Wednesday, November 9, 2016

David Stockman: "The Jig Is Up: America’s Voters Just Fired Their Ruling Elites" | Zero Hedge

From the article: 
America's voters fired their ruling elites last night. After 30 years of arrogant misrule and wantonly planting the seeds of economic and financial ruin throughout Flyover America, the Wall Street/Washington establishment and its mainstream media tools have been repudiated like never before in modern history.

This is the good news.  Then comes somes seriously bad news.

For months and years to come, the Imperial City will be ungovernable and the nation will be racked with fiscal, financial, political and even constitutional crisis. By kicking the can in a ruinous direction for decades, America implicitly opted eventually for the bleeding cure.
To wit, the giant stock market bubble will now crash. The stock-price obsessed C-suites of corporate America will now panic and begin pitching inventory and workers overboard. We will be in an official recession within 6 months. The Federal budget will plunge back into trillion dollar annual deficits very soon.
Accordingly, Washington will descend into permanent warfare over the debt ceiling and an exploding $20 trillion+ public debt. Any notion of a Trump economic revival program—-even if it could now be confected—will be stillborn in the financial and fiscal chaos ahead.
And most important of all, the almighty Fed will be stranded high and dry—-out of dry powder and under political attack like never before from angry politicians and citizens alike.
The jig is up.

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-11-09/david-stockman-jig-america%E2%80%99s-voters-just-fired-their-ruling-elites?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+zerohedge%2Ffeed+%28zero+hedge+-+on+a+long+enough+timeline%2C+the+survival+rate+for+everyone+drops+to+zero%29

Some have tried, for years, to point out we can't exist indefinitely in a deficit state.  Eventually it will not be able to be sustained.  Stockman says we are there.  Facing the truth is the good news.  The truth is difficult is the bad news.



Artificial Intelligence MogIA Predicts Fourth Election in Row with Trump Win - Breitbart

From the article: 
MogIA, an artificial intelligence system and election predictor, has successfully predicted its fourth election in a row.
The system, which learns in real-time by examining data on the internet, placed its bets on Donald Trump to win the 2016 US Presidential Election in October after also successfully predicting both the Democratic and Republican party primaries.


 
http://www.breitbart.com/tech/2016/11/09/artificial-intelligence-mogia-predicts-fourth-election-in-row-with-trump-win/

Don't need "no stinkin polls".  Maybe we don't even need to vote if this AI can already measure our behavior.  That's all that voting is, formally recording our choice as exhibited by our behavior.

Monday, November 7, 2016

Losers go to jail - Marginal REVOLUTION

From the article: 
The results show that US politicians manipulate the justice system to maintain power.
 



http://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2016/11/losers-go-jail.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+marginalrevolution%2Ffeed+%28Marginal+Revolution%29

What do you think?  Is the justice system compromised?


Sunday, November 6, 2016

America's Ruling Elite Has Failed and Deserves to Be Fired

From the article: 
The sole output of America's Establishment/Ruling Elite is self-serving hubris.
America's Ruling Elite is freaking out because a significant percentage of the American public is trying to fire them. The Ruling Elite has failed and deserves to be fired, and deep down, they know it--and this awareness of their self-serving failure fuels their panic and their loathing of the non-elite Americans who are trying to fire them.
 
https://charleshughsmith.blogspot.com/2016/11/americas-ruling-elite-has-failed-and.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+google%2FRzFQ+%28oftwominds%29

Putin: “A society that can’t defend its children has no tomorrow” | The Geller Report

From the article: 
Whatever you may think of Putin, he is right about this. "In a European country, a child is raped by a migrant, and the court releases him. It doesn't fit into my head what on earth they're thinking over there. I can't even explain the rationale – is it a sense of guilt before the migrants? What's going on? It's not clear….A society that cannot defend its children has no future."
He is absolutely right, and what is appalling is that he is one of the only world leaders saying it, if not the only one. That's a stunning indictment of the leadership we have today.
 
http://pamelageller.com/2016/11/putin-a-society-that-cant-defend-its-children-has-no-tomorrow.html/

Friday, November 4, 2016

Bigger than Hillary Clinton: The Establishment Cesspool of Dishonesty and Corruption | Gingrich Productions

From the article: 
If you are as surprised as I am at the depth of dishonesty and corruption that has been revealed in this campaign, then you will understand why I am writing this particular column the weekend before the election.
Americans are faced with a crisis of dishonesty and corruption vastly bigger and deeper than Secretary Hillary Clinton. Defeating her is necessary if we hope to clean up our dishonest and corrupt capitol city, but in many ways Hillary is merely the most prominent face in an entire network of dishonest people.
I have been actively involved in politics and government since August of 1958.
In all those years, nothing prepared me for the avalanche of blatant corruption and dishonesty that has been exposed and detailed during this campaign.
The dishonesty infects the news media, the Justice Department, the IRS, the Veterans Administration, the State Department, and the White House, among others.
 
http://www.gingrichproductions.com/2016/11/bigger-than-hillary-clinton-the-establishment-cesspool-of-dishonesty-and-corruption/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=bigger-than-hillary-clinton-the-establishment-cesspool-of-dishonesty-and-corruption

What a mess we have become.  

Chicago Boyz » Blog Archive » The Inner Ring

From the article. 
But you will be a scoundrel.
 
http://chicagoboyz.net/archives/54168.html

Reminds me a bit of the honor code and the need to be rigorously honest.  Sadly, it seems some are moving away from those ideas.  This is what happens when we lose sight of "help me choose the harder right rather than the easier wrong".  

Sunday, September 25, 2016

Statesmanship: Obama versus Bibi | Power Line

From an article by Walter Russell Mead" 
The reason that Bibi has been more successful than Obama is that Bibi understands how the world works better than Obama does. Bibi believes that in the harsh world of international politics, power wisely used matters more than good intentions eloquently phrased.
 
http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2016/09/statesmanship-obama-versus-bibi.php

This is Scott Johnson of Powerline Blog, commenting on Walter Russell Mead's article.  It is Mead's comments that are key here.  Johnson describes Mead - "Mead is an acute student of American foreign policy and international affairs."  Mead notes that Obama fails to deal with reality.  He calls him an "aspiring realist".  Mead also points out that intentions alone are of little importance.  

This article is about a comparison of Netanyahu and Obama but I'd like to add this bit.  Why would I want to vote for Hillary, who will only continue, or perhaps worsen, Obama's failed foreign policies?  

Thursday, September 22, 2016

Benjamin Netanyahu invites Abbas to speak at Knesset in UN speech - Israel News - Jerusalem Post

From the article: 
"The road to peace runs through Jerusalem and Ramallah, not New York," Netanyahu said.
In reiterating his persistent call for direct negotiations with the Palestinians, Netanyahu rejected any possible United Nations plan to unilaterally impose a solution to the conflict.
"We will not accept any attempt by the UN to dictate terms to Israel," Netanyahu said.
"I call on President Abbas: you have a choice to make. You can continue to stoke hatred as you did today or you can finally confront hatred and work with me to establish peace between our two peoples."
Netanyahu began his UN address by slamming the international body for consistently condemning Israel, calling it "a disgrace" and "a moral farce." He also called the UN Human Rights Council a "joke" and UNESCO a "circus."
"The sooner the UN's obsession with Israel ends, the better.
The better for Israel, the better for your countries, the better for the UN itself," he said.
 
http://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Benjamin-Netanyahu/Netanyahu-We-wont-accept-any-attempt-by-UN-to-dictate-terms-to-Israel-468464

Bibi Netanyahu, one of the great world leaders of modern times, preaches the word to the UN.

