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.
Here we go with the Saturday edition … I hope you find it interesting, entertaining, enlightening or at least food for thought.
Ok, we start off with this story/video ... that just illustrates something I learned as a child about going anywhere: Leave it cleaner than what you found when you got there. But who would have thunk this?
Gov. Jindal made a very good point at the debate ... and it is about assimilation. If we want to see examples of the failures of multi-culturalism, they abound everywhere ... and when we look at the success of the US, it was due to immigrants choosing to assimilate into what they saw as the "American" culture. Those who assimilated quickly went from being hyphenated-Americans to be just Americans. Granted, there are some groups in the US who were denied the ability to be assimilated for centuries ... and that is tragic. Unfortunately, now, we are seeing groups - immigrants and those already here who define themselves by their hyphenated ethnic/cultural identity, who are refusing to be assimilated and are even denigrating and rejecting the concept, aided by those on the left who fail to see what assimilation means to this nation. It will lead to the dissolution of what we now know as the United States.
This is a wide-ranging commentary piece, but I will just say that I agree with the headline and most of the observations about Donald Trump. My main comment to Mr. Trump would be: If you can't stand the heat, then don't go in the kitchen. Reporters can be, and often are, very hostile, and if Mr. Donald can't deal with that then he really doesn't deserve to be in the Oval Office. Besides, his whining about news reporters makes him sound way too much like President Obama and those who oppose him on whatever issue you want to name.
Another commentary that points out the various flaws with the Iran Deal ... not that it is going to do any good.
Interesting commentary on the falseness of any moral equivalency argument about the Cold War ... ending with a slam at Bernie Sanders ... Is Sanders really that historically ignorant? I guess so, he still claims to be a socialist ... which - really folks - has become one of the most discredited isms in history (despite claims that Jesus was a socialist - he wasn't)
Moyers rides again and as for Krugman ... well, it is interesting to listen to. However, I would point out that the CEOs of all those companies are not in their jobs permanently and, in fact, their tenures are rather short. So this stuff about oligarchies becoming aristocracies with inherited wealth is more than a bit disingenuous. Particularly when you look at that other segment of the top 1 percent, sports figures and media stars, whose rise to the top doesn't usually last long, nor is it usually bequeathed to their off-spring (Drew Barrymore being one of the exceptions)
Just so you know I wasn't blowing smoke about the turnover at the top of US corporations
The important part here is to keep it all in perspective ... which the American left fails to do. It is not just a case of Black Lives Matter, it really is a case of ALL HUMAN LIVES matter. In the case of women's rights ... women in the US have so many more rights than the majority of women around the world it is not even funny. But not in the eyes of the progressives and liberals (but then I am being redundant)
Interesting analysis of what it means to be a Democrat ... worth thinking about.
As this is the 70th Anniversary of the dropping of the bombs on Japan, it pays to reflect ... and I tend to agree with the author: No apology necessary. When my 94-year-old friend who was a Navy veteran of World War II is asked about whether the bombings were justified, he always responds with just two words - Pearl Harbor.
The biggest problem with capital punishment in the US is that it takes so long to review each case that the murderer spends decades on death row ... It would seem that the court-imposed hurdles to the ultimate sanction is one of the reason that it has become rare, and therefore the lengthy stays on "death row" become cruel and unusual.
There is a warning to be heeded in this story. People, when people say they intend to do bad things to you ... don't just blow it off as bluster ... believe them ... they will try.
Interesting article on Iran ... is it genocidal or not? Is the Ayatollah Hitler or Stalin ... food for thought ... still, I really would rather take people at their word and take appropriate precautions.
The Israelis face a dilemma, as posited by this editorial, about how far it can go to combat effectively Jewish terrorism.
The point made in this commentary about Sen. Schumer's opposition to the Iran deal is the conclusion I came to already. He knows the bill won't survive a veto and so he has nothing to lose. Now, if he actually used his power and influence as the Senate Minority Leader to get other Democratic senators to side with him against the President, that would be a different matter. But he won't, so he really won't pay any political cost for his position.
Is Obama's anti-ISIS strategy working. The middle ground says it is a stalemate ... and that probably is the best spin you can put on it. Relying solely on air power is not going to defeat ISIS no matter how you cut it ... and if you believe that, then you have no understanding of the limitations of air strikes.
Interesting advice on dealing with China's expansionism. From a military perspective it makes a lot of sense. However, from a diplomatic and domestic perspective, I am not sure the US has the capital to make it happen.
Sometimes people just don't get it. Soldiers have to train hard, because the more they sweat in training, the less they will bleed in combat action. Apparently the UK MOD is recoiling from that truth.
Two points for this Canadian for actually doing something ... more than I can say for a lot of people in the US, particularly progressives who want to do nothing.
Well, I do like my rye ... but I am partial to the Canadian variety.
Poor Bernie ... his speaking events keep getting hijacked. I guess the ladies never got the meme: ALL LIVES MATTER, not just African-American ones.
This is getting to the point that I think I am back in the mid-1970s. A world without gender? I wonder how that is going to work out?
Trump seems almost as narcissistic as our president ... or maybe more so. Donald, you don't like the fact that people don't want to anoint you king and treat you accordingly. Well, don't be surprised when they start telling you that the emperor has no clothes. I know there are a lot people who wish they could just pop off at everybody like Trump does, but what purpose does that really serve ... other than to make you feel momentarily good. Actually, I think about all that Trump has been saying about people who don't treat him as king, and sometimes I think he must be looking in mirror and describing himself and not those who he seeks to diminish and berate.
This analysis points out what will bedevil the EU facing off against Putin. Sanctions are like glaciers, they move slowly. Putin views the world through a different paradigm ... so the question is, does the EU (and NATO) have the resolve to stand tough for the long run?
A peek into the future ... Russia's push for robotic warriors. China is pushing there too, so the challenge will be to see how the US will respond.
We must take this threat seriously ... and I think Israel probably has the capability and resources to carry them out. The question then is: How does the US react/respond?
I hope this competition actually produces something that is cost effective and works ... all too often in defense weapons system procurement we try to get things to do too many things at once and the overall mission capability suffers.
Fascinating ... I wonder if this pre-World War II design will live up to its promise
And if you don't believe these kiosks won't replace humans, then you are deluding yourself. This is a natural response to the rising minimum wages. Get used to it.
I dearly love Yellowstone ... and some of my best memories are of camping there as a child. If I could, I would go back in a heartbeat, tent, sleeping bag and cook stove in hand.
If this surprised Mr. Trump ... then he isn't as smart as he thinks he is.
More fodder for the Black Lives Matter people ... but I still am wondering about the follow up stories on the kid in Seneca, SC. Oh, that's right, there aren't any ... he was white.
I don't know if this woman is guilty or not. Unfortunately, it fits a pattern of Democratic elected officials and those appointed to serve them.
Watts, 1965 ... I have vivid memories as I lived about 40 miles away, or about a 30 minute drive back then. It was ugly.
Not a stellar point in American history, but in a way understandable given the ethics and the tenor of the times. It is hard for us now, to understand that and so we judge harshly.
As I have said elsewhere ... I doubt Schumer's defection will change much.
Stories like this make laugh sometimes ... I am old enough to remember when conventions were for real, instead of coronation ceremonies, and it took multiple ballots before the party settled on a candidate ... and the conventions are a year away ... yes, folks we have a long way to go, and I hope the field doesn't just surrender to media and pundit king-making.
As long as the standards are not watered down and it remains all-volunteer, I really don't care who is in the Special Forces.
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