Wednesday, May 31, 2017
Science Rules
Science Rules for the 21st Century.
1. Find a grantor (government, foundation, etc,.)
2. Research to find out what the grantor's agenda and biases
are.
3. Propose a heavily funded research project to conclusively
prove that the grantor's premise is correct.
4. Receive a large grant with a huge stipend for the
researcher, plus a promise of more "if the research is acceptable."
5. Gather data from a wide range of sources.
6. Discard or "adjust" data that might be
upsetting to the grantor.
7. Run the remaining data through your carefully designed computer
models.
8. Discard invalid models/results that are incompatible with
the grantor's premise.
9. Present the research paper to the grantor. Have it
"peer reviewed" by a committee that already believes the grantor's
premise.
10. Publish the research as a book declaring that the
grantor's premise is settle science and must never be challenged, earning
academic credit from your university and royalties, plus appearances on media
outlets that already accept the premise.
Repeat.
Common Histories?
Tsarnaevs, Manchester terror suspect have chilling similarities
From the 'ya think?' Department. --GS
FGM
ACLU opposes Maine bill criminalizing female genital mutilation
Excerpt: “Circumcision is obligatory (for every male and female) (by cutting off the piece of skin on the glans of the penis of the male, but circumcision of the female is by cutting out the bazr ‘clitoris’ [this is called khufaadh ‘female circumcision’]).” — ‘Umdat al-Salik e4.3, translated by Mark Durie, The Third Choice, p. 64 Why is it obligatory? Because Muhammad is held to have said so: “Abu al- Malih ibn Usama’s father relates that the Prophet said: ‘Circumcision is a law for men and a preservation of honour for women.’” — Ahmad Ibn Hanbal 5:75 “Narrated Umm Atiyyah al-Ansariyyah: A woman used to perform circumcision in Medina. The Prophet (peace be upon him) said to her: ‘Do not cut severely as that is better for a woman and more desirable for a husband.’” — Abu Dawud 41:5251
Kabul
Authorities in Kabul responded Wednesday morning to a massive rush-hour explosion that shattered windows a half- mile from the blast site. No group has claimed responsibility, but it appears most of the casualties were civilians.
Tuesday, May 30, 2017
Memorial Day and the conquest of Constantinople
Memorial Day and the conquest of Constantinople
Excerpt: As we remember, with a debt of gratitude we can never repay, those who have died to keep us free, let us also remember what the consequences will be if we lose this great defense against jihad that the free world isn’t even seriously fighting. Today is May 29, the anniversary of the Muslim conquest of Constantinople, which took place on May 29, 1453. It is useful, in our comfortable complacency and general lack of any historical memory at all, and overarching concern to avoid “Islamophobia,” to recall what happened when the Muslims entered the great city. Historian Steven Runciman notes that the Muslim soldiers “slew everyone that they met in the streets, men, women, and children without discrimination. The blood ran in rivers down the steep streets from the heights of Petra toward the Golden Horn. But soon the lust for slaughter was assuaged. The soldiers realized that captives and precious objects would bring them greater profit.” (The Fall of Constantinople 1453, Cambridge University Press, 1965, p. 145.)
