Just Do It!

After closing the F-22 production line and struggling to produce a workable F-35, the Air Force now wants to move on and develop a "next-generation fighter" while proposing to buy old technology fighters like the F-15 designed in the 1970s to fill the gap in the real world while the newbies are developed. Well excuse me but it seems to me that the job of the Air Force is to design and build the best fighters in the world and actually put them in the hands of our pilots to keep the enemies of this country at bay, not just endlessly plan to do so. After the sorry track record with the F-35, why would anybody believe that the Air Force is capable of developing a new fighter that actually works? 

Until that question is answered satisfactorily, perhaps the best and most cost effective answer is to re-open the F-22 line and roll out  a lot of them to line units. That is exactly what the attached article proposes to do. 

The author says that the F-22 has gone through its teething period and there is no better fighter in the world, existing or planned. This is consistent with pilot reports. The few known deficiencies could be remedied in the new version, the F-22D as it were. The development costs have already been incurred, there is no need to re-tool the manufacturing process and the testing has been accomplished. 

I concur - let's quit screwing around and get an aircraft that actually works into the hands of as many of our pilots as possible. These are dangerous times and they (and we) deserve the best - now.


theaviationist.com/2016/03/30/heres-why-the-u-s-should-restart-the-f-22-raptor-production-line-instead-of-developing-a-sixth-generation-fighter/

A Prophet

Matt Barber in Townhall had a very interesting story about a politician I had never heard of but who was amazing in his ability to foretell the future: 

" Dutch politician and historian Guillaume Groen van Prinsterer (1801-1876) is credited with what seems an eerily prescient foreshadowing of the bizarre phenomenon that is 'Trump 2016.'

“Pent-up anger and long-held frustration due to economic stagnation, moral decay, spiritual impotency, and political corruption,” he opined, “invariably pave the way for the rise of crass manipulators. Instead of a mastery of truth, such revolutionary opportunists tap into fear and rage, ignorance and prejudice, staging great public spectacles of narcissism.”

It’s human nature. Such sense of hopelessness, anger, betrayal and frustration can lead otherwise good people (some of whom I respect and admire) to make very bad decisions – to exercise poor judgment.

It gave us Barack Obama in 2008.

And Donald Trump in 2016."

Not to mention Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders. It's going to be a long ride down.

townhall.com/columnists/mattbarber/2016/03/27/was-trump-2016-prophesied-centuries-ago-n2139573

The Lord is Risen!

Islam is Not a Religion of Peace

This is a proposition that even Bill Maher now recognizes. Maher cites polling done by a Muslim that on average +/- 53% of citizens of 39 Muslim countries support Sharia law. And what does Sharia law involve? Good question! Here are some of the finer points of Sharia law: 

" ... death for leaving Islam, death for insulting the prophet, or the Koran, stoning a woman to death for adultery, amputation for theft, whipping for missing Friday prayers ,or drinking alcohol." 

All this and more coming soon to the U.S. as we open the immigration floodgates, not to mention the 1.8 million already here! 

www.breitbart.com/video/2016/03/25/maher-obamas-pulling-his-numbers-on-islam-right-out-of-his-a-its-not-one-small-slice-that-are-dangerous/ law. 

Andrew McCarthy echoes Maher's views but with much more in-depth analysis in a National Review article. McCarthy is the former U.S. Attorney who prosecuted the "Blind Sheikh" in the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center in New York. He learned many things about Islam while preparing that case, but two of them stand out:

 1. Faith vs. All-Encompassing Ideology. The Koran, if literally read, becomes an all-encompassing ideology that governs every aspect of life from faith to culture to politics. Like communism, there is no stone left unturned. We need to distinguish between those for whom it is only a matter of faith and those for whom it is an all-encompassing ideology. Unfortunately, 53% of Muslims are in the latter category, either as activists or as sympathizers. 

 2. Islam is an Alternative Civilization. Because of its all-encompassing nature, Islam is much more than a religion as we in the West understand the term. It recognizes no other cultures, governments, political systems, etc. The consequence is that we have Islamic wars all over the world aggressively and murderously trying to spread this cancerous ideology and have for 1400 years. It's not going to stop. They are not fighting for religious freedom. They are fighting to destroy all competing cultures, governments, political systems, etc., so that Allah may reign supreme across the entire world. There has been no lasting peace for 1400 years with this ideology and there will not be for the indefinite - very indefinite - future and the sooner the West realizes that it is in an existential battle for its very survival, the better are our chances of winning this life-or-death clash of civilizations. 

