HALF-FULL REPORT 03/04/16

Port Blair, Andaman Islands. Welcome to the most interesting islands on earth for an anthropologist, as they are home to the world’s only Paleolithic people, untouched and uncontacted since they arrived here 40,000 years ago.

We don’t even know what they call themselves. Since they live on North Sentinel Island (out to the left of South Andaman in the map, we call them Sentinelese.

In the HFR of February 1, 2013, they were the HFR Heroes of the Week for being the world’s greatest example of sustained defiance of external authority over their liberty. The relevant excerpt of that HFR is appended at the end below.

Who might be the HOTW today? Figuring that out is the task at hand. First however, I must express my deep appreciation and gratitude to my buddy Rod Martin for writing such a wonderful series of HFRs while I’ve been in India. From all the many kudos expressed in the Forum, my opinion is shared by many TTPers. Thanks, Rod!!

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My opinion on Trump, however, is not shared by all TTPers. But that’s the deal here – I get to say what I want, and you get to disagree if you want.

Thus I was overjoyed to see Trump get sliced and diced last night in Detroit. The most revelatory moment came right at the start, when out of the blue he gratuitously informed the entire planet exactly why he has such a massively boastful yet paper-thin ego: he has a tiny little dick.

From the March 3 debate transcript: “I have to say this. He (Rubio) hit (criticized) my hands. Nobody has ever hit my hands. I have never heard of this. Look at those hands. Are they small hands? He referred to my hands. If they are small, something else must be small. I guarantee you there is no problem. I guarantee.”

In 1988, Spy magazine called Trump a “short-fingered vulgarian,” a bully with skin of gossamer. It continues to bug him so much 28 years later that, even though there’s no correlation whatever between the size of man’s hands and his penis (call it a “phallic fallacy”), he has to “guarantee” to millions on national television that he hasn’t got a small johnson.

Such pathological insecurity is a confession, of course, that it’s just what he has and everybody knows it. Instantly and again totally gratuitously, last night Trump became a full-blown laughingstock to the world. Google “Trump small penis” and you’ll get 344,000 hits.

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It was downhill from then on for Little Donald. Rubio nailed him demanding he announce “all Donald Trump Clothing will no longer be in China or Mexico but made here in the United States” – and Trump refused with sickening excuses like “they’re devaluing their currencies so I can’t do it.”

When both Cruz and Rubio called on him to release the secret interview he gave to the New York Times in which he revealed his “flexibility” regarding immigration, deportations, building the border wall, etc., he refused. All Trump could do to Cruz’s demand, “Why don’t you release the tapes? Release the tapes,” was to name-call Cruz Lyin’ Ted.

When Bret Baier questioned Trump’s promise to murder the families, wives and children, of terrorists, and what he would do if the military refused to carry out what would be illegal orders, he answered, “They won’t refuse… if I tell them to do it, they’ll do it.”

Megyn Kelly took Trump apart regarding the scam of Trump University with 5,000 plaintiffs suing him for getting fleeced. Then Cruz finished him off: “Donald, learn not to interrupt. It’s not complicated…. Count to 10, count to 10, breathe, breathe…”

Bottom line – Trump was eviscerated last night on many levels. Cruz won going away. Not even close.

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Here is the transcript and video of Mitt Romney’s speech yesterday (3/03), denouncing Trump’s “bullying, the greed, the showing off, the misogyny, the absurd third grade theatrics.”

“There’s plenty of evidence that Mr. Trump is a con man, a fake,” Romney went on. “We will only really know if he’s a real deal or a phony if he releases his tax returns and the tape of his interview with The New York Times… His promises are as worthless as a degree from Trump University.”

While Jonah Goldberg praised Romney’s speech as “lucid, morally compelling, factually and analytically correct in every way,” what was tragically sad is that Mitt didn’t go after Zero like this. If he had, we would have been spared all the Misery of Zero’s second term.

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Last week Thursday (2/25), in Trump Is Obama’s Triumph Over America, I vowed that “I will not vote for Trump under any circumstances whatever,” and gave my reasons why.

