Posse Incitatus

Thrown Under the Biden Bus

Ruthless expediency defines the presidency of Joseph Robinette Biden.

He uses people for his own selfish political purposes, then blithely discards them to a bad fate, utterly devoid of any qualms or empathy.

The most prominent example of a dupe who possibly isn't even sharp enough to realize she was used is Vice President Kamala Harris. Even though the former U.S. Senator fared poorly in the 2019 Democrat primaries (typically garnering about 2-3 percent of the vote), Biden and his sycophantic handlers cynically chose her as his running mate in 2020. Why? Because she conveniently checks off two important pander boxes: Black, and a woman. 

A "woman of color" -- OH BOY! And her mother is of Indian descent, so we can check off the Asian box, too. What a bonus!

As is typical with identity politics, substance, intelligence, charisma and political acuity don't count for much. Just check off those all-important superficial boxes. Because frankly, a huge chunk of the Democrat voters are extremely superficial in their thinking and perceptions.

Once the Biden-Harris team took office, it was time to dole out some responsibilities. In his desire to overturn anything and everything Donald Trump did, Biden created a terrible mess at the southern border. He opened up the floodgates, allowing unvetted people from 100 nations to stream into our country 24/7, bringing with them disease, drugs, weapons and gang affiliations. Aside from all that, it has been a humanitarian disaster, too.

Early in his administration, Biden gave Harris the unenviable job of border czar. She was tasked with cleaning up the mess he had made. This is impossible, because the only way to improve the horrendous status quo is to revert back to Trump policies, and Biden would never do that. His hatred for Trump is so intense, he can live with disastrous consequences to overturning some of Trump's policies. In his addled mind, doing what Trump did because it's the right way to go (or especially, giving any credit to Trump) would be FAR worse than having a cruel border catastrophe as we have now.

So Harris' hands are tied on the border issue, and she has been left twisting in the wind, having to resort to an annoying, nervous cackle whenever a member of the media asks her a tough question which she cannot answer.

Biden also put Harris in charge of "closing the digital divide" (a broad, unfocused mandate that has little chance of being fulfilled) and expanding voting rights, a Democrat effort to federalize elections that a) probably won't pass Congress; and b) will be eviscerated in the courts, as multiple lawsuits challenging its many unconstitutional provisions are teed up and ready to roll.

Afghanistan is another prime example of the president callously throwing good people under the bus. His ill-advised actions -- abandoning Bagram Airfield and removing troops before evacuating Americans and loyal Afghanis who helped the U.S. for the past 20 years -- resulted in the inability to get all of these people out before the Taliban took over.

He claimed he would leave no one behind, but that was another in a million lies. Afghanis who are former supporters of the U.S. are facing horrible torture and murder as we speak. No one really knows how many American citizens were left behind, but it may be in the thousands.

You might say Biden also threw some of his generals and intelligence officials under the bus, claiming that they supported his ill-advised plans. No one knows for sure what went on behind closed doors, but the Wall Street Journal reported there were numerous top military brass who advised against a rapid, haphazard withdrawal of troops before all Americans and loyal Afghanis could be evacuated, and before we could remove or destroy our equipment, weapons and ammo.

Additionally, the generals advised, the Taliban needed to meet all of the conditions set forth. But the headstrong Biden, who was quoted in the Bob Woodward/Robert Costa book "Peril" as saying he thought Barack Obama was manipulated by his generals, insisted on having his way. How's that working out?

Biden had also thrown his former boss under the bus during the 2019 debates for not succeeding in implementing comprehensive immigration reform. Oh, and before I move on to the border crisis, let's not forget the tens of thousands of union employees earning good money working on the Keystone pipeline. Biden threw them under the bus on Day One, Jan. 20. 

Moving onto the border meltdown, Biden has pretty much thrown under the bus the hundreds of thousands of destitute "people of color," to use a leftist phrase, who must have been bitterly disillusioned when they arrived and were treated like farm chattel. 

People of all ages squeezed into tiny confinement structures (aka "cages" when Trump was president) with limited bathrooms and showers, sleeping on the floor in close contact with dozens of other people, none of whom has been tested for COVID-19. Medical treatment for the ill is sparse, and there is limited or no oversight of sexual predators, drug use or gang affiliation.

More recently, thousands of Haitians have gathered under and around an overpass in the border city of Del Rio, Texas, and conditions resemble the third world. Food and water are limited, there are few restrooms, and the heat is oppressive. In the past day or two, video has gone viral of Border Patrol officers on horseback who are pushing back against Haitians trying to cross the Rio Grande River. (The dullards of the news media thought the officers were using whips against these people when in fact they were aggressively manipulating the reins to keep their horses under control.) 