Thursday, August 25, 2016

The Post-Heroic Age | PJ Media

From the article: 
In terms of the movie, "A Few Good Men" it is as if Obama in the role of lawyer Daniel Kaffee convicts Colonel Nathan Jessup but lets him out him at night to continue to guard the wall, paroled on condition that he never remind the world again of his existence. Maybe we can't handle the truth. The administration's great achievement was to add: "and we don't want to"
 
https://pjmedia.com/richardfernandez/2016/08/25/the-post-heroic-age/2/

Post heroic?  Unable to defend?  Feminized?  Can't handle the truth?

Thursday, August 18, 2016

ARRA News Service: $6.5 Trillion Missing From Defense Department

https://arkansasgopwing.blogspot.com/2016/08/65-trillion-missing-from-defense.html

What do you think?  Is this some kind of accounting snafu or have we really pissed away that much money?  The article goes on to talk about government in general and uses the Obamacare debacle as an example, but what about Defense.  Is is really that effed up?

How do I even know the IG is competent and should I beleive this article?

Good gracious, where does one start?


Thursday, August 11, 2016

Hillary, Trump, and War with Russia: The Goddamdest Stupid Idea I Have Ever Heard, and I Have Lived in Washington | Fred On Everything

From the article" 
Letting dilettantes, grifters, con men, pasty Neocons, bottle-blonde ruins, and corporations decide on war is insane. We have pseudo-masculine dwarves playing with things they do not understand. So far as I am aware, none of these fern-bar Clausewitzes has worn boots, been in a war, seen a war, or faces any chance of being in a war started by themselves. They brought us Iraq, Afghanistan, and Isis, and can't win wars against goatherds with AKs. They are going to fight…Russia?

http://fredoneverything.org/hillary-trump-and-war-with-russia-the-goddamdest-stupid-idea-i-have-ever-heard-and-i-have-lived-in-washington/

Fred Reed is at it again.  Fascinating stuff here.

Saturday, August 6, 2016

Bizarre behavior by Hillary Clinton

http://conservative-headlines.com/2016/08/bizarre-behavior-by-hillary-clinton/

Anyone know much about this?  Is this random behavior or is something really going on?  Any doctors here know about this?  Anyone have experience with brain injuries or side effects?

Atlas, The Next Generation - YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/embed/rVlhMGQgDkY?rel=0

Passed on from John Bantasolas.

Future soldiers?  They don't get cold or tired.  Don't need food. I suppose they do need new batteries.

Monday, July 18, 2016

Your Life is Yours, by Robert Gore | STRAIGHT LINE LOGIC

History's greatest heist, swindle, and travesty has been the never-ending effort to convince those who produce that they owe something to those who don't. Slavery can be imposed by force, but it's not especially productive. Convince producers that their lives are yours, and you get the production without the whips and chains. That has been the philosopher's stone for every half-baked collectivist, redistributionist, populist, authoritarian, totalitarian pipe dreamer who ever became or wanted to become a "leader," and their motley cohorts.
 
https://straightlinelogic.com/2016/07/18/your-life-is-yours-by-robert-gore/

This is a very good article.  Pretty much sums up the argument for the free market.

Wednesday, July 13, 2016

This Map Shows the Average Income of the Top 1% by Location

http://www.visualcapitalist.com/map-shows-average-income-top-1-percent-location/

Interesting map.  Anyone know much about this?  I was surprised a bit by the strength of the midwest.  From Texas all the way to North Dakota.  Texas has oil but what supports the rest of the midwest?  The left and right seaboard concentrations are not surprising.  Most of them are the major urban, metropolises.  Fairfax County,Va, right outside Washington DC, was not in the top ten.  I thought it would be.  Lots of money in South Fla.  Retirement money?  But, that's not income.  What do you think?

Saturday, July 9, 2016

Ruling class redefinitions no more equal protection

From the article: 
The ruling class's component groups jointly dismiss America's traditional liberties because they aim to replace them with their own primacy. Having seized the power to redefine liberty, our rulers tighten their definitions around their opponents' necks like nooses. Since their desire for primacy has no limit, they can't stop tightening. The norms that they demand that we honor help sustain each constituency by letting its members feel good about themselves while looking down on others. Their "dignitary interests" (to use Justice Kennedy's term for who must be honored vs. those who must submit to being vilified) simply trump those of others. This is why the ruling class demonizes any questioning of its demands' substance by imposing modern equivalents of the slave-era "gag rule." They wage identity politics as war.
 
http://www.nationalreview.com/article/420743/standing-ruling-class-angelo-m-codevilla

This is a bit long but really good stuff.  Codevilla nails it.  Notice, he does not talk about Left and Right, or Democrat and Republican.  He talks about the "ruling class".  

Friday, July 8, 2016

Obama should stop smearing cops by calling them racist | New York Post

From the article: 
Hours before the murders of five police officers in Dallas, Texas, President Obama was again spouting false claims about racism by the police. He sees racism whenever there is any disparity in outcomes, no matter what the cause.
Obama and others inflame passions, but take no responsibility, and instead use events to push for more gun control. Yet, shouting racism can endanger the lives of police officers. The Dallas police chief tells us one of the shooters "wanted to kill white people, especially white officers."

Inflammatory, false claims about police racism not only endanger the lives of police officers, they can also lead to higher crime rates — especially in heavily black areas. If Obama really cares about poor blacks, he should be more careful getting his facts right.
 
https://nypost.com/2016/07/08/obama-should-stop-smearing-cops-by-calling-them-racist/


The thought that keeps rolling through my head today - Are we starting to unravel?

Thursday, July 7, 2016

ARRA News Service: Bill Gates And Other Billionaires Backing A Nuclear Renaissance

From the article: 
"While it may be theoretically possible to stabilize the climate without nuclear power, in the real world there is no credible path to climate stabilization that does not include a substantial role for nuclear power."
 
https://arkansasgopwing.blogspot.com/2016/07/bill-gates-and-other-billionaires.html

Why is it, this reality can't seem to gain traction.  We continue to denigrate nuclear power because we are old to be afraid of it yet "the fact that the statistical probability of serious accidents is pretty low. They focus on the "What if?" and neglect the other side of the coin. But let's try to see both sides of the issue."  The Navy has been successfully using nuclear power for many years.  

Saturday, July 2, 2016

Elie Wiesel, Auschwitz Survivor and Nobel Peace Prize Winner, Dies at 87 - The New York Times

But by the sheer force of his personality and his gift for the haunting phrase, Mr. Wiesel, who had been liberated from Buchenwald as a 16-year-old with the indelible tattoo A-7713 on his arm, gradually exhumed the Holocaust from the burial ground of the history books.
It was this speaking out against forgetfulness and violence that the Nobel committee recognized when it awarded him the peace prize in 1986.
"Wiesel is a messenger to mankind," the Nobel citation said. "His message is one of peace, atonement and human dignity. His belief that the forces fighting evil in the world can be victorious is a hard-won belief."

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/03/world/europe/elie-wiesel-auschwitz-survivor-and-nobel-peace-prize-winner-dies-at-87.html?smid=pl-share

An extraordinary man has died.  Where do we get men like this?  To survive such horror and then to teach and live such good lives.  I am also reminded of Viktor Frankl.  Another Jew who survived the camps.  RIP Elie Wiesel.

Wednesday, June 22, 2016

About Press Neutrality

This comment is from Walid Phares in Facebook.  You may not be able to see it if you don't have a Facebook account. 
Yahoo "endorses" Clinton...
It has become clear that the supposed to be impartial search engine Yahoo has gone out of its way to back a Clinton in the online battle against Trump. Many users of Yahoo, of all ages, have mathematically established that the cyber giant has shifted to Clinton in its selection of articles and their ranking. Teenagers have realized this reality. A while ago it was detected that Yahoo has been a backer of the Iran deal. Yahoo denies any endorsement but its New York Times like gaming is too clear to see it otherwise. Neutrality has collapsed.
https://www.facebook.com/WalidPhares/?fref=nf

I think this comment about press neutrality is key.  

