Random Thoughts for January, 2016. By Robert A. Hall
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Happy New Year. May 2016 be good to you and yours.
For Christmas, we again said: Peace on Earth, Goodwill Towards Men. But it remains as far out of reach as ever. If you want it for your part of Earth, the iron rule remains unchanged: keep your ramparts in good repair, and those who guard them strong, brave, well-trained, well-armed and well-led. The alternative is the yoke or the grave.
When Obama says that immigrants will be "well-vetted," he means they will be diligent in screening out Christians, conservatives, home-schoolers, people who want to adopt American values and entrepreneurs.
On TV I heard a black woman, defending Hillary, say, "If you attack one woman, you attack all women." really? So if you attack Trump you are attacking all men? If you attack Carson , you are attacking all blacks? If you attack Cruz and Rubio, you are attacking all Hispanics? If not, why not? Of course, the TV guy didn't have the guts to question her.
Democrats want to take away the right of people on the no-fly list and the terror watch list to buy guns. Fine. But let's take away their rights to free speech, press, and to go to mosques. If we can take the second amendment from them why not the first? (You know who wasn’t on the no-fly list? The San Bernardino shooters. Nor was the Fort Hood Boston bombers. Nor the Chattanooga shooter. In other words, no perpetrator of any major attack on American soil was on the no-fly list. --Jim Geraghty, Morning Jolt.)
I expect any day Bernie Sanders will promise that if he's elected, everyone will receive free physical fitness without exercise from the government. Republicans who say that's not possible will be labeled "naysayers who are waging a war on the obese" by the media.
I'm starting to feel like a horrified observer at a multi-sided, chaotic riot rather than a citizen participating in the political process.
I think we should call the Democrats' plans, "Ponzi Economics."
If a person born a man with male body parts and chromosomes says that he's a woman, the liberals say, "Absolutely. She's a woman and gets everything a woman gets including the right to use women's rest rooms." But if a terrorist born and raised as a Muslim, who attends Mosque devoutly, knows the Qur'an by heart and quotes from it to justify his terror Jihad, liberals say, "Absolutely not Islamic. He doesn't know what he's talking about. Nothing Muslim about him."
Obama mocked the GOP for being afraid of women and children. But if women aren't dangerous, why does he want to send them into infantry combat?
I'm so old, I remember when the champions of civil rights were fighting against segregation, instead of for it. For those who want a slogan for separate "safe spaces" for blacks, may I suggest the old Democrat one, "Segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever." It's hasn't been used in a while.
The Left, as always, sees in the Colorado and California shootings another case to ban political speech they don't like.
I hold the bright hope that Americans will become as pissed at the Islamists as the Jihadists are at everyone else. Then things can be put right.
New War on Terror slogan: "See something, say something, get persecuted for Islamophobia."
While I don't like to be immodest, in 2015 I made $8 million, was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Literature and discovered a cure for Halitosis. Well, if Obama and Hillary with media help can gloat over imaginary accomplishments, I don't see why I can't.
White racism still exists, of course, and given human nature probably always will. But it has become very unfashionable and must be hidden. Black racism, on the other hand, is lauded and rewarded by both black and white elites. Just as white racism produced a reaction in blacks, so does black racism in whites. Both are despicable.
There are two mistakes that will surely ruin you. 1. Trusting everybody. 2. Trusting nobody.
I have the say the Obama Administration is the largest collection on Notables ever seen in America . Oh, wait, typo--I left out a space. Meant the largest collection of Not-Ables ever seen.
Paying the bills, I see that our gas bill is down about $60 this month, but my Medigap, Bonnie's health insurance, our life insurance, the utility and cable bills, food bills, condo fee and property taxes have all gone up. So you can guess it was a great relief to me to learn from the Social Security Administration that our checks were not going up as there has been no inflation this year.
If the "Smaller Countries" (read Third World poverty-ridden despotisms) get the $100 billion in Global Warming aid they are demanding of the West, I guarantee that a large percentage of that money will go to enrich the oligarchs. It will again be wealth redistribution from low and middle income Americans to wealthy third-world despots.
It has been noted by many commentators that JFK with his views of patriotism and desire to defend America would not be welcome in today's Democrat Party. But neither would that father of the New Deal, FDR, who didn't view all cultures as equal, and was thus hardly a modern leftist and multiculturalist. FDR in 1940: "I am a pacifist. You, my fellow citizens of twenty-one American Republics
If a TV ads says, "But Wait!" it's a red flag that pretty much guarantees I'm not going to buy from them.
