Random Thoughts for April 2016. By Robert A. Hall
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Leftists clearly believe the polls showing either Hillary or Bernie crushing Trump and want him to win the GOP nomination. Bill Clinton called him to urge him to run on the GOP side. Barack Obama said Trump would never be president, a move calculated to strengthen Trump with the Republican base. Don't forget the effort to get liberal Dems to cross over and vote for Trump. And Leftist Sanders supporters attacked Trump rallies to shut them down, a clear gift to Trump with the base. But they should consider that if Trump is nominated, some unanticipated "black Swan" event could tip the electorate and make him president. What then? Given his many and wide swings in speech and policy positions, no one knows what President Trump would do. Least of all Trump.
The philosophical outlook, theological guidance and world view of the vast majority of Christians has changed drastically since the Middle Ages. That of many, if not a majority, of Muslims has not. After the fall and sack of Constantinople in 1453, the victorious Muslim sultan Mehmet said, "There must be ... only one empire, one faith and one sovereignty in the world." ... I pray he will let me live long enough to capture and subjugate Old Rome as I have New Rome." There is nothing here that would conflict with the views of ISIS, al Qaeda other Jihadist groups, or a great many of the "refugees" currently flooding into Europe .
The Donaldcrats are saying that Trump has received the most votes, so he should be nominated. At 37.1% of the GOP primary vote, he would have the lowest votes of a nominee for either party since George McGovern in 1972. (McGovern carried one state, Massachusetts , the year I won a 4-1 Dem district for the Senate.) Romney had 52.1% of the GOP vote when he was nominated.
You don't have to be alone in life. You can always find some crazy, manipulative person with Borderline Personality Disorder to marry you.
Bill Clinton has done a great deal during his career to damage the country and the GOP, but by far his cleverest and most destructive move was urging Donald Trump to run, counting on Trumps ego and Trumps mouth to do the rest for Hillary.
I received a fund-raising letter from Russ Feingold. My Social Security check doesn't stretch to helping candidates who want to raise my taxes. But to be polite, I sent the empty pre-paid business envelope back to his committee. In Washington DC , not Wisconsin .
Liberal strategy: If you can't refute the facts, launch a personal attack on the person who said the facts. Name calling--racist, sexist, bimbo, wacko--is the first of the seven recognized techniques of propaganda, but it is a left-wing staple.
A plurality--though not so far a majority--of Republican voters has given a face, Donald Trump, to the liberals' age-old claim that the GOP is a party of Yahoos and know-nothings. It will damage the GOP brand and the conservative movement for decades. The irony is that it will come at the hands of a nominee who is a life-long liberal with an aversion to transparency, a contempt for the truth and a past record of shady dealings. Much like Hillary in broad overview.
From a friend: The Chaos Theory and unexpected catastrophic consequences....In Chaos Theory, the butterfly effect is the name given to the sensitive connection between initial conditions in which an insignificant event in one state in non-linear systems, can result in sometimes catastrophic events in the universal state. In other words, although unlikely, it is possible for a butterfly flapping its wings in Texas to cause a typhoon in the Japanese Sea Honolulu college had sex with an older alcoholic Kenyan on a student visa, who had a wife and child back in Africa . And this less than significant event started the collapse and dissolution of the United States of America
The Republican Party this year seems permanently split between those of conservative principles and integrity who will never support a lifelong liberal with a history of failed businesses and shady dealings, Donald Trump, and the angry folks who don't care about his history or character because they like what he has started saying since he became a candidate, think he can beat Hillary, and don't care what he said or did or stood for in the past
I have no idea what the difference (if any) is between the Oscars, the Golden Globes and the Academy Awards. And no interest in finding out.
The GOP will not have a "brokered convention." The day of party bosses being able to trade blocks of delegates for favors or support probably ended in 1896, when McKinley beat the bosses. It may be a contested convention, going more than one ballot, with delegates free to vote their consciences on subsequent ballots.
Is it more likely that a person expresses his true feelings when not running for office, or when running? But the Donaldcrats won't look at Trump saying the GOP was too mean spirited to immigrants in 2012, his long political support for liberal Democrats or any of his other leftist positions over the decades, believing only what he has said since announcing. They are as willfully blind as the Obama supporters, seeing in Trump only what the want to see.
Liberals: Making your great-grand kids pay their fair share.
The Donaldcrats will be bitterly disappointed when the campaign reveals to the voting public his meretricious character. Should some "black swan" event, such as Hillary being indicted or struck by a meteor, elect him, they will be even more disappointed when in a year of two his manifest flaws of character and lack of guiding principles are fully revealed by high office.
