crosshairs himself.

But a lots changed in the few years since Tim Murphy and Al Franken were forced out of Congress. All of a sudden, contradictions are everywhere, particularly in the political world. The only way to ensure world peace is to fund a war, foreign policy experts tell us. Were a sanctuary city or state, but we dont want any more illegal migrants, say Gavin Newsom and Eric Adams. Men can turn into women, gender studies professors shriek. Euthanasia is healthcare, the Canadian government insists. All of these statements are contradictions, but youre hearing them all the time now.

In revolutionary periods, this is nothing new. Mao even wrote an essay entitled On Contradiction a century ago. Mao understood well that contradiction drives social change. Maybe the most important contradiction that revolutionaries must embrace, Mao argued, is the relationship between construction and destruction. On their face, these two concepts are polar opposites. Tearing something down means ruining it. Building something means creating it. If you want to build something new, you lay a foundation and get to work. You dont wreck what you have. Thats how the bourgeoisie saw it.

But Mao didnt see it that way. A half-century ago, Mao famously explained, There is no construction without destruction. In other words, theres a logical relationship between the two concepts. Creating a new society one totally unlike whatever came before requires wrecking the old society. Creating new symbols requires wrecking the old symbols.

Maos teachings led to, of course, tens of millions of deaths, the destruction of historic artifacts, and mass starvation. The last thing you would ever want our political leaders in this country to do is follow his ideology and try to emulate it. But thats exactly whats happening. This weekend in Albany, the capital of New York state, we saw maybe the clearest example in recent history of both construction and destruction happening simultaneously. Under the cover of darkness, at 5:30 in the morning, the city removed a statue of Revolutionary War hero and U.S. senator Philip Schuyler. And at the very moment that workers took Schuylers statue away, the so-called progress Pride flag was waving in the background, for the first time in Albanys history. Heres what it looked like. One of the defining images of our era

City Hall removes Revolutionary War hero General Philip Schuyler

Pride flags wave in the background pic.twitter.com/0hkhl4bHL8

End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) June 11, 2023

Notice the multiple Pride flags flying proudly as the statue is hoisted away, including the brand-new nonbinary/BIPOC/trans flag.

Now, if that seems like a carefully engineered juxtaposition, it is. Its choreographed to deliver a very clear message. Maos disciples in the New York state government know that if they want their new flag to have any kind of legitimacy, then Philip Schulyers statue cant remain. You cant have construction without destruction. If you want a revolution, you cant introduce a new idol without erasing the one that came before. So thats exactly what the local government did, as explicitly as they possibly could have done it.

If youre not trying to engineer a revolution if youre just an average person living in New York, with reasonable political views then none of this really makes sense. What was wrong with that statue, exactly? As far as we can tell, no one ever bothered to ask a significant number of New Yorkers that question. No one ever ran a poll on this, at least not one that we could find. There was certainly no statewide referendum on whether people actually wanted Philip Schuylers statue removed.

A few bureaucrats in New York just decided to do it a few years ago, and this weekend, they cut through the red tape and did it.

A local news station did conduct a man-on-the-street-style interview with a couple of residents to get their perspective. None of them could explain why this statue was being removed, even the people who said they supported removing it couldnt explain why:

Yes, a century-old historic artifact memorializing a Revolutionary War hero was not only taken down, it was taken down at the behest of a group of teenagers. The primary reason, as we heard in the clip, is that the absence of the statue will make city hall more welcoming. But welcome for who? If the standard is that any unwelcoming statue needs to go, then why exactly cant we destroy the monument of George Floyd that sits outside city hall in Newark?

But George Floyd didnt own slaves, you might say. Thats true. All George Floyd ever did was break into a womans home with five other people and hold a gun to her chest. And then, after getting out of prison, all George Floyd did was take enough opioids and meth to kill a horse, before trying to rob a store and fighting with several police officers.