This article describes my understanding: 
For a society to be responsible and powerful, it must be informed. Our free press, protected by the first constitutional amendment, plays a critical role in ensuring that every American has constant access to important and trustworthy news.
Thomas Jefferson said, "Were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter. But I should mean that every man should receive those papers and be capable of reading them."
As he emphasized, this free flow of information to the public is essential to preserving our American democracy. In addition to educating and reporting, the press serves as the public's independent watchdog, charged with keeping governments, businesses and other organizations in check.
 

Has neutrality collapsed?  Does the public have access to trustworthy news?  

Does today's media serve as an independent watchdog to keep government in check?  I don't think so.

Wednesday, June 15, 2016

Happy Magna Carta Day | Competitive Enterprise Institute

From the article: 
801 years ago today in a peaceful meadow in England occurred the first act of the American Revolution. There was no America at the time, but in the issuing of Magna Carta we can trace the beginnings of the great experiment that became America. The monarch of England became bound by the rule of law, and as the Texan Congressman and jurist Hatton Sumners put it, "There is a straight road which runs from Runnymede to Philadelphia."
 
https://cei.org/blog/happy-magna-carta-day

When I visited DC this summer I was looking at our itinerary and it listed the National Archives.  I didn't grasp why we would go there.  To my great surprise and pleasure, it contained these extraordinary documents.

The original Constitution.
The original Bill of Rights.
The original Declaration of Independence.

And this last one that surprised me, since it is not an American document, but really is the basis of it all.
One of several approved, original copies of the Magna Carta.

A very memorable visit.

Saturday, June 11, 2016

In Montesquieu, a Historian Blended With a Political Philosopher - WSJ

From the article: 
The gradual but sure debilitation of Roman character ended in the reduction and ultimate defeat of Roman power. Difficult to read Montesquieu on Rome without thinking of the U.S. in our time, as when, for one example among many, he writes that "more states have perished by the violation of their moral customs than by the violation of their laws."

http://www.wsj.com/articles/in-montesquieu-a-historian-blended-with-a-political-philosopher-1465578784

This article is recommended by our classmate Bill Mann.  I wonder if it tells us anything about how we are behaving today?  Hmmmmmmmmmmmm.

Friday, June 10, 2016

Euro 2016 and terror attack threats: What you need to know about the security plans

http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/euro-2016-terror-attack-threats-what-you-need-know-about-security-plans-1564160

What is happening here - really?  This is the real asymmetrical war.  They have altered our way of life.  They cause us to live in fear.  They cause us to expend limited resources.  They run our lives and change the world we live in and we delude ourselves by saying we are "winning the war on terror".  Not hardly.  This specific event is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the amount of money our economies pour into "managing terror".  

Bin Laden said this from the very beginning:  
You see, a key weapon of bin Laden's was economic warfare…and al Qaeda still uses the tactic against America.
Osama named it the "bleed until bankruptcy plan," where the goal is to draw the United States into endless – and costly – Middle Eastern wars. Wars that will eventually bankrupt the US economy.
In other words, Osama didn't seek to win with body counts.   
Take a look at this article: 
http://www.moneywise411.com/rogue-economist-asks-was-osama-bin-laden-right-about-america/ 
 

 

Thursday, June 9, 2016

One Ohio Mosque Has Been at the Center of SIX Terror Cases |

From the article: 
As mosque officials struggle to distance themselves from yet another resident terror cell, the recent news raises questions about the extensive history of this Ohio mosque as a turnstile for terrorism.

https://warsclerotic.com/2016/06/09/one-ohio-mosque-has-been-at-the-center-of-six-terror-cases/

At what point does a pattern begin to become evidence of reality?  When does a rational society get to say "cease and desist"?  Our tolerance is used up.  You seem to be at odds with our way of life.  We are going to shut you down.  What does it mean to be tolerant?  How tolerant is appropriate?  When do we get to say stop?


The U.S. Should Withdraw from the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change

http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2016/06/the-us-should-withdraw-from-the-united-nations-framework-convention-on-climate-change

I'm thinking we should get out of the UN entirely, but this would be a start.

From the article: 
The UNFCCC Is an Unworkable, Ineffective Approach—Even if Global Warming Is as Problematic as the IPCC Projects
U.N. climate conferences have become increasingly irrelevant, in large part because the approach taken is unworkable. International negotiations have centered on placing the economic burden of addressing climate change on a few dozen developed countries while asking little or nothing from more the 150 developing countries. But the primary source of GHG emissions is increasingly the developing world, most notably from large developing economies such as China and India.

This is an interesting explanation in economic terms, but what this really says is the third world seeks to harm Western democracies.  This is what the UN has evolved to and is no longer an organization for solving world problems appropriately.

Whither the Shards of America?: It’s Us, or Them | Fred On Everything

From the article: 
The conflict is between freedom and social totalitarianism. Remote bureaucracies with whom localities have nothing in common write their children's textbooks and decide what morality they should be taught.  People who want a say in the schooling of their children, who want to choose where and with whom they live, find themselves pitted against a political ruling class with power to decide almost every aspect of their lives.
Something has to give.

http://fredoneverything.org/ready-whither-the-shards-of-america-its-us-or-them/

"Fundamentally Changed" as Obama would put it.  Not for the good either.  Fred lays it out in brutally clear language.  "Enough. This can't last."  And yet the so-called "elite", the "self-serving politicians and extractive corporations of the extremely rich who have no attachment to the US.", do understand that something has to give.  They are clueless to the response of the growing number of people who are saying "Enough. This can't last.".

This likely will not end nicely.  Fred suggests "It is probably too late."

This is the most brutally true understanding of current affairs in the US I have seen.  It's time we stopped lying to ourselves.  

Wednesday, June 8, 2016

Graphic: How Obamacare Hides $104 Billion in Federal Spending - by Jeffrey H. Anderson

Obamacare has invented a dangerous new way to hide federal spending (detailed in "Hidden Spending"). Contrary to the Government Accountability Office's own definitions of terms, Obamacare labels its direct payments to insurance companies "tax credits"—even though they don't lower anyone's taxes. Not only is the government hiding billions of dollars in spending in this way, it is counting these hidden expenditures as tax cuts. In this manner, Obamacare is masking some $104 billion in federal spending over a decade (the portion of Obamacare's direct payments to insurers that the Congressional Budget Office is counting as tax cuts.
 
http://www.hudson.org/research/12554-graphic-how-obamacare-hides-104-billion-in-federal-spending

The government today is endlessly crippled by manipulation, lying and corruption.  Almost nothing you see or hear today, as reported by the government or the complicit media, is true because this kind of stuff goes on in the background.  That is why the current administration points to the employment rate and other economic indicators as proof of their success, but it's all lies and manipulation.  

It Only Took Eight Years for Big Government to Do This! | www.independentsentinel.com

From the article: 
We can't improve the VA – the government claims they need more money so veterans in dire need of care will continue to wait  – but the Feds did have $300 million to spend over the last eight years to develop a software program the Inspector General (IG) for the Social Security Administration says is useless.
It's not their money, no one's accountable, no one can be fired and all's good from their perspective. 

http://www.independentsentinel.com/it-only-took-eight-years-for-big-government-to-do-this/

This is why we can't have nice things and why I always support limited government.

