Masked Rifle-wielding Gunman in Germany? Impossible!

So a masked, rifle-wielding gunman took hostages today at a movie theater in Germany. I must have missed something. Doesn't Germany have very strict gun control? Or is that "common sense" gun control? Apparently another bad guy didn't get the memo.

Also find it curious CNN didn't provide any details about the gunman who was killed by police other than to parrot German authorities who say they don't believe it was terror related.
I'm sure we will find out shortly that it was another one of those right-wing, Republican American, Southern Rednecks, who cling to their Bibles and guns just like the Orlando and San Bernardino murderers, right?

American Kleptocracy: Government of the Thieves, by the Thieves, and for the Thieves

During my daily commute to work, I recently finished listening to a very interesting book on CD entitled Thieves of State: Why Corruption Threatens Global Security by Sarah Chayes. I just happened upon it while searching the county library collection to find something interesting to give me a break from the radio. As it turns out, I couldn’t have found this book at a better time.

Ordinarily, Chayes would not be someone with whom I would see eye to eye on the issues. She is an NPR reporter which places her at the polar opposite end of the political spectrum from me. However, her experiences dealing with corruption in Afghanistan and as a consultant trying to help our government develop policy to combat terrorism there and elsewhere as part of a wider global security strategy are very much in line with what I experienced and observed first hand in my overseas service.  Chayes argues that much of the rise of radical Islam is more of a consequence of the peoples’ frustration and sense of hopelessness due to having no recourse to wrongs inflicted on them by their deeply and systemically corrupt governments. Radical Islamists hold themselves and religion up to the common people as the only incorruptible option to combatting corrupt government and establishing justice, harsh though it may be. Her book details the kleptocracies in Afghanistan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Uzbekistan among other places. She also discusses the circumstances leading up to the Arab Spring which began in Tunisia and spread across North Africa and unfortunately it has failed to live up to its promise for the most part. In explaining corruption, she describes its many forms and the characteristics of each. In its most egregious form, the corrupt government is so involved in fleecing their country that they have no interest in governing whatsoever.  It is not until her epilogue that Chayes moves from corruption in the developing world and begins to show how it is growing in the developed countries of the West. This is when I had my epiphany: America’s government has become a kleptocracy. Just as Chayes describes the different methods used by Third World governments to steal from the citizenry, the establishment American political class is no longer interested in good governance. It has become obsessed with enriching itself.

Both Democrat and Republican elected officials (though by different methods: Democrats through “big government” socialism and Republicans through crony capitalism) are completely consumed by the business of corruption and stealing America’s future. Obviously, there is no one-to-one correspondence between how corrupt governments in the Third World operate their kleptocracies and how our corrupt government runs its. One cannot simply connect the dots or draw a straight line through all the data points to prove the model describing our government is a kleptocracy. Our government runs a much more subtle and sophisticated crime syndicate. However, borrowing from mathematics and applying the least squares method to the data point shows that the model that best fits what our government has become is a kleptocracy. Ask yourself the following questions. Why would Republicans pass a massive $1.1 trillion budget that gives their political opponents nearly everything they want? Why would the Republicans wait until September every year to get their budget together and thereby guaranteeing a yearly crisis and threat of a government shutdown? Why do Democrats refuse to enforce existing laws, ignore the massive fraud, waste and abuse that always accompanies the bloated programs they enact, or fail to hold those politically connected accountable for crimes and abuses that would result in lengthy prison terms for ordinary citizens? Why would both Republicans and Democrats (until recently) exempt themselves and their relatives from laws against insider trading which allowed them to make millions in the stock market or accept patronage jobs from big donors for their relatives, friends or themselves following their political careers?  Taken separately, there could be several plausible explanations; taken together, there is only one conclusion – corruption and each party's method of theft allows them to benefit. I could provide specific examples of these and many more but in fairness, given my political leanings, they would all be examples of liberal Democrat abuses. I leave it to the reader to read Chayes’ book and then do their own honest inquiry and I guarantee there are plenty of examples from both sides of the aisle.

Recognizing the problem is important but finding solutions is critical if we want to save America from self-destruction. So what can be done? For starters, I suggest the following:

1. Repeal the 17^th Amendment and return the election of Senators to the State legislatures as they were prior to 1913. This would reduce the influence of donors and make Senator accountable to their States as the Constitution originally intended.

2. End baseline budgeting or the practice of automatically increasing the budget by a set amount every year.

3. Require Congress to pass separate budgets for each department of the federal government instead of lumping them all into an omnibus bill. There are only fifteen departments so there would be fifteen individual and digestible funding bills. This would make it harder to hide questionable spending and prevent disagreements over specific department or agency funding from shutting down the entire government.       

4. Set spending caps on election campaigns. This would reduce the influence money has on politicians and make them more accountable to their individual constituents. This would also put all candidates on a level playing field and heaven forbid…make them demonstrate they can budget and make wise money decisions.

5. Return powers not specifically granted to the federal government under the Constitution back to the individual States as guaranteed by the 10^th Amendment.

6. Institute a waiting period before defeated or retiring politicians can accept a position connected with a donor – similar to the restrictions on other government and military personnel that prevents them from accepting a position from a company over which they had contracting or decision making authority.

I’m sure readers have other ideas. Comment and let others know your thoughts!

ISIS vs ISIL

It has been suggested by some that the use of ISIL (Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant) by the president and his administration is somehow meant to be a poke in the eye to Israel. Maybe but I really don't see it. A much simpler explanation in my opinion is that it is just pretense. We have a very pretentious and professorial man in the White House. It is just his way of continuing the narrative of how smart he is. It is his way of saying, "Hey all you dummies. I know most of you are not smart enough or educated enough to understand the term "Levant". Why don't you look it up. Then maybe you will be smart like me." Another example of  Obama's pretense is the way he pronounces certain words with their foreign pronunciation. Hey just a suggestion but unless you are speaking in that foreign language a la the equally  pretentious, John Kerry, use the English pronunciation. And while you are at it, call the radical Islamists in that region what the rest of the world calls them either ISIS or maybe even DAESH. Drop the pretense for heaven sakes.

