Good morning kids. Obviously the big news is the collapse of the Basher Assad regime in Syria. While it is certainly satisfying when a bloody tyrant and his thugs bite the dust. Lest we forget that the "rebels" who overthrew them are not Luke Skywalker and Company nor George Washington and the continentals. While Assad and before him his father and their Baath Party were Muslim, they raped, pillaged, plundered and waged war, primarily against the state of Israel mostly for their own personal and semi-secular political benefit. For sure they hated Jews as well as Chrstians and other non-Muslim minorities like the Kurds, as a means of ingratiating themselves with the rest of the Muslim world, especially post-Shah Iran. Syria had been and when the dust settles, may yet remain a forward base for the mullahs in their war to eradicate Israel. I assume that this rebel group, the heretofore little known Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) will no doubt seek arms and assistance from Iran to continue to wage Jihad primarily against Israel and with 1,500 years of Islam already in the books, written with the blood of thousands of its victims, the ultimate goal is world domination.
I am not optimistic. HTS is certainly not going to establish a "pluralistic democracy." They have no guiding democratic principles to steer the new regime toward tolerance and power-sharing.
The Syrian people may not realize it now, but they've just exchanged one brutal tyrant for a fanatical, brutal tyrant. I would suggest that Western governments think long and hard before sending the hundreds of billions of dollars needed to rebuild the country.
"Pluralistic democracy?!" Comedy Gold!! The Syrian people are mere spectators, and sadly many are victims of the Assads as well as their own Imams and Mullahs. For me, it's a big stretch to assume that there is some percentage let alone a majority that wants a just and peaceful society and who are willing to live in peace with Israel, let alone the Christians and Kurds and other ethnic/religious minorities within their own borders? Sorry but these innocent people, are going to have to sort out their own affairs for themselves. Put down the shisha pipe and stop getting high on the Koran and the other hatreds and prejudices passed down in their collective bloodstream since time immemorial.
This veteran of Afghanistan totally gets it:
When analyzing our Islamic extremist enemies, it is important for the American people to understand the tribal mindset that so many of our enemies come from. Islam developed from tribal cultures, and many tribal cultures over the past 1,400 years developed under Islam. The Islamic world itself is divided into what I would describe as tribes; you have the Sunni tribe, the Shia tribe, and within that are thousands of other tribes, one of the most recent being the “Palestinian” tribe which has become somewhat of a self-appointed identity by various lost members of other tribes. But in Afghanistan, tribalism is at a level that is virtually unparalleled in the world.
It is human nature to coalesce together into groups, but when you add Islam to the mix, it fuels different dynamics that are completely alien to Westerners. The tribal mindset is so vastly different than our own that it often makes it impossible to reason with them, and they will not respond logically or rationally as you might assume an American or other Westerner would. To Westerners, the tribal mindset may contain many elements that are quite shocking and deeply disturbing. . .
. . . Most people there got it. But back in Washington, and among so many in the higher ranks in the military trying to please those in Washington, there was a complete disconnect from the reality on the ground, and a complete misunderstanding of just who our enemy is, how they think, and how ferociously determined they are.
The title of his essay says it all "People Who Fought In Afghanistan Know Why Nation-Building Was Never Going To Work."
I hope and pray that President-elect Donald Trump and his advisers get this as well. As CBD and I discussed on the latest episode of the podcast, In many corners of the globe, our foes seem to be preemptively realizing that they are going to have to start behaving. Of course, Islam being Islam, nasty surprises are likely going to come our way regardless of who is in office.
By the way, lest we forget it was the covert gun-running scheme of Obama, Clinton, McCain and others to "rebels" in Syria from our embassy in Benghazi, that ultimately resulted in the brutal deaths of four of our embassy staffers, that the aforementioned let die so that their criminal enterprise would not be expsosed. G-d bless their memory and may justice be served to Obama, Clinton , McCain and everyone else involved.
Meanwhile, for something completely different, vis a vis the cold-blooded murder of the United Healthcare CEO last week and some of the reactions to it.
On Friday, I wrote: The sick irony here is that the insurance industry, like much of the healthcare industry was essentially completely devoured by the US government with the passage of Obamacare in 2010.