Vietnam Charity Fraud
A.G. Schneiderman Announces Settlements With Vietnam Veteran’s Charity And Its Founder For Squandering Millions In Donations
Another horrendous example of a fraudulent charity raising many millions of dollars for vets, essentially none of which ever got to help any vets. I'm sure glad they caught this guy, but it should have been sooner. And above all, a fine of $100K and an apology and banning from charity raising are scarcely enough punishment for his crimes. And he was a VA lawyer! This is utter, total slimeball ripoff for personal gain. He should be fined every dime he has, his house, his car, his VA retirement should all be gone, and he should be in jail for maybe ten years. Or the old colonial thing of being put in the stocks in a public place, like right outside a VA hospital or a military base, so every day people could come by and throw garbage and worse at his face. Sadly none of that will happen, and he will go on in a free and probably affluent lifestyle. With happy memories of all the things he did with the money that was supposed to go to help vets. We can only hope that in the next life he'll be in front of a much sterner judge. --Del
The Vietnam Debt
The Vietnam Debt
Excerpt: That’s the injunction of the famed filmmakers Ken Burns and Lynn Novick, writing in this Memorial Day’s New York Times in respect of what they call the “unhealed wounds” of Vietnam. It’s part of the pre-launch publicity for their forthcoming documentary on the Vietnam War for the Public Broadcasting System. The film is due to air in September. We’re looking forward to seeing it, having glimpsed in Rory Kennedy’s “Last Days in Vietnam” how riveting and moving even a left-of-center take on the war can be. Yet our instinct is that Mr. Burns and Ms. Novick are going to have a hard time honoring the courage, heroism, and sacrifice of those who served and those who died at Vietnam absent some bow to the rightness of our cause. “Noble” was the word Ronald Reagan used for it. It is widely reckoned that America lost the Vietnam War. We are with the minority that rejects that formulation. We don’t even think of Vietnam as a war, per se. The Sun prefers to speak of the “Battle of Vietnam.” We see it as but one engagement in a much larger war. Which we won. The larger war pitted us against the Soviet Union, and it was our side that was in the right and that stood for freedom. We understand that’s not a universal view, and we’ve oft-said in these columns that we don’t gainsay the patriotism that animated many entered the peace movement. All the more reason, though, to remember that America emerged victorious in the larger struggle. We have always found it difficult to imagine winning that struggle if we’d left Indochina to the communists without a fight. Mr. Burns and Ms. Novick may be right when they assert that nothing will ever make the tragedy of the Vietnam War “all right.” A special preview of their film, which is up at PBS.org, makes it clear how wracked with guilt are those who greeted returning veterans with sneers and jeers (one anti-war activist they interviewed appears close to tears as she recalls such behavior). The thing to remember about the tragedy is that with our triumph in the Cold War our GIs finally won the salve of victory.
The Fusion Party
The Fusion Party. By Vistor Davis Hanson
Excerpt: It is no longer a liberal (a word now replaced by progressive) political alternative to conservatism as much as a cultural movement fueled by coastal elites, academics, celebrities — and the media. Its interests are not so much political as cultural. True to its new media identity, the Democratic party is against anything Trump rather than being for something. It seeks to shock and entertain in the fashion of a red-carpet celebrity or MSNBC talking head rather than to legislate or formulate policy as a political party. The result is that in traditional governing terms, the Democratic party has recalibrated itself into near political impotency. Barack Obama ended the centrism of Bill Clinton and with it the prior Democratic comeback (thanks to the third-party candidacies of Ross Perot) from the disastrous McGovern, Carter, Mondale, and Dukakis years.
From the Left
From the Left: Wake up, liberals: There will be no 2018 “blue wave,” no Democratic majority and no impeachment. By ANDREW O'HEHIR
Excerpt: Get over Montana already — and stop trolling yourself with that stupid special election in Georgia too. They don’t mean anything, and anyway — that dude Jon Ossoff? He’s about the lamest excuse for a national progressive hero in the entire history of Democratic Party milquetoast triangulation. Oh, and since we’re on the subject: Forget about the “blue wave” of 2018. Forget about the Democratic majority of 2019. Forget about the impeachment of President Donald Trump. Have you even been paying attention? Because none of that stuff is happening and it’s all a massive distraction.
Impeach Trump
Negating History. By Jim Geraghty
The Democratic message in 2018 will be that 2016 shouldn’t have happened. There’s a strange and sudden consensus in the political world about what topic will dominate our national discussion for the coming year or two: whether or not President Trump should be impeached. Ben Domenech sees Representative Ted Lieu (D., Hawaii) reading up on the House procedures of impeachment and predicts, “Democrats will impeach Trump if they win the House regardless what the investigation finds.” Washington Post columnist David Ignatius predicts the 2018 midterms will be “the ‘impeachment election,’ and it may be as bitterly contested as any in decades.” (Perhaps it will mark the seventh or eighth consecutive “most important election of our lifetimes.”) The Economist declares that Democrats and activists on the Left want “a speeded-up Watergate, fit for an on-demand age.” In other words, what unites and galvanizes Democrats today is the idea that the 2016 election should be undone.
