MOAB...WHAT WAS THAT ABOUT?

As in why waste this type of Bomb on such a backwater, unimportant part of the World?

But first, what exactly does MOAB stand for?

All one reads about is its vernacular title namely, 'Mother Of All Bombs' but its actual name is Massive Ordnance Air Blast.

At 21,000 lbs, it is the largest conventional bomb developed to date.

The MOAB's cost is difficult to pin down but those apparently in the know put a price tag on it of about $16 Million Dollars.

So back to my initial question why use it in a remote gawd-forsaken part of Afghanistan close to the Pakistan border? 

If, as many a pundit state, it was done to 'send a message' to American belligerents, the cruise missile attack on Syria had already accomplished that in a more effective yet subtle way.

In other words...it was overkill...so to speak.

But to answer this question more fully, I would like to rehash an interview I saw on t.v. where Geraldo Rivera provided his thoughts about this event. (Many of you will no doubt be familiar with Mr. Rivera).

First Rivera noted that any time America kills 'bad guys' as in the 36 ISIS fighters killed by the MOAB 'it is a good day for the USA and for freedom loving peoples around the world'. 

But then he correctly went on to say why this attack did not accomplish much if anything:

First he questioned whether the expense of $16 million to kill only 36 ISIS fighters was worth the cost and,

Second he questioned the value in attacking ISIS in this remote, outlaw part of the world when in the scheme of things it accomplishes nothing ...'A hundred years ago the British fought the rebels here, later the Russians did and now the Americans and for the next 100 the fight will continue'.

So I take from Geraldo Rivera that it all comes down to a feel good moment that has little or no practical value either militarily or politically.

To this I will add a couple of further concerns of my own:

To win any war against the Islamic Terrorists, it has to include the populace of the countries affected, joining in the fight.  It cannot be won by outsiders like America and other NATO countries even though their involvement is fundamentally needed.

So if you are going to use such a cutting edge weapon, use it in an area where the chances of success exist such as in the Middle East.

If the enemy did not know about the ...Massive Ordnance Air Blast or Mother of All Bombs, they do now and if and when it is dropped again, it will have less of a psychological impact and could further fuel the drive by bad-guys to acquire nuclear weapons.

My final concern, which I will deal with in a future Blog, is my growing worry that President Donald Trump is letting himself become a Puppet of the Military Establishment. It is far too early to make such an assessment but this week's senseless dropping of the MOAB starts to make me wonder who is calling the shots.

As I see it...

'K.D. Galagher'

  

AMERICA'S UNEMPLOYMENT RATE IS STATED TO BE 4.5 %....IT IS HALF RIGHT...

Half right in that the actual rate is twice that number...more like 9%.

This past week the US Labor Board announced that the country's unemployment rate continues to drop ...and currently stands at 4.5%.

As with Obama, when these numbers come out I always doubled them to account for those who, for whatever reason, have given up trying to get work. 

The numbers of such are growing and are reflected in the declining workforce participation rate.

Bear with me as I run some more numbers by you:

In Obama's two terms the participation rate declined each and every year ...beginning at 66% and ending at 62%.

This may not sound dramatic to you but converting the 4% difference from beginning to end ... this number represents some 8 million people who have entirely ceased looking for work in that relatively short period. 

Add that to the 7.5 million who are still actively seeking employment, you have 15.5 million workers missing from today's eligible workforce...a number that slightly exceeds 9%.

But let's go back to the 62% number being the per-centage of those Americans, eligible to work, who are actually working.  This number is not so bad when you take into the fact that the average of all of the world's countries mirror that exact number.  That is to say, the average of all of the world's workforce participation rate is 62%.  

So at least the US is performing average.

China, the world's second largest economy has a participation rate of 71%.

But Zimbabwe proves that a high participation rate does not necessary mean a country is doing well economically since its rate is a booming 87%.

What I am trying to get at here is that a country's workforce participation rate is a far better gauge on the health of its workforce and despite Zimbabwe's anomaly, the higher the participation rate the better since you have more workers involved in growing their country's economic pie. 

There is one other important issue to take into account when dealing with Unemployment numbers and that concerns the Involuntary Part-timers.  Experts refer to them as the hidden unemployed and their numbers too have been rising since the Great Recession of 2007/08.  Studies show that up to 25% of this Involuntary group live below the poverty line. 

Neither the raw unemployment numbers nor the more accurate participation rate numbers take the Involuntary Unemployed into proper consideration.  Maybe more on this another day?

So just remember, next time you see unemployment rates bandied about.... double them for a clearer picture of where things stand in regard to employment.

As I see it...

'K.D. Galagher' 

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'

Donald Trump Said Today He Never Knew Being President Was Going To Be So Much Fun.

And I for one am glad that he is enjoying himself so much since I too am experiencing his joy of office, albeit vicariously.

I experienced this with both JFK and with Ronald Reagan...but to a much lesser extent.

So why the glee Galagher.

Why let me count the ways.

Forgetting policy for a moment, I like the fact that Donald Trump communicates with the people.  This is a first in history and of course owes itself to recent developments in technology most notably to the invention of Twitter.  

Up to now, as soon as a President was elected, he was isolated in the White House and surrounded by a myriad of people from the Secret Service to his Personal and numerous staff.  No longer.

And speaking of firsts, he is the first President ...dare I say Prime Minister/ Chancellor and so on, that is coming out and doing what he said he would do in the lead-up to his election.

How novel.  Up to the time of Trump I always said you could trust politicians right up till the time their lips moved.

You may not like it... and gawd knows many do no,t but Donald Trump also has a Vision ...something which is as scarce as hens' teeth in modern day politics.

So yes, I am happy, I have never enjoyed a Presidency as much as Trump's and I am not even American.

