Saturday, January 07, 2017

Guide To Contesting The Presidency

R.I.P. to the many procedural efforts to stop Donald Trump - The Washington Post:

I include this fine article mostly for future reference, but also to bring back fond rememberances of 2008-2009 when Rush Limbaugh was one of the few voices saying he wanted BO's POLICIES to fail ... because he thought they were bad for America, but that was beside the point then ... it was AWFUL that he would feel that way, and basically proved he was a "racist".

Naturally, this time it is no problem to find all sorts of pundits, prognosticators and politcianls working feverishly to destroy Trump before he ever takes office! It is even BIPARTISAN, Saints be praised -- the two party system has finally found something they can agree on, they hate Trump! Talke about unity!

In any case, the linked article gives a litany of all the avenues that have been tried so far to manage to overturn the election before he even takes office -- a useful guide for the future, so nobody talks about how the opposition to some future Democrat is "unprecedented"!

I'm guessing that will be a bisexual transgender "something" felon, lawfully married to their goat, which some nasty traditionalist Republicans will consider "unqualified" just because they are "a little different". It is always the "reactionaries" that are so damned obstructionist!

It will really take some creativity to try to find some new way to prevent an elected president from taking office!

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Political Psychology

https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/what-is-he-thinking/201612/the-decline-empathy-and-the-appeal-right-wing-politics

Readers of this blog will generally lose interest well before the end of the linked Psychology Today article and throw up their hands. They aren't wrong, the article is a great example of the depth of the difference in world view that we face in BOistan, but I soldiered on.

One of our giant problems is the loss of philosophy and the attempt to replace it with psuedoscience. Science about creating hypotheiss and MEASUREING results. If it can't be measured, it isn't science. Science can't recognize human consciousness, love, empathy or beauty because they can't be measured.

The "soft sciences" like Psychology, Political Science, Anthropology, etc use statistics which is a branch of mathametics, a TOOL of science (which is also a tool) to give itself the patina of "scientific authority". Scienfic authority itself is a complicated subject -- "works as designed so far with no promises for the future" is the authority. Much like the turkey two days before Thanksgiving giving a 99.999% statistical confidence interval to the assertion that "humans are benevolent creatures that care for turkeys", sometimes there can be surprises in the future.

The purpose of the article is really accomplished in the headline "right bad/childish/foolish/etc", left good/adult/smart/.etc" ... "proven by science"! So lots of ink is wasted on "empathy", "still faces" (uncaring people), family stress, inequality, etc until we get to this fine paragraph.
The right-wing media machine, one that has reached its zenith in the Trump campaign, has stoked the fires of the scapegoating reflex that always seems to lie just beneath the surface of the psyches of victimized whites. Thus, it’s important to pause and recognize that the propagandistic xenophobia of the Right has helped propagate the deep story that Hochschild so empathetically tells.
The "deep story" is that the middle class feels like the US economy isn't moving and that minorities and even "environmental concerns" are "cutting in line" ahead of them. As the above paragraph indicates, they have been "manipulated". The following paragraph lets us know that Robin Hood, Jesse Jackson and Bernie Sanders have the answer, one must "take from the greedah and give to the needah".
Wilkinson and Pickett’s research on the harmful effects of economic inequality should force us to make redistribution the centerpiece of our political program, just as it was for Bernie Sanders. Their research clearly shows us that greater equality itself can ameliorate a wide range of suffering. And the fact that our society disconnects us from each other means that we have to seek common ground with the people on the other side of what Hochschild calls the “empathy wall” and communicate to them that we not only feel their pain, but share it, and that, in the end, we are all in this together.
This sort of writing is not all that interested in much in the way of "facts" (to the extent that such things exist anymore outside the domain of the hard sciences). Income inequality has been going up since the early '80s no matter which political party was in power. The following chart from here.

Our eyes are of course drawn to the red top line, and the headlines admonish us to look there. Let's just not be manipulated for a moment and consider if how Stephan Curry or Lebron James play basketball has much to do with the rest of us. Look at the blue, tan, and yellow lines. First, they are NOT correlated with the red! The fortunes of the 1% rose and fell with primarily the stock market. Were we to look at the blue, we would likely find that stocks were also a component of their fortunes.

THE BIG NEWS looking at this chart ought to be that Trump and his primary supporters are RIGHT!  Whatever policies have been initiated and maintained since '80 have resulted in middle 60% and the bottom 20% having nearly identical economic results for the past 35 years! Is that what we want to see?

