All posts by pleasethink1

HOW HATRED WINS


Two things we have learned from the terror attacks in Israel and the reaction against the Hamas animals is that the impact of post-modern philosophy is almost complete. Past decades of indoctrination have taught that there are no consequences for actions. Hamas knew that Israel would retaliate and that the Arab propaganda machines would pump out lies about what the IDF was doing. It was Israels apartheid government that caused the attack, untrue.  It was Israels occupation that caused the attack, untrue. It was always Israels fault that the Palestinians do not have a country, untrue. We have been told for years that if only Israel would accept a two-state solution the Palestine problem would be settled, untrue as the two-state solution has been presented several times and rejected by the Arabs but accepted by Israel.  This is all part of post-modern deconstruction

Next, we see linguistic manipulation. For the propaganda to work the Arabs must make you believe that what you are seeing is false and the reality is what they tell you. In order to do this, they must twist activities. Apartheid as was mentioned is in fact prevalent in Gaza, the West Bank, and most Arab countries. Israel is in fact a free nation. Jewish is the official religion but that does not stop others, such as Muslims from freely practicing their religion. Arabs own their own businesses and are judges and members of the Knesset. The Jews are also called occupiers and colonizers. The region has established Jewish roots going back almost 4000 years. The name Palestine came from the Romans when they occupied the area. Palestine was never a country but a province of Rome. To say Palestine will be free is a poor message as there is no country, now or in the past, called Palestine. Therefore, there is no ethnicity called Palestinian, they are Arabs.  

Another term used is oppressors. Israel has never oppressed the Arab population in fact the only ones oppressing the Arabs in Gaza is Hamas. This is, however, an interesting word to use now. An offshoot of post-modernism is Critical Race Theory (CRT).  The main thrust of CRT has been that there are two entities in the world, the oppressed and the oppressor. Ignoring fact, the left’s propaganda machine has turned on the victims of hate and they are now oppressors. This is like blaming southern blacks for Jim Crow laws. If you open your mind and learn the facts of history, you will see a number of other ways that language has been used to obscure facts.

Anti-Semitism


As Israel moves to secure its border and ensure its safety, members of congress and others around the country continue to support the Palestinian terrorist. Rep. Rashida Tlaio, a member of the far-left radical group known as “The Squad” has even gone so far as to put a Palestinian flag outside her office on Capitol Hill. There is now concern about the spread of anti-semitism around the world which should not come as a shock to anyone as anti-semitism has never really gone away. What needs to be explored, is how many people can be pulled into a narrative so deadly that supports a murderous organization like HAMAS and vilifies those who were victims.

What must be understood is that the West has been moving away from the philosophical and cultural roots which have allowed it to grow and thrive. To be more specific we are not moving away but being pushed.  The west has moved through stages of philosophical and religious belief systems. Most recently The Modern or better known as the Enlightenment area which encompassed the growth of the individual as the center of government and social organization is being replaced by a series of teachings loosely called post-modernism.

Without getting into an explanation of post-modernism lets focus on the one aspect that is relevant today, linguistic manipulation. Propaganda has always used linguistic manipulation to cause misdirection and support misinformation campaigns today is no different. Israel has been called an occupier, a colonizer and an apartheid state, none of which is true. Further aspects of this are the claim that an Israeli missile hit a hospital and caused 500 deaths, again not true. This last was reported by the mainstream media, and retracted later but without an apology. Then it was spoken about on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives but this time without the retraction. MS Talib has said there is no clear indication of who did it and must be accepted unless there is a third-party investigation on the ground which she knows is impossible. HAMA and their allies speak of a humanitarian crisis in Gaza but fail to acknowledge it was them who instigated the crisis and that they could end it by releasing the 200+ hostages they are holding.

The truth has been put out and ignored by many. On elite campuses we see students demonstrating and rioting. On the campus of Cooper Union in NYC Jewish students had to hid from the rioters. They were hidden in the attic of the library, think Ann Frank. Large rally’s have been held with the slogan “From the River to the Sea Palestine will be free,” a chant that only rhymes in English. We must ignore the propaganda and linguistic manipulation and just fast facts and truths. .

PleaseThink for yourselves

If No One is Above the Law…


Once again, the left is truing to extract a pound of flesh from Donald Trump. The special prosecutor for DoJ has indicted Trump on seven counts of something, we do not know what yet. The powers that be do not yet understand that every time they do this they boost Trumps numbers and drive more independent voters towards him. The problem many have is trying to figure out why there is a double standard for left and right. The incident that drove this indictment began in August of 2022 with a raid on Trumps Mar-a-Lago compound by the FBI. In that raid it is alluded that a number of classified documents were discovered that should have been given to the national archives for storage. Trump has argued that the documents were declassified when he was POTUS and therefore did not need to be transferred out. This is an important point to keep in mind.