Tuesday, June 7, 2016

Bionic Leaf Is 10 Times Better At Photosynthesis Than Real Plants | Popular Science

From the srticle: 
Plants take in carbon dioxide, water, and sunshine to create a sugary fuel. Now researchers have done the same, but even better.
A recent study in Science describes the system, named Bionic Leaf 2.0. In the "leaf," solar energy splits up a water molecule, and bacteria turn hydrogen and carbon dioxide into liquid fuel, mainly isopropanol. The fuel could possibly be used to power a car's engine or motor in the future.

http://www.popsci.com/scientists-debut-system-making-fuel-through-more-efficient-photosynthesis

Pretty amazing stuff.  AI?  Now man-made photosynthesis?  We are getting into places even sci-fi writers have thought of yet.

Monday, June 6, 2016

Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum - Our Documents

From the article: 
For these men are lately drawn from the ways of peace. They fight not for the lust of conquest. They fight to end conquest. They fight to liberate. They fight to let justice arise, and tolerance and good will among all Thy people. They yearn but for the end of battle, for their return to the haven of home.

http://docs.fdrlibrary.marist.edu/odddayp.html

I had not seen this before.  It's really quite good.  Reminds me of a comment attributed to Colin Powell when Secy of State, although he may have borrowed it from someone else.  His remarks to a Frenchman who was suggesting the US and its Military were abusing its power.  He responded that the only land we ever asked for was to bury our dead.

US Army selects Israel Military Industries for APC active protection system - Israel News - Jerusalem Post

From the article: 
He hailed its "ability to defend against rockets, RPGs, anti-tank missiles from the entire spectrum, and even against recoilless gun munitions.

http://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/US-Army-selects-Israel-Military-Industries-for-APC-active-protection-system-456116

Does this mean we can begin to reduce the amount of heavy armor required on vehicles?  That could change vehicle design pretty significantly.  Can tanks use this kind of defense?  Does it work against tank rounds?  

Saturday, June 4, 2016

Friday, June 3, 2016

John Stossel: Private business is better at just about everything | New Hampshire

From the article: 
There's nothing stopping people everywhere from enjoying improvements like the ones in Jersey City, in San Francisco's airport and at SpaceX, nothing except government bureaucracy and our outdated belief that many jobs just belong in government's clumsy hands.

http://www.unionleader.com/John-Stossel-Private-business-is-better-at-just-about-everything

John Stossel is an old hand at this criticizing government game.

Forget oil. This summer, a two-mile pipeline that carries beer will open in a Belgian city. - The Washington Post

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2016/06/03/forget-oil-this-summer-a-two-mile-pipeline-that-carries-beer-will-open-in-a-belgian-city/

I would say that ingenuity drove this solution but perhaps there is a more fundamental, primal force. The need for beer?

Monday, May 30, 2016

Wife Finds Combat Disabled Husband In Tears At What Stranger Left… | Weasel Zippers

http://www.weaselzippers.us/274360-wife-finds-combat-disabled-husband-in-tears-at-what-stranger-left/

I know Memorial Day is for those who have gone before us, but this is a wonderful story about someone honoring a soldier.  

Remember those who gave all .........

Saturday, May 28, 2016

Family of Kate Steinle files lawsuit against San Francisco for ‘Sanctuary City’ policies » The Right Scoop -

Family of Kate Steinle files lawsuit against San Francisco for ‘Sanctuary City’ policies » The Right Scoop -: "I really hope they win and San Francisco feels the heat for harboring illegal aliens."
I wonder if this kind of push-back will start to shift the behavior back toward common sense?

Friday, May 27, 2016

How Tenderness Leads to the Gas Chamber

From the article: 
The problem with this is that without the Christian faith there is soon no Christian morals. Why should a person be good if there is no God? As Dostoevsky said, "If there is no God everything is possible."

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/standingonmyhead/2016/03/how-tenderness-leads-to-the-gas-chamber.html#st_refDomain=www.facebook.com&st_refQuery=/

Wednesday, May 25, 2016

‘Tribe’ Diagnoses America’s PTSD Problem — War Is Boring

https://warisboring.com/tribe-diagnoses-america-s-ptsd-problem-a282060409ce#.gqudm58xs

Very interesting article.  What he is talking about here is a connectedness we experience while in military service that we don't find in civilian society.  Band of Brothers stuff.  

Sunday, May 22, 2016

The High Price of Security Theater - Reason.com

From the article: 
The Price of Fear
Since 2002, people in the United States have been 100 times more likely to be gunned down by local, state, and federal law enforcement agents than to be killed by Muslim terrorists.
Ohio State's Mueller has been wielding the weapon of cost-benefit analyses for more than a decade in his own personal war on the war on terror. He points out that the feds spend roughly $150 billion annually on terrorism, compared to just $2 billion on the most frequent cause of death in the U.S., heart disease, and $300 million on strokes, the third most common killer. "We spend $500 million for every death from terrorism and only $2,000 for every death resulting from strokes," Mueller laments. "That means we spend 250,000 times more per death on terrorism." Though federal authorities have poured more than $4 trillion into fighting terrorism since 9/11, "these extraordinary expenditures have utterly failed to make people feel safer," he says. The percentage of Americans who expected another major attack was as high or higher in 2014 as it was in 2002, immediately following the worst terrorism incident in American history.
What does the U.S. have to show for its astonishing levels of anti-terror spending? "I firmly believe that those huge budget increases have not significantly contributed to our post-9/11 security," says Michael Sheehan, a former New York City deputy commissioner for counterterrorism. What these activities have been is an unmitigated victory for America's politicians, who take advantage of pervasive fear to engorge their own powers.
Americans are being asked to pay for the privilege of having their rights and liberties shredded by Washington. And with just a few months until the 2016 presidential election, there's little sign they've even noticed.
 
https://reason.com/archives/2016/05/22/the-4-trillion-war-on-terror/2

Pretty interesting article.  I pretty much agree that we have over-reacted out of fear and spent a lot of money on things that were of little use.  I don't agree with everything in this article.  I'm not sure the cost of the wars can be counted as theater but Reason authors take a much more dim view of our use of power in the world than I do.  I do think much of the TSA and DHS is pretty useless.  I do think we need to consider the costs of war when we spend the kind of money we do to fight a war where we don't get dirty.  Like some kind of video game.  It's all hi-tec and very expensive.  Johnny Brooks pointed out to me one time that we use $100k missiles to take out their $20k Toyota trucks.  Eventually, that won't work.  Bin Laden said something to the effect that "we will bleed you to death".  I don't think that's the exact quote, but the meaning is correct.  Seems like that is happening.

Friday, May 20, 2016

Army Adds 84mm Recoil-less Rifle to Platoon Arsenal – Kit Up!

From the article: 
U.S. Army infantry platoons will soon have the 84mm Carl Gustaf recoil-less rifle, a devastating anti-armor system, as a permanently assigned weapon.
 
http://kitup.military.com/2016/05/army-adds-84mm-recoil-less-rifle-to-platoon-arsenal.html

This sounds like good news.  Some of you may know more about this.  I have been reading complaints about the Javelin for years.  Why so slow to incorporate this seemingly very good solution?  It's lighter and cheaper and the ammunition cost less?  It's been in use in Afghanistan for several years and gets good reports and takes how many years for the Army to bring it into the inventory?  Egad!!!!

Squids and the Inner Light of Being | Fred On Everything

From the article - sarcasm warning: 
A woman commanded the SEALs, who had been disarmed to prevent violence. The new main battle tanks had changing tables, and urinals had been outlawed throughout the services or converted to flower pots to preclude uncomfortable spaces. The warriors of social justice needed a Cause.
http://fredoneverything.org/squids-and-the-inner-light-of-being/

A really fine bit of sarcasm.  Fred assails this modern notion that we can be whoever or whatever we "feel" we are.