There is much more in McCarthy's article that is worth reading and I commend it to you. The key point, though, is that we need to wake up from our slumber and get serious about the fact that we are engaged in a titanic struggle for our existence as a people, nation, and Western civilization that will be fought not just by us, but by our children and our children's children with every resource that we possess if we are to prevail. 


www.nationalreview.com/article/433258/ted-cruz-muslim-surveillance

Observation Point

"Liberalism is the ideology of Western suicide."  

                                                James Burnham

As quoted by Pat Buchanan.

townhall.com/columnists/patbuchanan/2016/03/25/is-isis-faithful-to-islam-n2138634

The Day The World Turned Away

And We Danced...

Terror plot foiled in France; 6 more terrorists arrested in Brussels. President says ISIS #1 priority. Whatever. 

Brussels and the American Response

Koo-ba

President Obama is having a stellar trip to Koo-ba. It started well when head-of-state Raul Castro refused to meet him at the airport. I'm sure the dialog after that went something like this, "OMG! Today? I had you down for tomorrow. I'm s-o-o sorry!" Well, okay - a mistake anyone could make. Ever been to a party where the hosts's dog pees on your leg?

Then the picture was released with the President and his party in front of a building with a giant Che Guevara mural. What stunning sensitivity to Cuban political prisoners, many of whom were arrested while President Obama was there for wanting - yes, political freedom. Not that! How about a group shot with the President, Che, Raul and Chavez? Great leaders all in democracy in the Americas. 

But this is realpolitik Kissinger-style, right? Things will surely be getting better as a result of the U.S. opening up to Cuba. Well, there is definitely change that has occurred. Humberto Fontova, a Cuban refugee, wrote in Breitbart on Sunday that Obama's policy did change things in Cuba - they got worse. A wave of terror has begun against pro-democracy activists, especially women and the greatest number of Cubans in several decades is trying to flee the "People's Paradise."

townhall.com/columnists/humbertofontova/2016/03/19/obamas-new-policy-did-change-cuba-n2136074/page/full

And while the President was not meeting with Raul Castro, John F. Kerry was meeting with the FARC terrorists from Colombia, presumably to apologize for the United States supporting a democratically-elected government in that country. 

We cannot get rid of these guys soon enough. 

www.breitbart.com/national-security/2016/03/21/farc-terrorists-will-meet-john-kerry-during-obamas-cuba-trip/

The Court

Justice Scalia's death was incredibly unfortunate, not only for his family, but for the future of our country. Scalia and four other justices had their fingers in the leaking dam that is the Constitution trying to shore it up against the tidal wave of liberal thought that the document is infinitely malleable and reflects whatever views a naked majority can muster. Liberals view the nine Supreme Court justices as Platonic Philosopher Kings who can hurl judicial thunderbolts that change our society to its roots based on the whims of au courant ideological thought. 

Now President Obama has nominated someone to take Scalia's place who, although apparently an intelligent and nice guy, is standard issue liberal. Even the New York Times admits that if Merrick Garland is confirmed, this will be the most "liberal Court in decades." Translation: Goodbye pesky Constitutional limits and let governmental whim and capriciousness roll on in a relentless tide! 

Sen. McConnell - you had better stick to your guns on the Senate sitting on this nomination until a new President is elected. If not, the United States as we have known it is history and the disintegration of this once great Republic will begin in earnest.  

www.breitbart.com/big-government/2016/03/17/nyt-a-supreme-court-with-merrick-garland-would-be-the-most-liberal-in-decades/

Noah - Apocalypse 2

This one is a little off the beaten path but worth considering. Apparently the huge Mosul Dam in Iraq which was finished in 1984 is leaking - a lot. In fact, it was built on a porous base that engineers knew at the time could not hold such a massive structure without leaking profusely. Since it was completed, 200,000,000 pounds of special concrete has been added on pretty much a daily basis to plug leaks. 

