Righteous War?

Nope. UK Prime Minister Teresa May has threatened a trade war over a punitive tariff requested by Boeing against a plane produced in Northern Ireland by Bombardier. Boeing accused Bombardier of "dumping" by accepting state support for its C-series jetliners. Boeing doth protesteth too loudly.

The C-series is a 100-passenger aircraft and this is a market in which Boeing has no models and furthermore has no plans to produce any. In fact, the last time it manufactured an aircraft of this size was 2006. The real gripe: it lost a Delta order for the bigger 737 when Delta instead went with 75 of the C-series. United also reversed a 737 order and may order the C-series as well. Not if Boeing can help it. 

And "state support?" Seriously? Who foots the bill via monstrous defense contracts for the R&D on new aviation materials and applications that are then used in the civilian sector? And for years the U.S. Export-Import Bank guaranteed loans for jets - Boeing jets. Surely that could not be U.S. taxpayers! 

There are certainly cases of trade dumping that occur and the U.S. has to respond with a more muscular trade policy including tariffs, but this is not one of them. Make nice, Mr. President and acknowledge the Right Honorable Lady from Britain has a point. Let's help make Brexit work. 

www.ft.com/content/bfdb3f24-a379-11e7-9e4f-7f5e6a7c98a2?mhq5j=e7

It's Time

Tom Brady and his wife, Gisele Bundchen, are apparently not of the same mind when it comes to him continuing in the NFL. He thinks he's got more tread left on the tires. After last year, I think he's probably right. He is certainly one of the best, if not the best, quarterback who has ever played the game. But with all the information coming out about brain injuries to NFL players, and he's had several concussions in his career, maybe it's time to go out on top and enjoy life in good health. 

Amazing Stories!

A Mexican "coyote" who smuggles illegals into the U.S. said that where new, secure border walls have been built it has made his job job infinitely - wait for it - harder. Well golly - who knew! Behind all the posturing on building a wall is the fact that the Dems want new voters to put them in power and establishment Republicans, on behalf of their patrons (Big Business), want a continuing flow of cheap labor. Neither of these are good for the average American. Build the wall. We can talk later about how to deal fairly with those already here. 

www.dailywire.com/news/21413/shocker-mexican-smugglers-admit-border-walls-work-ryan-saavedra

How's the War on Drugs Going?

"Federal authorities seized enough lethal doses of fentanyl to kill 32 million Americans during a single sting operation in New York City last month."

BTW, New York only has a population of 8.5M. The Mexican cartels can only exist when there is such massive demand and there is a massive demand because of a cancer in the soul of this country. 

www.wnd.com/2017/09/feds-seize-enough-fentanyl-to-kill-32-million-people/?cat_orig=us

Pay Day!

Did you ever play the game Pay Day as a kid? Well apparently President Obama did because he's knocking down BIG pay days speaking to Wall Street firms and their clients at $400,000 or so a pop. Not bad for a community organizer who has always just had the People's interest at heart. 

www.washingtonexaminer.com/obama-hits-pay-dirt-with-paid-speeches-to-wall-street/article/2634735

In Christ There is No East or West

Nabeel Qureshi is probably a name that you haven't heard but you should. Qureshi, author of the book Looking for Allah; Finding Jesus, just died at 34 from cancer after having a more impactful life than many of us who live twice as long. 

Born a Muslim, his father was an officer in the U.S. Navy. As he got older, Nabeel began to recognize a growing dissonance between the public face of Islam and its historical and present practices. He began to sincerely look for Allah to deepen his faith but, as the title of his book says, found Jesus instead. The book is excellent and details his journey. 

Qureshi got his undergraduate degree from Biola University and Master's degrees from Duke and Oxford. He was working on his doctorate at Oxford at the time of his death. Nabeel became part of the Ravi Zacharias ministry and quickly became known as a brilliant preacher, which is noteworthy because his mentor, Ravi Zacharias, is perhaps the finest Christian apologist in the world today. In his commencement address to Biola graduates he left them this final charge:

"... I charge you as if you were my son or my daughter to not live this life thinking that you are just a person. You are an adopted heir. A son of God, a daughter of God … sent to combat for the kingdom in this world of darkness."

