Update no.729

Update from the Heartland

No.729

30.11.15 – 6.12.15

Blog version:  http://heartlandupdate.blogspot.com/

To all,

            Jeanne and I attended the Garth Brooks concert at Intrust Arena in Wichita, Saturday night.  We both truly enjoy his music.  I have always seen him as an accomplished entertainer.  Unfortunately, with genuine regret, I must say this concert was a serious disappointment.  The sheer acoustic energy expended forced me to use earplugs.  My hearing has been brutalized over too many years of turbine engines.  The earplugs by design dampened high frequency sounds.  I even tried removing an earplug to see if I might be able to hear better; no joy; the sound level was mind-rattling.  Making the situation worse, Brooks repeatedly encouraged the audience to sing-along and cheer.  The sound, or perhaps I should more accurately say noise, was so loud that I could not actually discern the music notes or understand the words of the songs.  Trisha Yearwood did sing a few of her songs, which were more reasonable and enjoyable; but, to be blunt, we did not pay a lot of money to see her sing.  For such an accomplished musician and performer, this Garth Brooks concert was seriously disappointing and we left early.  I went to listen to his music and watch him perform, not be subjected to an arena of noise.  I suppose I must accept reality; I am getting too old for this kind of nonsense.

           This silly season is proving to be one for the history books, like none other than I can recall in my lifetime, or in history, as I know it.  One person has dominated the political podium in toto (for all parties) as we are allowed to see it.  Leonard Pitts fairly well pegged it, I’d say.

“Trump giving the people what they seem to want”

by Leonard Pitts Jr. – Miami Herald

Wichita Eagle

Published: November 29, 2015

http://www.kansas.com/opinion/opn-columns-blogs/article46820055.html

I offer a few additional, applicable quotations for this week’s observation.

-- “Trump is a whack-a-mole of the asinine and the repugnant.” – Leonard Pitts.

-- “How do you fact-check a serial prevaricator?” – Kevin Madden, CNN political commentator.

-- “You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time.” – Abraham Lincoln.

These are observation quite consistent with the master propagandist Josef Goebbels.  Clearly, he has fooled a lot of people.  We can only hope when it comes the general election next fall that he is exposed for what he truly is – a master, serial prevaricator, who is quite comfortable inciting a volatile segment of our citizenry.  As yet, the Press has been largely unable to pin down his exaggerations and misrepresentations.

           I must confess, it is truly refreshing to finally see Muslims protesting against Islamo-fascist terrorism and violence on innocent lives.  The Islamo-fascist fringe element is a miniscule minority of all believers, and they adversely taint their religion.  We need more of that.  If freedom-loving Muslims stood against the fascist minority faction, they would find far fewer recruits and sympathizers.  Muslim Americans can and should help us find the bad apples among us.

            Since the rapidly unfolding events at the Inland Regional Center in San Bernardino, California, on Wednesday, we have seen oddities and considerable speculation.  The FBI saw sufficient evidence to label this tragedy as a terrorist event and took over the leadership of the investigation.  While there was some supposition early on that this might have been a disgruntled employee and workplace violence event, I think we can all see that it was not some emotional, spur-of-the-moment reactive episode.  While we can argue about the sophistication of execution, I think everyone can agree that what happened took considerable planning, acquisition effort and commitment.  It also appears to me that she was the stimulus for this terrorist event.  I am not aware of any political manifesto or other document of purpose, the Press has reported a proclamation of allegiance to ISIL.  I also suspect there will be other arrests and charges for accomplices (enablers).  The two perpetrators were at least sympathizers, if not outright agents of ISIL.

           On Wednesday, Parliament’s House of Commons voted 397 to 223 in favor of a government motion to extend airstrikes into Syria from Iraq.  Her Majesty’s Government and the Royal Air Force did not waste time in executing their expanded authority and joined the coalition in attacking ISIL targets in Syria.

