Category: Democracy

America is and has always been and must be the leader of the free world – CNN’s (and its silly compadres’) opinion to the contrary says more about CNN than Donald Trump

The left in America for the past two years has been in mourning, so much so, that they hate America for their having lost the election. And now, as though “liberal” media has not embarrassed itself enough, they have declared that the U.S. is no longer the leader of the free world (n.b., these same news organizations declared Obama the leader of the free world before he even took office though he turned out to be the lapdog of the free world instead).

CNN and other news organizations have declared Angela Merkel or Emmanuel Macron leader of the free world. To carry this joke to its logical end, that would mean that the leader of the free world is in bed with China, dancing to China’s tune, like a puppet on a string. It also means this: can you imagine any country in the world, any single country saying the following: “Our democracy is under assault from dictators, from Russia and China, we need to be protected. God bless Emmanuel Macron! France will protect us,” Or saying “we need protection from attack by North Korea or Iran or Russia or China – thank God for Angela Merkel – Germany will save us”?

Ha ha ha ha ha. Imagine that. Germany and France cannot even protect themselves without the U.S., let alone protect anyone else.

The leader of the free world will always be the United States, and the current president, while certainly a dull tool, has had more courage in two years than President Obama has had his entire life. Yet Obama received the Nobel Prize before he began his administration, and was loved by Europeans because he was soft, and cuddly, and liberal, and a wuss. Europe just loves American presidents who are obedient and weak, because then the French and German leaders can strut around and pretend they are leaders, though at the first sign of conflict they will run behind the U.S. President and hide, and cry out “Appease, appease!”

Our nation is sick, mostly because the Great Divider Obama created a schism that will take a decade to repair. Obama set everyone against each other, poor against rich, black against white, Democrat against Republican, Muslim against everyone, women against men, companies against people, and the list goes on and on. For all of his erudite accolades, Obama did nothing more than leave the nation crippled and wounded and in chaos, so much so that his minions cannot to this day accept the fact that the country threw his party the hell out of office. Obama’s eight feckless years gave birth to Trump’s presidency.

America is, and always has been the leader of the free world. No other nation can alone keep the forces of evil at bay, and the free world safe from harm from the likes of China, Russia, Iran, North Korea and a host of other evildoers, and no other nation on Earth has the will to do so.

We live in a day when liberals, progressives, socialists, communists and other members of the Democratic party live without mirrors unable to see their own folly and injustice, practice hypocrisy and have been lobotomized by President Obama’s political correctness and divisive politics. Only when the left rejoins the United States can we move ahead with the greatness that is America and the great work yet to be done to preserve democracy and fight against the forces of tyranny.

Google searches only what the liberal media produces. CNN does not have the power to declare who is and is not the leader of the free world. That fact, that leadership, despite the temporary insanity of those few rabid voices, comes from the actions and power of the United States, and we remain true and brave and free and strong and democratic against a tide of injustice, hegemony, propaganda, extortion and bullying. All we can say is thank goodness America is still America in the face of such evil.

NATO has blatantly given the green light to Iran to attack Israel – the NATO chief says alliance won’t protect Israel if Iran attacks, never mind maintaining even the illusion of a semblance of spine or morality – with friends like the EU, who needs enemies?

NATO has given the green light to Iran to attack Israel. It should come as no surprise that when put on the spot, the EU will follow its standard military response – Run away. Is it possible? Can humans be that completely feckless and pathetic? Perhaps it is time for the US to leave NATO and see how the EU likes facing Russia and China, ISIS, Al Qaeda, North Korea and all of the other enemies of democracy themselves. They can do “deals” because that is all they know, how to appease. The EU learned absolutely nothing from Hitler and Chamberlain. I’m tired of spending so many American lives, and billions and billions of dollars saving those lilly-livered appeasing jackasses over and over and over again. Why should we help them at all if this is their policy? Let them figure out how to get by protecting themselves from evil by spending a handful of Euros on defense.

Fuck the EU. It is 1939 all over again, and Europe is at war against the Jews. Despicable, pathetic, moronic, hypocritical, disgusting and so weak. By saying they will not help Israel, Europe is saying they are helping Iran…Iran!!  The enemy to everything democratic and peaceful. There is NO NEUTRAL here. Could anyone be more chickenhearted? What is wrong with the EU? NATO? NATO? Without the US, NATO is a gun club, a picnic group, a coffee clutch. Good luck. Oh, by the way. If Russia decides to waltz into Paris or Berlin or Rome or Madrid we’re busy defending Israel, sorry. Oh. Did I send a signal to Russia that they have a clear path to roll over you guys? Good luck. I give you three days and then you can genuflect to Tzar Putin, as opposed to kneeling before the Emperor Xi or the Ayatollah. Seems you make your bed, you sleep in it.

