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Taxing Questions
President Trump vowed to drain the swamp and to reduce both personal and corporate taxes. Growth should offset those numbers and reducing or eliminating some federal departments such as Education and gutting others such as the EPA will help. But what about the IRS?
We know that President Trump, while a businessman, was hounded by the IRS and that Barack used them as his personal attack dog to launch against political enemies.
Will there be needed changes in that bureaucracy? Will the tax code be fixed and reduced to a manageable size? These are bonuses that would save ever business and every taxpayer money, likely not costing the government anything – but are they a bridge too far for a single four year presidential term? There are a lot of precious porkbarrel items in that massive tax code that lobbyists will work (on behalf of clients) to retain. The unbounded protection of sugar is one of the biggest. A clue to his intentions will come when he appoints a Secretary of the Treasury.
Then again, it’s always better to do business in cash when possible.
ObamaCare = Democratic Party Self-Destruction
Good Bye Democratic Majority. Barack Hussein Obama is leading the Democrats off a cliff and the Democratic lemmings are running, panting after their Dear Leader.
(h/t IBD) for this analysis:
1. The people don’t want it! This, we would think, should have some bearing on decision-making. Yet the Democrats forge ahead without consent of the governed. In the latest Rasmussen poll, 53% opposed the Democrats’ reform while 42% were in favor. More than four in 10 “strongly” opposed; just two in 10 “strongly” favored. This jibes with other surveys, including our own IBD/TIPP Poll, taken since last year.
2. Doctors don’t want it! A survey we took last summer of 1,376 practicing physicians found that 45% would consider leaving their practices or taking early retirements if the Democrats’ reform became law. In December, the results were validated by a Medicus poll in which 25% of doctors said they’d retire early if a public option is implemented and another 21% would stop practicing even though they were far from their retirement years. Even if the bill doesn’t have a “public option,” nearly 30% said they’d quit the profession under the plans being considered.
3. Half the Congress doesn’t want it! Not a single Republican backed the health care bill that cleared the Senate on Christmas Eve 60-39. House passage was by a slim 220 to 215, and the lone Republican “aye” has since switched to “no.” Columnist Michael Barone says other changes would put the House vote today at 216-215 in favor, and he has doubts Democrats can even muster 216.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi made her job of securing yes votes even more difficult last week when she told a meeting of county officials that “we have to pass the bill so you can find out what is in it.” (emphasis added) Members of Congress aren’t waiting: They’ve already exempted themselves from whatever they inflict on us.
4. People are happy with the health care they’ve got! Polls show that 84% of Americans have health insurance and that few are displeased with what they’ve got. Last month, the St. Petersburg Times looked at eight polls and reported that satisfaction rates averaged 87%.
Contractors
Do you like the AK 47 Mini Draco Shorty with the 75 round drum magazine (right)? Way too heavy for practical use, BUT as a spray and pray weapon in close quarters or in a jungle environment where you want to cut brush, the Mini Draco is an interesting option.
In my comings and goings, I recently ran into some Russian mercenaries carrying Mini Dracos, which they called pistols, and I guess that they are.
Whether or not the next president is a nasty, old crone with a handler close at hand with the diazepam in the likely event that she goes into one of those famous seizures — or the nation selects Donald Trump, one thing is certain and that is another land war in the Middle East. The other certainty is the use of mercenaries to fight that war, at least in part. In the United States, we don’t call them by that name. We use the term, “contractor”.
I do not suggest that the words “contractor” or “mercenary” are bad or that the use of civilians to replace soldiers is always a bad idea. Civilians can do things outside of the bounds of the Uniform Code of Military Justice. It screws up your military service record, but it’s not all that uncommon that small groups of special forces types are ‘separated from service’, perform a task and then are ‘sheep-dipped’ back into their particular branch — say, the US Navy, for example. What they did as civilians is unspoken. I could give examples, but I’d end up like one of Hillary’s advisors – shooting myself in the back seven times in an act of suicide. So it’s all hypothetical here on the blog.
Private military contractors perform tasks once thought to be inherently governmental, such as raising foreign armies, conducting intelligence analysis and trigger-pulling. During the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, the trigger-pullers constituted about 15 percent of all contractors. Special Forces types are lured to that sort of job because you leave the service and do the same job the next day, pulling the same trigger, for three times the pay or more.
Contractors also encourage mission creep, because contractors don’t count as “boots on the ground.” Congress does not consider them to be troops, and therefore contractors do not count again troop-level caps in places like Iraq. The U.S. government does not track contractor numbers in war zones. As a result, the government can put more people on the ground than it reports to the American people, encouraging mission creep and rendering contractors virtually invisible.
For decades now, the centrality of contracting in American warfare—both on the battlefield and in support of those on the battlefield—has been growing. During World War II, about 10 percent of America’s armed forces were contracted. During the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, that proportion leapt to 50 percent. Today, America can no longer go to war without the private sector. Today, 75 percent of U.S. forces in Afghanistan are contracted. Only about 10 percent of these contractors are armed, but that isn’t the point. America is waging a war largely via contractors, and U.S. combat forces would be impotent without them. If this trend continues, we might see 80 or 90 percent of the force contracted in future wars.
The Russians are not dependent on contractors because of the nature of the social structure in that nation. Most independent Russians find employment on the national stage, outside of Russia. The exception to that is in places like Ukraine, where the presence of Russian soldiers fighting along side the pro-Russian rebels and operating sophisticated weapons systems could be embarrassing. So the Russians are no different from ourselves to that extent.
The French instituted the French Foreign Legion to serve its interest where the loss of French soldiers would be a problem back home and it’s been a noteworthy success since 1831. It started out as a way to get foreigners sponging off the system on the streets of French cities both gainful employment, a pathway to French citizenship and out of France to fight. Legionnaires swear an oath to the Legion, not to France. They are led by French officers. Is that where the US is headed? Maybe. I’ve heard it bandied about.
Friendlier Skies
I feel so neglected, so overlooked, so dismissed, so — empty. Who knew that the stewardesses who served in the British Airways first and business class cabin also served in other ways (h/t Stormy). I only fly in the good cabins (first class or upper class) and not one, “coffee, tea or me” question, with a wink or something.
No invitation to tea and crumpets and a happier landing.
I’m definitely not cool enough. – OR – Were they actually spies working for MI-6 who feared my mojo? Now that is a question isn’t it?
When you fly Aeroflot, the flight attendants are mostly models and there’s an assumption that they work for Mother Russia and whisper in Putin’s ear (red sparrows).