Despite all that, youre not allowed to even criticize the George Floyd statue. Youll lose your job if you do. Under the new rules, George Floyds statue is welcoming. The Revolutionary War general is unwelcoming. Understood? Probably not, but then you arent supposed to understand. Part of the point behind these arbitrary decisions is that they make no logical or moral sense. You are meant to go along with it whether you understand or not. We might ask why? but The Powers That Be will treat us like were children and theyre our impatient parents: Because I said so, they respond.

Its all so contrived. Philip Schuyler is an iconic figure of the revolutionary era. Hes one of the reasons this country exists today. Multiple towns and forts are named after him in New York. And curiously, no one had a problem with him until very recently. Ten years ago, in an article, the Albany Times Union described Schuyler this way:

Philip Schuyler was a leading American statesman and a key general in the American Revolution who served at the pivotal Battle of Saratoga. He was named a representative to the first Continental Congress in Philadelphia and an adviser to Gen. George Washington, who stayed at Schuylers mansion in Albany.

The Times Union went on to describe Schuyler as:

instrumental in the victory of the American colonists at the Battle of Saratoga in the fall of 1777, a turning point of the Revolutionary War. Residents of Albany, fearful that their city might be occupied by British soldiers, instead celebrated an unexpected victory at Saratoga. It was the first major win for the colonists and the residents of Albany rang church bells, fired cannons, roasted an ox and gathered around a large bonfire. Schuyler returned to the city of his birth as a hero.

You can read that whole article. Its still on the Times Unions website, from 2013. Theres not a single mention of slavery or slaves in the entire piece. Guess how the Times Union describes Schuyler now? Heres a recent article from the paper, from this year.

While noted as a politician and Revolutionary War hero, Schuyler enslaved over a dozen people at his Saratoga and Albany homes.

The Times Union of 2023 goes on to cite and this is not a joke a report by five high schoolers who say that Schuyler is a bad man, and his statue has to be removed. Thats the report you heard referenced in that news clip, as well.

Heres how the Times Union describes the findings of these high school students:

The report, titled, What To Do with Phil? A 2022 Report from the Young Abolitionist Leadership Institute, was created by five Albany High School students who met between October 201 and June with two adult facilitators. While the report notes Schuylers accomplishments as a Revolutionary War general and politician, his legacy is still marked by owning human beings, it says.

This is also the report that the Albany government relied on to justify removing the statue.

Facile does not begin to describe this. In the 18th century, no one had the same attitudes towards slavery that we do now even the people who opposed it. Which relatively few people did back then. Its not surprising that a bunch of dumb, arrogant kids would lack the proper historical perspective and think themselves qualified to pass moral judgments on historical figures who lived 250 years ago. But thats where adults are supposed to step in. The problem is that there arent very many adults left in this country.

Whats really going on here is that Schuyler like Jefferson, Washington, Lincoln, and Teddy Roosevelt, and all the other historical figures whove had their monuments destroyed is a hero of a different nation. One that the city of Albany considers to be a foreign enemy. And they know they have to erase him if they want their revolution to succeed.

The Biden administration understands this as well. Look at this grotesque display currently hanging at the White House: Today, the People's House your house sends a clear message to the country and to the world.

America is a nation of pride. pic.twitter.com/ZZS9oTpDww

President Biden (@POTUS) June 11, 2023

Thats a Pride flag hanging on the White House, in between two American flags. There are similar displays all over the country, at 30 Rock and so on, but putting this flag at the White House, just like the flag at Albany City Hall, has particular implications. Most conservatives are saying that its horrific and evil for the White House to not only fly the Pride flag but to give it a place of primacy in between the two American flags. It is, of course, both of those things, but what they dont understand is that the White House is also properly representing its own nation, which is not our nation. We are two nations in one. There is the old United States that conservatives still cling to and cherish, and theres a new country with its own flag, its own traditions, its own heroes and foundational myths.

