HALF-FULL REPORT 04/08/16

Of course you know that Wisconsinites are affectionately called “Cheeseheads” because they make the best cheese in America.  Thus NBC News chronicled Ted Cruz’s “Top 5 Cheese-Related Moments” while campaigning.

How can you not love a guy who can think on his feet this fast with a sense of humor this good?

Monday, April 4. As Ted Cruz was walking out the door at Glorioso’s Italian Market in Milwaukee, he was asked: “Should we arm the cheese curds?”

 

He responded: “Now that’s funny. Alright you convinced me, yes, we need to arm the cheese curds, and you know if we send the cheese curds into ISIS, it’ll fatten ’em up and they’ll go down immediately … Maybe if they get enough cheese curds they’ll just decide they don’t need this whole jihad thing, and they should just happily eat cheese curds and live in peace with their fellow man.”

No wonder he won Wisconsin’s primary by a landslide.

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Speaking of Kurds – we were, weren’t we? – here’s some cheery news: Kurds Abandon Islam for Zoroastrianism.  ISIS has tarnished Islam so much that more and more Kurds want no part of it.

As we learned back in June 2008 (The Kurdish Map) visiting the 4,000 year-old village of Amedi and the holy city of Lalish (see pictures in link) in Iraqi Kurdistan, Zoroastrianism is the original belief system of the Kurds – certainly not Islam, forced upon them by medieval Arab swords.

As we saw in Hope for Iran (November 2014), Zoroastrianism is also the original religion of the Persians, among whom it is being fervently revived as well.  As there are some 8 million Kurds in Iranian Kurdistan (right across the border from Iraq), Zoroastrianism could be a bond between them in resistance to Mullah Islam.

There is another land neighboring Iranian Kurdistan whose national hero led a Zoroastrian rebellion against the Arab Islamic hordes — Babak Khorramdin (785-738 AD).  We learned about him last August in The Land of Noah – Nakhchivan.  Which bring us to, believe it or not, Kim Kardashian.

Why anyone pays any attention to her I haven’t a clue, as there must be 100-200 pornstars with bigger and better boobs and butt than hers.  She’s an airhead with an idiot savant-like genius for attracting publicity.  She’s also Armenian.

Over the weekend, Armenia and Azerbaijan reignited their war over a region called Nagorno-Karabagh.  Stalin assigned it to the Azeri Soviet Republic even though it was mostly Armenian-populated.  With the break-up of the Soviet Union, Armenia militarily seized it.  Now the fighting has been renewed.

So naturally, Kardashian blames Azerbaijan and it’s a new story.  Azerbaijan’s ambassador to the US riposted: “She’s very famous and beloved by her fans, but matters of war and peace are a little too serious for a reality TV star.”

Good advice for Donald Trump too.  Now it just so happens that I was in Nagorno-Karabagh in 2012, and explained the history and situation to TTPers in The Survival of Asian Europe.  If you read that plus The Land of Noah, the solution becomes apparent – a land swap, with Yerevan getting the Armenian-populated part of Nagorno-Karabagh in exchange for Baku getting the Meghri Strip separating Nakhchivan from Azerbaijan.  Let’s hope President Cruz can broker this.

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Now let’s talk about the upcoming contested convention.  Not the one you’re thinking of – the other one.

As we discussed yesterday, the odds are increasing that Trump will quit the race and fairly soon.  Adding to this is the new Associated Press poll late yesterday showing that 7 out of 10 voters despise Donald Trump:

“For Americans of nearly every race, gender, political persuasion and location, disdain for Donald Trump runs deep, saddling the Republican front-runner with unprecedented unpopularity (among) majorities of men and women; young and old; conservatives, moderates and liberals; and whites, Hispanics and blacks — a devastatingly broad indictment of the billionaire businessman.”

Even if he doesn’t quit should his ego override his brains, Cruz will take him easily in the convention.  Russ Douhat in the NYT and George Will in the WaPo explain why this morning.  Both are “must reads” this week.

No, the real contested convention will be the Democrats’.  Hillary is despised almost as much as Trump, while Bernie smells blood.  So much so that the WashTimes reports this morning (4/08) Bernie’s using “nasty guerrilla tactics” against her superdelegates.  Small surprise, for that’s how she’s rigged her nomination.

