Interesting Proposition

A self described "traditional right" critic of Gen. Dunford's says that non-state actors are the real threat, and that we should seek alliance with any tyranny who will help us control them.

Russia has no troops in Mexico or Canada, nor is she considering sending arms to the Taliban, ISIS, Mexican drug cartels, or anyone else we are fighting. Just who is the threat to whom here? Most fundamentally–and I am going to write this in big letters–THE WORLD HAS CHANGED!

The main threat to the United States is not any other state. The main threat is spreading statelessness and the Fourth Generation elements that fill the resulting space. What the U.S. and the international sate system need is an alliance of all states against non-state forces. The two allies we need most, the only two strong enough to do us some good, are China and Russia. The only way Russia would be likely to become a threat to us is if the Russian state were to disintegrate. That was a real possibility under President Yeltsin. President Putin’s great achievement has been strengthening the Russian state. For that, we should thank him.

What about Iran, which has been assisting non-state actors to fight us in Afghanistan and, especially, in Iraq? Maybe our new Russian and Chinese friends can help pressure them to play nice? Not apparently:

We may be able to destroy most Iranian nuclear facilities. But we cannot destroy the knowledge Iran has, knowledge which would enable them to rebuild quickly. After such an attack, Iran would unquestionalbly move to build a bomb, something it is not doing now. And Iran would respond on the ground using allied Shiite militias to round up all the American troops in Iraq and probably attacking those in Afghanistan as well, with plenty of help from Afghans.

I suppose this leaves us with isolationism, and yet he seems very concerned about preparing for threats from non-state actors. If non-state actors like Mexican cartels are the real danger, shouldn't we deal harshly with states like Iran that empower those actors and use them as proxies?

I Really Like This Concept

The Buzzfeed videos where people eat foods from the other side of the world are funny. Even funnier are the videos where people eat commercial versions of the food they have made their whole lives. Here are some soft-spoken women who do their best to hide their disappointment with the food.

IAEA to Trust Iran. Really, Really Trust Iran.

In other words, if nuclear inspectors get a hot tip that Iran is conducting (or conducted in the past) atomic-bomb work at a secret site, they don’t get to go to the site themselves and take samples from the soil, the walls, etc, to see if there’s uranium present. They get their samples … from Iran. That’s like drug-testing a junkie by asking him to bring a sample from home.

Is that what this deal commits us to?

Kerry's answer: It's classified.

Fraud Investigations are the Enemy of All That's Good & Right

So I intuit.

The Obama administration formally announced inspectors general will have to be granted permission by their agency heads to gain access to grand jury, wiretap and fair credit information – an action that severely limits the watchdogs oversight capabilities, independence, and power to uncover fraud.

Well, it's not as if fraud or corruption of Federal government agencies is a problem.

What is a Citizen?

The Obama administration has decided to alter the oath of citizenship.

Effective July 21, 2015, new guidance (PA-2015-001) in the USCIS Policy Manual clarifies the eligibility requirements for modifications to the Oath of Allegiance. Reciting the Oath is part of the naturalization process. Candidates for citizenship normally declare that they will “bear arms on behalf of the United States” and “perform noncombatant service in the Armed Forces of the United States” when required by the law. A candidate may be eligible to exclude these two clauses based on religious training and belief or a conscientious objection.

Conscientious objectors are still required to perform noncombatant service, and they are still subject to the duty to bear arms when required by law -- it's just that the law doesn't require them to bear arms so long as they serve in other capacities. Presumably that is going to be true for newly arrived immigrants as well.

But this is to ask, again, what is going on with citizenship? Citizenship is ultimately a mutual defense pact. We maintain our liberty by defending the liberty of our fellows, who defend ours in return. That's how we hold a space in the world in which to make real our vision of a just society.

Someone who won't participate in that is not properly a citizen. Under the 14th Amendment, if they were born here they have a legal right to be considered a citizen and treated as one. Yet they are violating the more basic nature of the bargain. Before there was a 14th Amendment, before there was a Constitution, before there could be a country needing a Constitution, people had to come together and pledge their lives, fortunes, and sacred honor to the mutual defense of each other and their liberties.

That's what it is really all about. If you have an objection to defending America's vision of liberty, don't apply for citizenship.

How to Make a Medieval Crossbow

You'll watch the first part, and think, "Oh, sure, chisel, chisel, stock removal from a piece of wood." But hang with it, and enjoy the metal forging and assembly.



The thing is a monster. A hundred seventy-five pound draw. With the right bolt and angle of impact, that thing will punch through modern steel.

Husky

In keeping with the blues theme from last night, a contemporary band called Husky Burnette rockin' out hard enough to make the PBR signs tremble.



That pump reminds me of one of my favorite bands ever, the Humpabillies, here doing a blend of Johnny Cash and Motörhead. It's far from their best -- they did a slamming version of Waylon Jennings' "Mental Revenge" -- but it's what I can find online.

Totally Bi-Partisan

Huge rally in NYC against the Iran deal. Jimbo is there.

The Stop Iran Rally Coalition — which claims to be a bi-partisan group — is also calling out Sen. Charles Schumer, saying he “has the votes as presumptive leader to override this deal….If this deal is not stopped, New York voters will know whom to blame.”

Sen. Schumer said in a statement Wednesday that he wasn’t ready to make a decision on the deal yet.

“I’ve read the agreement and I’m seeking answers to the many questions I have. Before I make a decision, I’m going to speak at length with experts on both sides,” the lawmaker said.

I can personally vouch for the bipartisan nature of the Stop Iran Rally Coalition. Jimbo is a Republican, and I'm a Southern Democrat. There's your bipartisan right there. This is an insanely bad deal, and we need to stop it dead.