Thursday, May 19, 2016

In patience to abide : Essays in Idleness

In time America, too, will be buried with the other empires. But the funeral has not yet come, and while she lives and breathes, she retains her duties. She must, for the world's sake, stop licking her wounds, and whining; must keep up our quarrel with the foe.
The world, in all its imperfection, will have empires of one kind or another. Not one will always be a force for good. But there is better and worse, and if we are sane, we will allow that in our time the American power has been a blessing.
 
http://www.davidwarrenonline.com/2016/05/19/in-patience-to-abide/?owa_medium=feed&owa_sid=

This is one of the better discussions I have seen in a long time about the US's burden to be the global policeman.

Sunday, May 15, 2016

WATCH: This Syrian Tank Gets LIT UP Like A CHRISTMAS Tree ⋆ Doug Giles ⋆ #ClashDaily

From the article: 
This is one of the reasons Arabs are scared to death of the Israelis. What you are about to watch is an actual event. The Israeli Armed Forces filmed this in real time. What you'll see is a fully armored Syrian tank being hit by an Israeli laser-guided, steel-penetrating, phosphorous-filled "hand held" rocket. The rocket is small, very portable and is a tightly controlled weapon.
 
http://clashdaily.com/2016/05/watch-muslim-tank-gets-lit-like-christmas-tree/

Damn this is good.  Go watch the video.  The IDF kicks some butt.  "Steel penetrating and phosphorus filled".  I'd like to know more about that.

Friday, May 13, 2016

Vox Popoli: A terrible peace

Is it possible that too many generations of peace and pleasure have proven to be little more than an enervating cancer on our culture? Is it possible that peace is more terrible than war?

If these are the fruits of peace, then peace is a dreadful thing. If this is truly the best that peace has to offer, then for the sake of Man and Western civilization, let there be war.
 
https://voxday.blogspot.com/2016/05/a-terrible-peace.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+blogspot/voxpopoli+(Vox+Popoli)

I find this discussion quite interesting.  I have had a sense for a long time that when life gets too easy we tend to not learn to make tough decisions.  We choose the easier, softer way.  Or we choose the easier wrong instead of the harder right.  There are reasons why those old sayings endure - they tend to be true.  

Wednesday, May 11, 2016

When Excess Is A Virtue - Forbes

THE MENTAL INFECTION known as "political correctness" is one of the most dangerous intellectual afflictions ever to attack mankind. The fact that we began by laughing at it–and to some extent, still do–doesn't diminish its venom one bit.
 
http://www.forbes.com/sites/currentevents/2016/03/23/when-excess-is-a-virtue/#22b59f8c34b5

"one of the most dangerous intellectual afflictions ever to attack mankind".  Some of us have been saying this for years but it continues to flourish.  

Paul Johnson is an interesting guy.  While associated with the left in his early career, he is now a conservative popular historian.  I am reminded of an old saying - 'If you're not a liberal when you're 25, you have no heart.  If you're not a conservative by the time you're 35, you have no brain.'

The article then talks about Trump as a force against PC.  Johnson suggests Trump is the antidote for the poison in spite of his side effects.

Monday, May 9, 2016

Middle Eastern Leaders Talking to Putin, Not Obama - POLITICO Magazine

From the article: 
Why is this happening, and why on my trips to the region am I hearing that Arabs and Israelis have pretty much given up on President Barack Obama? Because perceptions matter more than mere power: The Russians are seen as willing to use power to affect the balance of power in the region, and we are not.

http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/05/putin-obama-middle-east-leaders-213867

Another old truth about human behavior we fail to understand.  "Follow the strong horse".

The Basic Rules of Spending




This seems pretty consistent with my understanding.  It has been true for human behavior for a long, long time.  Why to we then insist on forming institutions and organizations that behave in quadrant 4?


The article is also very good.
--
Freedom is not free. Free men are not equal. Equal men are not free.
(borrowed from Jerry Pournelle)

Safwch yn gadarn. "Stand firm."  From the Welsh New Testament

Sunday, May 8, 2016

Next Big Future: General atomics railgun has successful tests will lead to army truck based railgun system

From the article: 
GA-EMS' Blitzer railgun is a test asset designed and manufactured by GA-EMS to advance technology development toward multi-mission railgun weapon systems. Railguns launch projectiles using electromagnetic forces instead of chemical propellants and can deliver muzzle velocities greater than twice those of conventional guns. Blitzer railgun technology, when integrated into a weapon system that includes the launcher, high density capacitor driven pulsed power and weapon fire control system, can launch multi-mission projectiles with shorter time-to-target and greater effectiveness at longer range.

http://nextbigfuture.com/2016/05/general-atomics-railgun-has-successful.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+blogspot%2Fadvancednano+%28nextbigfuture%29

Pretty interesting weapons of the future.  This claims to reduce the ammunitition logistical train and increase the ability to respond to new enemy weapons threats.  However, it still needs quite a host of Fire Control and electrical generation and radar systems to make this work.  I suspect the size of the hardware will shrink over time.  Some kind of fuel has to power the generators.  Stll fascinating though.

Of Taco Bowls and Presidents | Joel D. Hirst's Blog

From the article: 
My point, I promise, and I'll be done: is it possible that we have lost our way? When those who are said to know better entertain the possibility that a "girls" sign hung on a door is somehow discriminatory – a hate crime; maybe that's the moment for a reality check. And isn't that where the people are leading us, this of all weeks? And is that such a bad thing? We have always been a country that must listen and learn from those who have built her. And those who build are, well – hungry for a taco bowl with a side of reality.

https://joelhirst.wordpress.com/2016/05/06/of-taco-bowls-and-presidents/

He wanders a bit but finally gets to his point in the last paragraph which I have quoted above.  Have we lost our way?  Is populism a good thing or a bad thing?  Double edged sword I suspect.  Like many things in life, intentions matter.  Is this a selfish populism we are seeing today or a populism leading us back to reality and our founding?

Friday, May 6, 2016

The Men Who Would Be King | PJ Media

From the article: 
Weston was at the bottom of a big hole. Modern Western civilization is inside of a big transgender bathroom. The fundamental mistake of the policy establishment (which Ben Rhodes derisively calls "the blob") was to take the Obama administration seriously, to think that terms like "grand bargain" and regional realignments were serious concepts and to spend hours pondering their meaning. Instead we now know they were just phrases that Obama and his inner circle made up as they went along.  Thus a White House that should have been instantly destroyed by contempt was instead preserved by the wariness of those who thought they were facing a Professor Moriarty rather Bluto from Animal House.
Perhaps the only person who guessed the truth -- besides Clint Eastwood -- was Vladimir Putin.  Some instinct told the Russian that inside the suit there was nothing. He's treated Obama accordingly and that's been the secret to his success ever since.  Malice or incompetence? Moriarty or Bonhoeffer's empty stupid? The reason the Washington policy establishment likes to believe Obama is some cunning schemer is that otherwise they'll never live it down.

https://pjmedia.com/richardfernandez/2016/05/06/the-men-who-would-be-king/3/

This is a stunning article.  Some of us others also guessed the truth about Obama.

And then, try this article by Thomas Sowell.  http://spectator.org/articles/66174/military-coup-our-future  He suggests the military may need to step in to bring the country back to Constitutional authority.  

Have we really degenerated to this point?  


Glenn Reynolds: How to make the U.S. collapse-proof

From the article: 
Decentralizing institutions and limiting special-interest influence could soften a societal fall.
 
http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2016/05/05/collapse-civilizations-us-decentralize-institutions-special-interest-web-column/83931988/

Pretty straightforward look at how complexity and government control leads to decline and a reminder that the founders wrote the Constitution with this in mind and attempted to prevent it.