Monday, May 29, 2017
Healthcare
The magical, mystical “23 million” who will “lose” health insurance.
Excerpt: Hopefully you watched Mick Mulvaney explain the magical, mystical world of budget “cuts” in the mind of Democrats in Congress. The same sort of thinking underlies the “estimate” that 23 million Americans will lose health insurance coverage under the Republican American Health Care Act (ACHA). I think it is fair to state that the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) is highly constrained in the math that it must employ (the CBO made the “23 million” estimate). However, no one “explained” that to the Democrats who are screaming “fowl” from the rooftops about the AHCA. Hopefully today’s missive will help you understand that the “23-million-estimate” is mystical and magical.
The Media
Written by Kathleen Perkins ...
1. You said nothing when Obama used drone strikes to execute people abroad.
2. You said nothing about Russia for 50 years until Trump was inaugurated.
3. You said nothing about Hillary's campaign manager's brother being paid $175,000 to lift U.S. sanctions on Russia.
4. You said nothing when Obama engaged in military interventionism in Libya without Congressional approval.
5. You said nothing Obama greatly expanded presidential power through the use of Executive Orders.
6. You said nothing when Obama filled his White House with lobbyists after he said he wouldn't.
7. You said nothing when Obama gave 47 of his fundraisers Administration jobs.
8. You said nothing about the murders and rapes at the hands of illegal immigrants.
9. You said nothing when Hillary's net worth rose over $100 million as Secretary of State, in part, because her husband took money from foreign governments.
10. You said nothing after Obama's net worth rose over $10 million as President.
11. You said nothing when Obama's Justice Dept. wiretapped/surveilled reporters such as James Rosen and the AP.
12. You said nothing when Obama restricted immigration 6 times with Executive Orders.
13. You said nothing when Obama set a record for deportations.
14. You said nothing when Bill Clinton met Loretta Lynch on the airport tarmac during the Clinton investigation.
15. You said nothing when Hillary was fed debate questions.
16. You said nothing when Obama and Hillary lied about a video and Benghazi.
17. You said nothing when Obama's IRS abused the rights of taxpayers.
18. You said nothing when Obama's White House held meetings with lobbyists in coffee shops near White House to avoid disclosure requirements.
19. You said nothing when Eric Holder sold the guns you hate to criminals and some were used to kill Americans.
20. You said nothing when the Clinton's took White House property.
21. You said nothing when Hillary laughed off defending a child-rapist.
22. You said nothing when Hillary lied about her private use of a private email server as Secretary of State.
23. You said nothing when Janet Reno, under Bill Clinton, used a tank to kill the Branch Dividians.
24. You said nothing when, on May 13, 1985, a bomb was dropped on a row house in Philadelphia to uproot the black liberation group known as Move, resulting in a fire that eventually burned down 61 houses, killed 11 people (including five children) and injured dozens.
25. You said nothing was Elian Gonzales was forcibly deported using guns.
26. You said nothing when George Soros paid protesters to burn parts of Ferguson.
27. You said nothing about states' rights until Trump's Executive orders on immigration.
28. You said nothing about Obama's smoking.
29. You said nothing about the record numbers of people on government assistance.
30. You said nothing about the number of part time and low paying jobs under the Obama recovery.
31. You said nothing when Obama had SWAT teams raid a Gibson guitar factory and seize property, on the purported basis that Gibson had broken India's environmental laws—but no charges were filed.
32. You said nothing when Obama claimed that the Fort Hood shooting was "workplace violence" rather than terrorism.
33. You said nothing about when Obama ended some terror asylum restrictions, by allowing asylum for people who provided only "insignificant" or "limited" material support of terrorists.
34. You said nothing when the national debt doubled under Obama.
35. You said nothing when 9 times the Supreme Court unanimously overturned Obama's expansive use of Executive Power.
36. You said nothing when Obama dismissed charges filed by Bush Administration against New Black Panther Party members who were videotaped intimidating voters at a Philadelphia polling station during the 2008 election.