So British Airways, thanks for NOTHING!
A Study in Cause and Effect
The painting above: The Spanish treasure fleets departs the Florida coast for Spain, by Timothy Thompson
Conquests in the New World brought wealth to Phillip II and his country and led to the growth of Spanish power. By 1600, 339,000 pounds of gold, and 16,000 tons of silver bullion had been shipped to Spain. It amounted to 32 million pesos in that year (1600).
Huge quantities of treasure had to be shipped back to Spain by sea, and the vulnerabilities of lumbering treasure galleons to pirates required that they employ a convoy system, where the Spanish Navy would sail with them and protect the hulls that were filled to the gunnels with precious metal, and jewels.
Fleets of up to 100 ships were frequently to be seen gathering the Florida coast, preparing for passage to Spain. Sometimes they sailed too late and treasure ships went to the bottom.
In other instances, “pirates”, often ships commissioned by other nations with letters of marque, authorizing them to make war on the Spanish and retrieve the treasure cut one or two out of the herd.
The Spanish Price Revolution occurred between the second half of the 15th century and the first half of the 17th century, and was most specifically linked to the high rate of inflation that occurred during this period across Western Europe. Prices rose on average roughly sixfold over 150 years. Specie flowed through Spain, increasing Spanish prices and spread across Europe. Combined with this influx of gold and silver, population growth and urbanization perpetuated the price revolution. According to this theory, too many people with too much money chased too few goods, and instead of rising dominant over Western Europe and the known world, it destroyed Spain – some would say, forever.
The Chinese Economy
The Chinese Stock Market’s tumble this week caused US Markets to fall as well. The Chinese stock market is a casino for young, affluent, Chinese professionals and does not reflect the national economy as closely as it would in the USA. But, moving on…
(The Economist) The CSI 300, an index of the country’s biggest stocks, fell by 7%, the worst-ever start to a year for Chinese markets. Small-cap stocks fared even worse, many falling by the daily maximum of 10%. Monday was the first day of operation for new “circuit breakers”—automatic 15-minute pauses in trading whenever the CSI 300 swings up or down by 5%. These are intended to restore calm when the markets are in a frenzy. No such luck: less than ten minutes after trading resumed following the first such pause, the index fell by another two percentage points. That triggered another circuit breaker, prompting a suspension in trading for the remainder of the day.
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| LL in Shanghai |
The Chinese economy has been a house of cards for the last century. Even when it had its coming out party with Pres. Richard Nixon, things were slippery. There was a time when I was considered to be an expert on China. In those days I taught classes at the People’s Public Security University in Bejing and elsewhere (Changsha, Shanghai, etc.).
Anyway, I still have friends there. We talk.
Everybody expects that China will need to correct itself. China will just go on being China. To expect other than that is to expect too much.
There is nonsense afoot these days that China is a communist country.
Don’t get me wrong if you are in China they will tell you that they’re communists. It’s bunk. 95% of all businesses in China are privately owned and Chinese are and have ALWAYS been rampant capitalists at heart. It’s a one-party system with an oligarchy based on raw power…not unlike Russia. Some would maintain that not unlike the USA these days. The Chinese government grabs private property without just cause and people protest in Guangzhou. The US government machinates to grab private property in Oregon and people protest. Their government isn’t clean. Neither is our Bureau of Land Management.
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| LL in Changsha, Hunan Province |
(begin rant) The rules that govern mankind have not changed from day one, as near as I can tell. In a state of nature the biggest toughest guy knocks you over the head and takes your possessions and rapes the women. It caused us to create nation states where a bunch of tough guys come together and do the same thing to the toughest guy standing alone.
There is no “social contract”. All of human civilization, all of it (religion, government, arts, commerce, science, architecture) was built on greed, envy, hate, lust, pride, vanity, fear, and vengeance. That’s who we are. And the Chinese understand this more clearly than do many ‘progressive’ Westerners. (end rant)
China is capable of enduring unimaginable suffering. There are as many homeless people in China today as there are people in the US. (See Floating Population) Keeping China from balkanizing is the principle role of the People’s Liberation Army. If it wasn’t there to kill the leadership, Shanghai and Guangzhou would leave the PRC tomorrow. Trust me on this. There are four young men for every young woman in China — talk about social pressure, and on-and on-and on. They are problems that the Americans can’t even fathom.
The moves toward building islands in the Pacific to secure what China considers to be it’s maritime territory are about oil, and prestige. It wants aircraft carriers because the great power (USA) has them. If you were to ask the Chinese leadership why it wanted aircraft carriers, and if they were drunk, that’s what they’d tell you.
So China is never what it appears to be – even to the Chinese. Understanding China requires that you understand chameleons making love. And if you get it, you’ve been in China too long.
If you owe somebody $30.00, you’re a debtor, if you owe them $3.5 trillion, you’re an ally. That’s the situation that the US finds itself in, with it’s fist around the Chinese gonads. In China you produce products in local currency (RMB) and you sell in dollars. That’s not national sovereignty. It’s a recipe for trouble until you can get your act together. And the Chinese will — in time — as it the Chinese way.
Some mandarins declare that the $3.5 trillion in foreign exchange (FOREX) reserves will be depleted within 3-5 years*.
*According to the People’s Bank of China, its foreign-exchange reserves declined by $87.22 billion from a month earlier to $3.438 trillion at the end of November 2015.
That notwithstanding, you can never count out China.
The Chinese (as with all Asians that I met in Asia) are racists down to their core. All of them that I knew were shocked when we elected an American African to be president. One Chinese (thug) politician told me that he’d steal everything that wasn’t bolted to the floor and shat where he ate. I could go on, but the description of what he thought we were in for was not flattering. I thought to my self at the time that it might not be THAT bad. I was wrong.
Review of the News
A Review of the News for July 31, 2013
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The New FOIA
(propublica) The Obama Administration is seeking to codify in a rule, the long term practice of government lying in response to FOIA requests for disclosure. The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) was enacted to enhance the people’s right to know what their government is up to. It has generally been disliked by the Executive branch for precisely this reason. Administrations hate to disclose information that shows their ineptitude, dishonesty, and even criminality. Principally, they have chosen two routes to undermine the law. The first is to slow ball the process. FOIA requests can languish for years both to disincentivize their use and ultimately to render any releases obsolete. The more criminal approach is simply to deny that the documents exist.