Wednesday, May 4, 2016

It's Time to Return to the Principles of War | The National Interest

New thinking, however, has not made war any easier.
It is time to reverse course. Let's stop clinging to the notion that the new generation of thinkers is, axiomatically, smarter than those who preceded them.
At its heart, armed conflict remains a dynamic competition between adversaries; each conflict is tinged by the unique circumstances under which it is fought. Why waste time trying to develop complex intellectual tools that, in the end, deliver no better insights than simple, timeless constructs?
There is a case to be made for going simple. For that, the principles might serve well enough.

http://nationalinterest.org/feature/its-time-return-the-principles-war-16054?page=2


Sometimes we really do fool ourselves into thinking we are so much smarter today.  Usually, this is not true.  What did Patton say? 
"No dumb bastard ever won a war by going out and dying for his country. He won it by making some other dumb bastard die for his country." 
― George S. Patton Jr.

Pretty simple, actually. 

Medical Errors Cause a Third of Deaths

From the article: 
Medical error is the third largest cause of death in the United States, according to an analysis published Wednesday in the medical journal BMJ.
In 2013, at least 250,000 people died not from the illnesses or injuries that prompted them to seek hospital care but from preventable mistakes, according to the study.
That number exceeds deaths from strokes and Alzheimer's combined, and is topped only by heart disease and cancer, which each claim about 600,000 lives per year.
The death toll from medical mishaps would be even higher if nursing homes and out-patient care were included, the researchers found.

https://www.newsmax.com/Health/Health-News/medical-errors-third-deaths/2016/05/04/id/727137/

Is this for real?  I have known for a few years that the error rates in hospitals are higher than we want to own up to, but "third largest cause of death"?  At some point, you begin to wonder if you really want to go to the hospital or take your chances at home.

Sunday, May 1, 2016

Jesus: Intolerant Bigot

From the article: 
Indeed, by today's secular-progressive standards – and, more vexing yet, by the standards of lukewarm Christians and ministries that, under the intense thaw of postmodern paganism, fall away from the berg like vast chunks of ice – Christ Jesus Himself would, like so many of his followers today, be slandered as an "intolerant bigot" and crucified all over again.
To be sure, under the contemporary misconception of "tolerance," which supposes that one must not only tolerate sin of every stripe, but refuse to call it even that, Christ was (and is) intolerant indeed. Rather than admonishing the adulterous woman to, "Go now and leave your life of sin" (see John 8:11), postmodernism, to include the moral relativist yeast that leavens the body of Christ, demands, at once, that our never-changing Lord change the unchangeable: "Go now and continue your life of sin."

http://www.americanclarion.com/2016/05/01/jesus-intolerant-bigot-44614/

Here's a bit of theology to ponder.  WWJD - What would Jesus do?  This author suggests that Christ would be seen as a bigot for not tolerating sinful behavior.  

And then this:
"The Gospel of Christ doesn't care about 'tolerance.' It cares about truth."   Truth is a higher good than tolerance?  I'm liking that.  Who knows much about the concept of tough love?  Tough love is when the truth is said in love, even when it's uncomfortable and not popular.  Kinda goes agains the notion of "everyone gets a trophy".  A lie we perpetuate because we don't want to appear intolerant.  

How to fix the TSA and make air travel fun again | New York Post

From the article: 
There is a ready solution to the TSA's problems: Replace the agency. In large airports with multiple security checkpoints, airlines should be required to hire their own screeners and set their own procedures, bypassing the TSA.
Competition among the airlines would help set the proper balance between safety and efficiency, based on passenger preference and demand. This same competitive process would also weed out unnecessary procedures that add little to safety while increasing delays.

http://nypost.com/2016/05/01/how-to-fix-the-tsa-and-make-air-travel-fun-again/

So, the solution seems to be to eliminate government intervention and allow private competition to set the price for the service provided.  

Climate change is real, but Paris treaty won't fix it:

From the article: 
The reality is that we need to respond to the real problem of climate change, but this well-intentioned treaty is a hugely expensive way of doing very little.
The Paris accord talks a big game. It doesn't just commit to capping the global temperature increase at 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. The text goes even further and says the world's leaders commit to keeping the increase "well below 2 degrees Celsius" and will try to cap it at 1.5 degrees Celsius.
But this is just rhetoric. My own research and the only peer-reviewed published assessment of the Paris agreement used the United Nation's favorite climate model to measure the impact of every nation fulfilling every major carbon-cutting promise in the treaty between now and 2030. I found that the total temperature reduction will be just 0.086 degrees Fahrenheit by 2100.
Even if these promises were extended for 70 more years, then all the promises would reduce temperature rises by 0.3 degrees Fahrenheit by 2100. This is similar to a finding by scientists at MIT. It's feeble.
 
http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2016/04/21/climate-change-real-paris-treaty-costly-few-benefits-research-green-energy-column/83292440/

A scam so huge it is difficult to wrap one's mind around it.  

Saturday, April 30, 2016

Target Stocks Sink by $2.5 Billion in 10 Days as over 1 Million Americans pledge to Boycott them - Freedom Outpost

From the article: 
AFA has stated that Target could simply solve the problem they have brought on themselves. "One solution is a common-sense approach and a reasonable solution to the issue of transgendered customers: a unisex bathroom," wrote Wildmon. "Target should keep separate facilities for men and women, but for the trans community and for those who simply like using the bathroom alone, a single occupancy unisex bathroom option should be provided."

http://freedomoutpost.com/target-stocks-sink-by-2-5-billion-in-10-days-as-over-1-million-americans-pledge-to-boycott-them/

Target appears to be taking a financial beating.  I wonder if it will be enough to get them to change their position?  I also wonder, what would motivate a company to take such a risk?  Why not opt for the "common sense, reasonable solution" in the first place?  What motivates a company to get involved in promoting social engineering at the risk to their profit and their business?  I wonder what their mission statement says?  Are they a social engineering company or a retail home goods company?  How many companies in the history of commerce have failed because they do not understand, or focus on, their primary mission?

Friday, April 29, 2016

IRS Admits Tax Code Is Too Complex to Enforce

From the article:
Even the IRS admits that "the complexity of the tax code makes the tax law too difficult for taxpayers to understand and for the IRS to administer."
One way to simplify the tax gap would be to move toward a flat consumption tax. As explained by Curtis Dubay, a research fellow in tax and economic policy at The Heritage Foundation, by incentivizing saving and investment, a flat consumption tax would increase economic growth by up to 15 percent in 10 years. Such a tax could be realized without affecting the overall distribution of the tax system, a common criticism of flat consumption taxes.
A flat consumption tax would also reduce the tax gap and ensure that people pay the correct amount of taxes. The simplicity of a flat tax would help taxpayers understand and voluntarily comply with the tax code and limit opportunities for tax evasion. A flat consumption tax would stimulate the economy and reduce the tax gap, all without affecting the overall distribution of the tax code.
 
http://dailysignal.com/2016/04/29/irs-admits-tax-code-is-too-complex-to-enforce/?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=thf-tw

I'm not a tax expert by any stretch of the imagination.  However, I'm guessing that efforts to reduce complexity, reduce government control and intervention, reduce the size of a huge government bureaucracy would be steps in the right direction.
This article is from the Heritage Foundation and it offers a more detailed solution here:  Heritage's Blueprint for Balance details many more specific reforms to limit government waste and limit the federal government to its proper scope.





Whistleblowers Describe TSA as a Dysfunctional Nightmare | PJ Media

Whistleblowers Describe TSA as a Dysfunctional Nightmare | PJ Media: "As noted here a couple of weeks ago, the TSA experience has become so flawed that the delays are forcing the airlines to finally weigh in on the problem."
'via Blog this'



This is not new news.  What will it take to stop pouring money down this rat hole?

