Day: September 29, 2016

IST Hits A Home Run

From time to time it feels good when a blog gets the jump on the government….In Saner Thought has had one of those times…..and all of us bloggers like to think that we have a better feel about events than the government or the media…..

Back in August of 2016 I recently wrote an op-ed for Ace News Room about the possible aftermath of the destruction of ISIS and/or AQ…..

Source: A Terrorist Diaspora | Ace News Room

I bring this up because of something that the FBI chief said at a recent (yesterday) Congressional hearing……..

The number of Americans traveling to Syria to fight alongside the Islamic State group has slowed to a trickle in the last year, but as the so-called caliphate is “crushed,” many militants from Western nations who are already there will stream out of the region and create new security threats.

“There will be a terrorist diaspora sometime in the next two to five years like we’ve never seen before,” Comey said.

Source: Senators press FBI director on response to terrorism threat

Really?  I wish I had said that……(sarcasm intended)…..I would like to think that IST was instrumental in this epiphany….but in reality he most likely reads the same reports that I do……just I am quicker on the draw than he.

May I suggest that they pay attention to the smaller blogs….some of us do have good instincts…..

Staying alert is the first rule of survival…….

Atta boy, Chuq

It’s Miller time!

Congressional Cowards Strike Again

While we were all laughing or crying, depending on your ideology, about the first presidential debate…..and debating who won that “fart fest”…… the Congress did something spectacular…….they passed a budget!

That is right….this dysfunctional pack of do nothing cowards did one of their most important task……to see that the government is funded and functioning….

Acutely partisan and all but dysfunctional, Congress has completed its most elementary task after an intense weekslong struggle, finalizing a deal to fund the government just days ahead of a shutdown deadline, the AP reports. The legislation extends existing spending levels a mere 10 weeks, past Election Day, while finally addressing the Zika crisis with $1.1 billion and providing long-sought help for the residents of Flint, Mich., as well as flood victims in Louisiana. After a last-minute burst of deal-making, the legislation passed the Senate on a 72-26 vote Wednesday and was backed by the House 342-85 in a late-night vote.

Republicans, defending a fragile Senate majority and eager to get a handful of vulnerable incumbents back home to campaign for re-election, accused Harry Reid of holding up a deal to keep GOP lawmakers off the campaign trail. Democrats lobbed their own allegations, all but accusing Republicans of racism for holding up money for people affected by lead-tainted water in Flint. The situation produced frustration all around as lawmakers of both parties lamented their inability to get their basic work done, even if each party insisted the other was to blame. Yet even as they stumbled to a messy solution, some lawmakers were already looking ahead to next year, when much weightier tasks await the next Congress and a new president in what may be an even more fraught era of divided government.

Oh Yeah….they also gave Obama his first veto override when Congress voted down his veto of the 9/11 Bill…..

Johnson Flubs Again

First a head;s up…..I will defend Johnson in this post but it by NO means that I endorse of support the Libertarian cause….

Most of us political junkies know of Johnson’s “Aleppo moment” and he had yet another “moment on MSNBC……

Gary Johnson had what he called another “Aleppo moment” Wednesday night when he was flummoxed by the question, “Who’s your favorite foreign leader?” The Libertarian presidential candidate, speaking at a televised town hall event at the University of New Hampshire, didn’t have a ready answer but got more time to think when running mate Bill Weld said his was Shimon Peres, only to be told by MNSBC host Chris Matthews that it had to be somebody living, ABC News reports. “You got to do this. Anywhere. Any continent,” Matthews told Johnson. “Canada, Mexico, Europe, over there. Asia. South America. Africa. Name a foreign leader that you respect.”

“I guess I’m having an Aleppo moment … the former president of Mexico,” said Johnson who wondered, “What is Aleppo?”—or possibly “What is a Leppo?”—when asked about the Syrian city earlier this month. CBS reports that when Matthews asked which former president of Mexico he was talking about, Johnson said he had a “brain freeze” and Weld eventually helped out, saying “Fox,” for Vicente Fox. “Fox! Thank you,” said Johnson. “He was a terrific leader.” After getting Johnson off the hook, Weld went on to name German Chancellor Angela Merkel as the living leader he most admires. (Johnson says the Libertarian ticket is the only one “that offers Americans a chance to find common ground.”)

To be honest if I had been asked that question out of the blue…I would have had a hard time naming a world leader that I respect…..first it would have caught me off guard and second I still cannot think of one that I actually respect even now.

The Economic Impacts of Removing Unauthorized Immigrant Workers

Every election has its diatribes about all those sneaky immigrants and as usual this one is no exception……..but this time the debate seems to be more “nasty” for lack of a better word.

The promise of one of our 2016 elections has promised to “rid” the country of all those “illegals” and the off-spring……a great applause line and possible vote generator….but is it realistic?

Is that a wise promise to try and keep?  Economically, that is?

The United States as a whole, as well as each state, stands to suffer widespread economic losses under a policy that removes unauthorized immigrants.

In every state and in every industry across the United States, immigrants—authorized and unauthorized—are contributing to the U.S. economy. Immigrant labor and entrepreneurship are believed to be powerful forces of economic revitalization for communities struggling with population decline. Estimates suggest that the total number of unauthorized immigrants currently residing in the United States is approximately 11.3 million, or about 3.5 percent of the total 2015 resident population of 324.4 million. Of those 11.3 million, we estimate that 7 million are workers. What is the economic contribution of these unauthorized workers? What would the nation stand to lose in terms of production and income if these workers were removed and returned to their home countries?

The main findings of this report are as follows:

Source: The Economic Impacts of Removing Unauthorized Immigrant Workers | Center for American Progress

If this study is accurate……just how will this loss be offset?

Or is that a plan that is secret until after the election?

Duterte Seeks Alliances with Russia, China

While you were watching the “Frick and Frack Show” and the battling babble….the world got a little more interesting…..

For decades the Us has had a military deployment in the Philippines……mostly Air Force and Navy….and recently the new president of the country, Mr. Personality, Duterte, has told the US to take a hike…..and is looking for new “friends”……

PRESIDENT Duterte said on Tuesday he would build by next year “new alliances” with China and Russia to cushion the fallout from the possible withdrawal of the United States from the Philippines.

In a speech in Pampanga province, Mr. Duterte said Filipinos would have to make a small sacrifice for what he had previously declared “crossing the Rubicon” in his ties with the United States while pursuing partnerships with its rival countries or what he called countries on the “other side of the ideological barrier.”

Source: Philippines President Duterte Seeks Alliances with Russia, China | World Affairs Journal

This is significant because of the situation in the South China Sea, where China is making its military presence known…..

This situation could become a lot uglier in the very near future…..