Project Syndicate Adores China (and seems to Despise Israel) – Read Project Syndicate with Great Care, it is NOT Our Friend

I am writing with regard to the article published by Project Syndicate, and republished in the Taipei Times on May 1, 2018 on p. 8 entitled China Should Follow WTO Rules written by Martin Feldstein.

While not bashing Israel, Project Syndicate seems to make great efforts to glorify Communist China and the new Emperor Xi. This is another Project Syndicate “hail China” article. Is it any surprise? What is wrong with these people? George Soros continues to seek a revolution with totalitarian flavor in the world (a “World with Chinese Characteristics” – he would really love that, it seems). Truthfully, this article and Martin Feldstein, disgusted me from the very first line: “I am a great admirer of China and its ability to adjust its economic policies to maintain rapid growth, but now that it has risen to the top of the global economy…” WHAT ABOUT ITS TOTALITARIAN DICTATORSHIP AND CRUSHING OPPRESSION OF ITS PEOPLE? Not one word. Not one.

Professor Feldstein recounts how he traveled to China in 1982, and how poor it was, and governed by a communist regime. Even then he makes no reference to the nature of the regime – and that is the point – very little has changed since 1982 aside from having beguiled the world into sending trillions of dollars into building up the world’s biggest threat to freedom. I think as an economist, Martin looks at the Chinese economic experiment and marvels at it, sort of like a biologist might examine anthrax or the plague and marvel at the complexity and efficiency at killing. At least the biologist recognizes the threat to humanity. Here, well….only marveling. This kind of appeasement of China is one of the most dangerous aspects of this platform, filling heads around the world with glowing praise for China, a silent killer adept at its own propaganda and blackmail.

Where does Project Syndicate find these pro-China hacks with stellar resumes? You would think that as a member of the Reagan and Bush administrations, Feldstein might have developed a healthy perspective on China’s menace to the world. Perhaps he was brainwashed and turned sappy when he served in the Obama administration and then the Council on Foreign Relations.

Here is an example of another Harvard economist overwhelmed with admiration by the ease with which a totalitarian government can manipulate its economy to become whatever it wishes on the backs of over a billion peasants. Amazing what killing 80 million of its own people, and oppressing billions, strictly controlling every aspect of society and foreign competition at will, and stealing every single item of technology within its sticky, greedy hands, and elevating industrial espionage to a national duty can do for your economy.

Remarkably, Feldstein focuses only on China’s compliance with WTO requirements to admit China into the world as an international leader, and nothing else. He already puts their economy at the top. However, not one time, not one word, not a whisper is devoted to China’s horrendous treatment of its people, the complete absence of any freedom, rights, justice, free will, license, democracy, free enterprise, its aggression towards the South China Sea, its neighbors and in particular its obsession with destroying Taiwan’s democracy, a threat to China’s malignant one-party dictatorship. How is it possible that Feldstein, a member of three Presidential administrations, a supposedly world class economist cannot even recognize China’s hegemonic intentions (e.g. his glowing view of One Belt One Road, ignoring its threat to the world) and complete domination of its people, or that its economic “success” is done with blood on the Emperor’s hands?

This is why we are in danger. People like this, like Feldstein, with long resumes, appointments at the best universities (Harvard in his case), a large platform and absolutely no brains whatsoever in their empty Project Syndicate heads (empty aside from some economic guidelines, formulae and statistics, devoid of morality apparently). In my opinion, Mr. Feldstein is a brilliant economist and a complete idiot (something I feel he has in common with Joseph Stiglitz).

 

 

 

Dirty Tricks, Plumbers, Clintongate – DNC Partisans in the FBI, Justice Tried to Sandbag the Trump Campaign

Dirty tricks. Plumbers. Cloak and dagger. CLINTONGATE.