Wednesday, April 27, 2016

Why Socialism Will Always Fail | Mises Wire

Why Socialism Will Always Fail | Mises Wire: "The paradox of "planning" is that it cannot plan, because of the absence of economic calculation. What is called a planned economy is no economy at all. It is just a system of groping about in the dark. There is no question of a rational choice of means for the best possible attainment of the ultimate ends sought. What is called conscious planning is precisely the elimination of conscious purposive action."


'via Blog this'

Articles: Biology Makes a Woman, Not Clothing or a Bathroom

From the article: 
A real woman will do things for children that no delusional man playing "woman" can ever do. A real woman can love, nurture, feed, take care of, and think a certain way that no male can ever understand. Transgenderism is attempting to destroy true motherhood/womanhood, and the left is assisting. 

http://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2016/04/biology_makes_a_woman_not_clothing_or_a_bathroom.html

It isn't nice to fool with Mother Nature.  Biology rules.  My basic understanding is that transgenderism is largely a learned behavior.  There may be a very few who are actually born that way.  Most of the rest of that population is taught to act that way.  Somehow, they get confusing signals from other people's behaviors about what it means to be a male or a female.  It is learned behavior - not biological.  While I have empathy for those who are confused and I think the should be treated kindly and with appropriate help, they do not get to change gender roles and assume a different role in society.  Sorry, biology rules.

Austria’s Heir Apparent: Only 20% of Migrants Are ‘Real Refugees’

From the article: 
Hofer has said that Austria must defend itself from an "EU debt and liability union," while criticizing the unfettered entry of waves of "economic refugees" who "destroy the social system."

http://www.breitbart.com/london/2016/04/27/austrias-heir-apparent-20-migrants-real-refugees/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+breitbart+%28Breitbart+News%29

Another voice raised against the European "consensus" that supports the EU and the influx of immigrants.  Turn that stat around.  80% of migrants are not real refugees.

I Didn’t Believe Feminists Until The Trans Lobby Attacked Me

From the article: 
Feminists. That entitled group of navel-gazing, man-bashing, bra-burning, Hillary-loving whiners. You know—the kind who tweet their abortions and construct displays of 4,500 dye-soaked sanitary napkins and call it art. The kind that rejects all the things I love most about being female.

http://thefederalist.com/2016/04/27/i-didnt-believe-feminists-until-the-trans-lobby-attacked-me/

A young feminist comes to grips with reality and common sense.  Sometimes this happens.  There is still hope that we are not circling the drain.

Fort Cognitive Dissonance – The US Army’s New Home | US Defense Watch

From the article: 
The Army has become one gigantic dysfunctional family, and like a dysfunctional family it can't see the problems that are destroying it. In fact, a vast majority of the officers and senior NCO's in the Army won't acknowledge that they have a problem; a core symptom of cognitive dissonance.
There is one group that can clearly see that the Army has a myriad of problems; that one group is our nation's veterans. Yet, many leaders in the lean green machine won't listen to advice or criticism from vets of the Afghanistan and Iraq Wars, the Gulf War, Vietnam, Korea and WWII.
I've been told repeatedly by active duty people; stop criticizing the Army, everything is going well. Really, it is?


http://usdefensewatch.com/2016/04/fort-cognitive-dissonance-the-us-armys-new-home/

Really it is?  Good question.  Is the Army the canary in the coal mine?  A symptom of the disease?  Is the fabric of our society eroding?  

Tuesday, April 26, 2016

A Note to Conservatives Who Are Secular - The Dennis Prager Show

From the article: 
President John Adams warned: "Because we have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion … our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other." Do secular conservatives think he was right or wrong?
The problem is not that most leading conservative thinkers are secular; it is that they don't seem to understand that a godless and Judeo-Christian-free America means the end of America, just as a godless and Judeo-Christian-free Europe has meant the end of Europe.
 
http://www.dennisprager.com/a-note-to-conservatives-who-are-secular/

The biggest threat to mankind is not global warming.  The bigger threat is a loss of the sense of God.

ISIS internal docs show struggle to retain fighters, cut costs - CNN

ISIS internal docs show struggle to retain fighters, cut costs - CNN http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=t&fd=R&ct2=us&usg=AFQjCNEaVdb3X15_IpCQa83WGw4gLYnJuA&clid=c3a7d30bb8a4878e06b80cf16b898331&cid=52779095834331&ei=VAQgV_CoAomY1Ab6vab4Cg&url=http://www.cnn.com/2016/04/26/politics/isis-documents/

Budget problems just like the US military.  I wonder why it took us so long to apply pressure.

Next Big Future: New Exoskeleton is less than half the price and weight of competition

From the article: 
The Phoenix exoskeleton is the world's lightest and most advanced exoskeleton designed to help people with mobility disorders to be upright and mobile. In the clinic, at home, and in the workplace Phoenix has successfully enabled many individuals to stand up, walk about, and speak to peers eye-to-eye. 
also
> The MAX system is designed to provide a flexible exoskeleton solution that can be adapted for a variety of different workplace tasks. The result is a versatile system that can allow workers to complete shoulder, low back, and leg intensive tasks with reduced injury risk while remaining comfortable enough to wear all day.
 
utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+blogspot%2Fadvancednano+%28nextbigfuture%29

Good news for persons with disabilites and wounded warriors.  Also, a second system designed to enhance the work productivity of the human body.  Very cool stuff.

Famous Feminist: While We're 'Navel-Gazing' About Gender Identity, 'ISIS Is Beheading People' | Daily Wire

From the article:
In an interview with Spiked Online, radical feminist Camille Paglia unloaded both barrels on the Left's "self-absoprtion" with gender identity, saying all the "hyper-self-consciousness about 'Who am I? Where exactly am I on the gender spectrum?' is mere navel-gazing, while in the Middle East, ISIS is beheading people."
 
http://www.dailywire.com/news/5243/famous-feminist-while-were-navel-gazing-about-james-barrett

Camille Paglia speaks the truth.  One of a very few feminists I thinks makes sense.

Monday, April 25, 2016

A Superior Vision | Capitalism Magazine

The immorality associated with violation of the principle of self-ownership lies at the root of problems that could lead to our doom as a great nation.
 
http://capitalismmagazine.com/2016/04/a-superior-vision/

What do you think of this?  Walter Williams is a Libertarian.  I have been reading him for years and have learned a great deal from him.  This kind of thinking makes a lot of sense to me.

Mike

Sunday, April 24, 2016

"The mayor is going down!" - Newmark's Door

"The mayor is going down!" - Newmark's Door: "To paraphrase Instapundit: Why are Liberal-run areas such cesspools of corruption?"
'via Blog this'

Outraged Bill Moyers Exposes The System For What It Is | The Bulletin

http://bulletin.represent.us/outraged-bill-moyers

This is a quick video by Bill Moyers.  Typically I don't not agree with him, but this is quite good and I have only a few minor quibbles.  He identifies the "users" who now run our country and points out it is unlikely we can fix this from within.  

The system he describes is one where the government has too much power and big business buys access to this power.  This is called Crony Capitalism and is a perversion of Capitalism.  Some want to rail against Capitalism as the culprit, but true Capitalism is not the problem, Crony Capitalism is.  

Friday, April 22, 2016

Illinois has 7,499 teachers getting a $100,000+ PENSION, No wonder the state is crumbling – AgainstCronyCapitalism.org

Illinois has 7,499 teachers getting a $100,000+ PENSION, No wonder the state is crumbling – AgainstCronyCapitalism.org: "My family is full of teachers. I respect teachers. I value what they do. But let’s get real here. This – as my old buddy might say – is “a straight up jack move” from the unions. This is theft from the taxpayers. Sorry. I know your union “negotiated” the pensions with politicians which got money from your union but it is just stealing with the veneer of bureaucratic legitimacy. You know it. We know it.