           Over-shadowed by the events in San Bernardino, California, Secretary of Defense Ashton Baldwin ‘Ash’ Carter announced the U.S. military will open combat positions to women, with no exceptions, notionally ending the decades-old debate surrounding the status of women in the armed forces.  The combat arms positions in all service branches will be open to women in 30 days and be fully implemented by 1.April.2016.  Seventeen years ago, I wrote an essay titled: “Limits on Gender Integration,” in which I argued against the integration of women in the combat arms.

{see: http://www.parlier.com/essay-1.html - gender; 25.August.1998}
My concerns remain valid.  However, the government’s action was inevitable, in my opinion.  In light of Carter’s pronouncement, I can only urge that reasonable, worthy and appropriate screening filters and qualifications be strictly maintained to ensure the fighting performance of combat arms units are maintained and enhanced.

           President Obama spoke to this Grand Republic exceptionally well Sunday night.  For the most part, I agree with his statement especially with respect to sending ground troops to Iraq and Syria to combat ISIL.  He called the San Bernardino event a terrorist event, although he acknowledged the FBI has not established any direct linkage to ISIL, al-Qa’ida, or any other Islamo-fascist group.  We should not be talking about sending conventional forces into Syria unless we are prepared to properly declare war on Syria and ISIL (Da’ish), mobilize the nation and industry for war, and send in a combined arms force of sufficient size to overwhelm any resistance (including any resistance from Iran or Russia), and more importantly, to secure the country until a properly elected and formed government can be established.  President Bush (43) made that dreadful mistake of not securing Iraq, or Afghanistan for that matter.  I even support the President’s position on the gun control measures in general, with one major exception.  The issue for me is not the direct proposed action, i.e., prohibiting anyone on the Watch List from purchasing a firearm (or other weapons for that matter).  My concern is focused on limits, crosschecks, supervision and appeal remedy regarding any action by the government on a constitutionally protected right.  The power to infringe upon a constitutionally protected right is easily and readily abused by political forces beyond the original purpose or mandate.  Thus, how do we ensure those political forces do not abuse any authority granted to them by We, the People.  The President did call ISIL what they are – “thugs, killers and part of a cult of death.”  He also cautioned all of us from making broad generalizations vilifying an entire religion; such reaction is wrong, counter-productive and otherwise a really bad idea.  While I label ISIL as Islamo-fascists, in that they espouse a perverted form of Islam to project their intention to dominate everyone they can bring under their influence.  They do not represent Islam, despite their perverted rationalization, and as noted above, we are beginning to see the peaceful, reasonable Muslims rise up against the Islamo-fascists who misrepresent their religion.

            News from the economic front:

-- The Bank of England announced their capital requirements would not continue to creep up in coming years and stated that lenders needed to hold Tier 1 equity of 11% of risk-adjusted assets by 2019.  The announcement came along with the central bank issuing the results of its latest bank stress test.  The Royal Bank of Scotland Group and Standard Chartered both failed aspects of the balance-sheet check, but the central bank stopped short of forcing them to raise more capital.

-- The Labor Department reported non-farm payrolls increased a seasonally adjusted 211,000 in November.  Revisions showed employers also added 35,000 more jobs in September and October than previously estimated.  The unemployment rate remained unchanged at 5%, reflecting an expansion in the labor force as more Americans came off the sidelines and began searching for jobs.  This jobs report will likely contribute to the Federal Reserve raising rates after the post-Great-Recession stimulus and a decade of concern.

-- The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) ended a contentious meeting without any agreement on production restraints, leaving members to continue pumping crude at near-record levels into an already oversupplied market.  The meeting illuminated deep divides within the group, as many members pushed hard for a cut in production to push oil prices up from their recent US$40-50-a-barrel range, less than half what they were 18 months ago.

           Comments and contributions from Update no.728:

“What?  No comments about 727?

“You AND I must both be slipping!

“Keep up the good work, and stay thankful.

“I would, however, like to see more discussion about how we can stop blind (or half blind) compassion from importing a small percentage of terrorists along with those poor mothers and children and strapping young men from Syria, and how we could instead finance their temporary stay in rich Saudi Arabia.”

My response:

            Oh, no worries, these things happen from time to time.

            I’ll keep writing, as I perceive some value to someone.  I enjoy the process and it keeps me thinking.

