Thursday, December 31, 2015

BILL COSBY

Bill Cosby is, naturally, extremely disappointed by the lack of a sense of humor, in so many of his female acquaintances.  What was intended as a bit of harmless fun has been misinterpreted, by so many of them, as something sinister and evil.  Proof that it was harmless can be seen by looking at photographs of him, before all those girls started their bitching, where he looked completely unscathed, both physically and mentally, by the encounters. 

Cosby's purity of heart and purpose has been amply demonstrated by his exhortations to his fellow African-Americans to change their ways and become law abiding citizens.

Wednesday, December 30, 2015

THE BASIS FOR OFFICE POOLS

Readers of this blog will note that, in my personal opinion, the threat of ISIL, has been overblown.  Yes, they have staged terror attacks but so did Al Qaeda.  My belief then, as it is now, is that by trying to become an overt state, they doomed themselves to extinction given the relative military strength of their opponents.

They are, at this moment in time, being rolled back slowly but surely.  I think that ISIL, relatively early in 2016, will go the way of the Ebola virus, as a scare tactic.  The only question, in my mind, is what will replace it, in time for the elections?  I think that question could form the basis for office pools in the coming year. 

CULLING THROUGH A MOUNTAIN OF GIBBERISH

It has been said that an infinite number of monkeys, pounding away at the keyboards of an infinite number of word processors, will eventually produce the Complete Works of Shakespeare.  In a similar manner, if one culls through the mountain of gibberish that Donald Trump has produced, there may be found a philosophical gem of inordinate import.

One such gem may prove to be a blow for male liberation that could resound through the ages.  By attacking Hillary Clinton for the infidelities of her husband, Bill, Trump may have not only hit upon a sure fire thing to garner the male vote, but to exculpate  all of man-kind; it was the woman's fault!

Tuesday, December 29, 2015

"A TRAGEDY BUT NOT A CRIME"

I once audited a class in law where the professor made the point that "No one has the right to do wrong".  That was more than half a century ago, in another time, when privilege was not a matter of law.

A white police officer pulls up at a scene where a black child is holding a toy gun and within seconds of arrival shoots and kills the boy without exchanging a single word.  The Prosecuting Attorney, acting as if he were the Defense Attorney for the police officer calls it a "tragedy but not a crime."  I think a better description would have been: "An execution, without benefit of trial, but not a crime."

Saturday, December 26, 2015

DEAR DEMOCRATS

Dear Democrats:

Unhappy about Obama's moves to deport recent migrants surging across the southern border?  He doesn't owe you Democrats anything.  Remember those off year elections that you sat out or distanced yourself from him?  Had you returned a majority to Congress, you could have passed an immigration reform bill that might have avoided the problem.  Let me repeat: "Elections have consequences"

Sincerely  

Friday, December 25, 2015

THE GREATEST DEGENERATION

Although we have, in my opinion, as good a military as this nation has ever fielded, our civilian population, as evidenced by their elected officials, is lacking in courage, big time, when compared to previous generations. 

During World War II, the United States had 500 prisoner of war camps to hold Axis P.O.W.s.  We kept hundreds of thousands of prisoners; this generation, through its elected legislators, has become panic stricken by the thought of bringing 50 prisoners from Guantanamo, into the U.S., even though it would eliminate a recruitment tool of our enemy.

The modern terror weapons, AK-47s, pale into insignificance, when compared to V-1 and V-2 rockets, but reactions of ou people, seem inversely proportionate to the threats.

Thursday, December 24, 2015

IN PRAISE OF BANKRUPTCY

Anyone for whom Social Security payments are an important source of income, should be wary, indeed, of any Presidential candidate who justifies, with pride, the use of bankruptcy as a business tool.  The  actual funds in the Social Security Trust Fund have actually been transferred out, to the upper classes, for trickling down that never occurred.  It is unthinkable for a good capitalist to pay back those funds; what's a bankruptcy for?

Wednesday, December 23, 2015

P.C. IS IN THE EYE OF THE BEHOLDER

Ted Cruz, one of the most aggressive of the warriors against Political Correctness, has invoked it when dealing with a cartoon depiction of his children.  Indeed, he is busily fund raising off of it.

While he feels that P.C. is wrong to stifle attacks on innocent and defenseless minorities such as peaceable Muslims, the LGTB community, such attacks are off limits when it comes to his children, because then, his ox is being gored.   

FEELING THE FOREIGN POLICY

The last Republican President took an opthamologist's approach to foreign policy by looking into the eyes of the foreigners who he was dealing with, and finding no blemishes, declared both Putin and Maliki to be good men.  The present Republican frontrunner, for the nomination ,has arrived at the same conclusion, with respect to Putin, but aware that the Bush methodology was flawed, using a completely different criterion, flattery.  Putin, by praising Trump, has provided prima facie evidence of  his goodness, and, if elected to the Presidency, Trump will be happy to deal with Putin accordingly.

Tuesday, December 22, 2015

PRESIDENTIAL VULGARITY

To the everlasting credit of Trump's supporters, they would never tolerate his vulgarity, if it came from Barack Obama!

TIME FOR ANOTHER PARTY

With  a record Dow Jones, low gas prices, lower deficit, most of the troops back home, it's time for that black man who cleaned up the mess, from the last Republican party, to go home and let the good times roll again!  Republicans have learned much over the last decade.  They know, now, how to party like there's no tomorrow and not suffer any consequences.  They have learned to shift the burden of  their actions on to the tax paying public, using virtual dollars, so that they don't miss a beat, in their life style, and have the public pick up the tab, without complaint.  Party time! 

Monday, December 21, 2015

ALL THAT'S NEEDED

All that is needed, for the Republicans to become believers in man-made climate change is for the U.S. to agree to indemnify the fossil fuel industry for possible losses owing to ceasing their use in the  production of energy.  The Koch Brothers, for example, would immediately fund the Mother of All Ad Campaigns to warn us of the dangers.  Republicans would become the greenest of the greens.

Saturday, December 19, 2015

CORPORATE FEUDALISM

It may turn out that the greatest irony, the world has known, will occur if many of those, who advocate for a small government, while at the same time, accepting unbridled growth of powerful corporations, end up as serfs for those same corporations.

Monday, December 7, 2015

SACRIFICE ON THE ALTAR OF CORPORATE PROFITS

Just as some were proud to serve as sacrifices to appease the Gods of the Aztecs, the thousands of  American victims of gun violence, every year, in America, should be proud of having been sacrificed to  appease our corporate Gods.  Why should dying for the good of corporate profits be any less honorable than dying for the good of one's country?

Sunday, December 6, 2015

WE ARE NOT A NATION OF SHEEP, CATTLE MAYBE, BUT NOT SHEEP.

The people in these United States are not sheep but they can be herded like cattle.  Tens of thousands of gun related deaths, annually, get barely a yawn, since we are told that it's the 2nd Amendment to the Constitution and we cannot act rashly.  Over 300 hundred mass shootings have occurred this year, alone and our handlers tell us to remain calm, and we bovinely comply.  One of those mass shootings, in which a mere dozen+ people are killed by an ISIS sympathizer and we are told to stampede and stampede we will do.  Register all Muslims, but don't register guns.  Carpet bomb ISIS but don't try to stop them from buying weaponry, in the U.S. 

NEARING THE CENTENNIAL OF THE FOUNT OF PROBLEMS IN THE MIDDLE EAST

Starting in 1918, the British and French began to divide up the Ottoman Empire, drawing the boundaries of both present day Syria and Iraq.  Good Imperialists that they were, they made sure to draw the borders so that each country would have at least 2 to 3 rival ethnic groups who could be pitted one against the other against the other thus facilitating their becoming a colony. similarly to what the British had been able to do in the 19th Century. on the Indian sub-continent.

The Caliphate to which ISIS alludes came into being in the 8th and 9th Centuries under Muslim Arabs who conquered large swathes of territory including all of present day Arabia and the Levant, including present day Syria and Iraq.  Most of the land was incorporated into the Ottoman Empire starting in the 11th Century.

ISIS signalled that it wanted to return to a Syria and Iraq as it existed before the Ottoman Empire, and before the British and the French drew the boundaries.  By changing its name to ISIL, it was already signaling that it  had already expanded its geographic scope of  action.

