A New Year Aspiration 2015*

For all that is so fair and good, 
For all our daughters and sons, 
We give our thanks and cheer today at nights' last 
hour come. 

For tomorrow is another day and there is hope all will be well, 
We pray God's continued blessing, 
for all that this New Year tell. 


* Original poem by Lawrence S. Schneiderman first published January 2011.

Hillary Rodham Clinton: Schizophrenic, Delusional, Deceiver, and Dangerous

ISIS beheads an American Journalist, and televises the atrocity for the entire world to see. ISIS seizes a Syrian military airport – now they have an Air Force. India is repelling Pakistan aggression yet again. Hamas continues its attack on Israeli civilians, and whines like babies when Israel defends its citizens. Russia for all practical purposes invades eastern Ukraine. Islamist terrorist, Boko Haram, in sub-Sahara Africa, murder, rape, enslave Christians. Iran continues its pursuit of nuclear weapons. Libya is a terrorist state. And, ad nauseam.

What is the point of this piece? The point is that we never forget what the mainstream media and Washington élites want us to forget – and that is, who is instrumentally responsible for this horrific mess. The United States Secretary of State, from 2009 to 2013, Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Hillary Clinton, who is attempting to distance herself from the Obama Administration’s foreign policy, recently said she wanted to arm the "Syrian Freedom Fighters" in the earlier stages of the Syrian civil war. She posits that this would have stopped ISIS from becoming the terrorist organization it is today. Does she still not understand "who" these freedom fighters were? Apparently she does not.

In other words, the clueless and pathological deceiver Mrs. Clinton says she wanted to give U.S. weapons to ISIS. ISIS was the vast majority of "Freedom Fighters" from the start in Syria. Make no mistake of that. On top of that, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on March 27, 2011, that the U.S. would not intervene militarily in Syria as it did in Libya, and drew a distinction between Libya's Muammar Qaddafi and Syria's Bashar Assad. The latter, she explained, is seen as “a reformer.” Until that narrative proved to be false. Thereafter, she wanted his head. This was not foreign policy – this was schizophrenia.

In 2010 Mrs. Clinton, along with her boss Mr. Obama, supported the Hamas flotilla to bring weapons and military supplies to Gaza. She joined the contemptuous UN çakals, to condemn Israel and not the Islamic terrorist group Hamas. Mrs. Clinton, then - Secretary of State, posited that the Gaza blockade by Israel was "unsustainable and unacceptable." As Mona Charen has astutely observed, "the Obama administration and Mrs. Clinton has consistently found little to criticize in our adversaries and everything to mock and disdain in our friends."

Mrs. Clinton supported the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt. The Muslim Brotherhood is a terrorist organization. It was the primary supporter of Hamas, another terrorist organization. Its slogan is “Islam is the solution.” The Brotherhood’s stated goal is to instill the Qur’an and Sharia Law as the foundations of an Islamic government. An Islamic government under Sharia Law cannot be good for Mrs. Clinton’s Women’s Crusade. Yet, she supported them! 

Mrs. Clinton, the person who wants to lead the free world, believes that our intervention in Libya was 'a good thing.' Indeed, Benghazi was a good thing! On September 11, 2012, an Islamic terrorist group, Ansar al-Sharia, in Benghazi, murdered the United States Ambassador to Libya and three other Americans. At no time did Libyan security forces intervene to protect U.S. personnel or property in accordance with International Law.

More importantly, Mrs. Clinton did nothing. In fact, she deep-six requests for military support to save the life of her Ambassador and the men who tried to save him. In the 2008 Presidential Election Campaign, Mrs. Clinton asked the American people: "It's 3 a.m., and your children are safe and asleep ... But there's a phone in the White House, and it's ringing ... who do you want answering the phone?" Mrs. Clinton got that phone call. It was not 3 a.m., but 3 p.m. in the afternoon. And, she was not in the White House, but the State Department. Mrs. Clinton didn't answer that call. Rather, she preferred to let Americans be murdered. Unfortunately for the American people, with Mrs. Clinton domestic politics is everything, and there was an election in two months. Do you really want Mrs. Clinton to take another phone call on behalf of the American people?