Thats the nation that the Biden regime, the media, academia, Hollywood all speak to and represent. Why do you think the city of New York took down Teddy Roosevelts statue? Liberals used to love him. He was one of the greatest presidents this country ever had. He broke up the big monopolies. He was well-read. He saved the middle class. He established national parks. He was an explorer and a pioneer. They took down Teddy Roosevelts statue in New York for a specific reason which was to replace it. Instead of Teddy Roosevelt, New York recently put up a horned statue of Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

Thats now happening, at scale. The nation we had before is being replaced. Its not just the demographics that are changing. The activists who are leading this revolution, like all totalitarians, understand that to take full control, they need to erase our shared history. Theyre executing their plan right in front of us, as obviously as they possibly can. While conservatives are debating the proper positioning of the American flag in relation to the Pride flag at the White House, the government is going out in the middle of the night and destroying the symbols they dont like. Theyre not asking your opinion on it. Theyre just doing it.

With that in mind, its not hard to wonder: What else will they take away before you even realize it? A lot more than statues. Soon the government may be able to kidnap your children if you dont subscribe to the cult of gender ideology. Thats an actual bill in California right now. Theyll label you a child abuser and likely put you in prison for wrong-think, so the state can raise your child. Thats the ultimate goal of this push for inclusion, which of course is fundamentally about excluding anyone with traditional views (and in particular religious views). The totalitarians running the government, like all totalitarians throughout history, are obsessed with using their power to make future generations subservient to their rule. Thats the reason theyre sponsoring Pride parades that expose children to deviant sexual fetishes. Thats the reason theyre destroying and replacing everything they can.

It took the single deadliest famine in world history to stop Mao. What will it take to stop the revolution thats taking place right now in this country? The longer this goes on the longer sane people stay quiet and watch as all this happens the more likely it is that, unfortunately, were going to find out.

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Politics

Businesses have been recruiting from abroad rather than training UK workers for ‘far too long’, says Yvette Cooper

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February 2, 2025

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Businesses have been recruiting from abroad rather than training UK workers for 'far too long', says Yvette Cooper

The government has vowed to stop businesses recruiting foreign workers instead of training people already in the UK.

Speaking to Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper criticised the current “relaxed free market approach”, which she says has led net migration to quadruple over the past four years.

“A big driver… has been that overseas recruitment has shot up in a series of areas where training has fallen,” she said.

“This has led to a relaxed free market approach for businesses to just be able to recruit from overseas instead of training in the UK.”

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She said there “has to be more requirements” that force firms to show they are making recruitment efforts domestically.

Ms Cooper said the government is “drawing up further measures” that will particularly target industries such as IT, construction, and engineering where “for far too long we have been recruiting from abroad”.

The new Border Security Asylum and Immigration Bill – revealed last week – will link the immigration system to bodies like Skills England and others that are involved in workforce planning, Ms Cooper said.

She said the government will keep the skilled migrant worker salary threshold at £38,700 and it has removed the 20% wage discount for non-EU foreign workers brought in by the Conservatives in 2019.

There will also be continued restrictions on both foreign graduate students and social care workers bringing family members, she added.

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The home secretary’s comments come after the Office for National Statistics (ONS) published predictions that the UK population will grow by five million people in 10 years – driven mainly by migration.

Speaking to Sir Trevor afterwards, shadow trade and business secretary Andrew Griffiths said: “Well, we’ve been very clear. The Conservative Party is under new management. Immigration was too high. There were many, many, many, many failings in that immigration system in that period of time.”

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Immigration driving up UK population

No to universal digital ID cards

In the Sunday Telegraph, shadow home secretary Chris Philp accused the government of repealing parts of their Illegal Migration Act 2023 that make it almost impossible for people who arrive in small boats to apply for citizenship.

He also suggested the government is repealing the Conservatives’ measure of treating those who refuse to undergo scientific age checking as adults.

A Home Office spokesperson said: “The Illegal Migration Act has largely not been commenced (including this measure on age assessments); nor will it be under this government’s policy.