As the Centennial Year of 2018 approaches, be sure to celebrate the birth of ISIS on November 11th of that year.

   

Monday, November 30, 2015

SECOND AMENDMENT RIGHTS

I am perplexed as to why there seems to be so much anger, directed at abortion clinics, by gun enthusiasts, even though they seem to have no compunction at all in killing living things. The only thing that I have been able to come up with is that somehow they feel that abortions are depriving them of their second amendment rights by taking targets away from them, prematurely.

Sunday, November 29, 2015

CARSON MAKES TWO DAY VISIT TO MIDDLE EAST

Ordinarily, a two day visit overseas would qualify any Republican as a pre-eminent expert in the area.  Dr. Carson might have been in that category, but, possibly because of jet lag, his initial commentary from Amman, Jordan, was reasonable and rational, limited to what he actually learned on site.  There may be some serious repercussions in his approval rating as the result of this campaign gaffe.

UNION LEADER ENDORSES CHRIS CHRISTIE

Of course, it's the newspaper, "Union Leader" that has endorsed Christie, unmindful of the fact that he probably be unable to win the State that he is presently governing.

Saturday, November 28, 2015

POLITICIZING THE PLANNED PARENTHOOD SHOOTINGS

It is reprehensible that Obama, instead of honoring the fallen, at the Colorado Springs shootings, as staunch defenders of Second Amendment rights, chose to use the situation to further gun control. This lack of good taste has been evident throughout his entire Presidency.  

Friday, November 27, 2015

GUEST POSTING FROM GREG STOUT

  I'm a dove, but I understand the reasoning behind the following five prerequisites.  I read this article and thought some of you may be interested as well ... if it's going to happen (depending upon who is elected president), these premises should come under consideration.  I’m not saying I agree with these 100%, but I do understand the reasoning behind them.  The blue print is from the article.
Five Prerequisites For War Against ISIS
We appear to be moving ever closer toward a world war against the Islamic State.
No sane person welcomes war. Yet if we do go to war against ISIS we must keep a watchful eye on 5 things:
1. The burden of fighting the war must be widely shared among Americans.
America’s current “all-volunteer” army is comprised largely of lower-income men and women for whom army pay is the best option.
“We’re staring at the painful story of young people with fewer options bearing the greatest burden,“ Greg Speeter, executive director of the National Priorities Project, told the Washington Post. NPP’s study found low- and middle-income families supply far more Army recruits than families with incomes greater than $60,000 a year.
That’s not fair. Moreover, when the vast majority of Americans depend on a small number of people to fight wars for us, the public stops feeling the toll such wars take.
From World War II until the final days of the Vietnam War, in January 1973, nearly every young man in America faced the prospect of being drafted into the Army.
Sure, many children of the rich found means to stay out of harm’s way. But the draft at least spread responsibility and heightened the public’s sensitivity to the human costs of war.
If we go into a ground war against ISIS, we should seriously consider reinstating the draft.
I’m against war, but I understand that the largest number of losses are being incurred by our poorer citizens.  Our wealthier citizens are aware of this also ... thus, their lack of concern and caring since they aren’t directly affected.
“It was here I learnt that corporate principles and military principles are basically the same. Insulation. Illusion. Hype. Activity.” ~ Tarun J. Tejpal, The Alchemy of Desire
2. We must not sacrifice our civil liberties.
U.S. spy agencies no longer have authority they had in the post-9/11 USA Patriot Act to collect Americans’ phone and other records. The NSA must now gain court approval for such access.
But in light of the Paris attacks, the FBI director and other leading U.S. law enforcement officials now say they need access to encrypted information on smartphones, personal and business records of suspected terrorists, and “roving wiretaps” of suspects using multiple disposable cell phones.
War can also lead to internment of suspects and suspensions of constitutional rights, as we’ve painfully witnessed.
Donald Trump says he’d require American Muslims to register in a federal data base, and he refuses to rule out requiring all Muslims to carry special religious identification.
"We’re going to have to do things that we never did before….we’re going to have to do certain things that were frankly unthinkable a year ago,” he adds.
We must be vigilant that we maintain the freedoms we are fighting for.
Loss of liberties seems to be a common thread whenever fear is implanted within the minds of our citizenry.
"Arguing that you don't care about privacy because you have nothing to hide is no different than saying you don't care about free speech because you have nothing to say." ~ Greg Stout
3. We must minimize the deaths of innocent civilians abroad.
The bombing raids have already claimed a terrible civilian toll, contributing to a mass exodus of refugees.
Last month the independent monitoring group Airwars said at least 459 civilians have died from coalition airstrikes in Syria over the past year. Other monitoring groups, including the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, also claim significant civilian deaths.
Some civilian casualties are unavoidable. But we must ensure they are minimized – and not just out of humanitarian concern. Every civilian death creates more enemies.
And we must do our part to take in a fair portion of Syrian refugees.
Losses of innocents tends to create more terrorists, rather than eliminating them.  How would we react if 459 innocent Americans were targeted and killed here in our homeland?
“What difference does it make to the dead, the orphans and the homeless, whether the mad destruction is wrought under the name of totalitarianism or in the holy name of liberty or democracy?" ~ Mahatma Gandhi
4. We must not tolerate anti-Muslim bigotry in the United States.
Already, leading Republican candidates are fanning the flames.
Ben Carson says no Muslim should be president.
Trump says “thousands” of Arab-Americans cheered when the Twin Towers went down on 9/11 – a boldface lie.
Ted Cruz wants to accept Christians refugees from Syria but not Muslims.
Jeb Bush says American assistance for refugees should focus on Christians.
Marco Rubio wants to close down “any place where radicals are being inspired,” including American mosques.
It’s outrageous that leading Republican candidates for president of the United States are fueling such hate.
Such bigotry is not only morally odious. It also plays into the hands of ISIS.
Bigotry and persecution of others is also a major factor in creating terrorists and hatred.
"The problem in defense is how far you can go without destroying from within what you are trying to defend from without." ~ Dwight D. Eisenhower
5. The war must be paid for with higher taxes on the rich.
A week before the terrorist attacks in Paris, the Senate passed a $607 billion defense spending bill, with 91 senators in favor and 3 opposed (including Bernie Sanders). The House has already passed it, 370 to 58. Obama has said he’ll sign it.
That defense appropriation is larded with pork for military contractors – including Lockheed Martin’s F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, the most expensive weapons system in history.
Now Republicans are pushing for even more military spending.
We cannot let them use the war as a pretext to cut Social Security and Medicare, or programs for the poor.
The war should be paid for the way we used to pay for wars – with higher taxes, especially on the wealthy.
As we move toward war against ISIS, we must be vigilant – to fairly allocate the burdens of who’s called on to fight the war, to protect civil liberties, to protect innocent civilians abroad, to avoid hate and bigotry, and to fairly distribute the cost of paying for war.
These aren’t just worthy aims. They are also the foundations of our nation’s strength.
The only way to deter the wealthy from waging wars that cost the lives of our poorer citizens is to hit them in the wallet; they are insulated in all other ways.
“Experience demands that man is the only animal which devours his own kind, for I can apply no milder term to the general prey of the rich on the poor.” ~ Thomas Jefferson
Since so many hawks are pushing for war and persecution of those from other groups, while restricting our own liberties and freedoms, I thought you might at least consider what the author had to say. Peace

Thursday, November 26, 2015

PUTIN'S RIGHTEOUS OUTRAGE

A Russian bomber attacking non-ISIS, Turkmen  rebelling against Assad, is shot down by Turkey,  Putin is outraged that Turkey is interfering in a civil war.  Who can blame him?

Wednesday, November 25, 2015

CRIMINAL ACTS ARE ALLOWED ONLY FOR GOVERNMENT AND LAW ENFORCEMENT





After committing acts tantamount to felonious obstruction of justice, Government officials, in Chicago, tell demonstrators, enraged by an attempted cover up of a shooting of an unarmed black man, that they are allowed to demonstrate but not to commit crimes.  That privilege is reserved for politicians and police officials.