What novels should say: "This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to any person, living or dead, is purely tough shit."
People who tried to flee the USSR or Nazi Germany were often executed. People who spoke out against the regimes were often executed. So it is with Muslims who try to leave Islam or speak out against it. Thus tyranny enforces its oppression of the human spirit.
Hillary is Donald Trump in drag.
Some people think if an opinion pops into their heads, however ill-conceived--that makes it fact. They are especially dangerous in politics.
Had a call from the Dane County
Trump will replace Obamacare...with Bernie-Care. Like Sanders, he said he favors a single-payer health system, covering all Americans from cradle to grave, paid for by a government that is already teetering on the verge of fiscal collapse. Wonderful.
When liberals describe the Constitution as a "living document," they mean they think they should be able to abrogate any of your rights they find inconvenient to their agenda.
Trump says the reason he changes positions so often is that every successful person is flexible. Look for him to be, like Obama, even more flexible after the election.
Trump says if elected, he will surround himself with the best people. Like those who he "hand-picked" at Trump University
Anyone who says "bigger is better" isn't on a diet. And hasn't studied the history of totalitarian governments.
Since it seems to be fairly routine for hackers to get into the federal government's computers, I'm surprised some very rich guy hasn't paid hackers to delete any IRS records. Of course, maybe it has happened, and we don't know about it.
It now appears that both parties will nominate a life-long liberal with a history of shady dealings. Trump will have the baggage of NPD as bad as Obama's and no political experience. Voting for Trump is like going to the airport and demanding a plane with a new pilot who has never flown before. The Trump campaign will end like Trump University, Trump Mortgage Company, Trump Airlines, Trump Steaks, and the Trump Taj Mahal, but maybe not until November. I think he will carry about 15 states, Hillary 35. His nomination hands the presidency to Hillary, unless some "black swan" events lets him win, which would be as bad for the country, but in a much different way. I have felt the Republic was in dire straights since I published my book, The Coming Collapse of the American Republic over five years ago. I now think only an act of God can save it. I won't be here, but I ache for my grandkids.
In Colonial times, it was common for doctors to bleed patients to try to heal them. The patient is sick, they bleed him, he gets weaker, they bleed him some more, and so on. That may have been what killed George Washington. Today it works for the economy. If it's weaker, the government piles on regulations. It gets weaker, and they pile on more regulations. And so on.
Will we see Mount McKinley , renamed Mount Denali by Obama to pander to his base, again renamed, this time to "Mount Trump
If you are ever in a situation where you need to kill an enemy, try to shoot him in the back. Facing him may get you killed instead. Chivalry was pretty much a non-starter even back in the day.
When Hillary Clinton is sworn in as President next January, I hope all the Donaldcrats will remember that before he dropped out, Rubio was leading her by 5 points, while Trump was trailing her by 13 points. They will try to put the blame anywhere but where it belongs--on their blindness.
So many Democrats, including Bernie Sanders, have criticized Obama, that now when Republicans do it, the Dems hardly bother to scream racism anymore.
Defeatism is when a recipe ends with, "Then order pizza."
Bloomberg got out of the Pre4sidential race, without ever getting in. Gee the race need another life-long liberal like Trump, Clinton and Sanders.
The Cult of Personality gave us Obama, and may give us Trump. Not Hillary, though. No one is blinded by love of her--not even Bill--but are seeking their self-interested agenda through her.
In my lifetime, we have gone from an era when the revelation that a candidate had affairs with married women would have disqualified him to an era when the leading GOP candidate brags about it, about cheating on his first two wives and says sex was his personal Vietnam , that he's like a brave soldier. So much for "values voters."
In her Detroit Debate, Hillary said that greedy gun manufacturers were just selling guns to make money. News Flash, Hillary. Every company is in business to "make money." Every company has a legal responsibility to its stockholders, including millions of retired Americans with IRAs, to maximize profits. At least they are selling a product, not influence like the Clinton Foundation. Or Clinton Slush Fund might be more accurate.
When speaking of Lord Charles Beresford, a popular British Admiral and member of Parliament, Churchill said: “He is one of those orators of whom it was well said: Before they get up, they do not know what they are going to say; when they are speaking, they do not know what they are saying; and when they have sat down, they do not know what they have said." Might be said of Trump as well.
Morning Jolt reader Mike writes in, “When I do my NCAA basketball tournament brackets next week, I’m going to write in Trump University
Trump says he contributed heavily to liberal Democrats like Harry Reid, Hillary Clinton, Nancy Pelosi and Rahm Emanuel not because he supported him, but so he could get favors. That is called bribery and is a corrupt practice. But for Trump, corrupt practices are "just business."