            We have entrusted the federal government with national security and immigration control.  We must trust those agents of the USG will do what must be done.  Our options are conveying our opinions to our elected representatives and voicing our opinions in public fora like the Update.  That said, I share your concern.  I want the USG to properly vet anyone and everyone before allowing them to enter this country.  If they cannot be vetted, then find another solution – default must not be admittance.  Here, I must note, there is no such thing as perfect security.  No matter how good the process, mistakes will be made, as they have been at every wave of immigration in our history.  Lastly, we must not make Syrian refugees bad guys.  Most are good people just trying to find safety and security to raise their families.  We must not overreact to this situation.

Another contribution:

“Weather foul here too…currently for us the sun is a lost star as are all the others at night time. Have been gardening, tidying up our small plot ready for the winter but finally driven in by endless precipitation and howling winds. Ah well, made a start.

“Yes Cap, I am fairly ignorant of your thanksgiving holiday, the origins and who it applies to. I have heard that it is a thanksgiving for the time when you finally rid yourselves of King George and his merry men! Then there’s that Black Friday, which I might add after the dreadful scenes in many of our main stores last year was I understand, at least on the high street, something of a flop. However the Internet business seemed to do well, or so they have claimed.

“Your company Wal-Mart who own our ASDA stores were very wise and scrubbed their participation in Black Friday this year. Full marks to them.

“Our work with the veterans and families continues, we have in our small county alone spent £300K this year. The need is endless, this work will never cease as long as man is prepared to take up arms.

"Are we about to send combat aircraft into Syria? The politicians are at each other’s throats with the lefties having a big problem in coming to agreement amongst themselves as to the way ahead. Our Prime Minister will not risk a defeat in the house therefore a great deal of lobbying is underway. We shall see very soon. If we do go in then my last squadron will be there with me wondering how I could support them. Do you have thoughts like that Cap?”

My reply:

            LOL.  I knew I would not get much sympathy from England in the grips of late autumn.  Nice that you at least got a good start on preparations for winter.  I am behind on that task.

            Re: Thanksgiving.  Ah, yes, a uniquely American holiday.  So our history tells us, the holiday was intended to celebrate the generosity of natives in helping the Pilgrims survive the first winter after they landed in the New World in 1620.  The first official holiday was in 1789, reinstituted by President Lincoln during the Civil War in 1863, and became a legal holiday in 1941.  Today, we think of it as a family holiday to appreciate all that we should be grateful for in life.

            Re: ridding ourselves of King George III.  That, my friend, is Independence Day – the 4th of July (1776).

            Re: Black Friday.  I have never been a fan . . . the worst of crowd mania.

            Re: veteran support.  The need is very real and likewise endless here in the colonies as well.

            The parliamentary process is quite understandable in this situation.  HMG will do the right thing for the nation.

            Yes, I share your wondering how we can help.  Then again, if they thought I could, they would ask.

            Late this afternoon [Monday], we saw some slivers of the Sun for the first time in five days.  Weather should improve the rest of this week.

 . . . Round two:

"Well our parliamentarians finally voted to bomb in Syria. In the end in a large majority. Of course there is still a great deal of concern over the decision and subsequent reaction amongst the nonhuman amongst us. But we cannot as a nation sits idly by while our friends do this work. The question remains, will this action work? Will we eventually be cornered into putting troops on the ground? Something that no one wants."

 . . . my reply to round two:

            I saw Parliament’s vote in the news; will record it in this week’s Update.  I also saw RAF Tornados made the first strike within hours of the parliamentary approval.

            Air power has never won a war and never will.  If we are to defeat ISIL, we must do it the only way proven to work – occupy and secure the ground.  There is no stomach in this Grand Republic for such an action – that bullet was wastefully spent 12 years ago.  Further, the surrounding states must stand up to the mark eventually, but sectarian divides are probably insurmountable in our lifetime, which in turn means the best we can hope for is containment or crippling ISIL.  I must say the British Army wrote the book on counter-insurgency operation in Malaysia 50 years ago.  Perhaps, we should all study up.

           My very best wishes to all.  Take care of yourselves and each other.

Cheers,

Cap                        :-)