Without deciding on Trumps guilt, we have to ask a few questions. Why was Hillary Clinton not indicted for keeping classified documents on her private laptop and further had transferred documents to her aid which she kept on a laptop she shared with her husband who was a convicted felon? What is the status of any investigation into Joe Biden keeping classified documents in his garage and other locations FOR YEARS.            Why did the FBI have evidence that Joe Biden may have been involved in criminal activity as VP up to and including taking bribes and did nothing until a whistleblower told congress and then tried to stone wall any investigation? Why did the FBI hold onto a laptop that may have incriminating evidence on Hunter Biden and refused to even acknowledge its existence until forced to. Why did high ranking members of the intelligence community declare that the laptop was fake and/or a disinformation campaign from the Russians when they knew the opposite was true?  These and many other examples are indicative of selective prosecution and investigations, which have caused the people to lose faith in the government.

Now back to the part that Trump felt he had declassified the documents which is way when asked if he had any he said no. Hillary was excused for her mishandling classified documents through a legal concept of “Mens Rea.’ This is a principle used when a person breaks the law but did not understand that they broke the law.

The selective prosecution of Trump is making the U.S. look like a third world nation. As some may argue that no one is above the law, that means .no one. DoJ must answer way the above and other cases are being ignored.

Public Accommodation


There has been much discussion recently over Public Accommodation. The news has been filled with the story of a website designer who refused to accept a job from LGBTQ+ customers, citing religious objections. This is the most recent cause célèbre that found its way onto the supreme court docket and was argued yesterday. Dec 5th. At the center of the debate is whether a business can refuse service or is bound to provide service based on the public accommodation law.

This case follows a similar one in 2018, which also argued against the Colorado public accommodation law,that found for a baker who refused to use his talents to bake a cake for a same sex couple based on religious belief. The opinion of this last case was a narrow one based on the hostility shown during legal proceedings to the baker’s religious views.

The question to answer is. What is Public Accommodation. Under federal law it is:

 42 U.S.C. §2000a (a)All persons shall be entitled to the full and equal enjoyment of the goods, services, facilities, privileges, advantages, and accommodations of any place of public accommodation, as defined in this section, without discrimination on the ground of race, color, religion, or national origin. 42 U.S.C.

The Colorado law does go deeper into the class of persons, to include:

CO Rev Stat § 24-34-601 (2016) “An individual or a group, because of disability, race, creed, color, sex, sexual orientation, marital status, national origin, or ancestry.”

I do believe in enforcing public accommodation laws. The concept of public accommodation lives deep in the heart of America. But there are limits when it comes to individual talent. I was against the Colorado baker feeling it was a violation of public accommodation until I found out the couple was asking for him to design a unique cake using his individual talents. This changed the tenor of the argument to forcing someone to sell not just a product but part of themselves. Had the couple asked for the Number “9” cake that would have fallen under public accommodation but when it went to asking the individual to provide his expertise which violated his individual belief, that went too far.

The same argument applies to the web designer. If she had standard templates and just added names, then she could not refuse service. To design an individual and unique web page requires her to apply her own talents and imagination. This should not be under public accommodation.

So, since I said I agree with the concept of public accommodation then let’s discuss how it should be applied.

In June of 2018, President Trumps Press Secretary, Sara Huckabee Sanders was refused service and asked to leave the Red Hen restaurant in Lexington, Va. because she worked for Trump. This week a restaurant in Richmond Va. canceled a reserved party less then two hours before the start because the group, the Family Foundation, was perceived as anti-LGBTQ and staff said they felt uncomfortable and unsafe serving them. Neither Sanders nor the Family Foundation asked for any special accommodation and ordered off the menu. The refusal to serve these groups is in direct confrontation to the sprit of public accommodation. In theory this does not violate the Virginia law – § 2.2-3904. Nondiscrimination in places of public accommodation – since there is nothing in the law that mentions political affiliation – other then sexual orientation and gender identity.

These last two however do violate the sprit of the law and flies in the face of American culture. There has been a long hard fight over the last 50 years to ensure anyone, who is not breaking the law, can go to any business and get what the business offers. The history of America also fights for the individual. You cannot discriminate just because you do not like someone, but the government cannot force you to perform a unique function against your wishes.

Democrat Hypocrisy


Among the headlines in the Washington Post this morning was “Trump’s dinner with antisemites provides test of GOP response to extremism.” While I agree that the dinner was wrong, even if Trump did not know who Nick Fuentes was, he knows Kanye West (now Ke) is an antisemite having made a series of antisemitic statements. I also have to question Trumps staff for not stepping in before the dinner

This all, however, brings up the hypocrisy of the democrats and the news media.  Where was the outrage over the statements of congresswoman Ilhan Omar and her fellow congressional antisemite congress woman Rashida Tlaib? The House under Democrat control has failed time and again to censor their actions or statements.

