The enduring lie that George W Bush lied about Saddam’s WMD

The renegade left so hates George W Bush that it could not bring itself to make the most obvious argument against invading Iraq. That argument was the one I made at the time.

It is the height of folly to attack a country with weapons of mass destruction with the intent of conquering it. That intent of conquest and regime change gives the other side every incentive to use their weapons of mass destruction if only in an act of desperation. The whole purpose of weapons of mass destruction is to deter invasions.

Rather than concede the other side’s argument and use it against them, the renegade left preferred every other argument, most of which bolstered the case for invasion.

The most obvious of these was more weapons inspections by the UN instead of invasion. If there is a need for more weapons inspections, there must be some WMD weapons to find. The UN had 12 years to find these and still cannot find them all.

What was the point of the UN inspections and the renegade left calling for the inspections to continue as an alternative to invading in 2003 unless they expected to find more evidence of chemical, biological and nuclear weapons?

The reality is Saddam played a fine game of bluff. He destroyed his WMD capability early after the first Iraq war. He could not be afforded be found with WMDs.

Saddam then tricked everybody into believing that he still had weapons of mass destruction as a way of projecting strength, especially to regional rivals.

It is also the case that if the UN inspections stopped, Saddam would have resumed his WMD armament program.

It is not possible to stop countries from developing WMDs. You can deter them from using them. Far more volatile characters in Russia and China in the 50s and 60s were deterred from using nuclear weapons.

This @amprog conservative antipoverty dictionary does not add up

The only alternative offered by the Centre for American Progress is send them on a course. This response, which is the standard policy response to any labour market crisis, will not solve poverty, mush less inequality.

Mentally ill shot by US police by threat level: January – February 2016

Unfortunately for all concerned, most of the mentally ill shot this month by police was the result of an impossible dilemma. They were either attacking police or were armed.

image

Source: Investigation: People shot and killed by police this year – Washington Post.

Blacks shot by US police by threat level: January – February 2016

image

Source: Investigation: People shot and killed by police this year – Washington Post.

Shot by US police by threat level, 1 January – 5 March 2016 – corrected

Once again, few are shot by police if they are unarmed, much less with their hands in the air and not offering resistance. A leading cause of death of unarmed civilians is stray bullets. The lesson there is do not travel in cars or live with armed criminals.

Source: Investigation: People shot and killed by police this year – Washington Post.

Presidential candidate tax plans and economic growth

[/embed]https://www.facebook.com/UnbiasedAmerica/photos/pb.123061011213236.-2207520000.1457089554./449398021912865/?type=3&theater[/embed]

This @amprog lead in picture and its 1st figure about minimal improvement in living standards in 30 years just does not gel somehow

Source: When I Was Your Age | Center for American Progress.

The claim by the Centre for American progress is that despite being more educated and working in a more productive economy, 30-year-olds today barely make more than 30-year-old Baby Boomers did in 1984.

image

Source: When I Was Your Age | Center for American Progress.

Effective marginal tax rates on single and dual earner families in the USA, Britain, France, Germany, Canada, Italy, Sweden, Denmark, Australia and New Zealand

Some countries including New Zealand and Australia do not give ordinary families much of an incentive to earn more. Effective marginal tax rates on low income families is one of the few times that the Left discovers supply-side economics.

image

Source: Taxing Wages 2015 – OECD 2015.

Mandatory Maternity Leave is a Bad Idea @suemoroney

Income tax plus employee Social Security contributions less tax benefits by family structure in the US, Britain, Canada, Germany, Italy, Denmark, France, Sweden, Australia and New Zealand

Those sensitive and caring northern European welfare states do tax families rather heavily even after accounting for family cash benefits.

image

Source: Taxing Wages 2015 – OECD 2015.

Owned by U.S. households in poverty @BernieSanders @HillaryClinton

Image

Poverty and full-time work in America @BernieSanders @HillaryClinton

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@realdonaldtrump has never voted in a Republican primary

Trump has voted consistently in general elections. There is no indication that he has voted in a presidential primary of any kind since 1989.

Source: Donald Trump, Melania & Ivanka have never voted in a GOP presidential primary | Daily Mail Online.

Donald Trump first registered to vote at Trump Tower in 1987. Since then, he has been a Republican three times, a Democrat once, a member of the Independence Party once and, for a brief period, had no party identification at all.

Since he registered to vote for the Republican Party just before the 2012 election, he hasn’t missed a vote. He registered too late to vote for Mitt Romney.

Trump spent the entire Bush years as a registered Democrat.

Source: Donald Trump’s got a particularly strange voting history – The Washington Post.

How the Curly effect explains @realdonaldtrump @berniesanders

@TedCruz says @realDonaldTrump wrote 10 checks to @HillaryClinton campaigns

Source: Ted Cruz says Donald Trump wrote 10 checks to Hillary Clinton campaigns | PolitiFact.

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