November 27, 2015 · 9:16 pm

Native Intelligence

via Native Intelligence.

This 2005 piece in The Smithsonian by Charles C. Mann offers a fascinating look at the Native American and European relationship at the time of the Pilgrims’ arrival.  (H/T to the Fabius Maximus blog, where I came across this link)

Oddly enough a history written by John Marshall of George Washington began with volume 1 of the 5 volume set devoted to the European  experience in America, does exactly what Mann’s rich tapestry approach does – it offers a complicated and complex history in rich, vivid colors rather than bland, oversimplified loose threads offered in school textbooks, unconnected to any picture at all.  When you start to see the threads woven together, all of sudden history comes alive as a fascinating magic carpet ride.

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November 27, 2015 · 4:00 pm

Food, family and holiday memories

Hope y’all had a wonderful Thanksgiving Day!  First, I’ll post a link to an entertaining cooking piece at Salon.com on Food Network’s Thanksgiving horrors from celebrity chefs:

“Crimes against Thanksgiving: The Food Network’s 10 biggest holiday atrocities”

My favorite was #6:

6. Cranberry Molds

Sandra Lee is basically your perpetually drunk aunt who attempts to mask her crippling alcohol problem by giving her cocktails cutesy little names like the Mayflower Martini and then hides vodka in the cranberry sauce, like in this recipe

At my house, we stuck to the tried and true, although I made one change to my cooking.  After thinking about purchasing one of those roaster ovens for decades, I finally bought a stainless steel Oster brand one with a high-domed lid.  I roasted a 20 lb turkey in it with absolutely perfect results.  Talk about wonderful, it made preparing the rest of the meal a breeze having the oven free.  Now, let’s see what other uses I can find for this not-so-small, “small appliance”.

In case you missed this most memorable (and scathing) restaurant review from 2012, here’s the NY Times review of Guy Fieri’s restaurant in Times Squares.  For an appetizer sampler let me quote:

“Why is one of the few things on your menu that can be eaten without fear or regret — a lunch-only sandwich of chopped soy-glazed pork with coleslaw and cucumbers — called a Roasted Pork Bahn Mi, when it resembles that item about as much as you resemble Emily Dickinson?

When you have a second, Mr. Fieri, would you see what happened to the black bean and roasted squash soup we ordered?

Hey, did you try that blue drink, the one that glows like nuclear waste? The watermelon margarita? Any idea why it tastes like some combination of radiator fluid and formaldehyde?”

Yes, I can sympathize, because food flops and holiday disasters become the fodder of family lore, never to be forgotten and oft to be repeated and embellished.  Once again let me offer G. Murphy Donovan’s Thanksgiving tale, “The Cranberry Rumble”:

” All family gatherings in the Bronx were special, but Thanksgiving was legendary. Holidays bring out the best and worst in families. Alas, there’s always some in-law who doesn’t fit in, some relation with an ax to grind.

Such was the case with Jack Hickey and his brother-in-law, Everett Olmstead. Jack and Everett were like oil and water. Hickey was the taciturn NYC cop with few pretensions and Olmstead was the car salesman from Scarsdale who thought any trip to the Bronx was slumming. Olmstead never made a secret of his condescension; a foible that the O’Grady women tried to ignore but never failed to annoy the sheriff of Rhinelander Avenue. Blue collars in the Bronx do not suffer snobs gladly, especially poseurs north or south, from Westchester or Manhattan.

On one ominous Thanksgiving, Mr. Olmstead of Scarsdale, sitting opposite Officer Hickey, made an intemperate remark about “dumb cops.” Uncle Everett had gotten a speeding ticket on the Bronx River Parkway on the way to the festivities.

Hickey rose to the bait like a trout to a mayfly; up from his chair, followed by a foolish Everett. The two, fueled no doubt by several holiday highballs, leaned in across the festive table.  Jack’s balled fist came up in a low arc and caught Olmstead under the chin. The uppercut propelled Uncle Ev to the wall opposite where he rebounded, spun and collapsed like a human fulcrum in the middle of the table.”