37. You said nothing when Obama released Guantanamo detainees were released and went back to kill Americans.
38. You said nothing when Obama unilaterally changed Congressional law by Executive Order.
39. You said nothing when Obama fired an inspector general after investigating an $850,000 AmeriCorps grant received by a nonprofit run by former NBA star and Obama supporter Kevin Johnson.
40. You said nothing about the 36 Obama's executive office staffers that owed $833,970 in back taxes
41. You said nothing when Obama Killed four Americans overseas in counter-terrorism operations without a judicial process.
So if you are voicing your objections about three months of Trump, I'm sorry ... we can't hear you because you said NOTHING before!
Kills sister with axe
Man kills sister for 'honour' in Khanewal
Excerpt: One week ago, a local court (Panchayat) called both the families and after hearing their arguments, told Yasin’s family to marry off his 10-year-old sister to Mudassir. Three days before the marriage, which was supposed to take place on Tuesday, Yasin’s father refused to give his daughter in ‘vani’ – a practice in which a woman is handed over or forcibly married to someone in return for the sins of her male relative(s). To avenge his ‘humiliation’, Mudassir murdered his sister with an axe.
Fake News and Trump
Regime Change by Any Other Name? Truth or consequences? Obama skated for far worse misdeeds. By Victor Davis Hanson
Hanson has really done a super thorough job on this one. The only downside of reading this is that it may leave you boiling inside as the cumulative effect of the dishonesty, disrespect, and previously unknown viciousness hits you. You can send this to those who still love Obama and Hillary, if you want to get them blind with fury and stuttering obscenities back at you. But of course none of it will matter to them anyhow. --Del
History
Why History Will Repay Your Love
Who does not like a good story? It is a crying shame that the teaching and learning of history in our country is at such an abysmal level. Historical ignorance undermines a country's sense of unity and the judgment of its citizens (and many of its leaders). Why deprive the people of the good and bad stories of our past by making the subject so dry in school. Yours truly, Larry Greenberg
Sunday, May 28, 2017
Few Extremists?
Dispelling the ‘Few Extremists’ Myth – the Muslim World Is Overcome with Hate
Excerpt: It is simply false to declare that jihadists represent the “tiny few extremists” who sully the reputation of an otherwise peace-loving and tolerant Muslim faith. In reality, the truth is far more troubling — that jihadists represent the natural and inevitable outgrowth of a faith that is given over to hate on a massive scale, with hundreds of millions of believers holding views that Americans would rightly find revolting. Not all Muslims are hateful, of course, but so many are that it’s not remotely surprising that the world is wracked by wave after wave of jihadist violence. To understand the Muslim edifice of hate, imagine it as a pyramid — with broadly-shared bigotry at the bottom, followed by stair steps of escalating radicalism — culminating in jihadist armies that in some instances represent a greater share of their respective populations than does the active-duty military in the United States.
Saturday, May 27, 2017
Lepanto
Where Was Secular Humanism at Lepanto? by Tom Kratman
Tom Kratman is a retired US Army LtCol, an occasional
contributor to my 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
I expect that in 20 years they will move his novel Caliphate to the history section. ~Bob
Blasphemy
The Islamic World Has a Blasphemy Problem. How have such bad laws gotten on the books in Muslim countries? It's complicated.
It's always interesting to see critical commentary from non-Westerners about situations in the Islamic world. --Del
Poland & Europe
Polish PM on Manchester Attack: ‘Europe, Rise from Your Knees or You’ll Be Crying over Your Children Every Day’
Friday, May 26, 2017
I am not a hot-house flower
I am not a Hot-House
Flower
Robert A. Hall
I am not a hot-house flower
Sheltered from all care,
Protected from the wide, wide world,
And all that lurks out there.
I am not a Tinker Bell
Who's never been so bold
As have a thought that's contrary
To all that I've been told.
I am not a sweet snowflake
Afraid to hear a word
That disagrees with all my peers
And everything I've heard.
I am not a hot-house flower
Kept safe from every fear
And if you say things I don't like,
I'll cover up my ears!
Poverty?
