Don't get mad, Get Even.

Obama has spent his last 6 years trashing every one in Europe.  It started when he returned a bust of Winston Churchill, continued with tapping Angela Merkel's phone,  dropped plans for an American anti-missile system in Poland, sucked up to Vladimir Putin, and wimped out in Syria.  Nobody on europe owes him anything, and a lot of people in Europe would like to get even.
   So, when the Europeans set up a big solidarity parade in Paris, I'm thinking that nobody bothered to tell the Americans about it.  We have demos and parades all over the world, every day.  Somehow the news that the Paris one was bigger and more important than average, and that lack American representation would be noticed bigtime, never reached the White House, at least not in time.  That's what White House underlings are leaking to TV newsies today.
    Sounds plausible to me.  I didn't know the Paris demo was gonna be all that big until it was underway.  Unless someone told them, the White House wouldn't know much more than I did.  

Troops in the streets

Won't keep us safe against Islamic terrorists.  You need informants who will finger the terrorists before they open fire.  Terrorists have to live somewhere, they have to eat somewhere, they have to travel, they have to communicate.  Someone sees this.  The landlady at the apartment, the counter person at the greasy spoon, the car rental clerk, the cell phone salesman.  If you could talk to that someone, you could arrest the terrorist before he strikes.  We need undercover cops to develop contacts inside the terrorist neighbor hoods, inside the mosques, anywhere we think terrorists might be. 
   We also need laws that allow us to imprison terrorists BEFORE they have done anything bad.  Right now the criminal justice troops only work on crimes that have been committed.  No commission, no action.  Innocent until proven guilty. 

Saga of SS Contessa, from Rick Atkinson's "Army at Dawn"

Operation Torch in WWII was somewhat incredible.  An invasion army boarded ship in Norfolk Virginia, steamed across the submarine invested Atlantic, and landed in North Africa.  To provide air support after landing, an airfield was located, near the sea and on a river bank.  Shallow river.  The call went out for a freighter of less than 17 foot draft to get up the river.  The only ship meeting this requirement was a aging banana boat, SS Contessa.  She was duly ordered to Norfolk.  When the crew discovered that their new cargo was to be avgas and 1000 pound bombs, they all promptly jumped ship.  The skipper took some Navy guards with riot guns and paid a visit to the Norfolk city jail.  After some explanations to the warden, including the fact that anyone volunteering would not be back in Norfolk anytime soon, the skipper recruited 37 experienced seamen who decided that risking torpedoes was a better deal than an extended stay in the Norfolk jail. 
   Meanwhile the Navy drydocked Contessa, repaired the worst of her leaks, and slapped a fresh coat of paint on her bottom.  Then they started loading bombs and avgas.  This took longer than it should have, and Contessa sailed two days after the main Torch fleet sailed.  She managed to cross the Atlantic by her self, all in one piece,  without encountering an enemy sub.  She turned up in North Africa on time, and with a local pilot, made it up the river and was unloading at the airfield before any aircraft arrived. 
  Just one of the cool stories Rick Atkinson tells. 

Take 'em alive, don't waste 'em with missiles

Obama's plan for dealing with ISIS and company is drone strikes.  Send a Predator and pop the target with a Hellfire anti tank missile.
   If we have the intel to launch a drone strike, we have the intel to take 'em alive and grill 'em.  Load a company of infantry into choppers and fly out and grab 'em.  With a little interrogation we will know every thing that they know.  Things like where is their base, who are their members, where do they plan to strike next, where does their money come from, who is tipping them off.
   Obama doesn't do this, 'cause he wants to empty out Guantanamo so he can close it.  Newly captured prisoners would fill the place up, making it harder to close it.  Congress has forbidden transferring Guantanamo  prisoners to US soil, largely out of fear that bat brained US judges would turn them loose. 

Two below zero

That's what I had this morning.  Coldest it's been this winter.  But it's been a lot colder in past winters.

Keep a piece in your desk drawer

Yesterday's horrible attack on Charles Hobdo in Paris is scary.   They could do that anywhere.  Just two guys at the front door and 12 people die.  They could deliver two guys any where they like. 
    I'm thinking a large caliber handgun, close at hand, gives the best chance of surviving the event. 

Chuckie trashs Keystone XL

Senator from New York, Charles Schumer was on TV the other  day badmouthing the Keystone XL project.  He called the jobs the project would furnish "temporary" implying jobs on the McDonalds level.  Chuckie, you got it wrong.  Those will be construction jobs.  Good jobs, good pay, lotta overtime, outdoor work where you get to see the sun and breathe the fresh air.  Lotta guys like working construction.  And, everyone knows a construction project hires on and the beginning, and when the job is finished, the workers move on to something else. 
   Then Chuckie claimed after the pipeline was finished only 34 jobs would be left.  That's pure BS.  You need a helova lot more than 34 guys to keep a 2000 mile pipeline running.  More like 3000 guys I'd guess.  And all the workers at the Gulf refineries that Keystone will feed, would be out of work without the oil to feed the refineries.  Plus all the workers in other industries that will be powered by Keystone oil or use it as feedstock. 
   And Chuckie wants to require that all the pipe be American made.  A real free market man is our Chuckie.  I suppose we can accept that if it brings in some Democratic votes.  It would be fairer to say Canadian or American made.  But fairness isn't high on Chuckie's priority list. 
   And finally Chuckie wants to prohibit sale of Keystone oil overseas.  Another grand free market idea.  The reason the US dollar has always been strong, is the fact that the Americans will sell you anything you want.  The reason the Russian ruble is fairly worthless, is the fact that the Russians don't have anything to sell. If we start saying "Yes, your dollars are good for everything except oil, and a few other things." customers will go elsewhere, and dump the dollars they were going to spend.  Fortunately oil is just  liquid, no serial numbers, and pretty much untraceable, so I expect they oil companies will merely say that oil they sell abroad doesn't come from Keystone, and get away with it.