One veteran’s views of Trump’s “war hero” comments…

Donald Trump is receiving all kinds of flack for characterizing John McCain's military ordeals in a less flattering light than most of us are accustomed to.

What exactly did Trump say in response to McCain accusing 15 million Trump supporters (including me) of being “crazies?”

"He's not a war hero.  He's a war hero because he was captured. I like people that weren't captured.  Perhaps he's a war hero, but right now, he's said bad things about a lot of people”

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/donald-trump-john-mccain-war-hero-2015-7#ixzz3gT6NgE3q

Frankly, I understand where Trump is coming from.  He’s coming from a “performance” mentality – a “success-driven” mindset.  He correctly believes that anyone who gets caught in a contest, war, battle, game, or business deal is less than a “hero.”  

I contend that “war hero” is the wrong label for a soldier captured and held by the enemy.  A soldier saving other soldiers, a soldier showing bravery in the heat of battle, a soldier who designs or implements effective and winning battle tactics, a soldier who goes well beyond the call of duty to facilitate a winning outcome – these are “heroes” in the unadulterated sense of the word.

The American public has developed a tradition that anyone, but especially a politician, who is harmed during a military engagement is a “hero”, whether he had any choice in the matter or not.

“Not a sports player.  Not a politician.  Not a faddish figure.  A hero faces death for others, with no thought of personal gain or glory.”

A war captive may be a victim, he may brave, and we may feel respect, admiration, pity or sorrow for him.  But a captive a “hero?”  He allowed himself to get caught – he failed to escape.  He did not contribute toward success or victory.  In a purely objective sense, that dilutes the meaning of the word, even though such usage is a popular and cherished tradition and sentiment.

Calling a captive “a war hero” is in the same league as calling a driver injured or killed in a car accident “a driving hero.”  Whether he caused the accident or the other guy caused the accident, it is not something that he had a lot of control over.  He didn’t save lives.  He didn’t perform admirably as a driver.  He didn’t inspire others in having the car accident.  He may have been noble with a stiff upper lip during his subsequent recovery. – But a hero?

Capture and captivity during a war does not a legitimate hero make.  Such person can legitimately be called “brave”, “noble”, “tough as nails”, and even “inspirational”.  But the term “hero” denigrates the term as applied to those who actually initiated and carried out acts that are both brave and successful.

In this country, with the death of the majority of “the greatest generation” and not having won a war over the past 70 years we have a tendency to conflate the unremarkable into something much grander.  We feel a need to call expected feats something miraculous and hero-esque.  We have made grasping at such straws commonplace to fill the void created by our lack of successes.

In the case of John McCain, “war hero” was a label Republican operatives elevated to sacred status during his many political campaigns.  And most politicians knew that would be a term that gives American people a warm fuzzy feeling about an individual.

Unfortunately, anyone who bucks that manufactured tradition will be ridiculed and demonized much as Donald Trump has been with his comments about John McCain.

I admit to being a politically incorrect, “crazy” veteran who found it easy to relate with and promote Trump’s perspective - not that he needs anyone speaking on his behalf.

His apologists will claim “persecution”…

The difference between a so-called “radical” and so-called “moderate” Muslim are slim to non-existent

The Islam-inspired killer of 4 Marines in Chattanooga will probably garner some sympathy from Muslim apologists in the US.

Muhammad Youssef Abdulazeez wrote in his yearbook,”my name causes national security alerts”– a sign of a poor persecuted Muslim.  So of course the evil, mean-spirited Americans caused him to snap and kill 4 US Marines.  Really, nothing to see here.  His Muslim name has NOTHING to do with the carnage he carried out.

Or perhaps he didn’t have enough opportunity or he was disadvantaged and poverty stricken.  Hmmm…  He received an Engineering degree and lived in this house:

Clue:  It was his belief in his Islamic religion that made him do it.

If only his name DID trigger a national security alert.  Sadly, it did not.  Due to the purging of Islamic-related indicators in our national security lexicon by embedded Muslim advisors, there are likely hundreds of Muhammad Youssef Abdulazeez’s ready to commit similar acts – or worse.

On the other hand, this morning an ISIS supporter tweeted this at 10:34 am — the shooting started at 10:45.  This was reported on Pam Geller’s website.

As usual, the FBI and media are scratching their heads over a motive.  Why would a Muslim from Kuwait who graduated from a local Tennessee High School, got a degree in Engineering from the University of Tennessee and a quiet guy with a good sense of humor do this?  He attended the local mosque for several months and grew his thick dark beard just before he decided to carry out his premeditated attack.  Of course, the teachings given at the mosque had nothing at all to do with what this man thought, believed, and did.

And of course what he did has nothing to do with the Islamic leaders of the Middle East, including those with whom we just entered a milestone nuclear agreement, in proclaiming ‘death to America’ and vowing to attack military bases.  Of course it has nothing to do with the Islamic ideology and pronouncements of hatred toward our culture and their intolerant and supremacist teachings and practices.

