Posse Incitatus

Veterans Day 2019

This Veterans Day finds our nation in a strange place.

For the first time in history, we have president who was targeted by a subordinate for essentially conducting foreign policy without the Establishment's permission.  Indeed, the very term "whistleblower" has no application here, since military officers are expected to obey the orders of the president, not run to Congress under cover of anonymity and whine about them.

This is only the most recent example of military leaders not so openly declaring that military decisions are too important to be left to the people with Constitutional power to make them.  The Syria withdrawal appeared haphazard because it was resisted to the last minute.

Interestingly, a majority of veterans now consider the Global War on Terror - both in Iraq and Afghanistan - to be not worth the effort.  I agree.

In both instances, what was called for was a rapid, punitive strike to cripple their capabilities and serve as an object lesson to other hostile regimes.

The incompetence is bipartisan and apparently no lessons have been learned.  The same people who have gotten it wrong for the last three decades continue to get it wrong and are now trying to subvert the Constitutional order so they can keep getting it wrong, forever.

Today we honor those who served and that honor stems from the oath they take - not to an individual, or a party, or a policy, but to the Constitution itself.    The US is unique in both the type of oath and the fidelity with which it has been observed for more than two centuries.

Thank you.

Bye Bye Beto

The departure of Robert Francis "Beto" O'Rourke from the Democrat presidential primary will have little effect on the contest from a polling perspective.

This was because the man was entirely a media creation.  He was hyped far beyond his abilities against Ted Cruz and the same thing happened when he ran for president.

Thus, no one is going to gain much from his defecting supporters because he had none.  The true impact he had on the race was to drive the Democrats into increasingly outrageous policies.

The Democrats have no center.  It's gone.  The old FDR lunch-pail coalition is dead.  Instead, the Democrats consist of a loose, mutually hostile coalition of disparate interests united only by the desire for unlimited power, which they will use against middle America.

O'Rourke was overtly anti-white, peppering his speeches with self-loathing references to his own "privilege" an America's inherent racism, which he alone apparently could cure. 

He also destroyed the convenient fiction that Democrats stand for anything other then mass confiscation of firearms and the mass arrests of their owners.

Both of thse positions opened up a great opportunity for a centrist Democrat to rebuke him, but none took it.  The Dems apparently believe that the time for lying about where they stand is over, and they want to let their freak flag fly.

And who better to lead this parade of insanity than a furry?

The headless Islamic State

One of the weirdest elements of our current age is how the people who fancy themselves experts keep getting things wrong - and then expect people to keep listening to them!

The Obama Administration sowed chaos across the globe, stumbling from one disaster to another, learning nothing in the process.  In another age, they'd be mocked and driven from polite society rather than constantly consulted about all the awful things that are sure to result from Trump ignoring their pin-headed advice.

The other aspect of Never Trumpism is the perverse desire to stand against anything and everything Trump is for.  The death of would-be Caliph of the Islamic State should be a day anyone with a moiety of their marbles would celebrate, and yet the fake press immediately busied itself with trying to rehab the fanatical killer.

That is of course the predictable end of Never Trumpism - his successful policies which have brought renewed American prosperity and hope are now the worst possible news.   Having gotten Syria dead wrong, I anticipate a turn back to "recession mania" before trying to pump some meaningless RUSSIA hype.

Of course all that will be disrupted once the indictments come down.  I've no idea when it will happen, but the latest incendiary filing in the Flynn case indicates that the whole Spygate fiasco is about to be exposed in a way that will have even the lying mainstream media struggling to cover it up.

The word of the day is "Wexit"

Yesterday Canada’s election results were tallied and Justin from Canada managed to hang onto his premiership in a minority government.

The failure of the Canadian right to take down a nepotist dilettante is sadly not news.  While I don’t know much about the Conservative leader, it’s pretty clear he ran on bland program designed not to offend anyone and promised minimal changes.  Bob Dole with a maple leaf.

