Doing Something

Doing Something

  A sad thing happened the other day: a sad thing, in a sad place, in our sad world. Another sad thing, in a long, neverending list of sad things. This sad thing, in a sad place, far, far away is "The Saddest of All Things" and demands are being put on us to stop all the sadness. We must Do Something.





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Marco Rubio gives impassioned plea to remove Assad during Syria presser:"This goes to the core of who we are."

 NBC News

Marco Rubio speaks at press conference on Syrian War Crimes

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  It's always, WE MUST DO SOMETHING!. Doing Something! is Who We Are. Not Doing Something! is not Who We Are. Look at this Sad Picture!, Do Something!. If you don't Do Something!, there will be more Sad Pictures!, and it will be your fault. 

And, absolutely, the pictures are sad. They are meant to be.This is how propaganda works.

Sad picture, sad parent. We simply have to do something. No, indeed,WE don't. 

  There are many reasons why Doing Something! is worse than doing nothing. Our country, for nearly a century, has been "doing something". The people, now calling for us to "do something", are the very people who hate our country for its years of "doing something".  When we, as a nation, "do something", we are blamed for everything. 

 These people, these countries, do have agency. It is simply not our place to take over for them. Their struggle, while ugly, is not ours to fight for them. We are neither a Superman - a hero to save them from themselves, nor are we Jesus - a wise all-knowing provider of Salvation from on high. Indeed, regarding ourselves as either of those is the height of hubris: we would do well to consider the craftsmanship of our pedestal.

  Finally, and probably, mostly, "Whatever it Takes" is probably, a very, very ugly thing. What is the solution to this problem? Our sons and daughters dying, for a confusing cause that no one understands? Dropping bombs, from on high, like gods again? Isn't that why ISIS is angry at us in the first place? Calling action there a national security necessity, flies in the face of the evidence that our bombs are why they are bombing us.

 Truman, did something: Oh yes, indeed-rightly so- but the people saying WE MUST DO SOMETHING, hate Truman for doing The Something that he did.

 We are being expected to play a parental role ( again hubris) and there is no one side with discernible clean hands. Our choices are ugly; we let them do ugly things to each other or we do ugly things to them, in order to stop them from doing ugly things to each other. Either way, everyone gets mad and decides to do ugly things to us. 

  If sad pictures are not motivation enough, the powers that be-while very disappointed with us-will then remind us, we must fight this battle over there to Keep Us Safe At Home. We will spend billions in a war over there-under the guise of National Security-while being afraid to do the bare minimum to stop terrorism here, for fear of offending terrorists. Stopping innocent people from flying here is abusive; bombing them all to hell is just hunky dory.  

  But if  "motive unknown" is the cause of terrorism, how is going to Syria gonna fix it? We can't even say the name of the cause, for fear of offending, but we can bomb the crap out of it?

 We don't know what the hell is going on with our government, but we are sure what is going on in Syria...please... (this our source for what is happening in Syria) .

 So you want a smaller government, conservatives? Quit nation building and sending our military everywhere. Liberals, you want a smaller military? I will tell you the same. That, right there, is something you all can reach across the aisle and agree on-if you really wanted to. Of course we know there is more to it: the beast is hungry and it needs to be fed. Our countrymen should be more than it's fodder; blood to grease the machinery.  American citizens are not Marco Rubio's troops for his personal moral crusade.

Of Genie's, bottles, and Pandora's Box

Unless you've been living under a rock, or just don't care about tech news. There is a big dustup between Apple and the FBI over a federal court order intended to force apple to create a "special iOS version" of the software that runs on the iPhone for the express purpose of allowing the FBI to "brute force" the iPhone of San Bernardino terrorist so that they can extract any possible information from that phone that may lead the investigators to other terrorists before they can harm more Americans.

"SO WHAT!!" You exclaim. Who cares? Screw Apple, they should do the patriotic thing and help the Government catch those terrorist dogs before more Americans are hurt or killed!

Whoa there skippy! Calm down. Put down that pitchfork and put out that torch before you hurt yourself. Let me explain why I and a lot of others who understand this situation are behind Apple defying this court order...100%.

