With apology offered to B. Traven for the above appropriation of his words, I wanted to take a moment, as we approach 2018, to look back on tumultuous 2017 – or, more specifically, some of the comments made foretelling coming events. It takes a certain person – cocky, self-assured, and thick-skinned – to make such predictions.  I am not that person. The trouble with predictions is that if you are right, and you remind others of that, you end up looking like a jerk.  And if you are wrong, you will be reminded of that fact too often. Another issue with predictions: The professional pontificators making them are rarely held to account when wrong.  Instead, they remain working at places like the N.Y. Times, CNN, and MSNBC. No, you will not hear any predictions from me.  Instead, it's more fun to look back at those foolish enough to make them to see who was right and who was wrong. U.S. or Iraqi forces will drive ISIS out of Iraq...(Read Full Article)