Posse Incitatus

Healthcare Tyranny

Those of us who are adamantly opposed to the government controlling or dominating healthcare are generally opposed for two reasons:

1) It degrades the quality of healthcare. Patients may have to drive farther to find providers, be put on a waiting list, and possibly be moved so low on the totem pole if they're older and have a serious illness, that they're basically being written off.

2) The government holds the upper hand, with way too much power to determine the health care choices you have and the actions you may pursue. In other words, individual liberty is trampled upon, and people cannot tailor their own coverage to suit their unique needs. Wealth, which often is the result of hard work, saving and deferring gratification, does not offer any advantages as it should.

As bad as Obamacare has been (and it has been abysmal), it's still not as extreme as Great Britain's disastrous National Health Service (NHS). Two high profile cases -- both involving infants -- in the past couple of years illustrate the rigid and calloused nature of government-run healthcare.

The first involved Charlie Gard, born Aug. 4, 2016. He was diagnosed with a rare inherited disease that affects the body's DNA. The condition causes muscle weakness and brain damage. As the baby's condition worsened, the parents wanted to take him to see specialists in the United States, who had offered an experimental therapy. But the tyrants of Great Britain's NHS and court system wouldn't budge. Hearings before the Court of Appeals and Supreme Court did no good. The parents appealed to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, France, also to no avail. (Statists stick together, you see.)

On July 28, 2017, just a week short of his first birthday, Charlie Gard passed away. There's no guarantee that the experimental treatment in the United States would have prolonged his life substantially, but it is heartbreaking that his parents were not allowed to pursue that option. It speaks to an intransigent, arrogant application of government power to cow citizens into submission.

More recently, we learned of the tragic story of Alfie Evans, who died yesterday, just two weeks short of his second birthday. Alfie had an undiagnosed neurodegenerative disorder, and the NHS apparatchiks determined it was not in the child's "best interests" to continue keeping him on a ventilator.

Alfie's parets, Tom and Kate, appealed several times before eventually acquiescing just a few days before his death. Their change of heart followed a meeting with NHS officials who, some speculate, put the hammer down with thinly veiled threats that it definitely would not be in Tom and Kate's best interests to continue pushing back against the state. Orwellian behavior is alive and well in Great Britain.

Alfie hung on for a couple days even after being disconnected from the ventilator, and the cruel NHS overlords would not give him food in his last few days. Again, there's no guarantee that experimental treatments would have saved Alfie, but it is not the state's place to deny that option to parents.

Here in the United States, we know that government-controlled healthcare leads to rationing of limited resources. There's a doctor shortage, and demand for services keeps increasing (especially with illegal immigrants swamping the country).

Many physicians and dentists have elected not to participate in Medicaid and Medicare because of low reimbursement rates. Therefore, the dirty little secret is swept under the rug by the corrupt progressives of the media: Many who rely on Medicaid and Medicare must drive long distances to find care, often venturing into sketchy neighborhoods to find a clinic, put up with cramped waiting rooms and long lines, only to deal with surly caregivers who may or may not speak unbroken English.

The uber-imperious Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, one of the architects of Obamacare, has spoken in favor of euthanasia, although backed away from that in recent years. He stated plainly during the Obamacare debates of 2009-2010 that by the time a person reaches age 75, fewer medical treatments and interventions should be made because that person already has lived a long life. Time to start planning for hospice and putting your affairs in order.

Emanuel sat on the Federal Coordinating Council for Comparative Effectiveness Research (an Orwellian name, if I do say so), an Obamacare panel of bureaucrats whose charge was to coordinate the distribution of health care funds and resources, and in effect play God as to which types of cases merited further intervention, and which did not.

Former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin coined the apt term "Death Panels" for Obamacare's apparatchik committees, which were composed of experts with every bit as much arrogance and sanctimony as Emanuel. It's the progressive way, after all.

During the first few years of Obamacare, we witnessed the state trampling on First Amendment religious rights with mandates that Catholic and other religious organizations offer healthcare coverage that paid for contraceptives (including the "morning after pill"). Pushback has been intense, with some cases still awaiting resolution. In 2014, Hobby Lobby won its case in Burwell V. Hobby Lobby that under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, closely held for-profit corporations are exempt from the contraceptive mandate if they object on religious grounds.