Yes, his actions had nothing to do with Islam…well maybe they did.  HERE is a tidbit from his own blog.  He sought paradise – pure Islamic theology.

Yes indeed, CAIR has come out with a syrupy condemnation of the attack.  That is the typical handshake with the right and the stab in the back with the left.  Pure Islam.

It is ironic that of all places that are declared “gun free zones” are our military installations.  Insane?  Absolutely.

Here is a proposal from a man that John McCain says is inciting the “crazies:”

"As Commander-in-Chief, I would mandate that soldiers remain armed and on alert at our military bases."

Donald Trump          

I agree.  Call me one of the “crazies.”

Remember this…

Republicans who don’t get it…

John McCain, the failed Republican presidential nominee, put his foot in it.  But his comments likely reflect most of the do-nothing, establishment elites who have allowed our nation to be driven into the ground.

What audacious thing did the venerable McCain say?

“It’s very bad.  This performance with our friend out in  Phoenix [referring to Trump] is very hurtful to me, because what he did was he fired up the crazies.”

“He fired up the crazies.”

John McCain                               

There you have John McCain – attributing “craziness” to those of us who support someone who has the guts to frankly speak out and take action regarding our illegal immigration problem.  This is a “pot calling the kettle black” moment for sure.  McCain called tens of millions of Americans “crazy” for supporting someone who says the things other Republicans should say but refuse to say.

Returning to sanity, here is a list of 10 reasons Trump would make a stellar president, courtesy of Scot Vorse writing on Breitbart.

Trump is tough, unafraid to flex America’s muscles, and has the backbone America needs to take on the evil growing around the world.

Trump is an experienced and tough dealmaker.

Trump is not politically correct; he’s not afraid to say what he believes and has ignited an honest debate.

Trump demands high performance and will fire anyone that doesn’t meet his high standards.

Trump is committed to education.

Trump “built that business” and many more and will run America like a business.

Trump will not balance his job as President with golf and other social events.

Trump’s loyalty will be only to America and Americans—not any political party, special interest group or foreign entity.

Trump will support American laws, the Constitution, and the nation’s borders.

Yes, Trump gets it - McCain doesn’t and is among the Republican “crazies.”

El Chapo, the notorious Mexican drug kingpin prison escapee has precisely the same opinion of Trump as the Republican elites – that he needs to “shut up.”  That should tell you something about the Republican elites.

Speaking of “crazies”, a California judge ordered Dinesh D’Souza, the producer of a couple of movies critical of Barack Obama, to undergo additional months of “therapeutic counseling” aka “re-education.”  Why?  Becaue D’Souza is “arrogant, intolerant of others, and not introspective enough.”

This means the government can force people who hold firmly to their own values and express their values to others can be sequestered in a forced re-education program because they are deemed “arrogant, intolerant of others, and not introspective enough.”

This is a threat – a cold chill - to every Christian, every aetheist, everyone who cares about anything.  We must show our “tolerance” and lack of “arrogance” by shutting up, sitting in a corner and being introspective. 

A great commentary on this pathetic state of affairs is given by Pamela Geller HERE.  And she isn’t even a fan of D’Souza’s.

So here you have it:

A failed Senator calling millions of Americans “crazy” for calling out a problem Republicans should have addressed years ago

The Republican elites having the same opinion of Donald Trump as a Mexican drug kingpin

Donald Trump having the courage and capacity to do what the Republican elites have failed to do, while 

A critic of the current failed administration is declared “crazy” for expressing his opinion and ordered to undergo therapeutic political re-education.

Is this a great screwed up country or what?

Affirmative action is racist and bigoted…

“Since affirmative action was instituted, conservatives have battled for the idea that character, ability and excellence should be the criteria for advancement, not gender, race or ethnicity. Boy and girls, men and women, should be admitted to schools or promoted in jobs based on what they have accomplished, not on which country or continent their kinfolk came from.”

Patrick Buchanon, November 1998

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Do we Americans wonder why we are in decline as a nation?  We are declining in academic achievement, in scientific achievement, in out of wedlock births, in national unity and dozens of other ways. 

This John Hawkins article “20 Signs America is in Decline” from TownHall.com paints the picture.

The elephant-in-the-room reason why we are in decline is captured in Pat Buchanan’s quote above.  Character, ability, and excellence are no longer the criteria for advancement in our society.  We have elevated gender, race, and ethnicity as the gold standard for opportunity and advancement in the US.

That was back in 1998.  Now, add to that, the recent Supreme Court decision that also elevates the absence of religious values and morality as a key ingredient for advancement.  Not only is stifling our beliefs now politically correct, proclaiming our acceptance of gay marriage, gay sex, homosexual lifestyles will likely be a prerequisite for many jobs and for operating many businesses that cater to the general public.

Admittance to public universities and applications for government programs and assistance will also likely to be denied those who don’t agree to behaviors that have been considered “sins” throughout their lives and through millenia of religious teaching.

As long as criteria for advancement remain counterproductive, which the current ones most certainly are, the deeper we will find this country sinking into the abyss.  The longer we ignore the qualities of character, ability, and excellence, the less hope we have to recapture the success this nation had enjoyed in the previous two centuries.

