Random Thoughts for June, 2015. By Robert A. Hall
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Trigger Warning: Reading the Old Jarhead Blog may cause you to think, which for many people can be an uncomfortable, unwelcome and threatening experience. Take a teddy and go right to bed.
It seems clear that China now believes the balance of power, economically and militarily, has tipped to them, and they can now push hard to establish their hegemony, as the US doesn't have the military, the economy or the courageous leadership to stand up to them. Alas, this like other things is pretty much going as I predicted in my 2011 book: The Coming Collapse of the American Republic
The left encourages violence in places like Ferguson and Baltimore to intimidate the populace into giving in to their efforts to increase the size and spending of government. They forget that eventually violence provokes counter violence. I fear it is going to get ugly soon. You cannot fine tune riots.
If we eliminate all the GOP candidates that some "conservative" group finds to be "RINOs," or unacceptable on a major issue, Hillary will run unopposed.
According to the President's spokesperson, our policy is to avoid any military action which might result in civilian casualties. Thus ISIS knows that as long as they keep innocent women and children close by, they are safe. It encourages them to use human shields. With that policy we would have lost WWII to the Nazis. We could not have invaded France or taken Germany without massive civilian casualties. And Japan would have been safe from bomber attacks or invasion.
The odds are that eventually we will lose a plane in Iraq or Syria bombing ISIS . It will get really ugly if they take the pilot alive.
I've said it before. Our problem is that ISIS is fighting for a religious ideology, the Iraqi Army is fighting for a poor paycheck.
We always try to fight wars on the cheap. Then when we get serious, it always takes more blood and treasure than it would have if we'd gone hard at the start.
Al old Chinese saying from the Warring States period, "Sit on the mountain and watch the tigers fight." That is, if you can get two enemies fighting, it weakens them both. In that respect, the Shi'a-Sunni war is a good thing.
It's not clear to me that we have enough troops or could muster and plan the effort to put "Boots on the Ground" in time to save Iraq and Syria from becoming the Caliphate under ISIS and the leading world terror exporter ahead of Iran .
Voting against someone because he is black is racist. Voting for someone because he is black is progressive.
Democrats are calling the ever-emerging Clinton scandals, exposed by right-wing rags like the New You Times, a "witch hunt." And their point is?
The trick to being a good politician is to reduce the amount of BS you have to spout for reasons of party, politics or policy.
The left is saying that the Draw Mohammad contest (and Charlie Hebro) "provoked" the attacks by drawing cartoons of Mohammad. If fundamentalist Christians attacked the NYT over "Piss Christ," or Christians who consider abortion murder attacked an abortion clinic, would they say the NYT "provoked" the attack by promoting that taxpayer-funded "art" or the clinic "provoked" the attack by performing abortions? I think not.
The appeasers are always with us. In 1940, FDR's ambassador to Britain , Joe Kennedy (father of JFK) urged Hollywood producers not to make any films that might offend or provoke Hitler.
The USA has been on a long-term collision course with unforgiving reality, both fiscal and social, at least since 1932. I fear the reckoning is fairly close.
Nazism, Communism and Progressivism are religions without God. Or, perhaps more accurately, religions where the state has replaced God.
I get chided at the VA for sending health info by email as it is not secure. But they are happy to discuss it by phone, apparently unaware that phones were being tapped before email and hackers were thought of.
Obama is always determined to accept something bad--think Obamacare , Iran and Libya --rather than hold off and risk getting nothing for his legacy by trying to make the deal good. Thus his legacy will be of bad choices.
Saw a sign I liked: We were hoarders before hoarding was cool.
A gun-rights group has put up signs along I-55 in Illinois that are similar the vanished, much-lamented Burma Shave signs. I especially liked: "Hey Criminals--Better be wary--Illinois has--concealed carry."
Some days I think "liberal" is just a synonym for hypocrite.
I recently saw an attractive young woman, with, unfortunately, four or five ugly tattoos on her arms and legs. Her tee shirt read: "I prefer to speak before thinking." I bit my tongue so I wouldn't say, "Better to think before getting a tattoo too."
The Baltimore and Ferguson riots hurt the local black people by wrecking their neighborhoods, and driving businesses and taxpayers away, making their difficult lives even harder in the future. But they hurt all black people by reinforcing the ugly racist stereotypes some people have--and awakening them in others.
I learned that convicted cop-killer Mumia Abu-Jamal was in the hospital suffering from diabetes, thanks to get well notes from school kids organized by a since-fired black teacher. Much as I hate the guy, I thought I too should practice forgiveness. So I sent him a box of chocolates.