The new Obama exception, which again simply codifies the actual more extreme current practice, is to “respond to the request as if the excluded records did not exist.” It is comical in a thoroughly cynical way that this was supposed to be the most transparent of Administrations. The upshot of this rule is that it makes it easier for the government to hide the truth from its own citizens and makes it an even longer and harder to uncover its lies.
The article linked is instructive.
Is the Recession Receding?
(New York Times) Two former Census bureau officials released a report based on publicly available Census data which showed that from when the recession was officially called as ended in June 2009 to June 2011 real median household income fell 6.7%, from $53,518 to $49,909. This is twice as much as income fell during the recession (3.2%, from $55,309 to $53,518) which officially lasted from December 2007 to June 2009.
Particularly hard hit during the Obama-period (June 2009-June 2011) were households where the head of household lost a job, 18.4% decline, and households with an African American (not Hispanic) head, 9.4% decline versus 4.7% for whites and 4.9% for Hispanics.
What this shows is that for most Americans the recession never ended and that the Obama Administration’s economic record is even worse than previously thought.
This report (released in 2011) did not show the disastrous effects of the ObamaCare turn down as employers began to make employees part-time and reduced work hours to under 30 in order to avoid the provisions of ObamaCare. Things are getting worse under the Utopian Socialist. The president’s latest economic speech hit an unsurprising tone of class warfare and empty old rhetoric. We have heard it all before, and neither the rhetoric nor the weakness of our economy has changed.
Under President Obama’s failed economic leadership, America has suffered through weak economic growth and fifty-four months of unemployment over 7.5%, the longest stretch since records began being kept in 1948.
BUT — The President and his family have enjoyed some world class vacations during his time in office. At least he’s having a good time.
Global Warming
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| Large Coronal Hole Near the Sun’s North Pole |
Progressives don’t call it global warming anymore because nobody is sure that the globe is warming due to human-generated activity or if it’s due to something else. The climate has changed every single year through geologic history, so referring to every weather event as, “climate change” is very safe ground for Al Gore and the Green Lobby. This year (2013), the Sun is ramping up for what is known as a “solar maximum”. Since the energy radiated by the sun varies, the energy striking the Earth varies as well. (Don’t wait to hear that from Gore or the Enviro Nazis. You’ll have a very long wait.)
July 19, 2013 — The European Space Agency/NASA Solar and Heliospheric Observatory, or SOHO, captured this image of a gigantic coronal hole hovering over the sun’s north pole on July 18, 2013, at 9:06 a.m. EDT. Coronal holes are dark, low density regions of the sun’s outermost atmosphere, the corona. They contain little solar material, have lower temperatures, and therefore, appear much darker than their surroundings.
Coronal holes are a typical feature on the sun, though they appear at different places and with more frequency at different times of the sun’s activity cycle. The activity cycle is currently ramping up toward what is known as solar maximum, currently predicted for late 2013. During this portion of the cycle, the number of coronal holes decreases. During solar max, the magnetic fields on the sun reverse and new coronal holes appear near the poles with the opposite magnetic alignment. The coronal holes then increase in size and number, extending further from the poles as the sun moves toward solar minimum again. At such times, coronal holes have appeared that are even larger than this one.
There is also the issue of dust. As the Solar System travels through space, it encounters regions of space that are ‘dustier’ than others. Space dust tends to refract light and keep it from reaching Earth. While nobody knows why ice ages occur, this is one possibility. Yes, modern human lifestyle does lead to greenhouse gas emissions, but nobody really knows the extent to which it causes significant climate change.
Texas Style
In case nobody has noticed, I’ve been showcasing the Texas lifestyle in microcosm here on the Review of the News. You may have asked yourself why — or maybe you didn’t. Keep in mind that while Texas and Texans have a deserved reputation for being a bit eccentric, it’s one of the few states in the nation that is prospering while all of the liberal urban hells are in serious decline.
If you’re reading this blog, you will understand why.
In the August reviews of the news, I’ll pick a new victim to appear here in this section. I’m thinking that a review of Progressive Paradise Cities (models for the nation) would be an appropriate contrast.
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| Their heart is in the right place. |
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| There was a time in America when a bar near an airport that catered to pilots could be called the “cockpit” without being a magnet for all of the gay blades in town. Not anymore. Not even in Texas. |
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| Is anything wrong with combining a beauty parlor, chainsaw repair and a bar under one roof? No. And certainly not in Texas. |
Firearm Related Deaths
The largest cause of preventable death in America is tobacco-related death. Half a million Americans die each year due to tobacco use or exposure to secondhand smoke. The issue of secondhand smoke exposure extends to America’s children.
What is President Obama doing about this murderer lurking in our midst? Where is his outrage? Where are the string of executive orders aimed at stopping smoking once and for all in America by prohibiting tobacco products from being sold anywhere? It’s obvious that American’s can’t stop smoking on their own.
Is it up to America to prevent self-inflicted injuries?
(USGOV Centers for Disease Control) Tobacco use is the single most preventable cause of disease, disability, and death in the United States. Each year, an estimated 443,000 people die prematurely from smoking or exposure to secondhand smoke, and another 8.6 million live with a serious illness caused by smoking. Despite these risks, approximately 46.6 million U.S. adults smoke cigarettes. Smokeless tobacco, cigars, and pipes also have deadly consequences, including lung, larynx, esophageal, and oral cancers.
The harmful effects of smoking do not end with the smoker. An estimated 88 million nonsmoking Americans, including 54% of children aged 3–11 years, are exposed to secondhand smoke. Even brief exposure can be dangerous because nonsmokers inhale many of the same poisons in cigarette smoke as smokers.
Secondhand smoke exposure causes serious disease and death, including heart disease and lung cancer in nonsmoking adults and sudden infant death syndrome, acute respiratory infections, ear problems, and more frequent and severe asthma attacks in children. Each year, primarily because of exposure to secondhand smoke, an estimated 3,000 nonsmoking Americans die of lung cancer, more than 46,000 die of heart disease, and about 150,000–300,000 children younger than 18 months have lower respiratory tract infections.
In 2011, there were 33,687 vehicle related traffic deaths; 42,917 deaths due to poisoning, and 31,672 deaths due to firearms. Balance that against the 443,000 who will die from self-inflicted smoking related illness and tell me where our national spotlight should be.
Personally, I don’t care whether people smoke or not. I’m not a progressive nor am I a liberal and I feel that people should have a right to smoke if they are so inclined. I choose not to smoke, but I am not a crusader on a mission to bend everyone to my will.
