Random Observations On Brussels

Life has been a little hectic lately. Plus I didn't want to comment on the tragedy in Brussels until more information was available. But I think the time is right to toss out a few random observations regarding the bombings and subsequent events.

First, a comment by the esteemed Thomas Sowell. I wish more people would pay attention to what this man has to say.

"Historians of the future, when they look back on our times, may be completely baffled when trying to understand how Western civilization welcomed vast numbers of people hostile to the fundamental values of Western civilization, people who had been taught that they have a right to kill those who do not share their beliefs.“

One of the first things that occurred to me was "What are the chances of a similar attack here in the U.S.?"

U.S. intelligence and security capabilities make a Brussels-style attack less likely on American soil, but porous borders leave the USA vulnerable to terrorists, said David Deptula, a retired general who led Air Force intelligence efforts.

From Oct. 1, 2014 to Sept. 30, 2015, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) apprehended 337,117 people trying to enter the USA illegally...

No word on how many people actually made it inside our country illegally.

Somehow, that doesn't make me feel comfortable.

But not to worry. obama is doing his usual outstanding job of protecting and reassuring the American people.

Oh, wait...

Obama criticized for doing tango 2 days after bombings in Brussels

President Obama and first lady Michelle Obama were coaxed from their table at a state dinner in Argentina on Wednesday night to dance the tango. And critics already furious that the president had attended a baseball game in Cuba following Tuesday’s deadly attacks in Brussels were unmoved.

“When everybody else is worried about where ISIS is, who they are going to kill next, and [if they] are going to come over here,” former Judge Andrew Napolitano said on the cable network’s morning show, “the president shouldn’t be in Argentina doing the tango.”

Nicolle Wallace, former communications director for President George W. Bush, said Obama’s reluctance to alter his itinerary “puts him vastly … out of step with the entire American public, not just Republicans.

“His policy choice was to proceed with everything on his schedule and not to react to the threat of terrorism,” Wallace said on MSNBC. “There were mothers lying dead while their, you know, family members were at the crime scene yesterday, and to [make it] look like the priority is to go on a foreign trip instead of pausing for a minute and explaining that to America is a communications crime.”

Meanwhile, in Eastern Europe:

Poland's Leaders Want No Refugees After Brussels Blasts

Poland's president on Thursday threw his support behind a government decision to renege on a deal to accept thousands of refugees, blaming security concerns raised by Tuesday's attacks in Brussels.

The move could prompt similar decisions by other countries in Central and Eastern Europe, many of which have protested — or, like Hungary and Slovakia, sued over — the European Union's plan to divide up some 120,000 refugees among member countries.

Poland's conservative, anti-migrant government had grudgingly confirmed the previous government's commitment to take in 7,000 refugees from Syria and Eritrea over the next two years. At the same time, sensing general uncertainty about receiving migrants into a mostly homogenous nation, the officials stressed that permissions to settle would be preceded by meticulous security and identity checks.

But following the Brussels attacks, Prime Minister Beata Szydlo said "I see no possibility for migrants to come to Poland now."

Our president dances. Poland's leader protects his country. I wonder if we could trade ours for theirs...?