All of these come to mind in the intrigue involving Steel, his dodgy dossier, the select highly placed moles in the FBI and Justice Department actively supporting Clinton and actively seeking to sabotage the candidacy of Trump, and the misrepresentations made to the FISC in the FBI’s application for a warrant for surveillance of one of Trump’s advisors during the election. This alone warranted a much closer examination of the evidence, and the FBI achieved its success with lies, omissions and obfuscation. Plumbers and dirty tricks to affect an election. Heads must roll, indictments must ensue, testimony must be taken, I predict 5th Amendment pleas by persons inside and outside the Obama administration and inside the FBI, Justice Department, Perkins and DNC. Because the liberal media will never explain the significance of the Memo, most people will not catch the enormous significance of these defalcations, and how far up it goes within the DNC.

All of the dismissive commentary I have heard on liberal media in the hours since the “Memo” was released dismisses it as only part of the story, and argue that the FISC application for a warrant would not have relied on the Steel dossier alone and that there was a mountain of evidence. And yet…..

I have not heard one single “pundit” mention this line in the Memo: “Former FBI Deputy Director McCabe confirmed that no surveillance warrant would have been sought from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) without the Steel dossier information.”

In other words, the argument that there was a mountain of evidence to support the warrant besides the dossier is errant and irrelevant. Basically the FBI knew exactly what the FISC judge wanted to see (having a history of 99% success in obtaining warrants), and the mountain of evidence, which alone was insufficient to merit the warrant, was merely a distraction to make it appear the dossier was supported by a mountain of evidence. The Court was misled, and the lie was an official lie, a conspiracy among Steel, Perkins & Coie (counsel to the DNC), the DNC, the Clinton Campaign, and those Clinton supporters and Trump enemies within the Justice Department and FBI, following their leaders’ very obvious support for Clinton and opposition to Trump. Evidence of these things is explained in the Memo.

Pundits speculate that the FBI is traditionally apolitical. And yet….

And yet there is evidence that people appointed by Obama and hired by those so appointed supported the causes of the Democratic Party and Hillary Clinton’s candidacy, and were utterly opposed to Trump becoming president., including Steel himself, as well as though at the FBI. The objectivity, and checks and balances were absent because of the ideology within those institutions imposed through the appointments by Obama. Those appointments and hirings continue to dog the President even today.

Basically Trump’s accusation that Obama wiretapped his campaign was correct. Bombshell. To get the wiretap, those involved in the application lied by omission, failing to notify the Court that the dossier was paid for by the Clinton Campaign, which would have cast it in a most unbelievable light. Bombshell. The application was shepherded by partisans who were Clinton acolytes and avowed enemies of President Trump. Bombshell.

Hearings in the Senate must be commenced. A special prosecutor must be appointed to prosecute those who sought to obtain the warrant with fake evidence and material misrepresentations.

 

 

Women’s rights are universal, not political – the left kidnapped the cause, making it exclusive, not “inclusive”

“The march in Washington took on the feel of a political rally when US Senator Kirsten Gillibrand and US Representative Nancy Pelosi, both Democrats, urged women to run for office and vote to oppose Trump and the Republicans’ agenda.”  Washington Post, 1/21/18 (Celebrities join march for women’s rights, encourage voting)

I agree with most of the principles of women’s rights, especially equality on all levels. Most people in the U.S. do abide by those principles, even the President.

By turning the women’s movement into a leftist movement of the Democratic Party, it becomes not “inclusive”, but in fact “exclusive”. The idea that emerges is that women who do not support the “Party” (the Democratic Party) are not deserving of the same rights (in fact, the idea floated is that if you support the President, as a woman you definitely do not deserve any rights at all). This is the legacy of President Obama, the Great Divider. He championed the concept of “us or them”, either his disastrous ultra-leftist views or extremism on the right. As it turned out, there were 60 million people who voted otherwise, and an enormous legion of people who eschewed both the left and the right. But women’s rights should not be political.

Women’s rights are universal, not political. Yesterday, in Los Angeles, the marches for women were replete with political speeches against the current administration and any policies the Democratic Party does not support. Those issues have nothing to do with Women’s Rights.

In fact, and most importantly, many of the men who have been caught up in sexual harrassment cases (like Harvey Weinstein, a very high level high roller in the Democratic Party, and also Michael Oreskes, Chief of the news division of National Public Radio (who actually managed NPR’s coverage of the sexual harrassment narrative at NPR in recent months), and other TV and Screen stars) were high level members of, or supporters of the Democratic Party and extreme liberal views, proving that women’s rights transcend party lines. By co-opting the movement, the liberal wing of the Democratic Party has isolated at least half the women in the world. Now how is that “inclusive”?