The only family occasion I recall ever coming close to this sort of high drama was my cousin, Nolie’s, graduation party in the early 70s.  It was a lovely picnic affair and I, being a young teen, sat there listening to my great Aunt Dorothy tell one of her endless string of entertaining stories, although at this point her pig heart valve story hadn’t entered the repertoire.  All of a sudden some of my cousin’s male friends ran through the gathering………. streaking.  My Uncle Nolan, father of my cousin Nolie, and very hot-tempered to boot,  was outraged.  He charged into the path of the streakers and caught one.  So, there stood this stark-naked drunk teenager trying to cover his stuff, facing the wrath of my Uncle Nolan.  My Aunt Marion, prim and proper to the core, told my sister and me, “Don’t look!”  Who could not look?  I think it was my mother, a sister to my Uncle Nolan, who grabbed a tablecloth, wrapped it around that boy and told my uncle he needed to calm down.  Great Aunt Dorothy, to her credit, with unruffled aplomb,  laughed and commented on this “streaking” being something different.  Yes, “Don’t look!”….

 

 

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November 26, 2015 · 2:10 am

Freedom is special and rare

Stephen Moore at National Review reminds us of what Americans have to be thankful for, invoking President Ronald Reagan’s farewell speech:

“We’ve got to do a better job of getting across that America is freedom — freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom of enterprise. And freedom is special and rare. It’s fragile; it needs protection. So, we’ve got to teach history based not on what’s in fashion but what’s important — why the Pilgrims came here, who Jimmy Doolittle was, and what those 30 seconds over Tokyo meant. You know, four years ago on the 40th anniversary of D-Day, I read a letter from a young woman writing to her late father, who’d fought on Omaha Beach. Her name was Lisa Zanatta Henn, and she said, “We will always remember, we will never forget what the boys of Normandy did.” Well, let’s help her keep her word.

If we forget what we did, we won’t know who we are. I’m warning of an eradication of the American memory that could result, ultimately, in an erosion of the American spirit. Let’s start with some basics: more attention to American history and a greater emphasis on civic ritual.

And let me offer lesson number one about America: All great change in America begins at the dinner table. So, tomorrow night in the kitchen, I hope the talking begins. And children, if your parents haven’t been teaching you what it means to be an American, let ’em know and nail ’em on it. That would be a very American thing to do.”

Let’s all start by doing that this Thanksgiving.

Read more at: http://www.nationalreview.com/article/427666/give-thanks-life-in-america-follow-reagan

 

 

 

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Filed under American History, Culture Wars, Food for Thought, General Interest

November 25, 2015 · 8:31 am

An ambush, not a defensive reaction?

Here’s an opinion on the Turkish/Russian air conflict from Nightwatch, which I believe is the most honest coming from an American source to date:

“NightWatch judges this shoot down was an ambush, not a defensive reaction. The Turks said they provided multiple warnings that the Russians said they did not receive. The Turks did not say that the warnings were acknowledged in any way over a five-minute period. Five minutes is long time in the air for determining whether a violator poses a threat.

The alleged warnings aside, the Turks have been watching Russian air operations for weeks. The Russians have been open about their operations, their target areas and their willingness to make arrangements for avoiding air conflicts.  The Turks knew the Russian aircraft was not targeting Turkey and had a hotline which the Russians said was not used.

The Turks reacted to prior alleged violations without shooting, but with warnings. On their face, those prior incidents could be understood as creating the precedent for not shooting, on which the Russians might have relied. Against that backdrop, the Turks seem to have been waiting for an opportunity to correct any Russian perception of implied permission.

The Turks claim they had the right to shoot, but it was not a smart move. It makes Turkey appear to be providing air support to extreme Islamic terrorists. Russia, the US and the rest of NATO have long known that Turkey has been a primary supporter of the Islamic State since its inception. Now the Turks have acted openly as accomplices to terrorism, especially if the Turkish fighters operated in Syria.

Turkey has instigated a confrontation with Russia that could escalate to a crisis. The Russians will avenge this shoot down. They subscribe to the Israeli doctrine of asymmetric punishment.”

