First Blog

Terrorist attack in Berlin.   It seems the perpetrator of the truck attac k at a Christmas market in Berlin left in the truck not only his immigration papers (to be deported) but also his wallet.   I’m a simple guy that would never leave my wallet in any place but my pocket.   Most guys are like this, as women leave documents in he r purse.   One basic conclusion is that our rather stupid perpetrator, Anis Amri, is deeply dead and concealed probably at the hands of his own group, with his documents used to deflect investigations from the trail.   Amri has a perfect profile for exploitation. Note, terrorists place little value on life, even their own. If what I’ve said makes sense, it signals a new approach to terrorism, one in which there is a serious and very secret core group willing to carry out terrorist acts, and moreover willing to sacrifice any and all toward that end.   The war of terrorists becomes ever more dangerous.   Their motto may be: to use the mass refugee pr

From Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770-1834) we note both the left (e.g. Marx) and right have used his philosophy in their own interests. Here are two paraphrased quotes and applicable today. ---Freedom under law is a constructive force.   Freedom from law is impossible in nature and destructive in society.  ---Morality must be a common bond, not an individual preference. An amusing anecdote about Hegel, famous for his opacity, is this. When asked what a particularly difficult paragraph in one of his books actually meant, Hegel responded, "When I wrote it, only God and I understood its meaning.   Now only God does." ------------ Another quote but not from Hegel: The embers of enlightenment may glow for centuries before catching fire. ------------- Speaking of philosophy, I could give a course on Immanuel Kant***, a philosopher difficult to understand.   I could, in my lectures, give 50 of his philosophical issues with appropriate responses. I could

The Clinton-Trump debate has come and gone.   It seemed Trump was baited mercilessly.   He fell for it completely. What a mistake.   She prepared; he did not.   She did seem scripted; he ad-libbed mostly stuff from his stump speeches, and poorly.   But on the security issues, both were dismal.    Both demonstrated a total lack of knowledge, detailed or general on national security of all kinds.   Here, we can excuse Trump as simply being ignorant.   But Clinton, also ignorant, should understand from experience the gravitas of computer security and hacking.   But her delivery was rehearsed and delivered with no apparent personal understanding. Both said security was big and important, but neither have a clue on what to do.   "We will get top people to fix it," was the extent of their answers.   Hint. Already, the top people the government has ARE working on it and failing.   Corporations usually give short shrift to the costs of better security.   Us everyday folks d