The “women’s movement” as defined by the Democratic Party, has been designed to include many issues irrelevant to the woman’s movement itself, such as BLM, anti-Trumpism, and illegal immigration. By swelling the ranks with many people with other axes to grind, it makes it appear the movement is bigger than it might be, and also part of the Democratic Party’s platform, but also in doing so it robs the women’s movement of its absolute purity and righteousness, and obscures the universality of women’s rights. Actually, the women’s movement needs to reach all women, not just liberals. Women’s right’s advocates have said that already, only the Democrats, so worried about economic success of the administration, have sought to piggyback on the opportunity of opening Pandora’s box of sexual harassment (and much to its chagrin, many of the casualties have been their very own male “treasures”).

Hypocrisy has come to reside in the left, to infect it really, and it is very scary and tragic. It is one of the chief reasons I abandoned the Party some years ago, because when I saw the ideological table, I was shocked to find the Obama wing of the Democratic Party sitting right next to the most extreme right wing acolytes, both adamant that their own speech is the only permissible speech, that only their own ideas were worthy of protection, and that everyone and everything else had to be suppressed, stopped, destroyed, even questioning the wisdom of free speech, and seeming to support China’s totalitarian system and Palestinian terrorism.  College campuses have become infected with this rot, and Obama’s political correctness has produced calls for many unconstitutional restrictions on speech. There is a name for that – fascism.

Grave Danger Posed by China’s Trojan Horse – One Belt One Road

I have written before here about the grave danger posed by China’s One Belt One Road initiative – it is China’s Trojan Horse in Europe, Communist Chinese lucre a smokescreen for the Chinese Communist Party’s power grab, continuing battle with the U.S. for influence, and for the Communist Party’s hegemonic designs.

Greece fell prey to China because it has been the EU’s pauper, and bristled at its treatment at the hands of German/EU austerity in response to Greece’s uncontrolled spending. Hence, China’s offer of billions to Greece was most opportune for the Chinese Communist Party and welcome for Greece – and as usual, any money China “invests” has strings – strings to support its totalitarian system, its political evil, and its continuing assault on Western democracy and any kind of freedom.

In an article published in the Taipei Times on Monday, January 8, 2018 on p. 5 (Europe Wary of ‘One Belt One Road’), the article notes “The former NATO chief said that Greece — a major recipient of Chinese largesse — had in June last year blocked an EU declaration condemning Chinese rights abuses.” Here is the rub – take money from China, kneel to Uncle Xi and his political agenda. The march of the Chinese Communists begins with the infection wrought from within its Trojan Horses. Greece bent over for Uncle Xi. More to come in Europe.

I for one don’t trust France’s Macron to resist China’s Trojan Horse offerings, trading access to a fake Chinese market (there is no Chinese market except for Chinese companies so long as foreign companies are required to partner with Chinese local partners, themselves Communist Party Trojan Horses) for softness on Communist China’s political demands and violations of human rights and every other fundamental French principle. France has been perennially rushing to China to get better market position and to tell the Emperor Xi his clothes are most lovely. I haven’t trusted President Trump with such issues either, the bright light of China’s phantom market a very juicy mirage hard to resist. Trump also is not so enamored with Democracy as he is with Businessocracy, and evening out the playing field with Communist China is a priority – but even that comes with risks of Trojan Horses. There is also the North Korea chess game that China has been playing with the U.S. for 25 years, and playing it very well against the Clinton, Bush and Obama administrations, and continuing with the current administration, though Trump’s unpredictability and bullish attitude has China unnerved. The EU’s stance on North Korea and Iran is disappointing – appeasement at its worst.

Europe does not have the backbone to resist Communist China’s hegemony and political moves, because Europe has no stomach for conflict (its foreign policy is basically “appease, appease, appease”) and is so eager to jump on any advantage over the US with Chinese trade when there are conflicts, such as North Korea or the South China Sea. We do not see Europe sending carriers to the region or supporting the US in its opposition to North Korea’s nuclear ambitions (only softness, weakness and more appeasement). The same can be said of Iran, where Europe has lined up with China and Russia in failing to comprehend the value of a strong hand against a rogue enemy like Iran. Europe’s suicidal embrace of the enemies of democracy is both surprising and disgusting, turning my stomach every time I see it (note the loving comments made yesterday by High Representative of the European Union (EU) for Foreign Affairs and Vice-President of the European Commission Federica Mogherini about Cuba and dictator Raul Castro, like the words of a lover). Consequently, I have no faith that Europe can resist Communist China’s quest to plant as many Trojan Horses as possible around Europe. Let’s remember that Europe failed to act to stop the conflagration in Syria, instead following Obama’s Oppeasement policy there, and the result was millions of refugees flooding Europe, something that will change adversely European culture, society and politics for many generations. Already many people are fearful of travel to Europe, caring about where it is safe…

One Belt, One Road will look bright and shiny to the EU’s infrastructure starved members. But the cost of that infrastructure is political suicide and being indebted to Communist China, a tyrant who demands obedience to its “life with Chinese characteristics.”

