The Most Dangerous Times…

     …are times of transition. Times when things are in flux. Especially when the “from” side of the flux is angry about being replaced.

     If you were alive and aware in 1980, you may remember that a group of Iranian savages had stormed the U.S. Embassy in Tehran and taken a lot of Americans hostage. The situation had already persisted for more than a year when election time came around. The results of the presidential balloting were politically legendary: the inept-if-good-hearted peanut farmer from Georgia, the man who made cardigan sweaters famous, was ousted by a retired actor from California who had somehow climbed to the pinnacle of Republican esteem. That retired actor had put in eight highly successful years as the governor of California – yes, really! – yet no one expected him to mount a winning campaign for the White House… until he actually did so.

     Iran took notice. The Khomeini theocracy, which had backed the hostage takers up to then, had a “rethink.” On January 20, 444 days after the initial siege of the Embassy, the hostages were released and were on their way home. Later that day, Ronald Reagan was inaugurated as the 40th President of the United States.

     A similar situation may be playing out today, though similar only in the broadest respect: foreign savages are holding Americans as hostages. They’ve been doing so for more than a year. But a tough-minded president-elect is on his way to power. Will the Islamic fanatics of HAMAS do the smart thing and release the hostages before Donald Trump becomes America’s Commander-in-Chief? Or will the enervation of American power and will by the Obama-Biden regime persuade them that the United States has become a “paper tiger?”

     Yes, as the late, great sage Lawrence Peter Berra has told us, prediction is difficult, especially when it’s about the future. But we commentators of Liberty’s Torch are here precisely to make fools of ourselves venture bravely into the unknown. Thus we must opine on the matter. However, we must first take stock of other developments that bear on the crisis.

     Israel has slowed if not stopped its campaign to destroy HAMAS. International pressure, including pressure from Washington, is partly responsible. Yet HAMAS holds more Israeli hostages than Americans.

     Islam-powered attacks on Western nations, including ours, have accelerated sharply these past few weeks. While not all the questions have yet been answered, it seems clear that the recent atrocity in New Orleans was the doing of Islamic terrorists. (An investigation of yesterday’s mass shooting in Queens, New York is underway.) There is no question that the attack on the Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany was perpetrated by a Muslim fanatic. Mass Islamic demonstrations in New York City and Washington D.C. lend emphasis to developments. These and other Islam-powered events are tracked at this valuable site.

     Iran has been making suggestive noises about having achieved full nuclear capability. While this is probably pure propaganda – you know what Tehran’s first target would be – it should not be wholly discounted. The creation of highly radioactive “dirty bombs” doesn’t require the purity of fissionables or the elaborate engineering of an atomic or nuclear weapon. Besides, Pakistan, another Islamic state, is already known to possess nuclear weapons.

     And of course, the man in command remains, nominally at least, a senile octogenarian whose awareness of developments is questionable at best. Those around him are largely opposed to the use of American power to defend American lives or preserve American interests. They’re hostile to the incoming president and have deep support within the Deep State.

     The next eighteen days will be one of the tensest periods in recent American history. HAMAS, a component of the worldwide Islamic jihad, may believe that its allegiants can terrorize the West into backing down. If so, it will refuse to release its hostages. In that case, President Trump will be compelled to act.

     President Reagan came to power under more favorable conditions. In particular, he didn’t have a feminized military commanded by incompetents and diversity hires to deal with. The lunatics in Tehran knew that, and acted accordingly.

     It’s six-five and pick ‘em, Gentle Reader. And I don’t like what I see.