Monday, November 23, 2015

GUEST POSTING


Posting from my oldest friend, Claude Thomas:

Follow The Money:Toward A Better Yale

by daedal2207
Last week Peter Salovey,president of Yale University,wrote an open letter to the Yale community.(https://messages.Yale.edu/messages/University/univmsgs/detail/129760)in which he addressed a need to unify the university by paying attention to the feelings of alienation,disaffection and even open hostility to a pervading Yale ethos of insider elitism.He outlined an impressive set of actions to be taken. These actions will cost money and Indicates that at this time the university and it's trustees are taking seriously the wave of student(and faculty)unrest sweeping the nation.Yale is dealing with the issue of Calhoun residential college,the opening of a coequal Singaporean campus and the opening of a West campus in New Haven.(See elsewhere in this blog.) I was present during the mid 1960s riots in New Haven which brought about strong feeling directed toward and against reforms.(particularly around health)This appears to be more than the epiphany of one or two persons.If so,once again,Well done old Eli.We'll wait and seek if money continues to follow the stated commitment.We are not naive enough to expect that the percentage of available dollars will be trouble free public knowledge.
daedal2207 | November 23, 2015 at 9:19 pm | Categories: Uncategorized | URL:http://wp.me/p4Gt4f-5F
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Saturday, November 21, 2015

IF

IF only George W. Bush had not disbanded the Ba'ath Party, the only multi-ethnic institution in Iraq, in 2003, we might not have ISIS today.

IF only, Bush had not built Camp Bucca, in 2002, an internment facility, where the present leadership of ISIS met and hatched their organization, centered on their hatred for the U.S., we might not have ISIS, today.

IF only Abu Bakr al Baghdadi, a trusty, of the U.S. at the Camp Bucca, had not been given full and complete discharge from Camp Bucca, in 2004, he might not have founded the ISIS we have today.


AVOIDING THE DATABASE

Muslims, who are in danger of having to register for placement in a database, may be able to look for salvation in the N.R.A.  The N.R.A. has consistently fought, and won, against any effort to register gun ownership, as we do with automobiles.  If all Muslims buy guns, perhaps the N.R.A., will extend their protection to them, as well.

Wednesday, November 18, 2015

TURNING THE CLOCK BACK

Al Qaeda did not split with ISIS because they thought they were to too brutal, but because they wanted to fight as an overt entity. Flush with the success they had with guerrilla tactics against an occupying army, elements of the old Iraqi army, disbanded by Bush, wanted to fight as its own nation.  Al Qaeda thought they were crazy, and they are correct in their judgement, unless the Republican Party has its way and snatches victory from jaws of defeat, for ISIS.

Obama has steadily been moving back to a military, which the U.S. designed,  to provide shock troops for an occupying army of local forces.  He turned to Kurdish forces who were not bound to either Sunni Arabs or Iranian Shia to act in that role.  It is a long term strategy because it takes time to train and introduce new weapons to the Kurds. Even so, the combination has taken back a good quarter of the land that ISIS has taken and its leadership is suffering a steady attrition from U.S. air attacks.  ISIS is desperate to revert to the good old days, in Iraq, when it could fight a guerrilla war against an foreign occupation army.  A war of terror and witting or unwitting complicity of the Republican Party may very well allow them to once more know happier times. Another land war for the U.S. is the best thing that could happen to both ISIS and the Republican Party.  The Republicans get more trillions of tax payer dollars for their constituents and the old Iraqi Army generals get to use their IED's to maim and kill American G.I.s and pick up more American equipment, hopefully newer models, for themselves.   

TIME TO CHANGE THE ANTHEM?

Republican gerrymandering has changed our only democratic institution, the House of Representatives, and their politics of fear have made us cowards, isn't it time we changed our National Anthem?  After all we can no longer sing about our nation being the land of  the free or the home of the brave.  Considering its subversive message, we should be having a national dialog about replacing the "Star Spangled Banner" with something more fitting, something that will extol our "fear and fright" response rather than our no longer existent virtues.

BLUNTING THE SWORD

Under Republican and Democratic Presidents alike, the U.S. Military was built into, possibly, the finest force, in history, to basically, prevent a Blitzkrieg like invasion from an overrunning our allies, to allow time for them to mobilize.  

The invasion of Iraq, under George W. Bush,  changed the purpose of that force.  Shock and awe, designed to stop an invading force, was, instead used to actually invade and occupy a country, and, in effect, took a finely honed sword and used it as a meat cleaver.

We may never know the full extent of  the damage that had been done to our armed forces, but, nevertheless, damage has been done. Obama inherited a wounded military that was unlike the military that  George W. Bush had inherited from his father and Clinton.

Obama's reluctance to putting boots on the ground in Syria may stem more from his judgement as to the need for time to regroup than any thing else. 

Saturday, November 14, 2015

TWEAKING THEIR ADVICE

Displaying their simplistic tendencies, bordering on being simpletons, the Republican candidates for the Presidential nomination, say that if the French had open carry laws, they would have avoided a  terror attack.  All of the terrorists wore suicide vests which they would have detonated had they run into resistance.  But even if that were not the case, consider the situation where a fire fight breaks out between the gun carrying public and the terrorists, will the French equivalent of a SWAT team enter an area where they don't know who is shooting whom?   How do they decide who to shoot at?   I think it might be wiser for our intrepid Republican candidates to go back to the drawing board to tweak their advice.

Friday, November 13, 2015

TREACHERY AND TREASON

Anyone, who has read the very first post on this blog , knows that I am what is referred to as a "conspiracy theorist" when it comes to the 9/11 terrorist attack on the WTC Towers.

In the past I have always been skeptical about conspiracy theories and only came to be a believer, when it comes to 9/11, reluctantly and slowly.  I am now convinced that the scenario was a plot by persons at the very top of our Government to implement a neo- conservative plan, formulated as early as 1992, by a group that found itself in positions of power, with the election of George W. Bush to the Presidency.

That group, headed by Cheney and Wolfowitz, even wrote that a Pearl Harbor like attack, on America, was needed to enable their scheme to be set in motion.  That attack turned out too be the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center.

My suspicion that it was a conspiracy began with a report that Cheney had ordered the use of torture against captured Al Qaeda prisoners, who had knowledge of 9/11.  The protocol being used was one developed by the North Vietnamese not to gather intelligence, but to elicit false confessions.  Now having had the opportunity to work with government employees, I know that, contrary to public belief, they are, for the most part, very competent and capable people.  They are not just a bunch of bunglers.  There had to be a reason behind the use of an improper protocol.  For me it meant just one thing. Somebody wanted plausible deniability in case embarrassing information about 9/11 was blurted out.

My suspicions grew deeper when I learned that the bin Laden family had sent most of their children to safe havens in Pakistan and the U.S., even though the school year had already started, just before the attack.  Those women and children would never have come to the U.S.  if they did not have complete assurances from our Government that they would be safe.

There are other strange coincidences that have come to my attention, but the latest one will suffice.  George Tenet, the head of the C.I.A., has just come out, in a book, where he documents advice after advice to Bush/Cheney about an impending terror attack only to be ignored by both, with Bush offering a lame excuse as to why he was ignoring the warnings.  

I want my grandchildren to mark my words that within 50 years there will be official acknowledgement of the treachery and treason that preceded our invasion of Iraq. 

Sunday, November 8, 2015

DIFFICULTIES OF THEIR TASK

With every passing month, Obama's uncooperative policies are making it more and more difficult for an incoming Republican Administration to clean up the mess.  To turn things around, Republicans will have to increase the deficit; increase the unemployment rate; increase the number of people who do not have health insurance; increase gasoline prices, and only after this will they be able to get down to the heavy work of cutting "entitlements" so that the Government will not have to pay back the money it was holding in escrow for the middle class  

Republicans will want the public to appreciate the difficulties of their task.

Saturday, November 7, 2015

WHAT KIND OF RECEPTION WILL BIBI HAVE?

If only we had TV cameras behind the closed doors at the White House and the Capitol Building, to watch, next week, when Bibi comes to Washington.  Faced with mounting opposition at home, Russian intervention to aid Syria on the very borders of Israel, a growing infitada among the Arabs under Israeli occupation and, at the same time he has alienated the U.S. Administration when he most needs them.  Will mere words suffice to mend fences?  