If we are to stand against evil, we must be ready to do so without prejudice. Antisemitism is evil, racism is evil, white supremacy is evil, and it does not matter the political affiliation. You cannot take the moral high ground if you are willing to ignore immoral acts based on politics. Wrong is wrong in all cases, not just in the third person, our side is right only their side is wrong.

Trump, the Press and the coming election


“You furnish the pictures and I will furnish the war.” This famous anecdote was attributed to William Randolph Hearst when the illustrator Frederick Remington, whom Hurst had sent to Cuba to cover the revolution, wired that there is no war and he would like to come home. I bring this up to illustrate the power a corrupt press has over the people. We are entering the next phase of elections which will result in the 2024 Presidential election as well as the second House election since Joe Biden has assumed office.

Many who had hoped for a red wave this past cycle are obviously disappointed yet should not be surprised. While part of the problem can be laid at the feet of the Republican party for putting up weak candidates, we must not forget the role the press plays in shaping public opinion.

The main stream media played up Trump in every possible way as the spawn of the devil and the democrats pushed this narrative with all their might. While polls showed most Americans where not buying into the Dems narrative of any Republican victory meant the end of Democracy, they could not escape the constant drum beat of Trump, Trump, Trump being the end of the world as we know it.

I can blame Trump for many things that have happened in the past. He was never a leader from a political perspective. When the Covid-19 pandemic hit he should have led by example by, at least, wearing a mask. He did however lead by increasing the number of respirators available, moving hospital ships to high population areas and rushing the development of a vaccine. The press however concentrated on his being an arrogate ass and putting himself out there seeming to be on the side of those who refused to take the pandemic seriously.

There are those who are attempting to rehabilitate Trumps image by putting out on social media actually facts that showed Trumps successes such as reviving the economy and reducing unemployment, increasing the number of minority businesses and more. Theses are the things ignored by the MSM, if it could not be ignored at least it was minimized.  

For all the real good Trump did he will never overcome what the press has done to him. I am sorry to say that I cannot support Trump in his attempt to regain the White House, I would vote for him if he gets the nomination but I am very afraid he is coming with too much baggage and will hurt the republican party in the long run.

The Republican party needs to get a much larger portion of the middle road and Trump cannot do that this time around. The press will never allow the truth to come out and the right does not have the proper outlets to overcome that.

Why Has Biden Turned on the Kurds


During the Presidential election of 2020 I saw may Kurds attack Trump for abandoning Syria Kurds and stating with no uncertainty that Biden was a friend of the Kurds and would support them no matter what, including a new independence derive. I also had Kurdish friends, like Chiman Akrawi, who tried to explain that Biden was just another politician who only said what was popular to a group at a particular time.

Today we see the result of this misplaced trust. While saying they oppose any intervention by Turkey in Syria, they have signaled that they will not go very far in trying to stop it. While I was disappointed in Trump’s actions, and said so on many occasions, he in fact never said he would do anything different.

Today those of us. Like Chiman Akrawi and I, get no pleasure in saying we told you so. Turkey will  invade Syria and kill hundreds of Kurds in the name of counterterrorism, and the world will do nothing. Just like the killing of Kurds in Iran and Turkish attacks in Iraq, the world will ring its hands and say how terrible this all is, and do nothing.

A post I wrote in the past may help us understand:

https://wordpress.com/post/pleasethink1.com/474

Khalaf Zebari


Recently the University of Duhok in Iraqi Kurdistan renamed Kalaf Zebari hall to Peshmerga Hall. For those who do not know the Peshmerga are the military that has defended the Kurdish region from both external attacks and internal such as Saddam Hussein’s military and most recently ISIS. Khalafe Zebari on the other was a Kurdish intellectual, who also happened to be a former Peshmerga fighter. This change has caused considerable consternation in the region. While it is understood that it is right and proper to honor the Peshmerga who have sacrificed much for the Kurdish people, why remove the name of an honored intellectual and poet who himself sacrificed for the Kurdish people. Having uprooted himself and his family several times, first to escape the tyranny of the Saddam era then to secure a future for his family in the US. Lastly, he once again uprooted his entire family to move to Washington DC to begin Voice of America Kurdish broadcasts.

This last gave great comfort to the Kurdish people, not only in Iraq but Turkey, Syria and Iran. Bringing news, information and hope to the suppressed people of Kurdistan. Joining him was his wife, Chiman, who in addition to VoA worked with a number of US and international agencies supporting Kurdish and regional refugee programs as well as US government operations in the region.  I’ve known Chiman Zebari for a decade and have worked with her closely so I know her loyalty for her people.  My interest in this began as I read posts on Chiman’s FB page. While I do not read Kurdish and the google translations leave much to be desired, I understood the gist of the story.