Do you think politicians work hard? No? Why not? Actually they work pretty hard at the wrong things. I discovered as a state senator that I was spending over 90% of my time on trivia or getting myself re-elected. That's why I chucked it in. Case in point. Early in my career I worked really hard as the lead sponsor of a corporate raiding bill to try to protect the furniture companies in Gardner in my district. I got it through and signed into law. Despite the economic and job impact the legislation could have on my district, it rated a couple of inches of coverage deep in the local paper. About the same time, I criticized GOP Gov. Frank Sargent about some issue, I forget what. But it made front page, doubtless helping my image as an independent and a fighter in my 4-1 Democrat district. The media and voters reward you for show, not for substance. (See Trump, Donald)
I only eat where the food is good. And by good I mean "cheap."
The left will always raise up its Robespierres, intent on coercing the people for their own good. And it will eventually send them to the guillotine. See today's college campuses when far left students are terrorizing progressive professors and administrators, blissfully unaware that the terror thy use was let loose by the progressives they now hunt--and that they will be next.
The press believes its job is not to report facts and news, but to create a cordon sanitaire between the public and the depredations of the liberal elites like Obama and the Clintons.
People who never develop the capacity for delayed gratification lead miserable lives.
I don't feel a lot of impulse to offer religious and political freedom to people who wish to take away mine by imposing Shari'a Law on my country.
I don't know what Rosa Parks's problem was. They had created a "blacks only" safe space at the back of the bus.
The lesson of Gitmo is, "Take no Prisoners."
A Satanic Temple leader carries a sign supporting abortion that reads, "America is not a theocracy, end forced motherhood." The bible opposes murder, so....
If the jihadists started murdering gays, blacks and environmental fanatics, Obama would suddenly take action.
The things both of you think when apart are the enemies of the things both of you think when together.
Show me someone who has been in close combat who thinks women in the infantry is a good idea. Show me a politician or media type lobbying for it whose daughter will go.
Islamic terrorists may have nothing to do with Islam as Obama, Kerry and Clinton say, but I notice that the more religious a Muslim is, the more likely he is to go Jihad and slaughter people.
I'm sure that the families of the 14 murder victims in San Bernardino feel that the lives of their loved ones were a small price to pay so that officials could avoid the shame of being charged with Islamophobia by CAIR.
Obama is a war president in much the same way as Caitlin Jenner is a woman.
From Tom H.: Trump wins, Billary cash in as cronies. Hill wins, Trump cashes in as a crony. We're screwed either way.
Not that I'm impatient, but I find the wait for the Alka Seltzer tables to dissolve intolerable.
When I was younger, I hated to go to bed and I hated to get up. I still hate to get up, but going to bed is usually a relief.
Fox News suspended commentator LtCol Ralph Peters, USA (Ret) for calling Obama a pussy on the air. You can't have that kind of language and disrespect for the POTUS on a major network. Even if 90% of vets would agree with the Colonel.
Wars are often driven by greed, by envy or by ideology--often a combination of these evil vultures. But they can destroy a society and a civilization without war. It's slower, but violence, chaos, famine, pestilence follow the collapse they bring on, so you end up with the war of all against all. That, I fear, is where the US is headed.
We are fast becoming an ochlocracy, with the "mob" out to loot the public fisc. That mob is as likely to be from Wall Street wearing Brooks Brothers Suits as Welfare Queens from the Ghetto. Each have their political champions, buying their support.
I think that our feckless people probably deserve our feckless president.
There were similar bomb threats against both the LA and NY schools the same day, both hoaxes. LA shut the schools down, NY did not. I do not think you can say either was right or wrong. Hard to judge the call unless you were making the decision. When I was a junior senator, we had a rash of bomb threats against the statehouse. My staff always evacuated, walking down, then up five flights (they close the elevators for safety). I always stayed at my desk. My thinking was that it was 1,000 to one against there being a bomb, and if there was a real bomb, they wouldn't call first. Plus the bombers would go for the Senate or House Chambers, or the Governor's Office, not the back benchers on the fifth floor. Thankfully I was always right. But I never upbraided my staff for going out to stand around the parking lot. Their lives, their call.
Self discipline is for the long term. It does you no good to stay on the diet for lunch, then pig out at dinner.
I get dozens of requests to forward emails and copy the sender, or to copy and paste things on Facebook. I ignore them. I already deal with hundreds of things I post in my blog and/or on Facebook. I cannot let others suck up 90% of my limited free time. You note I never do this back. The most I do is note that people who wish to are free to forward or post my blog link.