So government health care abuses vary in nature: Restricting patients' rights to pursue their own health care course of action; forcing coverage that violates religious beliefs, and forcing people who don't need certain coverage to pay for it: e.g., maternity coverage for men and 70-year-old women; women paying for prostate cancer coverage.

The Obama administration routinely used the power and authority of government to go after enemies -- especially with the IRS, EPA, and Department of Justice. What's to stop a future Democrat administration from doing the same with health care?

Healthcare tyranny is just another offshoot of too much power in the hands of the state. While elitists going back to Woodrow Wilson fancied a super-smart administrative state making our decisions for us and helping allocate resources more efficiently in the name of fairness and compassion, real life and human nature demonstrate that this is a dangerous fantasy based on naivete and idealism.

The Republicans under Donald Trump have at least repealed the Obamacare mandate, eliminated some regulations and promoted more flexibility for states and small businesses, but it will take a while to totally dismantle the hideous Rube Goldberg colossus. My contempt is never-ending for the naive and gullible former Michigan Congressman Bart Stupak, whose vote enabled Obamacare to pass.

Let's hope the Republicans keep Charlie Gard and Alfie Evans in mind going forward.

Red State purges useless Never Trump writers

One of our guilty pleasures on this blog has been watching the Quisling Never Trumpers twist in the wind.

I have personally known the pain and anguish of unemployment and my default position upon hearing of job loss is one of sympathy.

However it is hard for me to generate any sympathy in the case of the mass layoffs at Red State.  This has less to do with their politics than their general nastiness towards everyone who disagrees with them.

Kevin Williamson showed zero humanity towards the working-class people who have borne the brunt of the elites' free trade policies.  I suppose as a Christian I should be willing to forgive, but before I can do that, I need to see Williamson himself repent of his hate.  This he has not yet done.  He's simply added a layer of self-pity with delusions of martyrdom.

Forgiveness done wrong is simply enabling, which is something I refuse to do.

The Quisling Never Trumpers as a group are like Williamson.  They love to drone on about principles and the free market, and now both have come back to haunt them.  They chose to live by the sword, and now they're falling by it.

The Fredocons are selling a product few people want.  I pointed this out when they first pulled off their human-skin masks and revealed their true reptilian faces.  The market is saturated with Trump-bashing.  Whole networks are dedicated to it.  Who needs more of it?

And yet they persist.  That's fine as far as it goes.  I persist blogging even though the revenue stream here is meager at best.

That's because I have employment elsewhere.  The market has said that my words aren't worth a comfy living in gentrified DC.  The same is clearly true of the Red State crowd.

So while I may have to extend my annual reconciliation session, I will take a moment to enjoy the schadenfreude of people who declared me and mine their implacable enemies going down to bitter defeat - and tasting the same painful sensation of job loss they casually ignored in others.

CDC data confirms that guns are used for self-defense millons of times each year

Back when states first began to reform their concealed carry laws, the Centers for Disease Control conducted several large-scale studies to determine just how often firearms are used in self defense.

Their numbers were staggering:  more than 2.5 million uses per year.

This information could have caused a major shift in the gun debate, buttressing the controversial claims of criminologist Gary Kleck regarding defensive gun uses.

But since the Clintons were in the White House, the CDC hid its findings.

As anyone familiar with the debate over gun control knows, this is par for the course.  The problem with having an "honest debate about gun violence" is that the gun controllers are never honest.

In a functioning civil society, people would offer up proposals to solve the problems with face.  These would be offered up out of concern for fellow citizens.  Violent crime remains a major problem in our cities and while rare, school shootings and other atrocities need comprehensive solutions based on observable and proven facts.

Kleck is an honest researcher and for the honesty he was pilloried by his radical colleagues.  His research has been under attack since the day he offered it up.  There is no question the CDC conducted its survey specifically to shut him down and when it instead proved him right, they buried it.

This is why the left is the most anti-science force in the world today.  They aren't interested in anything that contradicts their policies.  Back in the day one might have assumed that they were well-meaning but misguided, but those days are long since passed.

