Hugging the Russian Bear and Chinese Dragon

Continuing the march of foreign policy disasters by the Obama Administration, President Duterte of the Philippines announced that he is about to snuggle up with Russia and China. Granted that Duterte is a loose cannon, Obama lecturing him about how to run his country (smashing drug rings) was not helpful and Duterte reacted in a predictable manner. I guess it's a good thing that we dumped our former key Pacific base at Subic Bay in the Philippines because if we hadn't, I suspect we would be getting ready to do so now. Note to Duterte - your new friends are both meat eaters. 

www.breitbart.com/national-security/2016/09/27/duterte-cozies-china/

Let's Think This Through

Apparently billionaires are giving to Hillary rather than Trump at a rate of about 20:1. Hillary has consistently said that she is going to fund all her new spending by making the rich pay "their fair share." Hmmm... And how likely do you think it is that she is going to bite the hands that feed her? Well, okay maybe the Big Money folks are going to feed her with the other hand, witness the Clinton "Foundation." Quoth PT Barnum, "There's a sucker born every minute." 45% at last count of the American electorate it would seem - capiche? Maybe Bernie was on to something. 

www.breitbart.com/2016-presidential-race/2016/09/27/clinton-cash-billionaires-donate-hillary-20-1-trump/

Russia Continues Re-set

Yes indeedy, by merging the FSB with its foreign intelligence agency into the "new" - and no doubt improved - Ministry of State Security, whose intials in Russian are, what else -"KGB." Perfect! The same article mentions that Sen. Dianne Feinstein and Congressman Adam Schiff, vice-chairs of the Senate and House Intelligence Committees, formally charged Russia with meddling in the U.S. Presidential election. Hillary's much-touted re-set button with Russia has worked like a charm. 

townhall.com/tipsheet/katiepavlich/2016/09/28/oh-good-the-kgb-is-back-n2224478

Portland Landmark Closes

Der Rheinlander, a fixture for German food in Portland, has announced that it is closing after 53 years. We have had some very fun meals there over the years with family and friends and while I can only eat German food about twice a year, a nice time was typically had by all when we did. Gustav's and Gustav's Biergarten restaurants will remain open. An era passes.

www.oregonlive.com/dining/index.ssf/2016/09/der_rheinlander_to_close.html#incart_river_home_pop

Cat Got Your Tongue?

One of my favorite comedy scenes of recent vintage is in Bruce Almighty with Steve Carrell trying to deliver a newscast while Jim Carey twists his tongue and changes the teleprompter feed to produce on-air gibberish. The scene was howlingly funny and has now been repeated in real life by Libertarian Presidential candidate Gary Johnson. He was doing an interview with MSNBC's Kasie Hunt when Johnson got tongue-tied - lietrally. Take a look at the video in the link and see what you think. It got my morning started with a laugh! And now the President of the United States ...

townhall.com/tipsheet/townhallcomstaff/2016/09/24/gary-johnson-is-losing-itor-maybe-he-never-had-it-n2223112

Point; Counterpoint

A week ago I put up a post lauding the University of Chicago for taking a stand for freedom of speech and against "safe spaces" and "trigger warnings" for snowflakes on campus. As we know from physics, for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. Witness Northwestern University, also in the Chicago area.

Northwestern President Morton Schapiro called critics of snowflake protective measures "lunatics" and said:

"... microaggressions, or 'commonplace daily verbal, behavioral, or environmental indignities, whether intentional or unintentional, that communicate hostile, derogatory, or negative racial slights and insults,' are a serious threat to the mental well-being of Northwestern students. Microaggressions “cut you to the core” and aren’t easily forgotten..."

President Schapiro also announced a new program that the university will be tucking its students into bed every night and reading them bedtime stories in a move to reduce the anxiety level on campus. 

www.breitbart.com/tech/2016/09/21/northwestern-president-critics-of-safe-spaces-are-lunatics/

Diogenes Lives

Diogenes was a Greek philosopher who wandered the streets during the day with a lamp looking for an honest man. It would appear that in Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi we have found one. 