The Press Must Be Free – With Responsibility for Reporting Facts, Unless in Editorials

In an article that ran from AP in the Taipei Times on Jan. 1, 2018 (“Journalists came under further threat from governments last year”), it is reported that the press is under assault around the world. This has been true for a very long time, in particular among the world’s worst despotic governments, Communist China, Russia, Iran, Turkey, and in other Capitals of such ilk. The article goes on to complain about President Trump. Freedom of the press is sacred in America, always has been, always will be. But in the U.S. at present there is war between left leaning and conservative news organizations, and the current government, signified by manipulation of stories on all sides.

For instance, it is naive to believe that a “philanthropist” like George Soros, with billions of dollars at his disposal and a socialist agenda, does not use the press (like Bloomberg, and Project Syndicate (a supposedly charitable foundation which is instead simply a pro-socialism organization dedicated to promoting socialism and mass migration in the US, and in Europe, on the general theory that tens of millions of migrants who are unfamiliar with free capitalistic systems, such as in the US, would support highly leftist views)) to manipulate the news to suit his agenda. I have complained about Soros-promoted articles (under Project Syndicate) on these very pages because of the canard they continuously promote that America is evil and China is blissful. What’s that about? Free speech is free speech. They have the right to write it, we have the right to criticize it.

That said, of course governments cannot arrest journalists for speaking opinions, and those arrests are the hallmark of totalitarian regimes, like in China, Russia, Turkey (not a democracy these days), Iran or many other tyrannies. The free press is the foundation of freedom and holding the government and its parties and their members accountable for their policies and actions. The more vibrant the press is, the less likely a government can violate the law. In the US, the Constitution and its law fully supports the freedom of speech, whether by the press or anyone else.

In a democracy, when journalists have the right to speak their opinions, and when they promote opposition to the government, of course the government can respond with criticism, not arrests. This article reports Trump is sowing distrust in the media for claiming unfair treatment, but when 80% of the media focus only on leftist criticism of the government there is already distrust because it is one-sided.

In the US, the press is wide ranging, very free, and there is no threat of arrest for writing articles. I am truly sick and tired of ultra-left press like CNN, Washington Post, NY Times, Newsweek complaining about the President criticizing them for “fake news”, when 75% of their coverage is aimed at what many people consider matters of their the reporters’ opinion, not fact.

Reporting in the United States has essentially stopped, and it has been replaced by opinion reporting, which means that there is very little reporting the facts that lets the people decide their own opinion and more of reporters reporting their own opinions, as though that is news – it isn’t. Reporters cannot help inserting their opinions in almost every story. My Blog is an opinion blog, it doesn’t pretend to be reporting. CNN cannot say that, yet almost every article is dripping with opinions, almost as though its reporters have not been schooled in the art of objective reporting. There seem to be no ideals except “kill the other side at all costs”.

Truthfully, I don’t care what their opinion is, I only want the facts, just the facts. People have become so lazy, they want to be told what to think. Editorials are for that, not news articles. And most of the time, Trump’s argument is that reporters, trying to avoid opinionizing, instead report only those facts that support what their opinion would be, essentially showing half the story.

I’ll give you an example. Yesterday, in the Huffington Post, there was an article entitled “Trump Terminated All Members Of HIV/AIDS Council Without Explanation”. The title is designed to heap infamy on the President for supposedly being against the HIV/AIDS Council. But that’s not true. While the bulk of the article is criticism for the firings, in the middle of the article the following sentence is thrown in: “Also of note, during the Obama administration, nearly all of George W. Bush’s appointees were eliminated prior to new appointees being named.” In other words Obama did the same thing, because it is normal for a new President to get rid of the predecessor’s appointees and appoint his/her own members. In fact, the article also states: “One of those members ― Gabriel Maldonado, CEO of the Riverside, Calif.-based LGBT and HIV/AIDS group Truevolution ― told the Washington Blade, however, that “it is common for appointees to be terminated and for folks to kind of want their own people in.” So what’s up with the completely misleading title of the article, and what is Huffington Post trying to pull? This is a very small example of manipulating the media to promote a “fake” critique – you could call this “fake” news. This is basically using freedom of the press to “hide the ball” and sell propaganda for a social agenda, not reporting what happened. I don’t blame Trump for sacking Obama’s appointees. It is totally normal for a President to do. There are plenty of other things to blame him for. But the Huffington Post is guilty of misrepresenting the truth by omission when they know most people read the headline, not the article, especially scrolling through Yahoo News, where the article appeared near the top. It is disingenuous at best, blatant fraud at worst.