To which a commenter, who shall remain nameless, replied:
That almost sounds apologetic toward the insurance industry -- but who is it who wrote Obamacare? Oh, the Dems porked it up past the gills, but the fundamental legislation was the dream sheet of medical insurance, fully giving them a mandate, enforceable under the law, that everyone MUST use their product. The insurance industry was not devoured by Obamacare; they set the friggin' table for it.
While I cannot argue with this, it is in no way apologetic to the Insurance industry. But much like the pros in the propaganda press, the commenter cherry picked one line, and ignored the entire paragraph:
>blockquote>The sick irony here is that the insurance industry, like much of the healthcare industry was essentially completely devoured by the US government with the passage of Obamacare in 2010. So that only compounded their inherent, and primarily government-caused flaws prior to that date, via the vast bureaucratic garbage that lines the pockets of politicians, bureaucrats and go-along-to-get-along C-suite denizens in the aforementioned industries along with of course Big Pharma. Here's your fascism, Leftists, right here! Get it while it's hot. Pro-tip, it's not Trump. It's Democrats and RINOs pointing the gun of big government power at the head of business and forcing them in bed with them. Sadly, some don't need the threat and are eager to play the part of [the Krupps, et al] to the real literal Hitlers in this re-enactment of pre-1933 election Germany.
To reiterate, Here's your fascism, Leftists. Since they are baying for the blood of Insurance company executives, funny how they don't see that it's the Dept. of HHS that regulates them like every other industry out the Wah-zoo. That makes HHS the real CEO. Is it cruel and amoral to shakedown the critically ill or deny claims, even if it means cutting into the bottom line just because HHS won't back you or will push you if you defy them? of course. Is it justifiable or moral to gun down someone in cold blood? NO!
Yes, the insurance companies created the mess, with the eager assistance of venal pols looking to wet their beaks ages ago, then jumped into bed with Obama and his minions willingly or otherwise when they should've defied him, regardless of the consequences. It's an example of moral and cultural rot which is not as in your face yet just as corrosive as what comes out of the lecture halls, faculty lounges, Hollywood sound stages and TV newsrooms. Indeed, the past 60 or more years of the latter is what led to the former in the C-Suites.
Regardless of whatever dire medical circumstances the shooter found himself or his loved one in and denied coverage, there can be zero tolerance nor justification for cold-blooded murder.
Okay, basta cosi on that. I'm very happy to say that someone else has publicly picked up on another brainwave I had in the past week or so:
Despite there being a hung jury on the manslaughter charge against subway “vigilante” Daniel Penny, the charge of criminally negligent homicide still remains on the ledger for the jury to decide.
In light of all that, Rep. Eli Crane (R-Ariz.) has taken it upon himself to introduce a House Resolution to award Penny with a Congressional Gold Medal for “his heroism.”
“A BILL To award a Congressional Gold Medal to Daniel Penny, who protected women and children of the city of New York, New York, from violence on May 1, 2023,” the introduction to the HR reads.
Daniel Penny’s actions exemplify what it means to stand against the grain to do right in a world that rewards moral cowardice. I’m immensely proud to introduce this resolution to award him with the Congressional Gold Medal to recognize his heroism.
Give one to Kyle Rittenhouse too.
That thug with a badge Michael Byrd who committed actual murder – at the behest of Nancy Pelosi and whoever else with malice aforethought opened the Capitol doors, in shooting an unarmed and passive Ashli Babbit to death and the unidentified goons of the Capitol PD and/or DoJ who stomped and choked Roseanne Boyland to death go free and are feted as heroes is abhorrent in the extreme.
let justice roll on like a river, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.
Have a great day.
NOTE: The opinions expressed in the links may or may not reflect my own. I include them because of their relevance to the discussion of a particular issue.
ALSO: The Morning Report is cross-posted at CutJibNewsletter.com if you want to continue the conversation all day.
Follow us on Twitter: @CutJibNews
Follow us on Instagram: @Cutjibnewsletter
TIP JAR : Your support helps keep the lights on and is truly appreciated. Note: We are on Stripe, not PayPal.