Tuesday, October 27, 2015

A lot of not-to-be-missed news and opinion

Wisconsin Autumn

When the moon is full of bluster
And the wind its bidding does,
Then the birling leaves will muster
For the dance that ever was.

Then you know the Iceman's coming,
With a breath that chills the soul.
With the sun our faces shunning,
Bank your fires with Spring the goal.

Robert A. Hall
Madison WI
10/27/15

"Birling" is a British/Scots word for spinning or swirling.

My latest culinary effort--Yankee Pot Roast


Why Liberals Should Love Donald Trump. By Robert A. Hall

Worth Reading (with part one): Building an Organization for the Long Term (Part II). By Tom Kratman
http://www.everyjoe.com/2015/10/26/politics/building-military-organization-for-long-term/#1
Excerpt: Be sure to read Part I of this series. Hamilton’s first step, in what was a program about as complex as the problem it purported to solve, was to simplify his squad leaders’ jobs. (Tom Kratman is a retired USA LtCol, an occasional contributor to this blog, and an outstand author of military science fiction, including the A Desert Called Peace series. http://www.amazon.com/Desert-Called-Peace-Carrera-Book-ebook/dp/B00B5HJOFY/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1426715332&sr=8-1&keywords=Peace+Kratman ~Bob)

Interesting: Why are doctors afraid of the word “death”?
My comment on their site: The whole society is afraid of using the "D" word. Notice how many obits say George "Passed Away" as though George went to the drug store and will be right back. Or at worst, moved to the west coast. I was diagnosed with pulmonary fibrosis in 06/2006, a usually-terminal illness that kills more people than breast cancer, though BC gets 80 times as much research funding, as it has a largely defined victim group while PF is an equal opportunity killer. I had a lung transplant 12/23/13 through the VA and came very close to death on 05/26/14 when I had to go on a breathing ventilator. I have improved since then; I'm not real well but off O2 and not in the VA hospital since 07/07/14. I have my affairs in order, and my obit written, plus a message for my friends. I forbid anyone to use the euphemism "passed away," but I said that croaked, went toes up, bought the farm, went west, etc. are fine. Having volunteered for Vietnam as a Marine, and being almost 70 with PF, I'm well beyond my sell-by date, been in the check-out line for several years. With a masters in history, I know that no individual and no organization lasts forever, though we are still on the first republic, a tad better than, say, France. Still, it seems to me that the USA in its historic form is winding down, as unimaginable to most Americans as the end of the empire was for Roman citizens at the time. But it is inevitable, like our own deaths, and the current debt of $18T, plus the unfunded liabilities for Medicare, Medicaid, Obamacare, and Social Security, which are promised but are not considered debt, run from $87T to $240T, depending on who estimates and how far out. Couple this with the fiscal and social pressure of Jihadist terrorism, waves of illegal immigrants who have no desire or skills to assimilate and the rise of a China determined to dominate the East, possible the world, and the fiscal situation becomes impossible. It will go fast after the tipping point, when politicians will still be debating global warming and gay marriage. When we can no longer borrow to cover the promises, the government will print money faster than Weimer Germany (I recently bought $950M in Zimbabwe currency on EBay for eight bucks). That will lead to fiscal, political, economic and social collapse, followed by riots, famine, pestilence and violence. Death will, as in the dark ages, become as common as fleas and will be spoken of as a commonplace by the survivors. See: "The West and the Tyranny of Public Debt" http://www.newsweek.com/2010/12/27/the-west-and-the-tyranny-of-public-debt.html
I fear the country is going to "pass away." I will link to this from my Old Jarhead blog. (www.tartanmarine.blogspot.com) Robert A. Hall, USMC 1964-68, USMCR, 1977-83
Massachusetts Senate, 1973-83 Author: The Coming Collapse of the American Republic
All royalties go to help wounded veterans For a free PDF of my 80-page book, write tartanmarine(at)gmail.com

Poland elections: Conservatives secure decisive win
Excerpt: Europe's refugee crisis also proved to be a key topic of debate before the election. While the government has agreed to take in 7,000 migrants, opposition parties have spoken out against the move. (The new liberal government in Canada will be more "multicultural," take in more Muslims, leading to more terror attacks and a return to conservatives. ~Bob)