I can only name a few reporters out of thousands who have a reputation for being completely honest in their reporting. Truly. That is a very sad fact. I don’t want to know a reporter’s political choices. Objective reporting is a lost art. Reporters should be required to attend the Walter Cronkite School of Objectivity.

Opposition to Legislation Against Israel on the Spurious Grounds of Violating Palestinian Children’s Human Rights – Pro-Palestinian Groups using Palestinian Kids as “Human Shields”

This is an email I just sent to Betty McCollum, Congresswoman for the 4th District in Minnesota after learning of her sponsorship of a bill entitled Promoting Human Rights by Ending Israeli Military Detention of Palestinian Children Act.  It seems the BDS lobby is now using Palestinian kids as human shields to try to hide the malice in the Palestinian campaign to end Israel and Jews. It is embarrassing there are actually people in Congress who have bought this ruse.

1. I am appalled at your bill regarding Israel.

2. A child aged 8 walks into a department store in downtown St. Paul wearing a suicide bomb vest. What should you do? After the child is tackled to the ground by an heroic officer, and apprehended before the vest can be detonated, what to do with the child? Catch and release? Release to parents (who armed the child in the first place, or failed to stop Uncle X from teaching the child to kill)? Detain the child pending further investigation? How about if the story is about thousands of child/teen bombers over a longer time period?

3. Instead of focusing on a tiny nation fighting against a billion adversaries all religiously committed to exterminating them and all Jews worldwide, how about focusing on the brainwashing in Palestinian schools? How about preventing a child from taking part in terrorism by halting aid to a regime that indoctrinates its children with the notion that suicide bombing Jews is the highest achievement they can attain, and that all Jews must be killed? This is the basic curriculum in Palestinian schools. Not be a doctor. Not be a lawyer. Not be an artist. Not be a scientist. Be a terrorist, be a Jew killer.

4. There are hundreds of millions of children suffering around the world, many many many many of them suffering at the hands of Islamic societies using them as child soldiers or as child brides or as slaves. And yet, you focus on Israel, the only true democracy in the region, a nation of around 8 million people, not on the 1.5 billion in Arab nations surrounding it eager to kill every Jew alive. Imagine, if only the region were focused on actually educating their children instead of indoctrinating them to murder? Golda Meir said “Peace? There will be no peace until the Arabs love their children more than they hate us.” She said that 60 years ago. It is still completely true today. By the way. The doctrine for Israel is “Never again.” I wonder. Have you ever visited Dachau? Auschwitz? Buchenwald? If you haven’t been to a concentration camp, you cannot viscerally understand what Israel is dealing with.

5. Palestinians always have had the opportunity for normalcy. But having been chosen by the Arab world as cannon fodder, they have decided to torture their people to try to destroy Israel. Congratulations for buying into the lie that Israel is persecuting Palestinians. Hundreds of billions of dollars have been given to the Palestinians and used there to pay terrorists’ families when they have murdered Jewish children, or to build bombs, or tunnels, not build schools, hospitals or commercial enterprises. Israel created an oasis out of a desert. The Palestinians have turned an oasis into a desert. Go figure.

6. My fervent hope is that this legislation dies an ignominious death in some Committee somewhere. However, given the recent insanity gripping my Democratic Party, I am not sure of the support. Imagine having to turn to Republicans for common sense. What a strange and twisted thing liberalism has become. You were among a group who sponsored the Elie Wiesel Genocide and Atrocities Prevention Act of 2017 – are  you really going to conflate the Holocaust with Palestinians opposed to Israel’s battle for survival against all adversaries determined to kill all Jews? Perhaps you believe that Hamas is a charitable organization?

