Day: August 17, 2016

Home-Grown, Right-Wing Terrorism?

Well if you depend on nose picking, ass scratching Right wing blogs and news outlets for your info then there is NO such thing as right wing terrorism.

In doing my research into terrorism so that I can be better informed when I teach my class I have been looking into all aspects of the use of terror……even to the type of terror that few want to acknowledge…..home grown.

According to most of these mentally challenged people there is only one type of terrorism….and we know what that is….do we not?

It is as if some do not think that a red blooded American is capable of the barbarity of the act of terrorism…..an ignorant belief.

As the Las Vegas shootings show, right-wing extremism is real and on the rise. But for Republicans, better to focus on the Muslims.

Remember in 2009, right at the start of the Obama era, when then-Secretary of Department of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano issued a report (PDF) entitled: “Right-wing Extremism: Current Economic and Political Climate Fueling Resurgence in Radicalization and Recruitment”? The report was truly prescient. It alerted us to the rise of right-wing extremism, such as from white supremacist groups, and warned that unchecked, it could lead to violence.

How did Republicans respond? They went ballistic attacking the report. John Boehner was especially upset that Napolitano would use the term “terrorist” to “describe American citizens who disagree with the direction Washington Democrats are taking our nation,” adding, “using such broad-based generalizations about the American people is simply outrageous.”

Source: Home-Grown, Right-Wing Terrorism: The Hate the GOP Refuses to See – The Daily Beast

Ignoring the facts does nothing to move the conversation forward…but that is probably what these “people” want….the conversation to be what they want it to be…..

A Terrorist is a terrorist…..and that includes the Right wing worms that commit the crimes.  Terror knows no color….no gender……no religion…..keep in mind that it is a tactic not an entity.

10,000 And Counting

(Sound the horns……beat the drums….and let the peasants dance)…….

in Saner Thought has reached a milestone……

This will be my 10,000th post on WordPress….that is about 3.5 million words to paper (so to speak)……no wonder my fingers are getting shorter and more stubby…LOL

I would like to thank my readers for their support and their friendship…..it has made this site a labor of love and education…..and the comments have been poignant and well thought out….I could not have planned this if I had tried.

I basically started this site for a storage vessel to save on my hard drive but after about 6 months I decided that it was time for me to come out of writing retirement and as they say, the rest is history.  Plus I thought it would be a good source for my granddaughter back then to get in touch with me and my thoughts after I crap out.

I can only hope that I have another 10,000 in me and the continued support of my loyal regular readers…..

Onward to bigger and better things……

Thank you….Thank you….Thank you….and much love…..Peace out my friends.

(Now a moment of silent reflection)

A Noun, A Verb And 9/11

There has been a bit of an WTF? reaction to something good old uncle Rudy Giuliani, a Trump supporter, had to say about terrorism….

Rudy Giuliani found himself the subject of plenty of angry headlines Monday, and many sounded much like that of the New York Daily News: “Rudy Giuliani forgets about 9/11.” The former NYC mayor—whose tenure included 9/11—was in Youngstown, Ohio, to introduce Donald Trump at a campaign event, and said these lines: “Under those eight years, before Obama came along, we didn’t have any successful radical Islamic terrorist attack inside the United States. They all started when Clinton and Obama got into office.” Obama took office on Jan. 20, 2009, leading many outlets to point out that the eight years prior included the 9/11 attacks. How it’s playing out:

  • CNN reports that Giuliani had only moments before referenced the World Trade Center attacks, and Trump spokesman Jason Miller said Giuliani meant the time between 9/11 and Obama’s first day on the job.
  • Slate agrees that Giuliani’s sin was simple imprecision. Yes, “his phrasing was misleading,” but take a look at the context: Giuliani was praising Mike Pence’s work on the Patriot Act “with preventing more attacks before pivoting to his remarks about eight years without another attack.” He was talking post-9/11, and just said it poorly.
  • The Washington Post and Slate flag something they see as more fascinating than the verbal faux pas: As the Post writes, what Giuliani is saying is “actually pretty diametrically opposed” to Trump’s campaign stance on America’s safety under George W. Bush.
  • MSNBC points out Giuliani made a similar gaffe in 2010.
  • How’s that for timing? The comments coincide with a New Yorker article published Monday that isn’t about the Youngstown appearance. The headline: “The Appalling Last Act of Rudy Giuliani.”