“We have robust processes in place to verify and assess an individual’s age where there is doubt, including the National Age Assessment Board, and have maintained the provisions on scientific assessments from the Nationality & Borders Act 2022.”

Asked about former prime minister Sir Tony Blair’s claims that digital ID cards would help ease pressures on immigration, Ms Cooper did not endorse them.

Instead, she said: “Non-UK citizens already have to have biometric resident permits, but they’re hardly ever checked.”

On trade, Ms Cooper reiterated Labour’s stance that the UK will not re-enter the Customs Union, European Single Market, or restore freedom of movement.

“We’ll look at ways to reduce friction, but we’re not returning to a Customs Union. You do it within a framework that we’re outside the EU and we’re not returning. We need to move on.”

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Environment

We toured the Honda EV Hub in Ohio where the Acura RSX and 0 Series EVs will soon be built [Video]

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February 2, 2025

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We toured the Honda EV Hub in Ohio where the Acura RSX and 0 Series EVs will soon be built [Video]

As we enter the second month of 2025, Honda is inching closer to commencing BEV production at its long-standing US plant in Marysville, Ohio, later this year. That $1 billion transition will begin with the assembly of the recently confirmed Acura RSX EV, followed by the first two models in Honda’s 0 Series lineup. Before that happened, however, Honda gave an exclusive tour of its new EV Hub in Ohio, which included an innovative new approach to modular vehicle assembly, massive mega press machines, and an insightful look into the positive impact Honda has established amongst the residents of The Buckeye State. You can view my whole tour expeirience in the video below.

While Honda is a global name synonymous with engines and mobility, it is still carving out its own legacy in the BEV segment. That process began with two initial all-electric models – the Honda Prologue and the Acura ZDX, both of which I’ve had the opportunity to test drive and share my impressions.

While those two models put some of Honda’s skin in the game, they are arguably only a fraction of Honda’s true design DNA, which it has since taken into its own hands looking forward. That future includes the Honda 0 Series, which was initially announced at CES 2024 as a “back to zero” mentality for the Japanese automaker.

The 0 Series began with two BEV concepts called the “Saloon” and “Space Hub,” which have since evolved in the Honda 0 Saloon and SUV prototypes, which debuted at CES a year later and were on display at Honda’s EV Hub in Marysville, Ohio this past week.

Marysville, home to Honda’s first and longest-running US production facility, will soon house BEV production of the two models mentioned above. First, however, Honda will begin assembling an all-electric Acura SUV developed from the Performance EV Concept, which we recently learned will be called the RSX.

Honda is still putting the finishing touches on a $1 billion overhaul of its new EV Hub in Ohio but invited a group of media out to tour multiple facilities and see where the first true Honda and Acura-built BEVs will be assembled, beginning later this year.

I documented my visit in a video below, but will break it down in words for you as well.

Honda is taking a failsafe approach to production

As you may or may not know, the Honda EV Hub is part of a $1 billion+ investment from the Japanese automaker to retool its existing facilities in Ohio to produce electric vehicles. That includes reimagining three existing plants: the Marysville Auto Plant (MAP), East Liberty Auto Plant (ELP), and the Anna Engine Plant (AEP).

During my EV Hub visit, we started at the Marysville Auto Plant, which originally opened in 1979 and has been building Honda cars since 1982, to see the progress the company has made in revamping a 40+ year old facility for the all-electric age while continuing to build ICE and plug-in vehicles.

What we saw was a unique approach to modern-day vehicle assembly, in which Honda will soon be able to build ICE, hybrid-electric, and BEVs on the same production line. Furthermore, the automaker can ramp up or down any specific vehicle configuration depending on customer demand. Senior vice president, Honda Development & Manufacturing of America, LLC, Bob Schwyn spoke to the media before joining us on the tour of Marysville:

The Honda EV Hub provides Honda with the flexibility to produce ICE, hybrid-electric and EV models on the same production lines so we can quickly respond to shifting customer needs and market conditions. Beyond adding the capability to produce EVs, we completely reimagined our approach to manufacturing, transforming the Honda production environment with more human-friendly processes and sustainable manufacturing practices.