Poland’s Parliament Has Literally Zero Liberals Now
Interesting to see how formerly communist nations have, over decades, moved steadily away from real leftist politics, even though they do have plenty of socialist elements still in their systems.  As do we, of course, since Social Security, Medicare, food stamps, welfare, etc, are socialist elements.  But we are still more a capitalist-friendly and independence oriented society overall, even though the Democrat Party has slid steadily towards leftist ideals and policies. Hopefully we too will be reacting against that in next November. --Del

Worth Hearing: (Rubio) SHOCKED the Senate with this revelation. Now you know.
From the email: Below is an extraordinary speech (of only three minutes) delivered on the floor of the US Senate by US Senator Marco Rubio (FL). He says it all succinctly and delivers a most powerful message about Obama and Iran.

Worth Reading: Goodbye Sweden
Excerpt: This is the last post on this blog. I am leaving Sweden for good shortly, and will no longer be following its descent from what was once the third most prosperous country in the world. Frankly, it’s just too damn depressing.  ... Today, it’s as if the inmates are running the asylum. The politicians are participating in a chicken race of “goodness” where everybody tries to one-up each other in caring for the citizens of OTHER countries while Swedish retirees, school children, handicapped and other vulnerable categories of people are thoroughly ignored. Violence is exploding. Jihadist Trojan horses are flowing through the porous border along with the tens of thousands ID-less refugees. 
But what makes me the most pessimistic about Sweden’s future is how the social fabric itself has been undermined. ... The famous Swedish health care system is a good example. 120 000 hospital beds in the late 1960s became 20 000 today. Cancer patients are put on waiting lists for months. Entire emergency wards shut down for summer.

Worth Hearing: Sweden - Ship of fools. By Pat Condell

Worth Hearing: Sweden goes insane. By Pat Condell

Worth Reading: The Death of Europe. By Daniel Greenfield
Excerpt: European leaders talk about two things these days; preserving European values by taking in Muslim migrants and integrating Muslim migrants into Europe by getting them to adopt European values. It does not occur to them that their plan to save European values depends on killing European values.

Worth Reading: The Rise of House Clinton. By Jonah Goldberg
http://www.nationalreview.com/article/418794/gaslighting-america-jonah-goldberg
Excerpt: A truly sociopathic liar (though his sociopathologies hardly end there), Clinton has a gift for making other people feel like there is something wrong with them for objecting to his deceptions. At the outset of the 1990s, liberals had worked themselves into a moral panic about sexual harassment. If anything, it was a bigger obsession than the campus-rape panic we’ve been witnessing over the last few years (no doubt in part because there was more factual basis to the problem). ...  Then, the country was presented with proof, incremental and suggestive at first, overwhelming and indisputable by the end of the decade, that Bill Clinton was an irrepressible and irresponsible sexual predator, at least by the moral and evidentiary standards established by feminist activists and the press corps that loves them. And, rather than face the consequences of applying their own principles consistently, they prostrated themselves to the Oval Office. Gloria Steinem raced to the pages of the New York Times to advance the “one free grope” rule. Susan Estrich, Susan Faludi, and countless other professional feminists defenestrated their principles in a desperate attempt to defend Clinton.

WOODWARD: ‘IT BETTER BOTHER US’ HILLARY SAYS DIFFERENT THINGS PUBLIC AND PRIVATELY

SEAN SMITH’S UNCLE: GLAD HILLARY HAD PARTY AFTER HEARING, TOO BAD MY NEPHEW COULDN’T MAKE IT, ‘EMBARASSED’ AT DEMS

Worth Reading: BUCKET LIST. By Col. Andy Weddington, USMC (Ret)

Seattle Got Their Precious $15 Minimum Wage, But Look What Happened to Jobs
Excerpt: Between January and September of 2015, 700 restaurant industry jobs were lost in the Seattle area. This is especially significant, because over the same period in the past five years from 2010-2014, an average of 3,000-4,000 jobs were gained each year. 9as long as their intentions were good, they care not at all for the results for real people. ~Bob)

O'Reilly to Dems Against Kate's Law: 'How Can You Live with Yourself?'
Excerpt: Bill O'Reilly said a stand-alone vote on Kate's Law would put lawmakers to the test and -- in his opinion -- disqualify any Democratic senators who oppose it from holding office. The proposal would impose a mandatory five-year prison sentence on felons caught trying to re-enter the U.S. after being deported.