I'm not sure how the administration decides who will stay and who will go, but hundreds of the Haitians have been flown back to Haiti. This despite the fact a significant number of them had been living in Argentina, Chile and other countries for years after the devastating 2010 earthquake in Haiti.

Between the women and girls of Afghanistan who are at the mercy of the violent Taliban perverts, and the brown- and black-skinned illegal immigrants receiving shabby treatment, I'd say Sleepy Joe has a lot to answer for to his progressive overlords. Is that any way to treat women and "people of color"? Yes, if you're a heartless, soulless narcissist like Sleepy Joe Biden.

SALUTE TO NATHAN HALE -- It was 245 years ago today -- Sept. 22, 1776 -- when American Patriot Nathan Hale was hung by the British for spying on British troops in New York City. Hale was a soldier and spy for the Continental Army, and fought under Gen. George Washington. Just 21 years old, his last words were, "I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country."

Capt. Hale exhibited the kind of greatness and courage that founded our incredible nation. How far we've fallen.

Memorial Day amongst the ruins: 2021

One of the classic precursors to the collapse of democratic government is military defeat. 

 

This need not lead to dictatorship or civil war, simply a new constitutional order, as happened when the Fourth French Republic gave way to the Fifth.

 

That these are the thoughts that come to mind on Memorial Day is a telling indicator that something is deeply wrong with our country.  Congressional Democrats want to establish a permanent military garrison in our nation's capital.  This is not what a popular government with record-seeking vote totals normally does.

 

Readers may well point out that the United States hasn't been defeated in the way of Imperial Germany in 1918, but victory also can be a source of unrest, particularly if the costs seem to vastly outweigh the benefits.  Both Japan and Italy were on the winning side of World War I, and yet both experienced changes in government because of internal discontent.

 

All of these examples have as a core feature the population's loss in confidence in the ruling class.  As we pause to consider our honored dead, we cannot help but ask why their sacrifice was necessary.  If one reads through the archives pertaining to this date, there is an obvious trend: from grim determination to disillusionment and finally where we are today, bitterness.

 

The earliest years of this blog sought to defend George W. Bush's policies and his leadership from vicious (and often dishonest) attacks.  What's striking to me today is how all of his worst enemies - the very people screaming that he was a war criminal - are now his political buddies.

 

A full reversal has occurred on the right as well, and it's remarkable to see.  I imagine a dialog between the two sides much go something like this:

 

The Right:  You know what?  You were right.  Bush was a criminal.

 

The Left:  No, he's a respectable leader, not like Drumpf!

 

The Right:  Wait, what?!  You called him Literal Hitler for years!

 

The Left:  Yeah, but that's before he became useful to us.

 

The Right:  What about his crimes?!

 

The Left:  Oh, we were never serious about that.  It was all politics.

 

Watching the classic Orwellian rehabilitation of Dubya is an object lesson in the left's endless ability to betray its principles.

 

And yet our dead remain dead.  

 

Did they die in vain?  Were the wars worth the cost?

 

I think they could have been.  A punitive expedition to rout the Taliban and break up their networks was both worthwhile and feasible.  Unfortunately, that offered insufficient opportunity for graft, so we went another route.

 

Similarly, removing Saddam Hussein from power started out as a political masterstroke, cowing America's enemies and offering a new global order where state-funded terrorism would be traced back to its sources.  Alas, our rulers didn't see the profit in that venture, either.

 

Again, it's illustrative that Dick Cheney was reviled for years as a war profiteer through Haliburton and yet our current Secretary of Defense is an actual board member of a weapons manufacturer - and no one on the left has a problem with this.

 

For all that, there was a brief dawning of hope at the end of the Trump administration when the Arab-Israeli conflict finally achieved a resolution.  The Abraham Accords and the promise they hold were the kind of solution that made the deaths of soldiers like Capt. Sean Grimes worthwhile.

 

Naturally, that achievement was denigrated and the Biden Administration's top priority is to pour arms and dollars into Syria, Iran and Palestinian terrorist organizations. 

 

And the peace movement?  Nowhere to be seen.

 

Nothing lasts forever, and governments have an expiration date.  It is inevitable that in the distant future a people completely strange to us will walk amidst the tumbled stones of Arlington and ponder what it was and why it was built with the same curiosity we regard Stonehenge or Saxon burial mounds.

 

All we can do is offer prayer for the dead and solace for the ones they have left behind.

 

And maybe, for a little while, the wars of choice will pause.