In a CNN interview President el-Sisi said that yes indeed we should use the term "Islamic terrorist" because, “It is really important that we state the truth, so that we could correct it.”
Amen! And unlike fawning U.S. and European politicians who can't say their own names without fear of offending someone, el-Sisi has a lot to lose as a Muslim in a very unstable region of the world due to Islamic terror. Ask Anwar Sadat. 

www.breitbart.com/video/2016/09/21/egypts-president-we-should-use-islamic-extremism-as-a-term-we-must-correct-the-islamic-rhetoric/

In Other News

Russia has been slowly digesting Ukraine in bits and pieces. Now it looks like it may like the taste and is just going to wolf the rest down. Russian tanks and troops are massing in the Crimea (formerly part of the Ukraine) pointed toward Kiev. Just thinking out loud, if you were the Russians, would you rather make a move before or after Donald Trump possibly moves into the White House? There's something to be said for predicability and Obama is nothing if not predicatble when it comes to foreign affairs. 

www.wsj.com/articles/russia-builds-up-army-near-ukraine-border-1471537008

Merger Announced Between CIA and KGB

CIA Director John Brennan has admitted that he voted for Communist Party head Gus Hall in 1976 instead of Gerald Ford or Jimmy Carter. He brushed it off by saying that we all have our "past indiscretions." Really? Mine was voting for Jimmy Carter that same year. Is this country totally nuts? Objection: leading question. 

www.infowars.com/cia-director-brennan-admits-voting-for-communist-party-in-1976/

For Whom the Bell Tolls

Here is the opening part of an article in today's Oregon Live about the massive crisis in the Oregon PERS retirement system:

"Just how bad is Oregon's public pension funding crisis?

Bad enough that Rukaiyah Adams, the normally polished investment professional who is vice chair of the Oregon Investment Council, broke down in tears last week as she spoke of passing a record $22 billion in unfunded promises to future taxpayers.

"My call to the legislature and to the governor is for leadership on this, and I mean right now," Adams said during last Wednesday's joint meeting of the Oregon Public Employees Retirement System board and the citizen panel that oversees its investments. "This is becoming a moral issue. We can't just talk about numbers anymore."

The article quotes Gov. Brown and Senate President Peter Courtney as not being interested in addressing the crisis. As a historian once said of wars, you may not want war but sometimes war wants you. Brace yourselves for impact.

www.oregonlive.com/politics/index.ssf/2016/09/this_is_becoming_a_moral_issue.html#incart_river_home_pop

It's Not Just a Job; It's an Adventure!

Following up on the transgender theme du jour, the Navy has decreed that all its sailors will go through transgender "education" by next June. With China rapidly occupying the South China Sea and the Russians buzzing dangerously close to our warships and aircraft, you might think that the Navy would have some other things to worry about, Apparently not. 

On another note, how do you like the Navy's new dress white uniform? 

www.breitbart.com/big-government/2016/09/18/navy-requires-sailors-undergo-transgender-education-july-2017/

Scorecard

The Globalists just scored at Mickey D's. Yup, McDonald's fired 70 Americans from its accounting staff and replaced them with foreign nationals here on H-1B visas. Have the Globalists and their political allies figured out that if no Americans are working there will be no one to buy their products? Just a thought. 

www.breitbart.com/2016-presidential-race/2016/09/18/mcdonalds-hires-foreign-h-1bs-fires-70-american-accounting-staff/

State of the Nation

"We live in a country run by people who tell us that if a man puts on a dress and says he’s a woman we are supposed to take him at his word. But, if a man goes on a murderous rampage in the name of Allah, and ISIS claims responsibility, we shouldn’t draw conclusions."  

Sad but true. 

townhall.com/columnists/susanstamperbrown/2016/09/19/12-hours-of-terror-just-another-weekend-in-leftistrun-america-n2220278

Socialist Economics 101

First Hugo Chavez and now his successor, Nicolas Maduro, have pretty much destroyed Venezuela's economy through socialist economics. Margaret Thatcher was right, at some point you do run out of other people's money and then the good times do not roll. Like now in Venezuela where people are literally starving because there is no food in stores. Noting that his subjects were looking a little thin, Maduro said that his diet was making them hard - no longer did they need Viagra. 

Well, Nick - thanks for that little sex ed gem. I'm sure your people appreciate it. I bet, however, that they would like some rice, beans and meat better. 

www.breitbart.com/national-security/2016/09/13/nicolas-maduro-makes-diet-jokes/

Be Careful What You Wish For

Bill Maher says that he would rather vote for a dead Hillary Clinton over Donald Trump. The way things are going for Hillary, he may get the chance. 

www.breitbart.com/big-hollywood/2016/09/13/bill-maher-id-vote-for-dead-hillary-over-trump/

University of Chicago Takes a Stand

Old news but good news - Way too many universities have become zombie-processing factories turning incoming freshman's brains into mush and then sculpting them in the image of Karl Marx and other popular "progressive" and long-dead icons. The University of Chicago has always had the reputation of being an institution of rigorous intellectual inquiry, especially in economics and philosophy, and it has chosen to separate itself from the progressivist herd.