In short, Mrs. Clinton puts Americans in harm's way and leaves them to die, when it interferes with her political agenda. Then lies and destroys evidence to cover-up her despicable acts. Libya is a foreign policy failure. We removed a secular dictator, who had renounced terrorism and a nuclear weapons program, to give birth to an Islamic terrorist nation.

Mrs. Clinton’s standing in the Obama Administration can be briefly summarized. On the one hand, it may be argued that Mrs. Clinton being appointed by Barack Obama was obligated to carryout his policies. Yet, on the other hand, Mrs. Clinton was Mr. Obama’s principle foreign policy advisor. The US Secretary of State is responsible for setting the foreign policy agenda and implementing the chosen options. Failure is failure. Moreover, if Mrs. Clinton was vehemently opposed to Mr. Obama’s policies – she could have resign.

She did not resign. She did not even take exception to the Obama Administration's foreign policy. She was a principle actor in the Benghazi cover-up. She can run, but she can't hide. Her guilt as an architect of today's world chaos is undeniable, except to the delusional.

Obama Brings Ebola to the U.S.

You think the Obama Administration wants to “Change,” err destroy America? Well, if you weren’t sure by now, you just got your answer – Yes!

Opening up the southern border to communicable diseases, Mexican Drug Cartels, and Islamic Jihadist wasn't quite doing it. So now Mr. Obama takes the unprecedented decision to bring Ebola, the world's most deadly communicable disease, to the United States and the North American Continent.

Why? For the purpose, we were told, of "potentially" saving two U.S. citizens. Who on arrival, are not near death's door, but are in “serious but stable condition.” In fact, video of the first to arrive, Dr. Kent Brantly, showed him not on a stretcher, but walking in a hazmat suit from the ambulance that transported him to Emory University Hospital, Atlanta, Georgia. He is the first person, ever, to be infected with the Ebola virus to be on U.S. soil.

But Government officials and health experts tell us not to be worried. CDC Director, Dr. Tom Frieden, explained the infected patients pose little risk to others. Then why have over one hundred health workers in Africa, in biohazard suits been infected?

Dr. Frieden further proffers that "these are American citizens. American citizens have a right of return.”  From the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), a federal agency of the Department of Health and Human Services, whose primary mission is to protect the health and safety of the nation through disease prevention and control, this is an alarming statement. In other words, an American citizen has the “right” to return to the United States with the world’s deadliest communicable disease.

The CDC, it should be noted, was originally an agency within the U.S. Public Health Service (USPHS). The USPHS was founded 1798. Its earliest mission was the care of sick and disabled seamen in USPHS established hospitals. But more significantly to the matter at hand, in 1878, the USPHS mission was expanded to take on control of infectious diseases, including quarantine, which previously had been a state function. As immigration increased, in the late 19^th century, the USPHS took on the responsibility.

Yet today, the Director of the CDC proclaims that a U.S. citizen has a “right” to return to the United States, to a hospital of his/her choosing with the world’s deadliest communicable disease – Ebola. No Government quarantine required.

Today we learn that a Tennessee doctor, Alan Jamison MD, working at the same Liberian clinic as Dr. Kent Brantly, returned home to Morristown, Tenn., after he was evacuated from Liberia by the aid group he was volunteering (for). Dr. Jamison, a retired pediatrician, says he's "well" and asymptomatic. Apparently, Dr. Jamison has put himself in quarantine in his home. I guess the Obama Administration did not get the memo on who is responsible in this county to quarantine an individual for communicable diseases. That was not meant as a joke.

Finally, today, Dr. Frieden lectured the American public that he ‘certainly hopes people’s fear doesn’t trump their compassion.’ Where have we heard that “compassion” thing recently? Yes, in conjunction with the massive illegal immigration on our Nation’s southern border. I wonder if the Obama Administration is following U.S. Code, Section 34.3 of 42 CFR Part 34[1]? Should not Dr. Frieden be concerned that thousands of illegal immigrants from Central America are not only on American soil, but are being dispersed to all parts of the United States?

