You Name It and COAL!
===
This from a friend and obviously a faithful memo reader:
"Dick, WOW! You outdid yourself with this one (Time To Return The Nobel Medal! The Establishment Better Listen To The Trump Thumpers.)
Do you stay up half the night digging out this stuff?
I think I am pretty astute and able to digest more info than most---but you Sir, bust my bubble.
Dick, you are good, real good at what you do.
Dick, you are good, real good at what you do.
Maybe we both should take more time to enjoy our wonderful country before the libs turn it into
a waste land of poverty and despair.
a waste land of poverty and despair.
I try to skim much of your stuff----a real challenge---just too much---must be getting old!
You see most of the stuff I send out.
You see most of the stuff I send out.
One of my son's says, "I know Dad, you are just having fun!" If he only knew how concerned
and tentative I really am about our country---like you.
Thanks for all that you do Dick. B==."
and tentative I really am about our country---like you.
Thanks for all that you do Dick. B==."
It is nice to feel I am making a contribution and there others out in the world also concerned.
As I have said many times, I do not care if people disagree with my thinking as long as I get them to think and defend their own thinking. Often times, when we are forced to do so, we begin to realize we are simply mouthing but really do not believe what we are saying because it just does not fit or feel right.
I too write some things and as I do so I stop because I have either not said it the way I meant or actually find I have to rethink.
I would hope we all struggle to find the intellectually honest path.
I would hope we all struggle to find the intellectually honest path.
===
Obama has been successful in destroying the coal industry. Peabody, one of the biggest, is on the cusp of declaring bankruptcy. This will be the fifth coal company to bite the dust not because coal is no longer used but because Obama, the Greens and the EPA do not want them to survive.
The amount of pollution caused by scrubbed coal is, scientifically, not that significant but perpetuating this wedge issue was deemed politically acceptable regardless of the pain and suffering caused mining families, entire regions of our nation, the economic loss and capital down the drain. After all, Demwits and Progressives are for the little people and that is what Hilllary tells us every day.
However, wedge issues win out when votes are concerned so to hell with you miners it is campaign time and coal be damned. After all when it comes to Progressives and how they think good intentions is their main goal and as long as their intentions are worthy consequences become secondary.
Keeping the air clean and pure is more important than causing human misery and insecurity. Cleanliness above Godliness is the penultimate goal of the compassionate.
===
Ret. General Peters believes Putin decided to leave Syria while he could because a) his support of Assad did not gain the pay back he expected, b) the cost of continuing In Syria was bearing down on his economy and c) Putin realized he was helping Iran and that was not his intention in the first place.
He acted logically and in his own self-interest and has decided to withdraw.
Obama warned Putin would get stuck in Syria but Putin chose to withdraw seeing his goal would be unachievable, whereas we seem to be stuck. (See 1 below.)
===
Obama's nominee for The Supreme Court suggests Obama can come up with a qualified candidate for public office when he wants to and though it seems this one, on the surface, may be the right person his nomination comes at what is deemed by the Repubs at the wrong time. Much like with Kasich. Good man, qualified based on accomplishments but the times were not conducive.
Once again, Obama is hoping the rejection of his nominee will flair back on the Repubs and end the career of enough Republican Senators so his party can recapture the Senate, placing them in a better position to pack The Court as they wish.
The Repubs are rolling dice because Hillary might win and then could submit candidates less attractive than Garland who seems acceptable but for the timing. (See 2 and 2a below.)
===
More surprises to come? (See 3 below.)
===
Too good not to repeat:https://www.youtube.com/embed/
I do not own a cell phone but I even might purchase this.
===
And finally some canine humor: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5Z-jJ2Z4bU
===
Dick
========================================================================
1)
Senate Republicans have vowed that the next president must replace Scalia, not President Obama. Recognition of the transformative damage that Obama has done to the rule of law may have come late to the Senate GOP, but at least it has come. Senate leaders have vowed to hold no hearings on Garland and have no votes, and for this decision, everyone who supports the Constitution and the limits on government should applaud them.