President Obama stated that firearms should be eliminated and that one firearm death in America each year is one too many. Is he willing to say the same thing about tobacco? Or alcohol – his alternate drug of choice? Liberals have no credibility because of their penchant for picking and choosing. The number of firearms related deaths is TINY and almost statistically insignificant when compared to tobacco related death. The ownership of firearms is protected by the Bill of Rights — and tobacco is not.
Norway in the Summer
Have any of you ever eaten at a Norwegian Restaurant (outside of Norway)? No? There may be a reason for that.
The only compensating factor may be that every Norwegian that I’ve met here in Oslo has apologized for the Nobel committee giving a peace prize to Barack Obama.
Apology accepted. He received the award for being half negro. We all understood that at the time.
No hard feelings. Everyone is entitled to make a few mistakes — and Obama joined the ranks of peace prize luminaries such as the pederast, Desmond Tutu, PLO leader, Yassir Arafat and damned fool, Al Gore.
Oslo is situated at the beginning of the picturesque 100-kilometer Oslo Fjord. Its forty islands, many of which can be reached by ferry, are a great place to relax and travel. Sadly, I’m not here to relax and blog. My schedule is dawn (very early dawn this far north) to dusk (very late dusk this far north) meetings. I am opening a new company here and I will be returning again (and again) as the process moves forward. One of the places I plan to visit at some point during this week is the Viking Ship Museum.
Oslo is ranked as the world’s most expensive city to live in by the Swiss wealth management company UBS AG. The Swiss are correct. It must be.
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Now for the culture portion of this blog — never say that I didn’t bring culture to the on-line presence.
Norwegian Folk Music:
Update;
I went out for a walk but before I left the hotel, I asked the clerk where I might buy a power converter (electric plug). This hotel only has Norwegian plugs…alas, I should have stayed at the Radisson, located next to the US Embassy.
The desk clerk said that every store in Oslo is closed because it’s Sunday. (I don’t speak Norwegian but everyone speaks English)
Ah.
Except, he caveats, there are stores open at the train station, a 15 minute walk from the hotel. He comments that those stores are owned by Muslims, who have no souls. I think it an interesting commentary on social and cultural dynamics. Off I go to the train station.
There are only two food stores open at the train station. Predictably, operated by the soulless Muslims. Neither of them sells electronics. There are electronic stores at the train station but perhaps the Muslims who own them were too lazy to come in to work on Sunday.
Yesterday in downtown Oslo I saw a few EZ-Ups, manned by Muslims who were recruiting, presumably for one of several jihads going on around the world. The missionaries wore Muslim t-shirts. The Norwegians ignored them. Muslims are not popular in Norway. There is a growing movement to toss them out since most are unemployed “illegal aliens” who receive generous benefits from the socialist system at work here. Being an American, I have no room to comment about illegal aliens and screwy government since 20% of all Americans receive food stamps.
Random Friday
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| Julia Ioffe, classless prog harpie |
SCUMBAG NEWSIE
The News media’s war against President Trump, which most Americans ignore, reached a new low:
Julia Ioffe, a now-ex Politico writer is set to join The Atlantic – after Ioffe tweeted regarding Ivanka Trump: “Either Trump is f—ing his daughter or he’s shirking nepotism laws. Which is worse?”
Politico swiftly cut ties with Ioffe, who subsequently deleted the tweet and apologized for the “crass joke.”
It’s interesting that it’s the same corrupt elite media who accuses President Trump of being “classless”.
One of the sacred cows of the news business is the daily White House press briefing. Being tapped to be the White House Correspondent from any of the corrupt media outlets is seen as an honor. However it may well be that when networks put out patently fake news, that they find their press credentials pulled. Seating order in the White House briefing room is another sacred cow…and it’s going to change. (haha)
BY WAY OF FOLLOW-UP
China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC)
The other two developments are related to the CPEC. The first significant public action by General Bajwa, after his appointment and promotion, was his visit to Quetta, Baluchistan.
Quetta, Pakistan is the capital of Baluchistan Province, where a simmering Baluchi separatist movement has had a practice of targeting infrastructure projects. It has been the base of the Taliban’s leadership council since 2001. It also is a key node in the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor and one of the more insecure nodes because of the blend of insurgents, terrorists and drug and smuggling enterprises that operate in, from or through Quetta. A vulnerable leg of the CPEC passes through Baluchistan and terminates at the port of Gwadar.“We are fully cognizant of the challenges to security of CPEC and Gwadar port.” Dawn reported that challenges to Pakistan’s maritime security have traditionally come from India. But Chinese involvement in Gwadar port and the launch of CPEC has complicated the security environment. India sees Gwadar as a foothold for China in the Arabian Sea and as a counter-strategy to threats at Malacca. Therefore, India is alleged to have stepped up its activities in the broader region surrounding Gwadar to undermine the project.”
The common thread in the developments relating to the CPEC and the Port of Gwadar is the closer identification of Pakistani security interests with Chinese security interests. In cooperating with China in the construction of CPEC and Gwadar port, Pakistan has compromised its sovereign control of its own national security. It must protect the huge Chinese investment in CPEC and must listen to Chinese advice as to what is best for Pakistan. What is best for Pakistan from now on is increasingly dictated by what is best for China. That is a new strategic condition that must govern Indian policy towards Pakistan.
THE RUSSIANS ARE COMING
Comey allegedly told Trump that there was only one U.S. intelligence official who was convinced the Russians were behind the hacked emails, and that was CIA Director John Brennan. Comey also added, “And Brennan takes his marching orders from President Obama.”
If Obama stopped suddenly, Brennan would be neck deep in Barack’s ass. Naturally the corrupt elite media doesn’t report that. They have a different agenda, suggesting over and over that President Trump is in Russia’s pocket.
WWM UPDATE
According to sources who were briefed on conversations that FBI Director James Comey had with President-elect Donald Trump, Comey told Trump that there was no credible evidence to suggest that the Russian government played any part in the outcome of the 2016 presidential election, or the hacked emails of the Democratic National Committee and Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s campaign.
Townhall reported late Wednesday that during the same phone conversation, Comey told Trump that National Intelligence Director James Clapper agreed with the FBI’s stance that there was no evidence to suggest Russian influence in the election.
Comey allegedly told Trump that there was only one U.S. intelligence official who was convinced the Russians were behind the hacked emails, and that was CIA Director John Brennan. Comey also added, “And Brennan takes his marching orders from President Obama.”