The gun control crowd wants a disarmed, passive subject population and they don't care how they achieve it.  If gun control results in surging violence, so be it.

 

 

Is the Korean War over?

What is one to make of events in Korea this week?  The meeting of the two leaders is without precedent in a number of ways.

First, there was the initial moment when Kim briefly brought President Moon onto North Korean soil - something that clearly shocked and amazed the observers.

The ceremony that followed was also a complete departure from everything that has happened to date.  Never before have the leaders of the two Koreas met face to face, let alone embraced.  The signed joint statement committing to peaceful unification and a nuclear-free peninsula was also a break from prior practice.

Now the Democrat-run press and the Quisling Never Trumpers are trying to downplay all of this.  "Action, not words," they say - as if their side ever managed to accomplish one-tenth of what they claimed credit for.

Was it in the distant past that Barack Obama was given a Nobel Peace Prize simply for breathing, or that his Cairo speech was hailed as heralding a new era of peace in the Middle East?

Not.

The Invade-The-World militants seem the most upset by all of this.  In a professional sense, this isn't surprising since Donald Trump has basically locked them all out of cushy government employment and if peace actually does break out, he will have accomplished in 18 months what none of them did in decades.

The funniest line I've hear is "We've seen this all before."

No, we haven't.  That's the point.  This isn't the usual shrill propaganda that emanates from Pyongyang.  This is without precedent.

Moreover, it's very hard to walk this sort of thing back.  North Korea is a police state held together by fear and the mystique of its great and powerful leaders.  The Young General (I think that's Kim's current title) can't easily take back this week's declarations and gestures.

It was possible for Stalin to make the left turn a dime in 1939, but their enforcement apparatus was far more assertive and powerful.  Kim is offering his starving people a ray of light.  His conscript soldiers will at last go home and find meaningful and prosperous work. 

The threat of constant war has galvanized and united the Hermit Kingdom since 1953.  It has been invoked to justify incredible sacrifice and privation.  If Kim is unable to deliver what he has declared to be tantalizingly close, how will he keep his regime intact?

I can see mass desertions and a total breakdown of authority - just the type of disorder that overthrew the Ceausescu regime in 1989. 

There is a common misconception that revolutions happen when things become intolerable.  It isn't true.  What causes revolutions is when things aren't improving fast enough, when people become impatient for change they sense is just around the corner.

This is perhaps why Kim is moving with such speed.  He has only a narrow window to avert political collapse and personal destruction.  To this end, he needs South Korean - and American - help to hold things together.

The prestige of meeting with the American president is therefore essential to enhance his prestige and convince his people that he is the indispensable element in ending their pain.  Only he can make this happen and so he must be obeyed.

The bloviating Never Trump uber-hawks have completely missed this angle.  As usual, they have no idea what will happen once the shooting stops. 

Notice how they insist that whatever happens, US troops must remain in Korea.   They are immovable on this condition, but no one ever asks them:  Why?

Must every American troop deployment remain permanent?  Can we never bring the boys home?

How remarkable would it be for the Veterans Day parade - the one people are mocking Trump for holding by claiming it's the hallmark of a North Korean dictator - consisted of troops actually brought home from Korea?

What if it was the long-awaited victory parade - a half-century in the making?

Maybe it won't happen, but one thing I've learned is never to bet against Donald Trump.

 

 

Pension Peril

Our nation has many serious problems, yet the news media obsesses over manufactured hype regarding Donald Trump, gives credence to unhinged gun control fanatics, and wallows in celebrity worship.

Underfunded and unfunded pensions is just one of the important issues that promises to cause great distress and suffering (and indeed, already has in some instances), yet gets very little coverage.

Pension plans sponsored by S&P Composite 1500 companies have an average funding level of 87 percent and a combined unfunded liability of $286 billion, according to a recent report in the Wall Street Journal.

A few years ago, the small town of Prichard, Alabama served as a canary in the coalmine. The city ran out of money to pay its approximately 150 retirees, causing some of them to file for bankruptcy.

