Those thousand of U.S. air "attacks" on ISIS.

There is another story, "even more curious and telling than the others," that was not reported either. [Former Marine Gordon] Duff narrated that Russians discovered a "mysterious bombed area" located in Syria in close proximity to the Jordanian border.

"There is an area where no one has 'officially' bombed, not the Americans, not the Russians or the Syrians either but an area that had been bombed, just the same, not once but dozens, perhaps hundreds of times, abandoned villages bombed over and over according to the Russian commander, 'as though someone had nothing else to do'," the US Marine combat veteran underscored.

"You know, many had wondered how, after 6,000 American 'sorties' flown against ISIS, so little damage was done? Were they all flown against 'nowhere' because 'someone had nothing else to do?'" Duff asked.

"Evidence of Things Unseen: US-Led Coalition Has Something to Hide in Syria." By Sputnik, 10/25/15.

A good summary of cultural Marxism.

It is perhaps no mistake that cultural Marxists in the form of “social justice warriors”, PC busybodies and feminists tend to create artificial divisions between people and “classes” while attacking and homogenizing very real and natural divisions between individuals based on biological reality and inherent genetic and psychological ability. This is what cultural Marxists do: divide and conquer or homogenize and conquer, whatever the situation happens to call for.

"How To Stamp Out Cultural Marxism In A Single Generation." By Brandon Smith, SHTFPlan, 10/23/15 (emphasis added). Originally published at Alt Market.

Putin can save us from ourselves.

Consider the result of all that we've done since invading Afghanistan.

We know that Afghanistan is deteriorating and our hugely expensive and longest-lasting military adventure in our history will see the Taliban move in when, inevitably, we move out. Guaranteed. Total waste.

With that in mind, this from Robert Parry shows that our current fixation on deposing Assad – and refusing all cooperation with the Russians in their highly effective campaign against the jihadis – will result in a new area in the Middle East becoming a center of oil-funded terror operations against the West, which will require yet more military adventures to overcome. (Turkey will be happy to market the oil from Syria for these terrorists, as they do now, but they are our NATO ally so that's ok.)

Besame mucho.

The obvious, and I do mean obvious, course is to abandon our flawed "Assad must go" strategy and support him as a source of stability. No reasonable person should think otherwise, especially in the light of the horror of post-Gaddafi Libya, unless that person isn't rational and is instead besotted with the idea of his own magnificence.

The chance of our admitting to the futility of the present "policy" appears to be close to zero, though for now we at least appear not to be actively interfering with Russian operations, if you don't count the odd 50-ton air drop to the forces they are fighting.^[1]

Here's Mr. Parry's concise analysis of what our options are:

The Current Crisis

The failure of the [naive U.S.] training program – combined with the destabilizing flow of Mideast refugees into Europe from Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya and other countries affected by the regional chaos due to “regime changes” – has brought new calls across Official Washington for, you guessed it, a U.S.-imposed “regime change” in Syria. The argument goes that “Assad must go” before a solution can be found.

But the greater likelihood is that if the U.S. and its NATO allies join in destroying Assad’s military, the result would be Sunni jihadist forces filling the vacuum with the black flag of terrorism fluttering over the ancient city of Damascus.

That could mean the Islamic State chopping off the heads of Christians, Alawites, Shiites and other “heretics” while Al Qaeda has a new headquarters for plotting terror strikes on the West. Millions of Syrians, now protected by Assad’s government, would join the exodus to Europe.

Then, the option for Obama or his successor would be to mount a major invasion and occupation of Syria, a costly and bloody enterprise that would mean the final transformation of the American Republic into an imperial state of permanent war.^[1]

And Parry does note that "regime change," if we persist in this madness, will risk a direct clash with Russia. With luck, Obama's as weak or reluctant to press the point as they think.

Notes
^[1] That air drop, or one of those air drops, may have fallen into Kurdish hands which is all to the good. The intent, however, was clearly to supply Assad's al Qaida opponents.
^[2] "Obama’s Fateful Syrian Choice." By Robert Parry, GlobalResearch, 10/18/15.

Collaboration?

Failed GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney lamented that the demise of traditional media is empowering Republican “insurgents” and preventing establishment Republicans from compromising more with Democrats.

As the Republican establishment is trying convince Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) . . . to run for House Speaker, Romney told David Axelrod on a recent “The Axe Files” podcast that the “extremes within our respective parties are having a louder and louder voice and demanding more attention” and “immediate action” as opposed to more “collaborative action.”^[1]

The best thing to happen to the modern world has been the arrival of alternate media. It's driven the sellout MSM to the wall financially and given a voice for populism while it has exposed the lies of the establishment press. Romney and Ryan, however, see this as a negative.

They are also oblivious to the reason for any polarization, namely, the failure of RINOs to actually DO anything with the power they were handed and their complete silence on any major problem facing the country, such as, oh, our undeclared war on Syria and our failure to seal our border. The country is at a crisis point politically and economically. We are at the tipping point where the presently-inevitable shift in the demographic balance will change America forever. The federal deficit has soared to insane levels and our ruinous military adventurism and dabbling in the Middle East political and religious swamp continues with the aid of money borrowed from communist China.

The silence on all of this is deafening and millions of voters have noticed.

These two zeroes, Romney and Ryan, furthermore see success in the political world as being premised on collaboration with the Dems. In other words, they think the way to succeed is collaborate with the American ultra left. It's as though "success" -- according to vague (and most assuredly establishment) norms -- is the only goal worth striving for, not victory. But victory implies that there was a battle over irreconcilable goals and values. Clearly, there is nothing involving RINOs and Dems that is irreconcilable.

To drive that point home there's this from the same article:

. . . Romney said there are others who think that the “best approach is to see if we can’t find common ground with the people across the aisle.” ^[2]

And these are leaders in the Republican firmament.

If it isn't the stupidity of Republican, of which there is ample evidence, it's the weakness and the flabbiness. I despise this never-ending GOPe passivity, gutlessness, and surrender in the face of lies and betrayal.

Notes
^[1] "Mitt Romney: Demise of Legacy Media Empowering Conservative ‘Insurgents,’ Preventing More ‘Collaborative Action.’" By Tony Lee, Breitbart.com, 10/20/15 (formatting and some kind of ranking percentage for Ryan omitted).
^[2] Id. (Emphasis added.)

Cargo-Cult Christianity: A Sunday Rumination

     We have sacraments, prayers, and rituals. We have vigils, novenas, and adorations. We have relics, statues, and crucifixes. We have parish pantries, and parish clothes closets, and Meals on Wheels. We have barbecues, and pot luck suppers, and commemorative dinners. We have golf outings, open-air services, and blessings of the animals on the feast day of Saint Francis of Assisi.

     For many – far too many – these things are Christianity. They substitute for the real thing, much as the Melanesian cargo-cultists substituted palm-frond airstrips, bamboo control towers, and wooden microphones in the hope that they might attract the Americans and their precious cargo to return.

     The cargo cults were unsuccessful. The Americans and the cargo that had enriched them did not return. A few anthropologists came to visit and take pictures, but that was about all.

     Perhaps cargo-cult Christians will be more successful in attracting grace. I have my doubts.