If Obama stopped suddenly, Brennan would be neck deep in Barack’s ass. Naturally the corrupt elite media doesn’t report that. They have a different agenda, suggesting over and over that President Trump is in Russia’s pocket.
WWM UPDATE
The architect delivered preliminary plans for the White Wolf Mine residence/shack. I wanted to ask him whether he actually looked at my drawings which were more than gentle suggestions on my part. But I’m working with him on refining the plan. Part of the problem with the mindset in the remote area there is that people build weekend get-away cabins. There is a difference between where you are going to spend the weekend and where you are going to live. I told him that I prefer an open concept with space. He understands that but almost doubled the “space” from my drawings/scratchings. Double the space is double the price. As the design moves forward, the price tag naturally increases and managing that makes me sound cheap, but building a hovel (to code) isn’t cheap. I would prefer to pay cash for the place and not have any sort of mortgage/building loan. Since President Trump took office, my business expanded exponentially (Thanks Donald) but there will come a time when I want to become a gentleman of leisure, not a slave to a bank.
Colorado Recall – One Perspective
concentrated mist
a clear jewel on a leaf point
drip
a river begins
a clear jewel on a leaf point
drip
a river begins
The shot heard ’round Colorado (more here). Two plumbers start the movement.
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| The Biden Defense |
Gun control advocates sent a message through Colorado, cheered on by Vice President Joe (Slow Joe) Biden directly, and President Obama — from afar. The message was that politicians could vote for gun control measures without fear of career ending reprisals from their constituents.
Voters responded and removed two Colorado politicians — with more to potentially follow. And while the anti-firearms legislation that the legislature passed is still on the books, the gun control orgy is dead in Colorado and the legislation will quietly go away as the Democratic majorities in the Colorado House and Senate privately consider their careers. Politicians, to be obvious about it, value survival. They’re not inclined to take stands on issues that put them at odds with their constituents, and they don’t like to wade into divisive debates that rile people up but don’t win them votes. And they listen when their colleagues are cast from office by angry voters.
John Morse and Angela Giron are no longer state legislators. They no longer have jobs. They no longer lap from the trough. And that lesson is not lost on the rest of Colorado’s legislators. John Morse, former president of the Colorado State Senate, no longer presides.
There had never been a successful recall vote in the history of Colorado. But that changed when a couple of patriots began a movement.
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| John Morse (no longer a politician – left) and friend |
Some Updates
North Korean Update
Repatriation of Remains
After two days of talks, North Korea agreed to return 50 to 55 sets of remains believed to be those of US soldiers missing from the 1950-53 Korean War — possibly within two weeks, according to media reports.
There was no immediate confirmation from the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) but the reports. However, a US official in Seoul said the remains would be flown out of North Korea on 27 July in what would be the first repatriations since 2007.
Secret Facilities
On 16 July, North Korean media denounced US reports that North Korea built and has been operating a covert uranium enrichment facility for over ten years just outside Pyongyang.
On 13 July, The Diplomat published a detailed analysis, including satellite images, of open source information about a facility known as Kangson.
The Japanese newspaper Yomiuri Shimbun reported on 16 July that during the 6-7 July visit to Pyongyang, the US Secretary of State accused North Korea of operating one or more secret uranium enrichment facilities and of continuing to make ballistic missiles. He made the accusation directly to Kim Yong-chol, who is Chairman Kim Jong Un’s most trusted advisor.
Kim Yong-chol insisted that North Korea has never built or operated a covert uranium enrichment plant or other secret facilities. Yeah…about that.
Accusations of covert facilities by the US Secretary of State would explain the strong denunciation of the Secretary in the statement the North Korean Foreign Ministry issued after his departure.
Construction and operation of secret facilities is a normal business practice for North Korea. The existence of additional secret and/or underground nuclear and missile facilities has been rumored for years. At least one core from the Yongbyon reactor was removed and has never been found in over 30 years. Secret nuclear facilities do exist.
Analysts have known about the Kangson facility for at least ten years, but its function was a mystery. Its function is still not confirmed. Analysts reportedly suspect a third uranium enrichment facility exists but is unlocated.
At this point in negotiations, North Korea has made no commitment to stop producing warheads or missiles. According to The Diplomat, the Defense Intelligence Agency estimated in 2017 that North Korean possesses enough fissile material for at least 60 nuclear weapons, and it can produce fissile material for up to 12 weapons a year.
Kim Jong Un insists he is committed to denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, but he has said nothing about disarmament. His definition of denuclearization of the Peninsula is elaborate and complex.
The 3rd plenary session of the 7th Central Committee on 20 April declared the “realization” of the strategic deterrent is the condition that enabled Kim Jong Un to announce the switch in strategic direction to socialist economic construction. In this strategy, economic development is a function of and is enabled by the strategic deterrent.
The continuing operation of covert facilities suggests that Kim is being duplicitous, and that North Korea is cheating. Those judgments are premature because no agreements have been reached about production of fissile materials or nuclear weapons. Additionally, North Korea has no reason to change its normal security practices or production schedules.
It is reasonably clear that Kim now is pushing socialist economic construction, as directed by the Central Committee in April. In the terms of the 20 April Central Committee plenum resolutions, that pursuit requires that the strategic weapons programs remain active and healthy.
The revelations of secret facilities confirm that denuclearization of the Peninsula will take a long time and will be extremely complex. The planning cycle for socialist economic construction is five years. That seems to be a measuring time for denuclearization talks.
Problems in Gaza
On 15 July, Israel announced that it was closing the Gaza Strip’s Kerem Shalom border crossing to all fuel and gasoline imports. Food, medicine and other humanitarian supplies would continue to be permitted through the crossing on a case-by-case basis.“Due to continuing attempts by Hamas to carry out terrorist attacks, Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman, after consultation with the Israel Defense Force (IDF) chief of staff, decided to halt the transfer of gasoline via Kerem Shalom until next Sunday,” read a statement released by the Defense Ministry.
Israel also decided to reduce the Gaza fishing zone from six to just three nautical miles.
Israel tightened restrictions on the Gaza Strip because Palestinians continue to send balloons and kites with incendiaries into southern Israel.
Gazans already experience a shortage of electricity because of technical and financial problems. Residents, businesses and medical facilities rely on diesel fuel to run generators for electricity. The local UN officials estimate that emergency fuel supplies will run out in a week.
The Israeli government has given Hamas until Friday, 20 July, to stop the flaming kite and balloon attacks on Israeli territory.