Positive Poverty News Clearly Shows a Job and Economic Growth are the Keys to Ending Poverty, Not Government Programs
Ben Carson
So Dr. Ben Carson, who came from poverty and worked his way to a very high function in society, says in an interview that sometimes what contributes to poverty is a negative mindset. He points out that some people will climb their way back up from poverty if you take everything away from them, while others will descend into poverty even if they win the lottery. Both of these are valid statements. Saying a mindset can "contribute" to poverty is no more invalid than saying that a mindset can contribute to success.
So what happens? Heads explode all across the progressive stage, furor arises, the news focuses on this, an apology is demanded, and he is again vilified as an ignorant Far Right extremist.
Uhh... but he didn't say anything that isn't sensible, reasonable, and he more than most has every right to that view. None of that matters, of course, because he strayed way over the PC line and that simply cannot be borne. The nasty idiocy rolls on. --Del
Minnesota
Minnesota: Muslims arrested with guns and bomb-making materials get only light charges
Excerpt: A single felony weapons charge for “a loaded AK-47, another rifle, a handgun, a grenade, large amounts of ammunition, and what would later be identified as bomb-making materials, including a drone.”
Christians in Philippines
Islamists besieging Marawi, southern Philippines, kill 9 Christians at checkpoint
Thursday, May 25, 2017
Still Here
Three years ago, on May 26, I was in the VA hospital. I was holding at 90% oxygen saturation, the bare minimum, with 100% oxygen running--which you can't keep up. The doctor said I had no where to go, but he could put me on a ventilator breathing tube, but I should know many people never came off them. I said "throw the dice." The doctors and nurses were looking grim and Bonnie was telling people I was continuing to deteriorate. I fought throw it, came off the tube six days later and the doctor said of the hundreds of patients he had put on breathing tubes over the years, i tolerated it better than anyone. I said thank Parris Island. And I think the hundreds of people who were praying for me.
Russia
American voters consider Russia an enemy of the U.S. rather than an ally by a 36-point margin, according to the latest Fox News Poll. In contrast, by a 53-point spread, most voters think President Trump sees it the other way around.
Memorial Day
My Word: War and Remembrance – My truth endures from Grandpa, Lt. Persons
A reminder of what should never be forgotten or neglected, but sometimes, too often, is. I must take minor issue with the second-last sentence. It says we all sacrificed with the trust that it would be spent wisely, but I would amend that to a hope rather than a trust. A hope that I am afraid did not exactly come to pass. But that does not invalidate in the slightest the sacrifices our people have always made in the hope of bringing about something better. It is only in the judgment that comes from above that sacrifice is fully recognized, whether it bears the intended fruit at the time or not. And we can hope and pray there will always be enough among us ready to sacrifice to protect and maintain our freedoms and our people. --Del
Refugees
State Dept. Redacts Big Chunks of $22.8 Mil Contract to Resettle Muslim Refugees
Judicial Watch is a really nice organization doing great work on exposing all kinds of abuses in government. This article really tells you how inefficient the "resettlement" programs are. Note that the total spent for 2400 kids in four months works out to just about $76,000 each or $19,000 per month. Now there is a triumph of overhead and at least some oversupply of niceties. I don't expect any bureaucracy to be super efficient, but this level of spending for that number of kids is indefensible. Why can't we do any better than this --Del
Healthcare
The CBO, Always the Skunk at the Garden Party. By Jim Geraghty, Morning Jolt
(Morning Jolt is a free e-newsletter that is well worth your time to read. http://www.nationalreview.com/newsletters)
House Speaker Paul Ryan issued the following statement in response to the Congressional Budget Office’s scoring of the American Health Care Act:
Under Obamacare, premiums have more than doubled, and choices have dwindled to the point that many families have no options at all. We are on a rescue mission to bring down the cost of coverage and make sure families have access to affordable care. This CBO report again confirms that the American Health Care Act achieves our mission: lowering premiums and lowering the deficit. It is another positive step toward keeping our promise to repeal and replace Obamacare.