You would think that someone who made the attacks on 9/11 a central part of his campaign in 2008 he would choose his words a little better.

But at least he held true to form…..when he speaks it is a noun, a verb and 9/11….even when he screws it up.

I mean Obama has made many mistakes in my opinion….but to make up something for political advantage is just wrong….although totally acceptable these days in American politics.

Either this man is senile….or just plain STUPID!

If this is the best the Trump camp can do as endorsers then I would say they are in deep trouble.

The Fallacy of ‘Regime Change’ Strategies

You would think that the US would have learned their lesson with regime change…….Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and Syria……none have gone according to plan and never will.

I wrote an article awhile back along these lines…..

The end result of this conflict in Syria is two-fold….one to rid the landscape of ISIS and two to rid the country of Assad, a regime change….. I understand the urgency of the defeat of …

Source: The Problem With Regime Change – In Saner Thought

The problem is that we keep using the same tactics over and over…tactics that worked in the 1950’s but today they are a waste of time……

“Regime change” or destabilizing sanctions are Official Washington’s policy options of choice in dealing with disfavored nations, but these aggressive strategies have proved harmful and counterproductive, says ex-CIA analyst Paul R. Pillar.

Many variables are involved in the messy predicaments in the Middle East, but one way of framing the history and issues of U.S. policy toward the region is in terms of the approaches that have been taken toward so-called rogue regimes. That term, one should hasten to add, obscures more than it enlightens. But it has been in general use for a long time. Take it as shorthand to refer to regimes that have come to be considered especially troublesome and are subjected to some degree of ostracism and punishment.

Three basic approaches are available in formulating policy toward such a regime: (1) keep ostracizing and punishing it in perpetuity; (2) try to change the regime; or (3) negotiate and do business with it, to constrain it and to influence its actions. There are some contradictions between the approaches. Any regime that is led to believe that it is going to be overturned anyway, or that it will be perpetually punished anyway, lacks incentive to make concessions in a negotiation.

Source: The Fallacy of ‘Regime Change’ Strategies – Consortiumnews

How long will the idiots keep using flawed intel and a bigger flawed tactic before we realize that regime change is not our forte?

This election as important as it is holds NO answers to the problems we face….just more years of the status quo.

Stupidity….and that’s the name of that tune!

We Don’t Need An Industrial Policy

Election time and we hear a lot about our industries….how they have been taken away or that we need a policy of industrialization to replace our missing ones….have you heard these campaign slogans lately?

we have lots of ideological in-fighting….this side trumps (no pun intended) this side….but let us say we do get an industrial policy….is that not a type of ideological action?

“[Mariana] Mazzucato is as ideological a thinker as anybody else. In her ‘The Entrepreneurial State,’ she says, very clearly, that she sees herself as engaged in a ‘discursive battle’ against those who want to reduce government spending by claiming its inefficiency. There is nothing necessarily wrong with that: strong disagreements, and passion, are what make the world of ideas engaging. But in this last FT piece, she claims with some nonchalance that ‘the argument ought not to be about whether the state should not be involved in driving growth but how it can do this in the best way’ and subsequently, ‘we do not need false or ideological choices between market and state.’ Ok, so, if you want to let the price system work to try to solve problems whose solutions is still unknown to us, you’re an ideologue. If you want a club of enlightened bureaucrats to step in, you’re not.” (08/12/16)

http://econlog.econlib.org/archives/2016/08/isnt_industrial.html

The question is now…..with the end of this election will there be any change in our industrial policies?  Or is it just wishful thinking?