Mom of Slain Officer: Killings Must Stop, Blue Lives Matter

NEW ORGAN SCHEDULED FOR OVAL OFFICE

Gallup: Majority Of Americans Believe More Concealed Carry Guns And Background Checks Will Improve Safety

On duty, under fire: A Wisconsin trooper faced down a gunman who planned to go out fighting
Excerpt: Snyder’s killing, as documented in interviews and police reports, is among the 800 fatal shootings by police so far this year. As the tally continues to grow, so does public debate and criticism over police use of deadly force. But only a small number of the shootings — roughly 5 percent — occurred under the kind of circumstances that raise doubt and draw public outcry, according to an analysis by The Washington Post. The vast majority of individuals shot and killed by police officers were, like Snyder, armed with guns and killed after attacking police officers or civilians or making other direct threats.

Worth Seeing: Mother of Killed Palestinian Terrorist Pulls Out Knife in Interview, Threatens to Carry Out Attack

France: Policeman suspended for two years for criticizing the Islamic State’s caliph

EEOC wins $240,000 damages for Muslim truckers fired for not delivering beer
Not like they refused to bake a cake. ~Bob

Australia: School allows Muslim students to leave the room to avoid singing the National Anthem

Islamic State video vows to murder Jews worldwide and “eradicate this disease from the world”

Armed Robber’s Family Is Angry After He Is Shot Robbing A Dollar Store!

New York Appeals Court Rules Murderer Not Guilty Because Six-Day-Old Baby ISN’T Really a Person

Clinton: ‘Republicans Lying – Veterans Are Happy With Medical Treatment’ [Video]
Most vets in Madison, like me, are happy with the local VA. I see a lot nationally that are not. ~Bob

Worth Reading: Sadly, there is no party for Jim Webb. By Cynthia M. Allen
Excerpt: A decade ago, Webb’s centrism, his military service and his interest in political compromise — if only rhetorical — would have been seen as an asset in the Democratic Party. Today, they are reasons to ignore him. Any move toward the center, any suggestion of bipartisanship, is a liability. It’s widely accepted that the nature of contemporary politics has driven the party power structures to the extremes, but this seems most evident in the Democratic Party.

I'm Shocked! Missing Money? Report questions how states spent ObamaCare funds

Iran Marches, Russia Rules, Obama Watches. By Charles Kruthammer
Excerpt: Guess who just popped up in the Kremlin? Bashar al-Assad, Syrian dictator and destroyer, now Vladimir Putin’s newest pet. After four years holed up in Damascus, Assad was summoned to Russia to bend a knee to Putin, show the world that today Middle East questions get settled not in Washington but in Moscow, and officially bless the Russian-led four-nation takeover of Syria now underway.

After a strong stretch for Clinton, Sanders turns more aggressive

Excerpt: I was somewhat amazed to read this morning Google was inundated with "Hillary Emails" search inquiries on the night of the Democratic debate.  Seems that millions of Americans had never heard of Hillary's email problems, of her private server, of potential Russian and Chinese cyber hacks into her private server.  How is that possible?  So I dug a little more.  Found out that Politico ran the numbers on this.  And they came to the startling conclusion that very little coverage has been given to this issue in the main stream media...with only Fox News giving the subject much coverage, complemented by sparse coverage on CNN.  

Correction: Snopes says the item below, which I included in my last post, is not true
NEW JERSEY School bans Halloween because it is offensive to Muslims

Excerpt: AFP reports that the United Nations have voted to deploy peacekeeping forces known as Blue Helmets to defend world heritage sites from attacks by ISIS terrorists. (If not farce, it will be tragedy. ~Bob)

Interesting: Has the United States lost its best friend to its biggest rival?
Excerpt: Britain has seen itself as the United States’ best friend on the international scene for more than a century. I had thought that we British overdid its importance — till I heard the president of the United States tell an audience in the House of Commons in May 2013 that it was special, very special, “because of the values and beliefs that have united our people through the ages”. That doesn’t seem to have stood the test of time. This past year has been special only for the  disquiet that’s crept into the relationship, as successive high U.S. officials deplored cuts to the UK’s defense capacity. Then, in March, the disquiet became acrimony, as the UK headed the list of Western states to join the China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment bank, with only minimal warning to the United States. One senior official spoke of a “constant accommodation” of China by the Brits.