As you’ll see in my video coverage, Honda was in the process of building a slew of Accords, which was interesting in its own right, but what was more exciting was the empty space at the Marysville section of the EV Hub, where Honda will soon begin assembling its battery platforms before integrating them into vehicles on those very same assembly lines, beginning with the Acura RSX.

As you can see in the image below, Honda has cleared out a massive amount of space for dedicated BEV component assembly, which required it to remove an entire existing build line and get creative about where to re-implement other manufacturing components in different parts of the plant – all while continuing to build non-BEV models.

Per the Honda team, the EV Hub will hire 300 new employees to specifically handle battery pack assembly at Marysville. The battery cases for those packs are built at Honda’s Anna Engine Plant, which I also got to visit and have detailed below. Those manufactured cases are then transported to Marysville, where trained Honda “Associates” will work alongside electric guided vehicles (EGVs) and robots to assemble Honda’s first-ever propriety EV platform.

Honda calls the process “Parallel module manufacturing,” which consists of a network of assembly cells performing assembly tasks in a multi-lateral manner in which if one cell is slow or completely down for some reason, production can continue.

Per Honda, the first batch of battery pack assembly cells have been installed at Marysville with a second batch to follow in three months. That will put Honda at its targeted launch volume of which it can scale from there depending on demand.

  • Honda EV Hub
  • Honda EV Hub
  • Honda EV Hub
    Honda’s revamped BEV assembly area

Honda’s megacast arsenal bolsters EV Hub’s future

After our walkthrough around Marysville, we took a bus ride to Anna, Ohio, home to Honda’s Anna Engine Plant – another key piece to its EV Hub. Despite its name, Honda does not just build engines in Anna. Yes, it still very much does, but AEP is also the new home to vital machinery in Honda’s BEV manufacturing.

Honda has installed five of its six planned 6,000-ton megacasting machines at AEP, which will die-cast the EV battery cases mentioned above and seen in the images below. The massive die-cast machines, each capable of 300 tons of pressure during a trim press, will be operated in pairs by Honda as soon as the last machine has been installed.

In order to move the megacasting machines into the Anna Engine Plant, Honda had to widen its plant door. Then, it installed machines one through four, followed by number six, which just started operations a couple of weeks ago. Machine five, which would have been in the way if it hadn’t been installed last, will be arriving soon with plenty of time before Acura RSX production begins.

For me personally, it was awesome to visit AEP and see the megacasting in action because I got to see the same machine at Honda’s R&D center in Tochigi, Japan, this past fall. There, I was told that six more of those megacasting machines would be installed at the EV hub in Ohio.

Just months later, Honda is nearly complete with the installation process, and the three pairs will begin pressing the front and rear battery casings. While I did see the megacast machine in action in Japan, it was at a distance. During my visit to the EV Hub, however, Honda took us onto one of the machines where we could watch an EV battery case cast and trimmed up close. I documented it in my video below for you!

Another assembly technique I learned about in Tochigi but got to see in person at the Anna Engine Plant was Honda’s friction stir welding process. This innovative method produced high-strength welds to combine the two halves of the battery case and the water jacket (seen below) while reducing the amount of energy used and heat impact on the aluminum material.

This technique and Honda’s overall EV Hub renovation are part of a larger three-pronged strategy called “Triple Action to Zero.” Its goal is to achieve zero environmental impact by 2050 through carbon neutrality, clean energy, and resource circulation. That entails all zero-emission sales by 2040.

Honda is building EVs in the US the right way

After my visit to Marysville and Anna, walking the assembly lines and chatting with Honda Associates from all levels of the company, I realized that a vestige of the American dream is still present in Ohio. Marysville and Anna are blue-collar areas, and those cities have continued to evolve thanks to Honda’s decision to plant roots on US soil over 40 years ago.