---

     Among the very hardest things a man can attempt is to “love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind,” and to “love thy neighbor as thyself.” By nature, each of us stands at the center of his personal universe. We are powerfully inhibited against putting anyone else in that position. Even accepting the existence of a Supreme Being has a hard time defeating that inhibition.

     Yet the two Great Commandments are the beating heart of Christian life. He who accepts Jesus of Nazareth as the Son of God and Redeemer of Mankind must perforce accept His Authority to command us. Everything else Christ ever taught derives from those two strictures, just as He said.

     I wrote a few weeks ago about the proper interpretation of “love” in the Christian theological context. It’s not a particularly tough concept to grasp, just a bit elusive near the edges. “Love” in the Christian ethical context is more elusive...at least, if I can judge from the behavior of some of my fellow Christians.

     This much should be clear: love of neighbor has nothing to do with the warm-fuzzy / hugs for everybody pap that so many popular flacksters have prattled about. It’s better elucidated by reflecting on the Golden Rule: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

     If you know yourself sufficiently well, that presents no challenge at all.

---

     The cargo-cult Christian may be rigorous about the appurtenances of Christianity yet neglect the second Great Commandment. C. S. Lewis gave us a striking example of the extremes of this syndrome in The Screwtape Letters:

     It is, no doubt, impossible to prevent his praying for his mother, but we have means of rendering the prayers innocuous. Make sure that they are always very "spiritual", that he is always concerned with the state of her soul and never with her rheumatism. Two advantages follow. In the first place, his attention will be kept on what he regards as her sins, by which, with a little guidance from you, he can be induced to mean any of her actions which are inconvenient or irritating to himself. Thus you can keep rubbing the wounds of the day a little sorer even while he is on his knees; the operation is not at all difficult and you will find it very entertaining. In the second place, since his ideas about her soul will be very crude and often erroneous, he will, in some degree, be praying for an imaginary person, and it will be your task to make that imaginary person daily less and less like the real mother—the sharp-tongued old lady at the breakfast table. In time, you may get the cleavage so wide that no thought or feeling from his prayers for the imagined mother will ever flow over into his treatment of the real one. I have had patients of my own so well in hand that they could be turned at a moment's notice from impassioned prayer for a wife's or son's "soul" to beating or insulting the real wife or son without a qualm.

     What good would all the prayers, relics, and sacramental attendance in the world be to a “Christian” who behaves in such a fashion? I surely wouldn’t want any relative, friend, or acquaintance of mine to obsess about the state of my soul. Especially if he went from that to willfully abusing me. Would you?

     The second Great Commandment forbids such conduct. The Golden Rule makes the requirement even more explicit. To neglect those prescriptions is to miss the essence of Christian ethical conduct.

---

     Doubt not that the sacraments, prayers, and other rituals are useful and beneficial. But they are essentially peripheral. A man who had never experienced any of the sacraments, who knew nothing of prayer or the other Christian rites, but who consistently regarded others as his spiritual equals and always treated them as he would want them to treat him would be in far better shape spiritually than a cargo-cult Christian to whom others are merely potential tools or obstructions. Indeed, that latter fellow would be in great danger in the afterlife.

     This couples intimately to my beliefs about proper authority. No man, be he a lay preacher or the Supreme Pontiff, can arrogate the authority of Christ or gainsay His teachings. Christ is The Authority. He gave us our marching orders in the Gospels. All else is explication, which must always be supremely cautious and mindful of the supremacy of the two Great Commandments: “On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” [Matthew 22:40]

     Imagine a society composed entirely of persons who, for whatever reason, observe the two Great Commandments rigorously, always and everywhere. Imagine that those persons are grateful for the gift of life, but know nothing of Christ. Conceiving of one such person is hard. Depicting a great number of them, gathered into a coherent society, is extraordinarily difficult. I should know; I’ve put a lot of effort into it. Yet such a society would come very near to the Utopia we have been told is impossible to Man. Though its members would not recognize the word “Christian,” they would nevertheless be in better accord with Christ’s preachments than any cargo-cult Christian.

     Would such a society really need anything a cargo-cult Christian could provide?

---

     Just this morning, in expounding upon the day’s Gospel reading, the celebrant at Mass exhorted us to pray for our needs rather than our desires. I would submit that there is no need in human life greater than continuous awareness of the two Great Commandments – that a Christian life must be illuminated and animated by them. A Christian needs that foundation to support the rest of the faith.

     The sacraments, rituals, etc. are made potent by joining them to the two Great Commandments, explicitly accepted and lived. Otherwise, they would confer little benefit upon us...little more than the Melanesians derived from their palm-frond airstrips, their bamboo control towers, and their wooden microphones.

     May God bless and keep you all.

Tyranny of the neurotic.

Things that seemed the obsessions of the occasional lugubrious neurotic are so common that they represent a change in the national character. It is eerie. Something strange is happening.

"Wimp Nation: Poised to Fall." By Fred Reed, Fred on Everything, 10/23/15.

H/t: Remus.

Quickies: Thoughts On Trump, Carson, and Fiorina

     I limit my exposure to the ongoing campaign for the Republican presidential nomination, mainly out of my propensity for boredom-induced narcolepsy. (Can’t afford to fall asleep in front of the computer any more; the resulting “QWERTY face” can last for days. However, the surprising longevity of the three “outsider campaigns” of Donald Trump, Dr. Ben Carson, and Carly Fiorina strikes me as an indication of an important pop-political trend.

     I use the term “pop-politics” to distinguish what I have in mind from “standard” or “Establishment” politics. It’s determined entirely by the opinions of private citizens not directly employed by the GOP. And as we have seen these past few months, it’s highly favorable to the “outsiders.” Needless to say, every pundit in America has his preferred explanation for the phenomenon. Yet the great majority of them are baffled by the outsiders’ “endurance.”

     I suggest that the “outsiders” are gaining great benefits from the behavior of the “insiders:” the governors and Senators who seek the Republican nod. In particular, the “outsiders” are made more attractive by the “insiders’” relentless PolSpeak: that curious combination of rhetorical techniques by which a seasoned politician avoids taking a position so clearly, or answering a question so definitely, that he can’t somehow weasel away from his statements at a later date.

     By comparison, Trump, Carson, and Fiorina tend to speak plainly. Each has some demerit, of course:

• Trump is on record as having been enthusiastic in support of some strongly leftist positions and policies;
• Carson is so soft-spoken that it’s hard to imagine him prevailing in Washington political hardball;
• Fiorina’s record as a corporate executive has been used to attack her capabilities and allegiances.

     All the same, they contrast sharply with the “insiders,” who represent a lifeform Americans have come to despise above all others: career government functionaries and professional politicians.

     Candidate Mike Huckabee, formerly the governor of Arkansas, has implored audiences not to treat the presidency as “an entry-level position.” There is something to what he says. However, granted that we’re enduring the consequences of a poor choice as we speak, Barack Hussein Obama is a career politician with no record of having ever succeeded at anything other than gaining political office. That’s not the case with Trump, Carson, or Fiorina, all of whom have occupied a “hot seat,” where the responsibility for failure could not be averted. If they’ve never held elective office, at least they know what it means to accept responsibility for the consequences of their decisions. And given their successes in the private sector, which the “insiders” can’t match, the electorate remains willing to listen to them.