Amen. You fought the good fight and conquered in Christ. You sought and you found and now you know His peace. God does not forget His own. 

www.wnd.com/2017/09/ex-muslim-author-evangelist-nabeel-qureshi-dead-at-34/

Back to the Future

They're back! Hybrid dirigible/blimps are coming soon from Lockheed Martin to haul heavy cargo and passengers to and from roadless places at 70 mph. A 1/3 scale test model is already flying and the first 300 foot production model will be delivered in 2020. The company anticipates a 1000 foot version in the future. It will be interesting if we begin to see these behemoths crossing our skies in the next few years. Be sure to look at the video to see what that might look like. 

www.circa.com/story/2017/09/18/science/lockheed-martins-hybrid-airship-is-taking-off-next-year-we-got-a-sneak-peak

News You Can Use

The Aspen Police Department has helpfully issued this public service announcement - Don't take selfies with bears. Frankly, anyone who would do that deserves to be eaten. And don't forget to enter them in the Darwin Awards. 

www.wnd.com/2017/09/police-warn-dont-take-selfies-with-bears/?cat_orig=us

Never Forget!

Let Them Eat Column Inches

The Venezuelan government spent $200K with the New York Times to run a full-page ad denouncing President Trump supposedly fabricating a crisis in that country. It's pretty clear that the U.S. has bigger things on its plate at the moment. It's immoral that the Venezuelan government is spending this money on a phony attempt to divert attention from its ineptitude instead of feeding its own people. Mauduro, El Jefe', doesn't look like he's missed too many meals. It's immoral for the Times to take the money knowing the dire situation in Venezuela. And it's a perfect illustration of the morality of the Left. 

www.breitbart.com/big-journalism/2017/09/07/new-york-times-runs-200k-ad-from-venezuelan-dictatorship-torturing-its-own-people/

Dispatches from a Socialist Paradise

Reports coming out of Venezuela now indicate that food stocks are so scarce that people are killing and eating dogs and zoo animals. There is a video in the article if you care to watch it. I had no stomach for it, no pun intended. Just another day in Paradise!

www.breitbart.com/national-security/2017/09/05/venezuelans-eating-dogs-zoo-animals/

Process is Important

We are not (yet anyway) governed by a king, which is why I very much support what President Trump has done with the Deferred Action on Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. It is critical to first understand that DACA was enacted by an executive order and not a statute passed by Congress. In fact, what Obama did was decide that he wasn't going to enforce immigration law that had been passed by Congress and just allow 800,000 children of illegals to stay in this country. We are a government of laws and not kingly decrees but when you are by decree affecting the lives of 800,000 people and who knows how many U.S. citizens through welfare benefits paid, etc. it clearly falls into the category of kingly decree that flouts the law. 

President Trump's strategy is brilliant. Few Americans are of a mind to throw these kids out of this country when they have been here their whole lives through no choice of their own, so the President said he will wait for 6 months for Congress to pass a law - a real statute - that sets out the terms and conditions under which they can stay. All the moaning and wailing about President Trump being "heartless" and "evil" is nonsense. It's just political posturing. Republicans are spineless and want to duck the issue and Democrats want a monarchy of the elite and don't want to be bound by the Constitution. Let Congress instead do what it is Constitutionally supposed to do and pass a law for everyone to follow. Or not. Process is important - ours is a government of laws, not men. 

Imagine That!

H-2B visas let "guest" workers (e.g. - low paid) into the U.S. In some industries like agriculture it makes sense because fruit and vegetables must be picked at their peak. In a lot of other industries, however, they don't make any sense. 

Politico reports that President Trump cracking down on the number of visas issued has resulted in - sharp intake of breath - hiring Americans! Oh my! A seaside Maine beach resort  in Maine wanted 8 H-2Bers for the summer but got none. Instead it cut-and-pasted with existing staff, hired American students and foreign students here on cultural exchange visas and did fine. The inn did report its wages were up 10% but realize that's going to people who for the most part live in that community while the guests who are footing the bill come from Boston, New York, DC and other tony places and are well able to afford it. Think of it as an intra-country money transfer as opposed to remittances that flow out of this country to guest workers' countries of origin. All in all, a sound econimic strategy. 

www.breitbart.com/big-government/2017/09/05/politico-donald-trumps-hire-american-policies-helped-americans-get-jobs/