Appeasement is not a Viable Strategy with North Korea, as 25 Years of it has Shown

An article appeared in the Taipei Times on Sunday, October 29, 2017 on p. 6 regarding the North Korean crisis entitled Talking Must be the Only Answer by Ian Inkster  http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/editorials/archives/2017/10/29/2003681233/3

Mr. Inkster very instantly and blithely dismisses the most important concept identified by President Trump, that “the US has been talking to North Korea, and paying them extortion money, for 25 years,” at the outset of Inkster’s article.  President Clinton made the horrific mistake of trusting North Korea in 1992, and the agreement with North Korea was violated by North Korea before the ink was dry. Years of Chinese prevarication, talking, and “statesmanship”, as Mr. Inkster lovingly suggests, in particular over the past 8 years by the great statesman President Obama, produced nuclear weapons, long range missiles and a hydrogen bomb. So much for statesmanship. As I mentioned before in my blog post, and here, and in others, President Reagan scared the Iranians so much they released the hostages they had held for a year within hours of his inauguration, after years of wimpiness from President Carter. Curiously we find ourselves in a similar position, with 8 years of extraordinary wimpiness from President Obama followed by a very loose and sometimes scary but apparently resolute cannon (despite not being the brightest bulb in the marquee of life).

Mr. Inkster refers to the Cuban Missile Crisis. He must have viewed it as a young teen through the foggy mist across the pond. From here, in New York, a hop, skip and jump from Washington, I saw and felt President Kennedy’s “bluster”, which Mr. Inkster says Kennedy did not display, but his spine, and his temerity, his willingness to meet move with move and show of strength with show of strength, and the backdoor channel ready to receive a message of contrition from Khrushchev is what made the Russians back down and get the missiles out of Cuba, not “statesmanship” alone. In those days, the US had 16 times as many nuclear weapons as the Soviets, and Khrushchev knew it. Were Kennedy instead Jimmy Carter or Barack Obama, Cuba would be a colony of the Soviet Union with nuclear missiles on our doorstep. Make no mistake. Kennedy played chicken well, and Khrushchev blinked, and then a basis for resolution was found. Junior knows the score. He is crazy but he is not an idiot. He looks for weakness and tries to exploit it. But like a rat, he has no desire to die.

In Europe, the strategy for everything has always been, compromise, compromise, compromise. Even with Hitler. Even with Russia. Even with Iran. Even with N. Korea. Particularly with China. It is this unwillingness to show strength to achieve compromise that has always led to horrible deals. I am not surprised by this (and Europe had a willing partner in Obama, whose foreign policy was taken directly from Europe’s playbook, which is why his foreign policy was reviled in the US, and loved abroad).

As soon as Trump spoke his mind (and the more unhinged he sounds, the better at present for strategic purposes) the European members of NATO were on their hands and knees begging for talks with N. Korea. To what end? To what compromise? To give a lunatic encouragement? Let an insane regime have a hydrogen bomb? There will be no resolution to this situation unless NATO grows a spine and plays its part (which is not begging, but rather trying to convince junior that Trump would love to test the US arsenal), and when North Korea weighs its options well, it will find a way to save face and back down.

And the answer is not relying on China. China has been playing the North Korea game for 25 years, playing every President and every administration and Europe for fools, just as the Palestinians have. It is a farce. Bullies only understand one thing. A punch in the nose, or the very real threat of one. Tea on the veranda is not the approach.

 

Senator Kamala Harris misunderstands the genesis of DACA dreamers’ problems – the answer to every question is “President Obama’s illegal DACA order”

Today, Kamala Harris, Senator from California, made a fine speech about what she called “Dreamers”, people who were brought to the United States illegally as children. She promised she would not vote to fund the US Government at the end of the year unless Congress resolved the Dreamer’s status.

The trouble with this is, the US Congress has resolved this issue for 16 years already by refusing to enact legislation that would allow Dreamers to remain in the United States. Let’s be very very clear about how the current situation arose. There are over 11 million illegal immigrants in the United States (President Obama preferred to call them “undocumented”, a euphemism intended to divert attention away from their illegal status in the United States. The euphemism does not change the fact they are illegal immigrants.

After the Congress refused to enact President Obama’s pet project the Dream Act in the 112th Congress, to grant permanent residency to Dreamers, the President decided to go around Congress and avert the immigration law himself, not by Executive Order, but rather by instructing the Secretary of Homeland Security, Janet Napolitano (now the head of the State Univesity in California which has allowed thousands of illegal aliens to apply to and attend California state universities) to apply prosecutorial discretion, and refuse to enforce the U.S. immigration law regarding Dreamers. This basically illegal program was called DACA (Deferred Action for Childhod Arrivals). Note the part that says “deferred”. Well time and again the Congress considered this “deferral” and rejected it, but President Obama persisted in his illegal program, and so many years later here we are again.