     Only one of the “insider” candidates, Senator Ted Cruz, shows any contrast with his fellows. Cruz talks more plainly than the other “insiders.” His positions are not at all ambiguous, including the ones for which he’s drawn some conservatives’ ire. That marks him as the Heir Apparent to the “outsiders,” should their glamor wane and the electorate turn from them. We shall see.

Quickies: The New Censorship

     Technically – i.e., according to the formal definition – censorship requires that the political authority be involved, specifically to punish unapproved speech with the force of the State. Therefore, technically the First Amendment to the Constitution forbids censorship, as it forbids the making of laws that would allow American governments to penalize speech.

     Well, that’s the theory, at least:

     A Breitbart meetup in Arizona ended with a restaurant cutting off the microphone before a police helicopter strangely descended upon the gathering ordering attendees to disperse.

     In an effort to provide offline fellowship to a community of passionately engaged readers, Breitbart News recently introduced Breitbart local “Meet Ups.” The second event, held in Phoenix on Wednesday night, featured Breitbart’s Brandon Darby discussing border issues and AWR Hawkins discussing gun rights. Between 150-200 people flooded the patio on a cool night at K O’Donnell’s to discuss matters of liberty and network with other like-minded conservatives....

     Just as [Breitbart Texas Managing Director Brandon] Darby finished his remarks and opened the stage for Q&A, the microphone was suddenly cut off and the audio of the Mets/Cubs game began to blare over the PA system. The attendees began to realize that instead of a technical issue, the management at K O’Donnell’s had purposefully cut off the microphone. Once again, PC culture was trying to silence a peaceful group of people concerned about the direction of the country.

     No longer welcome, the large Breitbart crowd began paying their bills and congregating just outside the establishment. Before most of the crowd could conclude their business with the venue, both Phoenix and Scottsdale police departments arrived on the scene and a police helicopter began circling overhead shining a spotlight on the crowd. A PA system on the chopper began to demand that the crowd disperse.

     What brought this about? According to an attendee:

     The event started out fine. After things got going, apparently one of the non Breitbart customers got offended over the content of the program and complained to the management. The manager claimed they were attacked and threatened by someone in our group, so they called the police claiming 200 unruly patrons.

     There you have it: Persons in the restaurant who didn’t like hearing conservatives talk about gun rights and illegal immigration succeeded in getting the event shut down by the police, with the collaboration of the restaurant’s manager. Not only did this offend against the freedom of speech and the right to assemble, it deprived the restaurant of the revenues it would have accrued had the event been permitted to continue.

     The significance of this event will not be lost on conservatives, would-be censors, or restaurant owners. Perhaps the owners of K O’Donnell should think about getting a new manager.

Quickies: Controversializations Dept.

     I’m not a big country-music fan, but I find myself drawn to the music, and not coincidentally to the personae, of a number of country stars, in particular Emmylou Harris, Trisha Yearwood, and Carrie Underwood. (Yes, all three are beautiful women. More than coincidence? Your Curmudgeon reports; you decide.)

     Underwood, the youngest and today the most prominent of the three, gained recognition through American Idol. Despite the show’s legion of imitators and its enduring popularity with viewers, Idol hasn’t produced many first-echelon stars. Underwood, Kelly Clarkson, and non-winner Jennifer Hudson are about all. Underwood is probably the best known. Her many awards and huge international popularity speak for themselves.

     This morning I was powerfully struck by the following snippet from this article about Underwood at Fox News:

     Underwood, 32, is a seven-time Grammy Award winner who has recorded 21 No. 1 singles and sold 58 million records worldwide. She has never shied away from underscoring her faith and religious beliefs and lays them out for all to see....

     “After ‘Jesus, Take the Wheel’ came out,” Underwood said, “I’d do interviews, and people would go, ‘Wow, singing about God! That was risky!’ I was like, ‘Really?’ Gospel music and country music has gone hand-in-hand for decades. Plus, it was just me. It was me!” [Emphasis added by FWP.]

     With country and country-flavored bands edging ever more deeply into the pop-music current, the cultural establishment would like nothing better than for openly religious artists to knock off the God stuff. Establishment reviewers and critics strive to label religiously and spiritually-oriented country music as somehow “controversial” – that it’s “risky” and “alternative” for a country artist to embrace religious themes. Yet as Underwood notes above, country music and Gospel music have been good friends to one another for decades.

     At this time, the U.S. is the most Christian country on Earth, with 74% of its residents self-identifying as Christian at the last census. Its would-be taste-makers despise Christianity and would like nothing better than to see it vanish. So they encourage the notion that religious themes in music somehow make it “risky.” (This, of course, is directly contrary to the overwhelming importance of the Christian faith of all the great composers in our history. The faith that built Europe’s great cathedrals was the force that propelled most of the music that has survived the test of time.) They view hold-outs such as Underwood as a stumbling block – and the more so to the extent that Underwood’s music might incline younger fans, their convictions not yet set in concrete, to think that there might just be something to this Jesus stuff.

     Consider Underwood a marker, a stone in the pop-cultural river. Harris and Yearwood are similar stones; see especially Harris’s brilliant recordings Red Dirt Girl and Stumble Into Grace. Recently, Taylor Swift has displayed a comparable influence, though she tends to keep her faith out of her music. Whether there are enough such stones to disturb and deflect the establishment’s preferred current toward secularity and hedonism, only time will tell.

U.S. policy in Syria.

I pretend to no expertise in Middle East affairs and humor myself by trying to state what seems to me to be obvious about what the U.S. is doing there.

The time since the loss of our guys in Benghazi has been curious for what hasn't been said about Syria. No accident that. My casual recollection is of nothing more than vague characterizations of Assad's being unusually depraved. "Evidence" of his depravity was limited to dubious reports of the use of nerve gas. Some sort of a "civil war" seemed to be in progress for reasons not stated. We did not help precipitate that civil war. Those opposing Assad were "moderate" "rebels" on whom the U.S. was placing all its bets. Spare no expense and nail down that Chinese line of credit for U.S. military adventurism. Ask them to stay out of the S. China Sea for good measure. Who do they think they are?

As a quick exercise in pretend intelligence analysis glance through the list of groups in the Appendix to this post and see if you can identify those groups who are likely to be more than opportunistic "allies" of the U.S. and who will, if they prevail, create something that will be superior to what obtained under the aforementioned war criminal Assad. Heck, how about just create something as good?