That’s the good news. The bad news is that premiums for single policyholders would increase before 2020, a projected 20 percent in 2018 (!) and 5 percent in 2019. After that, the premiums would go down. For about half the population, it would be about 4 percent lower than under current law; for about a third of the country, 20 percent. The CBO concluded that for the final sixth, there were simply too many variables to make a good projection. Once again, the cost savings for consumers are down the road and in many cases, not an overwhelming level of cash back in patients’ pockets. And this is with significantly more Americans choosing to not purchase insurance.
Why is the Republican Party in its current predicament in health-care policy? A lot of reasons, but a big one is that they now have to explain the tradeoffs of a specific plan when their standard-bearer refused to do so in 2016. On the trail, Donald Trump made sweeping promises about how much better health care would be, with no specifics or ideas about how he was going to get there:
“I am going to take care of everybody,” he told 60 Minutes. “I don’t care if it costs me votes or not. Everybody’s going to be taken care of much better than they’re taken care of now…The government’s gonna pay for it. But we’re going to save so much money on the other side. But for the most it’s going to be a private plan and people are going to be able to go out and negotiate great plans with lots of different competition with lots of competitors with great companies and they can have their doctors, they can have plans, they can have everything.”
“We’re going to have insurance for everybody. There was a philosophy in some circles that if you can’t pay for it, you don’t get it. That’s not going to happen with us.” People covered under the law “can expect to have great health care. It will be in a much simplified form. Much less expensive and much better.”
“Obamacare is going to be repealed and replaced. … You’re going to end up with great health care for a fraction of the price and that’s gonna take place immediately after we go in. Okay? Immediately. Fast. Quick.”
“I was the first & only potential GOP candidate to state there will be no cuts to Social Security, Medicare & Medicaid.”
You can’t keep all of those promises. Some of them are more or less contradictory. You can’t keep Medicaid intact AND repeal Obamacare, because Obamacare expanded Medicaid. If insurance companies cannot charge more for those who have preexisting conditions, it is very difficult to reduce premiums.
Wednesday, May 24, 2017
Chelsea
Little Creep. Against Chelsea Clinton. By Kevin D. Williamson
Excerpt: Hasn’t Bill Clinton been fellated thoroughly enough? Nina Burleigh spoke for a certain variety of 1990s-style feminist when she famously said that “American women should be lining up” — on their knees — in order to express their gratitude to Bill Clinton for “keeping theocracy off our backs.” You all remember how close we were to theocracy back in the 1990s: California banned smoking in all bars, Chris Farley died of a cocaine-and-opiates overdose, Barry Switzer got canned . . . and . . . nothing like a theocracy was anywhere to be seen, heard of, or smelt. As much as the Democrats tried to cast Ken Starr as a modern-day Roger Chillingworth (if not a Torquemada), Bill Clinton wasn’t in trouble for making the White House interns strap on their presidential kneepads: He was in trouble for perjury, an offense for which he was later obliged to surrender his law license. Clinton was guilty of everything he was accused of, and more. ... Miss Burleigh’s suggestion was not enough. Not nearly. Rather than send Bill Clinton into his dotage with a generous allowance of Viagra and interns, they gave his wife — his batty, corrupt, inept, corrupt, feckless, corrupt, preening, unbearable, corrupt, condescending, and corrupt wife — the Senate seat being vacated by Daniel Patrick Moynihan, the last good Democrat. She was elected to represent the state of New York in the Senate when she did not even live there, leading Moynihan to wryly praise her “Illinois-Arkansas enthusiasm.” ... So they’ve turned to the Little Creep. Chelsea Clinton, most recently lionized on the cover of Variety, is a 37-year-old multi-millionaire who has never uttered an interesting word about any subject at any time during the course of her life. Judging from the evidence of her public statements, she has never had an original thought — it isn’t clear that she has had a thought at all. In tribute to her parents, she was given a series of lucrative sinecures, producing a smattering of sophomoric videos for NBC at a salary of $600,000 a year. She later went more formally into the family business, leaving her fake job at NBC for a fake job in her parents’ fake charity. She gave interviews about how she just couldn’t get interested in money and bought a $10 million Manhattan apartment that stretches for the better part of a city block.
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