Wednesday, November 4, 2015

A BAD OMEN

As of this writing, polling indicates that if the elections were held this day, Dr. Ben Carson would be the winner.  At the same time, any statement made by Dr. Carson has yet to be rated as "true" or "mostly true".  Not a single one.  This may presage the near term future of these United States.






Tuesday, November 3, 2015

FIXING THE PROBLEM

Donald Trump's big gripe with the Republican National Committee is that they will not hire some good script writers for their debates. He is the only candidate with experience in reality TV and knows the importance of having good writers on board and is frustrated by the RNC not heeding his words.

Sunday, November 1, 2015

THE FULL MEASURE OF THE REPUBLICAN SLATE

All of  rhe present Republican candidates for the Presidential nomination, assure us that world leaders will respect, and fear, them much more than Obama.  Thus despite the fact that Obama never cut and ran from unpleasant questions from the Press, and they now have the full measure of the Republican slate as a bunch of whiners who they might have to fear but will never respect. 

FIRST RUSSIAN CASUALTIES OF THE WAR?

A Russian operated Airbus appears to have broken up, at an altitude of 30,000 feet, over the Sinai.  ISIL claims responsibility. Are 224 Russian civilians the first casualties in Russia's war against ISIL?

NO COUNTRY FOR BLACK MEN

A few days ago, here in Palm Beach County, where I presently reside, no cracker county by any measure, a well known and respected black musician, coming home, late at night, from a gig, whose car stalled on the exit ramp of I-95, and who was awaiting assistance, was shot and killed by a plainclothes police officer in an unmarked car.  From a statement made by the police, I learned that the officer was under no obligation to identify himself.  A black man, sitting alone and afraid in a stalled car, is legally expected to submit to an unidentified white man who approaches the car.  

Let us do a "thought experiment" and suppose that a black undercover police officer approaches an armed white man, sitting in a car, and is killed by him, is the white man liable for homicide "in a stand your ground" state?  Does one honestly think that had the black officer killed the white motorist that he would just walk away from the incident?

I hear the anguished cries of black women who bear sons in this country.
  

APTLY APPROPRIATE

It is aptly appropriate that one of the most undemocratic processes, in the governance of the country, bears the name of a confessed felon and sex offender.  The Hastert Rule, whereby Republicans, when they control the House of Representatives, will not allow a bill to reach the floor, for a vote by all of the representatives of the People, unless it first has a majority of the Republicans, in favor. In that way a minority holds sway over a majority although no provision exists in the Constitution for same.

Saturday, October 31, 2015

REPUBLICAN CANDIDATES UNIONIZE!

Aware of the big money involved in their debates, and the fact that their fellow Republicans are capable of grilling a Democrat for eleven straight hours, on television, the candidates for the Republican presidential nomination, fearful of being treated like Democrats, appear to have gotten together to change their working conditions.  They have already won a reduction in debate hours and now are working on easing the type of questions  to which  they are expected to respond.  No longer do they wish to be questioned by networks which have a  Liberal bias, such as Fox News. Indeed, as quoting their statements, on a verbatim basis, likewise demonstrates a Liberal bias, they want only an edited transcript of the proceedings to be released to the Press.  The audience, too, should consist only of the members of the candidates families.  Then, and only then, will they have an unbiased debate.

Friday, October 30, 2015

THE MOST EXPLOSIVE REMARK

The most explosive remark, uttered during the most recent Republican candidates debate, seems to have been ignored by the media.  When Donald Trump, dismissively commenting on John Kasich's economic success in Ohio,  derisively said that he owed it to fracking, instead of a big hue and cry that the interests of the oil industry was being dissed by a Republican candidate, Kasich, defensively said it wasn't the only industry that Ohio had.

That both Trump, as well as Kasich, turns out to be a moderate Republican on climate issues, should have been worthy of note. That Trump turns out to be a moderate on any issue should have had banner headlines.

Tuesday, October 27, 2015

WORSE THAN SLAVERY

Dr. Ben Carson calls the Affordable Care Act the worst thing to happen since slavery.

It may be worse. After all, slave owners never tried to interfere between slaves and their doctors, or try to impose socialized medicine on them.  In that regard, slave owners were much nicer people than Barack Obama.

Sunday, October 25, 2015

BENGHAZI BEWILDERMENT

I admit that I don't get it  From the recent Benghazi hearing, I have learned that the State Department did not use email to communicate sensitive material between Washington and its ambassadors.  They used cables, which I assume were encrypted, but not email.  Email was used for non sensitive material, to begin with, so Hillary was able to say, with confidence, that she did not email any document which had been classified at the time it was sent.  Nevertheless, Republicans excoriated her for having a private server which was not necessarily secure.  At the same time. according to what Trey Gowdy said on a TV interview, this date, it was shameful that while a private citizen, Sidney Blumenthal, had unfettered access to Hillary's email, Ambassador Stevens did not.  Of course, that Ambassador Stevens was required to send his communications by cable and not email, for security reasons, is hardly an excuse, for a crusading Republican Select Committee Chairman. 

The only other point that the committee seemed to make, in the 11 hour marathon grilling, was that somehow, Obama got some advantage, in the 2012 elections because, even though Benghazi was a terror attack and not a result of demonstrations against a movie, it was called the latter instead of the former, at first.  The committee pointed out that Hillary, in an email to another ambassador, within hours of the incident, called it an attack by  an al Quaeda-like group whereas other sources in the Administration were using CIA reports that it was part of a demonstration. 

The matter was brought up, by Mitt Romney, at the second Presidential debate on October 16th, 2012, before the elections were held.  Romney accused Obama of having waited 14 days before calling the Benghazi incident "an act of terror".  Obama pointed out that on September 12th, the day after the attack, he had called it an "act of terror" in a speech in the Rose Garden.  In addition, a day later, in Las Vegas, he also had referred to the incident in Benghazi as "an act of terror".  The American people had ample exposure to the fact that the attack in Benghazi was the work of terrorists before the November elections yet for almost three (3) years now Republicans persist in the delusion that Obama, somehow, tricked the public into believing that Benghazi was part of a demonstration, and therefore, somehow, stole the election.  Somehow, this somehow even outweighs, in importance, Bush/Cheney having lied us into a war in Iraq. 

Tuesday, October 20, 2015

CONSEQUENCES OF BETTING ON THE WRONG HORSE

Reports of a flurry of diplomatic initiatives, by Israel, with China and Saudi Arabia, might be judged in context of recent events:

1. Mr. Netanyahu had dealings, directly, with John Boehner and the Republicans in the House of Representatives, by-passing the President of the United States, an unprecedented breach of protocol and an insult, even if unintended.  Mr. Obama never gets mad, but he does get even.

2. Since Bibi's speech to Congress, the treaty, which he was trying to stop, has gone through, Mr. Boehner has resigned, the Republic Party, on which Bibi relied to change U.S. foreign policy, is in complete disarray.

3. At the recent U.N. General Assembly, Mr. Netanyahu, in an attempt, possibly, to mend fences, gave a fawning,  obsequious speech extolling President Obama, and I suspect he will bring his knee pads to his next meeting with the President.

4. In the interim, Obama made no effort to stop Russia from becoming a player in a country sharing a border with Israel.

I do believe that there is much consternation within the Israeli Government that serious damage has been done and failing a resignation of Mr. Netanyahu, they may not have the complete backing of this administration, or another Democratic one.    

Monday, October 19, 2015

PLUTOCRATIC SOCIALISM

Recently, there has been an increased interest in the meaning of "democratic socialism".  Perhaps the explanation that, for the past 3.5 decades, the U.S.A. has been living under plutocratic socialism which is the opposite of democratic socialism, might be helpful.  In a plutocratic socialistic society, the resources of the government is funneled to benefit a small number of wealthy individuals whereas under democratic socialism, resources are funneled to assist a large number of people, who are not necessarily wealthy.  

To demonstrate, under our present system, for example, the government will channel $1 trillion so that the people in the financial sector will not have to suffer the consequences of a reduced standard of living, or forgo their year end bonus, for having made the wrong bets, while at the same time allow the burden of a deep recession, that follows, to fall on the neediest.