This then is my take on the possible real reasons for U.S. involvement in Syria. It's a bit confused conceptually as some points may merely be subsets of other policies, but this can be rectified as the outlines of U.S. policy become clear, which doesn't look to be any time soon. Mr. Putin has introduced quite a bit of clarity into the situation there but this is not a popular idea in official U.S. circles:

1. Buttress Israel's primary foreign policy objective -- "[H]eighten the level of internecine conflict in that country to the point where it will not be able to serve as a bulwark against Israeli regional hegemony for at least another generation."^[1]
2. Advance Saudi Arabian salafist agenda -- Bedrock U.S. policy since 1945, especially after 9/11. Immutable.
3. Checkmate Iran -- Prevent Iran from dominating everything in the Middle East, including Sodomy, Gomorrah, Ninevah and Tyre. To make absolutely sure Iran knows we mean business, help them obtain nuclear weapons and enable them to fund terror operations around the world.
4. Goldilocks Strategy -- Support "vetted" opposition or "rebel" groups in Syria -- bad ass but not Freddy Kruger evil -- to bring down Assad. These "just right" moderate terrorists get air drops of weapons and WWII C-rations so long as they agree to read the Federalist Papers, bring down Assad, kick ISIS and al Qaida ass, and keep beheadings of Christians, Yazidis, and Kurds to the absolute minimum.

   The rebel group that draws shortest straw afterwards gets to rule Syria and all other rebels agree to that so Syria can write a new chapter in its long history. See Appendix, below, for list of all 238 rebel groups in the field, the allegiances, goals, and murderous proclivities of which have, lest you worry, been fed into the Langley computers to avoid mistakes and confusion.

5. Turkish due process -- notification phase.

   Keep Incirlik Air Base in Turkey -- This objective is to ensure we get an air base in Turkey in exchange for which we agree to support Turkish operations (a) to kill Kurds in Syria and possibly (b) to grab part of Syria. This is to strengthen NATO which requires a U.S. Air Force base in Turkey so as to support Turkey's attacks on the Kurds, Turkey being a NATO member. Base in Turkey can be used to stage pretend air strikes on ISIS and actual Syrian infrastructure to maximize misery of civiians.
6. Reduce Syrian and Nigerian refugee flow to Europe -- Refugee flow to Europe will be reduced to almost nothing if we continue supporting "good" rebels in Syria and continue to participate in military operations that have already killed hundreds of thousands of Syrian civilians and destroyed Syrian cities and power generating facilities. Syrians know we mean well.
7. Ad Hoc strategy -- Retain elements of the Goldilocks strategy, especially by disguising the strength of al Qaida elements and future struggle between al Qaida and ISIS for control in Syria and Iraq. Continue to pretend to bomb ISIS and complain if Russians bomb al Qaida thereby frustrating policy #1. Refuse offers of Russian help to stabilize Assad and avoid another Libyan meltdown. Put pedal to the metal to create chaos and more refugees. See item #1 again. Take sides in centuries-long Sunni-Shiite intramural dispute by only pretending to bomb U.S. mortal enemy ISIS. See item #2.
8. American safety -- Bomb Syria; deliver arms to vicious, Muslim lunatics; destabilize Assad regime to discourage, if not prevent, future Syrian attacks on the U.S.
9. Get Qatari gas to Europe -- Something to do with a gas pipeline through Syria. Opposed by some, supported by others. U.S. military action necessary either way.
10. Lure Russian into quagmire -- This policy is to stop Putin's relentless drive for world domination. Why should we be the only ones in a quagmire in Afghanistan and the Middle East?
11. Advance democracy -- Advance the cause of democracy anywhere and everywhere in the world (except the U.S.).
12. Dudley Do-right policy -- Remove President Bashar al-Assad because he is a bad man. Americans are the best when it comes to deciding who is good and who is bad. We're like Santa Claus to the world. We're no. 1 for a reason.

Notes
^[1] "US Caught Faking It in Syria." By Thomas S. Harrington, Counterpunch, 10/12/15. "Every kind of inter-Arab confrontation will assist us in the short run and will shorten the way to the more important aim of breaking up Iraq into denominations as in Syria and in Lebanon." -- Oded Yinon, former employee of the Israeli Foreign Ministry.
^[2] "Moscow Nights in Latakia." By Michael Brenner, Sic Semper Tyrannis, 10/16/15. Dr. Brenner's article is close to being in the "must read" category. U.S. confusion is laid bare.

Photo credit: Photo of Turkish President adviser Yusef Yerkel dialoguing with Turkish citizen from "Erdoğan's legacy and the Kurds." By Confused Ponderer, Sic Semper Tyrannis, 10/22/15. Note: Erdogan exempt from "Brutal Dictator" designation.

APPENDIX REBEL GROUPS

ALEPPO
101st Infantry Division (Idlib). 111st Infantry Division (Idlib, Hama) . 13th Division (Idlib) . 16th Division. 60th Infantry Division (Idlib). Abu Amara Brigades. Ahrar al-Sham (Idlib, Latakia, Hama, Homs, Damascus, Dera’a & Quneitra). Al-Izza Gathering (Hama, Idlib). Al-Nakhba Forces. Caucasus Emirate in al-Sham (Latakia). Fajr al-Khilafa Brigades. Fajr al-Sham Islamic Movement. First Regiment . Fistaqim Kama Umirat. Furqan Brigades (Damascus, Dera’a & Quneitra). Harakat al-Thahur Baryis. Harakat Biyan. Harakat Mujahidi al-Islam. Jabhat al-Nusra (Idlib, Hama, Homs, Damascus, Dera’a & Quneitra). Jabhat Ansar al-Din (Idlib). Jama’at Jaysh al-Sunna (Idlib, Hama). Jaysh al-Islam (Idlib, Latakia, Damascus). Jaysh al-Mujahideen (Latakia). Jaysh al-Qasas. Jaysh al-Thuwar (Idlib, Latakia, Homs, Hama). Jund al-Aqsa (Idlib, Latakia, Hama). Jund Allah. Katibat al-Tawhid wal-Jihad (Idlib). Kita’ib al-Safwat al-Islamiya. Kita’ib Shams al-Shamal. Kitaba al-Suhaba. Levant Front . Liwa al-Fateh. Liwa al-Haqq (Idlib, Hama). Liwa al-Houriya al-Islami (Idlib). Liwa al-Jihad fi Sabeel Allah. Liwa al-Sultan Muhammad al-Fatih. Liwa Amna’ ar-Raqqa. Liwa Ansar al-Khilafa. Liwa Ansar al-Sunna. Liwa Fursan al-Haqq (Idlib). Liwa Shuhada al-Atarib. Liwa al-Sultan Murad. Liwa Thuwar ar-Raqqa. Nour al-Din al-Zenki. Saraya Jarablus. Sham Legion (Idlib, Hama). Siraya al-Ma’ad. Suqour al-Ghab (Idlib, Hama). Suqour al-Jabal (Idlib, Hama). Tahrir Brigade. Thuwar al-Sham Brigades. People’s Protection Units (YPG).

IDLIB
101st Infantry Division (Aleppo). 111th Infantry Division (Aleppo, Hama). 13th Division (Aleppo). Ahrar al-Sham (Aleppo, Latakia, Hama, Homs, Damascus, Dera’a & Queneitra). Ajnad al-Sham (Hama, Damascus, Dera’a & Queneitra). Fursan al-Haqq. Jabhat al-Nusra (Aleppo, Hama, Homs, Damascus, Dera’a & Quneitra). Jabhat Ansar al-Din (Aleppo). Jama’at Ahadun Ahad (Latakia). Jama’at Ansar al-Islam (Latakia). Jaysh al-Islam (Aleppo, Latakia, Damascus). Jaysh al-Sunna (Aleppo). Jaysh al-Thuwar (Aleppo, Latakia, Homs, Hama). Jund al-Aqsa (Aleppo, Latakia, Hama). Junud al-Sham (Latakia). Kata’ib Ansar al-Sham (Latakia). Katiba al-Tawhid wal Jihad (Aleppo). Liwa al-Haqq (Aleppo, Hama). Liwa al-Houriya al-Islami (Aleppo). Sham Legion (Aleppo, Hama). Suqour al-Ghab (Aleppo, Hama). Suqour al-Jabal (Aleppo, Hama). Turkistan Islamic Party (Latakia).

