Fight, Mr President

For John, BLUF:  Some don't wish for the President to back down.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Presidential Trump MUST Stand Firm On the Wall and Comprehensive Border Security For the Sake of His Presidency...

Here is the sub-headline:

....AND THE LONG-TERM SECURITY OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE.  IT WILL MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN.

From Webutante, 8 January 2018.

And this from Fox News:

Sen. Graham:  Republicans 'Deserve to Be Punished' If They Give in on Border Security

Here is the lede plus three:

President Trump now needs to back up his very fine speech tonight in favor of legal immigration by controlling illegal entry to the United States.

He must not back down. Congress certainly has as it has dilly dallied on this issue for decades, making promises, passing bills to fund a border wall which has never been implemented.  Mr.Trump has drawn the line for the American people and forced a crisis that's long, long overdue.  Good for him.  Now the president must not let this crisis go to waste.  He must not back down. Real leadership is taking a stand and letting the chips fall where they may.

President Trump is doing the right thing for the American people.  He's doing the right thing for his presidency.  Trump needs to hang tough for as long as it takes.  He must not back down.

He can not back down now.  Thank you President Trump for taking this tough, hard stand against the entrenched powers and principalities of the air.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Exceptionalism

For John, BLUF:  I think many believe the United States is like Europe, but I think not.  We still believe in all men being created equal, with the potential to grow up to be President, and that is just the risk they have to take.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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America Was Always an Exceptional Nation, but Is It Still?

Here is the sub-headline:

Its robust civil society and lack of hierarchy are cherished by Americans and curious to foreigners.

From The Wall Street Journal, by Professor Allen C. Guelzo, Professor of history at Gettysburg College, 23 November 2018.

Here is the closing paragraph:

But to reject exceptionalism is also to reject the fundamental philosophical principles on which the republic was founded, relegating the guarantee of "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" to the level of tribal myth.  We do not need to claim perfection to reclaim exceptionalism.  And the exceptional principles that guided our founding may turn out, as Lincoln said, to be "the last best hope of earth" after all.

It is a short Opinion Piece and worth the read.  We are an exceptional nation and if parents put their children on the right path those children will achieve much.  This being America, those children may even set themselves on the right path.

Regards  —  Cliff

Happy Independence Day

Thanks, Tom, and Ben, and all you others, for a wonderfully radical document with a wonderfully radical idea.

Regards  —  Cliff

Stuck in Latin America

For John, BLUF:  These are folks who don't get it.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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"Ironically, talking like that, they sound like traitors to American culture."  Here is the sub-headline, "Liberal Hispanic activists assail Rubio, Cruz as 'traitors' to their culture."

I have no questions for the Professor.

While the article is from Ann Althouse, the hat tip goes to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Types of Policing

For John, BLUF:  Community policing.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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This comes from The Washington Post, a pretty mainstream newspaper.  The question posed by Mr Radley Balko, in "Scenes from a militarized America: Iowa family ‘terrorized’", has to do with the changing methods of policing in the Unted States.  Are these changes good for American Democracy in the long run?

Frankly, I like Lowell's emphasis on the Police getting out amongst the citizenry.  It is a different approach and one better suited to his nation.

Regards  —  Cliff

Becoming An American

For John, BLUF:  Some things are darned near eternal.

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"What Did Lincoln Say at Gettysburg?"

Hat tip to the Althouse blog.

Regards  —  Cliff

The Right To Be A Citizen

For John, BLUF:  Citizenship is fundamental for individuals and is not to be taken lightly.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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On Tuesday The Washington Times published an article by Reporter Jessica Chasmar on the evolving situation in Egypt, "Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood to Coptic Christians: Convert to Islam, or pay ‘jizya’ tax".  The jizya is, per Wikipedia:

… a per capita tax levied on a section of an Islamic state's non-Muslim citizens, who meet certain criteria.  The tax is and was to be levied on able-bodied adult males of military age and affording power (but with specific exemptions).  From the point of view of the Muslim rulers, jizzya was a material proof of the non-Muslims' acceptance of subjection to the state and its laws, "just as for the inhabitants it was a concrete continuation of the taxes paid to earlier regimes."  In return, non-Muslim citizens were permitted to practice their faith, to enjoy a measure of communal autonomy, to be entitled to the Muslim state's protection from outside aggression, and to be exempted from military service and the zakat taxes obligatory upon Muslim citizens.

This is in contrast to the situation in colonial United States, where the Jews in then New Amsterdam (later New York City) sued to be allowed to be members of the Night Watch.♠  The person standing in their way was the colonial Governor, Peter Stuyvesant:

Stuyvesant importuned the colonial council to bar Jews from serving in the volunteer home guards.  The council levied a special tax on Jews to pay for others to serve in their place.  On November 5, 1655, Asser Levy and Joseph Barsimon filed petitions with the colonial court asking that they either be allowed to stand watch with the other citizens or relieved of the tax.  After an initial rejection and a two-year fight, Levy won the right to stand watch.

America, the land of opportunity (to sue for your rights, and win!).

But, back to the article in The Washington Times, the lede reads:

The Muslim Brotherhood and its supporters have began forcing the roughly 15,000 Christian Copts of Dalga village in Egypt to pay a jizya tax as indicated in Koran 9:29...

Ten percent of Egyptians are Copts.

