An atomic bomb is a tactical nuclear device for use in a wartime environment. A hydrogen bomb, which uses an atomic bomb as a trigger, is near enough a doomsday device which offers no battlefield or tactical advantage to its possessor. It’s only use is to comprehensively destroy. This is just in, except you will hardly see it mentioned anywhere at all: North Korea Says It Conducted Successful Hydrogen Bomb Test. And to give their statement evidential support, there is this:

North Korea said it successfully tested a hydrogen bomb, the fourth time it has detonated a nuclear device and a move that dramatically escalates tensions on the peninsula with neighbors South Korea and Japan.

The regime in Pyongyang detonated a hydrogen device for the first time at 10 a.m. local time, its official Korean Central News Agency said. The explosion was initially detected as a magnitude 5.1 earthquake by the U.S. Geological Survey.

But in case you are worried that this will merely pass by without some sort of response from the West, the story does conclude with this:

The Korean won declined as much as 0.8 percent to 1,197.85 per dollar, the weakest level since September. The Kospi index of shares dropped 0.6 percent as makers of defense products such as Speco Co. surged. Ten-year bonds advanced, pushing their yield down one basis point to 2.05 percent.

We are in Act I of what has all the makings of being the most destructive era in human history.

President Barack Obama wipes away tears from his eyes as he speaks in the East Room of the White House in Washington, Tuesday, Jan. 5, 2016, about steps his administration is taking to reduce gun violence.(AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

This is a disturbing picture where we find the President of the United States has teared up over some policy issue. I cannot recall a single instance of a major politician ever being brought to tears except when attending a funeral. I think he is coming apart at the seams. Meanwhile, compare and contrast. Make sure you watch it all.

As was once rightly said, it is not the colour of one’s skin that matters but the content of one’s character.

Actually, I don’t think this way at all about Americans who are among the most generous and sensible people on the planet. But America is being taken for a ride by its political elites, and in this heading I am only echoing Donald Trump’s own concerns. This is a story from the Washington Post on Donald Trump’s first paid ad where the above sentiment is found:

In an interview Sunday with The Post, Trump said that he has six to eight ads in production and that his was a “major buy and it’s going to go on for months.” He said he hopes the spots impress upon undecided voters that the country has become “a dumping ground.”

“The world is laughing at us, at our stupidity,” he said. “It’s got to stop. We’ve got to get smart fast — or else we won’t have a country.”

It is America’s elites that are not quite there. Obama describing foreign leaders as “insane” is the most perfect example of projection I have ever seen.

The world remains a place of mystery: Clinton vs. Trump: Still A Dead Heat. Half of the American voting public would vote for Hillary. Who can make sense of such things, but there you are. More intriguing, we have William Voegeli writing The Reason I’m Anti-Anti-Trump.

The fact that Trump has become a credible contender despite, or even because of, his obvious faults argues, however, for taking his followers’ concerns seriously rather than dismissing them. It is not, in fact, particularly difficult to explain the emergence of Trumpismo in terms of legitimate concerns not addressed, and important duties not discharged. That such a flawed contender could be a front-runner tells us more about what’s wrong with the country than about what’s wrong with his followers. People have every reason to expect that their government will take its most basic responsibilities seriously, and every reason to be angry when, instead, it proves more feckless than conscientious. Governments are instituted among men to secure their inalienable rights, according to the Declaration of Independence. This means that when we and our rights are left avoidably insecure, government has failed in its central mission.

A government that worries about global warming more than immigration is a failed government and will in the fulness of time ruin the country it supposedly governs. And with the imperative for anyone to overcome the problems facing us being able to overcome the power of the media, there is no one other than Donald Trump who has found a way to do it. Voegeli concludes:

The best way to fortify Trump’s presidential campaign is to insist his followers’ grievances are simply illegitimate, bigoted, and ignorant. The best way to defeat it is to argue that their justified demands for competent, serious governance deserve a statesman, not a showman.

Fine, bring on the statesman or stateswoman. Meantime, if Hillary is the alternative, no one could look more statesmanlike than Trump.

An empty chair has been an apt metaphor for Obama although I do think he began and continues with an agenda that in his own eyes has been quite successful. But Clint Eastwood got it right where others supposedly more knowledgeable did not and now we have this: Clint Eastwood Reveals Which Two Candidates ‘Would Be Better Than What We Got’ with Obama Now.

You’ll never guess. Well actually, you might guess at least one. And in fact in the video at the link he seems to mention three. In fact, I’m not even sure he has ruled out any of the leading Republican candidates.

As for Obama, every day we are reminded how dangerously hopeless he has has been in defending America’s interests which really means our interests. Today’s instalment.

WASH POST: Resurgent Taliban has officials increasingly grim…
Boots on the Ground: Special Forces Sent to Tackle Global Threats…
ISIS leader threatens West in audio message…
Israel attacks imminent…
European Capitals Warned of Bomb Plot Before NYE…
IRAN ACCUSES SAUDI OF PROMOTING TERRORISM…
Russia releases dramatic video of air strikes ‘on Islamic State oil empire’…

There are swamps in the American political system so fetid that no one will even try to clear them out, with the one exception being Donald Trump. The article is naturally pro-Hillary but with Trump the way he is, they cannot avoid bringing the issue into the light. Trump campaign: Hillary bullied women to hide Bill’s ‘sexist secrets’. No doubt there is more to come.

Via Instapundit