AMERICA IS BACK....Plus 1 other thing.

As of yesterday's bombing of a Syrian Airfield the World has regained its Cop on the Block.

The strategic hit on the Syrian airfield that is alleged to have delivered the devastating chemical attack on their own peoples is an even better outcome than the one I proposed in my most recent Blog.  I had called for the complete elimination of Syria's ability to do this in the future but yesterday's strike will quite effectively do the trick as well.

Indeed it was the least possible action the United States could have taken and yet still have had the desired outcome.  

Good on President Trump and his advisers. 

Al-Assad now has the message and he will not make this mistake again....he realizes that he is no longer dealing the pacifist Barack Obama.  And this message has also gone out to the rest of the bad actors including: Russia, Iran, China and to the numerous other thugs and dictators.

The world can take a collective deep-breath.

That said, the Middle East will continue to be a fiery cauldron...Russia will remain inserted in the region and Iran will continue to foment unrest but the use of chemical weapons in this volatile area has come to an abrupt halt.

This is the first time in a long time that America has returned to the vision of John F. Kennedy as he expressed at his inauguration some 57 years ago:

"Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty." 

None of the above will take military action against America as a result of yesterday's attack nor will any of them take America for granted again as long as Donald Trump is President.  And when I say 'none of them'  I am of course speaking here of Totalitarian Countries like Iran and not about maniacal terrorist groups such as ISIS which appear to have a death wish.  

Plus One Other Thing:

The 'one other thing' is today's terrorist attack in Sweden. It is most reminiscent of the recent such attack in London England in proximity to their Parliament Buildings.

Today's attack is interesting for a few reasons.  When Donald Trump suggested in February 20/17 that all was not well with Muslim Immigration in Sweden, all hell broke out with the Swedish leadership uniformly condemning Trump's assertion and claiming that everything was A-OK.

And this in turn was followed by ordinary Swedes coming out in great numbers to counter what their leadership had try to portray.

Barely two days later the populace was vindicated when we saw riots occur in the immigrant precincts of Stockholm. 

And now today's attack.

Two things to learn from Sweden's experience, first, it really is not helpful to deny the obvious and second, these types of terrorist attacks though cowardly are virtually impossible to prevent.  

We'd better all just get used to them and in the best traditions of the Brits just 'carry on'.   

As I see it...

'K.D. Galagher'

WHERE HAS DONALD TRUMP BEEN LIVING....

UNDER A ROCK?

Even I at times have trouble defending President Trump ...take his comments yesterday about Syria's wicked President Bashar al-Assad following the gas attack on innocent civilians living in a rebel held city in Eastern Syria:

“My attitude toward Syria and Assad has changed very much.” said Trump.

Where dear reader has he been for this better part of the last decade?

It reminds me again of the famous line by Captain Renault in the classic movie Casablanca..."I'm shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on in here"  ... as a croupier is about to hand Renault his winnings]

How is it possible for anyone other than say Rip Van Winkle not to have known about the atrocities being committed by the infamous Assad?

Anyway, that's what Trump said and it is consistent with my reading of Trump from the beginning ...when confronted by evil...he will respond even though he professes to be an isolationist.

He is no isolationist rather it was Obama who followed that false ideology.  Indeed, had Obama lived up to his Red Line threat to Assad in 2012 the civil war in Syria would likely be well over now and certainly, Russia would not be on the scene as they currently are.

So what to do?

Had Trump left it at the above, he / USA would not need to do a thing...other than voice outrage.

But Trump...as is his want...went on:

“It crossed a lot of lines for me. When you kill innocent children, innocent babies, babies, little babies, with a chemical gas that is so lethal – people were shocked to hear what gas it was. That crosses many, many lines, beyond a red line, many, many lines.”

So there you have it...the chemical attack crossed many lines ...'beyond a red line' ergo it is now too late to impose other red lines but the time has long gone to declare war on Syria.


Trump though has to do something of significance or America will continue to lose face throughout the world and countries like Russia, China will continue to fill the vacuum by sheltering countries that no longer count on the States' for their protection.

And his options really come down to but one and I thank Ret'd Col. Ralph Peters for his suggestion ... 

'The USA must bomb the heck out of Syria's ability to launch further gas attacks by air'.

The US has the capacity to do this but the danger here of course is that it could bring Russia into fray and that would be disastrous. Col. Peters does not believe Russia would do this ...nor do I, and it will also send a long needed signal to Putin and his thugs that future aggression on their part will not go unpunished. 

One Caveat.  Before any action is taken, it must be conclusively determined that Syria did indeed carry out yesterday's gas attack.  Peters is sure that they did saying why would the Rebels have stocked piled chemical weapons when they have no way of delivering them to the enemy?

Good point, but with the memory of George W. and his hollow claim the Saddam Hussein had amassed weapons of mass destruction it would be wise to double and triple check responsibility for yesterday's tragedy.

As I see it...

'K.D. Galagher'

A DAY AT THE RACES.

My wife Anne and I spent another holiday in Florida and came away with more pleasant memories.

Take Seniors Day on Anna Maria Island for instance.

And bear in mind the average age of those holidaying in Florida is 120 and rising, thus Anne and I often get called the 'kids' since we are still short of our 70s.

So we took in the annual Seniors Day most particularly for the races.  Not horse racing nor even the ever popular dog races, but rather the wheelchair and walker races.

Talk about action.

The course is 100 yards and the starting gun was fired right on the dot of noon.  Sadly, we were not able to see the finish since we had to leave by 2 pm but were still amazed at the overall efforts of contestants to navigate the ever-shifting, icing sugar-like sands. 

Had we been able to stay past 2 o'clock it is guaranteed that we would have taken in some of the regular attractions such as the Best Trike on the Beach contest and the Wagon with the mostist.  I have noted from past events Trikes and Wagons coloured Red have the greatest chance of winning an award.

Each year a new event is added to this list and this year was no exception...colouring books.  I did get a chance to see, in the local paper, the picture that won a prize for 'best effort'.  The artist had tried to paint the beautiful calm turquoise of the Gulf but due to high winds and flying sand her effort looked more like a sandbar in heavy seas....mostly brown.   

The paper also mentioned an unfortunate event that occurred during the day's festivities.  Apparently an electric golf-cart went out of control and ran down an elderly woman while she was watching the big race event. Fortunately she was not seriously injured since the soft sands absorbed most of her fall.

Police indicated that there was a shortage of eye witnesses given the fact that most on the beach that day came sans eye glasses and sans hearing aides.  Organizers were quoted as saying future Senior Days would see a ban on golf-carts. 

Friends of ours went to the day's high-lite or should I say 'evening high-lite'... the infamous Sock-Hop.  You may recall that I wrote a blog about this dance last year and if you do you will remember that we came away somewhat shell-shocked.

In any event, I was still getting over the break in my eye socket caused by flying false teeth so respectfully declined their kind invitation to attend.

As my late aunt so often said, getting older is not for the faint of heart...and boy was she right. 

As I see it...

'K.D. Galagher'