Where things get interesting is the in the details of the Liberals’ victory.  The western provinces of Saskatchewan and Alberta – which are heavily reliant on the energy industry – were swept clean of Liberals.  A primary issue for these voters was that of “climate change,” which is to say Justin’s plan to “de-carbonize” Canada by shutting down fuel production and heavy industry.  Apparently the layoff notices are already going out.

The current theory on revolutions is that they are not the product of worsening conditions so much as unmet expectations.  Indeed, revolutions often break out because things aren’t getting better fast enough, or there is a slight retreat after steady gains.  This is how Venezuela and Cuba can maintain steady almost unchallenged regimes at a subsistence level while Hong Kong is in open rebellion against far less repression.

Thus, after years of growing prosperity, the citizens of the western provinces are confronting the possibility that their entire economy will be tanked so the black-faced premier and take his virtue-signaling to new levels.

Otherwise respectable politicians are now broaching the possibility of “Wexit,” the breakup of the Canadian federation by these disgruntled provinces, who could use the United States as an outlet for their valuable commodities.  I’m sure the Trump administration would be more than happy to oblige them.

Interestingly, Canada already has a mechanism for secession in place, thanks to the francophone grifters in Quebec, who never met a subsidy they wouldn’t take.  How this plays out is anyone’s guess, but I see it as yet another sign of institutional failure. 

In normal times, the Liberals would fire the leader who led them into minority and govern with great moderation, knowing that they won only a third of the popular vote.  Instead, they seem set on forging ahead with their platform, relying on more radical allies to help them with the votes necessary to push ahead.  Call it a Canadian Popular Front.

Such coalitions rarely end well – either for the partners or the country they are supposed to serve.

A few years, back, I would dismiss Wexit as a fantasy, but now I’m not sure.  Trudeau has taken plenty of pot-shots at the US over the years and seems spectacularly incompetent.  If anyone can force a showdown, it would be him.

FISA Week is here

The long-awaited Inspector General report on FISA abuse is supposed to come out this week.

Rumors are flying and while some expect it to be another dud, the actions of the Dems suggest otherwise.

The report has been the works for a long time, and the fact that Joe Biden's CIA buddies tried to launch a spoiling attack and push impeachment suggests it's not going to vindicate the intel operatives who think they run the country.

That being said, I'm sure a bunch of sites will wail and gnash their teeth if the report isn't strong again.  This has happened repeatedly in the past, so it's worth revisiting some key points that get lost in the flood of emotion.

This is merely a finding of fact.  The IG doesn't speculate and can't pass verdicts.  The purpose of the report is to enable additional prosecution if it seems warranted and also take administrative action to correct deficiencies.  Previous reports didn't result in prosecutions, but that isn't to say they will never happen, just that they haven't happened yet.

The other key element is that the IG has no enforcement power.  IG's can't fire anyone or offer punishment.  That will go to the heads of the various departments.

What we do know is that a lot of the people involved are very nervous.  We also know that detailed investigations are underway covering foreign involvement and other irregularities.

Finally, it's important to understand that if one really wants convictions, the nature of these crimes mean the investigations will take a while.  Too many people looked at Team Mueller throwing down process charge indictments as the way things are done.  They aren't.

Most of those charges were tossed or will be laughed out of court.  Mueller's job was threefold:

1. Delay prosecution of the corrupt people in DoJ.
2. Create bad headlines for Trump
3. Fabricate an obstruction of justice charge against his administration

Mueller was partially successful in each element, but none of them are decisive.  The Dems latching into impeachment now with such a feeble case merely shows their desperation.

One final point I find interesting.  Why was the release announced ahead of time?  Usually these things just show up.

I think it was because of a rumored "big announcement" from the Clintons.  This could be that Chelsea is running for Congress, but it could also be Hillary jumping in to the campaign so that she can use the "political pesecution" defense against any indictments.  Her musing that she could "beat Trump again" is consistent with this.

By announcing the release of the report ahead of her "big surprise," the persecution card is off the table.  Most of the chatter this will be about what's in the report, totally undermining her attempt to spin any revelations as a blatantly political attempt to hamstring her campaign.