Liberals always bring up the fact that the free state-slave state compromise when the constitution was adopted was to count black slaves as 3/5ths of a person for purposes of determining representation. Would they have wanted slaves counted as full persons giving the slave states a mush stronger representation in Congress and thus better able to prolong slavery?
Maybe we need a co-president in 2016. Say Teddy Roosevelt in charge of foreign policy and the war on terror and Calvin Coolidge in charge of domestic policy and the budget.
Is there anyone, of either party, who truly believes that George Stephanopoulos would have revealed his donations to the Clinton Slush Fund and apologized for them, had not others exposed them?
The reason that the media and the left are so splenetic about Pamela Geller and Robert Spencer's "Draw Mohammad" contest is that their courage in defense of free speech is a constant rebuke to the left's cowardice in the face of threats to that freedom.
I don't have a problem putting Harriet Tubman, who aided what the southern Democrats called "Black Republican Abolitionists" on the $20 bill, to replace Democrat Slave Owner Andy Jackson, who the Democrats revere in Jefferson-Jackson Dinners as a founder of their party.
Giving to the Clinton Foundation is like buying indulgences in the middle ages, or sacrificing a goat or a virgin in pagan religions--it absolves you of all sin.
My weight is like gas prices--it goes up faster and easier than it comes down.
Going to a family funeral in St Louis on a Tuesday morning, we passed a gas station where regular was $2.43. Coming back four hours later, at the same station it was $2.69.
Why doesn't the media ask Hillary--if they get a chance--"Knowing what you know now, would you have supported the war against Libya ?"
In Iraq , the JV Team is beating Team Obama.
A lot of people who "Stand with the troops" do so only when no enemy is in range. They'd cut and run like politicians at the first sign of trouble.
If any other candidate had suffered the ethical revelations that Hillary Clinton has, he or she would have pulled out of the race long ago. And it isn't just conservative outlets--the New York Times and Politico have piled on.
Recently had a Smart Car in front of me, with the license plate, "Agent 86." If you get it, you're probably over 40.
If you are trying to silence someone, chances are you are on the anti-freedom side.
The penalty for not voting for the lesser of two evils is to be governed by the greater of two evils.
Lately I seem to be suffering from ED. That's "Energy Deficiency" if you're wondering.
The way the national debt is growing, Obama may be the first president to have to take out a reverse mortgage on the White House.
Of all the risks in war, politics or life, excess of caution is the greatest.
Don't let the pursuit of perfection produce paralysis.
Parkinson wrote "Delay is the deadliest form of denial." My corollary: "Bureaucracy is the deadliest form of delay."
What do the leaders of the US and of Iraq have in common? A contempt for the militaries they command.
I used to read a lot of comic books as a kid. Turns out they were a gateway drug to my lifelong addiction to reading.
There is no situation so chaotic that a little panic can't make it worse.
The Friday News Dump, made famous by Obama, when documents or regulations are released on Friday afternoon to get less attention from the media, is no longer working. Journalists parse them all weekend, while the pundits write about a "Friday News Dump" intended to hide damaging things.
If Dogs and Cats understood everything we said, we have to be a lot more careful talking to them.
A Clinton Presidency will be known as "The Fecal Sequel."
I understand that ISIS and Cuba have removed the US from the list of State Sponsors of Freedom
Our universities have become daycare centers for large toddlers who must be protected from life.
If I understand the left, if Christians had blown up the NYT and murdered the editor for running photos of "Piss Christ," it would have been the Times fault for provoking the Christians with hateful images.
Get the collection! My “Random Thoughts” from 2008 through July, 2013 are collected in this book: The Old Jarhead's Journal: Random Thoughts on Life, Liberty
The Old Jarhead’s Journal is a collection of Random Thoughts on politics and life and Conservative Political Essays, mostly published on the author’s blog, including the essay “I’m Tired” which went viral on the Internet in 2009, “The Hall Platform,” “This I Believe,” and “Why I’m a Republican.” While they will be of interest to conservative thinkers, they are collected here in book form as a service to readers who wish to give a copy to favorite liberals and watch their heads explode. All royalties are donated to the Injured Marine Semper Fi Fund.
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Robert A. Hall is a Marine Vietnam Veteran who served five terms in the Massachusetts State Senate. He is the author of The Coming Collapse of the American Republic. http://www.amazon.com/Coming-Collapse-American-Republic-prevent/dp/1461122538/ref=sr_1_5?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1304815980&sr=1-5 For a free PDF of Collapse, e-mail him at tartanmarine(at)gmail.com. Hall’s eleven books are listed here: http://tartanmarine.blogspot.com/2010/07/new-book-published.html. His blog of political news and conservative comment is www.tartanmarine.blogspot.com.
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