The state of Illinois, which last summer came within an eyelash of having its credit downgraded to junk bond status, has an estimated $250 billion of pension debt. If the state continues to "go to the well" in the form of tax increases, it will accelerate what is already a rapid outflow of middle class people fed up with paying high taxes to a bloated, corrupt government. Illinois is in the stranglehold of organized labor and left-wing Democrats. Therefore, by default, its fiscal future is grim.

In the Golden State, the California Public Employees' Retirement System, or CalPERS, and the teachers' pension fund, CalSTRS, have unfunded liabilities of $136 billion and $87 billion, respectively. This is on top of the state's other unfunded liabilities for health care, bonds and loans for cities, school districts, special districts and the like. The grand total is estimated to be around $1.3 trillion for California.

Yet the left-wing politicians in California would much rather spend their time bashing Trump, sticking up for illegal immigrants and promoting sanctuary cities.

The states, cities, counties, institutions and private sector concerns that converted over to tax-exempt and tax-deferred retirement programs such as 401(k) and 457 plans and IRA's, are usually in much better shape. These organizations have been realistic and strived not to make promises they couldn't keep.

But in union-dominated, leftist people's republics, the quid pro quo screws the average Joe big-time. Union stooges in the legislature (or on a city or county council) suck up to organized labor, granting them obscene wages and overly generous benefits in exchange for the votes of union members. These governments cannot truly represent taxpayers when they negotiate contracts, because it's in their political interest to cave in to those sitting on the opposite side of the table.

And of course, Social Security is underfunded going forward, too. Social Security is 32 percent underfunded, and just ran a $6 trillion deficit, according to Forbes magazine.

But even workers whose pensions are in programs such as 401k, IRA and 457 plans are not safe. Because voracious governments are licking their chops thinking about how to raid these funds. For several years, leftist think tanks and policymakers have been fantasizing about all the great things they could do if only they could leverage the estimated $25 trillion in private retirement savings. Don't be a bit surprised if momentum starts building for such a course of action, in the name of "fairness."

The U.S. government's total unfunded liabilities, including Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and other programs, have been estimated to be in the $140 to $200 trillion range. In other words, the outlook is extremely bleak.

 Voters must educate themselves about the perils ahead, and hold politicians' feet to the fire. Short of that, individuals need to do the best they can for themselves and their families, because it's obvious that governments, companies and institutions are going to keep letting us down, time and time again. The corruption, mismanagement and incompetence have, sadly, gone far past the point of no return.

 

Toot Your Horn, Mr. Trump

Donald Trump has a lot on his plate, as is the norm for U.S. presidents. But he especially bears a heavy burden, as an obsessive, partisan media attacks relentlessly, while a rabid left-wing chunk of America rages against him and works dillegently toward his downfall.

The circus of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation, plus nonstop sniping between the two political parties in Congress as well as Machiavellian maneuverings between the Deep State and Congress, must make for many sleepless nights. Throw in pressing problems like Syria and the flood of illegal immigrants, and it's a hot mess.

The Donald must take an active role in helping the listless Republicans maintain control of the House of Representatives. Because if the Democrats take the House, they'll be like a pack of wolves going after him. Under constant siege from Congress, Orange Julius will find it even more difficult to accomplish much during the second half of his term.

It's like this: Trump has plenty of good news to boast about, but hasn't done so often enough. He ought to get out there on the road and toot his own horn -- frequently, loudly and persistently. 

The economy is the most stellar example of how Trump's policies -- tax reform including lower rates, and taking a meat ax to the thicket of job-crushing regulations -- are helping America each day. The gloom and doom of a supposed trade war that will result from Trump's tariffs on China and other countries has been largely overblown by the same establishment types that have a nearly 100 percent perfect record for inaccurate predictions and failed policy. (But that won't stop CNN and MSNBC from broadcasting their blather 24/7.) Any day now, the first quarter 2018 GDP report will be out. I'm expecting something close to 3 percent, if not higher.

Monthly jobs reports have usually been better than expected, and the black unemployment level is the lowest on record. Wages are rising after years of being stagnant, and many of the new jobs being created are full-time, with benefits, rather than jobs created during the Obama administration, which tended to be part-time, temporary and contract positions.