Two days later (2/27), Erick Erickson launched his #NeverTrump movement. Led by Senator Ben Sasse (NE), a growing number of prominent Pubs are taking the vow. Many more to come.

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On to what happened on Super Tuesday (3/01). Delegate results of Super Tuesday, for all the media’s blaring about Trump victories, were remarkably close: Trump 234, Cruz 209, with Rubio 90.

What’s potentially most important with this is that out of the 10 primaries Tuesday, only two (Alaska and Oklahoma) were “closed” (only Pubs could vote). The rest were “open” (Dems could vote too). It’s crazy the Pub Party would allow Dems to vote in a Pub primary, yes. And it turns out, that’s been the key to Trump victories so far.

I encourage you to peruse an interesting analysis by a “numbers guy,” Mike Harrington, on why Cruz would have won the 2/20 South Carolina primary if it had been closed. Instead, it was open and Dems voted for Trump in droves, giving him the victory.

What’s more interesting is that, from now on starting tomorrow (3/05), most Pub primaries are closed – and only Pubs voting favors Cruz. This is why Alabama Pub Rep. Mo Brooks says Trump was the big loser on Super Tuesday.

This may be why Trump today bailed out of speaking at CPAC tomorrow so he could speak at a rally in Kansas, which has a closed proportional caucus and the latest polls show him and Cruz neck and neck.

The Pub primary schedule from tomorrow until next Friday’s HFR is Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana and Maine (Saturday the 5^th, all closed and proportional); Puerto Rico (Sunday the 6^th, open and proportional); and on Tuesday the 8^th, Hawaii and Idaho (closed, proportional) plus Michigan and Mississippi (open and proportional).

It will be of vital interest to the future of the US to see how Mo Brook’s prediction pans out next week.

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So we come to the Buzzword of the Week: Cruzio.

Rubio did well last night but lousy on Super Tuesday. He’s betting his nomination farm on Florida’s winner-take-all (WTA) on Tuesday, March 15. The smartest move for Cruz would be to back Marco instead of dividing the vote between him to let Trump get the plurality. And he’d do the same with Kasich in Ohio (where Kasich is the sitting Gov), also WTA on the 15^th.

That is, the common goal of Cruz and Rubio is to stymie Trump. The path to that is cooperate to deny Trump the WTA delegates in both Florida and Ohio. After The Little Donald has lost Texas (on Super Tuesday to Cruz by 16 points), Florida and Ohio, he’s lost the nomination.

Thus Cruzio. Thus PJMedia argues for a Cruz-Rubio ticket.

Thus Randy Barnett, Director of the Georgetown Center for the Constitution at the Georgetown University Law School, argues in How Ted and Marco Can Save the Country, for Cruz and Rubio to publicly pledge to support for president whichever of them has the most delegates to the Republican convention. In return, the winner will make the other one his running mate.

Randy Barnett is the real deal. I encourage you to read his analysis. I of course want Cruz on top of the ticket, but Randy’s is the cleverest way to get there.

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Time for a break for something completely different.

Here’s the Pleasant Surprise News of the Week: Bangladesh May Abandon Islam As Its Official Religion.

150 million out of 170 million Bangladeshis are Moslem, but even they are so sick and tired of Islamist extremism and terrorism they are calling a halt. Let’s hope the world’s 4^th largest Moslem population (after Indonesia, India, and Pakistan) can successfully take this step into rationality.

And who could resist the Funniest News of the Week: Broke Russian Sugar Daddies Dump Their Sex Kitten Mistresses and Go Back to Their Wives.

There’s even a name for these broads: Soderzhanki, glamorous, high-maintenance courtesans who publicly advertize on Russian websites. But with the collapse of oil prices and thus the Russian economy, high-flying Russkie studs who can afford them have become rare. So it’s back to jobs at nursery schools and such for the Soderzhanki. Enjoy the read.

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So – who’s the HOTW. Just to reassure you – it’s not Mitt Romney.

But it could be Mitch McConnell. Call him a Rino all day long if you want. But he is holding firm where it really counts: Refusing to allow any Senate confirmation vote on any SCOTUS nominee of Zero’s to replace Scalia.

This is an extremely big deal for which he deserves our thanks and praise.