The Israeli leadership has reportedly instructed the country’s military forces to prepare to invade the Gaza Strip if the flaming kite attacks don’t cease by this week, according to a report cited by The Times of Israel.
Israel sent the message directly to Hamas via Egyptian intelligence services. The report also says Hamas responded by saying its forces will work to stop the rogue attacks by Friday.
On Sunday, the 15th, the Israeli 162nd Armored Division launched a military exercise simulating an attack on the Gaza Strip and the capture of Gaza City. The IDF claimed the exercise had been planned in advance and was not related to current events.
Another Gaza war campaign does not seem imminent, but a show of force is clearly in preparation. Israel has many options short of a full-scale invasion.
The cut off of fuel might stop the incendiary attacks because Egypt also closed the Rafah border crossing into Egypt. The Egyptians closed the crossing for technical reasons, they said. Egypt brokered the three-day ceasefire last weekend and is working with all parties to avoid further escalation.
Pablo and Politics (a sermonette)
Welcome to the Sunday polemic:
The Netflix Series, NARCOS is now in its second season. It retells the life and times of Pablo Escobar, who built an empire on the drug trade. I give the series a solid 7 out of a possible 10. That means that I didn’t binge watch it, but I still watched it and found it entertaining.
There are lessons that we can learn from both Pablo and from all “bad guys” (which would include people like Hillary Clinton and her coterie of freaks and misfits) who consider themselves “anointed”.
1. They use all of the tools at their disposal.
2. They work to gain information on their opponent’s weaknesses and take efforts to exploit them for their own gain. Where some would halt or falter in destroying people, they not only do it, but they derive a great deal of satisfaction from doing it.
3. Money and power (as with cocaine) highjacks the pleasure centers of the brain. A rat will chose cocaine over food and water, it will choose cocaine over sleep, over sex, over life itself. The human brain don’t work quite the same as that of a rodent. Unless we talking cocaine, power or money.
4. If you know where a spouse works, where kids go to school or where their parents/siblings live, you can bend people to your will. Unless they are very strong willed. They have the choice to take the king’s shilling or face the consequences. History indicates that most people take the money and keep their mouths shut. With money and coercion you can buy prosecutors, judges, members of the legislature and do whatever you want to. When you own the US Justice Department as Hillary Clinton clearly did in 2016, she was automatically immunized against prosecution. Ask Seth Rich — Oh, sorry, you can’t without a gypsy crone, wearing a turban and gazing into a crystal ball, because he has a mouth full of dirt.
To round out your reading if you want to be an evil, manipulative politician or a drug lord who wants to go into politics as Pablo did, I recommend Alinsky’s Rules for Radicals as your Bible. Maybe it’s also useful to read Sun Tzu’s “Art of War” and Machievelli’s “The Prince”.
And before you leave, thinking that I am comparing the Clinton Global Initiative, and Hillary Clinton herself to Colombian drug kingpin Pablo Escobar, any similarity is only coincidental. I don’t think that Hillary speaks Spanish.
Das dicke ende kommt noch!
The worst is yet to come.
If America wishes to embrace the savages, then we need to expect the sort of behavior that is emblematic of any population that has a significant Muslim population. Pressure cooker bombs, stabbings, shootings, etc.
Normally I’m not a glass-half-empty sort of person, but are there any among us that think that the Muslim with the butcher knife who cut up 8 people in Minnesota, shouting “Allah akbar” (if you’re a prog, you will contend that he was saying “aloha snackbar” and it wasn’t an attack on religious grounds), is not emblematic of the problems that everyone on the planet has with the religion of peace?
Charles Martel (718-741AD) had the same problem. It hasn’t changed. The only solution that works was the solution that Martel settled on. It’s what the Russians have done. Have you heard of the problem of Muslim unrest in Chechnya lately? NO? Really? Has the mainstream media covered it for you? NO? I’m shocked.
No, I’m not really shocked, they simply removed the Chechens living there and resettled the place with Russians (Russian Orthodox Church) and the problems ended. No more bombings in Chechnya, no more stabbings or shootings, because there are no more Muslims living there. Barack and friends constantly point to places like Norway as models, but the Norwegians deported most of the Muslims living there. There are a few vetted Muslims remaining but Section E-14 has been re-established quietly to keep an eye on them and their friends outside Norway, working closely with Polities sikkerhetstjeneste, the Norwegian Security Police (secret police) Security Service. The reason is clear. As a group, Muslims, tend to pose a threat to national peace and tranquility wherever they show up.
If America wishes to embrace the savages, then we need to expect the sort of behavior that is emblematic of any population that has a significant Muslim population. Pressure cooker bombs, stabbings, shootings, etc.
The Norwegian model for deporting Muslims who show any sign of radical disposition works. The progs in America wouldn’t stand for it — until somebody they love is slaughtered by the barbarians. Then it changes.
The Problem IN America (Part 1)
Fredd (fellow blogger) posited a question on what has changed in America that has caused our political system to produce curs like Barack Hussein Obama and Hillary, who rise to the top of the pond (like scum). I’ll pick up that gauntlet and throw my cracker in the soup.
Hang with the rant for a moment.
I was raised in “reduced circumstances” and was forced to work for whatever I wanted or needed. Most progressives don’t emerge from backgrounds that require labor to survive. Those are the fetid breeding grounds of self-reliant conservatives. Thus it is with some skepticism that progressives consider my point of view to be valid. Though I am educated, I was not educated under any of the ‘right’ circumstances and never joined the Skull and Bones fraternity. There is no “old school tie” around my neck. To compound that, I served in the military, wore a badge and also dabbled in the dark arts. Therefore, my credentials to have an opinion are tainted. Having established that, and having warned you, we will forge on.
A small but highly influential ideological group of, educated, generally well-off, and embedded in academia, the media, government, and non-profit organizations work throughout the United States for ‘social justice’. They continually agitate for larger and more intrusive government which would employ more of their kind, the better to regulate away all imperfect thought and behavior. Business and profit-making enterprise is viewed as suspect because it is partly beyond their political control, so efforts to take control of decisions inside businesses continue, and the expanding HR departments, lobbyist payments, and political contributions of businesses reflect the need to pay for protection against this bureaucratic tendency.