 

 

 

 

Pandemic without End

Perhaps the most demoralizing aspect of the COVID pandemic is the way public health officials and political leaders have not just botched the science, but taken it out, beaten it, run over it, beaten it some more and then paraded the disintegrating corpse in an Iron Maiden.

The whole point of science is learning from observation, yet here we are, eight months into the outbreak and most public health figures are still acting like there is zero progress in treatment for the disease and instead we have to resort to medieval tactics like quarantine and societal shut down.

Meanwhile, thousands upon thousands of people are dying from other causes.  Just last week we learned that the several hundred thousand Americans receiving chemotherapy had their treatment interrupted, which will likely prove lethal for many of them who otherwise might have beaten the disease.

The same is true for those with heart conditions, depression, addiction, and a host of other maladies.

The notion that society can 'wait out' an easily communicable disease is completely without any scientific basis, and yet health department officials and their political masters have the gall to accuse anyone who questions their bizarre (and often contradictory) pronouncements as being "anti-science."

Another aspect is the constant fear-mongering by medical officials, who keep warning of "cases rising."  This is a monumental deception.  The increase in positive tests is the inevitable result of increased testing, not disease spread.  It's like anything else - if you look for something you have a better chance of finding than if you don't look at all.

The tests are imprecise, and don't always indicate whether one is still contagious or even suffering any ill effects. 

Last week Michigan was rocked by the news that hospitalizations are up 80 percent.  Oh no!  Lock it down!!!!

But wait, 80 percent of what?  If there were only five patients and you get four more, that is in fact an 80 percent increase but not enough to justify massive societal disruption.

None of the hospitals are even close to capacity.  Ingham County, for example, has been locking down dorms and frat houses with wild abandon, yet as I write this there is a single patient in hospital.

I'm sure some wag will say:  "SEE, the lockdowns are working!" but far from containing the spread of the disease, these tactics virtually ensure everyone in the confined area will get it. 

The president is right - COVID is something we have to live with, just we humanity lived with smallpox, cholera, and influenza.  Hiding in one's basement until it goes away is a recipe for far greater harm.

It will conclude by noting that the stout resistance of the governors who allowed the disease to spread through nursing homes is also profoundly anti-science.  Essentially they want to protect themselves from political embarrassment - and the also protect the professional reputations of their medical advisors.

This is also a blatant assault on good medical practices and it should not be allowed to stand.  I'm sure they hope that such inquiry as does eventually happen will be soft-pedaled and reduced to "things were done, events happened" and be quietly ignored by an incurious media.

That's how 'science' works these days.

Nineteen years later

I don't think anyone who remembers Sept. 11, 2001 would have imagined that nearly two decades later, we'd not only still have troops in Afghanistan, but it would be a Republican trying to extract them against fierce Democrat opposition.

Indeed, the last few weeks have demonstrated that the Military-Industrial complex has bought out the Democrats and now calls the shots.  The party that rode anti-war sentiment to victory in 2006 and 2008 is now all about creating new and exciting conflicts that will claim the lives of people who come from social classes the elite openly despise.

Terrorism was once an affront to America's security and pride, but then it became a problem that could be handled with optics and spin.

The official observance has been banned in New York, but block parties and demonstrations go on, demonstrating yet again that COVID is nothing more than a convenient way for Democrats to punish groups they don't like, such as Orthodox Jews and religious people.

Looking back at Edwardian English, Winston Churchill remarked that "the Old World in its sunset was fair to see."

So it was on a sunny morning in 2001.  Every year it becomes harder to imagine a world like it.

Media tries out the fakest story to date

The last couple of days have been fascinating to watch.

As someone who grew up around journalists, it's a surreal experience watching reporters and commentators all weigh in on a story with zero actual evidence.

I am of course referring to the allegation that Donald Trump disparaged America's World War I dead while in France more than two years ago.

Yes, breaking news from two years ago!

The curious thing is that no one will go on the record about it.  Not only are the allegations from "anonymous sources" so are the supposed confirmations.

Meanwhile, the documentary evidence says it never happened.  Even Trump's arch-enemy John Bolton called the allegation absurd.  He rightly notes that if it had happened, he'd have done a whole chapter about it in his tell-all book.

This is supposed to damage Trump's standing with veterans, but the actual effect is to further wreck the press' credibility.  Trump's veneration of the military and especially wounded veterans is beyond question.  Yet the press (and their handlers in the Biden campaign) seem to think this will crater that support.

This is of course nonsense because in order to make the case that Trump disrespects the military, the press must itself disrespect the military.

