This is spot-on, I think: If Trump wins the election, a persistent resistance to calling terrorism terrorism will be a major reason why. — Josh Kraushaar (@HotlineJosh) September 19, 2016 Caution, and a desire to refrain from jumped-to conclusions, is one thing. A stubborn refusal to embrace reality because it is politically inconvenient is quite…
Jack Seaman: America Cannot Solve Middle Eastern Terrorism
Our collective thoughts and prayers go out to the victims and their families of the bombings in Brussels, Belgium that Islamic State has now claimed responsibility for. President Obama has called for “the world to unite” to fight terrorism and there is little doubt that cries for the U.S. to step up military action against…
James Kerian: Our Foreign Policy Is A Mess
Just over fourteen years ago America’s foreign policy shifted almost as fast as the towers came down in New York. The neo-con/interventionist view that America should play an active role in shaping the governments of other countries was broadly adopted both by political leaders and by rank and file voters in both parties. As the…
Matt Evans: A Clarifying Point About The Definition Of Terrorism
Yesterday, a naturalized American Citizen from Kuwait opened fire on a military recruiting station and a Naval Reserve station. At the latter location, he ended up killing 4 US Marines. The media and various government officials were quick to call this an act of domestic terrorism. Here is the beginning of the Wikipedia article on…
ISIS Computer Hackers Call For Attacks On North Dakota Based Military
UPDATE: For those of you asking, I do have a copy of the list. I am not sharing it publicly for obvious reasons. There are a number of Minot residents on the list. None from the Grand Forks base. I have forwarded it to state authorities. The risk of waging an asymmetrical “global war on…
Je Suis Charlie
Here on SAB we focus on North Dakota, and with our legislature beginning its 2015 session this week that means we’re pretty busy these days. But I wanted to take a time out from all that to acknowledge what happened in France today. As I’m sure you’ve heard by now, the offices of newspaper Charlie Hebdo…
Sony Canceling Movie Release Is What Terrorism Looks Like
In the post-9/11 era the term “terrorism” has become fraught with political baggage. I’ll not rehash history here, but suffice it to say that a lot of bad policy and dumb actions have been justified by combatting supposed “terrorism.” But the hacking of Sony Pictures Entertainment by people who at least appear to be acting…
Matt Evans: Torture Is Bad For Them, Worse For Us
He who fights with monsters should look to it that he himself does not become a monster. And when you gaze long into an abyss the abyss also gazes into you. — Friedrich Nietzsche Torture is in the news again this week. Apparently, Democrats are saying that more torture has happened than was originally claimed,…
On NSA Scandal, Bush Has Obama's Back
Civil liberties advocates have been saying for some time now that there’s not a lot of daylight between George W. Bush’s spying tactics, reviled by the left and even Obama himself just a few years ago, and President Obama’s anti-terror efforts. But that’s not just an opinion now. With George W. Bush riding to Obama’s…
Some Things Are Scarier Than Terrorism
The news that the NSA is monitoring pretty much every phone call in America, and accessing our electronic communications as well, is scary stuff. There may be no more certain evidence of how disconcerting the American public is finding these revelations than the fact that George Orwell’s classic novel about a future, dystopian surveillance state…