LATAKIA
Ahrar al-Sham (Aleppo, Idlib, Hama, Homs, Damascus, Dera’a & Quneitra). Caucasus Emirate in al-Sham (Aleppo). First Coastal Division. Jabhat Ansar al-Din (Idlib). Jama’at Ahadun Ahad (Idlib). Jama’at Ansar al-Islam (Idlib). Jaysh al-Islam (Aleppo, Idlib, Damascus, Dera’a & Quneitra). Jaysh al-Mujahideen (Aleppo). Jaysh al-Thuwar (Aleppo, Idlib, Homs, Hama). Jund al-Aqsa (Aleppo, Idlib, Hama). Junud al-Sham (Idlib). Katai’b Ansar al-Sham. Liwa al-Adiyat (Hama). Turkistan Islamic Party (Idlib).

HAMA
111th Infantry Division (Idlib). Ahrar al-Sham (Aleppo, Idlib, Latakia, Homs, Damascus, Dera’a & Quneitra). Ajnad al-Sham (Idlib, Damascus, Dera’a & Quneitra). Al-Izza Gathering (Aleppo, Idlib). Jabhat al-Nusra (Aleppo, Idlib, Homs, Damascus, Dera’a & Quneitra). Jabhat al-Sham. Jaysh al-Sunna (Idlib). Jund al-Aqsa (Aleppo, Idlib, Latakia). Liwa al-Adiyat (Latakia). Liwa al-Haqq (Hama, Aleppo). Liwa al-Inqath al-Muqatila. Sham Legion. (Aleppo, Idlib). Suqour al-Ghab (Aleppo, Idlib). Suqour al-Jabal (Aleppo, Idlib).

HOMS
Ahrar al-Sham (Aleppo, Idlib, Latakia, Hama, Damascus, Dera’a & Queneitra). Ajnad Homs. Jabhat al-Nusra (Aleppo, Idlib, Hama, Damascus, Dera’a & Quneitra). Jaysh Ahl al-Sunna wal-Jama’a. Jaysh al-Tawhid. Jaysh al-Thuwar (Aleppo, Idlib, Latakia, Hama). Tahrir Homs.

DAMASCUS
11 Division Special Forces. Abu Obaida Battalion . Ahrar al-Qalamoun Battalions . Ahrar al-Sham (Aleppo, Idlib, Latakia, Hama, Homs, Dera’a & Quneitra). Ajnad al-Sham (Idlib, Hama, Dera’a & Quneitra). Al-Sarkha Battalions. Asoud al-Sunna Battalions. Originality and Development Front (Aleppo). Battalion 215. Damascus Martyrs Brigade (Dera’a & Quneitra). Friends of the Prophet Mohammad Battalion. Furqan Brigades (Aleppo, Dera’a & Quneitra). Fursan al-Sunna Battalion (Dera’a & Quneitra). Hamad Brigade. Hawsh Arab Martyrs Gathering. Ilwiya wa Kita’ib al-Sahaba (Dera’a & Quneitra). Jabhat al-Nusra (Aleppo, Idlib, Homs, Homa, Dera’a & Quneitra). Jabhat Ansar al-Islam (Dera’a & Quenitra). Jaysh al-Ababil (Dera’a & Quenitra). Jaysh al-Islam (Aleppo, Idlib, Latakia, Dera’a & Quneitra). Jaysh al-Qalamoun. Jaysh Tahirir al-Sham. Kata’ib al-Ansar. Katiba al-Mutahabeen Billah. Katiba Shaid Mamoud Murad. Katiba Shuhada al-Nabek. Katiba Shuhada al-Sarkha. Katiba Yousef al-Sadiq. Kita’ib Aknaf Beit al-Maqdis (Dera’a & Quneitra). Liwa Ahrar Hafir. Liwa al-Izz. Liwa Muatasim Billah (Dera’a & Quneitra). Liwa Rijal Allah. Liwa Seif al-Haq. Liwa Suqour al-Qalamoun. Liwa Suqour al-Umawayeen. Liwa Tahrir al-Qalamoun. Liwa Tawhid al-Asima (Dera’a & Quneitra). Liwa Thura al-Sha’ab. Martyr Lieutenant Ahmed Abdou Brigades . Marwan Hadid Briagde. Men of Qalamoun Battalion. Rahman Corps. Saif al-Islam Battalion. Sheild of Qalamoun Brigade.

DERA’A & QUNEITRA
24th Infantry Division. 69th Special Forces Division. Abu Obaida Battalion. Ahrar al-Sham (Aleppo, Idlib, Latakia, Hama, Homs, Damascus). Ahrar Nawa Division. Ajnad al-Sham (Idlib, Hama, Damascus). Al-Sarkha Battalions (Damascus). Alwiyat al-Omari. Ansar al-Huda Gathering. Ansar al-Sunnah. Damascus Martyrs Brigade (Damascus). Fajr al-Islam Division. Fajr al-Tawhid Division. Fallujah Houran Division. First Army. First Artillery Regiment. First Brigade. First Corps. Firqat Usoud al-Sunnah. Furqan Brigades (Aleppo, Damascus). Fursan al-Sunna Battalion (Damascus). Hamza Division. Harakat Muthanna al-Islamiya. Harakat Shuhada al-Sham al-Islamiya. Ilwiya wa Kita’ib al-Sahaba (Damascus). Jabhat al-Nusra (Aleppo, Idlib, Hama, Homs, Damascus). Jabhat al-Sham al-Muwahida. Jabhat Ansar al-Islam (Aleppo, Idlib, Latakia Damascus). Jaysh al-Ababil (Dera’a & Quenitra). Jaysh al-Islam (Aleppo, Idlib, Latakia, Damascus). Jaysh al-Yarmouk. Katibat Aswad al-Aqsad. Katibat Fadayeen Houran. Kita’ib Aknaf Beit al-Maqdis (Damascus). Liwa Ahaya al-Jihad. Liwa Ahrar Inkhil. Liwa Ahsa’ar al-Lajat. Liwa al-I’tisam Billah. Liwa al-Mughawir al-Awli. Liwa al-Sayyid al-Messiyah. Liwa al-Shahid al-A’qeed Ahmed al-Omar. Liwa al-Umarayn al-Islami. Liwa Amoud Houran. Liwa Ansar al-Haqq. Liwa Fursan Houran. Liwa Jaydour Houran. Liwa Jebel al-Sheikh. Liwa Khayalat al-Zaydi. Liwa Mua’taz Billah. Liwa Muatasim Billah (Damascus). Liwa Muhajireen wal-Ansar. Liwa Omar bin al-Khatab. Liwa Osama bin Zaid. Liwa Shabab al-Sunnah. Liwa Shuhada al-Islam. Liwa Shuhada Houran. Liwa Tawhid al-Asima (Damascus). Liwa Tawhid al-Janub. Liwa Usoud al-Tawhid. Liwa Tawhid Kita’ib Houran. March 18 Division. Martyr Lieutenant Ahmed Abdou Brigades (Damascus). Mashrou Benaa Umma. Salah al-Din Division. Seif al-Sham Brigades. Shahid Ra’ed al-Masri. Siyad al-Usoud Battalion. Syrian Revolutionaries Front - Southern Sector. Tahalaf Suqour al-Janoub. Tajamu al-Mujahideen Nawa. Usoud al-Harb Operations Room.