It’s so bad that the WaPo frets this morning that the Bernie-PIAPS cat fight will do “lasting damage” to the Democrat Party.  Let’s certainly hope so.  Personally, I think it can’t be either.  Bernie’s a brainless socialist twit and Hillary’s an evil fascist.  The Dem power boys know that they’re sure losers.  I still think they’ll parachute Biden in.

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Let’s look around for some good news.

*You may enjoy the WaPo bemoaning 1 million people losing their food stamps this year. It’s a start.

It’s not just that getting able-bodied people off the dole is a moral issue.  It’s that the more government subsidizes something, the more expensive it is for those not subsidized.

I’m sure you’ve noticed how ridiculously expensive food is now at the supermarket.  Food prices are actually dropping in much of the world, but not in the US because 50 million people are on food stamps.  It’s a simple equation: the more people you get off food stamps, the less expensive your monthly grocery bill will be.

*The most fully gratifying news of the week is that the greatest scumbag in Congress is exposed as a total crook.  Here’s the headline:

Office of Congressional Ethics Cite Violations of Law by Alan Grayson.  Okay, I took out the weasel word “Possible.”  No one on Capitol Hill deserves jail more than Grayson – and that’s saying a massive lot.

*There’s good news from Israel.  The Jerusalem Post yesterday (4/07) explains the extraordinary improvements in Israel’s Iron Dome and other missile defense systems.  No country on earth is as threatened by rockets and missiles as Israel.  But now:

“Iron Dome will soon be joined by David’s Sling, which will shoot down short to medium- range rockets and ballistic missiles, guided projectiles, cruise missiles, aircraft and drones. Its range of coverage means it can destroy incoming threats over enemy territory, away from Israeli skies, and it is due to go operational in the coming year.

Arrow-2, which destroys ballistic missiles in the upper atmosphere, is already operational, while Arrow-3, designed to destroy ballistic threats in space, will also soon officially go online.”

*Cool.  Also cool is Vietnam having the moxie to seize a Chinese boat in its part of the South China Sea.  It was a tanker for refueling the scores of Chicom fishing boats poaching in Vietnam waters.  Tired of chasing them away – 110 just last month, it was a smart move to seize the ship that fuels them.  When it’s Vietnam vs. China in the South China Sea, we’re rooting for Vietnam.

*And speaking of China, this will bring a smile to your face.  On Sunday (4/03), the New York Times reported it’s Curtains for the Chicom Canal in Nicaragua.

The shady billionaire has lost his money, the ultra-mega-project is doomed, and everyone’s mad at little Danny Ortega, the Commie Sandinista who now runs the country.  Good news all the way around.

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It’s HFR Hero of the Week time.  Just to reassure you, it won’t be Bill Clinton – even though he had a seizure of moral honesty yesterday (4/07) in Philadelphia.  He ripped into a Black Lives Matter protestor who was shouting at him and waving a sign that said “Black youth are not super-predators,” something Hillary had called black thugs years ago.

“I don’t know how you would describe the gang leaders who got 13-year-olds hopped up on crack and sent them out in the streets to murder other African-American children. Maybe you thought they were good citizens, she (Hillary) didn’t. You are defending the people who kill the lives you say matter. Tell the truth!”

Good for Bill.  That’s the way to talk to these black racists.  Here’s the 50-second video clip:

That said, let’s talk about a sadly heroic act on Tuesday (4/05) by the Republican Governor of Mississippi, Phil Bryant.  Sad because in a morally sane society, what he did would be ridiculously unnecessary.  Sad because it’s such a demonstration of how fascist liberals have become in their obsession to control our lives.

Gov. Bryant signed a law permitting businesses to refuse service to homosexual couples if it violates their religious beliefs.  No longer can some “couple” destroy and bankrupt the lives of people who don’t want to bake a cake for them, or take pictures at their “wedding.”

Just to be clear: if a bakery or other business wanted to refuse service to heterosexual couples, they should be free to do so, and by this law they would be.  The issue is not bigotry vs. tolerance.  The issue is freedom vs. fascism.

On Tuesday, Gov. Bryant stood for freedom.  He is the HFR Hero of the Week.

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We’re going to end with something that will make you cry.  It’s a social experiment to test people’s honesty.  Brace yourself for how it ends.  We owe so much to those who serve, and this will help you to never forget it.