I'm with the furry guy

Via Ace via Maggie's Farm:

Uh-oh

Headline: "BREAKING: Obama Made Side-Deal on Iran’s Military Site, Hid Details From Congress."

UPDATE: State Department refuses to comment.

Tangled webs of privilege

Does using the term "PC" make you a reactionary?  Can minority groups engage in systematic oppression, and is that more reprehensible than other kinds of oppression?  These are the quandaries explored in the comments sections of a series of articles (via a Daily Caller link) about recent movement to stem the tide of culture-appropriative costumes in the drag-queen context.  If I understand correctly, it's OK to put on a drag performance in a gay-pride parade if you're trans-gay but not if you're cis-gay (cis- meaning that you continue to perform socially in the gender you were "assigned" at birth, and as you know, all gender is performance).  But not so fast--it's not clear it's OK for parade organizers to ask whether a performer is trans- or cis-.  It boils down to who is being most safe and inclusive.  One group's rule of thumb is that all doubts must be resolved in favor of "the most marginalised groups within our community."

Another deep concern is practices that make one or more of these groups into a joke, which would be bad.

The National Union of Students Women's Conference explains that "drag “as an expression or exploration of queer identity is to be encouraged”, and that this can be “easily distinguished” from other forms." In addition, the NUS LGBT Committee wants "to eradicate the appropriation of black women by white gay men," as in drag performers who claim they are "strong black women."

I lost track of some of the competing interests after reading the following explanation posted on Free Pride's Facebook page:

People appeared to understand that we attempted to communicate that trans drag performers' rights are secondary to other trans people's rights. We did not mean to send this message and apologise to trans drag performers for unintentionally doing so. Unfortunately this also appears to have offended trans drag performers. We did not in any way mean to equate cis (who are often seen as transmisogynistic by some portions of the Trans community) drag performers with trans drag performers. . . . 

We would like to reaffirm that this is not to say that we do not want gender expression, which we do encourage, at our event. We encourage everyone to wear what they want and express their gender however they please! There will be no policing of peoples gender identity. We will be re-inforcing our safer spaces policy at the event and asking that no-one assume anyone else gender and remember to always ask pronouns.

I have noted a deplorable failure to ask pronouns here at the Hall lately, and would ask you all to police your privilege.

Congress Should Say No

A piece by two scholars finds that the Iran deal is unacceptably permissive.

The Mysterious Case of The Disappearing Car

...and the reappearing tow-truck driver.

The Texas Department of Public Safety released almost an hour of dash cam video. But in several parts of the footage, the video is looped while the officer's audio continues uninterrupted.

For example, there are moments when a car or wrecker driver appears in the frame, suddenly disappears, and then appears once again.

It's not clear whether the video was deliberately edited, or if the looped video over the audio track is the result of an equipment problem.

Also unclear is why the woman was found dead in her cell the next morning. You can be sure this case isn't going away anytime soon.

What seems clear is that the officer was just going to give her a warning until she got argumentative and, eventually, combative. She decided to assert her independence, and it got her a trip to jail. Somehow, she was hanged that night in her cell. A suicide? A lynching? We may never know. But now that the video tape shows signs of either editing or an equipment failure, expect gasoline on the fire.

Walking Blues

For tonight's selection, forty-one minutes of bad blues.



It's got a contemporary sound, this album, but the singer was born in the '20s. Hang out for Hitler talking to Tojo, if you've got nothing much against profanity.

Western Civilization

Mozart, as played closer to Mozart's day.

Umm, Roger...

Fox News owes Donald Trump a bazillion dollars. He has single-handedly transformed their broadcast of the first Republican presidential debate on August 6 — normally a routine event almost a year and a half out from an election and of significant interest only to political junkies – into a coup de television equivalent to Caitlyn Jenner appearing nude on Sixty Minutes. Who wouldn’t want to watch?

What?

I'd pay money for the privilege of being excluded, as I'm sure would many.

"Life is Short. Have an Affair."

I assume I don't need to persuade anyone here about the awfulness of this advice, but I would like to offer a counter-point. Some months ago, my priest offered the following story during his homily. He had just been to visit an old friend and fellow priest and, getting quite old himself, he asked his friend how he was doing. "I am very happy," he was told, "because I am about to achieve a lifelong goal: to die a Franciscan."

Life is short, though there are stretches when it does not seem so. But it is always falling away, and there always comes the last day when you wake up in the house you will never live in any longer. There comes the last time you will ever pick up your child, because they are just too big. There comes the last time you will ever see an old friend. And when it's over, what do you want to have to say for yourself?

Many people today seem to think that what they will want at that hour is to have a list of pleasures they've experienced. But how much finer -- is it not? -- to have kept an oath.

OAF Does Analytic Philosophy

"Why do we fight?" is the question. The answer he gives is not the one you usually hear, after he's given an account of why he thinks the usual accounts don't measure up. They are, as he explains, inadequate motivation. Yet we lack a cultural context to support the true answers.

John F Kerry 'very Disturbed' to Learn Iran Still Hates Us

Maybe that’s why Kerry’s “disturbed.” Maybe it just dawned on him that he and Obama greenlit the idea of a terror state run by Shiite fanatics going nuclear with no assurances whatsoever that that fanaticism would abate. We’re in good hands, my friends.

Those of you who are interested in this deal might want to read IranTruth, a website focused on opposition to the deal.

UPDATE: Canada refuses to lift sanctions until it sees credible signs of Iranian reform.

UPDATE: Another good argument against the Iran deal.

"I believe in miracles, Marquet. It's part of my job."

Headline: "Why is Pope Francis so obsessed with the devil?"