University President Dr. Robert J. Zimmer recently wrote in the Wall Street Journal that:

 "Free speech is at risk at the very institution where it should be assured: the university."

This was not mere talk, as the University of Chicago's dean of students, John Ellison, sent a letter to freshmen students that read, in part: 

"Our commitment to academic freedom means that we do not support so-called 'trigger warnings,' we do not cancel invited speakers because their topics might prove controversial, and we do not condone the creation of intellectual 'safe spaces' where individuals can retreat from ideas and perspectives at odds with their own."

Well Hallelujah with a capital H! It's about darn time that somebody stood up and took a stand against the lemmings of academia. We'll see if they stick to it but it's a great start.


http://townhall.com/columnists/walterewilliams/2016/09/14/academic-giants-and-dwarfs-n2216348

I, Robot

Hillary said this week that she only seems cold and unemotional because some mean men at law school made her that way. Perhaps, but her recent campaign photo might indicate that there were at least some other factors involved.

www.dailywire.com/news/9014/hillary-i-only-seem-cold-and-unemotional-because-amanda-prestigiacomo

Coming Soon to a European Country Near You!

Yup, Syria redux. Check it out:

"Professor of political science at one of France’s most prestigious universities, Sciences Po, Gilles Kepel, claims that the current wave of Islamic terrorism in Europe is not so much a war of Western civilization against Islam, but a war within Islam itself."

So they knock each other off? Yes, but wait, there's more!

"The goal of the terror is not to provoke political change, but rather to incite hatred toward Muslims from the rest of society, which he believes would eventually radicalise enough Muslims to the point that Europe could enter into a full-blown civil war.

The long-term goal of the Jihad Generation is to destroy Europe through civil war and then build an Islamic society from the ashes, Prof. Kepel said. The strategy is similar to the expansion of Islamic State in Syria, Iraq, and Libya where the terrorist organisation was able to use the chaos of civil war to slowly build its forces, grow in power, and rapidly seize territory."

Well, Europe, there's your future. Why wait? Keep letting those Syrians in Angela so you can get to it more even more quickly!

www.breitbart.com/london/2016/09/11/islam-scholar-europe-may-heading-toward-civil-war/

Never Forget!

What is He Trying to Tell Us?

President Obama warned the Russians today not to interfere with Western politics. In other news, a Russian fighter flew within 10 feet of a U.S. Navy patrol plane over the Black Sea. Suppose there's any message there?

www.yahoo.com/news/russian-fighter-jet-flies-within-10-feet-navy-190205930--politics.html?ref=gs

Enough

Dems want voters; Republicans want cheap labor for their Big Business patrons. That's what "Globalism" is all about and I don't like it. Here is today's example: Caterpillar laid off 300 American workers in Mossville, IL and hired H-1B visa "guest workers" to take their place. Mossville is near Peoria heading toward the center of Illinois and Caterpillar does not make high tech equipment or software requiring a few H-1B visa holders for their special expertise. No, this is a globalist corporation who cares not one whit about what it is doing to the manufacturing base of this country or the American economy while it seeks to bump it's next quarter financial results a few points to fetch a better stock price for its executives at the top. This is not in the long term best interest of the United States for a variety of reasons and it's about time the voters of this country figured it out and voted accordingly. 


www.breitbart.com/2016-presidential-race/2016/09/06/caterpillar-hires-h-1b-foreign-graduates-fires-300-american-professionals/

There's a Bear in the Woods

President Obama won't say it but his Secretary of Defense will:

"U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter is strongly criticizing Russia for what he says is Moscow's 'clear ambition to erode the principled international order' through coercion and aggression."

Remember Hillary's re-set with Russia? And the President saying to the then-Russian President that he would have more "flexibility"in his second term? A bear is a bear is a bear and no amount of wishful thinking is going to change that. Unicorns have never done well against bears.

townhall.com/news/politics-elections/2016/09/07/ash-carter-clear-ambition-by-russia-to-erode-world-order-n2215123

The Playboy Lifestyle

"Three of the most common sexually transmitted infections are quickly becoming untreatable, according to new guidelines released by the World Health Organization last week."