So let's look at what the Left is saying about President Trump:  'he is doing too much; he is doing too little; he is making a laughing stock of the USA throughout the world'.

Nonsense.

Lets take the last one first...the laughing stock comment.  What I have seen and if you are honest...you have seen too, the world leaders are prostrating themselves at Trump's feet. They may well believe him to be a clown but I do not see any of them laughing at Trump in public.

America is just too darn important to the world.

They too have never seen anything quite like The Donald with his innate ability to speak to and for the common man. 

Now to the other complaints:

1.  He is doing too much;

How so, since he has been in office barely 2 months?

But I agree, he is off to a busy start...again doing things he said he was going to do.  But it's early days and as the saying goes, 'you ain't seen nothing yet'.

2.  He is doing too little;

Oh yeah?  

• The Southern Border Crossing has been tightened significantly and the number of illegals crossing over from South America and from Mexico has dropped dramatically up to 40% and tenders are now going out to contractors to build the Wall.

• He has instituted a temporary travel ban affecting targeted Muslim nations where the danger of Islamist Extremists mingling with ordinary travelers is most likely. The ban is to provide Border Security with time to analyse the danger posed from this and to take remedial action where necessary.  Don't forget the primary role of the President of the United States is to protect the safety of his countrymen.

• He has approved two pipelines desperately needed to see America reach energy independence...the Keystone and the Dakota Pipelines.  Hereto America has been dependent upon oil from the Middle East with some of the proceeds being used to fund Terrorism against the West.  (The irony here of course is that had America used the Oil Crisis of the early 1970s as the reason to gain energy independence much sooner, there would not have been Islamist Terrorists Groups causing death and destruction around the world today). 

• He has called off the war on Coal which with proper scrubbers is as clean or cleaner than Natural Gas.  That said, as non-combustible energy sources mature, the days of Oil, Gas and Coal are rightfully numbered but it is madness to sabotage one's economy for feel good measures that cost too much and achieve too little. 

• Trump also kept his promise by dealing early with replacing Obama Care.  The fact that the Bill was withdrawn for the time-being is not the President's fault rather it is the fault of the Representatives of the House ...both Republican and Democrats.  Republicans because they had 7 years to develop a comprehensive approach to the current law's replacement and for which they failed miserably.  It is a good thing it was withdrawn since hopefully on their next attempt...and there will be another shot at it, they will propose a much better product.

      And the Democrats too share the blame for not helping to improve a faulty health care law.  For instance, prior to Obama Care polls showed that 90% or so of Americans liked their health care.  The problem was the 20 million or so that found themselves without coverage due to lack of money.  Even today, a majority of Americans want to see Obama Care replaced.  So if the Dems were working for their constituents you would think that they too would come forward and try to improve things.  But you would be wrong...not 1 Democratic Rep supported change.

As aside here, what I never understood is that if 90% of Americans liked their Health Care pre Obama and if the real issue was the 20 million or so without care...why didn't the legislators at that time focus solely on those without,,, primarily by expanding Medicaid which was one of the few good things Obama Care did.

I think I have covered the highlights of President Trump's accomplishments during his first 60 days but before signing off, want to say a word about the Investigations concerning Russia that are currently wasting so much time and treasure.

And the word is HOAX.  

And I look forward to the day (and the Blog) when this finally becomes apparent to the Progressives.

As I see it...

'K.D. Galagher' 

ANOTHER DAY...ANOTHER ISLAMIST TERROR ATTACK.

In the aftermath of yesterday's attack in London England, their Prime Minister came out with the usual tripe ...'we will not let terrorists cause us to change our way of life' and so on and so on, while at the same time the British Parliament was hastily adjourning and heading for cover.

And this, while the USA is now blocking citizens from several Muslim countries from carrying electronics bigger than cell phones on planes bound for the States.

In a recent trip to the States, my wife and I were stopped at least 10 times and forced to present our passports and boarding passes before being allowed to plan.  Indeed, one check point guard was so close to the next that he could almost shake hands with the other!!

No we'll certainly not change our life styles in the face of such terror......B.S.

What continues to be forgotten in all of this is that We Are At War With Extreme Islam...not with Muslims themselves, since they are often the target of these self same nutbar jihadists. 

And despite the fact that any reasonable person knows that we are at war, Progressive Society still cannot bring itself to say the word and yet the Terrorist groups have no difficulty doing so. 

If you are interested in who these bozos are, simply go back to one of my recent blogs in which I inserted an internet list naming dozens and dozens of these Islamic Terrorist Organizations.

So what to do?

Let me first say what not to do and that is when the next attack occurs...as it soon will, don't have the nation's Leader come out with platitudes like the above ... you know 'we are a Free Society etc etc and no act of Terrorism is going to cause us to change blah blah blah'.

Rather, have them say; We are a Free Society and anyone who poses a threat to our Freedom will be quickly and effectively dealt with by the Law.

In the yesterday's case the Killer was home-grown and known to British Intelligence for being sympathetic to ISIS.

As such he was a 5th columnist a term that dates back to the Spanish Civil War of the 1930s.

Granted, in usual circumstances just being sympathetic to evil is not sufficient to warrant lock-up but of course dear reader these are not usual circumstances...we are at War with Radical Jihad and anyone who expresses sympathy for our enemy is our enemy too.

Now some would say the West does not have the ability to survey all potential 5th columnists 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and to some extent they are correct.

However given with advances in electronic eavesdropping it is now relatively easy to keep up-to-date on potential risks without resorting to the 24/7 intensive approach.

So if these characters want to sympathize with our enemy evil Jihad, let's treat them like the enemy they are and ...Lock Them Up For The Duration.

As I see it....

'K.D. Galagher'