With the present election cycle, the electorate may have the chance to switch from plutocratic socialism to democratic socialism, or even getting rid of both types of socialism, but I fear it will be neither. 

Sunday, October 11, 2015

"IF ONLY THEY HAD HAD GUNS"

The Nazi war machine's blitzkrieg went through the armies of France, Belgium, Norway, Poland and almost all of European Russia like a hot knife through butter.  If only they had had guns, they, like the Jews, could have stood up to the Nazis and could have made the Holocaust less likely.  Our thanks to Dr. Ben Carson for illuminating us, as to this obvious fact. 

Friday, October 9, 2015

THE RUSSIAN BUSH

In my opinion, Vladamir Putin is the Russian's George W. Bush, and he doesn't do nuance either.  His country not only contains a very large population of Moslems, but its southern border consists mostly of countries with a majority of Sunni Moslems within them. Putin, however, for some reason, has taken the side of Shia, or Shia-like sects, in Syria.  He already has begun bombing Sunni's who are not allied with ISIL.  As was the case with W., Putin has become involved in a war, voluntarily, with people who can cause him great harm.  Lotsa Luck, fella.

Tuesday, October 6, 2015

RESOLVING OUR MENTAL HEALTH CRISIS

Republicans, constrained as they are by Grover Nordquist's pledge, not to raise taxes, and House Rules, that make it mandatory to offset costs of new programs with cuts in old ones (except for tax cuts for the wealthy),  have come up with a unique way to do something about the need to increase funding for mental health care. They propose a large tax cut for the wealthy, with which they will be asked to voluntarily donate, a part of, to mental health care institutions.  See how easy it is to take care of the nation's needs!

Monday, October 5, 2015

PUTIN THE PATZER

Republicans praise Vladamir Putin for his manliness, as proven by his beefcake photos, and, recently, as a fine chess player, as proven by his moves on the international stage.

People who know chess know better.  His moves in the Ukraine qualify him as a "patzer", the lowliest designation for a chess player.  Prior to fomenting a separatist movement, Putin, with a large Russian speaking population within Ukranian borders, was a major player in Ukranian politics, as proven by the fact that he had a most sympathetic compadre in the office of President of the Ukraine until he was ousted from power for corruption.  Putin's reaction to retaliate by force was a blunder no good chess player would have ever made.  He sacrificed his Queen for a handful of pawns.  Sure he has a little more territory and  some more mouths to feed but he lost his strong position in Ukrainian politics in the exchange.

In any event, I, personally, do believe that playing a linear game like chess does not convey any special ability in a decidedly non-linear world.  Better to teach your kids Chaos Theory.

USURPING CONGRESSIONAL PERQUISITES

Although Obama has issued less Executive Orders, to date, than his predecessor George W. Bush, Congressional Republicans are up in arms about what they consider unconstitutional intrusions on the power of Congress.  When it is pointed out to the that they can, at any time, pass legislation to nullify Executive Orders, they are further infuriated as Obama should know that that would infringe on their holiday time, another unconstitutional usurpation of Congressional perquisites.

Friday, October 2, 2015

ARGUMENTS AGAINST GUN CONTROL

As far as I can see there are three (3) basic arguments being made by anti gun control Republicans and the N.R.A:


  1. The problem is that there are not enough guns in possession of the people.  If every one had a gun, to defend themselves, there would be no massacres.  The problem is that there is a historical record, in the U.S., which completely disproves this contention.  In the newly acquired Western territories of the U.S., guns were ubiquitous and problems of violence were rampant.  In many instances town or city marshals were appointed to temporarily confiscate all guns at the town or city line as being the only way to keep the peace.  To my knowledge no case was ever brought before the Supreme Court to determine the constitutionality of the confiscations. Perhaps it was because there was no N.R.A., or rather judges, in those times, had a different concept of what a "Well regulated militia" meant.  In any event, in the U.S., we have been there, done that.  
  2. Gun regulations and laws will be ignored by criminals so it is futile to have them.  It follows from that, since scofflaws will go through red lights, they should be abolished.  Likewise, since many people commit traffic infractions, let's get rid of all traffic laws.  Think how entertaining a trip to the supermarket will become with no traffic regulations.
  3. Stuff happens.  There is no need to act rashly.  What's the rush? Yes, mass murders are becoming more frequent but a few more deaths of our children are no reason to be stampeded into something that has been going on all these years.

BRIDGING THE DIVIDE

The seemingly philosophical divide between Pro-Life advocates who are also anti-gun control has been, recently reconciled. According to what I have learned, many of those that are anti abortion consider that killing a fetus is a complete waste.  That fetus could grow, in a relatively short time, into a fine target for those interested in school massacres, a growing pass time for gun hobbyists.

Thursday, October 1, 2015

"LACKING THE WHEREWITHAL TO ADAPT TO THE TECHNOLOGY"

Tens of millions of bison that once roamed the Great Plains were reduced to a mere handful because they lacked the wherewithal to adapt to the technology of firearms.  Likewise billions of passenger pigeons, once the most numerous of avian species in North America, became extinct because they too were unable to cope with the same technology.  Each could only be slaughtered without being able to change to meet the challenge.

In a like manner, the human species seem to unable to act for change as they are, almost daily, led to the slaughter by the same technology.

To be fair, however, scientist say that it is only a subset, that calls itself "Americans", of the species, have the problem of being immobilized, like deer being caught in the headlights of an automobile, and unable to act.  Other subsets of the human species are able to take action therefore the problem is self-limiting.  As the American subset becomes more and more debilitated and decimated,  other subsets will colonize the lands, and will able to put the remnants of  the American subset onto reservations, taking away their guns, of course, so they won't harm themselves.  They will have to be very vigilant that the Americans don't get their hands on guns, again, and start killing themselves off  once more. Perhaps they may have to put them in zoos rather than reservations.


Sunday, September 27, 2015

THE MEANING OF ISLAM

In recent months, I have noticed an interest in the meaning of the Arabic word "islam".  Most of the conjecture is that the word means "peace" in English.  As a one time student of the language, I can assure that,  although its root word is "salaam", which does mean "peace", "islam" is not a substitute for "salaam".  Many Arabic-English dictionaries translate the word as "submission".  I, with my overabundance of temerity for venturing far afield, however, disagree with this and think that the better word would be "acceptance".

Friday, September 25, 2015

PENITENCE

In my opinion, reports that John Boehner has resigned his seat, in Congress, to become a monk, as an act of penitence, ordained by Pope Francis, to atone for the Speaker's role in contributing to global warning and oppressing the poor, are not credible

More likely, it was just listening to the Pope's speech, before Congress, that caused Boehner's tearful reaction that lead to the resignation.

Saturday, September 19, 2015

WHO IS AN ANCHOR BABY?

Senator Ted Cruz has a birth certificate which shows that he was born in Canada, of an American mother, an a Cuban father, but has never been challenged, by Donald Trump, as to his qualifications to run for the Presidency of the United States of America.

President Obama, has an Hawaiian birth certificate which shows that he was born in one of the States of the Union, of an American mother.  Even if he had been born in Kenya, he like Cruz, and John McCain, who was born in Panama, Obama would still have been an American citizen.  

Donald Trump, Birther-in-Chief, by implying that Obama is not a legitimate U. S. citizen, is not impugning Obama but rather his mother, a daughter of a World War II  U.S. Army veteran.  At the same time, Trump's own mother was born in Scotland and, to my knowledge, he has never produced her naturalization papers to indicate that she was a U.S. citizen at the time of Donald's birth. Perhaps Donald, too, is an anchor baby.











"NO MORAL OBLIGATION TO DEFEND OBAMA"

Well, credit is certainly due Trump for being consistent.  He is, in effect, saying that he has no moral obligation to correct a lie being told about Obama.  From there, it follows that lies he tells about Obama, likewise, are not subject to to any moral test, so at the same time he can, with facility, say that Obama has been a terrible President despite an overabundance of statistics to the contrary.