There is a big difference between “forced, legally mandated opportunity for some” and “equality of opportunity among all.”  We have had the former for way too long.

Mandated equality for some at the expense of others is against the laws of nature and our nature’s God.  Equality at the expense of character, ability, and excellence is a gross injustice and a certain path to national failure.

Affirmative action is racist, bigoted and hateful.  Our nation is paying a heavy price. Abolition of forced affirmative action is long overdue.

A futile troop trainee vetting process in Syria…

…or in any other Sharia-compliant, intolerant Islamic nation

For years I’ve warned that our reliance on Muslims to fight by our side in the Middle East  was foolish and futile.  Have the Muslim insider attacks in Afghanistan and weak-willed Muslim fighters in Iraq taught us that lesson yet?

They apparently have, to a degree.

Our decade of training thousands of Iraqi troops has been an abject failure.  They have consistently turned and run tail in the face of attacks by ISIS Muslims and any other force considered by the US to be “the enemy.”    Why do you think that’s the case?  Could it be that their own culture and religious indoctrination are more in line with ISIS and other enemies of the United States than than they are with Western values?

As of 2014, 15% of all US deaths in Afghanistan were caused by insider attacks - purposeful attacks by supposedly allied troops on US troops.

In response to our prior Muslim trainees turning tail in the face of the opposition or turning their guns on US troops, our trainee vetting program has become much more aggressive and thorough, and thankfully so. 

What has this necessarily more aggressive and effective vetting accomplished?  The answer:  Not much if the criteria is based on numbers trained.  Quite a lot if the criteria is based on soliciting trainees who won’t run and who won’t turn on us.

Out of the 10’s of thousands of Iraqi’s and Syrians of fighting age, the US is in the process of training 60 (yes, sixty) Syrian rebels to fight against their more devout Muslim brothers in Syria.  Only 60 passed muster.  This means that over 95% of potential trainees do not past muster.  Vetting potential trainees is comprised of running names through intelligence data basis, psychological evaluations, and determining the communities and tribes they are from – and only a tiny minority pass.  This result is the exact opposite of what we hear at home about Muslim ideoligical predisposition – that only a tiny minority are “radical”, and the rest are as American as apple pie.  The truth is quite the opposite.

As long as we insist on training natives of a basically hostile Islamic culture to fight on our behalf, a strict vetting process is required.  Doing anything less is the same as training and equipping our enemy to fight against us.

ISIS claims they recruit 60 in one day HERE.

Is such training cost effective?  It is just about as cost effective as training the Mexican drug cartels to be US border patrol agents.

Greece’s Declaration of Independence…

Yes, I know, I know.  It was a “liberal”, “left-wing” government that pulled off the “NO” (OXI) vote in Greece.*  And pulled it off with more than 60% of the voters saying “no.”

But still, their quest for independence from what they consider the  fiscally oppressive thumb of the European Central Bank (ECB) is somewhat inspirational in spite of their irresponsible, fiscally debilitating socialist policies.

Austerity has been imposed by Germany and the European Union for 5 years now.  And with more severe austerity measures as Europe’s “preferred” option, Greece chose independence instead.  It will come, perhaps at an even higher cost, but it will come.  And the question that also needs to be asked:  Will this mean greater independence for the Greek people or just for the Greek government?

Whatever the outcome, what Greece has done relative the the European Union reminds me of what many US states would like to do relative to the US Federal government.  The only difference in the US is that the states most desirous of greater independence from an oppressive Federal government comprise the most fiscally responsible and financially well off.  But the overall spirit of independence in the two scenarios is very similar.

The size of Greece relative to the size of Europe is similar to the size of the average US state compared to the entire United States.  The means of governance between the individual European nations is different than in the US, but the fiscal ties that bind, their monetary and taxing systems are equally all-encompassing and oppressive.  The demands of the Eurozone on the fiscal constraints on Greece had become as onerous as the Federal tax system in the US.

The consequences of the Greek “declaration of independence” will be painful to the Greek people.  But what quest for independence doesn’t come with some pain and extra effort?

This action might very well be the stimulus, the motivation, the inspiration that the people, businesses and government of Greece need to revive an entrepreneurial and hard working spirit – the absence of which created their fiscal downward spiral to begin with.

The Greeks were tired of the paternalism of Europe's fiscal constraints.  I am happy for them that they have taken steps to break free and try to make it on their own.  I wish them the best.

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*Footnote:

Differences between the meaning of “Left” and “Right”, “Liberal” and “Conservative” between Europe are often different in Europe than in the US.

In Europe, Right/or Conservative most often refers to  neo-fascist, authoritarian, or dictatorial regimes promoting ultra-nationalistic agendas.

In the US, Right/ or Conservative most often refers to greater individual liberties and smaller government.

In Europe, Left/or Liberal most often refers to greater liberties and democratic policies while in the US it most often refers to fewer liberties and more socialistic and bigger governments.