Kamala Harris complained in her lengthy speech, that the U.S. Congress has abandoned these “Dreamers” and they are terrified. She said “They relied on us.” I disagree. They relied on President Obama’s illegal actions, not on the actions of the U.S. Government. He invited them to come out from the shadows, promising he would not treat them as illegal. But he did not have that power beyond his administration. That also applies to the Iran deal, which President Obama also entered into outside the law because he knew he did not have the votes to pass it, and many other actions he took outside his authority.

I listened to public radio the other day, and one of the pieces I listened to was an interview with a couple living in New York City who were from Mexico. The piece examined their nervousness about their status, having been in the U.S. for more than six months, and having to take care of their 2 month old child. The piece was intended to present a sympathetic, warm and fuzzy view of the tribulations for immigrants.

However, the couple entered the US on tourist visas, which clearly provide that the holders can not work. But their intention was to “sneak” into the US on tourist visas, have a baby, get an apartment and jobs, make as much money as possible, and then try to get into Canada, which is far looser about immigration, considering the size of the country and the fact they have less people than California.

The piece did not go into the fact that the woman was pregnant when she entered the U.S., that their plan was to give birth to a U.S. citizen while in the U.S., to work against the terms of their tourist visa, save money and sneak into Canada. The point of the piece was to highlight the difficulty these travelers faced, who risked the journey to find a better life. There was no mention that the tourist visa disallowed working, or that they violated the terms of their visa by intending to give birth in the U.S., thus establishing some connection to the United States with an anchor baby. To be perfectly honest, in any other country on the planet, if a couple overstayed their tourist visa and got an apartment, had a child and got jobs, they would be found by Immigration, and deported forthwith. Not in the U.S. under Obama.

This, in a nutshell, is the argument made by those on the left, such as Senator Kamala Harris, who think this story is about immigration, when it is in fact about violating immigration law. There is existing law about refugees, and immigration levels from all countries. We already have 330 million people, and our social service lifeline is hundreds of billions each year. The Congress has the right to determine the extent to which our doors are thrown open to immigration, and the laws are there. If the law is to be changed, it must be changed by Congress, not President Obama, or Senator Harris or President Trump.

Harris and her colleagues in the Congress have argued that the US should take more refugees from Syria. The real question is why are there so many refugees from Syria? The answer to every single question like this is the same. President Obama. He is the author of every single such problem with his refusal to follow the law, and his foreign policy of Oppeasement, which allowed Russia and China and Iran and North Korea, and many others to have a field day while he sat in a circle and sang Kumbaya. Allowing Assad to survive in Syria with Russia’s help after promising to help, and then abandoning the rebels created a huge vacuum in Syria, leading to millions of refugees.

So here is my question to Kamala Harris – she said in her speech “And let me be clear. I will not vote for an end-of-year spending bill until we are clear about what we are going to do to protect and take care of our DACA young people in this country.” So, when the Congress rejects the DACA legislation again, will she accept this as the law of the land? Or does she believe that she, like Obama, can do what she likes because what she does is the right thing, and any other point of view is hateful? That seems to be the platform of the party these days. But that is not democracy. It is hubris.

I don’t disagree that some children of illegal immigrants in the US for many years have no connection to their home country, and deporting them there is cruel. I think they cannot acquire citizenship in the U.S. beause they are in the US illegally, nor can they become citizens as the parents of citizens, since they may have children who are citizens because they were born in the US (anchor babies). They can never acquire the right to vote. They are subject to the laws of the US. If there is an exception that can be created it should only apply to those that arrived prior to President Obama’s administration since his policies encouraged so many hundreds of thousands or millions to cross the border into the U.S.

Over a hundred years ago, the borders were flung open for mass migration, mostly from Europe, and those immigrants helped build this country. Times have changed, and we are a nation of laws that should be enforced. Every country on Earth enforces its immigration laws, except the U.S. I see no problem building a wall, I see no difference between a wall and a fence with cameras and thousands of border patrols, except a wall is more effective. The stream of illegal (forget “undocumented”) aliens needs to stop, and a wall will pretty much stop that flow.

America is a land of diversity, opportunity and freedom. It was built by immigrants. Legal immigrants.