THE INVISIBLE ENEMY OF RADICAL ISLAM
As the cleaning crews were mopping up the dried blood from the stage and the seats of the Bataclan concert hall in Paris, a depressing act appeared on stage in distant Iowa.
Saturday night (11/14) the three contenders for the Democrat Party’s presidential nomination took to the stage in Iowa for a debate. The moderator asked them whether they would be willing to use the term “radical Islam” to describe the ideology motivating Islamic terrorists to massacre innocents. All refused.
Like her former boss, President Barack Obama, former secretary of state and Democrat frontrunner Hillary Clinton not only refused to accept the relevance of the term. Clinton refused to acknowledge what radical Islam stands for.
But of course, it is easy to understand what motivates Islamic terrorists. They tell us all the time. They want the world to be run by an Islamic empire. When they are in charge, they will kill, subjugate, convert or enslave all non-Muslims, except Jews. The Jews will be obliterated.
The operational consequences of America and the West’s refusal to acknowledge the nature of the forces waging war against it have been disastrous.
Join the forum discussion on this postFRANCE CHOOSES TO BEEF UP SECURITY & DEFENSE OVER BUDGET RULES
France has invoked emergency powers to sweep aside EU deficit rules and retake control over its economy after the terrorist atrocities in Paris, pledging a massive in increase and security and defense spending whatever the cost.
President Francois Hollande said vital interests of the French nation are at stake and there can be no further justification for narrowly-legalistic deficit rules imposed by Brussels. “The security pact takes precedence over the stability pact. France is at war,” he told the French parliament.
Defense cuts have been cancelled as far out as 2019 as the country prepares to step up its campaign to “eradicate” ISIS, from the Sahel in West Africa, across the Maghreb, to Syria and Iraq.
SAVERS AREN’T SAVING A DIME
Do not expect to get a higher real rate of interest on your savings — ever. Traditionally, people could expect to receive 2 or 3 percent more than the rate of inflation on their savings or money market accounts.
For instance, if inflation was 2 percent, many people received 5 percent interest per year on their government-insured savings accounts. The IRS would then tax the entire amount of interest received. So, even after inflation and taxes, most received a small, 1.5 to 2 percent real positive rate of return on their savings.
Contrast the current situation with what people traditionally expected. Now, if you are lucky, you may be receiving a half percent or so interest rate, about equal to the rate of inflation, yet the IRS still taxes you on this meager amount even though you have had no real interest income. So, at the end of the year, you are worse off — a negative return — because you did the responsible thing, and that was to save for your retirement or for various emergencies that come along with life.
The following is a simplified but accurate description of how we got into the mess and why the situation will not get better ...
TRUST AND FREEDOM
Trust is the foundation of a free society. If we can’t trust the average person to be reasonably considerate and responsible, the alternative is tyranny: lots of laws, and greater power to force hundreds of millions of (other) untrustworthy people into behaving according to somebody’s vision of virtue.
Much of what we see in the media, are taught in college, and are told by pundits carries a strong message that the world is a horribly dangerous place, where trust is not justified or common.
But the truth is exactly the opposite. In a free society with a reasonably coherent rule of law we do in fact have great reason to trust one another… and to expect that trust to grow. We don’t need perfect trust, or perfect behavior - whatever that would be. Here’s how trust and freedom reinforce one another.
THE OBAMA BORDER HOLE
HALF-FULL REPORT 11/13/15
Puerto Ayora, Galapagos Islands. For all of this week I’ve been in a remote place in Colombia with no internet, then flew all day to get here today – which means I really have only the vaguest notion of what’s been going on. Plus I have to attend to the TTPers traveling with me.
So all I can do is make some quick notes, rather than the usual HFR, for which I apologize and will make it up next week. (Update: Joe Katzman has just come to the HFR’s rescue with a plethora of insights about this week, which are appended at the end of my notes. Thanks, Joe!)