Furthermore, Trump has precedent to back him up when he blithely promises many things that he will accomplish, as President, without offering a single plan, for how it will be done, for evaluation by the electorate.  Remember, for example, how Nixon offered us a secret plan to end the war in Viet Nam.  The war dragged on throughout his entire term in in office and and only came to an end, under President Ford,  a year after Nixon resigned the Presidency.  For his pains in hoodwinking the American public, Nixon was reelected to a second term in 1972.  For Trump, all his promises, even if not based on any reasonable expectation, can only assure him of being a two term President, considering the nature of the American electorate. 

Sunday, September 13, 2015

AUTHENTICITY

I am reminded that authenticity is an important factor in any candidate's run for elected office.  If he or she can fake that, it can be a tremendous advantage.

Saturday, September 12, 2015

CUBA

For a six year period in my life, from 1955 to 1961, business took me, frequently, to Cuba.  Indeed, Cuba was my introduction to Latin America, where I, later, spent much of my adult years.  I saw Cuba before the arrival of Castro; I was there when Fidel came down from the Sierra Maestra;  I was frequently there when he was forming his first Government.

I have always been sympathetic to Fidel even as I severely criticized his intellectual laziness in not finding an indigenous solution to Cuba's many problems.  Despite any claims to the contrary, Cuba was not a tropical paradise, at least not for 90% of its population.  In 1957, the per capita income of Cuba was $361.00 (at the time the per capita income in the U.S. was more than 10 times as great), yet 10% of the population had a life style equal to that, or better, than the middle class in the U.S.  Their standard of living was subsidized by a population that was forced to live on pennies a day.  Cuba was  in need of reform.

When Fidel arrived, triumphant, in Havana, he had a united populace behind him.  He could have brought about  reforms any way he chose.  By choosing another dogma, Marxism Leninism, instead of  developing a Cuban solution, he failed to reach most of his stated goals.  He would have been better off taking Singapore, another island nation, under an authoritarian regime, as his model than that of the Soviet Union.




   

APOLOGIES NOT IN ORDER

Both the Mayor of New York City and its Police Commissioner have apologized to James Blake, the tennis player, who was body slammed to the ground while peacefully standing outside his hotel. It is reported that the police union is extremely upset as apologies could set an unnecessary precedent.  It was merely a  case of mistaken identity as the police officer thought Blake was a man wanted for credit card fraud.  The use of physical force was deemed necessary and justified,  by the arresting officer, because he was in fear of danger to his credit rating.

Thursday, September 10, 2015

BLEAK HAVE BEEN THE REIGNS

Having had the misfortune of living in proximity of family members, with Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD), in my early years, I have never associated egotism, alone, as a determinant of the disorder. Accordingly, I think that a diagnosis, based on this trait, alone, would be unfair to Donald Trump, even if he seems to have an abnormal amount of same.  However, there are two other traits that I do associate with Narcissists,the first of which is the fact that Narcissists rarely argue the issues during a discussion; they are prone to offering ad hominem arguments; Trump rarely offers arguments against someone's positions, choosing, instead, to offer insults, diatribe and invective against the person.

The second trait that I had learned to associate with people with NPD, was their inability to forget even the smallest slight, they perceived as having been done to them, even after the passage of time.  Even after "burying the hatchet" with Roger Ailes, of  Fox News, after his run in with Megyn Kelley, Trump could not resist offering a gratuitous insult to her, thinking about what had transpired several days earlier.

I do enjoy Trump hoisting Republicans on their own petard of demonization, innuendo and character assassination,  but I would never want to see a Narcissist in the White House, for bleak indeed have been the reigns of Narcissists,

Wednesday, September 9, 2015

BLACK LIVES DO MATTER

Forever etched in my mind are photographs of two separate unarmed black children shot to death, within seconds of the arrival on the scene of uniformed police officers, as if the children were mere cockroaches to be stepped on as vermin.

As I see it, forming a "Black Lives Matter" movement is a a cry of anguish from the black community.  I can fully understand that when whites say that all lives matter, blacks feel as if their pain, inflicted by servants of an almost all white society, is being trivialized.  The pain is further exacerbated by somehow justifying, or otherwise mitigating offenses, by uniformed agents of our society, by black on black murder.  

THE MOST DANGEROUS PEOPLE IN THE WORLD

In my opinion, the most dangerous people, in the world, are those with a smidgen of military training who have never experienced combat, but think the can extrapolate from their limited experience.  Dick Cheney, whose closest experience with combat involved 5 draft deferments, thought those years behind a desk at the Defense Department qualified him to make judgments about getting into war.  Now we have a Republican Presidential candidate, Donald Trump, who believes that being sent to a private military school for unruly rich kids qualifies him as a military expert.  What could go wrong? 

Monday, September 7, 2015

"A SYSTEM IN WHICH EACH CONSCIENCE IS A LAW UNTO ITSELF"

For me, the most compelling reason that the Rowan County Clerk, Kim Davis, should go back to jail, if she interferes with a court order, comes from the majority opinion, of one of the Supreme Court's arch conservatives, Justice Scalia, where it is quoted:

 "Just as a society that believes in the negative protection accorded to the press by the First Amendment is likely to enact laws that affirmatively foster the dissemination of the printed word, so also a society that believes in the negative protection afforded to religious belief can be expected to be solicitous of that value in its legislation as well. To be sure, requiring claims for religious exemptions to be vetted through the legislative process might put less popular religions at a disadvantage. But the Court held that this situation was preferable to the relative anarchy that would result from 'a system in which each conscience is a law unto itself.'"

Judging from the urgency that Ms. Davis lawyers expressed in wanting their client released, I do believe she has changed her mind about there being any romance attached to being incarcerated, and will allow her deputies to continue to provide marriage licenses to same sex couples.

SPEAKING AMERICAN

Sarah Palin may have a valid point in asking that we all speak American.  Of course, since English is not indigenous to America, most of us would have to learn another language to comply.  I wonder which of the many native languages we would have to learn.

Tuesday, September 1, 2015

UNAMERICAN PLACE NAMES

The latest outrageous act, of President Obama, for the, so-called, Conservatives, is that of removing the name of President McKinley, a fine American name, from a mountain in Alaska, and replacing it with a foreign name.  

IMPORTANT LESSONS

The ambush shooting of a Texas deputy sheriff by a mentally deficient black man has important lessons for us all:

  • A good man with a gun cannot always protect us from a bad man with a gun, the N.R.A. notwithstanding.
  • Loopholes continue to allow mentally unbalanced persons to have easy access to guns. 
  • Tax cuts for the wealthy have not resolved the problem of providing care for the mentally ill.
  • The murder of the deputy does not provide post facto justification for the shooting of unarmed black youth.

JUDGING BY PAST PERFORMANCE

In a television interview, earlier this year, Donald Trump made the statement, "Sadly, because President Obama has done such a poor job as President, you will not see another black President for many generations"

It appears, however, that Republicans, instead, are interested in having their own Republican Barack Obama.  Ben Carson, the only black candidate for the nomination, is second in the polls and tied with the Donald in Iowa, at this writing.  Perhaps it is a rich white kid, who inherited wealth, who we will not see as a President for many generations, judging by past performance.

Friday, August 28, 2015

BUSH EXPANDED OPPORTUNITIES FOR THE DISABLED

On the occasion of the 10th anniversary of Katrina, we should take the opportunity to remember that George W. Bush expanded the Americans with Disability Act to include Republicans who were unfortunate enough to lack qualifications for jobs.  Not only did Bush allow for  Michael Brown, disabled by his lack of experience, to still become the head of FEMA, but many Americans, lacking experience, to take Government positions in Iraq, and who served as well as Brownie.  

Thursday, August 27, 2015

THEORY OF EVOLUTION

Donald Trump's conservative foes are bringing up his progressive stances, in the past, in an attempt to discredit him.  His supporters claim that Trump has evolved on these issues.  I expect that the next attack, from his conservative enemies, is the very fact that he believes in evolution. 

Wednesday, August 26, 2015

GETTING THE FINGER

Donald Trump is endearing himself to the Republican base by giving the finger to the Republican establishment.  They should enjoy the moment.  If Trump gets the nomination, the base can expect to get that same finger, as Trump moves abruptly to the center to try to win the General Election.