On the foreign policy front, North Korea has actually announced it will end its missile testing, and dictator Kim Jong Un will met with the Trumpster face-to-face in a few weeks. In Syria, Trump has attacked chemical weapons manufacturing facilities with Tomahawk missiles for the second time in a year. Contrast this with the O-man's feckless talk about a "Red Line" -- more useless bilge from the empty suit. Oh, and did I mention that the corrupt news media idiots are acting genuinely surprised that Trump is achieving success with the Hermit Kingdom? It's like how, month after month during the long eight years of Obama, whenever another disappointing jobs report came out, the report would say things like "unexpected" and economists were "surprised" growth wasn't more robust...blah blah... Most folks who passed Economics 101 and have a shred of critical thinking ability were not the least bit surprised.

Consumer confidence is up; Trump led the charge against ISIS, pulverizing the vile Islamofascists. He is taking a hard line against Iran and rightly denouncing the sham nuclear agreement negotiated by Obama and his merry band of incompetents. Tens of millions of gun owners are pleased that Trump is a staunch defender of the Second Amendment and won't be intimidated by the thuggish left wingers marching in the streets.

Trump is putting Mexico and China on notice that trade agreements such as NAFTA have to be renegotiated in order to continue. He pulled out of the Paris Accords, a typical pie-in-the-sky environmental pipe dream. He's pushing back against the language police, trying to crack down on illegal immigration, and basically dumping on the grossly overrated "international community" as the be all and end all Obama thought it was.

When the laughable progressives of MSNBC and CNN are frothing at the mouth, and Hollywood idiots are scrounging around for the most vile curse words and ugly humor they can find to disparage Trump on Twitter, it's obvious he's doing a damned good job. Being hated and insulted by these cretins is a great badge of honor.

The Trumpster does have a rally planned for a week from today in Macomb County, just north of Detroit, home to what in 1980 were deemed "Reagan Democrats" -- working class people whose former party left them because it lurched radically leftward. Let's hope he continues to hold these rallies, and also ventures into inner cities like he did during the 2016 campaign. By doing this, he won't necessarily win over a huge number of minorities who've been brainwashed into thinking Republicans are greedy, old white racists. But he will win some of them over, and he certainly will gain some respect for bothering to show up and have a dialogue.

On another note, before I sign off, you often have to wonder if the "mistakes" or "errors" Trump makes in strategy, statements or tweets, are really designed to generate more publicity about his initiatives. The other day, he tweeted about the need for more investigations of the corrupt Democrats. He referred to the former Democrat chair as "Wendy Wasserman Schultz." Left wing haters on Twitter went wild mocking him, but at least he was gaining a bigger audience for his Twitter message that the Democrats are a cesspool of corruption and ought not escape a thorough investigation by the authorities.

Trump's multi-faceted mid-term play

Was it only yesterday that I was noting how the vise is tightening?  Indeed it was, and today we learn that Andrew McCabe's false testimony has already been given a criminal referral to the DOJ prosecutor in Utah.

Is Trump lucky, or an insane strategic genius?  Sanctimonious Jim Comey is hogging all the media attention at exactly the moment that his sins are at the forefront.  As a rule, one always waits until one is out of legal jeopardy before writing the tell-all.  Comey is about as stupid as they come. 

The IG's reports are due soon and it's clear that the various conspirators still employed at FBI and DOJ are singing like a well-instructed choir. 

I have to wonder if the reason Rod Rosenstein signed off on the raid on Trump's attorney is that similar strikes are in the works for the conspirators.  After all, Cheryl Mills claimed to be Hillary's lawyer and therefore immune from questions.  Sauce for the goose and all that.

Meanwhile, North Korea has signaled that it will not demand the removal of American troops from South Korea as a condition to peace talks.  This is huge.  North Korea is likely at the end of its tether and Little Rocket Man may well fear that Trump is just crazy enough to take him out.  Certainly the Chinese think so. 

Trump's tariffs may or may not boost American industry, but they have sent an unmistakable signal that the days of American passivity in the face of unequal trade agreements are over.

