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.
Just an aside here: 103 years ago, my mother was born in Birmingham, Ohio, the second child of a theology student at Oberlin College Seminary. 102 years ago, my father was born in Brasfield, Arkansas, the first of eventually six boys of a Canadian-born hardwood lumberman and a Hoosier girl from Goshen. How they met is beyond me.
Well, the news goes on and so do my Random Thoughts. The market, it seems, is taking everyone for wild rides. Politics continues to churn, even though we still five months for even the start of the primary season (although you wouldn’t know it from the media hyperventilating over every twitch on the campaign trail)
Tuesday was another wild ride in the U.S. Stock Markets ... even good words from Apple's CEO apparently was not enough to stem the tide. Look for the turbulence to continue.
Here is a BBC look at why the woes in China are rippling around the world.
Apple's CEO's e-mail borders on trading insider information, but it probably stemmed the slide for a little bit ... but not enough at the end of the day
A pretty much straight-forward report on the markets' gyrations on Tuesday.
This news is not getting as much play as the stock markets but the commodity markets are killing farmers
An historical perspective that illustrates the potential of the market chaos.
An explanation on why the Chinese "meltdown" is causing others to "freak out."
Levity break - Kitten-dog love story
Interesting perspective on the state of the Democratic party.
This is the latest defense by progressives of Hillary Clinton's e-mail fiasco. But there was no policy ... oh, there is one now ... and every other part of the federal government had a policy on how private e-mails were not to be used.
Another progressive trumpeting that the Republicans are lying about the legality of off site private e-mail servers ...
Except, then there is this ... by former State Dept. people who know what they are talking about ... unfortunately, what they say corresponds to what I was told as a civilian employee of the Department of Defense/Army, and what her defenders are trying to pass off really is a bunch of steer poop.
And if you wanted to know why there are secret protocols between Iran and IAEA in the Iran deal ... this is why ... and it why the Iranians are saying the US is violating the agreement.
Interesting analysis of Israel's options on Iran. I am not sure that I buy into the author's reasoning that any weapon would be able to be destroyed when it was being married to a launcher ... assuming that it is a missile ... but there are more than one way to deliver nuclear warhead, and they don't need rocket motors.
Another discussion on the side deals ... and why Congress should probably not approve the deal
And this is an example of Congress just abdicating its responsibility. There really is no excuse for it, except nobody on the the left, from the President on down to the House and Senate, want to acknowledge that we are, indeed, involved in a war and so to declare that we are fighting one, even when we are fighting one, is verboten
The problem with this author's approach, in my humble opinion, is that it assumes that the other parties in global politics plan to play by the same set of rules .... which they don't. It also assumes a level of statesmanship on the part of each player that is rare, like seen only once or twice in a generation or two or three.
At another time, in a younger America, this would have been a causus belli that would have led to war ... only it won't ... because basically, the American people don't care any more about anything more than what they think they are entitled to get from the government.
Some analysis and background on where the contest for the Democrat presidential nomination may lead.
Digression for a moment: Idle bits of trivia about Gen. George S. Patton.
Make that four Americans and a Brit on the French train ... well, the first casualty was a French-American guy who took a bullet and the intrepid trio of young Americans stormed in to overpower the terrorist aided by a Brit.
It seems the intrepid airman, who almost lost his thumb and saved the life of the French-American guy who took a bullet, is going to get an Airman's Medal (like the top non-combat decoration for valor) and possibly a Purple Heart ... which makes one wonder why it almost took an act of Congress to give PH's to the victims of the Fort Hood Shooting. Awww ... never mind, this was a robbery gone bad anyway and not a terrorist attack.
We are slowly re-garrisoning Europe, it seems. Now, we are sending the top-of-the-line F-22 Raptors to set up shop in Europe ... well, at least for a little while.
While this strategy makes a certain amount of strategic sense, but don't hold your breath for the Obama Administration to adopt it. Why? Because Obama has his Nobel Peace Prize to protect.
F-35 v A-10 test ... interesting this is scheduled for two to three years out. A lot can happen in two to three years. Not only that, but it just illustrates how drawn-out the American weapons acquisitions process is. It is ridiculous
Breaking down the gender bias and barriers in the Marines/Army ... This is only one aspect of the problems ... standards ... but the 900 pound gorilla in the room that nobody, but nobody, wants to discuss is the impact that the human sexual dynamic has on small unit cohesiveness and effectiveness. I have my own views, admittedly formed in a small unit with both sexes represented 25 years ago. Granted, we were not a combat unit, but the distractions caused by the human desire for sex caused me more problems and headaches - not to mention the difference in standards back then - than I care to mention. It wasn't worth it to me, and I would have hated to have been in a line infantry or tank company and had to deal with the same aggravations.
It seems that the ground-pounders may be getting Iron Man suits in the not too distant future ... the world is catching up with science fiction.
Ok, folks,in my humble opinion, this suppression of college hijinks is taking political correctness too far. Please parents, if you haven't taught your daughters by this time what is right and what is wrong and what is safe and what is not, then you have failed them. Good grief, despite what you think about your little girls, they actually are adults now, legally, culturally and just about every other way possible. Don't you think they should be able to take responsibility for their own actions? Same things for the boys. IF they do something that is more than just hijinks ... then let them face the full weight of the legal system, but otherwise, get a life people.
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