While, as said. it is right to honor those Peshmerga who gave so much. There are a number of ways to do this, and they have been done throughout the Kurdish region. The University of Duhok, being an institute of higher education must not forget the contributions made by the poets and intellectuals. Return the name of this man who gave so much to support the intellectual freedom of the Kurds.  

Does America Have a Representative Government?


The House Select Committee on the January 6th riots held a professionally produced TV event, the result of which, to no one’s surprise, placed the blame for the attack on the capitol building on Donald Trump.  This result was a foregone conclusion from the outset of the hearings. The committee was designed to come to this conclusion from and by packing the so called “bipartisan” committee. The committee and the mass media have continued to call this event an attack on the foundation of democracy. They proceeded through the night to present evidence to back up their claim. The problem is that most of what they called evidence would likely not be allowed in a court of law in any democratic country.

Evidence implies facts and the facts are well known. On January 6th of 2021 a riot broke out in front of the Capitol building and proceeded into the building itself. No one denies this. The riot and subsequent assaults were and are criminal. There have been several arrests and convictions related to this. The problem now comes as we leave the world of evidence and enter the world of fantasy. While fantasy may be a harsh word, we could use assumption or conspiracy. Regardless of what you wish to call it, the intent is to prove Trump was responsible and controlled events. To this end there is no evidence, no facts to point to.

There have been civilian attacks on the government since the very beginning of the country. Shay’s Rebellion, The Whiskey Rebellion, John Brown at Harpers Ferry, The anti-war riots and race riots of the 1960’s. The list goes on and on. In 2011 union activist attacked and occupied the Wisconsin Capitol Building, which Nancy Pelosi called true democracy in action. Most recently we have seen a number of race riots directed by the Black Lives Matter movement, which have resulted in death and the destruction of businesses and other personal property. The congress has done nothing about those criminal acts and DOJ did nothing but try to blame whole police departments.

As I said what happened on Jan 6th 2021 was criminal and an insult to America. The reaction of congress however is far beyound what should have been done. The fact is that what the majority in congress has done has taken a criminal act of a few and turned it into a political drum beat. The way in which the Jan 6th committee has acted is so transparently partisan that it is insulting. From the beginning the majority attempted to ignore the facts and went after Trump through an impeachment that was doomed to fail and whose only reason was to keep Trump from running again. The special select committee is also an attempt to stop Trump and anyone who thinks of following him from regaining any power. In fact the actions of the left and this committee have done just the opposite by keeping Trump in the news. It is time to return to the age of reason were reason and reality are objective. The way that the truth has been ignored by the left indicates that they consider reason and reality to be subjective. They twist and turn every fact or rumor into what ever they what it to be and hope that the people will be fooled. This committee has been seated for over a year and has in fact come up with nothing, however their report will be issued sometime in September, just in time to impact the midterm elections.

The true attack on Democracy is a representative government that has stopped representing the people and is only concerned with partisan politics. Lets spend time and money on addressing the problems that currently face all Americans.

Roe V Wade


To begin, I believe life begins at conception. I believe that there are circumstances where pregnancies can and should be aborted such as rape, incest or for medical reasons. I have never been sure of Roe v. Wade as the correct way to handle the abortion issue or should it reside in the states. I am sure however that the response we are seeing to a leaked preliminary report is a further indication of how far we as a nation have fallen

The most troubling response has come from our political leaders. Raising up and declaring SCOTUS is not properly responding to the wishes of the people and using the time worn attack that this is going to bring democracy down. Courts have never and should never be conduits of popular opinion. Yes laws change over time, responding to changing social conditions, but this is evolutionary. By saying that once the Supreme Court rules that is the end of all further discussions. The court has overturned past rulings and likely will continue to do so. Plessy v. Ferguson found that separate but equal education was constitutional upholding the concept of segregation and Jim Crow laws. This was then settled law from 1896 until 1954 when segregation was ruled unconstitutional in the Brown v. The Board of Education ruling.

Before Roe v. Wade abortion was not a “constitutional right” nor was it universally illegal. Until then it was up to individual states to determine, as well as individual choice in states where it was legal. Roe v. Wade determined the constitutionality based on the 9th amendment arguing that if it not a right denied in the constitution it is the peoples right. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg while supporting the spirit of Roe said it was founded on the wrong argument. When it is reargued, and it will be, it will be under the 14th amendment’s equal protection clause.

Why has this situation engendered such passion? To put abortion in perspective about .009% of woman between 15 and 49 get abortions on average per year. However both sides of the argument have taken it to extremes. On one side we say that any abortion is murder and have gone to the extreme of some now saying they wish to ban contraceptives and things like Plan B. On the other side we say, “My Body, My Choice.” This argument goes all the way up to the concept of partial birth abortions.

Both extremes are unworkable and will do nothing but continue to wreak havoc on America. Both side have to learn the art of compromise and understand that they will not get everything they want.