Why do we NOT want to see the bottom 20% stay at inflation adjusted flat income? Would we not rather see the 60% grow a little more showing some incentive for work?

My purpose here is not to go into economic policy, but to point out what I see on a regular basis by exposing myself to the MSM.
  • "science" is regularly trotted out to support left wing ideas without so much as a tiny shred of factual data being shown.
  • the left constantly tells themselves that "the 1%" and the "right wing" are the problem, which factual data shows to be completely wrong.

    The 1% is pretty much disconnected from the rest of the population -- they are CEOs, financiers, movie stars, sports heros, the Clintons,  etc ... their lives are not the lives of the other 99%, nor will they ever be. Here, in North Korea, China, Cuba, or anywhere.

    Most of the trends of the last 35+ years continue through all types of poltical administration. Technology may be driving them. Poltical decisions made prior to 1980 might be driving them (mass immigration, FICA, Medicare, welfare, etc), or something we are not seeing -- but the answer really doesn't appear to be either the 1% or the right wing.
  • Previous bullet notwithstanding, the left wing position of "the 1% and the right wing" is loud and CONSTANT. The MSM and "The Party" (TP-D) certainly at least seems to believe it fervently. For many on the left, this belief is as strong as any religious belief held in any world religion, because it IS a religious belief in Secular Humanism. 

Friday, January 06, 2017

Ft Lauderdale, Nobodys Team Won

Five killed in Fort Lauderdale airport shooting, suspect in custody - The Washington Post:



This one will be gone in a couple of days. Ex military Hispanic with likely "mental illness issues" randomly decides to kill people in a baggage claim area in Ft Lauderdale. The dead are real people, but they might as well be some of the 762 murders in Chicago of the  million or so  murdered in their mothers wombs -- nobody cares.



Had they been Islamic, myself and other "righties" would be outraged, but it would go away quickly.



Had they been "Trump supporter, NRA, Right Wing, etc", then "the other team" ... "The Party" and it's media arm would make the ballistics of the firearm used look tame as they took us to high dungeon and pounded on whatever connection they could find or manufacture.



But as it is, so what.



Can it be otherwise? People die, sometimes violently. We are beyond caring unless it is VERY special --  as in they are a celebrity, a cop kills them and they are a minority, or of course they are someone we know or love.  Perhaps that is as it should be -- unless someone we know well or even love dies, should we really care unless it is some especially loved tragic leader death -- Lincoln, FDR, Churchill ...  maybe JFK.



For thousands of years, people died all the time ... children, mothers in childbirth, kids with an infection, adults with an infection ... the average like expectancy was like "40". Death was a constant for this "vale of tears" -- eternity was at our elbow.



It still is -- a couple of decades next to eternity are meaningless, but TP and Satan would like to convince you that they are a VERY big deal! Just THINK of the impact of you dying at 50 vs 100 1,000 years from now! Or 10,000 ... a million years into eternity? 100 billion? Just a blip against eternity!



Nobody's team "won" this time though ... never mind, and be sure not to think about all this very much! Neither TP nor Satan likes very much in the way of thought on much of anything thank your very much! They will be MORE than happy to do any thinking required for you, and you can be completely assured that they will do it "correctly"!!



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Russians Celebrated Obama Victory


We absolutely know that Russians celebrated Obama's victory because Pravda said so  (and Pravda is "truth", like the NY Times here) -- we really didn't need spy agencies to tell us.

The leader of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, Gennady Zyuganov, welcomed Barack Obama’s victory. “His election is the choice of the younger, and the modern America which has been totally disappointed in the politics of George W. Bush.
Naturally, since "The Party" (TP-D) is all about inversion, what is "good" when they take power is BAD when Republicans take power. Oh, why was it that Rusasians celebrated BO coming to power?

All Republican presidents have always defended national interests, ignoring the interests of other countries of the world. The new US president cannot but understand that it is impossible to seek and find answers to many global issues without the participation of such a great country as Russia,” the leader of Russian communists said.
If we listen to what the press says MOST of the time about Trump, we would get the distinct impression that he is a strong nationalist that puts US interests ahead of those of other countries in the world -- from their perspective, "ignoring" them, and therefore "bad".

From the POV of TP, the US is NOT "exceptional", and a US president ought to be willing to consider the interests of other states as being more important than those of the US -- except of course if the "interests" that were damaged are those of TP power which is the ONLY thing of ULTIMATE importance to TP!