Now, if we find ourselves backing Turkey, which supports the Islamic State and has done everything it can to impede our success in fighting the Islamic State, then NATO ally or not, we should reassess who our friends really are.  Erdogan is an Islamist snake in the grass, that’s my opinion.  Now, if the facts shake out with truth being on the Russian side, should the US continue to bolster Turkey’s version of events?  Shouldn’t we stand up for the truth?  Nightwatch also provided this comment:

“The Russian General Staff said that the target of the Su-24M was a concentration of 1,000 North Caucasus terrorists in the mountains northeast of Latakia. They came through Turkey.”

So, remember when Turkey finally decided to help in the fight against the Islamic State this past summer, instead of focusing on attacking the Islamic State, Turkey started bombing the hell out of the Kurds, not the Islamic State.  If what the Russians state is the truth, then we have a huge credibility problem.  Some ally we have in Turkey…

Note:  Nightwatch is a subscription publication.  For more information click on this link:

http://www.kforcegov.com/services/is/NightWatch/About.aspx

 

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November 24, 2015 · 9:26 pm

Mapping the dots

Claudia Rosett wrote “The Next Failure of Imagination: Nuclear Terrorism?” a few days ago, raising the specter of a WMD terrorist attack. She posits:

“But is there yet another failure of imagination in the making, on a scale that could dwarf the horrors that have become ritually familiar in the headlines? Is the clock ticking toward some unimaginable midnight of terrorism gone nuclear?

Not that no one has imagined this. Thriller writers from Tom Clancy to Vince Flynn have imagined it in detail, Hollywood has made movies about it, policy experts have held conferences and written papers, government committees have delved into it, and there are government security procedures and agents trying to monitor and thwart any such catastrophe.

But do the folks in the cockpits of western policy take this threat seriously? No such attack has happened to date. In the habitual human calculus that tends to amount to an expectation that somehow it won’t; that however real the danger, the chances of it happening are still a matter of improbable odds. It still belongs to the realm of fiction.

Map the dots, however, and ask yourself if the probabilities are rising.”

JK mentioned this link from 2014:  ““Dirty Bombs:” Reason to Worry?

Here are some more recent “dots” to map:

“Pentagon officials believe ISIS used chemical weapons against Kurds in Iraq”

“Chemical weapons used in Syrian fighting – watchdog”

“Islamic State Suspected of Using Chemical Weapon, U.S. Says”

Then we get to 2 days ago:

“Medical protective clothing stolen from Paris hospital”

 

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2nd Book Wreath

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November 24, 2015 · 5:15 pm
November 24, 2015 · 11:17 am

Another tale from the Obama Chronicles

In recent days, due to the unfolding terrorist attacks in Paris, in which at least one of the terrorists (possibly two) got into France using a fake Syrian passport, the US Refugee Resettlement Program has come under fire. Open borders advocates insist that there are no cases of refugees committing terrorist attacks in the US.

Back in 2013, the FBI charged two Iraqi refugees, who had gone through the Refugee Resettlement Program on terrorism charges, as both were known Iraqi bomb-makers, whose bombs were used to attack American soldiers. In 2013 the State Department paused the refugee program to review the process. This ABC story includes a 10 minute video report, which explains the refugee process:

http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/al-qaeda-kentucky-us-dozens-terrorists-country-refugees/story?id=20931131

So, only two years ago the FBI believed that dozens of Al Qaeda terrorists may have moved to the US as refugees, yet now the Obama administration insists all is well and it’s safe to allow tens of thousands of refugees from war-torn Syria. For a detailed and extensive chronicling of the problems with the Refugee Resettlement Program, please check out Ann Corcoran’s Refugee Resettlement Watch (here).  Sometimes Often, I feel like a broken record, stuck in the same worn out groove, so let me just say, I’ve covered this refugee “issue” several times before, like here, here, here, here, and   here.  Short version:  The State Department pays millions of dollars to religious charities to provide the services in this refugee resettlement program, so as these charities preach about helping the poor refugees, keep in mind these charities are raking in millions …