BEN CARSON: I’D ‘RELISH’ GENERAL ELECTION MATCHUP WITH HILLARY, THE ‘POSTER CHILD’ OF DISHONESTY

AMERICAN FLAG REPLACED WITH ‘UNAPOLOGETICALLY BLACK’ FLAG DURING CHICAGO #STOPTHECOPS PROTESTS

From the left: America is changing its mind on Israel: How Netanyahu is alienating his most essential ally

Denmark: Muslim mob attacks police car, shots fired at Shia march

France: Muslim screaming “Allahu akbar” & “Kill the Jews” stabs Jew, punches rabbi

Sharia Toronto: Cabbies turning away passengers with seeing-eye dogs
I do wish a gay couple had the courage to demand a cake from a Muslim bakery. ~Bob

Bernie Sanders' 'Medicare For All' Would Be A Disaster For All

Democrat sexism? Sanders: I am not 'shouting' at Hillary Clinton

NO WHITE HOUSE INVITE: Kid's Invention is Life-Changing for Vets With PTSD

CONCEALED PERMIT HOLDERS OFFERED A DISCOUNT AFTER RESTAURANT IS ROBBED

76-Year-Old Woman Confronted By 3 Attackers Opts To Take Matters Into Own Hands (Photos)

#SJW ‘Thought-Police’ Suspend Student For Facebook Picture… With a Gun.
http://louderwithcrowder.com/sjw-thought-police-suspend-student-for-facebook-picture-with-a-gun/
Excerpt: The problem however is the pictures were taken with members of the Canadian Armed Forces who were at Brysen’s school, for career day. “The army came to his career class and the end of September he posted pictures on his Facebook and then I get a message saying he can’t come to school because there was guns and stuff on it.”

Worth Reading: An open letter to President Obama: We can hear your deafening silence
http://examiner-enterprise.com/everett-piper/open-letter-president-obama-we-can-hear-your-deafening-silence
Excerpt: Mr. President, this past Thursday, Chris Harper Mercer entered a classroom at Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, Oregon, and proceeded to ask his fellow students to stand up if they were Christians. When they stood, he shot them in the head. A few moments later, in Washington D.C., you took to the stage. Your remarks lasted slightly over twelve minutes and in those comments you said absolutely nothing about Christians. Nothing. A 12-minute speech and not one word about those who were targeted for execution. Mr. President, Christians are being beheaded in the Middle East and you have lectured us about the Crusades. Christians have been killed in Charleston and you have preached to us about the National Rifle Association. Christians have now been singled out and murdered in Oregon and mum’s the word. Why? What would you have said, Mr. President, had the victims been Muslims? What would you have said had they been targeted because they were transgender, gay or wearing a hoodie?

DEA agents caught in Colombian prostitution scandal punished with… bonuses
Excerpt: This is the exact kind of thing that drives every normal US taxpayer crazy.  Apparently anything less than having sex with a baby animal on your desk during working hours while wrecked on crack just means some time on paid leave until they whitewash it, or give you the most gentle slap on the wrist, and then the promotion or bonus or new job or some combination.  This has gotten to be past ridiculous, and you wonder if anyone in Congress is ever going to go after this kind of total crap. Del

Graphic video: Islamic State executes man by running him over with tank, justifies act by quoting Qur’an

Raymond Ibrahim: Direct Experience — The One Benefit of Accepting Muslim Migrants
Excerpt: A silver lining exists in the dust cloud being beat up by the marching feet of millions of Muslim men migrating into the West: those many Europeans and Americans, who could never understand Islam in theory, will now have the opportunity to understand it through direct and personal experience. Perhaps then they will awaken to reality? The fact is, most Western people have had very little personal interaction with Muslims.