"


'via Blog this'

Wednesday, April 20, 2016

Free Markets Would Improve Hospital Service - Reason.com

Free Markets Would Improve Hospital Service - Reason.com: "I'm as happy as the next guy to have government or my insurance company pay, but the result is that there's practically no free market. Markets work when buyer and seller deal directly with each other. That doesn't happen in hospitals.

You may ask, "How could it? Patients don't know which treatments are needed or which seller is best. Medicine is too complex for consumers to negotiate."

But cars, computers and airplane flights are complex, too, and the market still incentivizes sellers to discount and compete on service. It happens in medicine, too, when you get plastic surgery or Lasik surgery. Those doctors give patients their personal email addresses and cellphone numbers. They compete to please patients.

What's different about those specialties? The patient pays the bill.

Leftists say the solution to such problems is government health care. But did they not notice what happened at Veterans Affairs? Bureaucrats let veterans die, waiting for care. When the scandal was exposed, they didn't stop. USA Today reports that the abuse continues. Sometimes the VA's suicide hotline goes to voicemail.

Patients will have a better experience only when more of us spend our own money for care. That's what makes markets work.

"


'via Blog this'

The Senility Of The Western Mind | The American Conservative

From the article: 
Political philosopher John Gray says that we are deceiving ourselves if we think that ISIS is a medieval throwback. Every barbaric act and strategy it employs have also been employed by modern states. In fact, an eschatological cult like ISIS could only have emerged in modernity; fundamentalism, he says, emerges and thrives in societies in which long-settled customs and traditions have been disrupted. And for that matter, movements like Communism and Nazism were simply secular versions of the same millenarian vision.
...
Future historians will marvel at how Westerners dismantled the fundaments of civilization — religion, family, community — in the name of a utopian progressive vision: the liberation of the Self.
It is left to the rest of us to figure out how to remain resilient and hopeful amid the ruins they create with each passing day.
 

We Have A Thug Culture Problem, Not A Gun Problem

We Have A Thug Culture Problem, Not A Gun Problem: "Democrat politicians dishonestly assert that we have a “gun problem” in the United States because it’s much easier to blame problems on an inanimate object than deal with the reality that decades of Democrat social engineering have utterly and consistently failed to manufacture prosperity in certain communities.

If we magically made all 325+ million firearms in the United States disappear overnight, criminal violence in these communities would not change significantly, only the mechanism of injury would change. This is a violent culture problem, not a tool problem.

Hillary Clinton and other politicians continue to lie to the American people, asserting that inanimate objects are responsible for the actions of people.

Until they are willing to address culture problems they’d rather ignore to attack scapegoats, we can expect the violence in this cultures to continue to grow, despite laws they push that only disarm those who no inclination to commit crimes.

"


'via Blog this'

Cartel Gang Crime In Rural Maryland

The Captain's Journal » Cartel Gang Crime In Rural Maryland: "A rural Maryland sheriff on Tuesday blamed President Obama’s open-door immigration policy for a surge in gangland crime that included a retaliation murder and assault on an officer doing paperwork in his cruiser."


'via Blog this'

Tuesday, April 19, 2016

A Complex Tax System Prevents Americans From Saving

A Complex Tax System Prevents Americans From Saving: "Another tax day has come and passed only to once again remind us of the increasing financial burden that government places on individuals and families each year. Unfortunately, as taxes and onerous regulation continue to increase, the U.S. personal savings rate has decreased to 5.5 percent. Our savings rate was two to three times higher than that in the 1970s and 1980s, with a peak of 17 percent in 1975."


'via Blog this'

Competition is key to improving education - Watchdog.org

Study: Competition is key to improving education - Watchdog.org: "A new study from the Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice shows that competition is the key to improving American education.

“Pursuing Innovation” looks at “how effective open enrollment, charters, and educational choice programs are at improving student outcomes.”"


'via Blog this'

The Decline and Fall of the American University

Had Enough Therapy?: The Decline and Fall of the American University: "The Decline and Fall of the American University
America’s universities are self-deconstructing. Once lauded as a great civilizational achievement, they have been degraded by radicals. If your chance for a better life involves going to college and learning what you need to know in order to take your place in the business or professional world, that chance is being systematically undone."


'via Blog this'

Obamacare was just a step on the path to government control of all healthcare. It was designed to bankrupt insurance companies and is doing just that.

Commonsense & Wonder: Obamacare was just a step on the path to government control of all healthcare. It was designed to bankrupt insurance companies and is doing just that.: "UnitedHealth, the nation's biggest health insurer, will cut its participation in public health insurance exchanges to only a handful of states next year after expanding to nearly three dozen for this year.
CEO Stephen Hemsley said Tuesday that the company expects losses from its exchange business to total more than $1 billion for this year and last. He added that the company cannot continue to broadly serve the market created by the Affordable Care Act's coverage expansion due partly to the higher risk that comes with its customers.
"


'via Blog this'

Center for Security Policy | Saudi Arabia and Warfare Economics

From the article: 
Saudi Arabia recently made a not-so-thinly veiled threat against the dollar recently.

http://www.centerforsecuritypolicy.org/2016/04/19/saudi-arabia-and-warfare-economics/

War by any means necessary?  The prior article suggests there are other ways to cause your adversary to submit to your will.  The US has ignorantly allowed itself to be put in this position.  Energy independence and a vastly reduced debt would certainly reduce some of this exposure.

Sane Jews do not vote for Hillary

Sane Jews do not vote for Hillary: ""Who does Al Qaeda want in the White House?" is the title of an article by Lisa Daftari, who writes that "The Wall Street Journal has obtained a translated report of the text which suggests that...former Sec. of State Clinton 'will be an extension of the policy of Obama and the Democrats in the region.'" Precisely!

It's astounding to me, who reads daily newspaper reports of people being arrested and incarcerated for relatively innocuous crimes, that Hillary has not yet been frog-marched into a courtroom, on her way to Leavenworth. Clearly, someone doesn't want that to happen because of the guilt-by-association that would land that someone in a cell in the same institution. And the media's reassurances that FBI Director James Comey "is nonpartisan" ring hollow when you consider that on more than one occasion, he has found no criminal wrongdoing in several of the Clintons' fishy cases.

Tiffany Gabbay comments that Hillary's associations, which I've described above, "are nothing new to the Obama administration, nor to the Clintons. In fact, it is one of the primary reasons why voters concerned about terrorism and national security, or who care for the preservation of Israel, are best advised to refrain from voting for Clinton come November."

No sane American, no sane Jew, can give that premise a serious argument."


'via Blog this'

A New Generation of Unrestricted Warfare

From the article: 
Seventeen years ago, Qiao and Wang warned us that these myriad new forms of non-military warfare were coming. Today we all now live on that battlefield — an unlimited zone of conflict that can reach each one of us in every aspect of our lives and work. The unconstrained notions of modern war articulated in Unrestricted Warfare have now arrived. Boundaries between soldiers and civilians, combatants and bystanders have all but disappeared in this dangerous new world. Providing effective national security in this unprecedented environment of mass exposure requires our policymakers to plan for unrestricted warfare. This growing and nearly boundless threat requires us to develop better policies, better deterrent capabilities, and far more developed defenses. We can't wait for the first big attack of the next war to throw society into chaos — rethinking what war now means in our interconnected world demands the attention of our civilian and military leaders today.

http://warontherocks.com/2016/04/a-new-generation-of-unrestricted-warfare/

Pretty fascinating discussion but I think the fundamental rules still hold, we are just shifting our technologies.  The basic understanding of power and control, used by Clausewitz, is still how human beings work.