Are Drugs Behind "the Summer of Terror"?

The more I look at the terrorism problem, the more convinced I am that we are misdefining the problem.   We are focused on Islamic terrorism, but other examples of mass killing are just as bad. Look at this case in Japanese nursing home recently. Is there a common link?

Peter Hitchens believes a consistent thread in many of the recent cases has been drug use by the perpetrators.  He puts together an impressive list of the types of the drugs, legal and illegal, that many of the attackers have had a history of taking.  The Orlando killer was a steroid user.  The San Bernardino killers were on Xanax and Adderral.  Mental illness medication has been tied to the murderers of the priest in Normandy and to the mall shooter in Munich.  See one-common-link-DRUGS

He asks:  shouldn't we be looking at this issue of drug abuse more closely?  Yes we should.  That doesn't mean that militant Islam isn't a motivation for many, but its significance in this global phenomenon might be overstated.

Trump's Speech--A Political Sea Change

Here's my quick take on Trump's GOP nomination speech last night:

• No soaring rhetoric; just the usual declarative hammer blows.  Trump knows his voice and stuck with it.  Spoke for 75 minutes but wasn't boring.  Tone was, combative, defiant--"this means war!"
• He will be the attack dog in this campaign.  His VP running mate will be there to provide quiet sanity.
• He buried the cultural wars as a campaign theme.  This election is about security and economics.  
• He also buried the idea of small government, which has been on life support for 15 years or more.   Lots of big government programs that could have come from Bernie Sanders's playbook--day care (Ivanka's theme), student loan relief, etc.  Will the feds under Trump be more involved in community police work??
• Also a strong plug for school choice, which Bush advocated and then quickly abandoned. 
• Many Republicans must have been choking when he slammed big business "special interests."   Definitely the "Middle-American Radicalism" was coming through.   In fact, Trump was aiming way beyond Republicans all night.  
• Probably the most comprehensive case for immigration controls I've ever heard from a major candidate.  And he wants to stop immigration from countries that have terrorist issues.  (And don't think we haven't done that before.)
• He has totally reversed himself on Iran.  During the debates he vowed to "enforce the deal."  Now this is the worst deal in history and Iran is on track to get the Bomb. (It is not.)
• He blamed Hillary for everything that has gone wrong in the Middle East over the past five years.  Unfair!   But will it stick?  She does have to answer for our reckless Libya policy. 
• We are going to defeat ISIS quickly.  How?  Stay tuned.  

In the end, Trump got it done:  demonstrated he could make a strong speech that delivered his message clearly and powerfully.  But was it "presidential?"  Not what we are used to seeing. His sheer energy and star power will make him very tough for Hillary to beat him.

Do We Need All These Military Bases?

Here's my book review of "Base Nation" in TAC.  Good book topic; poor execution.  Question for you:  How long do we stay in Turkey now?   Close all the military bases?"

Why We Need an Armed Populace

The story of how the murderous James Gang got their comeuppance by the people of a small Minnesota town.  We don't have to be sheep at the hands of killers.  Fighting against the James Gang

Police Lives Matter

Think it's easy to be a cop?  According to national statistics gathered by the FBI, from 2009-2012 a total of 58,207 police officers sustained injuries from assaults and another 224 police officers were murdered in the line of duty.  Check out this report from a criminologist at the University of Toledo:  Deaths from the Police Use of Force


Here's some more stats from the FBI's Uniform Crime Report: 


Of the 1,491 persons that died from police use of force from 2009-2012:

• 915 (61.4%) were white males

• 481 (32.2%) were black males

• 48 (3.2%) were males of other races

• 28 (1.9%) were white females

• 15 (1.1%) were black females

• 4 (0.2%) were females of other races

Did "Black Lives Matter" set an ambush for the police in Dallas?  That has to be a working hypothesis at this point.   

Snowden is a Russian Agent, the Kremlin Admits

A high ranking FBS official admits Snowden shared secrets with Russian intelligence.  In other words, the Russians now admit what we have always expected.  No one defects to Russia without collaborating with Russian intelligence.   This guy did a lot of damage to our capabilities, but some people still consider him a whistle blower.    Read the post here: /the-kremlin-admits-snowden-is-a-russian-agent

Will Britain Vote Leave Today?

All the "Brexit" supporters argue that Britain will regain its sovereignty by leaving the EU,  and will improve its economy by making trade deals on its own.  Britain should be able to prosper much like Norway and Switzerland have.

For their part, the "Bremain" proponents predict doom and gloom if Britain leaves.  Certainly they never say Britain should endure more EU control, or go all out and adopt the Euro!  This seems very telling.  Their whole argument seems to be: Britain, you can't survive in the big, scary world out there without the EU!

Besides, Bremain has been far more dishonest. Cameron argued there is "no going back."  Of course there is.  Britain could reapply.  Also, this will not undermine European defense in any way.  Brexit doesn't mean leaving NATO.  But I've heard that too.

If I were a Brit, voting "leave" would be a no-brainer.  If only just to oppose who supports Bremain!