As IF Times

Source: ISIS threat to U.S. air bases, S. Korea warns – CNN.com

The purported reach of ISIS is amazing.  According to this story, the terrorist group is collecting intelligence on numerous vulnerable targets, which has credence based on their proven ability to get recruits from within foreign countries.  There are always zealots willing to perform services for ‘the cause’ but I suspect that, for the most part, there’s another factor.

If we assume that not all ISIS supporters are convinced that a repressive regime based on 12th century theocracy is desirable, then the other reason would be the universal one; money.  Put simply, not for the Mullahs, but for the moolah.  So for good information, someone would need to pony up some walking around money to get interest and then some back end money when the deed is done.  At least that’s how it works in the normal world.

If you were to embark upon some kind of commercial adventure, one of the first things you’d have to do is pay a small army of consultants including accountants and lawyers to give their opinions first.  Who knows how many great ideas were snuffed out at infancy by the daunting crush of red tape to be considered before starting.  This is true of any intelligence operation undertaken by any Western governments.  Before any surveillance or military operation can be executed, the plan likely has to go through the filter of lawyers who will dictate the terms and type of operation allowed.  By the time all the legal considerations are factored in, the operation may be slimmed down to a water glass held to an ear against a wall.

This is why ISIS and terrorism of all kinds works and is so sinister.  They have no rules of engagement.  They have no lawyers.  They are free to exploit any weakness, whatever the venue, whatever the cost.  They are not hamstrung by shaming in the media.  There are no protestors pleading for the rights of the soon to be extinguished.

The West addresses terrorism as if playing by the rules of golf, calling penalties on themselves whereas the bad guys are playing by cage match rules.  While the West takes great pains in ensuring that no one gets offended in the process of getting killed, militants have no such restriction on their actions.  Their costs of business are greatly minimized by not having to pay lawyers to navigate the rules of killing people.  All of their money goes straight into the process without all the admin fees that the West has to contend with.

It’s a fair bet to say we’ll never get rid of the lawyers on our side.  The only hope is to get the other side to feel the need for lawyers in support of their cause.  When they have to spend money defending their actions and placating their public, the money going directly to military action and paying followers will subside.  As soon as their costs of business through slippage goes up, the end will be near.

Source: Idaho Lunch Lady Fired for Giving Free Meal to Student in Need Offered Job Back by School District – ABC News

That a story like this even makes the news is an indication of how society’s rules have become so disconnected from the values of greater society.  The onslaught of combative lawsuits, threatened legal actions and oppressive regulations ravaging western societies for the past few generations have successfully beaten and bullied  much of what passes as common sense and decency into retreat.  The concept of ‘doing the right thing’ over doing the legal thing is becoming as abstract as a rotary phone.  In effect, the nation is populated by rule-breakers at every level in society, it’s just a matter of when they get caught.

It appears that people are willing to be governed mainly by byzantine rules enforced by fearful lackeys rather than as directed by their inner moral compasses.  They have ceded the rules of conduct within society to the interpretation by the present day ruling class….lawyers.  Lest this sound like so much hyperbole, there is ample evidence to assure that it’s not. This is hardly an original thesis.  In her revealing 2002 book, The Case Against Lawyers, Judge Catherine Crier detailed the sinister creep of the legal and political class in undermining the very freedoms for citizens that they purportedly champion.

That this compassionate Idaho worker was accused of stealing for the simple act of feeding a poor kid should be repulsive to anyone who considers themselves moral.  Someone decided to apply the letter of the law to this poor woman as if it was a high crime.  While the story may seem outrageous to most of us, we’ve likely all been at the receiving end of a similar bit of legal heavy handedness.  People resent this stuff; they begin to wonder exactly who are making the rules.

Meanwhile in California, a Taco Bell executive was recorded on camera raining blows to the head of his unfortunate Uber cab driver.  Since most people frown upon such behavior, he soon became an ex executive when fired by Taco Bell once the video came to public attention. Rather than slink away in shame, this ex executive has instead decided to double down on his cowardly behavior by finding a lawyer to sue for $5 million dollars claiming that he never gave permission to be filmed beating up the driver.  Of course, it’s an easy defense, since the driver can claim that he was not given advance notice of a beating. The fact that this loser would even be able to file such an action is absurd. Preposterousness has never been an obstacle for lawyers.   Some may recall a Harvard law professor figuratively kicking sand in the face of a restauranteur for an innocent error on a bill.

What does this have to do with Donald Trump? Nothing directly, but also everything. His crass media shtick is certainly not what you’d want your kids to emulate, but this same thumbing of expected conventions has resonated with an enormous segment of people who are  tired of being told what is correct to say or do by political leaders and by media.  People prefer to make their own choices on religion, on assembly, on speech, on firearms, on climate fiction, on foods they eat, on cars they drive and how their kids are educated. They find in Trump, a plain spoken champion willing to push back against political correctness, against the tyranny of legal red tape which smothers common sense at all levels.  They find in him a person not beholden to influential moneyed constituencies pushing narratives which are at odds with their own experiences.  Without specificity, Trump seems to be the guy that will do the right thing, a trait that many can identify with.

Of course, he is hardly perfect and we don’t know if he’ll do all the things that he promises; that would be delusional.  For now, warts aplenty, he makes the most noise and gives voice to people that other politicos apparently don’t.  It may just be that he’s  the most successful demagogue of this time. But at least he’s not a lawyer.