List of "rebel" groups from "Syrian Opposition Guide. " By Jennifer Cafarella and Genevieve Casagrande, Institute for the Study of War, 10/7/15. "This reference guide provides a baseline for identifying Syrian opposition groups. The guide aims to permit researchers to track how groups realign as the Russians commence operations. It seeks to inform the development of policies that aim to protect Syrian rebels willing to cooperate with the U. S. in order to defeat ISIS and marginalize al-Qaeda affiliate Jabhat al-Nusra." And not bring down Assad?

U.S.A. – destroyer of nations.

A propos of my post above here are a couple of choice quotes summarizing the Obama Middle East policy:

There’s no way to overstate the Obama administration’s destructive and nihilistic role in Syria. Along with its Gulf allies, the US has funded, armed and trained the bulk of the jihadi hoodlums that have ripped the state apart and killed nearly one quarter of a million people. Now that Putin has decided to put an end to Washington’s savage proxy war, the administration is planning to add more fuel to the fire by air-dropping pallets of ammunition and weapons to their fighters in central and eastern Syria. The editors of the New York Times derided the program as “hallucinatory.”^[1]

And this from ParaPundit:

Ross Douthat [of the New York Times] takes a look at Russia's widening intervention in Syria from a distinctly American elite perspective. Lots of nuance here as usual. But he does not get to the meat of the matter and I disagree in a big way with his conclusion:

... what’s closer to his [Putin's] grasp is something more destructive — a wrecker’s legacy, not Peter the Great’s, in which his own people gain little from his efforts, but the world grows more unstable with every move he makes.

Wrecker's legacy? That's America we are talking about. The far more powerful United States of America surely already has a wrecker's legacy in the Middle East. Consider: The US invasion of Iraq resulted in ISIS slavery, ethnic slaughter, and crucifixions in Iraq and Syria with at least half of Iraq's Christians fleeing and Syrian Christians major shafted. The support Obama and Hillary Clinton showed for Arab Spring has resulted in Libya fragmented into warring tribal regions. We have gained nothing for our efforts and racked up huge losses. Obama's policies (or MSM punditry for that matter) show little sign of having learned anything important from all these disasters and policy failures[.]

* * * *

Think about it. America's military interventions in the Middle East are a disaster. America's goals in Syria are lunacy. Against this background how are Vladimir Putin's interventions going to play a wrecking role? The wrecking is already in full swing.

The U.S. is engaged in something dirty and disgraceful in Syria. That is all on Obama, and the roots of our dishonor stretch back to the Obama blunder in removing Gaddafi and deliberate policy secretly to run guns through to the Syrian opposition out of the CIA Annex in Benghazi. The woman who crowed "We came. We saw. He died." was our Secretary of State at the time and now looks to be the next Democrat nominee for president. Was there anything more honorable than that at work in our attack on Gaddafi's Libya? There's not one head of state in Europe now who doesn't fervently wish that the Americans and the French had left Libya alone.

Just who are these moral lightweights who dabble in the Great Game and think that sociology, political science, and history majors and their Strayer Business College and Wellesley degrees give them the insight and wisdom to decide which regimes should fall by the wayside, regimes that have committed no acts of war against the United States?

George W. Bush is not at all blameless in this sorry litany of stupidity. A salutary punitive strike against Saddam Hussein, assuming that attacking Iraq had some rational relation to punishing those responsible for 9/11 (and disregarding the specious WMD justification offered at the time), was turned into a lunatic open-ended exercise in "nation building" as though the diplomatic and military officer corps of the United States had any kind of insight into the political realities of a third-rate Islamic country in the Middle East. What moron thinks that elections are some kind of elixir for what ails countries around the world? The Muslim world needs to be quarantined not reformed by naifs.

America, which started out as a magnificent experiment in self government, has devolved into a reckless, destructive force that is propelled by stupidity and hubris on the part of its political class. It's a political class, let it be said, that is also hard at work bringing chaos and bloody civil strife to our own shores.

Notes
^[1] "Did Russia’s Intervention Derail Turkey’s Plan to Invade Syria?" By Mike Whitney, The Unz Review, 10/15/15.
^[2] "Ross Douthat Asks: Is Putin Winning?" By Randall Parker, ParaPundit, 10/4/15 (color formatting of links removed).

Why Bother?

     Tranquil times are the op-ed writer’s version of the Gobi Desert. No wars or insurgencies? No mounds of corpses? No screaming victims or rivers of refugees? No great institutions careening toward destruction? No discoveries of heinous deeds done under the protection of the highly placed? No columns.

     No, I don’t mean to say that you, Gentle Reader, should hope for calamities so I’ll have something to write about that will grant you a few minutes’ deflection from your own troubles. But the facts are as they are. When people are happy and prosperous, when there’s little to no misery in the world, and when the highly placed remain within the law (or at least conceal their sins sufficiently well), the op-ed business hits the doldrums. I, at least, can’t work up the necessary spleen to write a decent essay over someone’s hangnail.

     Just now, this minor member of the Internet Commentariat has the opposite problem: there’s too much to rant about. I could use up ten thousand words with nothing but brief mentions of discrete disasters, dastardly deeds, and terrifying trends alone. I could pop the breakers on the Internet without ever providing a sliver of analysis. I suppose that’s a large part of the reason so many of my colleagues have chosen to specialize on one particular focus for outrage. That’s something I can’t bring myself to do.

     Everything is going to Hell, and it’s wearing me down.

---

     William Randolph Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer, the supposed originators of “yellow journalism,” would have loved our era. They’d have had no trouble filling the front pages of the New York Journal and the New York World with whiz-bang features each and every day. Wars and terrorist attacks everywhere! Floods of refugees! American servicemen killed in Third World hellholes! Rampant racial and ethnic violence! Muslims taking over our city streets! The national debt skyrocketing! The dollar collapsing! The educational system in crisis! Record unemployment and underemployment! Fascistic bureaucracies whose minions tote machine guns! Blatant lawbreaking by a presidential contender! Near-misses by huge asteroids! Vampire attacks in Sheboygan! Zombie outbreaks in Peoria! Earthquakes! Tidal waves! Horizontal rain! Their papers would scream out the crises and scandals each day...and their readers would slowly but steadily back away, preferring to get their news from staider organs of information such as the Star and the Weekly World News.