Regarding the Pub debate Tuesday night (11/10). I couldn’t watch it – no tv – but from what I heard, those with something to substantive to say did well: Cruz, Fiorina, Paul, and Rubio, although Marco bombed on his dumb remark about philosophers. Kasich was a jerk as usual, and far more liberal than any conservative can tolerate. After 72 Hours of Crazy with Trump, including Trump comparing Ben Carson to a child molester, it’s getting obvious we’re dealing not with a harmless eccentric publicity-mad billionaire, but with someone mentally unhinged…
The media is evidently in a frenzy this week about some supposedly massive college student protest demanding free education as a “right,” wiping out their student loans, freaking out about microagressions, and of course bleating about being victims of racism and a white patriarchal rape culture.
What a wonderful opportunity for Pub presidential candidates to tell them all to just STFU, to shove their victimy bleatings and microagressions up their noses, and stop being gimme-gimme beggars. Oh, and to advocate the voting age be raised to 25…
There’s more, so here we go!
HIDDEN INDIA
For good reason, India is called “the sub-continent” a world unto itself over 5,000 years old, 1.3billion people enclosed within an area 1/3rd the size of the US. Most of it remains hidden and unknown to us.
This is an exploration into the Hidden India beyond the Taj Mahal. To find it, we venture to that area of India least known to the West, where we find the most ancient Hindu culture and the most ancient Christian culture, founded by one of Christ’s 12 Apostles. All of this is combined with the vibrant New India, epitomized here by India’s Silicon Valley.
An area steeped in history and culture; of beauty, peace, serenity; of romantic luxury, marvelous hotels, refined cuisine, and gorgeous beaches. And yes, there are jungles with tigers.
This is Southern India – the most fabulous part of India, yet unknown even to most of those who have been to India before. The best time to go is February, when the weather is most delightful. That’s when I’m going, and I invite you to join me.
THE RIGHT WAY TO HONOR OUR HEROES
Our obligations to the heroes of our country
These days our men and women in uniform are usually treated with kindness and respect. Nobody begrudges someone in uniform getting to board a flight first, or getting comped a first-class seat.
Even those on the left who think that people in military service are misguided dupes of evil militarists no longer indulge the open scorn and calumny prevalent in the Vietnam War era, when a uniform was a target for spittle and charges of “baby-killer,” when in 1971 John Kerry appeared before the Senate and accused U.S. troops of rape, torture, and mutilation.
Yet under the surface of progressives’ seeming respect and sympathy there still lurks a subtle contempt for the virtues and values that make our warriors worthy of our gratitude and admiration.
THE PRESIDENT’S ALL TIME FAVORITE DICTATORSHIPS
Qatar is one of Obama’s favorite Muslim dictatorships. Secretary of State John Kerry recently launched an economic dialogue with Qatar. Qatar got a free pass to smuggle weapons past the NATO blockade of Libya even though the administration knew the weapons were going to terrorists.
While Qatar was buying weapons from Sudan, a country whose leader is wanted for crimes against humanity, to pass along to Islamic terrorists in Syria, the State Department was clearing Qatar to buy American weapons. Qatar was, of course, a Clinton Foundation donor.
The Reagan administration had cracked down on Qatar for illegally getting its hands on Stinger missiles. The first Bush administration had forced Qatar to destroy them. But these days we are the arms dealer for a nasty tyranny that has ties to terrorists.
But Qatar is only Obama’s second favorite Muslim dictatorship and state sponsor of terror. Topping the list is ...
ROBOTS TAKE OVER GLOBAL ECONOMY IN A DECADE
Robots will take over 45% of all jobs in manufacturing and shave $9 trillion off labour costs within a decade, leaving great swathes of the global society on the historical scrap heap.
In a sweeping 300-page report, Bank of America predicts that robots and other forms of artificial intelligence will transform the world beyond recognition as soon as 2025, shattering old business models in a whirlwind of “creative disruption”, with transformation effects ultimately amounting to $30 trillion or more each year.