Ideological Blindness on Rise in America

Disease and injury are the typical causes of blindness but there is a new source of blindness on the rise in America - ideology.

Ideological blindness manifests itself in things like the following:

The president saying "These things just don't happen in other countries." when responding to the attack in San Bernardino. Apparently, it skipped Mr. Obama's mind that the French crowd before him had just suffered their own horrific attack that left ten times the number of dead and wounded than the U.S. attack; or

It taking American authorities nearly three days to be willing to call the attack terrorism despite clear evidence available early on such as huge ammunition stores, a dozen pipe bombs, numerous weapons, in the attackers home and the attacker arriving in full assault gear; or

It continuing to insist that climate change is a bigger threat than radical Islam; or

Citizens seeing suspicious activity but being afraid to say anything for fear of being accused of profiling as was the case with the neighbors of the attackers; or

The president calling for more common sense gun laws and citing the fact that current laws allow those on the terrorism "no fly" list to legally buy a firearm in the U.S.. Why would anyone rational person have any faith that the system that allowed this to happen in the first place is the same system that can fix it?

American needs to have the ideological scales plucked from its eyes before it is too late.

Hillary Most Trusted to Handle Terrorism Threat - WTF?

In the Nov 15-19, 2015 Washington Post-ABC News poll, respondents said they trusted Hillary more than any of the Republican primary candidates to handle the threat of terrorism. I find this both fascinating and disturbing at the same time. If the poll does accurately reflect the opinions, what possible rationale could make these people hold this opinion? It can't possibly be her lack of action to provide the needed security requested by the US ambassador in Libya or her handling of the terrorist attack in Benghazi and the subsequent cover up. How about her performance as Secretary of State? The world is a far more dangerous place following her tenure. As a member of the Obama Administration, she owns part of the disaster that has occurred as a result of the premature withdraw from Afghanistan and Iraq and led to the rise of ISIS. Hillary's support for overthrowing  Muammar  Khaddafi is yet another example of her poor judgement. Because of her policy which included a "Let's see what happens." plan for what happens after Khaddafi is gone, Libya has gone from a country that was assisting in the fight against terrorism to a safe haven for ISIS and their affiliates. What about her reckless disregard for national security demonstrated by her use of a private server for her official State Department email. Lastly, most people identify Clinton as a liar, dishonest, and untrustworthy. How can anyone "trust" her on anything? I'm baffled. Some liberal please help me out here. Please! I'm serious!!! Comments welcome and encouraged.

What Was Secretary of State John Kerry Thinking?

Less than a year after the attack in Paris on the satirical French newspaper, Charlie Hebdo, that left 11 dead and 11 injured, and only 5 days following the massacre that killed at least 135 people and wounded hundreds more in another attack on the French capital, Secretary of State John Kerry said the following during remarks at the U.S. Embassy in Paris:

"There's something different about what happened from Charlie Hebdo, and I think everybody would feel that,...There was a sort of particularized focus and perhaps even a legitimacy in terms of - not a legitimacy, but a rationale that you could attach yourself to somehow and say, 'Okay, they're really angry because of this and that.' This Friday was absolutely indiscriminate."

So mass murder is just a matter of magnitude? Wow, John! Mighty nuanced of you.

And this guy lectures and chastises other Americans about "our values"? I suppose I should just be the better person and give him the benefit of the doubt that this just came out wrong. Really, really, wrong.

Compromise Syrian Refugee Plan

Lest my readers and especially my critics think I am unsympathic to the plight of the refugees trying to flee the civil war in Syria, I offer the following plan that would provide safety to them while at the same time ensure our own security.

Accept the 10,000 refugees - Muslims, Christians,  Jews, Yazidi, etc.

Settle the women and children (all girls and boys under 15 years old) with the general US population. Place the men in refugee camps where they will be safe while we take the time to properly vet them to ensure they have no ties to terrorism. No time limit will be placed on this process - it takes as long as it takes. If they become impatient, we can offer to send them to another safe location in a different country.

Those that successfully assimilate into American society - learn basic English, have found productive work, have no criminal record, and are not on any public assistance - will be able to become permanent residents and even seek naturalization. Everyone else will be repatriated once it is safe.

I think this is a perfectly reasonable compromise. How many, liberal or conservative, agree?
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The Next Facebook Name Game

We've all seen them - the "What is your _______ name?" game on Facebook. You know, "What is your old lady name?", "What is your gangster name?", "What is your superhero name?" or whatever. You take the name from one list based on the month you were born and the second name from a second list based on the day you were born.  If our leaders in the West don't dislodge their collective heads from the tight, dark, fetid, place where they have them wedged, we better all be thinking about "What is your Islamic name?" which we will have to take when we are forced to convert. These ISIS devils are serious evil incarnate and they mean business. We are all at risk. Christians will be forced to convert or die. Moderate Western Muslims need not worry. No, not because you are already Muslims. No, you don't need to worry because you won't be around. What? Yes that's right. You will be some of the first to be killed because the Islamists will label you not Muslim enough, or decide you are from the wrong branch of Islam, or a Zionist collaborator, or some other trumped up excuse. Why? Because that's what tyrants do! And if you are Jewish? Well you know you needn't bother either. It's always the same story for you, right? Dangerous days are ahead for the civilized world - Christian, Jew, Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu, Atheist, Druid, Pagan, Cult of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, or whatever, unless we wake ourselves from our politically correct slumber/stupor!