Therefore, the Russians applauding BO in '08 was wonderful, now many of the same ones applauding (like Putin)  "proves" that they wanted Trump, thus BAD! BO and Hillary were VERY clear that they wanted to work more closely with Russia, and thus did the "Russian Reset" (overload). 2008-09 was a regular love in.

This may be the most transparent case of political power politics and manipluation of the sheeple being  transparently seen as being the ONLY interest of TP and their US media subsidiary. What is a nothingburger in October becomes a supposed "national security issue" in December and the Sheeple mostly bleat away not able to remember October, let alone 2008.

One point, before getting to the Post’s story. It isn’t hard to see what is going on here: Democrats in the intelligence agencies prepared a report for President Obama. The report was immediately leaked by Democrats in the Obama administration (or else Democrats in the intelligence agencies) to Democrats at the Washington Post, so they could slant the story to influence those who will never actually see the report. The purpose of this charade is not to inform President Obama (still less, President-Elect Trump). It is, rather, to advance Democratic Party narratives and undermine the legitimacy of the Trump administration.
Yes, there in a nutshell we have the sum total purpose of the  MSM ... to advance TP power while defeating their opposition!

We knew this already, but it is important to see it exposed so blatantly.

One might think that such an evil regieme as the Russians could not be trusted to provide us the illusion of being a spacefaring nation -- somehow, I suspect the charade stops at that point.

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Thursday, January 05, 2017

Racially Motivated Trump Crime


This is one that will go away quickly. Just imagine if four white youths beat up a mentally disabled black and yelled pro-Trump statements. I think we all know the answer to that one! The national media has been working overtime to attempt to make the case that "white surpremacist crimes" have risen since Trump was elected.

While the victim can be seen cowering with his back to the wall, another voice can be heard repeatedly shouting, “F‑‑‑ Donald Trump” and “F‑‑‑ white people.” The four apparent attackers are black, while the victim is white, police said.
I don't beleive in "hate crimes" -- crime is crime, however if you ARE going to have such things, (and we do) how the hell can there be ANY question here? Well, there is ...
Duffin had said during an earlier briefing that a decision on hate crime charges would come after police determined “whether this is sincere or just stupid ranting and raving.”
See, when four blacks beat up a mentally disabled white screaming about Trump and whites, well, it is hard to decide if they are being "sincere"!

Isn't the home of BO, totally Democrat controlled city of Chicago a beacon for what Democrats stand for! Seven HUNDRED and sixty two murders in 2016 alone! Who says that Democrat policies don't make a difference!

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Oopsie!

The Most Epic “Epic Media Fail” of All Time? | Power Line:

Symbols can be so hard to keep straight!



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Statistically Showing Satan

http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2015/03/12/how-do-americans-stand-out-from-the-rest-of-the-world/

To readers of this blog, there is nothing surprising in this polling other than the US is STILL exceptional on a set of key measures relative to "wealthy nations".

  1. Belief in personal control of our lives. 
  2. Belief in importance of hard work. 
  3. Belief in God
  4. Happiness 
I assume that my readers would be surprised because I'm surprised we have not slipped farther. I like to consider myself a "realist", but there is no doubt I err on the pessimist side of reality. We certainly ARE slipping on all these elements, but I would have thought we would have slipped to the point of near alignment with Germany, UK, Canada,  etc, but in general we have not. 

I was gratified to see how close the UK and US were on individualism -- Brexit? 

There is no doubt that the last 8 years have been a strong effort to stamp out all of the top 3 above, and to make us more like Europe. The charts are worth going to look at. Science tells us that believing that what we individually do makes a difference (1),  being dedicated to it (2), and belief in a benevolent universe (3), leads to happiness (4). 

We know those things to be true, yet "progressivism" wants to remove personal control, punish hard work, and remove God --- which leads to China, Russia, Germany, UK, Canada ... roughly 20% happy vs over 50% in the US. 

I believe in God and Satan. What we see here is a definite inversion, bad being willfully substituted for good -- we know what creates lives worth living from both science and ancient wisdom, yet we have a large political contingent dedicated to making lives LESS meaningful and happy!

All of us inherently know what is right, history has shown us what is right,  our science shows us what is right -- and yet, a significant number of people persist in working to create a society that is LESS happy, healthy and productive.

If there is no force of evil in the world, why would this be so? 


Democratic, Jewish, Antisemitic

http://www.nationalreview.com/article/443390/john-kerry-speech-israel-jewish-democratic-one-state-solution-islam?utm_source=nr&utm_campaign=israel&utm_medium=facebook&utm_content=mccarthy

In one of the worlds most meaningless 75 minute speeches, Lurch Kerry said that "Israel can't be both Democratic and Jewish".