1.) The federal government is asking for something that does not exist. While they are saying that it is only this one time, if Apple were to comply and spend the millions of dollars developing this backdoor, the precedent would be set and more and more cases would be based on this. There are already discussions about how strong of encryption/security civilians should be allowed to have. That should scare any sane person out of their minds. Additionally, there are reports of as many as 13 other iPhones that the FBI want included on this court order. So much for just this one time, just this one phone. As I said above...the Genie will be out of the bottle and won't go back

2.) Apple has built a reputation of having extremely secure products, building this custom version of iOS would destroy that reputation while putting the security of every single iPhone owner at risk of having their information stolen because the details of this iOS version will be leaked, people can be bought. Having this tool available is dangerous, plain and simple. When its details were to get out, regardless of how, someone will find a way to reverse engineer it so that it can be remotely installed on the iPhone of unsuspecting people. Information will be stolen. Hackers are crafty suckers. If something exists, they will find a way to get it, or break into it.
3.) This brings up my 3rd point, the reason the government cannot break this phone is because of the hackers they employ. They don't employ people who have the creative genius necessary to do this sort of work. The Mozarts, and Bachs of our day. The people who can see systems in ways that you can I could never learn. The government won't hire these people. Why? Because they won't hire people with 2' tall mohawks, tattoos, heavy gauge piercings, who demand a salary of over $500,000/yr. There are people who do hire them. One of them is named Tim McAfee. He has said that he his team can break that phone within 3 weeks time and they will do it for free. Tim hires the right people to do that because he has built an international company around security. A company that is trusted, and has earned that trust through years of keeping peoples data safe. Its what they do.

4.) Despite what is being reported, Apple has been cooperating with the FBI. They have spent a large amount of money advising the FBI and offering specifications and other details in their attempt to help the FBI to break this phone. They said that if there was a way to get the phone to back itself up to the iCloud that they would decrypt and turn the data over to the FBI from that backup. The problem with that idea comes from a low level county employee who changed the iTunes password that was associated with that phone. That single act prevents that phone from performing a backup  to the iCloud. Where Apple is having an issue is the order to create that which doesn't exist. A specialized, and compromised, version of iOS.

Yes, Apple has broken into iPhones in the past. Those iPhones were running older, not nearly as secure versions of iOS. Those phones lack the hardware, and software protective measures that the newer iPhones, such as my iPhone 6s has. These are complex systems that where software and hardware work together to protect the data that is stored on the data.

Look at it this way. Would you want the manufacturers of the government computer systems to leave back doors that they could use to get into the systems, you know just in case.

The long and the short of it is, Apple did a damn fine job making sure that phone is not able to be broken. They did a damn fine job making a product that is secure, and now they are being told that they have to compromise that security by creating a compromised version of iOS. That compromised version will find its way into the wild into the hands of nefarious people. That compromised version will be abused by our government.

Yes I am all for catching terrorists. But I will not sacrifice liberty (mine or another's) in order to do it. Those that would sacrifice liberty for security deserve neither.

De Facto Sharia

As I mentioned in a previous post, Germany is having a bit of a rape culture problem ( though to be honest, it's a cultural rape problem, but whatevs). The revised number is now up to 150 reported complaints during a 1000 man violent sexual assault rampage. The descriptions of the men were specific and quite problematic for authorities. Seems all of the perpetrators had a belief system in common. Most of them were of Arab or African origin ( as per witness description), some specifically, Syrian refugees, by their own admission. They literally told police that “I am Syrian. You have to treat me kindly. Mrs Merkel invited me"

Merkel, Time's Person Of the Year, herself, has come out with strong condemnation, of the victims of course, for not taking the proper precautions. While not specifying head to toe coverings and related male escorts when going in public, one can only assume.

Thus, de facto sharia, without even a fight. The strong man is tied, he shaved his own head, and can only watch as his women are raped and sold as chattel.

  Here in the Evil Patriarchal bastion USA,  feminists have been decrying words, glances and thoughts as rape. A man talks to you on campus, rape. If he looks at you, rape. If he thinks you are unattractive and refuses to have sex with you, rapity rape. One can only hope that Merkel can take time from governing/ruining Germany long enough to do a speaking tour of American universities.

Samson, Shaving His Own Head, For the Sake of the Children

"....How can anyone enter a strong man's house and steal his possessions, unless he first ties up the strong man?"

