Note: Each block of text actually is a link to a story or a web page that I am commenting on. Click on that text and it will take you to the page being referred to.
Once again, I venture into the breach … offering my daily readings for your perusal … I may not agree with all of them, as my commentary usually reflects, but all provide fodder for the grey matter to digest and consider as we try to reshape our world perspective to meet the challenges of the day.
At least one Obama administration official apparently is honest. Yes, the Obama Administration's energy policy will affect adversely the poor and minority communities more than it will affect the more wealthy progressive communities that see no problem with it. Truly is a sad commentary on the perspectives of the left and the reality of the world that really depends on fossil fuels for cheap energy. Without the cheap energy, we would be hurting and the US government decided in the 1940s that cheap energy would be its policy because it gave the greatest benefits to the greater group of people. In the new world of progressivism today, damn those who benefit ... have to save the planet, even if the science isn't settled (if it was, Los Angeles would be unlivable today based on what we were told in the 1970s).
It was common knowledge when I was in Saudi Arabia, admitted even by the Saudis I interacted with, that certain work was beneath the dignity of Saudis and so TCNs (Third Country Nationals) were brought in under contracts that neared indentured slavery to do these things.
May both of these concepts lead to easier access to space and travel to orbit, the moon, Mars and beyond.
Another story to induce climate change panic ... let us all run in circles, scream and shout, the world is coming to an end. However, to inject a note of sanity, the record only goes back 135 years on a planet that some 4,000,000,000 years old ... and even then the records are really kinda dicey until you get to about 40 years ago.
Headline news - cops kill armed black man - hundreds march in protest.
Three die (all African-Americans), four wounded (all African-Americans) in drive by shooting at (African-American) boys-girls club community center but unknown suspects (probably African-Americans) and we get this story ... no races mentioned ... which, in reality, is how it should be, but in today's racially charged environment doesn't fit the #BlackLivesMatter narrative or agenda.
A local news story on the above item ... again doing a very good job of keeping race out of the story ... until the end.
I guess some idiot in North Korea didn't get the meme from the South Koreans ... you shoot one, we will shoot a dozen back at you.
At least the South Koreans have the good sense to take precautions with their civilian population ... although given the fruit cakes in the North, one wonders what next will happen. Did the response send a wake up call against escalation, or will they continue to rattle sabers and push the limits.
With bombs and artillery and rockets going off elsewhere, the Palestinians and Israelis decide they need their moment in the headlines.
Oops, Pope Francis ... I know you come from Argentina, but it really would be best to let this sleeping dog lie.
Finland to offer basic income: Well, if you offer it to EVERYBODY equally, as dictated by your constitution, then there should be no problem ... except how are you going to pay for it?
Treasure hunters - in this case in search of NAZI gold - always are the trail of the latest map or hand-me-down story from someone who knew someone who said they knew something from somewhere about sometime, etc.
Unfortunately, this story sums the Obama Administration in a nutshell, in my humble opinion. The President has discarded executing the law as written, as is his constitutional mandate, to substitute his "policies" instead and to enforce them. In doing so, we no longer are a nation of laws, but a nation of "men" deciding what the law it. It is wrong. It is dreadfully wrong. The ultimate tragedy is that we seem to be letting it happen without protest because special interests of various shapes, sizes and stripes find it politically and economically convenient to support the policies rather than the law.
Ok, digress to a little fun for the moment, although I think the poor Afghan soldier is at a bit of a loss as to how to react.
There is a certain level of hypocrisy here ... I think ... that to oppose people entering without documentation is somehow wrong.
An online acquaintance of mine has added an interesting discussion to his blog ... I recommend it and his blog to your perusal.
The interesting dichotomy of ISIS when it comes to treatment of women.
New Army Chief of Staff at least sounds like he is making the right noises ... from a general perspective (pun intended)
Rangers - particularly the 75th Infantry Regiment (Ranger) - live by their motto: Rangers Lead the Way/All the Way Sir
The Iranian Nuclear Deal side pacts have all the earmarks of letting the fox in to guard the chicken coop ... but trust us, the fox is not going to eat the hens or eggs.
The US power grid is indeed vulnerable to a cyberattack ... and woefully prepared to defend against one. However, the solution really is not to bring the power companies under the overarching reach of the federal government, but to take a lesson from the internet and its predecessor, which was designed from the ground up to work around disruptions by decentralizing control. Not going to happen, but it would be a start.
Like the US has any strategy to defend its interests in the Arctic ... give me a break ... we have none and won't have a strategy until it is too late.
Neat accounting trick ... but the old soldier in me says: Where is the receipt? Where is the documentation that says the State Department received an issued item from a person. I got in trouble once because I was signed out for two telephones and I turned in two telephones ... only one of them had the wrong serial number. It seems when we had a defective unit replaced, we didn't update the paperwork. My bad ... almost had to pay for it.
Thomas Sowell does an excellent job pointing out the pitfalls of failing to enforce the law ... you get a government that ignores the law with impunity.
Interesting rant by Victor Hanson on our runaway behemoth of a government.
Mr. Greenberg on the ignorant arrogance of our current president.
For those who care, the CATO Institute (a libertarian think tank) says the US has dropped to 20th on its global freedom index ... yes, Virginia, it seems that the cycle of democracy is progressing as predicted.
And finally ... we will have to keep a watch on what North Korea does and how far its young dictator plans to push things. Unfortunately, the story doesn't mention one other provocation back in 1968: The seizure of the lightly armed communications intelligence ship USS Pueblo, in international waters off the Korean coast.
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