Similarly, establishments such as hospitals and schools have responded to the increasing regulation and government funding of their activities by hiring more highly paid administrators while shorting the low-level staff that actually do the work, because they must do so to get along in an increasingly bureaucratized, legalized, and centrally-controlled environment. This employment of large numbers of high-paid staff that don’t directly produce anything of value for customers has greatly increased the cost of domestic services like healthcare and education, and the drag on the American economy has brought economic growth to a halt in many places.
By choosing to notice only the bad things that happen to women in our own time as well as other cultures and times, modern feminists have failed to work for truly equal treatment of men and women. Instead of seeing individuals and their rights as important, Social Justice Warriors believe that only a relentless focus on oppression of some categories of individuals by others is the key to righteousness, and their collectivist view of group rights leaves little space for sympathy for anyone who cannot claim membership in an oppressed class. They believe as a religious cult would believe that if only they explain their beliefs hard enough to the unenlightened, the scales will fall from their eyes and goodness will triumph. No amount of victory in achieving their goals would ever be enough for them to end their battles, since new groups of the wicked can always be identified to battle against; the battle itself nourishes their egos and so it must continue.
Institutions of higher learning teach that it is no longer enough that “victim” classes be treated equally by government and in employment and public accommodations — theirs is now a push for equal outcomes to overcome private rights of association and contract, so women or men who desire to work less or take out more time for family would not be allowed to bargain for those conditions of employment by asking for less pay for less work. Implicitly all employees with the same job title and duties must be paid the same regardless of their individual contributions or their own desires for a lesser degree of commitment to the business.
Equal opportunity does not imply there should be equal outcomes, because diversity of interests and abilities between individuals and the sexes means there will be unequal interest in career options that require 60 hours a week of work, intense focus on mechanical problems, manual labor, or hazardous conditions. Similarly, you will not get or expect equal interest in the highly social, helping professions that, on average, women appear to prefer.
Efforts to force equal employment in every company by race, sex, age, or other class doom companies that must compete with companies (outside the USA) that are not so constrained. For example, Rev. Jesse Jackson has called for Federal pressure on high tech firms to require equal employment outcomes in tech jobs. When you talk to a Social Justice Warrior about this, you get an answer remarkably similar to what socialists said in the 1970s when you asked how any country could level outcomes (“to each according to his need”) without the productive escaping to another country to achieve what they could without the shackles: “Well, that’s why they had to build the Berlin Wall.” To stop the defection of those who want to be free to follow their own preferences, this preferred system must be extended everywhere or somehow escape must be controlled and punished by, say, walls, machine guns, and Gulags.
Part Two of this post will be available on this blog later today.
Stay on the Nice List
You better not shout, you’d better not cry, you’d better not pout and I’m telling you why – the naughty list is real. In some circles, it’s referred to as a terrorism watch list.
Peace through superior firepower this holiday season. It’s not just a job, it’s an adventure. (Cry, Havoc!)
And there’s nothing politically correct about this blog. Shrink the size of government, build the wall, lock Her up, make America great again.
There is likely to be slow blogging as the result of travel for work to try and create more peace on Earth. Hang in there. Things will get back to normal on Virtual Mirage.
Meanwhile, if you see a young lady wearing suggestive clothing standing on a street corner, it’s not polite to call out “Ho-Ho-Ho!” no matter how factually accurate it is.
Try to remember that conspicuous consumption may help the economy, but it’s not the reason for the season.
Obama – Government Investigations
The government has scant capability to investigate itself. There are examples when it has done well, but usually that is because an outside authority, such as Congress, screams for answers. The FBI’s cover up at Ruby Ridge, successfully investigated by the US Postal Investigation Service after the first two FBI OPR investigations were ‘compromised internally’ is one example.
Expecting the Obama Administration to investigate the rampant misconduct of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) scandal is laughable. ACORN was a conduit for laundered campaign contributions, it was an action arm of the radical left (now in power in Washington) and the “street team” to effect hope and change. That is was populated by a coterie of thugs, pimps, petty narcotics users and traffickers and tax cheats was the absolutely smallest thing. That uncounted millions of dollars vanished or were conveniently redirected is something that Barack Hussein Obama, attorney for ACORN in Chicago does not want to come out. So it’s locked as tight as his college transcripts (where he listed his religion as “Muslim”).
Since both houses of Congress are led by Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid, respectively, expect no help from that quarter. Federal Law Enforcement, as with the military and the rest of the executive branch of government answers directly to Barack Hussein Obama. He could appoint an investigation czar, but why even bring it up? Better to let it all die down and better to allow the public’s attention to be drawn elsewhere. The US voter has a demonstrably short attention span. Most couldn’t pick out New York on a US map or Iraq on a map of the world.
The evidence will conveniently be lost or will fade away. Witnesses will be intimidated or rewarded for their silence. ACORN? What problem? Videos of them aiding and abetting the sexual slavery of children? Entrapment! Stolen housing funds? Racist!
Its a good case for having some opposition from at least one house of Congress in any administration. An investigation, fact finding, lifting up rocks and shining a light under them is never bad for the country. If Clinton controlled both houses of Congress there would have been no Whitewater Investigation. No problems with a blue dress (what blue dress?). If Nixon controlled both houses of Congress the Watergate matter would have been crushed as thoroughly as Vince Foster’s skull (oh, that was Clinton wasn’t it?).
Thinking on the Economy and Obamacare
Congress is in a push-pull battle to kill ObamaCare, President Obama’s landmark legislation and the one thing that his administration will be known for. I don’t think that the House of Representatives will be successful by using the threat of government shut down with the Continuing Resolution.
However I do suspect that the people whose hours have been cut, rates have gone up and access to actual healthcare have been vastly reduced due to this ObamaNation may vote for their very survival in 2014 and that could put the final spike in the coffin of ObamaCare. READ THIS (One Man’s ObamaCare Nightmare)
(IBD) In Virginia, a low-income 25-year-old will pay $127 a month for the cheapest plan after subsidies, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. But the Government Accountability Office found that the mid-priced plan in Virginia today costs just $112 a month.
And as the New York Times discovered, even these ObamaCare prices are misleading, since the only way insurance companies could keep them low was by severely restricting their networks of doctors and hospitals.
It notes that a PriceWaterhouseCoopers study found “insurers passed over major medical centers” in many states to keep premiums down.
Those buying a Blue Cross plan in California’s exchange will have access to 47% fewer doctors and 22% fewer hospitals than subscribers can get today, the Times reports
Meanwhile the mainstream media continues to trumpet the Democratic Party line (mostly lies) and Fox News ratings climb as people turn from the propaganda machine to an effort at fair and balaned.