The pilots, aircrew, command elements - all of these people who can attest to the truth must necessarily be denounced as corrupt liars with no sense of honor in defense of sources who may not even exist.

I've seen some stupid moves, but this is a strong contender for Dumbest Line of Attack Ever.

Indeed, Biden is leading with his jaw on this, because Trump can rightly counterattack by asking where Slow Joe was as American troops were being slaughtered in Benghazi, or why did the Obama administration fix the VA?

Thousands of veterans died due to the Obama administration's ineptitude and their response was to simply cover it up.  Add into it the number of military members killed on Biden's watch without achieving a single strategic gain and you have an excellent issue for the Trump campaign.

Finally, if the press must go all-in on a coordinated lie, to do so this early - so that the outrage is fresh in the public mind well before October - is a colossal blunder.

I'm sure there will be more where this came from, though.  These people learn nothing.

The Clinesmith plea deal

I've not bothered to post much about Spygate because we've reached the point where there are more dud bombshells than a live-fire range.

What's important now is whether the perps do time.

This is why Kevin Clinesmith's plea deal is significant.  His crime was undeniable: one cannot falsify an official document during an investigation.  No need to establish intent, the crime is apparent for all to see.

Clinesmith was deeply involved in Spygate witch hunt, and while the Dem media is trying to portray his guilty plea as merely a 'paper crime,' it in fact cuts to the core of the whole corrupt enterprise because absent his falsified document, the FISA warrants likely would have ceased, which would in turn have called them into question before the Mueller team had completed its smear job.

The cooperation element as well as the timing - Clinesmith approached DoJ rather than being bullied into a deal - indicate that more actions will be taken.

It's always hazardous to predict, buy my sense is that Durham is basing his investigation on similar indisputable types of crimes to minimize the political debate surrounding his charges.  This also makes a conviction far easier to obtain.

The big question is who will go down next - and what kind of deal they will try to get.

Trump brings peace to the Middle East: Democrats hardest hit

Today's announcement that the United Arab Emirates will formally recognize Israel and begin full diplomatic and commercial relations would normally be and earth-shaking event.

The UAE are highly influential and already there are rumors that other Gulf Arab states will follow their lead.

Saudi Participation now becomes a question of "when" rather than "if."

This was unthinkable even a few short years ago - that is to say, before Trump became president.

It's fashionable for leftists to insist that Trump is a rampaging clown, breaking our alliances and trashing American influence on the world scene.

On the contrary, he is the most consequential president since Ronald Reagan and seems destined to eclipse him if given a second term.

Naturally, Obama's minions are beside themselves with rage.  How could such an ill-mannered klutz achieve such remarkable results?   The best minds from Berkeley and Cambridge had come up with Obama's policies, backed by the best think tanks at the most credentialed establishment diplomats.

Yet their finely-tuned "strategic patience" brought only renewed war, widespread chaos and diminished American influence.  It took eight painful years to undermine America's position in the world; how has Trump reversed the decline in little more than three?

It is a mystery that the Left cannot unravel, blinded as they are by Trump hatred.  The Quisling Never Trumpers are likewise convinced The Donald has some sorcery at work. 

The Cuckshed was all set to claim that Biden's wise statecraft is preferable to Trump's oafish behavior, but that phantom has been dispelled almost before it could take shape.

Articles about Trump diminishing America's stature have proved to have a shorter shelf life than Recovery Summer. 

There is no 'reasonable dialogue' because the Democrats killed it

Our new (and perhaps old?) comments troll has made an appeal to reasonable discussion as a means to bridging disagreement.  All very reasonable and 1990s in outlook.

Yet for all the fair words, it's impossible at this late date to take them seriously.

In the first case, anyone wishing to learn more about 'the right' would likely choose a far more consequential blog than this fading relic, where a good weeks sees maybe three posts.

However, there is a truly massive archive, where such a person could - through careful reading - learn much about the evolution of non-establishment conservative thought.  Certainly we have better things to do that repeat arguments that are readily available.

But in the larger sense, dialogue is pointless because the Democrats have unmistakably signaled that they are done talking and ready to impose their will by any means necessary.

This became clear under Obama, when Democrats nakedly used their power in the teeth of public opposition and in violation of long-standing tradition to obtain what they assumed would be permanent gains.  Thus, in the quest to dominate the judiciary, the Senate filibuster was cast aside.  Similarly, the long-standing tradition of bipartisan support of major legislation was trashed in order to put Obamacare into effect - even going so far as to jam the bills through on Christmas Eve.