Relationships are like jobs, There are many factors beyond your control that can cause them to fail. But one this is certain; if you don't work at them--work hard--they will fail. And that factor is under your control.
Some people I see ignore the advice and directions of their healthcare providers, thinking, I suspect, that they are "Putting one over on The Man." They are only putting one over on themselves.
A lot of political pundits, right and left, make predictions that seem more like wishful thinking than anything else.
As near as I can tell from my email, everyone not a liberal Democrat is now a RINO.
If today's liberals had been around during WWII, they would have called Americans bigots for criticizing Nazis and Japanese militants. "It's only a tiny minority of Germans and Japanese who are dangerous. We must try to understand their culture."
How many Syrian refugees are Japan , Russia and China taking? Just asking.
Well, refugees brought the Arab Spring to San Berdo. Is your town next?
You can have peace with people who hate you, as long as they fear you. But if they hate you, and hold you in contempt as well, you will never have peace.
I gather there is a law that every issue of every Women' magazine must carry an article touting how readers can lose X pounds by Y date.
From my friend George: In 1989 we damn near broke the agriculture economy of Chile because we found two grapes laced with cyanide. Not two bunches of grapes, not two pounds of grapes, not two bushels of grapes, not two tons, truckloads, or cargo holds of grapes. And yet we are unable or unwilling to identify the 1%* of the world's population that wants to kill us in the name of Islam, or properly vet refugees for their intentions. *Conservative estimate based on 5% of Muslims supporting terrorism, Shariah, and jihad (taken from a liberal news source; I'll take any number between 5 and 30), and one fifth of the world population being Muslim. (I believe Pew says 10% of Muslims are radicalized. ~Bob)
The Washington Post cartoonist depicted Sen. Ted Cruz's kids as monkeys. If someone depicted the Obama kids as monkeys, the WaPo staff would be out with torches and pitchforks, leading the lynch mob in pursuit, though Obama has used his kids in political things.
Black Lives Matter has the same right to protest as anyone. But they have no more right to shut down businesses or block public roadways than the KKK does.
If you make your sons soft and pampered, you are preparing lunch for the wolves.
I think we should start a movement to change the name of the mountain-formerly-known-as-Mount-McKinley to Mount Martin Luther King Jr. Think of the entertainment value of watching progressives turn themselves into pretzels.
President William McKinley was a staunch abolitionist from an early age, served heroically in the union army rising from private to major, and throughout his political life, fought for the right of blacks to vote against bitter Democrat opposition. No wonder Obama changed the name of the mountain--he wouldn't want a Republican like that to be remembered.
TV, the little I watch, seems to be full of Get-Fit-Quick schemes. I'm sure they are as effective as the Get-Rich-Quick schemes that go around.
Let's see. BLM shuts down the Mall of America. The merchants lose business. Thus they pay less taxes. thus the government has less money to spend on programs aimed at helping minorities. Very smart. ~Bob
I always expect to hear on TV, "Your gift of just $19 a month can help us keep begging ads like this on TV."
For bringing men to the faith, church is nothing compared to incoming rockets.
If "Gun Free Zones" work, why don't they make Chicago one?
Democrats are pushing hard to eliminate gerrymandering of congressional districts by legislatures. But only in Republican controlled states like Wisconsin . In democrat states like Illinois , not a peep.
Much advertising depends on the fact that most people are ignorant of basic economics, and cannot, as Dr. Thomas Sowell says, think to stage two. For example, TV here is flooded with ads for an insurance company promising to pay for a new car if you total your car, rather than the book value. (Every car depreciates in value the moment you drive it off the lot.) To pay more they have to collect more money by charging higher premiums. Note that company Boards of Directors have a legal, fiduciary duty to maximize returns for shareholders, many of who are pension funds or IRA for average folks, so they can't just cut profits.
If ISIS could just cut off the heads of their victims before they were born, liberals would love them.
Democrats have evolved from the "Tax and Spend" party to the "Borrow-from-the-grandkids and Spend" party.
When a liberal says he's going to help the poor, he means he's going to make you help the poor at no cost to himself.
Talked to a friend whose wife was a nurse. He said that when Obamacare came in, all she was doing was paperwork, not nursing, and didn't like it. She is now driving an 18-wheeler long haul.
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=booksandie=UTF8andqid=1304815980andsr=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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