As the linked article points out, Iraq, Afghanistan, Turkey and others purport to be "Islamic democracies", but we also all know the problem with that.


Implicitly, of course, if Kerry is saying that a country with a Muslim minority cannot maintain its Jewish character and still abide by democratic principles, then neither can the United States maintain its Judeo-Christian character and still abide by democratic principles — notwithstanding that our Judeo-Christian character is the basis for our belief in the equal dignity of all men and women, a foundational democratic principle. It is a principle one does not find in classical Islam, the law of which explicitly elevates Muslims over non-Muslims and men over women.

Islam does not allow for democracy. It is a religion that REQUIRES that adherents seek an Islamic State and Sharia Law.

Pretty much all the European countries have a Christian state church, and I doubt Kerry would declare Italy, Germany or Britain to not be "democratic". He also calls many Islamic states "democracies", so what conclusion can we draw from his remarks other than the only people that can't do democracy with a state religion are Jews?

Does antisemitism need to make itself any plainer?

Finland Breaking Cold Records

Extreme weather in Finland: Cold record snaps at -41.7, lightning strikes Porkkala | Yle Uutiset | yle.fi:



This is WEATHER, not "climate", however I post because we often see reports of heat records and are told it is climate.



In a favorite line from "The Outlaw Josey Wales"  .... "Don't piss down my back and tell me it's raining".



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Wednesday, January 04, 2017

BO Russian Tantrum, I Like Russia

http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2016/12/obama-orders-sanctions-on-russia-but-why-now.php

I'm sure Russia doesn't have our best interests in mind, but at least they have THEIR OWN best interests in mind!

BO may have is own best interests in  mind AFIK, but I haver never thought he gave a rats ass about "US interests", and in fact, was anti-American his whole life.

The linked PL is all good -- if there was no good reason to do sanctions when the WH or State Department were hacked by probably the "same guys" -- maybe "Russian", maybe "Eastern European ", but doubtfully in the employ of the Russian government, then why in God's green earth do them now?

I think the Russian source has it right -- Bad for the US, bad for Trump, ergo, good for BO.

We think that such steps by a U.S. administration that has three weeks left to work are aimed at two things: to further harm Russian-American ties, which are at a low point as it is, as well as, obviously, to deal a blow to the foreign policy plans of the incoming administration of the president-elect.

Monday, January 02, 2017

Celebrating a Fine Sowell

National Review:

Thomas Sowell has decideed that 86 is old enough to stop writing his weekly column. Though I respect and understand  his decision, but I mourn it. In my mind he is finest current conservative mind on the planet. He would be the first to tell you that there are no irreplaceable men -- I yeild to his wisdom, but he feels irreplaceable to me just the same.

Over at National Review, they are having a retrospective that is well deserved. If only Sowell had been our first Black President rather than BO, the world would be much brighter today! The following is from the excellent column linked above and I think makes a giant point that is easy to miss. Even a brilliant mind like Sowells, studying under one of the leading lights of economic freedom, Milton Friedman, was still a Marxist after studying under Friedman! It was EXPERIENCE that showed Sowell the way the world really was. Had he remained an academic, he would likely be a Marxist still.

"The young man from Harlem earned degrees at three elite institutions: Harvard, Columbia, and the University of Chicago. It was at the third of these that he got his Ph.D. in economics. “I was a Marxist when I went to the University of Chicago, and I was still a Marxist after I took Milton Friedman’s course.” Incidentally, he holds the Rose and Milton Friedman chair at the Hoover Institution. “But just one summer as an economics intern in Washington got rid of all of that.” Sowell worked in the Labor Department, in the Wage and Hour Division. He was interested in whether minimum wages helped the poor by raising their pay or hurt them by denying them jobs. He found that the personnel around him were interested in other things: namely, the preservation of their own jobs, and the perpetuation of government programs. “Government has its own incentives,” he says. He was on his way as a conservative and free-marketeer."
Collectivism often sounds good in theory, but to date it has always failed miserably in practice. Some watered down versions like FICA and Medicare in the US have seemed to last a good long while, but they come with the "feature" of an ever increasing unpaid liability hanging over our heads -- currently something on the order of $130 TRILLION dollars and rising. Europe and Japan have similar programs and all three have been saddled with poor grouth for  16 (Europe and the US), and 26 years (Japan). While academics and government bureaucrats would be loath to admit it, it is just barely possible that a $130 trillion (US alone) ecomonim sword haning over your head just might slow growth a bit!