Still, we are told not to worry. The United States Public Health Service, Centers for Disease Control (CDC) will be there to ensure our safety. Never mind that just in the last months, the CDC: 

1.             Mishandled live anthrax;

2.            Misplaced live smallpox;

3.            Mislabeled influenza virus that had been cross-contaminated 
         with the highly deadly H5NI strain of bird flu.

Words escape me to describe the pandemic potential this moronic and inept decision by the Obama Administration can bring to the America people. And who stands between a catastrophic pandemic and us? The CDC and the Obama Administration.

If this doesn't bring America to its senses (remove Obama), than maybe it is time that the surplus population is removed. 

Author: Lawrence S. Schneiderman is a Capt. USPHS (Ret.), an International Consultant, and Dr. of Public Policy, Vanderbilt University. The views expressed are his own.

---

[1] This provision provides specific screening and testing requirements for diseases that meet the definition of a communicable disease of public health significance.

Occam’s Razor: Understanding Malaysian Airline Disasters

Malaysian Airlines Flight 370 (MH 370) disappeared March 8, 2014 (MYT) or March 7, 2014 (UTC), less than an hour after takeoff from Kula Lumpur (Capital of Malaysia) en route to Beijing, China (Capital of China), with 227 passengers and a crew of 12. An historic multi-nation search effort has failed to find one smidgen of flight debris, and no crash site has been found.

Now, four months later, Malaysian Airlines Fight 17 (MH 17), on July 17, 2014 (UTC), at 14:15 (GMT), en route to Kuala Lumpur from Amsterdam (Capital of the Netherlands), with 283 passengers and a crew of 15, crashes in Eastern Ukraine after being shot down by a Russian BUK surface-to-air-missile (SAM).

The question must be asked, what do these two disasters have in common. In this case, the simplest explanation is the best. The principle of Occam’s razor can be applied in this particular context. What these events have in common is Malaysia and Malaysian Airlines.

Why would Malaysian Airlines allow one of its commercial airliners to fly over an air-space where only a few days before a Ukrainian military transport was shot down by a SAM, at high altitude? We know that other commercial airlines such as Qantas and Korean Airlines have changed their normal flight paths to avoid this area.

Why would the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), an United Nations (UN) organization, Euro Control, the European Union Brussels-based agency that coordinates air traffic in Europe, and Ukrainian Air Traffic Control, not restrict commercial air traffic and overflying to this area in eastern Ukraine?

Other countries without jurisdiction have issued warnings and restriction to their carriers. For example, the United Kingdom’s Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) on June 14^th of this year, urged airlines to avoid overflying the Crimean and parts of southeastern Ukraine due to safety concerns. The United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued a similar advisory on April 23^rd of this year. Yet, Malaysia and Malaysian Airlines choose to ignore these advisories.

Again, we must ask why? And again, we apply Occam’s razor. It's simple. It's incompetence and stupidity. It’s time to recognize that incompetent officials govern Malaysia. They delayed the search for MH 370 and then issued misleading and false information. I would aver that their obfuscation and misdirection was to escape liability for the incompetence and/or sabotage of their crew and airline officials, or to hide the fact that its Captain and Islamic jihadist hijacked the airliner.

Now, MH 17 is put in harm’s way, directly overflying an active combat zone where SAMs, only a few days before, brought down a high altitude military transport. This incompetence and pleonexia is to what end? To save a few “bucks” on fuel costs!

The western governments and media wish you to believe the downing of MH 17 was: a war crime; a deliberate attack on a civilian commercial airliner; an act of war. It was none of these. It was an accident. It was a mistake. What would the Ukrainian rebels and their Russian master gain by shooting down a commercial airliner and 298 innocent people abroad? I cannot think of one good reason, with emphasis on the good.

*          *          *

Why am I talking about Malaysian Airlines? You should know by now.