Unfortunately, when ISIS took possession and even after they were ejected by U.S. special ops troops, the regular patching regime stopped. Now there is a growing fear that with the Spring snow melt in the mountains this year, the dam will burst and flood a wide area of Iraq starting with Mosul and going down to Baghdad and beyond. The festivities will start with a wall of water 45-70' high. 

This whole part of the Middle East is the Land of Biblical-sized events and it looks like a re-run of the Noah experience may occur. Hopefully, there are some wise men in Iraq who have built their houses upon the Rock and may even be headed for other locations as this is written. 

townhall.com/columnists/danielpipes/2016/03/16/iraqs-coming-apocalypse-n2134575

Get a Life

Students at UC - Davis recently had a wrestling tournament with contestants in inflatable sumo wrestler suits. In the aftermath, some students are complaining about being "traumatized" by this blatant display of "structural racism." Really? Get a life. Get yourself committed to an institution until you can hack it, if ever. No, the world will not change to allow you to experience it as a 5-year old. 

www.wnd.com/2016/03/inflatable-sumo-suits-traumatize-college-kids/?cat_orig=education

Observation Point

Einstein stated in an interview published in G.S. Viereck’s book “Glimpses of the Great,” 1930:

“I’m absolutely not an atheist. …The problem involved is too vast for our limited minds. We are in the position of a little child entering a huge library filled with books in many languages. The child knows someone must have written those books. It does not know how. It does not understand the languages in which they are written. The child dimly suspects a mysterious order in the arrangement of the books but doesn’t know what it is. That, it seems to me, is the attitude of even the most intelligent human being toward God. We see the universe marvelously arranged and obeying certain laws but only dimly understand these laws.”

www.wnd.com/2016/03/einstein-had-this-to-say-about-jesus-and-wealth/?cat_orig=education

Aw - Poor Guy!

President Obama recently lamented that he had not done more to bridge the partisan divide in Washington. Then he skipped the funeral of Justice Antonin Scalia and is missing former First Lady Nancy Reagan's funeral too because he is leaving for the SXSW festival in Austin instead. Yessir, a man of his word an all action!

A Special Graduation Ceremony

Al-Shabaab is an an al-Qaeda affiliate in Somalia that has been trying to make a comeback. It held a graduation ceremony for 150 grads last week who were looking forward to attacking African Union troops and U.S. Special Forces in the near future in the name of Allah. Unfortunately for them, the ceremony was visited by the U.S. Air Force and to the strains of Pomp and Circumstance, a large number of heavy bombs hit simultaneously providing nonstop transportation to their 72 virgins. Best of luck for the future, grads!

www.breitbart.com/national-security/2016/03/07/u-s-warplanes-bomb-al-shabaab-training-camp-in-somalia-killing-over-150-militants/

HQ Weenies

Combat troops often refer to rear echelon types as "HQ weenies" or worse. There is a reason. 

Navy SEALS have recently appealed to Congress to stop the practice of the service taking their rifles when they leave a theater and giving them to someone rotating in country. As someone familiar with special ops soldiers has pointed out:

"Sharing rifles may seem inconsequential. It's not. The weapons, which are outfitted with telescopic targeting sights and laser pointers, are fine-tuned to individual specifications and become intensely personal pieces of gear."

It is truly incredible how government manages to screw everything up but this is one practice that needs to end now and the author of it assigned to supply duty in the Aleutians. 
townhall.com/tipsheet/justinholcomb/2016/03/07/navy-seals-ask-congress-to-rethink-rifle-distribution-n2129851

Meanwhile ...

While our politicians dork around, the Chinese continue apace with their military base construction in the South China Sea and have moved land-based fighter aircraft into several of the new bases. Did I mention that these bases sit astride all the oil shipping routes for South Korea and Japan? Who the U.S. worry?

foxtrotalpha.jalopnik.com/china-lands-plane-on-growing-man-made-island-airbase-in-1751088977

The Circus Continues

Ben is out. So are Jeb, Rand, and most of the others. And then there's The Donald. Talking about man packages at the last debate. 
The Dems are giving ("foisting") us Hillary who apparently has a grand jury looking at her exploits as Secretary of State making state secrets available to any 15-year old kid hacker. I think we can assume that Russia, China and others unfriends are considerably sharper than that when it comes to computer espionage. Bernie is a putz. Fuggeddabout him. 

George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, Bozo the Clown. Lord help us because He is the only one who can at this point.