Another Quiet American Hero

Here's another faith-restoring story of Houston volunteers making a huge difference. Willie Rios is a farmer in South Houston. When water began creeping into areas around his property where he had never seen it before, he grabbed his brother-in-law, cranked up his John Deere tractor, and began pulling people to safety. By the time they were done, and long after he had quit counting, over 200 men, women and children had literally ridden out of the storm on Willie's tractor. The video in the article is worth watching as Willie sits astride his trusty green John Deere. The tractor's transmission has become stuck apparently due to all the water. If I were John Deere I know what I would fix for free and use in my next ad campaign - "Nothing runs like a Deere!"

www.breitbart.com/texas/2017/09/03/watch-texas-farmer-rescues-200-harvey-floods/

Who's the Nazi Here?

Fascism: a political philosophy, movement, or regime (such as that of the Fascisti) that exalts nation and often race above the individual and that stands for a centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader, severe economic and social regimentation, and forcible suppression of opposition.

The Left labels anybody or anything that it doesn't like as "fascist" but it really is a self-diagnosis. Since this term is getting tossed around with reckless abandon, let's try a little intellectual discipline for a change and break down and apply the elements of the definition to current political alignments. 

First, regarding "nation," Center/Right Americans do tend to think that this country is exceptional. Infallible? No - one need only consider slavery, the internment of Japanese citizens in WWII, etc. as evidence. But comparatively speaking, yes. More people are fleeing their homelands than at any time in human history and a great many of them want to come here. That speaks volumes.

Ah, the "race" card is next. This is a favorite of the Left and it has devolved to ABW - Anything But White. One of the key differences between Center/Right and the Left is that the former agree with Martin Luther King that people should be judged by the content of their character, not the color of their skin. Not so the Left: white people are devils, much like the Jews were to Hitler and woe be to you if you are a Jew because in the Leftist world you are twice guilty for being white and oppressing the innocent Palestinian victims. 

Then there is centralized autocratic government. Such a government is anathema to the Center/Right. Folks to the right of center just want to get government off their backs. And the Left? There is never enough. Under President Obama, government couldn't grow fast enough. In one fell swoop 18% of the total economy was made subject to government whim with healthcare, yet any on the Left faulted Obama for his timidity. 

Severe economic and social regimentation. Healthcare was already mentioned above. As a historical reminder, Krups, Siemens, BMW, etc. did very well in Nazi Germany. It was a very cozy system where everyone scratched each other's backs and it's happening here too. Think crony capitalism - Goldman Sachs, GE, Boeing, Lockheed. Monopolies and near-monopolies are growing without much more than a ritual throat clearing from government. Look too at the "freedom" of thought on university campuses. You are free to have any opinion as long as it's theirs. Coming soon to your town!

Finally, forcible suppression of opposition. One word: Antifa. It isn't the Center/Right that is sending black-dressed thugs to Democratic meetings and shutting them down, but any significant meeting of the Center/Right that dares diverge from the Party Line gets a visit from the Antifa mob. Welcome to the new Brown Shirts! Their tactics are eerily similar to their predecessors in Germany and they intend to "possess the streets" which was the primary task of their German brethren. 

So who are the real Nazis of today? The Left need only look in the mirror. 

Credit Where Credit is Due 2

Since I gave Nancy Pelosi credit the other day I thought I would try it again with a shout out to the many celebrities, sports stars, Houston pro teams and millions of Americans who are giving generously to Hurricane Harvey relief efforts. Sandra Bullock, Kevin Hart, Tyler Perry and yes, Miley Cyrus come to mind but there many others. Thank you all for your generosity!

The Republican Party

The DHS and FBI issued a joint intelligence assessment in 2016 under President Obama that Anitfa's so-called "political" activities were formally categorized as "domestic terrorist violence." Why is it so hard for politicians, especially Republicans, to say what is obvious? These guys are thugs and nihilists and don't care who they hurt. It's like the hooligans at British soccer matches who riot in drunken brawls after games declaring that they are a politcal movement. Puh-lease. To our Republican leaders - lead, follow, or get out of the way!

www.breitbart.com/big-government/2017/09/01/report-fbi-labeled-antifa-domestic-terrorism-way-ryan-rubio-romney-declared-no-sides/