=============================================================
Obama has been successful in destroying the coal industry. Peabody, one of the biggest, is on the cusp of declaring bankruptcy. This will be the fifth coal company to bite the dust not because coal is no longer used but because Obama, the Greens and the EPA do not want them to survive.
The amount of pollution caused by scrubbed coal is, scientifically, not that significant but perpetuating this wedge issue was deemed politically acceptable regardless of the pain and suffering caused mining families, entire regions of our nation, the economic loss and capital down the drain. After all, Demwits and Progressives are for the little people and that is what Hilllary tells us every day.
However, wedge issues win out when votes are concerned so to hell with you miners it is campaign time and coal be damned. After all when it comes to Progressives and how they think good intentions is their main goal and as long as their intentions are worthy consequences become secondary.
Keeping the air clean and pure is more important than causing human misery and insecurity. Cleanliness above Godliness is the penultimate goal of the compassionate.
===
Ret. General Peters believes Putin decided to leave Syria while he could because a) his support of Assad did not gain the pay back he expected, b) the cost of continuing In Syria was bearing down on his economy and c) Putin realized he was helping Iran and that was not his intention in the first place.
He acted logically and in his own self-interest and has decided to withdraw.
Obama warned Putin would get stuck in Syria but Putin chose to withdraw seeing his goal would be unachievable, whereas we seem to be stuck. (See 1 below.)
===
Obama's nominee for The Supreme Court suggests Obama can come up with a qualified candidate for public office when he wants to and though it seems this one, on the surface, may be the right person his nomination comes at what is deemed by the Repubs at the wrong time. Much like with Kasich. Good man, qualified based on accomplishments but the times were not conducive.
Once again, Obama is hoping the rejection of his nominee will flair back on the Repubs and end the career of enough Republican Senators so his party can recapture the Senate, placing them in a better position to pack The Court as they wish.
The Repubs are rolling dice because Hillary might win and then could submit candidates less attractive than Garland who seems acceptable but for the timing. (See 2 and 2a below.)
===
More surprises to come? (See 3 below.)
===
Too good not to repeat:https://www.youtube.com/embed/
I do not own a cell phone but I even might purchase this.
===
And finally some canine humor: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5Z-jJ2Z4bU
===
Dick
========================================================================
1)
The Syrian war just taught Putin to worry about Iran
Russian President Vladimir Putin surprised the world by announcing on Monday that most of his troops would leave Syria. Military analysts were flummoxed.
I, for one, had expected all of the forces backing the regime of Bashar al-Assad to catch their collective breath, then resume the offensive.
What happened?
In retrospect, it looks obvious: Putin finally met the Middle East. And unlike President Obama, the Russian czar faced reality.
Allowing that Putin could re-engage in the future, and that his forces accomplished their primary goal of propping up the regime and giving it breathing space, the announcement still came as a cold-water shock to all — except the Iranians.
Initial Western reactions have stressed the recalcitrance of Assad, who has refused to consider stepping aside. Instead, Assad’s latest pronouncements have been defiant bordering on megalomania. Putin had every reason to be fed up.
Putin didn’t go into Syria because Assad was a pal. He sent in his air power and his commandos to expand Russia’s regional influence as American power ebbed. He thought he saw a not-to-be-missed strategic opportunity.
And he certainly expected Assad to be grateful for his salvation at Russian hands.
But gratitude isn’t in the Middle East’s repertoire. As Americans discovered painfully, the region’s thanks resemble the bite of a cobra.
There’s even a cost factor: Russia’s economy’s shrinking, and Putin’s been forced to slow his cherished military renewal. Even the dumb bombs dropped on civilians in Syria carry a price.
Still, Putin’s abrupt departure has to have more behind it than a spurious desire to further peace talks, the need to save money or personal pique at Assad.