Ten percent on not full Citizens of Egypt.  Sound familiar?

Regards  —  Cliff

♠  This being the United States, those particular Jews were refugees from Brazil, which had been Dutch for a while, before Portugal conquered it back.  They were fleeing the Portuguese, since they had been openly practicing their faith under Dutch rule.

Changing Faith

For John, BLUF:  Multiculturalism has some limits.

I admit it is fun to poke fun at Former Vice President Al Gore.  He is such a bundle of contradictions.  And, I find it ridiculous that he would separate from his wife, Tipper.  It is part of what can only be described as erratic behavior.

As we know, Vice President Gore recently sold his TV Station, Current, to al Jazerra, for $500 million, of which he pocketed a nine figure payout.  (Where is a tax hike for the rich when you need one?)  That isn't the interesting part.  The interesting part is that one of al Jazerra's top shows, "Shariah and Life" featured Sunni Muslim cleric Yusuf al-Qaradawi saying "Islam’s mandated death-penalty for apostasy has kept Islam alive since the 1400s"

If they had gotten rid of the apostasy punishment Islam wouldn’t exist today.

I am not sure I believe that, but it does seem to be in conflict with our more easy-going laws.  Yes, some of my Baptist friends think I am going to Hell for being a Roman Catholic, but we haven't engaged in hunting down Catholics for Centuries, and almost 200 years ago we began letting them hold office here in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

So, is such a view of the punishment for apostasy compatible with our laws here in the United States?  Would it be possible to carve out a Shariah/Apostasy exception to US Law?  The flip side of the question is if we believe in the universality of the Declaration of Independence—

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

Or does this assertion just apply to certain classes of human beings?

Regards  —  Cliff

Who Will Make It Happen?

For John, BLUF:  Some think only they can save this nation.  Ignoring the People.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

"This Country Won't Fix Itself."

That is the title of an EMail I received last evening from Nation of Change.

Despite the comforting corporate-sponsored speech yesterday,♠ to the tune of $124.3 million from civic-minded citizens such as Bank of America, Coca-Cola and AT&T, things are not under control.

A ban of high-magazine clips will not prevent more mass shootings. Our underfunded education system will not repair itself.  The planet will not protect itself from the unrelenting blows of a faceless Corporate pugilist.  The poor will not will themselves out of poverty and those with nearly all the wealth of this country will not give it up without a fight.

It turns out that Board President Donna Luca is telling us that (1) only she and her team can fix this nation and (2) they need our money to do it.

To be fair, I agree that:

1. A ban of high-magazine clips will not prevent more mass shootings.
• I suspect they and I draw different conclusions from that simple fact.
2. Our underfunded education system will not repair itself.
• No, as President Obama said in a recent radio advert, we all have to get involves.  Are you running for School Committee or supporting someone who is?  You should!
3. The planet will not protect itself from the unrelenting blows of a faceless Corporate pugilist.
• Actually, I am not sure what this means.  "Faceless Corporate pugilist"?  How many corporations are extracting natural resources for the fun of it?  They do it because they can make a profit.  Check the mirror.
4. The poor will not will themselves out of poverty...
• I fully agree with this.  Our poverty problem is partly the problem of perverse incentives we put into place in the 1960s and early 1970s.  We need to change those incentives, and at the same time find ways to allow the economy to grow, thus creating jobs for those who are currently in poverty.
5. ...and those with nearly all the wealth of this country will not give it up without a fight.
• Especially the Middle Class people with retirement plans, like State and Local Employees.

If you would like to donate to Nation of Change, you can contact them here.

The other possibility is studying the issues, thinking about them in light of history and then getting politically involved in your local community.  While the phrase "All politics is local" can obscure some important points, it also contains a lot of truth.  Politics is a trinity of (1) The Party, (2) The Candidates and (3) The People.  We are part of The People and we need to play our role.

My preference is for the American People to be active in their own future and my belief is that we are capable to determining our future path, politicians notwithstanding.  Call it American Exceptionalism.

To answer the title question of this blog post, one needs to answer "Me!".

Regards  —  Cliff

♠  I am presuming from the accompanying photo of the West side of the Capitol that they are talking about President Obama's second Inaugural Speech.

Gun Control In DC

For John, BLUF:  Don't expect major Federal action on guns.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

Confusion Alert:  The author of this article uses "liberal" in a manner interchangeably with "progressive".

From yesterday's edition of The Wall Street Journal was have a column by Ms Kimberly A Strassel, "Strassel: The Real Gun-Control Consensus:  Despite the press's best efforts to parse his statements, Harry Reid has committed himself to nothing more than a 'thoughtful debate.'"  Here is the lede:

The next time you hear a fellow American bemoaning the lack of Washington bipartisanship, tell him to cheer up.  There is one issue on which Congress still resoundingly agrees:  gun rights.  Bear that in mind, too, the next time you read a story about the "new" political debate over gun control.

On the other hand, Ms Strassel did pick Governor Romney to win with 289 electoral votes.

We do have New York Governor Cuomo advocating gun confiscation.  That didn't work out so well at Wounded Knee.  But Progressives are strong believers in American Exceptionalism.  No, not the normal understanding of American Exceptionalism, but the belief that our Government could never, ever, turn against the People, going rogue in some way.

Hat tip to Neal.

Regards  —  Cliff