Good Time For A Vacation

Ah, yes.  Monday.  Another shooting of a black man by a cop, or so they say, in Baltimore.  There seems to be some confusion over the whole situation.  A black man was on gurney headed for a hospital never-the-less.

Oh, yes, I mustn't forget the police officer shot in Queens has died of his injuries by a black who has spent 5 years in prison. Where is the outrage?  Where are the defenders of the police? The protesters?  Well, I'm here shouting to myself that police lives matter too!

Muslims killed in Texas while trying to protest a contest of drawings of Mohammad.  Why anyone in their right mind would hold such a competition is beyond me.  Supposedly to show off our right to free speech.  How 'bout purposely igniting the ire of Muslims. Who the heck is the most guilty here?

Three more Republicans who have no chance have entered the Presidential sweepstakes and one socialist independent is going to make noises on the Democratic side. What fun. Meanwhile Bill is explaining why $500,000 per speech. He has expenses, don't you know. I wonder if Hillary will find trust while I'm away.

Kerry tried to take a selfie with an elephant.  Did you see that?  He failed miserably. I love the imagery though. Getting close to an elephant.  So close in fact you can't even tell what it is! Just like the nuclear deal with Iran is so close yet we can't tell what it is!  Only assure Israel we'll have inspectors all over the place even though Iran has said in no uncertain terms no inspectors will be allowed on military bases. Guess where all the nuclear activity is.  On their military bases.

So it's off to the remote canyons of the southwest again in search of ancient petroglyphs.  They speak to the journeys taken and the lives of the ancients.

They lived in great communities you know.  All built by hand, any timber used hauled unbelievable distances.  Bricks and stones stacked into remarkable structures many of which still stand as silent, majestic tribute to their lives.

I wonder what will stand as tribute to our great ingenuity.  Certainly not the ancient carvings ISIS is destroying in territory it has won because they were false gods. That isn't our history though.  What will be?

When living in Houston I remember visiting a replication of how a historical village might have looked.  A couple of English women were saying they couldn't understand Americans because we  destroy so much of what is our history. Certainly unlike the Brits.

Funny, we do.  Not always physically either.  At the moment we seem inclined to destroy everything our forefathers built from the Presidency on down. Will the buildings and monuments come next at the hands of "protesters"?

My, oh my. I wonder what the ancients would think. I wonder if they were like we are today or more like our founders. I can only speculate but from what is still visible of their civilization, I would guess the latter.

Later - in a week or so...

Appease The Rabble Rousers

So now we have Al Sharpton calling for a nationalized police force,  Michael Moore suggesting police be disarmed, six officers criminally charged for doing their job and one for murder though the reports I've heard say Mr. Grey injured himself inside the paddy wagon with no officers around.

Granted I don't know what the investigation revealed. but there are a lot of things that do trouble me.  First,  Mayor Rawlings-Blake didn't do herself any favors by turning to Al Sharpton for advice.

As a side point, why isn't this man in jail for tax evasion, why is he still employed by MSNBC and why is he the President's go to man on race relations?  That in itself tells a lot about the thinking of Madam Mayor. She chose the most prominent agitator out there.

How has it come down to appeasing the protesters, most of whom are professionals at that.  Another side point.  Who funds these people?  How do they merge in troubled spots so quickly.  Even with social media, it takes time to arrange lodging and travel or do they just pitch a tent on the street?

Back to the main point. Obama said early on he'd like to nationalize the police.  The Brown Shirts live!  At least the desire for them. The Brown Shirts were the paramilitary wing of the Nazis. Just what we need is a group of federal enforcers. Will vigilantes resurface too?

Are we really moving in that direction?  I hope not but can't help but wonder.  The police are under attack more and more while the criminals are being comforted and allowed to loot or babied because they aren't technically adults.  All for a man with a rap sheet a mile long and facts yet to be known.

For the majority of us who do not live in ghettos this is nonsense but we are not the squeaky wheel.  We are not out there en masse protecting businesses from the hooligans or helping the police in any way we can even if only verbally defending them.  Soon, if we're not careful, they'll be too paralyzed to act.  Not from fear as much as those who command them forbidding them from doing their jobs.  Then what will we have?  Mob rule and city after city will fall.

This is what Al Sharpton wants.  And Michael Moore for what ever reason other than publicity.  I worry that it is also what the President wants. If not, why doesn't he speak out?  He's quick enough when it's about a black victim.  It's absent when it comes to law enforcement.

No wonder those men and women who face the likes of these men who will mock them day in and day out have such a strong brotherhood.  I just hope it's strong enough to stand against those who would like not to have them at all.

We Have Our Own Brand Of Terrorism

Call me racist if you will, but I'm sick and tired of having members of the black community take advantage of an unfortunate situation to loot and burn and steal all under the guise of protest.  It's criminal and should be treated as such.

Oh, these poor misunderstood protesters.  Bull!  They should be arrested, charged accordingly and jailed.  Then they should be tried and if found guilty be sent off to jail once again.  If local jails are over crowded open up Gitmo.

If there are more blacks in jail than whites because of this well guess what, they're the ones committing the crimes!