More people pretend to reform than actually reform. True in other areas as well.
Remember when voting, especially for a personality-cult candidate, "Put not your trust in princes...." --Psalm 146:3
Politicians have long hated the right of free speech, from John Adams "Alien and Sedition acts, to Woodrow Wilson's "Sedition Act" to Obama and Trump today.
From Joshua Klug on Facebook: Truth sounds like hate to those who hate the truth.
"Power worship blurs political judgment. Whoever is winning at the moment will always seem to be invincible." --George Orwell
I read in The Week magazine that General Motors, the company that we taxpayers bailed out with billions of dollars never recovered to please the unions, made $7.7B in 2015 and paid zero in taxes. And you think the game isn't rigged?
We are all familiar with the low-information voter, who supports candidates like Obama and Trump because they say what they want to hear, and who change positions with the breeze. But Trump is the first successful low-information candidate, almost completely ignorant of the military, foreign affairs, economic realities or how government works. Look at his pledge to cut $300 Billion from the $85 Billion Medicare drug programs, later changed to cutting $300 billion from the whole Medicare program, which costs $580 Billion a year, through "better negotiation."
You can understand why pro-abortion groups are angry at the Doritos ad which they say "humanized" human fetuses. Imagine how angry the Nazis would have been in the 1930s if someone had run an ad in Germany "humanizing" Jews and other non-human untermensch.
My Floor Leader, the late Sen. John Parker, used to say, "It is always an advantage to a public man to be the victim of an outrage." "Anonymous" has now gone after Donald Trump, like the leftist and BLM protesters in Chicago . I'd think they were helping Trump win the nomination on purpose, because they know like Hillary and Obama that Trump will be the easiest Republican to beat. But actually I think they are just stupid. Or just want the fun of raising self-righteous hell and couldn't care less about the results.
From my friend George: If the government forces Apple to implement anti-encryption, with the stipulation that distribution be limited to very few people, should they tell Hillary how?
Few advertising words are as meaningless as "official" or "homemade." But, "Guaranteed" is close.
"I misspoke" is politician talk for, "You caught me in another one."
Social Justice Warriors can make anything racist. Example: You, "Have a nice day." SJW: "That's racist!" You, "How so?" SJW, "It's clearly a code you say to other white people to emphasize that you have good days because of White Privilege." You, "But I say it to black people as well." SJW, "Only to rub their noses in the fact that, because of white privilege, they never have a nice day!"
The most inhumane aspects of war are the small "humanities" that prolong the conflict, thus prolonging the suffering, destruction and death. Example: Dropping leaflets to warn drivers of ISIS oil tankers that a bombing raid in coming, preserving their lives to deliver oil and buy more weapons in the future.
Trump will Make America Grate Again.
If you don't understand basic economics, you are not a serious thinker.
In my life, I've visited a lot of places where I'd like to live. Only one, Edinburgh, is a large city. Many small cities, but mostly small towns.
As long as you remember that the media is just another business, with a desire, in fact a legal responsibility, to make a profit, you can understand it. That doesn't mean the on-air personalities realize that profit is more important than their agendas, but in the long run they pay for it. And like many businesses, they are often able to adjust their principles when it means a major impact on the bottom line.
Socialism always has its own one percent in government elites. And the 99% are much poorer then in economically free countries. See the Soviet Union, East Germany , Cuba , Venezuela , etc.
Who are the "They" who always seem to have said, "It couldn't be done"?
Looking at the political scene, I think it is about time for the fairies to pay the teind to the deil.
The modern welfare state controls it's citizens through the courts, police, bureaucrats, law, regulations and the awarding or withholding of government largess exponentially more tightly than the most arbitrary of medieval monarchs.
In the reign of James the VI and I of Scotland and England , the king often thwarted the will of the House of Commons by issuing "Royal Proclamations." The more things change...
In America , Presidents are elected to head one of the three co-equal branches of government. They are not the "Lord's Anointed."
"Global warming will flood all the big cities on the east and west coast!" You say that like it's a bad thing--can we get Chicago on the list?
Fox News reported that a media outlet had a hard-hitting interview with Hillary Clinton. They asked her the tough question, "If you're relaxing at home, burger or pizza?" (Pizza). Then they got tougher: "When you're babysitting your granddaughter, do you follow mom's rules or take grandmother liberties? (Liberties, but don't tell my daughter.) Talk about hard-hitting! Nice to see the media is doing their job, asking the hard questions the public needs answers to in selecting the next Commander in Chief.
