Dec 16^th

The spectacle has come and gone; “…full of sound and fury signifying nothing.” What has changed? Nothing much has changed. It is clearer now that Trump and Cruz have not yet decided on mortal combat, or indeed combat of any other kind. Carly Fiorina, having nothing new to say, played the “girl” card again by quoting Margaret Thatcher who quipped that men talk, but women do. Christie remains pumped in New Hampshire as a result of the “Union Leader” recommendation. Now he also wants to shoot down Russian planes if they enter a no fly zone he would declare. Marco Rubio got the better of Ted Cruz in their exchange about electronic surveillance because now it seems that the appropriate Senate committee overseeing these things is checking out Cruz’s assertions. Rubio had said the he didn’t think Cruz’s comments revealing what is now being done should be broadcast to fifteen million people. The Senate Intelligence Committee might agree. Does Cruz have any friends in the Senate? Not really, you have to go over to the other body, to Congressman Steven King of Iowa who says that, “Cruz is the answer to my prayers.” Stay tuned for the Senate Intelligence Committee’s verdict about Cruz’s possible naughtiness.

The bright light, or maybe “lite” because he hasn’t been doing well at all in the polls, was Lindsey Graham, the Senator form South Carolina. He was witty and not at all in agreement about banning all Muslims from the country. He pointed out that many Muslims are serving in our military and that banning their co-religionists is a stupid move. Senator Graham was a “bird” colonel in the Air force Reserve (now retired) and he has had a few, very few, active duty assignments overseas. He is an attorney and served in the Adjutant General’s department. His service certainly does not qualify him as an expert on military matters. That doesn’t stop him from presenting his opinions. He is a politician after all!

We come to the coalition of those now fighting ISIL. Even Saudi Arabia is involved in the bombing but only of Shia Muslims because the Saudis are Sunni Muslims (Wahhabi Sunnis, a very strict variant of Sunnism.). This is an important difference. The Saudi Kingdom has the despised (by us) Sharia Law. If you visit Saudi Arabia you will be subject to Sharia law just as you would be in ISIL controlled territory. If you are gay you will have your head cut off; if you steal something you will have your hand cut off. The difference between the punishment for various “crimes” in Saudi Arabia and those in ISIL controlled territory is none at all. Keep in mind that most of the 9/11 hijackers were Saudi citizens. We can count on the Saudi Arabian air force to bomb targets just so long as the targets are Shia Muslims. Note that Iran is primarily Shia Muslim. The ISIL people are Sunni and like the Saudis willing to quickly chop up any Shia apostate they run across. Maybe we should just leave them alone to settle this among themselves.