Yet something of potentially more significance happened in Utah this week. On Wednesday (3/02), the full Utah Legislature voted to repeal the 17^th Amendment. As Repeal 1913 noted in October 2009:

“The 17^th Amendment destroyed our political freedom, providing an Open Sesame for the astronomical expansion of federal power taken place since. Our bicameral legislature was set up by the Constitution’s authors so that the House represented the individual citizens of a given state, while the Senate represented the states themselves.

House Members were thus directly elected, while Senators were elected by the state legislatures because Senators were to be the representative of the interests of state governments in Washington.

As such, Senators were, in the Founders’ eyes, to be jealous guardians of individual state rights and prerogatives, and be alert guard dogs preventing unlawful federal encroachment upon those rights.  They ceased to be since 1913, when they became nothing more than glorified Congressmen.”

A few months later in February 2010, Tony Blankley explained: Repeal the 17^th to Revive the 10^th. Ted Cruz is an admirably passionate advocate of the 10^th Amendment to curtail federal power over our lives. He needs to advocate repeal of the 17^th and restore Senators as the representatives of state governments to Washington.

The Utah GOP Primary is on March 22. It’s a great opportunity for Cruz to praise the Utah legislature for its adherence to the Founders’ Constitutional vision.

So – McConnell or Utah for Hero of the Week? Your call.

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Below is that excerpt from the HFR of three years ago on the Sentinelese. I’ve wanted to come to the Andamans for decades, but as there’s no hope of meeting these extraordinary people – nor should I want to if possible – I came here to indulge in a personal passion: to scuba dive.

To be 60 feet or more underwater in a coral gardens surrounded by myriads of tropical fish is to be in another universe. Its denizens are totally unaware of our world on land. As are you when you are in their world. It is to experience total disconnect from the world in which we live, to have a meditation within an alternate reality of extraordinary beauty.

But alas, it can only last for 40 minutes or so, then it’s back to surface reality. And now it’s back to the reality of what is happening to my country. That reality could be unimaginably disastrous – or it could be glorious.

The fork of which road to take may be chosen this month of March. I pray my countrymen will choose wisely.

Appendix: From the HFR of February 1, 2013.

North of Sumatra in the Indian Ocean’s Bay of Bengal lies a chain of islands called the Nicobars & Andamans.

On one of them, a small island of less than 30 square miles called North Sentinel, live the most ancient and untouched human beings in the world.  They are so unknown that we don’t even know what language they speak or their name for themselves.  So they are called the Sentinelese.  There are less than 200 of them.

They are the only direct lineage left of that small band of a few dozen families who got Out of Africa (June 2007) some 50,000 years ago to populate the earth.  Yes – everyone on the planet, you, me, every Chinese, American Indian, Australian Aborigine, everyone except Black Africans – the descendants of those who stayed – are descended from those 150 or so who left Africa 500 centuries ago.

But with one exception, all of them have been moving, mixing, and separating for all those millennia.  That exception is the Sentinelese, who reached the Andamans – the ocean was much lower then, the islands very close to the Asian mainland – some 40,000 years ago.  They been in North Sentinel ever since.

They live a true Paleolithic culture – real Stone Age without metal (Mesolithic) or agriculture (Neolithic).  They have fire of course.  We’ve had fire for over 1.5 million years.

They also have weapons – spears, javelins, and bows & arrows, which are deadly accurate – and which they unhesitatingly use to keep themselves free.

Anyone who attempts to land on North Sentinel is attacked – attacked to kill.  This has been going on for centuries.  The Sentinelese determination to be left alone and free is unmatched by any other people on our planet.

Today (02/01/13), the London Telegraph headline was: Stone Age Tribe Kills Fishermen Who Strayed Onto Island.  There is a picture of two Sentinelese firing arrows at the Indian helicopter trying to recover the fishermen’s bodies.  The helicopter retreated, not the Sentinelese.

These are people who should be our inspiration.  They are literally – historically, genetically, and genealogically – the oldest people on earth, and no one more fiercely defends their freedom and right to be left alone.

The North Sentinelese are the HFR Heroes of the Week.