I wasn't surprised at the resignations under fire at the Wounded Warrior Project. After 31 years as a non-profit exec, I can read a 990 non-profit tax return. I read WWP's several years ago, and decided I would contribute to the Semper Fi Injured Marine Fund. Wherever there is big money, like the WWP or the Clinton Foundation, there are people who think they are entitled to live well on it, piling on expensive perks, because their hearts are pure.
During the Scottish Enlightenment, professors received a small stipend from the university, but fees from the students who attended their classes. Good professors thus attracted students and made more money. Might be a system we should consider.
Socialists used to call themselves, "The Workers' Party." For example, The "National Socialist German Workers Party" of Hitler. Now, however, they draw too much support from non-workers, who are free riders on taxes paid for by workers, so it has fallen into disuse.
In The Wealth of Nations, circa 1776, Adam smith, considered the founder of economics, said that a nation needs three things to advance economically: A Division of Labor, people free to pursue their own self-interest, and free trade, both internal and external. It remains true today, but politicians like Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump can harvest votes by appealing to the economically-ignorant, which constitute a majority, with support for high tariffs and protectionism. Most people don't have a clue that it was Hoover signing the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Bill, against the advice of 1,000 economists, which started a world-wide trade war and turned a recession into the Great Depression. Those who don't know history are condemned to repeat it.
As with Obama, to Trump supporters he's a blank canvas on which they write what they want to see.
I have learned that if you are persistent, you can get a college degree, maybe even a PhD--without being that smart. And now days grade inflation helps. I read that when I went to college, 25% of the grades professors gave out were As and that now 60% are. Professors know they are graded by the students, and that if they don't like the prof, it can be career ending. Especially if they can find some small thing to hang a grievance charge of racism or sexism on.
My brother Mark pointed out that bacon wrapped around the door handle of a Mosque is considered a hate crime, bringing out the Feds to investigate, and prosecute if they catch the bacon-wielder. But a Crucifix in a jar of urine is considered great art and brings out the Feds to reward the "artist" with tax dollars in a NEA grant.
Liberal multiculturalists should have to take in a couple of 20-year-old male Syrian immigrants. Give them a whole new world view. If they survived. If not, small loss.
Watching a Trump-Clinton electoral battle, with two life-long corrupt liberals tearing each other up, would be entertaining. Except that for conservatives with principles, it would be like watching a heavyweight prize fight, knowing the winner was going to beat the hell out of you.
Efforts to stop terror are very inconvenient. But so is being dead. Or under Shari'a Law.
"In the kingdom of the blind, the one-eyed man is king." So the saying goes. Looking around it is easy to be king, given that so many people are willfully blinded by worldviews that are not connected to reality, by wishful thinking, by ignorance of history or basic economics, or by bias based on race, gender, ethnicity, religion, age, sexual orientation, or divergent views.
I've been saying all along that the Hillary Wall Street Money Machine will crush Sanders. Not as bad as it will crush Trump if he's the nominee, because the Sanders' people will vote for Hillary, while principled conservatives will not vote for Trump.
There is no situation so bad that some idiot can't make it worse by opening his--or her--mouth.
Looking at kids today makes me wonder what we did as kids when there were no smart phones to stare at for hours on end. I seem to remember in High School doing a lot of walking and talking with friends. Seems to me Smart Phones make lots of people dumb.
Isn't it time for BLM protesters to demand special parking spaces for their members? After all, blacks under slavery were never given space to park their cars on the plantation. Parking Reparations Now!
Frankly, I'm a lot more worried about being murdered by fanatics from the Religion of Peace who follow the injunction in the Holy Qur'an to "Make war on them until idolatry shall cease and God's religion shall reign supreme." (Sura 8:36-) than I am about the FBI intercepting a call from me to my wife asking if we need milk.
The illiberal left has long hated the Second Amendment, but in recent years they have grown to hate the First with equal vehemence. It points up the dangers of judges seeing a "living constitution" If judges don't like what was said, they rule it hate speech not protected by the constitution. If they don't like guns, they rule the constitution doesn't protect guns. If they don't like your politics or views, they can find that the "living constitution" doesn't protect you from being jailed indefinitely. And so on.
You have to admire the ingenuity with which pharmaceutical companies use blister packs to keep the elderly from over-medicating themselves.
Most campuses now have speech codes to define what speech is unacceptable and will be punished. So has every authoritarian dictatorship throughout history.
You cannot use logic, past policy positions or past statements by Trump to convince a Donaldcrat he is wrong, because he didn't become a Donaldcrat by using any of those things.
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.