What is happening in Baltimore has prompted more of the same back in Ferguson.  Those poor folks were just beginning to get it together again. This is nonsense and has to stop.

Remember that both Freddie Gray and Michael Brown were no saints.  Freddie had a record and we watched Michael stealing from the convenience store and roughing up the owner on surveillance tape in real time. Nice guys these two.

It isn't clear yet why Freddie had an injured spine that ultimately led to his death,  It was a horribly tragic death but does it justify the ruination of a city the size of Baltimore?  Or even Ferguson for that matter.

What ever happened to leadership?  When did it become acceptable to coddle the protesters causing hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of damage not to mention multiple injuries and maybe even another death?  

The fault lies with wishy washy leaders who are afraid of the very people they're supposed to be leading! It's disgraceful, disgusting and it has to change.

If it doesn't, we will have lost not only the respect of the world but have lowered ourselves to the lowest common denominator of civil behavior.  We will have no voice when others do the same and worse.

Under this administration I have watched this country come under attack from within.  Never mind ISIL.  Never mind they may actually have infiltrated our borders.  Our biggest fear stems from the behavior from our own citizens that continues to escalate.  Which town or city will be next? Which police department will be demonized next?

Yes.  Police officers make mistakes and the media is only too willing to jump on them.  When was the last time you heard some stories about the good police do?  Thugs are thugs, no matter their race and should be treated as such.

Getting our priorities straight when it comes to this type of behavior is long overdue.

Random Thoughts

I got sidetracked as I was beginning to prepare for this post.  I could not find a group photo of the expected Republican candidates that included Carly Fiorina! That irked me to a degree.

Wow, look at all those people. For the Democrats, there is of course only one no matter how tarnished.  Wishful thinkers, however, are hoping at least one or two of the others get in the race.  There is one I would actually consider voting for.  Strongly.  Jim Webb.  No one else thinks he would have much of a chance but I am never sure the pundits who make such pronouncements are really all that savvy.

The Republicans are getting the most attention at the moment if you discount the Clinton scandals.  The talk seems to be mostly about their coming out parties.  Bashes.  Lots of supporters and cheering in a filled hall of appropriate dimensions.  Except for the only woman, Ms. Florina, who plans a low key on line announcement much like Hillary's though she's made it perfectly clear she's in.

The major thing lacking in all of the hoopla is talk of positions and policy.  I'm uncomfortable with broad strokes of the brush.  Always a lot of words with little actually being said.

One thing Carly Fiorina has said is that she'd reinstitute the missile defense system in eastern Europe that Obama killed and that she would rebuild the 6th fleet. Both strong defensive moves meant to forewarn the likes of Putin that someone new and strong is in charge.

One of the criticisms about her is she's never held elective office.  My thought on that is the ones who have aren't doing such a great job themselves. She'll be interesting to watch.

True, it's early.  Very early. But since everyone is throwing their hat in early I'd like to see them defining their positions rather than their campaign strategies. We all know their all going to be dirty at some point in time anyway.

Well, Carly and Ben Carson are due in May 4th and the rest will straggle in as time and money raising potential proves appropriate.

In the meantime, if we get bored, we can pay attention to the nuclear talks with Iran or the nuclear meltdown of the Clinton empire.

What If?

Boy oh boy.  We've sent an aircraft carrier and accompanying ships to Yemen.  First it was announced that they would prevent Iranian ships from unloading weapons for the Houthi rebels.  No sooner had the ink dried on that one it was announced that no, we were just there to keep the shipping channels open.

Now the Iranians have sent a fleet of their own war ships to the area while announcing that the U.S. is a threat to them.  To say the least things are getting a bit tense.

This is what happens when someone who thinks he is all knowing tries to play all sides against one another. So what will happen if the Americans make a perceived misstep and the Iranians take umbrage to it? Will they fire on the American vessels? Would Obama allow the Americans to fire back?

What a dilemma.  All for the sake of reaching a non-agreement over Iran getting a nuclear bomb. Non-agreement?  Well, since we don't know what's in it or even what's supposed to be in it, how can it be called an agreement? They call it a frame work but it isn't even that.  The last word from Iran was the sanctions had to be lifted immediately.  Obama seems to have no problem with that and is rumored to have promised them a $50 billion bonus if they'll just sign the damn agreement!  Yep.  $50 billion.  The State Department won't deny it.

And it's still not an agreement because we get absolutely nothing in return for allowing Iran to continue enriching uranium and handsomely enhancing their economy to boot!  Does Obama really think this is going to cement his legacy as the great mediator between Iran and the rest of the world?

Personally, since I'm becoming a conspiracy theorist, I think Iran already has all it needs to put together their bomb.  I also suspect that John Kerry is doing this in hopes of getting it signed sealed and delivered so he can run against Hillary claiming he did what she couldn't.  Not that even she would want to.

I can figure no other reason why a man who has been in government as long as Kerry would go along with this debacle of a foreign policy summoned up by a delusional president.  Its a huge gamble on his part for if it fails so will he.  It isn't how he envisions going down in history, I guarantee.

I'm almost afraid to wrap this up to go tune on tonight's news. What will we have given away today? Other than what's left of our sanity.