Bermuda’s homeless shelter renovations delayed for lack of funds.

I bring this up primarily because Vexed Bermoothes, which I discovered while researching the entire Uighur thing, would like to know when the international community is going to help with that.

The planned overhaul of the Salvation Army’s homeless shelter has been delayed due to a lack of funds, according to Social Rehabilitation Minister Dale Butler.

Mr. Butler told The Royal Gazette yesterday that “the timeline has slowed down” for the complete renovation of the North Street facility, which was built in 1982 as a temporary structure.

The building was intended to last 15 years, but is still being used to house 55 homeless Bermudians 27 years on.

Answer:

(pause)

Hey, look! The new League of Extraordinary Gentlemen is out!

Moe Lane

Crossposted to RedState.

President Obama and the now-vex’d Bermoothes.

Heckuva job there, Barry.

You know, it’s not the fact that we’re apparently on the verge of toppling another foreign government that bemuses me, per se; toppling foreign governments is one of those things that the United States of America simply does, as a byproduct of our very existence. Whether or not that’s an inherently good thing is going to be a matter of some debate – particularly if you’re somebody who’s never lived under one or another of the unpleasant regimes that we’ve absentmindedly obliterated, over the years*. So I’m not particularly startled at the thought that it may be about to happen again.

Still. Bermuda?

Crockwell tells THE WEEKLY STANDARD that Bermudians are very concerned about the potential threat the Uighurs pose to the security and economy of Bermuda, and are outraged by the secretive and unilateral manner in which Bermuda premier Dr. Ewart Brown decided to accept the detainees.

“There’s a great deal of anxiety right now,” says Crockwell. “We have not received any information at all in terms of who these individuals are.”

“We hear reports that they have been associated with al Qaeda … that they were trained in terrorist camps,” as well as reports that the men are innocent. “So we don’t know” how much a security risk the former detainees pose. Crockwell says that the Bermudian people and members of parliament don’t know where the Uighurs are now being housed by the government.

“We think the premier, who made a unilateral decision, has put this country at risk. We believe that when there’s uncertainty we have to err on the side of caution,” Crockwell adds. Crockwell’s United Bermuda Party has already moved a motion of no confidence against Brown to remove him as the leader of parliament. He says that a “member of the backbench has stated not even the cabinet was informed of this decision,” which Crockwell described as a “unilateral autocratic decision made by one man who has created a national crisis for the island of Bermuda.”

Continue reading President Obama and the now-vex’d Bermoothes.

The White House has found a place for the Uighurs! Palau!

I had to look it up, too.

8,188.82 miles away from Washington, DC (if this site is to be believed), which is actually about 8,000 miles less than I expected. Then again, there probably isn’t anything there except empty ocean*, and if the administration was just going to dump terrorists into the water it would have said so.

Palau (Who?) to Take in 17 Uighurs

The obscure Pacific nation of Palau, one of the world’s youngest and tiniest countries, has agreed to take in the 17 Uighurs — Muslim Chinese — currently being held at Guantanamo.

President Johnson Toribiong announced in a statement to the Associated Press that Palau “agreed to accommodate the United States of America’s request to temporarily resettle in Palau up to 17 ethnic Uighur detainees.” He said their resettlement in Palau would be “subject to periodic review.”

[snip]

The US government has pledged $200 million in aid to Palau, but a White House official denied that money, for development assistance, had anything to do with the Uighurs going to Palau.

No word from Jake whether the official was able to say that with a straight face.  Well, that’s how the game is played.  See also Hot Air and AoSHQ for some healthy doses of cynicism; mine below the fold. Continue reading The White House has found a place for the Uighurs! Palau!

Germany disinclined to acquiesce to Obama’s Uighur request.

Means ‘no*.’

As Track-A-‘Crat notes, the administration is at best spinning its difficulties to get anybody else to take the Uighurs. The President is claiming that there have been no hard commitments, which implies that negotiations for giving some over to Germany are still going on:

Strictly speaking, that may be true. But according to information obtained by SPIEGEL, Germany has long since blocked the idea of accepting Guantanamo detainees — and has done so without having to issue an outright rejection.

In talks at the end of May, German Interior Minister Wolfgang Schäuble presented US Attorney General Eric Holder with a list of criteria to be fulfilled before Germany would take nine Uighur detainees. Schäuble said Washington needed to present a clear case as to why the Uighurs, members of a Muslim minority in north-western China, couldn’t be taken in by the US or other countries. He also said America had to offer proof that they weren’t dangerous, and that they had a personal connection to Germany. He told Holder that Germany was unable to accept people who couldn’t travel to the US on a simple tourist visa.

Continue reading Germany disinclined to acquiesce to Obama’s Uighur request.

‘Maybe by this summer, Obama will finally admit out loud that George W. Bush had it right all along.’

Maybe Ed Morrissey is even more of a brazen optimist than I am. Having this President openly acknowledge that Gitmo serves a useful purpose and should be retained would be like having the Pope come out and declare ex cathedra that Hell was actually a pretty cool vacation spot, down to the likely reaction of certain members of the base.

Which is not to say that Gitmo is going to close. People just need to… forget that Gitmo was supposed to close, that’s all.

Moe Lane

PS: I get the impression that the Uighurs are turning into one of those convenient complications for this administration.

Crossposted to RedState.