HALF AN AMENDMENT

Many of the people, who think that half of the Second Amendment entitles any resident to unrestricted access to weapons, have no compunction in stating that the 14th Amendment can be overridden by an act of Congress when it comes to right of citizenship.  What is sacrosanct in half the 2nd Amendment is profane in the entire  14th. What's more is, they say, that they have the firepower to back up their beliefs!

Tuesday, August 25, 2015

NOTHING BUT LOSSES

According to G.O.P. canon, Obama receives no credit for record highs of the Dow but is responsible for any losses.  Under Obama, the stock market has suffered nothing but losses during his administration, whereas, conversely, George W. Bush had a sterling record, having been responsible only for gains.

Monday, August 24, 2015

OBAMA AND THE AUGUST 24TH STOCK SELL OFF

Republicans are highly critical of President Obama's role in the August 24th stock sell off.   Obama showed no  empathy for the overprivileged or showed any concern that the sell off might affect year end bonuses of Wall Street personnel. Had the sell off occurred during the Bush Administration, things would have been handled quite differently with contingency plans, in place, for a bailout to save Christmas bonuses for hedge fund operators as was done in the last financial crisis.

Saturday, August 22, 2015

ANCHOR BABIES

Although I keep hearing that illegal aliens are having anchor babies, the only ones that I know of, were had by LEGAL aliens, in the U.S. on a tourist visa, who paid full price at an American hospital, for the privelege.  Knowing how things work, in the U.S., if the alien has enough money, she will receive gestational residence so her anchor baby will be born here with full citizen rights.

TRUMPERY

A saying, atributed to Lincoln, is that "you cannot fool all of the people, all of the time" which is, however, contrasted to P.T. Barnum's dictum that "there's a sucker born every minute".  There is something, in a large segment of the population, which makes being fooled, pleasurable.  There is a very old word, in the English lanuage, "trumpery" signifying "attractive articles of little or no value" which indicates that the trait has been around a long time.  Look it up.

Friday, August 21, 2015

PROHIBITION OF ABORTION

Although I was 2 years old when Prohibition was ended, it took another 40 years to end the prohibition of abortion in the United States.  I lived almost half my life in a nation that prohibited abortion.  Anyone who thinks that ending legal abortion in the U.S. will stop abortions just doesn't know the history of the sunject. Abortions went on just as surely as did alcohol consumption while it was illegal in the U.S.  It cost a little more but it was available and was a source of income for the local police just as was the neighborhood speakeasy for another illegal activity, dinking liquor. 

RUMOR HAS IT

Runor has it that  Vladimir Putin is salivating at the prospect of Donald Trump being elected to the Presidency and building a wall thereby enabling Putin to travel to Mexico and give a speech wherein he can say "Mr. Trump, tear down that wall!"

Monday, August 17, 2015

MEXICO SIGNALS THAT IT WILL PAY FOR WALL

I have it on good authority that Mexico will agree to underwriting the cost of Mr. Trump's wall.  The condition that they have stipulated, however is that it be moved some 800 miles north of the Rio Grande thereby returning the land that was wrested from them by force of arms, in the 19th century.

GULLIBLE'S TRAVAILS

Lemuel Gullible, votes Republican because they are fiscally responsible and will reduce the deficit.  When asked about the fact that in the past 35 years, all Republican Administrations have increased the deficit whereas all Democratic Administrations have reduced the deficit, Lemuel says, nevermind, he likes the way Republicans talk about reducing the deficit.

Lemuel, who once worked for the Government and had good pay and benefits, votes Republican because they will reduce the size of Government.  Reducing the size of Government means privatizing services which the public wants and needs.  This doesn't mean the public pays any less but does allow for increased income for investors who, after all, are the job creators.  Lemuel, who is now on the Government dole because he no longer makes a liveable wage,  says that, nevertheless, he likes Republican bumper stickers better than the Democratic ones.

Another thing Lemuel likes about the Republicans is that every 4 years, they come out strongly for immigration reform.  He doesn't mind, at all, the fact that then, Republicans proceed to do nothing because the issue is needed for the next Presidential campaign.


"A LITLE LEARNING IS A DANGEROUS THING"

In 1947, one of the largest industrial disasters, ever, occurred in Texas City, Texas, killing over 500 people and destroying over a 1000 homes, and came about, in great part, through the ignorance of U.S. Coast Guard personnel, on the scene.  The Coast Guard ordered the closing of the hatches of a vessel whose cargo of ammonium nitrate was on fire  The Coast Guard official thought that by closing the hatches, the fire could be smothered, ignorant of the fact that ammonium nitrate is an oxidizing agent.  In effect, the vessel became a giant bomb when the gases being produced, in the fire, became confined.

For many years, as a Maritime Consultant, the transport of explosives, by sea, was an area in which I specialized.  Shipping was done in small vessels, usually under 1000 tons in deadweight capacity, whose holds could be flooded, by sea water, in the event of fire.  They operated between small ports where populations were less dense, but where officials could rigorously observe procedures. There was, to my knowledge, no serious accident involving commercial explosives, shipping in conventional vessels.  Coast Guard officials, however, became more convinced that it was safer to ship explosives in containers than to follow the disciplines in shipping by sea, in conventional vessels.  I, on the other hand, considered that each container would be a potential 20 ton bomb.

In the recent disaster, in Tianjin, China, a port through which China exports a large quantity of commercial explosives, the tragedy started in a container yard, where containers were awaiting shipment.  All that was needed was for a single container to explode, to set off a catastrophe.  To accurately gauge the potential damage, consider that the largest single bombs, containing non-nuclear explosives, were, so-called, 15 ton "Daisy Cutters" which devastated large areas when dropped by U.S. Forces in Viet Nam.





   

Sunday, August 9, 2015

BLESSINGS IN DISGUISE

Marco Rubio says that God has blessed the Republican Party with many good candidates and the Democrats have none.  "Not so fast", say the Democrats, "God has given us at least one and his name is Donald Trump".

WHO SAYS IGNORANCE IS NO EXCUSE?

After almost 7 months in office, during the George W. Bush Addministration, the greatest single act of terrorism on American soil occurred.  The then Secretary of State, Condoleeza Rice, asked "Who could have imagined that highjacked aircraft could be used as flying bombs", thus absolving her boss from blame.  Mr. Bush then invaded Iraq, ignoring voluminous documents in the State Department warning of sectarian violence that could be unleashed, destabilizing that country as well as the whole Middle East.  When criticised for not taking into account the Sunni/Shia problem, Bush again pled ignorance because he didn't do nuance.  Mr. Bush was rewarded, with a second term in office, by the American people.

A few feet from Chris Christi's desk in the Governor's office, sat an aide who sent an order to a Christi appointee, at the Port Authority, to cause traffic problems in Ft. Lee, N.J.  Since, Mr. Christi proclaimed his innocence because he was ignorant of something occuring a few feet from his desk, he is able to run for the Republican Presidential nomination.

Another such Presidential candidate, Scott Walker, sitting inches from an employee, who was illegally soliciting funds for Mr. Walker's campaign and is serving a prison sentence on her felony conviction, also claimed ignorance of  what was going on and is one of the front runners for the nomination.

To be fair, the Republicans do not automatically accept ignorance as a defense.  When the Internal Revenue Service, a quasi independent branch of the Government that was then being run by a Bush appointee, delayed issuing some tax exemptions, to the Tea Party,  Republicans insisted that Barack Obama was guilty of malfeasance in office, regardless of whether he even knew about it at the time, because, after all, it happened on his watch.

Saturday, August 8, 2015

POETIC INJUSTICE

There seems to be something comforting, in the fact that a major opponent of political correctness should disinvite Donald Trump, a major proponent of political incorrectness, from attending a meeting of  like minded followers, on the very grounds that Donald's comments were not politically acceptable.   

Friday, August 7, 2015

ATTILA DIDN'T DO NUANCE EITHER

The extreme animosity, that a segment of our population feels toward Barack Obama, may stem less from racial  stereotyping, than from a distrust that they have, of any solution that does not come from the barrel of a gun.  They cannot understand why we cannot just carpet bomb the entire Middle East, excluding Israel, and resolve the problem just as we didn't do in Viet Nam.