WHO KILLED THE LIBERAL ARTS?
We've all heard that things in colleges and universities have been slanted in many places to PC and serious Liberalism (which is different from the 1964 Liberalism I shared).  This video provides some input that blew me away.  Can this really be happening in our best schools?  Can college students be denied the experience of the cultural greats of Western Civilization, whose thoughts were the foundation for the society in which we live and by which we all benefit? Please take a gander at this, see what you think. --Del

The McCarthyism of Liberal Catholic Elites. By Rod Dreher 
Being the old fashioned pain in the butt type who prefers to actually understand what went on, I looked up the NYTimes letter that is the subject of the article below.  There was nothing in it about heresy, there was simple questioning of the possibility of making what would truly be a critical change in Church policy, contrary to the millennia of doctrine.  That is, will the Pope allow divorced and remarried people to receive communion before their marriage is formally annulled? The outraged attack on the writer is so beyond reasonable understanding that I have to say I just don't understand it at all.  What in hell are they so mad about?  I don't have a degree in Theology or Church history either, but the 8 years of required Theology courses did leave me with some capacity to understand the discussion.  The letter writer's opinion is that the Pope and some others are moving towards a huge change in policy; if so, that would indeed be very, very strange.  He doesn't claim to know it's going to happen, he suggests that's the way Francis and others are thinking.  He gets to speculate on things without somehow being a rabid attacker of the Pope or the Church. So I remain puzzled and uneasy about this kind of response by so many people who do have positions in the Church or are experts of sorts about it.  If anyone can explain this to me, I'd be happy to listen. --Del

The Decriminalization Delusion. America doesn’t have an incarceration problem—it has a crime problem. By Heather Mac Donald
Are there some people in jail with long sentences, especially federal jails, for nonviolent drug offenses, basically growing or distributing marijuana?  Absolutely. But is the current belief valid, that our jails are all overcrowded by people in for minor offenses yet with long sentences?  I've heard this a lot and was starting to think it might be true, but below is a very detailed article that presents the hard data. I did know from friends in law enforcement that a big chunk of criminal prosecutions are "dealt down" so that people caught for various offenses often spend much less time in jail than their actual criminal act would call for.  And at other times, prosecutors decline to press the case because there's not the full set of unimpeachable evidence that guarantees a conviction.  So some criminals may get arrested several times before they finally get convicted and go to jail. The article below presents a lot of hard facts and solid statistics that tell us that while there may well be a problem with some people getting sentences longer than really appropriate, that is not a huge situation in the system overall.  And with police and prosecutors backing off even more from enforcing the laws, and more criminals getting out early or not going in at all, anyone who doesn't expect crime to rise is living in a dream world.  This may get very messy in the coming future. --Del

Note to Democrats: disagreeing with Carson is racist, just as you called us racists for disagreeing with Obama's policies. ~Bob

CNN: ISIS TIES FOES TO ANCIENT PALMYRA COLUMNS AND BLOWS THEM UP

Important: Angry China shadows U.S. warship near man-made islands

Allies vs. Allies: Turkey confirms shelling Kurdish fighters in Syria

Funny: ‘JEOPARDY!’ CONTESTANT GIVES HILARIOUSLY WRONG ANSWER TO QUESTION ABOUT LIBERALS
Excerpt: A woman’s incorrect answer to a Final Jeopardy question about liberals gave the audience a good laugh, and even elicited a chuckle from stoic host Alex Trebek.

Satire: Army Agrees to Accept 20,000 Syrian Migrants To Meet Retention Goals
http://www.duffelblog.com/2015/10/army-accepts-20000-refugees-retention/#ixzz3pfxm5mvw
Excerpt: Early Wednesday, Pentagon officials announced that the Army will spend $2 billion this year to recruit 20,000 migrants currently fleeing Syria in an attempt to meet their retention goal for fiscal year 2015. “We have tried everything so far but keep falling short,” said Maj. Gen. Thomas Semands, commander of Army Human Resources Command. “I’ve let in all the gays, transgendereds, and everyone in between. We’re even pretending we will let women serve in the infantry. I guess the next step is to let the deserters of other nations join, eh?” When told that his microphone was live, Semands added, “What I really mean is, you know, diversity is our strength!”

Satire: New ‘Gender Neutral’ Latrines Will Require Troops To Sit While They Pee









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