Benghazi Matters

            “Nothing New.” This was the instant reaction of the liberal media to the long-awaited congressional report on Benghazi. Not that the media was looking for damning evidence of their darling’s culpability. No, the report does not find Secretary Clinton guilty of wrongdoing. But is the media itself guilty of whitewashing this scandal? Further, are the supporters of Hillary Clinton guilty of anything? I submit that they are indeed guilty of willful ignorance if not of moral vacuity.

            How, I ask, can anyone dismiss this scandal, the greatest example in our time of pervasive moral turpitude in our leaders, none more culpable than Hillary Clinton. We can blame the failure to provide the necessary security requested repeatedly by our Americans at risk in Benghazi on the incompetence of the state Department under the Secretary’s leadership. We can deplore the failure of the military to act when there was still time to rescue Americans under attack, and blame it on Hillary and Defense Department officials paralyzed by indecisiveness. But we cannot forgive the brazen and despicable lies spread by the Administration in the aftermath of the massacre, all for crass political purposes.

            Benghazi happened just 56 days before the presidential elections, and nothing could be allowed to suggest that the President was wrong in his assurance that al Qaeda was on the run and terrorism on the wane. So Susan Rice went on the Sunday talk shows to blame the attack on a video; the President repeated the lie in front of a United Nations General Assembly; and Hillary Clinton went on the air to perpetuate the lie, even as she had been telling the real truth to family, staffers, and the Egyptian Prime Minister. Worse still, she lied to the families of the deceased as the coffins of their loved ones were passing before their eyes. 

            Hillary Clinton’s epic history of lies and scandals is unmatched in American politics. But to my mind there is no greater example of her soulless depravity than her lies after Benghazi. Do her fawning fans not know how thoroughly corrupt she is? Do they care?

The Brits Get It

            The Brits who voted to get out of the European Union wanted out.  They did not agonize over the economic consequences of the split, they just wanted to regain control over their country. They were fed up with a government that had ceded its policy-making authority to unaccountable bureaucrats in Brussels. Most specifically, they were angry with a government that had opened its doors to a Muslim invasion that had altered their society, their traditions, and their values.

            The majority of the world’s Muslims are peaceful. But Islam, as interpreted by fundamentalists, is not a religion of peace. Fundamentalists read in the Quran a clear injunction to rid the world of infidels. Followers of Mohammed conquered the Middle East and North Africa, and their armies would have conquered Europe had they not been stopped in Tours, Lepanto, and Vienna.  Realizing that armed invasion cannot achieve their goals, they developed a new dual strategy: infiltration and terror. Anyone can see that this strategy is working: send millions of faithful to populate the enemy’s cities; include radicals among them to recruit and train jihadist killers to terrorize the population; and rely on politically-correct cretins to welcome them.  

            We see what is happening in Germany, Sweden, and France, three countries with open-door policies. Only Britain has finally awakened to the mortal danger of the Islamic radicals in their midst.

            How is America facing this threat? In spite of 9/11, Fort Hood, Chattanooga, Boston, San Bernadino, and Orlando, we have a government that brands as Islamophobic all those who fear the immigration of unvetted Muslim migrants and the likely jihadists in their ranks. And we have a President with avowed Muslim sympathies who appeases Iran, the biggest supporter of terrorist groups, and who refuses to even utter the words “radical Islamic terrorism.”

            Is it any wonder that millions of Americans support Donald Trump’s call for a ban on Muslim immigrants? Is it any wonder that Americans are fed up with political correctness? Is it any wonder that favorability ratings of politicians in Congress are in the single digits? As unqualified as Trump is for the presidency, will American voters in November see him as the only way to follow the example of the Brits? Would that stop radical Islam’s strategy of infiltration and terror?

Our Government Is Armed Against Us

            Hypocrisy is an ugly word. Unfortunately, it has become characteristic of so many national leaders, it probably should be listed in the dictionary as a synonym for “politician.” Examples abound, but one in particular caught my attention this week.

            Thanks to a report released by OpenTheBooks.com, we now know that 67 federal agencies unaffiliated with the Defense Department spent $1.48 billion arming themselves between 2006 and 2014. Some of the details are stunning.