     There are only two sensible reactions to calamities-everywhere reportage:

• Lock, load, and march on the Capital District; or:
• Burn the welcome mat, barricade the doors, and stand armed watches twenty-four hours per day.

     Not enough of us are furious enough to adopt the first approach with an adequate probability of success. Quite a few have embarked upon a version of the second. What the events of 2016 will bring us, only God could say...and He’s been notoriously taciturn these past two millennia.

---

     I’m tired. That’s hardly news. I’m an old man; I expect to be tired much of the time. I just wish the reasons were more personal. I hate watching the country I love immolate itself, and I hate even more that I can do essentially nothing about it.

     This isn’t merely a veh is mir. It’s something of a summing-up.

     I’ve been writing for the Web since 1997 at least. Over that interval, things have gone from bad to worse, with occasional minor jags in the other direction that were reversed soon afterward. I don’t think my emissions have been any part of the cause, but I can’t imagine that they’ve done much to improve matters, either. A heightened awareness of that unpleasant truth is what has me in a “why bother?” mood.

     If I, an exceedingly minor player on this field, should feel that way, I can’t help but wonder how the major figures feel about their inability to influence the course of events. Of course, a lot of them get paid for their drivel, which alters the dynamic somewhat. All the same, does Mark Steyn ever moan and wring his hands? Does Glenn Reynolds ever weep and gnash his teeth? Does Ace ever shake his head, murmur “What’s the use,” and retreat to his man cave for a marathon of mindless entertainment featuring bug-eyed monsters, big guns, and busty women in short shorts and high heels?

     Is there no course open to us but revolt or surrender? Is there no third alternative? Because that’s what really has me down this morning. Op-ed writing is about nothing but the search for such an alternative. At this time, we have yet to unearth one.

---

     Forgive me, Gentle Reader. There comes a point when the browser tabs proliferate beyond my ability to keep track of them, or to elicit any unity from them. Things are, quite simply, going to Hell. America is tottering drunkenly at the edge of the abyss, with no convenient planetoid in sight.

     The collapse of the United States will mean more than the dissolution of the highest and best civilization known to Man. Like it or not, America truly is the indispensable nation. American strength – military, economic, cultural, and moral – has been the foundation of all that is good everywhere on Earth since the end of World War II. The powers poised to capitalize on our decline are anything but benevolent. Should we fall, they will move – and they will drown the world in blood.

     If you’re a regular reader here, you’ve seen this citation before:

"The fall of Trantor," said Seldon, "cannot be stopped by any conceivable effort. It can be hastened easily, however. The tale of my interrupted trial will spread through the Galaxy. Frustration of my plans to lighten the disaster will convince people that the future holds no promise to them. Already they recall the lives of their grandfathers with envy. They will see that political revolutions and trade stagnations will increase. The feeling will pervade the Galaxy that only what a man can grasp for himself at that moment will be of any account. Ambitious men will not wait and unscrupulous men will not hang back. By their every action they will hasten the decay of the worlds. Have me killed and Trantor will fall not within three centuries but within fifty years and you, yourself, within a single year." [Isaac Asimov, Foundation, emphasis added.]

     We might not be at the point of no return yet...but how far from it can we be? And what can a minor opinion-monger and fiction writer possibly do about it?

     Oh, never mind. It can’t be as serious as all that, or you wouldn’t have your microwave ovens, your Jacuzzi tubs, and your iPhones. Never mind that you pledged your soul as collateral for the price of them, that you have nothing saved, and that you expect to retire on Social Security. Turn on the TV. There must be something diverting on some channel, and if not there’s always the Home Shopping Network and the Quality Value Channel. Why pay attention to an old crank who’s obviously just short on sleep? Anything is better than his doom-and-gloom crap.

     Time to pray.

Synthetic Outrage

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Heresy.

I suspect world opinion is not buying our claim that Bashar al-Assad has to go because he bombed his own citizens and used gas on them. I mean, we say that a lot, but is it actually true? US officials say a lot of things a lot that happen not to be true (e.g. the Federal Reserve’s claim that the US economy is humming.) In fact, we’re in this predicament precisely because we have squandered our credibility. We go into one country after another and destroy the institutions that held these places together, and leave a train of death and chaos behind. Iraq, Libya, Somalia, now Syria.

Maybe we just ought to step aside for a while and see what happens.^[1]

Is there no end to the madness of this man?

Notes
^[1] "Syriasly." By James Howard Kunstler, Clusterfuck Nation, 10/5/15.

Makes you think.

Yes nsa [who had asked if anyone had worked in an Arab country or had actual dealings with Arabs], I lived and worked in the Middle East. As a teenager my family resided in Egypt for a while and then, more recently, I worked in the Emirates (worked in Sharjah and lived next door in Dubai). My wife was an Iraqi Christian who, while I was still in college, befriended a couple of coeds from the Emirates. The Emirates are not the place to be in the summer when temperatures can reach 130 degrees F. As a rule, anyone with any status leaves for better climates in the summer. These two girls, sisters, each rented an apartment while studying in the US but actually used but one. The other was set aside for the summer months when the rest of the family would visit to escape the extreme heat. We all got along rather well. We hung

out together and took trips. I think the oldest brother was the head of the narcotics division of his emirate’s police force or some such. Another brother was a pilot with one of the Emirati airlines. Relatives visited on and off all summer and we got to know the lot.

You might think that these same people would also be our friends once we were all back in their country but if so, you’d be mistaken. There must be a rule that the locals are not supposed to fraternize with the expats. They would never return our calls or emails. Coworkers reported that though you might do business with the locals, they would never invite you over for dinner.^[1]

Is there any evidence anywhere that Arab Muslims have any kind feelings toward any infidel? That they seek anything more than temporary advantage from their association with infidels or their presence in infidel lands?

From Mindinao in the Philippines; Xinjiang Province in China; southern Thailand; Aceh in Indonesia; Myanmar; Bangladesh; Pakistan; the Middle East; Kenya; France with its "Sensitive Urban Zones"; Sweden; Tower Hamlets in United Kingdom; to Dearborn, Michigan simple friendship and civilizational norms are treated with contempt and disgusting behavior. Throwing feces seems to be an accepted method of Muslim protest. Muslims everywhere in the West have perfected "fh$¢k you."

It never, ever ends and the anger of civilized people doesn't begin, except in places like Chechnya, Xinjiang and Myanmar where the correct understanding by civilized people of the true nature of Muslims obtains.

Notes
^[1] Comment by George on "Syriasly." By James Howard Kunstler, Clusterfuck Nation, 10/5/15.

Wisdom from the usual suspects.

Numerous actors, musicians, writers, and DJs – the really deep thinkers of this country – have endorsed a "new vision for our country," which "pushes for a progressive economic agenda."

Specifically, it's "a vision that creates jobs, raises wages, protects the environment, and gets big money out of politics." Consequently, they are endorsing the socialist candidate for president, Bernie Sanders.

Never mind the totalitarian slaughter in the last century carried out by those who were positively besotted with socialism.

That's so yesterday.

Jim Kunstler has an amusing piece where he elaborates on the idea that the media has the memory of a dog living only in the eternal present. These guys rooting for Bernie ought to be checked for mange and fleas if there's any connection between press stupidity and the thinking of clueless celebrities.

