Tough One (Updated)

I generally agree with Trump’s policies ... however, his recent decision to abandon the Kurds in northern Syria by pulling out our trip-wire troops has me scratching my head. If this scenario plays out, Turkey will invade Syria and try to massacre our Kurdish allies and likely also release the thousands of IsIS prisoners (including many Europeans) that the Kurds are now guarding. See: BBC Story.

I realize that Trump has vowed to reduce America’s foreign involvements ... a good thing, but this recent decision seems ill-timed and probably ill-advised. I hope I’m wrong ... and Trump is not folding to that tyrant Erdogan. If Trump has reasons for this decision beyond what has been revealed, I think he needs to communicate this rational to the American people post haste.

Afterward: President Trump claims that a primary reason for pulling our troops out is that those countries from which these 10,000 ISIS prisoners cam from won’t take them back and jail them. Perhaps we should just transport them back to their countries unannounced and let the devil take the hindquarters. And then warn Turkey to keep its hands off the Kurds ... or else!

AR-15

There was this mean-looking AR-15  see that:

- was a loner on anti-psychotic drugs

- was publicly obsessed with other guns and explosives

- would kill squirrels and rabbits and drink their blood

- would capture neighborhood dogs and cats and hang them from trees

- would shoot out the windows of neighbors' garages, sheds and houses

- threatened to kill multiple high school classmates

- many classmates felt it was quite likely it would be a high-school shooter

- was expelled from high school for carrying ammunition to school in its backpack

- police were called to its house 39 times in one year

- posted on Facebook that it was going to stage a high school massacre "professionally"

- the FBI was twice warned that it, by name, was quite likely to kill multiple classmates at school

-  finally went to its high school and killed 17 and wounded 15 more classmates

What Happens in Vegas ...

The mystery surrounding the recent Las Vegas massacre of 58 and injuring of over 500 country and western concert goers from rooms on the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay hotel is getting curiouser and curiouser. In particular, there are growing questions about the timeline of events inside the hotel and the response to these events ... see: LA Times Article. I, myself, have given up on trying to unravel these things.

This sewing of confusion by both the hotel and Las Vegas law enforcement is quite understandable to me for one simple reason -- money. The potential monetary liability to the hotel and the city from the hundreds or possibly thousands of plaintiffs in this case is beyond enormous ... which means that shrouding of derrieres is taking place to a fair-thee-well ... and will continue until such time as some unaffected thitd party steps in and runs things ... say the FBI or even Congress.

Las Vegas is riddled with sweetheart dealing and corruption which, IMHO, is why things surrounding this massacre are so roiled. I expect we will never know the true story there as long as these shady players keep things, that happen Vegas, staying in Vegas.

Skating

Bespeckled in her horn-rimmed glasses and looking very much like she did when she attended Wellesley College over forty years earlier, Hillary Clinton testified for five hours yesterday in front of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives.  She pretty much skated through what was supposed to be a grueling cross examination and got away without having to answer many hard questions about the circumstances surrounding the killing of four Americans at the American Consulate in Benghazi last September 11^th (see: Weekly Standard Story).

I say testified for five hours, but for only half that time was she interrogated by Republicans.  The Democrats in both Houses asked her either softball questions or queries that were so off the subject as to cause one to doubt the purpose of this inquiry.  So that was really a two and one half hour “grilling” by Republicans, each limited to five minutes apiece (another strategic win for Hillary).  And she started each session with about a five minute statement (choking up in the Senate about meeting the next-of-kin of those killed) which cut out another 10 minutes of questioning.  Now most of the questioners prefaced their queries with effusive praise for Ms. Clinton’s service as Secretary of State and her round-the-world  travels.  With her demurred thanks, this tete-a-tete usually took at least one minute or 20% of each questioner’s time. 

Then, being politicians, each Republican invariably prefaced his or her questions with about a two-minute soliloquy pontificating about the tragedy of the Benghazi  massacre … another 40% of misspent time.  So now, reduce this 2 hours and twenty minutes of questioning by 60% which leaves just 56 minutes of true grilling … usually working out to one or two questions per Congress-person.  Now, Hillary being loquacious, would generally answer each question with long-winded explanations of some State-Department process irrelevant to the question … eating up most of the few precious minutes left.  And, if  the questioner did, for some strange reason, stumble onto a good question, Hillary either went on the attack (a fearsome sight) or claimed no knowledge (quite likely a lie).

So Hillary Clinton skated through what was supposed to be her Waterloo … not telling us who were the survivors of this massacre; why have they been held incognito for five months; when and where can they be interrogated; how could Hillary have not seen the requests for more security from Ambassador Stevens; what conversations has she had with the President before, during, and after this affair; did she tell the father of one of the dead Americans that “we will get that video maker;” and many other follow-up questions to her many evasive answers. 

Perhaps next time (and there surely needs to be a next time) these Congressional panels should hire a cross-examiner (Mark Levin?) like what was had in the Watergate hearings and he/she might find out “what difference [Benghazi], in fact, makes”?  And then maybe network television might also just deem to broadcast such hearings?  Or will the American people rise up in protest and protect their next President?  I think I know the answer.

The Wages of Sin

Mexico is rapidly becoming a place of brutal Afghanistan-like anarchy. Recently 72 men and women were massacred in north-eastern Mexico in what is believed to be a mass execution of Central Americans hoping to slip across the United States border. See: Mexican Massacre. These killings are attributed to a Mexican drug cartel branching out into human trafficking. It is believed that the four-year total of deaths attributed to these drug cartels now exceeds 28,000. Mexico, itself, seems unwilling or unable to curb this violence. And we in this country seem conveniently to paper-over this horrendous bloodshed.

Why do we ignore it? I think that many in our ruling class and glitterati find the work of these drug cartels to be quite utile. (By glitterati I mean many in the entertainment and sports industries who have more money than they can possibly rationally spend. And by ruling class, I mean our politicians and industry titans who turn their backs on our illegal immigration problem.) These cartels supply the cocaine that the glitterati (and some in the ruling class) stuff up their noses … and offer the ruling class a steady supply of cheap labor and emotional voters who are useful to their power-hungry purposes.

What is even more galling is that our glitterati and ruling class too often pontificate on how we, who decry this massive illegal immigration and this manic drug abuse are the baddies … and that they are the compassionate ones. Bull hockey! Tell it to the families to these Central American victims.