This brings us to the Middle East.  The US embassy will shortly open in Jerusalem and * spoiler alert * the much-vaunted "Arab Street" will not explode.

The Dems have been planning on running on impeachment and (apparently) a total ban on large classes of firearms.  The bizarre decision by Dick's Sporting Goods to destroy their unsold stocks of AR-15s shows just how deep-seated this progressive virtue-spiral is becoming.

I saw a media report that at the recent state Democrat convention in Michigan, the huge applause line was... gun control.

This in a state with 300,000 concealed pistol licensees and massive support for the private ownership of firearms.   Does anyone seriously think that the reason Trump carried Michigan was because Hillary wasn't hostile enough to gun owners?

The polls right now are all over the place, but the prevailing trends are in Trump's favor.  The Democrats had a historical advantage but seem determined to piss it away.  I urge them to keep it up.

 

The vise on on the Clinton-Obama corruption is starting to tighten

One of the ways in which the established media try to control the narrative is by treating each event as if it is some sort of surprise - and one that the principal actors were unaware of until it happened.

For example, the news that Hillary Clinton completely disregarded the law regarding classified materials was treated as some underhanded rumor, one that Her Hillaryness had hardly hear of.

Bill Clinton was a master of this, acting as if he'd just heard of it in the papers and Barack Obama tried to pull the same schtick, with varying results.

The problem is that the public has grown wise to the routine - partly because Donald Trump has been providing a master class in exposing it.

This is the essential background to today's congressional referral to the Justice Department for the numerous and well-documented illegal acts that the Dems have tried to cover up with the fake RUSSIA investigation.

The key element - which I cannot stress enough - is that everyone from Peter Strzok to James Comey to Andy McCabe and even Hillary Clinton - know what they did.

They know exactly what they did.  They also know that others know.

One of the salient features of the current ruling class is its total lack of loyalty.  These people have spent their life-energy in the relentless pursuit of power, status and comfort.  The do this not for a higher cause, but to gratify their own lust and ambition.

The may claim to be operating for a cause, and use that cause to justify their illegal and immoral acts, but not a one of them is willing to die for that cause.  In fact, they won't even suffer inconvenience for that cause.  Consider Andy McCabe, who should be playing the role of the Loyal Soldier and silently accepting his firing for the Greater Good.

Instead he's trashing the sanctimonious James Comey, loudly denouncing him as a liar and claiming that Comey authorized his leaks - and lied to investigators about it.

Comey of course will hit right back, and both of them will see their credibility destroyed.

A similar dynamic is playing out involving all the conspirators.

On the face of it, the Congressional referral does nothing new.  The charges presented have been public knowledge for a year.

What has changed over that year is public perception.  Hillary has never been less popular.   The Clintons gained loyalty by trading influence, and that it is a low ebb.   With the Justice Dept. gearing up for major prosecutions, who is going to warm a prison cell on her behalf?  It was one thing for Susan McDougal to take one for the team when Bill was in the White House, but they have nothing like that level of influence now.

The timing of the referral is interesting as well given that the Inspector General report is still at least two weeks away from release.  What this does is not only raise the stakes, but also sends a clear signal that even the big fish - Hillary, Lynch and Comey - won't be able to provide protection.  They will be out to save themselves.

A week or so ago my esteemed co-blogger remarked on a delusional piece claiming that Mueller would start lobbing bombshells right through the mid-terms.  I would venture the prediction that the bombshells will be going the other way.

Is Gorsuch Another Roberts?

Judging by the headlines Tuesday, Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch's vote against a portion of longstanding immigration law (the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965) was a vote with the liberals. Ergo, Gorsuch really is a liberal in conservative's clothing, a la David Souter or Chief Justice John Roberts.

But what Roberts did nearly six years ago with Obamacare was an exercise in creative thinking, fashioning out of whole cloth a "tax" that was really just a fine the Obama administration wished to levy upon citizens who did not comply with the Obamacare mandate. His "logic" was breathtakingly faulty. Gorsuch, on the other hand, was adhering to the literalist and traditional conservative philosophy of the late Justice Antonin Scalia.