The long bet is that his generals, diplomats and intelligence hands on the ground were shocked by the degree to which Iran already and irrevocably dominates Syria. And Iraq. And Lebanon.
With a shudder, Putin recognized that his air campaign would ultimately benefit an emerging Persian/Iranian empire, rather than expanding Moscow’s influence. Similarly, our air campaign and special operations against ISIS, although necessary, will inevitably strengthen Tehran’s regional dominance (we gave away Iraq, but we still do the maintenance).
We’re trapped, but Putin wasn’t. So he got out.
Those of us who’ve warned of a burgeoning Iranian empire haven’t found much traction in Washington, where the current president clings to his appalling nuclear deal. And the Middle East still seems far away from the Potomac’s prospering shores. But it’s a very different deal for Putin.
Russia’s newest czar thought he was playing the Iranians, using them as leverage against US influence, selling them arms at a premium and using them as cannon fodder on the ground in Syria — while his combat aircraft soared invulnerably overhead.
But to paraphrase Shakespeare, Putin drank and only then saw the spider in the cup.
Contrary to his expectations of finding a pliable ally in Iran, he found the Iranians in control, glad to borrow his air force, arrogant and disdainful in Damascus (and Baghdad) and well on the path to dominating a vast stretch of strategically vital territory. And Iran has no interest in playing junior partner to anyone — least of all a traditional Christian enemy.
Suddenly, Putin had a vision of a nuclear-armed, radical-Shia empire on Russia’s southern flank. Those Iranian missiles that can reach Israel? They can reach major Russian cities, too.
Putin’s initial bet on Shia Iran also backfired by turning the Islamic world’s Sunni majority against him — not least Saudi Arabia, which can continue to hold down the price of oil and gas, punishing Russia’s economy far more than it wounds American fracking efforts. And Sunni terrorists have taken a renewed interest in Russia.
After Putin’s Syrian adventure, he may be re-prioritizing his enemies.
Of course, Putin also promised to withdraw from eastern Ukraine. Didn’t happen. And his trumpeted withdrawal from Syria could be no more than a temporary gambit — his remarks footnoted that “some” Russian troops will remain at their Syrian naval base and air base.
But Putin, whose view of the world has been bounded by the Caucasus in the south and Europe to the West (with occasional nods to China in the east) may have discovered the frightful threat under his nose.
At the very least, he’s learned that there are no strategic bargains in the Middle East. That puts him one up on us.
=======================================================================
2)Barack Obama has announced that Merrick Garland will be his nominee to the Supreme Court. As the Wall Street Journal notes:
President Barack Obama will tap Merrick Garland to be a Supreme Court justice, according to three people familiar with the matter. The nomination is the opening move in an election-year battle over when to fill the critical ninth seat on the nation’s highest court.
The president is expected make the formal announcement later Wednesday.
Mr. Obama’s nominee is expected to languish in the Republican-controlled Senate, where lawmakers have vowed to not hold hearings or votes until at least after the November elections.
Prior to announcing Judge Garland’s nomination, Mr. Obama said he would put forth a candidate who is “not only eminently qualified to be a Supreme Court justice, but deserves a fair hearing, and an up-or-down vote.”
Mr. Obama and a team of White House officials have been vetting candidates since the February death of Justice Antonin Scalia. He has urged GOP lawmakers to consider a nominee he has said “would not even be questioned as qualified” and who had received support from Republicans in the past.
Senate Republicans said Tuesday that they planned to stick to their strategy of keeping the high court seat vacant this year, no matter whom the president nominates.
“We’re not going to confirm anybody, period,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham (R., S.C.).
Judge Garland, 63, was confirmed as an appeals judge in 1997 with a 76-23 vote, with support from 30 Republicans. He became the D.C. Circuit’s chief judge in 2013.
He was on Mr. Obama’s previous short lists as a potential Supreme Court nominee. Soft spoken and self-effacing, Judge Garland has maintained respect from both sides of the aisle despite the high tensions that mark judicial confirmations.