SOLUTION IN SEARCH OF A PROBLEM

At a time when most of the illegal immigration comes from migrants overstaying their visas, and contraband is coming from the sea, Messrs Trump and Kasich are talking about building a wall on the Mexican border.  Even if it will not solve any of our existing problems, think of the jobs that it will help provide our present day illegal immigranrts, most of whom work in the construction trades.

Thursday, July 30, 2015

THE PARTY OF FAMILY VALUES

It is intersting to note that, at least at this writing, the leader, in the polls, for the nominee of the Republican Party, the self-proclaimed party for family values, is one Donald Trunp, who is in his third marriage.

Wednesday, July 29, 2015

OPPOSITION TO DETENTE WITH IRAN

There are ads on TV, from right wing organizations, proclaiming that Iran is the No. 1 sponsor of  terrorism, in the world.  They forget that there has been no case of a single Irani being involved in an attack on U.S soil, as is the case with Saudis.  Iran is an arch enemy of ISIL and every effort on our part to weaken Iran aids the the rise of Wahhabism, the Saudi sect that spawned ISIL.  The Iranis have not decapitated Christians and Jews, but ISIL has.  If any one group will march anyone to the oven door, it will be the latter, who are aided and abetted by opposition to detente with Iran. 

Monday, July 27, 2015

"FIXING THE FACTS AROUND THE IDEOLOGY"

The famous (some would call it "infamous") Downing Street memo from the British Foreign Minister to Tony Blair, wherein he described the Bush Administration's campaign to start a war with Iraq, as "fixing the facts around the policy", can be used to describe the mind set of the, so-called, Conservatives by altering the word "policy" to "ideology".

The last 3 Republican Administrations exploded the deficit?  The last one allowed the greatest loss of life owing to a terrorist attack on U.S. soil, the greatest recession in the history of the U.S., a socislistic indemification of the gambling debts of a private business, and what are the reacions?  Certainly not any look into modifying the ideology, but altering the facts so that:

1. The last Administration was RINO. It was Liberal.  Under St. Ronald Reagan there was no deficit, no increase in taxation and   241 marines were not killed in Beirut, and certainly something like Benghazi would never have happened on his watch.

2. If real Conservatives were elected these things would never have happened.

3."I'm not really a Republican, anyway. I'm a Libertarian, Tea Party Independent, all at the same time."

4. "Since I can't answer your question, can't you realize that I am just joking and trying to get a reaction from you?"

  


""SO THAT IT CAN FIT IN A BATH TUB"

It is ironic that people, like Grover Norquist, who openly say they want to "shrink the size of the (Federal) Government so that it can fit in a bath tub so it can be drowned", cite the financial problems of Greece as a cautionary tale, when the very fact that the crises with the Euro actually stems from the fact that the E.E.C. lacks a Federal system. Before the European countries accepted a single currency, their individual currencies could fluctuate against one another and allow for poorer countries to sell goods at a lower price to enable them to compete with their more efficient neighbors.  In the U.S. the mechanism used was the taxing power of the Federal Government which could shift revenue to the poorer states to enable the stability of a single currency throughout the country. Absent a Federal Government, we would undoubtedely find ourselves with the same problem as Greece.  with States like Mississippi and Alabama needing bailouts, just like Greece.  It is more than passsing strange that our poorest states are more prone to accepting the thesis of reducing the size of the Federal Government even though they are the greatest beneficiaries of the Federal System.  Perhaps there is a direct connection between their condition and their philosophy.

Tuesday, July 21, 2015

NO GREATER ESTEEM

No greater esteem, respect and downright awe can be demonstrated, as that of Miami Cuban-American Republicans, for Barack Obama.  For more than 50 years, under 10 other Prrsidents, Democrat and Republican alike. the U.S. has held to a policy of not talking to the Cuban Government until they acceded to our demands, to no avail.  Miami Cuban-American Republicans, looking at what Obama has accomplished, despite obstruction, are sure that Obama is capable of getting what has eluded 10 of his predecessors, if only he wanted to.  Accordingly they have promised to block any nomination for an Ambassador to Cuba, which, of course, will also block any discussion, with the Cuban Government, of the very items that  they want resolved as a prior requirement for any discussion, even if it means another 50 years of estrangement.

Monday, July 20, 2015

"SWIFTBOATING" MCCAIN

While some Republicans have deplored the "swiftboating" of John McCain, by Donald Trump, it must be remembered how effective Swiftboating was against Kerry.  Trump has devasted any chance that McCain had in the 2016 elections, so there!

Sunday, July 19, 2015

THE ART OF THE IMPOSSIBLE?

Sanctions on Iran, to halt production of weapons grade uranium, would have failed without the cooperation of both Russia and China.  There was no way that either  Russia or China would have moved the goal posts to include stopping aid to Assad of Syria (a declared ally of Russia) or to freeing U.S. citizens from foreign jails (both Russia and China have incarcerated our citizens).

I don't recall, ever, that any other American President was excoriated for what was not accomplished by a treaty without any praise for what was accomplished.  Nixon reached detente with Red China without reforming the political system of that nation or eliciting a pledge to stop supporting rogue states like North Korea? No calls were issued to go back to the cold war.  Reagan reached nuclear treaties with the Soviet Union without extraneous demands?  No criticism was leveled that the treaty should not be signed because what was accomplished in arms reductions didn't go far enough or that political prisoners were not released from the Gulag.

While other Presidents have been judged by ability to achieve what was possible, our current President earns praise only if he does the impossible.


Tuesday, July 14, 2015

THE TIMES ARE a-CHANGIN

Republican ideology notwithstanding, Wal-Mart, the largest employer in the U.S. is raising its minimum wage to a point well beyond that blocked by Congress.  Bernie Sanders, a Democratic Socialist is drawing croweds unheard of since the 1930s.  The Confederate Flag comes down from the South Carolina State Capitol grounds at the insistence of local busineses. Private enterprise is baling on Donald Trump for ultra Conservative views.
The country appears to have taken a turn to the left.  

I suspect that donations from business to the candidates may show a similar shift, during the coming election cycle.  If they do will the Republican Party switch their views on Citizens United?

BANNING OVERACHIEVING PRESIDENTS!

Republicans are dizzy from Obama achievements coming at a rate faster than they can demonize them.  Just as they were able to pass an amendment, to the Constitution, limiting the term of the Presidency to a maximum of 2, after a Democrat achieved an unheard of 4 consecutive terms, they will look to see how Presidential accomplishments can, in a like manner, be limited through the amendment process.  In the meantime, they hope that there is a nostalgia for the underachievement of the Bush Presidencies, that will carry Jeb to victory in 2016.

Saturday, July 4, 2015

NOT INSPIRATIONAL BUT CAUSATIVE

We are taught that the American Revolution inspired the French Revolution but in actuality the French Revolution was probably caused, in part, by the American Revolution.  The costs, incurred by France, in sending an entire fleet to the Americas, to assist in the defeat of the British, was formidable.  Since neither the nobility nor the Church, the wealthiest Estates, paid taxes, the burden of paying fell on the peasantry and the rising middle class.   This, in turn, sparked a  overturn of the previous social system in France. Any similarity between our present situation, in the U.S., where wealthy segments of the country, who pay an ever decreasing share of taxes, neverthless, push for more military involvement abroad, is not coincidental.

GOODDBYE DEMOCRACY, HELLO OLIGARCHY

Although the U.S. has fought two (2) World Wars in the name of democracy, only one of its Constitutional institutions, the House of Representatives, was designed to be , and entitles us to call ourselves a democracy.  The President is elected indirectly through an Electoral College and, as sometimes happens, can be elected without receiving a majority of the popular vote.  The Senate allows each State 2 Senators regardless of population.  The Supreme Court allows one undemocratic institution to nominate judges and another undemocratic institution, the Senate, to confirm them.  Now that Republican gerrymandering allows for a majority, in the House, to represent a minority of the voters while the minority party represents a majority of the people, we can no longer call ourselves a democracy.  I wonder if, from now on, we will fight our wars in the name of an oligarchy.