- Matthew 12:29


That verse was tweeted into my timeline yesterday. Now, I didn't check the context in which the tweeter tweeted the tweet, but I was immediately struck by its message. Perhaps the timing had something to do with it, being as it was after the President's weepy announcement of extra constitutional gun executive orders.

One has to be blind to not see that our President is actively arming the rest of the world while at home he is demanding citizens be disarmed for the sake of the children. Painting anyone who disagrees with restricting gun rights without due process as cold hearted child killers ( not Planned Parenthood).

"Why do you hate children Mr.Shooty Mc Bangbang?"  "Children have a right to be safe from any and all harm, and your simple ownership of a firearm potentially violates that."  Potentially. Mark that. Potential harm is now actual harm, as are words and thoughts. Arbitrary ideas kill and you will be punished. An inanimate object sitting locked in your gun safe could potentially be used for a bad thing. Why do you want children to suffer, potentially?

Are your hands tied yet?


Lack of gun control equals abundance of freedom, and therein lies the problem. Lack of control is the issue. Nothing must be left to chance. Time and chance happens to us all,except, of course, in the new Utopia. Can I get an Amen? Nothing left to chance violates free will, and the left are eager to sign it all away.


"Good intentions will always be pleaded for every assumption of authority. It is hardly too strong to say that the Constitution was made to guard the people against the dangers of good intentions. There are men in all ages who mean to govern well, but they mean to govern. They promise to be good masters, but they mean to be masters."  Daniel Webster

They mean to be benevolent shepherds to a herd of passive, grateful domesticated sheep. If that wasn't bad enough, our shepherds want to invite wolves into the fold.

Europe, the glorious example of domesticated citizenry disarmed for their own good, fully is a strong man tied up with the thief as his honored invited guest. American progressives want nothing more than the United States to emulate the European model of gun prohibition and immigration permissiveness. Look to Germany to see how that is working out for them. Progressives love to call even unwanted eye contact from a male, rape, yet are strangely absent from the discussion of how to handle the rape of 60 women in a public setting by over 1000 immigrant men ( referred to as Arab and African by witnesses/victims).

 At the moment, a violation on that grand of scale could not happen here. Most, American men would not stand idly by and allow it (yes I have seen men say they would not use violence to stop violence, even rape. They have shaved their own heads bald.) But in Germany, the strong men are tied up. Rotherham, England occurred unimpeded due to the desire of Europeans to not give offense to their guests, and the children suffered, ( Oh,won't someone think of the children!). Rape is preferable to giving offence in progressive society.

Delilah worked hard for her Philistines, to disarm Samson. Her nagging and pestering failed, only after tiring of her tears, he willingly gave away his secret, and was betrayed for that trust. America's strength is her freedom. It is her individual citizens willing and able to stand and defend themselves against threat. Crocodile tears should never be enough to persuade us to give up that freedom.

What They Really Really Want…

Palmer Pops Off

 “If you don’t do this thing, you are doing what ISIS wants you to do.”

 What kind of twisted mind uses that line as a political goad? The desperate fevered minds of the left, who see the ground they gained over the last part of last century crumble away to dust. People are taking a look behind the curtain and they do not like what they are seeing.

 What ISIS wants is for us to base all our actions or non actions based on what they want. If we walk about making life choices on what reaction a terrorist organisation wants, the terrorist in fact have won.

 "I cannot think of a more potent recruitment tool for ISIL than some of the rhetoric coming out of here in the course of this debate," is Obama signaling to the left to continue with the nonsensical talking point they were running with for the past few days. Anything that anyone says or does that they ( the left) do not agree with causes ISIS to gain converts. If you think refugees should be properly vetted, the terrorist win, if you vote Republican, the terrorists win, and so on.

In reality, if you are altering your thinking process based on the opinion of terrorists, the terrorist indeed have won. If your every thought and deed is preceded by What would ISIS want you to do in this situation, ( whether or not you actually do the opposite) they still have controlled you.

 Not only will they have won, they will have won a bloodless coup, solely based on potential casualties.

 This is of course, not to say ISIS does not harm the people that disobey them. They do. We all know they do. But who are they, that they should be obeyed?  

 What does ISIS want? They want us to submit. Approving or disapproving actions according to the wishes of ISIS is submission. Any time you ask yourself “What would ISIS do?” or point to person you do not agree with and accuse them of doing what ISIS wants them to do, you have submitted your thoughts and minds to ISIS.