After being dead wrong so many times, you’d think the Obama administration might get a clue that they’ve made grievous  policy blunders, but nope, the narcissist-in-chief and his pompous secretary at the State Department double down, rather than face up to their gross incompetence.  In a world where “ISIS is contained” didn’t really mean “contained” but instead meant “geographically contained”, you can be sure that if more terrorists enter the US through this refugee process, which Kerry and Johnson describe as “extraordinarily thorough and comprehensive“, these terms will be up for redefinition.  They’ll  just churn out more pathetic narratives, penned by some of the best fiction writers in the country,

So gather round the campfire for another tale from the Obama Chronicles…. a 4 and 1/2 page Kerry tale, in the form of a letter sent to the MA state governor to assuage concerns about the Refugee Resettlement Program.  Pay attention:

Administration officials outlined the security steps now taken:

Candidates are first interviewed by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (pssst, these are UN flunkies with no loyalty to the US) to determine their eligibility for refugee status — whether individuals have been persecuted based on political opinion, social group, race, religion, or nationality.

The State Department then takes over the process, through contracted resettlement support centers (pssst, got that contracted – often religious groups making money off the federal government) that conduct further interviews. The State Department performs background checks using a variety of terror, law enforcement, and intelligence databases.

The State Department then takes over the process, through contracted resettlement support centers that conduct further interviews (pssst, this involves asking them stuff like, “Are you a terrorist?). The State Department performs background checks using a variety of terror, law enforcement, and intelligence databases (pssst, in Syria there is no intelligence database to check against and even the Syrian government can not vet that passports are legitimate).

The US Citizen and Immigration Services and the Department of Homeland Security conduct further reviews and interviews. The process includes vetting biometric information, such as fingerprints,(pssst, places like Syria or Somalia dont’ have governments to check databases for known criminals) for those between the ages of 14 and 79.

For a better description of the actual vetting process, refer back to the  ABC 1o minute video, linked above where Brian Ross investigated the refugee screening process.  Our national security is being contracted out – that’s the bottom line and don’t you feel much safer knowing Jeh Johnson and John Kerry took so much care in choosing carefully vetted language, designed to dupe you into believing they can actually vet these refugees….

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Wreath from old book

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November 24, 2015 · 8:40 am
November 22, 2015 · 11:50 am

Answering the Syrian refugee question

In far more eloquent prose than I’m able to muster, Malcolm Pollack at the waka,waka,waka blog dissects the refugee resettlement argument in an excellent blog post, “The “Refugee” Question: Further Thoughts”  Malcolm writes:

“In the discussion thread under our previous post, a commenter directed our readers’ attention to an article by Megan McArdle on the question of settling “Syrian” “refugees” in the United States. Further discussion ensued.

Ms. McArdle’s essay is helpful in that it identifies six low tactics that proponents of Syrian refugee resettlement have been using: Bible-beating, mockery, falsehood, mawkish incomprehension, straw-manning, and Western self-flagellation.

She then presses her case for U.S. resettlement with familiar arguments: we’ve assimilated all sorts of others before now; previous waves of immigrants were also regarded with a wary eye, but look how well it all worked out; most Muslims aren’t terrorists; etc.

She then says this sensible thing:

As long as you believe that it’s a good thing to help strangers at some sufficiently small cost to yourself, then we can have a reasonable discussion about whether the costs outweigh potential benefits.

That’s fair enough, I think. I’ll be happy to reply on her terms.”

He then completely eviscerates McArdle’s arguments.  Please read his entire post.

 

 

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November 22, 2015 · 11:17 am

Al Qaeda has not been neutralized | The Long War Journal

“The summary below shows what al Qaeda looks like today – it is far from being “neutralize[d].” Instead, al Qaeda and its regional branches are fighting in more countries today than ever. They are trying to build radical Islamic states, just like ISIS, which garners more attention but hasn’t, contrary to conventional wisdom, surpassed al Qaeda in many areas.”

Source: Al Qaeda has not been neutralized | The Long War Journal

The above article by Bill Roggio and Thomas Joscelyn at The Long War Journal highlights key fallacies about Al Qaeda and ISIS, which the Obama administration clings to, despite overwhelming evidence that their strategy to defeat ISIS continues to flounder and they were dead wrong on Al Qaeda being decimated.

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