A short course in economics and American constitutional law for people like Will Ferrell, Danny DeVito, Susan Sarandon, Steve Wozniak, Brad Terrence "Scarface" Jordan ("Geto Boys"), Brandon Christopher “Lil B" McCartney, and Michael “Killer Mike” Render would look like this:

1. The desire to create jobs isn't one found only in the progressive (totalitarian) bosom. Any moron who runs for office says he, she, or it wants more jobs. Some politicians who appreciate the ability of government officials to destroy jobs and who get out of the way of the private sector usually manage not to interfere with job creation and should get double retirement. The rest are contemptible unhelpful oxygen thieves.
2. Jobs "created" by politicians are crap jobs and, in the absence of government funding, have no roots that allow them to survive in the actual economy. The jobs "created" by throwing money at "renewable energy" enterprises, for example, no longer exist because the government has no clue about creating jobs that will endure.

   What politicians want is to shovel money into the hands of people who will send them campaign contributions when their need is great and, if some pie-in-the-sky leftist experimental boondoggle can get money in the process, well so much the better. Genuine productive activity is the least of the politicians' concerns when there's government money to be thrown around.

3. Bernie Sanders is running for a job in the federal government. The federal government has no constitutional authority under Article I, Sect. 8 to create jobs. You can look it up.
4. Nor does the federal government have any constitutional authority to raise wages. Government officials do not have the ability as human beings to set prices for pencils, frozen turkeys, aspirin, or Barbie Dolls. Ludwig von Mises has the story. Like 95 years ago.

5. Soviet environmentalism.

   Protection of the environment is not one of the powers enumerated in Article I, Sect. 8.

   Many wonderful things might, hypothetically, be undertaken by the federal government but wonderfulness is not the only criterion. The Founders and Ratifiers were concerned above all else with limiting the power of government so that we could be free, i.e., free of tyranny. Every tyrant works to gain power over the people – not by promising hard work, draconian punishment for dissenters, and thug police with the power to smash your teeth down your throat – but by promising wonderful things. For FREE! But these fools will never read the warning label on that. If it looks good it must be good.

6. Getting big money out of federal elections probably is a power that the federal government has. That's a thicket I'm not learned enough to explore with any confidence but the Supreme Court has validated restrictions on contributions.

   The ability of Adelson, Saban, Soros, Buffett, and the Koch brothers and a host of other fabulously wealthy people to influence elections is a disgrace to our system of representative government. The so-called "Adelson primary" in Las Vegas is just horrible black mark on our electoral system.

   That said, it's silly to think this is a concern only to "progressives" and that other Americans are satisfied by having their votes discounted, diluted, and discarded. Where do these people get off thinking that they alone have some kind of saintly, rarefied, refined, enlightened grasp of what ails America?

   If there's anything to what I've written above, it's safe to say these people bring nothing but economic and constitutional ignorance to the table. God, we so need the political opinions of guitar players and DJs. The go-to guys to find out how to get things back on track.

“Them”

     [Another oldie from Palace of Reason days. This one comes to mind because of this story from Washington D.C. I’m sure you’ll see the relevance. -- FWP]

---

     "States, like men, have their growth, their manhood, their decrepitude, and their decay." -- Walter S. Landor.

     Why do nations, which, being composed entirely of ideas, are potentially immortal, age, stumble, and collapse? There are many causal threads to follow. Today I will explore "them".

     Who's responsible for the poor condition of the roads, the axle-breaking potholes, the piles of detritus that offend the eye and nose? Not you nor I, but "them." But getting "them" to deal with any of it is like pulling teeth, whereas none of us have the time or wherewithal; we're all too busy earning enough to pay our taxes. That's just the way things are.

     Who's responsible for that elderly widow down the block, the one who can't really get around any more and should get a visit about three times a day to make sure she's all right? Not you nor I, but "them." And "they" haven't been doing such a good job of it, or she wouldn't have broken both hips in six months' time. But "they" took the job, and it's not ours to question their performance now that we've surrendered it to "them." That's just the way things are.

     Who's responsible for dealing with the gang that claims to "own" this block, that's committed one mugging after another for years but never seems to be taken in hand? Not you nor I, but "them." "They" claim to own all the police powers, though they exercise them quite selectively, and only when it suits their mood. "They" forbade us our own means of defense, too; for us to own and carry guns is far too dangerous to the public peace. What public peace, you say? Well, yes. But we can't seem to get our guns or our authority as citizens back, so we have to hide behind the double-locked doors of our homes and leave the streets to animals that walk upright. That's just the way things are.

     Why is it the way things are? Because at various times and on various grounds, "they" persuaded us to transfer our responsibilities to them. It's not clear why we did it. After all, "they" hadn't been doing that well with the jobs we'd previously assigned "them." But we did it, perhaps out of wishful thinking, perhaps out of laziness. And there seems to have been a ratchet involved, for, much as we'd like to, we can't seem to transfer the responsibilities back into our own hands.

     Can the ratchet be undone? I don't know. I think it would require far too many men willing to court danger and possible death to wrest back the police powers, however unwisely they were delegated. We'll get our guns back only by armed insurrection. As for the sweeping transfer of civil responsibility and public property back into the hands of common citizens, that's almost as unlikely. They require tax revolts and organized resistance to the seizure of property through condemnation, which, though guaranteed successful if enough people participate, are as rare as snowballs in July. The wrath of the State is terrible toward those who deny its power to tax and confiscate, and everyone fears to step forward in defiance only to find himself alone.

     We should have known better. We probably did.

An American woman speaks the truth.

We're jumping continents here but Tomi Lahren (Rapid City, San Diego, Texas) effortlessly puts her finger on the Muslim threat to America. God bless this astonishing young woman who exhibits what used to be bedrock American common sense.

Now Santa Angela has a good 40 years on this woman but can only suck her thumb and twist her hair when faced with the impending arrival of over a million Muslim invaders of Germany. "We can manage," declares Merkel but what she means is the she will do nothing about a mortal threat to Germany and Europe -- except, of course, try to increase the number of Muslims coming to Europe.

What is crystal clear in the thinking of Ms. Lahren is murky, recondite, evasive, and duplicitous in Merkel's. Merkel temporizes and obfuscates but Lahren lays it all out in two minutes and 37 seconds. A stellar example of the "Can we just cut the crap?" approach that Western people all over the world are just begging to see in their leaders.

The song that never grows old.

Downtown Toronto.

Liberal leader Justin Trudeau had a rallying call that struck a much more powerful chord, saying he would run a budget deficit to invest in the country’s creaking infrastructure.

What words are sweeter to any post-2008 politician than "budget deficit," "invest," and "creaking/decaying/crumbling infrastructure"?

Notes
^[1] "Canada Election: Five Things Stephen Harper Got Wrong." By Tom Geoghegan BBC News, Washington, 10/20/15.

Swedish model – epic fail.

It will not be long until the Swedes realize that the state will not look after them. The country that just 20 years ago was considered one of the safest and most affluent in the world, is now in danger of becoming a failed state.

"Sweden Close to Collapse." By Ingrid Carlqvist, Gatestone Institute, 10/17/15.