Sowell understood that good advice was good advice -- even if it came from a white guy. I loved this paragraph.

And Sowell thinks back on a “crucial point” in his own student career. He was in his very first semester at Harvard. And his roommate said, “Tom, when are you going to stop goofing off and get some work done?” Sowell thought, Goofing off? But I’m going full-bore! When the midterm grades came out, he had two D’s and two F’s. Then he knuckled down. Today, he says the following about his roommate (who became a math professor): “His lighting a fire under me is probably the only reason I graduated” — which he did magna cum laude. He adds a comment about our present America: “How many white students are going to tell a black student, ‘Why don’t you stop goofing off and get some work done?’ Oh, heavens.” These students would be hauled up before deans, “at the very least.”

Can anyone deny that in a unniversity today, Sowell is correct? Why the ONLY reason that a white student could be doing better than a black today is "white privilege".  A short time reading Sowell will convince any white person that "white privilege" doesn't allow many white people's names to be uttered in the same sentence as Sowell's relative to intellectual capacity and wisdom!

I definitely realize it HAS been my distinct privilege to read the words of Thomas Sowell. I thank our creator and the tireless efforts of Dr Sowell for allowing me that opportunity!

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The BO Political Corpse Stinks Too


The whole linked article is a worthy read. BO is clearly having a 2 year old level temper tantrum, or something more serious, as they say in the article at one point.

Tom Lipscomb had a stronger characterization: “Never in the diplomatic history of the United States have 35 members of any diplomatic mission been sent home while our nations were not at war. Obama is clearly insane. There was no consultation with any other branch of the government on this, I would have him interned in Hawaii pending mental examination and swear in Biden for the duration.”
Watching the MSM weathervane twist between Trump and BO is the greatest lesson in my lifetime of media duplicity and mendacity in action. Taking the level of action that BO has taken on Russia for ANY situation short of war is unprecedented in history! Yet the MSM generally applauds like the lapdogs that they are. I think Iowa Hawk covered the "hacking" very well here:

John Podesta, like 100% of everyone who has ever had a email account, received a password phishing email. He fell for it. 
According to some accounts, the phishing email had Russian fingerprints/characteristics in its metadata. 
Whatever the case, the password purloiners downloaded his emails, which eventually got into the hands of Wikileaks, who made them public. 
The emails were mildly embarrassing, revealing frequent circle jerking between the DNC and journalists. Mostly embarrassing to media. 
At the time of their release (Oct) they were hardly covered by any media, and largely dismissed as a big fat nothingburger. 
Not one of the people whose emails were revealed has ever disputed their authenticity or provenance. 
Fast forward to December. The October nothingburger has now magically transformed into “vote hacking” and “election hacking.” 
New narrative: treasonous Trump operatives conspired with Putin to hypnotically mesmerize Clinton voters into pulling the wrong lever. 
This is not Alex Jones or angry conspiracy kook Facebook uncles, it’s the NYTs, the WaPo, our beloved State Radio. 
How effective has this been? If polls are to be believed, 50%+ of Democrats believe the Russians literally modified vote tallies.

Meanwhile, pretty much any Trump action -- including ditching reporters to go out for dinner or play a round of golf is highly suspect and serious offence. The level of bias is as comic as watching football fans or a team complain of "pass interference" calls. Against their defense? "He never touched them!!!". A failure to call against the other team "He was all over him, it was a blatant mugging!"!!!

2016 is certainly the year the MSM completely jumped the shark and made no bones about being all-in for Hillary. It has been obvious for a good long while that the MSM is the equiivalent of what Pravda was in the old USSR -- "The Party Mouthpiece".

The whole column is a worthy read -- especially the Putin response to the BO provocation. Statesmanship vs a childish tantrum. Good contrast.

Sunday, January 01, 2017

Satan Mourns Zuckerberg. Pack Wins Division

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/acts-of-faith/wp/2016/12/30/mark-zuckerberg-says-hes-no-longer-an-atheist-believes-religion-is-very-important/?utm_term=.99fc2c6b6663FB

While Deplorables may be irredeemable according to Hillary, in the real spiritual world, redemtion is even possible if you are on your deathbed after a truly awful life.

"Zuckerberg identified himself as an atheist for years, but on Facebook on Christmas he wrote back: “No. I was raised Jewish and then I went through a period where I questioned things, but now I believe religion is very important.”