The Democrats knew they were flirting with electoral suicide, but such considerations were secondary to the belief that they would fundamentally alter the American political landscape.  Winning was all they cared about.

So it is today.  The Dems will trash anything that gets in their way.  How quaint is it to recall the Democrat opposition to the PATRIOT Act in light of how they used it to spy on - and undermine - the Trump administration!  The FBI and CIA - once deeply distrusted by the civil libertarian left - now are given full license to lie about warrants and use thug tactics to jail political enemies on specious charges.

Which is a weird posture to take for a party that claims to oppose "over-incarceration."

Perhaps the clearest signal that debate is pointless is the Democrats' reversion to using moral arguments instead of logical ones.

This not only frees them from having to explain the practical effect of implementation, it also absolves them from responsibility for any unfavorable results.

For example: de-policing in Democrat cities has produced a surge of crime, shootings and death.

By any objective measure - improving safety, protecting the lives of black people - the policy has failed.

But since it is a moral imperative, these injuries or deaths are but collateral damage on the path to Utopia.

The last time this happened was regarding slavery - when the Democrats of the 1840s shifted from defending slavery as regrettable but necessary into a positive moral good. 

It is eerily similar to the move from Bill Clinton's claim that abortion should be 'safe, legal and rare,' to 'shout your abortion!' campaigns, and concurrent lawsuits to force Catholic hospitals to perform the murderous act.

A true dialogue takes place where both sides are open to new ideas and new opinions.  For Democrats, this is an impossibility.  When they speak of 'national dialogues,' they mean that everyone else has to listen to them until they are tired of talking and then do what they say.

Not long ago, one could expect nominal Catholics like Nancy Pelosi and Joe Biden to denounce the attacks on Catholic churches and monuments, but their silence (and even outright denial) speaks volumes.

Indeed, a previous concern troll tried to argue that Antifa didn't exist, ignoring the prominent displays of their symbols, banners, and social media accounts claiming to speak for them.

The first place for such a dialogue to begin is therefore the admission of reality: Antifa is a violent, leftist domestic terrorist organization.  If such agreement is impossible, there is nothing left to discuss.

The Biden Paradox: We'll get a Return to Normal *and* Revolution

For some reason this blog is like a honeypot for left-wing talking point bots.  Not sure why that is, since our traffic is but a shadow of its greatness during the Golden Age of Blogs.

Anyhow, it's interesting to see the latest example of Leftist Doublethink:  Joe Biden will bring a return to peaceful normalcy and usher in the Revolution the left has been longing for.

It's a fascinating argument to make, but the Dems are world-class experts at arguing contradictory things.  "Freedom is Slavery," "War is Peace" and now "Green New Deal is Return to Normal."

Obviously, one of these things is not true, and it's obvious that the claim of returning to normal is the lie.

The Left hates this country - it hates its history, its traditions and its greatness.  Joe Biden's ghost-written Independence Day speech was all about how disappointing the United States has always been to him.

If we simply blow up the energy industry, repeal half the Constitution and create Green Workers' Soviets, then we will get what we truly deserve.

I suppose at this late date arguing specifics is pointless because it's painfully obvious that the Dems don't mean anything they say.  Once they get power, they'll do whatever they want with it.

As they always have.

 

The Vanishing Moderate Left

In the comments, the question was raised:  Why do I paint the left with so broad a brush?  What about the moderate left, which is open to appeals to reason?

My answer is simply this: it's gone.

Look at the furor surrounding an attempt to by prominent writers to stand against "cancel culture."  The old liberal wing - based on free speech, individual liberty - has collapsed completely.

Slow Joe Biden, who was once something of a centrist (certainly he favored banking centers in Delaware), has now embraced every radical policy pushed by Bernie Sanders.  He was pitched in the primaries as the "safe, reasonable" choice, but his positions are indistinguishable from the radical "Squad" on the far left of the Democrat Caucus.

Even if the moderates hadn't immediately folded on their abortive letter in opposition to cancel culture, a close reading of it showed they didn't object to censorship by the mob, they merely objected to it being applied to them.

Leftist institutions are nothing more than front organizations pushing for the radical overthrow of the existing order.  The ACLU no longer supports free speech, the ADL is comfortable with anti-semitism so long as it supports their cause of Orange Man Bad.

Maybe these people will come out of their bunkers on election day, but I get a sense that they also dislike Trump and figure once he's gone, then they can take back their party.

But history shows that it won't work like that. 

Once the radicals gain the summit of power, they go into overdrive and their first victims will be the people on their own side who might get in their way.

You'd think the right wouldn't have to explain the left to itself, but I guess that's where we are.