 Is ISIS going to be the new liberal bogeyman to be used scare unprogressive children into better, more progressive thoughts? It certainly appears that way. ISIL Claus is watching you, sleeping or awake. A new Krampus that, instead of sticks and coal, leaves bombs and bodies. If only you had behaved the way ISIS wanted, ISIS wouldn't had to have punish you.

 The left is losing its tenuous hold on society. The dog whistles are working no longer. The bonds of political correctness are stretching to the point of bursting. Now fear is the weapon of choice to keep the unruly in line.

I will live my life, as should you. Our government should govern, as it should, in our best interests. If our country is threatened, our country should respond to that threat accordingly, without regard to whether or not someone would or would not want us to do that

Obama is Ashamed of You

Palmer Pops Off

Yesterday, at a press conference, our President said some stuff. The kind of stuff no American President should ever be saying about his constituents in a speech in another country. The kind of stuff a person only says about a people he despises, our President said; about you, me and every other American citizen.

“We are not well served when in response to a terrorist attack we descend into fear and panic,”

“We don’t make good decisions if it’s based on hysteria or an exaggeration of risks."

(http://time.com/4117688/barack-obama-paris-attacks-republican/)

Our President is not implying that we are a bunch of cowardly ninnies.  He is declaring it boldly on the world stage, in full view of a known enemy. Our President is using SHAME to get us in line with his goals. "Look at these little babies, look at them; scared of a three year old girl. I am not afraid of a three year old girl. I am brave, compassionate, and wise. Join with me, World, to laugh at these frightened backward rubes." You can practically hear his eyes rolling.

Historically, past presidents have used exhortation, calling upon the fine qualities they have known America to possess, to meet challenges facing our nation. Not Obama. No, Obama does not have a basis to justify encouraging us, so he can only talk down. Obama thinks he represents a unenlightened backwards country that, frankly, he is embarrassed of. He is ashamed of Americans, and he wants the world to join him in shaming us into more progressive behavior.

That alone would be bad enough.  But as I said, he declared this on the world stage. He signaled to our enemy (an enemy looking for weakness) how weak and lily-livered we are. Terrorist do not go looking for hard targets to bring down; they seek weak ones. Obama,in his infinite wisdom, declared us one. Terrorists seek to create and exploit an atmosphere of fear (hence TERRORism). Obama, by his words, declared their actions effective - and by extension invited them to continue in the same vein. "It's working guys!"

As if that was not enough, our President went on to say this:

" When individuals say we should have religious tests, and only Christians, proven Christians, should be allowed, that’s offensive and contrary to American values."

(https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2015/11/17/obama-calls-gop-rhetoric-on-syrian-refugees-a-potent-recruiting-tool-for-isil/)

 Obama deliberately misses the point. He knows, as well as you and I, that ISIS has been targeting Christians in the region as a matter of course. The first refugees from that area were indeed Christians. Christians are being slaughtered for being Christians, and Christian refugees are in the most danger.  Putting them at the front of the list is not a religious test, but a test of who is in the most need of refuge. Triage, as it were.

Then, to make sure we, and the world, fully understood just how disappointed Obama was in us, he continued with this,"I cannot think of a more potent recruitment tool for ISIL than some of the rhetoric coming out of here in the course of this debate,"

Our country was founded upon many wonderful principles, one of the foremost being freedom of speech. Free speech includes rhetoric. If, as the president is implying, all it takes are people exercising their 1st Amendment rights, for Muslims to take that determining step to join ISIS, perhaps subjecting them to copious amounts of free speech would cause a mass conversion like no one has seen before. And his reasoning is that maybe we should avoid that.

Never before in our history as a nation has the one man tasked with the job of leading her said so much to disparage her in the eyes of the world.

The President, with his own rhetoric, is echoing the anti-West sentiment that pervades ISIS. He was elected to represent us, yet sets himself separate and above us when speaking for us. Like the parent of an unruly child at a fancy dinner, he makes his apologies for us, while agreeing with the hosts that our behavior is atrocious and will be dealt with at a later time. Or worse, the teenager paid to babysit us. His reputation is harmed just by our proximity to him, so he must distance himself from us as much as possible so he can still sit at the table with all the other cool kids, tomorrow at school.