I've met many angry atheists, but I'm not sure I've ever met a happy one, and since the fear of God is the BEGINNING of wisdom, that case has rested.

I'm certain Satan isn't giving up -- wealthy well known atheists are a great way to steer the easily led to perdition, so, old scratch is certainly not thrilled, and that is even better than the Pack winning the division!

Happy New Year!

Wednesday, December 28, 2016

Tough Questions In Palm Beach

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/mar-a-lago-remains-a-top-destination-for-charities-despite-concerns-about-trump/2016/12/25/3dd6b886-c7c0-11e6-bf4b-2c064d32a4bf_story.html?utm_term=.c1a2430fb683

There was a period in my career when I flew in and out of Palm Beach quite regularly -- often for full week business meetings. We would pull in Sunday night and leave on Friday afternoon. Even earlty PM there were 50+ BIG private jets on the ground, and coming in steadiy. Not little ones -- full sized ones like Trump's. Often they would land, go over to the private terminal, and a nice helicopter would shortly lift off taking them to their estate or their yacht.

But those poor folks have a HUGE problem!

The question of whether to use Trump’s estate during the charity season has rattled Palm Beach society. But the consensus seems to be that, whatever they may think of Trump, Mar-a-Lago is a great place to party and raise money.
To Mar-a-Lago or to not Mar-a-Lago, what a quandry. When I was travelling down there, one of the planes that was well known and pointed out when it was on the ground was Ted Kennedy's. The Kennedy's have a big compound down there where Joe used to drink and womanize to his hearts content. In 1991, Ted, Patrick and "William Kennedy Smith" were out drinking and carousing and Smith ended up accused of rape.

The clan circled the wagons like they always do -- but in their case with the entire MSM to help them. Apparently now dead "John John" needed a little blackmail to get him onboard, but hey, it's a crime family founded on bootlegging, what do you expect?

Isn't it lovely how Teddy could drown his secretary and walk away, but "locker room talk" is supposed to be disqualifying for attending charity events at a venue where they have been going for 20 years?  Good old JFK kept a whole harem, including two staffers pretty much entirely for his sexual pleasure nicknamed "Fiddle and Faddle". He was BOTH a Democarat and a Kennedy, nuff said, whatever a guy wants sexually is A - OK for guys that can check those two boxes. Slick Willie? No less than Arianna Huffington of lefty Huffpo fame said she knew 20 women in DC who would be happy to give Slick a BJ -- he had such "high regaurd for women", including a very creditable rape accusation.

How WILL the mega-rich be able to sort it all out? Oh the morality! Oh the humanity!

Aleppo, American Alpo


The old programming saw about running on your own software is "eating your own dogfood" -- the actual execution of imagined great software, if you are lucky, hopefully just the early versions, can be some poor puppy chow!

The media and BO have brayed for 8 years about how bad a hole W left us in. It has become far clearer the last couple years that BO has left not just BOistan, but the world in a real crater.

The fall of Aleppo just weeks before Barack Obama leaves office is a fitting stamp on his Middle East policy of retreat and withdrawal. The pitiable pictures from the devastated city showed the true cost of Obama’s abdication. For which he seems to have few regrets, however. In his end-of-year news conference, Obama defended U.S. inaction with his familiar false choice: It was either stand aside or order a massive Iraq-style ground invasion.
BO was the master of the false choice and the straw-man argument. He was more fake than any news -- and a lot of the news the last 8 years has been VERY fake!

Sir Charles points out the obvious ... there are always lots of choices between doing nothing, ground troops or launching the nukes.

The U.S. could easily have destroyed the regime’s planes and helicopters on the ground and so cratered its airfields as to make them unusable. That would have altered the strategic equation for the rest of the war. 
And would have deterred the Russians from injecting their own air force — they would have had to challenge ours for air superiority. 
Facing no U.S. deterrent, Russia stepped in and decisively altered the balance, pounding the rebels in Aleppo to oblivion. The Russians were particularly adept at hitting hospitals and other civilian targets, leaving the rebels with the choice between annihilation and surrender. 
They surrendered.

BO's only competence was the same finger wagging pseudo arguments that the lapdog press lapped up like some rotting gelatinous once upon a time sea life polluting the air on the beach of reality. That millions have died due to his incompetence is of no concern to the left -- few of them were BOistanis, so that is "win". BOistan has no honor to defend -- only the pursuit of "pleasure", ideal if it is a pleasure that would turn the stomach of the carrion munching canine.

The 20th of January really can't get here fast enough!