Saturday, November 14, 2015

Paris Terror

Like many of you I am sure, I spent much of last evening glued to the telly (and Twitter) watching coverage of the terror attacks in Paris, perpetrated almost certainly by one or another subsidiary of radical Islam. I grow weary of apologists who lecture me on the vast number of Mohammedans who are not actively involved in terror. Yes. I am bright enough to make a distinction. But I am also bright enough to realize that there is a vast heat sink of support that exists for radical Islam nestled snugly in the heart of "moderate" Islam. One simply does not exist without the oxygen supplied by the other. Not to mention the double standard applied to "moderate" Islam, one that rises when one considers the lunacy of a hypothetical. worldwide Catholic terror organization dedicated to the restoration of the Holy Roman Empire actively killing people in modern national capitals, who behead apostates for the sport of YouTube videos. "Moderate" Catholics would be pilloried daily and the entire religion would be smeared and rooted out by secular governments appalled by the anti-modernity and the violence.  Such a hypothetical (as you already know) is playing out before our eyes, while our leaders speak of  "the struggle against violent extremism" (Clinton, Hillary Rodham) without the courage to name its source.

We--the font of freedom and liberty in the modern world--have become content to diminish ourselves as agents of goodness and right, preferring instead to ponder what additional benefits we might receive from the sweat of the brows of others, while our ability to contend with horrors such as last night's continues to decline. The vermin who carried this out are hatched and succored from a known location, their supply lines and their means of funding are known, and their general movements are well-understood. We (the West) knew and know with certainty that evil-doers were sprinkled among the refugees, but our empathy prevented acting to stem the tide.  What is required is the will to challenge them, but we appear to be lacking it.  Were the will present, the ways are increasingly absent.  We look at our defense budget as that which is to be resourced after all else is well-stocked, rather than that which is first to be funded. We "lead from behind" while doing the absolute minimum to retain some semblance of world leadership, creating for ourselves seemingly insoluble situations through our weakness and then shrugging our shoulders at the lack of good options available.

Some see last night's violence as the path to the Presidency of a candidate without restraint, who makes them believe that he is all powerful, all knowing, and all capable. He provides us with this persona through his carefully managed irresponsibility aimed at whipping up the masses without so much as a plan for a plan nor a hint as to who would help him implement it, had he stumbled upon one. Perhaps, but I will prefer to continue to believe the American public will select a man or woman of balance, strength, resolve, and character as the reality of what we face further wakes us from our increasingly isolationist slumber.

It is high time that serious people began to run the show once again.  Let us hope that we are not too much damaged before they can grab an oar.


9 comments:

  1. I heard a REPUBLICAN on Sat radio this morning describe the Republican Party base as foolish hotheads who didn't understand the complexities of leadership. His only point was we are too stupid to govern ourselves, we need PROFESSIONALS and he sure wished we would come to out senses. Ok, fair enough. There is a need for professionals in government. Professional diplomats, professional attorneys, law enforcement etc. I recognize that. But the leadership, the man or woman at the top should NOT be restricted to a professional political class. Ambition and talent and ideology aren't enough.
    I told CW last evening that Trump had just won the American election. He berated me for being so callus during a time of great suffering (he thinks I'm a die-hard Trump supporter, my denials not withstanding). I was simply making an observation. What happened yesterday in Paris is a failure of leadership. A refusal to recognize a threat which over decades has shown no hint of moderation...NONE! The situation will only get worse until we isolate the threat and destroy the threat, at its root.
    Open borders or mass immigration brings the threat to our doorstep. It's a recipe for national destruction and a reality our elites just won't, or can't accept. The professionals failed France last evening. The professionals are failing us everyday on every front be it national security, the economy or our protected freedoms. Sooner or later the professionals will get us murdered in our own beds. It's time for the professionals to take a break, we got this one, this election is ours.

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  2. "The professionals failed us..." Perfectly stated, as usual, Hammer. The average American sees the threat. The average American knows the threat. It is the rare,nearly extinct "professional" who acknowledges the threat. The American people are sick of this weakness in leadership and, make no mistake, the threats love it.

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  3. CW said, "the American public will select a man or woman of balance, strength, resolve, and character...". Trump is none of those. Rubio is.

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  4. Yes but Trump's an Alpha Male and Americans are tired of sending in lawyers to deal with thugs. Rubio is a Gang of Eight guy. This election that's the kiss of death..
    I guess you're hoping we all come to our senses as well?

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  5. I said this after 9/11 and I will repeat myself for possible correction. The United States has become MUCH too risk averse regarding the killing of noncombatants in the modern era. Tokyo. Dresden. Coventry if that is your bend. In years past, when you went to war with America, Jack, you took on the whole country. And you could expect that we would fire bomb your cities, to include apartment buildings, kindergartens, hospitals, and residential city blocks. What happened when Quadaffi blew up a disco? Attacked his family home and killed one of his kids. Because we could. With a laser guided bomb. We obey the laws of war and proportional force/response while the other side burns shot down pilots in cages and enslaves/rapes infidels. Let loose the dogs of war. Turn the boys loose. You want to take the Pepsi challenge against Western Culture? Let me shine the 25 Megaton Bright White Light of Freedom over your squalid city block.

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  6. Well said Fred. If I were France I'd take out a Sunni city in Syria or Iraq. Kill every swinging dick. As CW said, terrorism depends on support from home. Sherman knew it, Arthur Harris knew it and McArthur knew it. And they won.

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  7. Gang of eight? You think the electorate is going to pay attention to that? They can't remember day before yesterday as the media focuses on the next sensational thing...like which rich kid at which university is whining about what nonsense. Trump speaks in generalities and calls names like a little girl. In the aftermath of Paris Trump talked about gun control in France, as if that is even relevant. Rubio calmly and cogently defined the clash of civilizations. "Either we win or they win".

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  8. Tom de PlumeNovember 15, 2015

    I just wonder if the French will elect a Muslim as their president 7 years from now (I know, I know, he's an atheist son of a Muslim who attended a radical black church for political reasons, but allow me some poetic license), or will support a Muslim plan to build a mosque on the site of the theatre.

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  9. You may be right 99, but I ask you, if a bunch of Ragheads had walked into a bar in Wilmington, NC and started spraying the place with Kalashnikovs how many Rednecks would have produced a pocket 9mm and sent a few to hell? As Yamamoto said (maybe), in an armed country like the US there's a gun "behind every blade of grass". So in my view Trump's comment doesn't sound so far fetched.
    Buy hey, I can live with Rubio and if he's the nominee I might even give him a few bucks.

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