In Tuesday's Sessions V. Dimaya ruling, the crux of the matter was a residual clause -- 16 (b) -- of the Immigration and Naturalization Act of 1965 that the majority held defined "violence" too vaguely. Under the statute, the Trump administration sought to deport James Garcia Dimaya, a lawful permanent resident convicted of committing two burglaries.

Ironically, liberal Justice Elena Kagan invoked Scalia in the 2015 Johnson V. United States ruling. Writing for the majority three years ago, Scalia stated that the definition of "violent felony" in the Armed Career Criminal Act was too vague.

Following that line of thinking, Gorsuch summed it up nicely with this statement: "Vague laws invite arbitrary power." In other words, he was guarding against heavy-handed, capricious government -- the type that's run amok with the Special Counsel investigation, and the type the Obama administration used ruthlessly against political opponents (IRS, EPA, Justice, et al).

I frequently bash knee-jerk liberals, but let's face it: There are plenty of knee-jerk conservatives, too. Many of those who are spouting off against Gorsuch on Twitter probably haven't even read about the case or his rationale. Instead, they are being riled up by the simplistic and misleading headlines of the corrupt media.

Ignorance is a dangerous and foolish thing!

 

Gunboat diplomacy makes a comeback

In many ways, Donald Trump is a unique historical figure.  His unconventional campaign, his unexpected victory and his lack of prior governmental experience place him far from the mainstream of American political history.

On the other hand, his actual policies and governance mark a return from the last two decades of photo-op based administrations.  In a sense, his election represents a restoration of prior American norms.

This is true in foreign policy as well as his stance on immigration and tariffs.  For the last two decades, both political parties pursued a bizarrely activist overseas agenda. 

George H.W. Bush got the ball rolling with his disastrous intervention in Somalia.

Bill Clinton managed to be both irresolute in the face rising Islamic radicalism while oddly bellicose when it came to nation-building in the Balkans.

George W. Bush of course turned what should have been a punitive expedition against Afghanistan into a two-decade-long quagmire and instead of simply crushing Saddam Hussein and appointing a pliable replacement, managed to screw up that nation as well.

Having watched the younger Bush squander an outstanding strategic position and waste countless lives and treasure (as well as virtually wreck his party), Barack Obama essentially said "Hold my beer," and kicked off an unprecedented abandonment of American allies and prestige in the Middle East while caving into to Chinese pressure and backing away from Russian adventurism.

Donald Trump therefore represents a welcome corrective.  His campaign against ISIS in Syria has been effective and is virtually complete.  While it is true that he had ramped up operations in Afghanistan, for the first time since the campaign began there is a clear exit strategy.

Trump's multi-national strike against Bashar Assad shows his strategic shrewdness.  Contra the Neocon blowhards, there is no longer any American strategic interest at stake in Syria.  Overthrowing the Assad regime would only create a new center of chaos, reinvigorate a devastated ISIS and prolong American involvement.

The strike was vintage "gunboat diplomacy," the modern equivalent to shelling an enemy capital while demanding reparations.  By telegraphing a strike for days and then making it, Trump not only demonstrated American power, he also exposed Russian weakness.

The message is clear:  Vladimir Putin cannot protect you from American wrath.  There is no need to overthrow Assad to make this point.  This is exactly how shows of force need to be made.

Some might counter that Bill Clinton took a similar approach with cruise missile strikes in the 1990s, but in fact Clinton did the opposite of what Trump did here.  Clinton attacked only the most trivial targets.  He in fact made the least aggressive response possible, expressly downplaying American power.

Let us never forget that he passed up repeated opportunities to kill Osama Bin Laden, and imposed strict compartmentalization on American intelligence, crippling its ability to stop the Sept. 11 terrorist attack.

Bin Laden himself credited Clinton's weak attacks with strengthening his movement.

No one dares call Donald Trump weak. 

Here again we see how Trump's carefully crafted persona works to bolster his diplomacy.  The Quisling Never Trumpers drone on and on about how full of bluster he is, but notice how few global actors are willing to test Trump's resolve. 

It got little attention, but Iran has ceased harassing American shipping in the Persian Gulf.  The Iranians knew Obama wanted to avoid an incident at all cost.  They have no such belief regarding Donald Trump.