            For 2,316 of its agents, the IRS spent a yearly average of $5,000 each on guns, ammo, and military-style equipment. The IRS is scary enough. Why does it need an army?

            The VA spent $11.66 million on things like night vision goggles and body armor for 3,700 law-enforcement officers guarding VA medical centers. The VA not only is lousy at helping our vets, it is now treating them as potential criminals as well.

            The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service spent $4.77 million and the EPA $3.1 million on military-style equipment such as remote-control helicopters and waterproof thermal infrared scopes;  the Food and Drug Administration employs 183 heavily armed special agents; other agencies with armed agents include the Small Business Administration, the Social Security Administration, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Energy Department, the Education Department, the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, and the National Institute of Standards and Technology. Why?

            If I’m not mistaken, the 67 non-military federal agencies all fall under the purview of the Obama Administration, yes, the same Obama who blames all the ills of the world on insufficient gun control. I have one suggestion for President Obama, our Hypocrite-in-Chief: Remove the guns from your own house before trying to remove them from ours.   

Mr. Hockey Lives!

            One of the greatest figures in sports history died a few days ago. Gordie Howe is still called Mr. Hockey by fans like me who were privileged to see him play, both in person and on TV. I was also privileged to chat with him at an auto show in Toronto back in the 90s.  When I mentioned that his old linemate Ted Lindsay was a member of my church in Rochester Hills, Michigan, he laughed fondly and said, “That old bastard must sit in the front pews because he’s deaf.”

            Howe’s death and that of Mohammed Ali got me thinking about the immortality of sports heroes. Their mortal bodies may not live on, but their exploits on the ice, in the ring, and on the playing field live on in their fans. I still have vivid memories of Ted Williams hitting home runs just for me, of Bob Cousy’s playmaking, of Rocky Marciano’s right hand, and of so many others I worshiped as a boy growing up in New England.

            This kind of immortality, to be sure, is fleeting. It fades with the passage of time and eventually vanishes as all things mortal must. Old guys like me keep the memories alive while we can, just as we hope that our children and grandchildren will remember us after our passing. Otherwise, we must accept record books as imperfect substitutes for memories, just as our writings and accomplishments will give future generations only a glimpse of who we were.

            That’s all part of life, I suppose. Yet, when we talk about the old days, we can still relive the joy of the moment.  “Gordie Howe? I met him. I saw him play.”

Thin Skin

            Hillary Clinton has just the right strategy to beat Donald Trump: get under his skin.  We saw how well it worked last week. Her foreign policy speech was all about Trump’s unsuitability for the presidency, and Trump reacted predictably with a personal attack on Hillary’s character. In the process he missed a golden opportunity to talk about what ails this country on the home front, the economy.

            Last week presented Trump with a big fat target, the worst economic news of President Obama’s presidency. The month of May produced only 38,000 new jobs, when 250,000 are needed just to keep up with the growing population. Worse still was the news that the labor force declined by 458,000, reducing the labor participation rate to 62.6%. The last time we had numbers this scary was during Jimmy Carter’s malaise. Unfortunately, we don’t have Ronald Reagan waiting in the wings to come to the rescue. What we have is Donald Trump going after the media and Crooked Hillary.

            Republicans have no choice but to rally around Trump. But how long will they have to wait for him to address serious issues like the economy? Instead of railing against China and Mexico and what he sees as unfair trade, he should be focusing on what is really killing jobs in this country. He should be asking why under Obama new businesses have grown at the anemic rate of only 2.3%. He should be asking why real incomes for the middle class have fallen steadily and why people working part time jobs can’t find full time work. Instead of attacking everybody who gets under his skin, he should be waging a verbal war against crushing taxation, suffocating federal regulations, and state licensing laws that make it almost impossible for enterprising people to start a new business.

            Growth is the answer to what ails the economy. Growth is the only way we’ll ever be able to reduce our debt. Growth is what idle Americans need desperately. What they don’t need is promises of more free stuff from another progressive administration or churlish personal attacks that distract from serious policy proposals.