It is critical that we ensure that none of Barack Obama's appointments make it to a hearing. Religious liberty, the right to life, and the right to bear arms depend upon it. If you'd like to help, please sign our petition and keep pressure on Congress to block any nominee
2a)
Obama Plays Chicken with Merrick Garland Supreme Court Nomination
President Obama's nomination of Merrick Garland to replace Justice Antonin Scalia on the Supreme Court means the White House has decided to play chicken with Senate Republicans. It means President Obama believes Garland can be packaged as a reasonable moderate to force Senate Republicans to go wobbly.
It also means that President Obama is playing the long game, instead of short-term electoral politics.
Picking Garland instead of more progressive alternatives shows Obama is sacrificing any turbocharging effect on the Democrat base in the fall in exchange for, what he must believe, is a chance to make Senate Republicans buckle.
But this time, Obama may have miscalculated the political atmosphere in the Republican Party.
Those I have spoken to who are very close to the thinking of Senate leaders consider it a lead-pipe lock that there will be no hearings for Garland, and there will be no vote.
It's easy to say you've seen this movie before, and that the Senate GOP will eventually swap deals here, there, and eventually everywhere in exchange for a hearing or vote on Garland. But those close to Senate leaders have assured grassroots leaders that the Senate GOP has never been more solid and committed to a position in several decades as they are to denying hearings and a vote to Garland.
At the same time, Garland is a pick designed to probe and test that commitment.
Obama probably heard Senator Orrin Hatch when just last week he called Garland a "fine man"; he badly miscalculated that Obama would pick a radical.
Garland once voted to deny habeas corpus rights to Gitmo detainees, a position eventually reversed by the Supreme Court in Rasul v. Bush. But don't be fooled by his position in Rasul, as it was squarely consistent with Supreme Court precedent at the time. He was bound to follow decades-old Supreme Court precedent until the Supreme Court transformed the law, which it did a year later.
By now, Senator Hatch must realize that plenty of "fine" men have made a fine mess out of the country. At best, Garland would be a center-left vote to replace Scalia, and that's good enough to transform the Court and then the nation.
Don't be deceived. Garland may have rendered some unsurprisingly moderate opinions on criminal justice or Gitmo, but once on the Court he'll provide the final vote to preserve big government in areas such as deference to federal agencies and federal health care control. He will be a reliable fifth vote on transformational social issues, and he has already displayed hostility to Second Amendment rights.
Obama could have appointed a progressive radical or someone who would energize racial voting blocs this fall. Instead, Obama has started a game of chicken. He thinks Republicans will flinch first. This time, Obama has misread them.
Senate Republicans have vowed that the next president must replace Scalia, not President Obama. Recognition of the transformative damage that Obama has done to the rule of law may have come late to the Senate GOP, but at least it has come. Senate leaders have vowed to hold no hearings on Garland and have no votes, and for this decision, everyone who supports the Constitution and the limits on government should applaud them.
Obama’s top counter-terrorism adviser disclosed on Monday that international terrorist organizations, including ISIS and al Qaeda affiliates, are “planning for sophisticated and coordinated terror attacks,” according to determinations made by the U.S. government.
Lisa Monaco, a top counter-terrorism adviser at the White House, warned that the risk of terrorism, both at home and abroad, has reached peak levels, with threat levels becoming “broader, more diffuse, and less predicable than at any time since” the 9/11 attacks.
“We continue to see planning for sophisticated and coordinated attacks, such as those in Paris,” Monaco said, referring to last year’s mass attack by ISIS in France. The United States also continues “to disrupt plots also from al Qaeda’s largest affiliate, the Nusra Front, operating in Syria.”
“What keeps me up at night is that this threat is unlike what we’ve seen before,” she added, referring in particular to ISIS. The U.S. military and intelligence communities have faced difficulties in combating the threat due in part to a rise in the number of small, undetectable terror cells and lone wolf radicals who are not formally affiliated with any particular group.
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