THE IRAN DEAL IN PERSPECTIVE
Join the forum discussion on this postEurope’s Camp of the Saints Crisis: 9/11/15 Update
Per Brant's recommendation, we are making this update its own article. TTPers who want to understand the 3 strategic fulcrums linked to this crisis should read the original anchor article.
As of September 11, 2015, "Refugees" continue to pour into Europe. This is only the start. European reactions to date ensure the flood's continuation, and so does the sheer number of likely entrants. Violence is guaranteed to accompany any reversal of this flow, via riots and terrorism. The same is true for any non-reversal.
As things stand, Al-Qaeda's 20-Year Plan seems ready to hit the Total Confrontation phase and include Europe more or less on schedule. That phase was planned to begin around 2017. This update clarifies the scale and scope of both the flood, and the effects it's having within Europe. It also looks at the real political mechanism behind the crisis, and offers some projections into possible futures.
HALF-FULL REPORT 09/04/15: What Profiteth a Man?
If you're a fan of outrage porn or kabuki theater, I ain't your guy. Which makes me unqualified to report on 90% of what passes for "news" these days. The treasonous sellout to Iran hit a new milestone; Europe's Camp of the Saints crisis continues to evolve; and the crook who managed to get herself kicked off of the Watergate Committee by another Democrat can't get kicked off of her own farcical repetition quite so easily. Funny how life is.
We'll mention some of that stuff, but as we cover the news we're going to look past the symptoms. It's becoming blindingly obvious that the federal GOP may die a suicide. Meanwhile, people talk about Trump, but what's behind his rise? A familiar but unconventional source says that there's much more to it than just the political landscape. Can doing the wrong thing legally be the right thing? Are we thinking the right way about education and about sex offender registries? Are we thinking the right way about the political war we're caught in? We've got some provocative proposals and a masterclass for that last one. And at least one of your fellow Americans will make you very proud. Here we go...
THE LONG STRANGE TRIP
Kathmandu, Nepal. Years ago, Joel Wade and I were here after completing a month-long expedition across the entire Tibetan Plateau and through the Himalayas. We spotted a t-shirt in the bazaar with an embroidered map of the world with the words stitched around it: What A Long Strange Trip It’s Been.
That’s the famous refrain of the Grateful Dead’s Truckin’ from 1970, and it was so appropriate for what we had just experienced that of course we each got one.
Being here now sparked that memory, causing me to reflect on how appropriate a description it is for the totally bizarre spasm of masochism America has suffered over the last seven years under Zero. The experience of being here now is, on the other hand, a surprising lesson on how to repair the incredible damage Zero has wrought upon our country.
We’ve had spasms of craziness before – the Hippie 60s come to mind – but nothing like this, where Americans en masse are acquiescing to the murder of their country, willfully placing the perp in the White House not once but twice. Here’s the lesson to learn.
“THEY’RE NOT REPUBLICANS. THEY’RE WHIGS.”
Those who style themselves “true conservatives” aren’t the brightest bulbs in the chandelier, as their constant misuse of their favorite epithet indicates.
“RINO” is an acronym, for “Republicans In Name Only.” Those who use it think only a “true conservative” can (or should be) a Republican.
The voting index maintained by the American Conservative Union indicates Republicans in Congress are a scoche more conservative than the voters who elected them.
But rank-and-file Republicans despise Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-KY, and House Speaker John Boehner, R-OH, for a very good reason: They’re not Republicans. They’re Whigs.
DEMS WHO CRAVE SOCIALISM REPEAT HISTORY’S MISTAKES
Would you call yourself a “socialist”? Webster’s dictionary defines socialism as “a theory or system of social organization which advocates the vesting of ownership and control of the means of production, capital, land, etc. in the community as a whole.”
Modern-style socialism was born during the French Revolution — with the Conspiracy of Equals. In his classic work “Heaven on Earth” about the rise and fall of socialism, Joshua Muravchik, wrote: “Once empowered, socialism refused to yield its promised rewards. The more dogged the effort to achieve it, the more the outcome mocked the humane ideals it proclaimed. Yet for a century and a half, no amount of failure dampened socialism’s appeal. Then suddenly like a rocket crashing to earth, it all collapsed. Within a couple of decades, socialism was officially repealed in half the places where it had triumphed. In the other half, it continued in name only.”
It was an ideology that claimed ...
ONLY HELICOPTER MONEY CAN SAVE CHINA’S CRUMBLING ECONOMY
China has bungled its attempt to slow the economy gently and is sliding into “imminent recession”, threatening to take the world with it over coming months, Citigroup has warned.
Willem Buiter, the bank’s chief economist, said the country needs a major blast of fiscal spending financed by outright "helicopter" money from the bank to avert a deepening crisis.
Speaking on a panel at the Council of Foreign Relations in New York, Mr Buiter said the dollar will ...
RABBIS FOR HAMAS, OBAMA AND IRAN
In 2008, Elliot Dorff joined Rabbis for Obama in their claim that Senator Obama would be a “leader in the fight against serious threats to Israel.”
Dorff, a Beverly Hills based clergyman, showed a deep grasp of geopolitical issues when he claimed that because of President Bush, “now the Taliban inhabit Iraq, where they never used to be.” This would have come as news to both the Taliban and Iraq. But Rabbis for Obama kept Dorff’s testimonial up because no one there seemed to know any better or know anything except how awful Israel is.
Like many of the Rabbis for Obama, Dorff was a left-wing radical who could be counted on to ...
THE DIFFERENCE THAT MAKES ALL THE DIFFERENCE
Here’s what’s confusing about happiness: On the one hand, we can think that happiness means simply being cheerful. On the other hand, it’s supposed to be about a long-term sense of meaning and joy. Then we’re told momentary pleasures are often just habitual resignation to temptation… There are so many different notions of happiness, how do we make sense of it?
If momentary pleasure is bad, then why do we feel so good when we succeed at something, or have a wonderful time with a loved one, or have a good workout?
I’ve talked about the deeper, long-term sense of happiness that we earn over time; today I want to clarify something about the immediate feelings of happiness that will make more sense of these emotions – and make it easier to have a genuinely good time.