Perhaps it's time to rethink this "lifestyle"?

www.oregonlive.com/health/index.ssf/2016/09/some_of_the_most_common_sexual.html

A More Petite Queen of the Seas

There is an old saying that one should "Never put all your eggs in one basket." Unfortunately, that may be just what the U.S. Navy has done. 

Aircraft carriers became the backbone of the U.S. fleet shortly after Pearl Harbor. By the end of WWII the U.S. with 22 large carriers and a much larger number of light and escort carriers. In the 1950s the first of the super carriers was launched starting with the USS Forrestal. These carriers were almost 1100' long and could carry a complement of 80 aircraft. The first group of super carriers was conventionally powered but later super carriers starting with the USS Enterprise were nuclear powered. The USS Gerald R. Ford is the newest iteration of these giant carriers, built at a cost of $13 billion. It is still undergoing sea trials and has not yet joined the fleet.

For a long time these super carriers allowed the U.S. to project power relatively at will around the world, averting many situations that could have degenerated into war. But times have now changed and two factors loom largest.

The first is the development of ship-killer missiles. The Chinese DF-21 ballistic missile is supersonic and can carry both conventional and nuclear payloads. Because of its speed it can be very difficult to shoot down. It is specifically designed as a ship killer out to a range of 1,100 miles and therein lies the second problem. 

The U.S. Navy has simply failed to maintain its long-range strike aircarft capabilty since the 1990s. The current F/A-18s are only good for a combat radius of approximately 450 miles. Thus, while the Chinese can hit us while our carriers and escort ships are 1,100 miles out, we can only reach out and touch them within 450 miles - a 650 mile disparity. 

Obviously, the U.S. would use cruise missiles, B-2s and other weapons systems to even the playing field but we are simply not in the same position as previous decades to send in a $13B carrier with relative impunity. 

One last factor to consider is that we currently only have 10 super carriers operating and two under construction. At any given time, two carriers are typically in dry dock for lengthy overhauls after deployments. The Navy already does not have enough carriers to meet its responsibilities around the world. Lose one carrier and it puts an even bigger hole in the ability of the U.S. to control the seas.

The most likely answer is not to abandon carriers altogether but to go to more and smaller carriers. From a strategic standpoint, it makes no difference whether the U.S. brings 80 aircraft to bear from one or 40 from each of two carriers. Multiple carriers complicates the targeting by potential enemies. Smaller carriers can be built more cheaply and quickly than the super carriers of today. More carriers can be dispersed to more places around the world, as needed. A faceoff with a bunch of Somali warlords is not going to require the same combat power as a staredown with the Chinese, so one smaller carrier would more than suffice. 

The article below suggests that as super carriers retire, they could be replaced on a 2-for-1 basis. Perhaps, but I am not sure our enemies' capabilities will give us the luxury of that much time in view of the long life span of a super carrier. It is becoming increasingly clear in any event, however, that there needs to be a major shift in our defense thinking and carriers are one of the key areas where this needs to happen first. 


foxtrotalpha.jalopnik.com/americas-carrier-gap-crisis-highlights-a-need-for-sma-1740644946

nationalinterest.org/feature/should-america-embrace-smaller-aircraft-carriers-14001

Pegging Out the Meter

"Comedian" Amy Schumer was waxing forth about the need for increased gun control because of the horrific mass shootings over the last few years when she was asked:

“Do you have increased security at your shows now because of it?” Dunham asked. “Because people are so f**king nuts.”

“Yes. Security is up,” Schumer replied. “I’m really trying to protect myself. I am not being an idiot.”

Yup, pretty much textbook definition of the word.

www.breitbart.com/big-hollywood/2016/09/02/amy-schumer-increases-security-pushing-gun-control/

Random Act of Kindness Spotted in Florida

Kudos to Florida State wide receiver, Travis Rudolph, for a random act of kindness. While visiting a middle school with several teammates, Rudolph spotted a young boy eating alone with no one else at his table in the cafeteria. He asked the young man if he could eat with him. It turns out the boy was autistic and had no friends. Well, today he had a friend and Bo and Travis had a delightful conversation about FSU football and a number of other things. Well done, Travis. You are a credit to your team.

www.breitbart.com/pre-viral/2016/08/31/florida-state-football-player-joins-boy-autism-sitting-alone-lunch/