Major western governments and the media, want you to think the disaster of MH 17 is all about Russia and Vladimir Putin. While the avalanche of pronouncements by world leaders and followers, fills the airwaves and sells newsprint with bloody laundry, it is in fact window dressing -- pour la galerie. Its purpose is to cover-up the plethora of foreign policy failures across the planet.

Vladimir Putin is a man of his time. He is what he is – a Russian nationalist, a KGB apparatchik, an Orthodox Christian. He is certainly a lot more, but that is the essence of the man.

He is also the one of the luckiest men in history! His good fortunate is to have Barack Hussein Obama as President of the United States of America.

His mission is clear. It is to resurrect Russia as a major world power, and to resurrect, to the extent the West permits, the Soviet Union (USSR). Mr. Putin has accomplished the former, and is on his way to bring about a significant portion of the later given the leadership in the West. It was logical that Russia would reassert itself on the world stage, especially in the power vacuum created by the Obama Administration. What we are witnessing is no less than a first in world history. Under Barack Hussein Obama, the number one super-power in the world is neutralizing itself – Mr. Putin doesn’t have to do a thing.

It has been Mr. Obama’s goal since taking office on January 20, 2009, to “change” America’s preeminence in world affairs. Examples are: going on tour to apologize to the World; relinquishing a European antimissile-system and get nothing in return; leading from behind in Libya; precipitously pulling troops out of Iraq without a stable political solution; dismantling your country’s defense budget resulting in critical reductions in the nation’s defensive capability; supporting Islamic terrorism such as the Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas, Hezbollah, and Iran; allowing Iran to embarrass the United Sates with tripe and disingenuous negotiations; obfuscating the severe damage done by Benghazi; spying on our allies; and lying – lying to everybody.

*          *          *

World order is in tumult. And none is more so than the southern boarder of the United States of America. America is in peril from the horde of illegal undocumented aliens crossing our southern border from Mexico. The dangers are not inconsequential. They include: communicable diseases; national security; Islamic terrorism; economic collapse; and the essence of being a nation.

*          *          *

Indeed, for Russia, China, and Islamic Jihadist, it’s all too easy. Who needs missiles or even suicide boomers when you have Mr. Obama and his Democratic Party, America’s political class, European Socialist elitist, and the free world’s mass media? 

Author: Lawrence S. Schneiderman is an International Consultant and Dr. of Public Policy, Vanderbilt University. The views expressed are his own.

Iraq: There Was A Solution

The World today is parlously endangered. Barack Obama is President, and most likely will continue to be for another two and one-half years. In our time -- that is a long time. Add an incompetent, unqualified, and pathologically stupid State Department and National Security team, one should conclude that the world would remain in tumult.

As I wrote on this Blog since 2007, aka I told you so, Iraq is an artificial State. To believe that Kurds, Sunni, and Shi’a can live peacefully together contradicts realty. The solution to the Iraqi civil war is to construct a new compact. That new compact will be the partition of Iraq into three distinct States. 

A Kurdistan Solution for Iraq

20 October 2006

http://thegreygrater.blogspot.com/2007/06/kurdistan-solution-for-iraq.html

Iraq War III

11 December 2011

http://thegreygrater.blogspot.com/2011/12/iraq-war-iii.html

Diplomatic Malpractice: Sectarian Violence In Iraq

25 July 2012

http://www.eurasiareview.com/25072012-diplomatic-malpractice-sectarian-violence-in-iraq/

It's Simple Logic: Obama Supports Terrorism

10 October 2013

http://thegreygrater.blogspot.com/2013/10/its-simple-logic-obama-supports.html

Inveterate Interventionism Is Bad Foreign Policy

23 October 2013

http://thegreygrater.blogspot.com/2013/10/inveterate-interventionism-is-bad.html

Where It’s At: Perspective for Memorial Day

26 May 2014

http://thegreygrater.blogspot.com/2014/05/where-its-at-perspective-for-memorial.html

It’s a broken record – still the vacuous denizens in the State Department and our National Security team will never listen to it. There are options – there are solutions. It doesn’t have to be this way, unless your intent is to destroy the United States and World Order. That begs the question, who has been educating these people, at Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Georgetown, Columbia, Dartmouth, and Denver University?