Many of the people I encountered during my trip have been with the company for longer than I have been on this Earth, some second generation, who grew up watching their parent grow alongside the company and its Ohio footprint.

While much of Honda’s US production history is a bit oily and dusty due to engines and combustion, the EV Hub provides a new era on par with Honda’s overall “back to zero” startup mentality. I was genuinely impressed by Honda’s ability to pivot, rethink, and repurpose its existing facilities to support the addition of BEV production.

Furthermore, the decision to implement those assemblies on the same line as Honda’s ICE and plug-in vehicles sounds like a pipe dream on paper, but in person, the company appears to have pulled it off. But it took everyone in Marysville, East Liberty, and Anna to get there. Honda will continue to rely on those Associates as it approaches the day when its first bespoke BEV on its very own platform rolls off that Marysville assembly line.

With the current political climate and EV education and understanding remaining huge hurdles for Americans and plenty of the public servants who help govern them, the future of BEV production is murky. That’s scary, given our tremendous progress in the past decade.

However, whether people are buying ICE cars, hybrids, PHEVs, or BEVs years from now, Honda has teed itself up to adapt and rise to the challenge (something the company prides itself on) with its EV Hub.

I’ve now learned the where, the when, and the how of BEV production at the Honda EV Hub, but now I’m ready for the what. From what I’ve been told, the 0 Series Saloon and SUV prototypes are “very close” to the final production design, but the Acura RSX remains a bit of a mystery aside from one camouflaged image.

I expect to learn more soon as that SUV will kick off Honda’s EV Hub production in late 2025. Perhaps I can take another trip to Ohio and see it built before driving one myself. While we await that milestone, you can check out my video touring the Marysville and Anna facilities at Honda’s EV Hub below:

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Politics

Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey shrugs off being called a ‘snivelling cretin’ by Elon Musk

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2 hours ago

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February 2, 2025

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Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey shrugs off being called a 'snivelling cretin' by Elon Musk

Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey has shrugged off being called a “snivelling cretin” by Elon Musk – and has vowed to continue “calling him out”.

Speaking to Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips, Sir Ed said he has been “in politics long enough to know that there are insults made”, adding that he is “sometimes not always complimentary about people like Elon Musk”.

Mr Musk, the world’s richest man, has made several comments about UK politics since the election of the Labour government last July and widespread rioting triggered by misinformation around the killing of three young girls in Southport soon after.

Last month, Sir Ed posted on X: “People have had enough of Elon Musk interfering with our country’s democracy when he clearly knows nothing about Britain.

“It’s time to summon the US ambassador to ask why an incoming US official is suggesting the UK government should be overthrown.”

Mr Musk replied: “What exactly do I fail to understand about your failure to stop the mass rape of little girls in Britain, you sniveling cretin?”

Read more
Musk appears in German far-right campaign
Musk responds to inauguration hand gesture
Musk’s starring role in administration confirmed

Elon Musk gestures at the podium inside the Capital One arena. Pic: Reuters
Image:
Elon Musk during Donald Trump’s inauguraton celebrations. Pic: Reuters

The X owner was referring to grooming gangs in the UK. His comments led members of the Conservative Party to call for a fresh inquiry into the issue.

Speaking to Sir Trevor on Sky News, Sir Ed said the “real issue of substance is Elon Musk said that the British government elected by the British people just a few months ago should be overthrown”.

He said that while he does not agree with many of President Donald Trump’s views, the UK should still try to work with the US.

On Mr Musk, he added: “It’s a real matter of concern. We need to call him out.”

Sir Ed described him as an “overpowerful billionaire tech magnate”, “best friend of the president of the United States”, and “camped out in Trump’s Oval Office”.

Mr Musk has been appointed as head of Mr Trump’s newly-created Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

While not a government body – it has been instructed to cut bureaucracy and budgets across the federal government.

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