As to the matter of the US Economy? 20% of it is devoted to healthcare. The Obama White House could screw up just about anything – and they’ve demonstrated remarkable aptitude to select the wrong thing every time they’ve had a choice. I suspect that it will take another 3.5 years (providing that the American people don’t make another horrible choice) to see real measures taken to fix the economy and undo what Obama did.
(Fox News) 7 out of 10 voters are concerned about their personal health care under the Affordable Care Act and a majority wants to take the health care system back to 2009, according to the latest Fox News national poll.The poll, released Tuesday, finds that 68 percent of voters are concerned about their health care under the new system. That includes 43 percent “very” concerned and another 25 percent “somewhat” concerned.The number feeling concerned is more than twice that of those who are unworried (31 percent).Even a 56-percent majority of Democrats feels concerned (31 percent “very” concerned). By comparison, 72 percent of independents and 77 percent of Republicans feel that way.
Fishwrap Friday
All the news that’s fit to print:
TSA is hugely expensive, creates long lines and the question that has lingered with me personally is whether its people do any good – other than giving the vague perception of security to the generally ignorant masses. The question was answered this week.
TSA
TSA is hugely expensive, creates long lines and the question that has lingered with me personally is whether its people do any good – other than giving the vague perception of security to the generally ignorant masses. The question was answered this week.
The Obama regime axed its acting Transportation Security Administration chief. His removal follows news that TSA checkpoint screeners failed to detect mock bombs and guns in 95% of tests carried out by so-called Red Team agents.
The outrageously high failure rate was discovered at dozens of the nation’s busiest airports. Screeners failed a whopping 67 out of 70 tests, with agents repeatedly managing to sneak through potential weapons.
The “new normal“
I’m begging a few of you male readers of this blog who would be hideous looking women not to take the plunge…even if you do get to be lesbians, and part of a protected class…and get your picture on the cover of Vanity Fair.
Texas Law Enforcement Wisdom
Texas DPS/Highway Patrol officer pulled up next to a guy unloading garbage out of his pick-up into a ditch. The officer asked, “Why are you dumping garbage in the ditch? Don’t you see that sign right over your head.”
“Yep,” he replied. “That’s why I’m dumpin’ it here, ‘cause it says: ‘Fine For Dumping Garbage.’”
The same officer pulled over a pickup on I-35 about an hour later.
The trooper asked, “Got any ID?”
The driver replied, “Bout whut?”
The officer rolled into the station at the end of watch and was standing outside of the Captain’s office door. The captain was working on the budget. He called his attractive secretary in and the officer overheard the conversation. The captain said, “Y’all graduated from Baylor and I need some help. If I wuz to give yew $20,000, minus 14%, how much would you take off?”
The secretary thought a moment and then replied, “Everthang but my earrings.”
The Stopped Clock (right twice daily)
This is shameless theft, but I thought that Andrew Price did a good job summarizing the party of the Ass/Donkey. Thus, I lifted his entire blog post and am re-posting it here for your reference.
Some thoughts on Democrats
Liars and Hypocrites: Most people think the worst of their opponents in politics. If you step back and examine things honestly however, you generally discover this isn’t true. Heck, even the evil Soviets weren’t as bad as people imagined. With the Democrats, however, it is true. Their party is a wretched hive of scum, villainy, hate and treachery. Think about their recent behavior:
● Despite the actual impossibility of it being true, the Democrats are whining that the Russians hacked the election so they can de-legitimize the results. Think about that. They are actively trying to destroy the public’s faith in the electoral system because they think it will benefit them.
● They lie as a reflex to aggrandize themselves and demonize their opponents. Harry Reid lies so easily that I’m not sure he understands the difference between truth and lies. Pelosi lies automatically. And the rest are no better. Then there are the media who make lies and bias into an art form.
● They scaremonger blacks with the idea that whites are trying to kill them or put them into slavery. Look at the cop killings they’ve caused.
● They scaremonger young women with the idea that some old religious dude is going to control their sex lives and with lies about them being cheated in the economy.
● They scaremonger Hispanics with the idea that they will be deported.
● They scaremonger Muslims with the idea that they will be rounded up. That wannabe terrorist in Ohio was acting because he believed them.
● They scaremonger gays with the idea that everyone else wants to criminalize who they are.
● They exploit their “the end is near” environmentalism to push leftist ideology rather than actual solutions, all the while telling kids the world is dying. They won’t even change their own behavior. Do you think they believe this?
● They endanger national security to undermine GOP administrations time and again, consorting with the enemy, trying to harm American defense, smearing soldiers, lending aid and comfort to terrorists and murderous regimes.
● They exploit all tragedies for fundraising.
● And ironically, Wikileaks showed us their leaders don’t even believe the crap they tell their drones.
Not Easy Getting The Green: The Green Party’s™ Jill Stein dropped her PA recount and thereby confirmed that she really took leftists for a ride. She just earned about $6 million she never would have had by starting a fight she knew could not be won and then stopped once she had her money. Poor Hillary got a black eye joining her effort. Beautiful!
**The Green Party is a registered trademark of the Democratic Party.
So, So Wrong: As an aside, here are some of the things the Democrats have been wrong about during my life.
● Jimmy Carter will be our best president ever… he’s so smart. (stagflation)
● There will be massive starvation if populations keep increasing past 4 billion. (7 billion strong and fat as hell)
● We are on the verge of a global ice age!! Global warming will kill us all!
● Cities will flood because of global warming. (water level steady)
● There will be super hurricanes all the time. (lowest number in decades)
● Oil production has peaked and we will be out of oil in the next decade… repeat every decade.
● Ronald Reagan will be our worst President. (highest approval ratings, even liberals now claim they liked him)
● Ronald Reagan will start World War III. (ended risk of WWIII)
● Putting short range nuclear missiles in Europe will cause nuclear war!
● MAD is crazy and will kill us all (today: MAD kept us safe!)
● Reaganomics will not work. (4%+ growth)
● The Soviet Union is strong and unified and will never break. Their economy is too strong.
● You can’t shoot down a missile.
● SDI will start a nuclear war.
● The Nicaraguan people love the Sandinistas. They’ll vote them in in a landslide.
● We will lose if we invade Iraq and 60,000 American soldiers will die.
● Obama will be our greatest president ever… he’s so smart.
● The public will accept Obamacare once we pass it.
● We can win without stupid white people. (worst showing since the Roaring 20’s)
What kind of fool would trust these people to decide anything?