In my view, America has had enough. We have had it with Mr. Obama’s and Mrs. Clinton's and Mr. Kerry’s deceitful, pathetic, apologetic, naïve, and schizophrenic foreign policy. And, we had it with Mr. Bush’s and Ms. Rice’s foolish naive foreign policy, and mismanaged military campaigns restricted by absurd rules of engagement. If you go to war – you go to war. Moreover, trying to build a nation while conducting a war is a fool's errand. 

Not one more American needs to die to implement the failed policies of incompetent leadership.

Lawrence S. Schneiderman is an International Consultant and Dr. of Public Policy, Vanderbilt University. The views expressed are the author’s own.

Quisling: Private First Class Bowe Bergdahl

By all accounts, we are finding out that, Private First Class Bowe Bergdahl is a deserter and traitor to the United States of America. His words and deeds speak for themselves. Still, to fully understand and make sense of his and his family’s nature, you need to understand his pedigree: a Norwegian quisling.

Contemporary Norway is a duplicitous country. As Churchill observed in a speech at St. James’s Palace on June 12, 1941 – Norwegians are “a vile race of quislings* to use the new word which will carry the scorn of mankind down the centuries.”

Founded in the 11th century by King Olaf II, Norway was a frozen and isolated nation for 200 years. From the 13th century, the Danes ruled Norway until the 19th century. Afterwards, the Swedes took control under a union that lasted until 1905. Well, there you have it; they didn’t participate in the Renaissance, the Reformation, or even the Enlightenment. Is it any wonder that they admire Lenin and Stalinist Russia, the Soviet Union, Authoritarian Socialism, and Communism?

This is Norway, where not long ago (August 24, 2012), Anders Breivik murdered 77 people, and was sentenced to a mere 21 years in prison. But if you think the Norwegian penal system is no walk in the park – think again. His lawyers say, ‘Mr. Breivik will spend his confinement in a prison outside Oslo in a three-cell suite of rooms equipped with exercise equipment, a television, and a laptop, albeit one without Internet access.’ Oh my, the inhumanity! No Internet! In other words, you can without contrition gunned down 77 unarmed fellow citizens, the majority of which were children, and received only 21 years in prison, with benefits.

If, Alfred Nobel, a Swede, had not thrown the Norwegians the 5th portion of the Nobel Prize to administer (the other four belong to Sweden), we would most likely never hear from them again. But he did -- and so we do. And as a result, every year or so we have to put up with their insult, called the Nobel Peace Prize.

And now, in the embodiment of Private First Class Bowe Bergdahl, we are again reminded of Churchill’s spot on insight, they are “a vile race of quislings.”

*Vidkun Quisling, leader of Norway in 1940, who cooperated and collaborated with the Nazis when Germany invaded Norway in 1940.

Where It’s At: Perspective for Memorial Day

Don’t look now, but here is where it’s at.

We’ve had two Democrats and a Bush,

And the Soviet Union is back.

What to do, what to do,

How did we get so screwed?

We’ve had two Democrats and a Bush,

And the Soviet Union is back.

Journalism is dead.
We have a biased and pathologically stupid mainstream media.

Journalism is no longer a profession,

It’s been bought and sold for cheap.

It sucks up to power, only to be insulted.

It has become a puppet, a toady, a lackey.

It accepts lies and condescension,

As a child in search of praise.

Journalism is no longer a profession,

It has no ethics.
Journalism is dead.

We’ve had two Democrats and a Bush,

And the Soviet Union is back.

How could it happen so fast?

We’ve had two Democrats and a Bush,
We’ve had a Christopher, an Albright, a Rice, a Clinton, and a Kerry.

Someone tell the media, Obama needs to know.

The Soviet Union is back.

L.S. Schneiderman