The War Party's Turkish Delight

Has anyone in my lifetime brought more clarity to the political scene than Donald Trump?  For all the claims that he lies, the man has an uncanny ability to expose the hypocrisy of the Ruling Class.

His announcement that US forces would be withdrawn from the area of Turkish incursion was one of the best examples of this.  Right on cue, people who three years ago insisted that Trump would start a shooting war in Korea are now screaming that he’s a coward for not forcing a military confrontation with NATO ally Turkey.

This is insanity on stilts.

Let us review the facts.

The United State is not at war with Syria. 

Congress has made no declaration of war, nor has any administration articulated a long-term reason for US forces to be on Syrian soil.  The reason we are there was to pursue renegade elements of the Al Qaeda splinter group ISIS after it overran much of Iraq.

The recognized government of Syria is the regime of Bashar Assad.  To maintain his tyrannical (but legally acknowledged) regime, he has solicited aid from Iran and Russia.

Turkey has been using Syria as a sandbox to hammer Kurds, some of whom like us, some of whom are Communist terrorists.

Indeed, the fact that one cannot simply summarize the situation proves that the Bush-Obama “strategic experts” have created a complete mess.

Trump’s solution is therefore a sensible one: leave.

There is no clear strategic goal in Syria for the United States.  ISIS has been militarily defeated.  Should the Assad regime reconquer its territory, it will not allow ISIS to return.  ISIS and the Alawite Syrians (which is what the Assad family is) are mortal enemies.

At the same time, the US cannot openly wage war on Turkey as this would destroy NATO.

Remember NATO?  That was the thing Trump is always accused of undermining.  Odd that getting into a military confrontation with a NATO member doesn’t concern the same people wagging their finger that Trump wasn’t being nice to them.

Strangely silent in all of this is the “peace wing” of the Democrat Party.  Seems they’ve been taking a nap since January of 2009.  I guess when a Democrat starts pointless and bloody wars of choice, it isn’t really a problem for them.

The US military is overstretched and exhausted from endless and winless wars.  Those who serve are often maligned as bloodthirsty killbots (on this very blog, in fact, go through the archives), but in fact they sign up to defend their nation, and they’re mortally tired.

It’s interesting that none of the people claiming a moral duty to wage another pointless conflict have a personal investment in the enterprise.

They will not be on the firing line.

I used to deride the “chickenhawk” slur, but I do find it interesting that many of the same people who threw it around freely in 2002 have become the thing they said they hated.

Actually, the DC Establishment does have an interest – profit.

Again, the Dems pounded away on Haliburton and Dick Cheney, but once again we see that graft is a bipartisan activity.  Joe Biden’s brother made a fortune in Iraq.  How convenient.

Of course Joe Biden’s finances are now off limit to investigative reporting because Orange Man Bad, but back when people cared about war profiteers, MSNBCBSABCNN would have been crawling up his rectum to report this stuff.

All of which is why Trump is doing the right thing.  He’s exposing the warmongers and demonstration who has the nation’s strategic interest at heart and who is content to let the bodybags continue to stream back home with no end in sight.

The NeverTrumpers build a couch-pillow Fortress of Power

Amidst the mindless noise of the impeachment farce, I was amused to see that another of the National Review Never Trump team has departed the now-disgraced publication.

David French will no longer be darkening the hallways of Buckley's flagship magazine, and will instead be squatting in the basement with Jonah Goldberg and Stephen Hayes.

The trio will be writing for a "newsletter" called The Dispatch.  It will run on paid subscriptions, though presumably the writer will continue to try to find other markets to sell their feeble prose.

It's worth noting that Hayes has been unemployed since The Weekly Standard passed under the waves and Goldberg left National Review months ago with vague notions of a to-be-named-later writing project.

French's departure thus helps combine the hard core Never Trump team into one convenient and useless grouping.  It's pretty much a guarantee that they'll alternate guest appearances with the The Cuckshed Bulwark.

Presumably this has-been supergroup is being formed with the upcoming elections in mind, and will provide "principled, conservative" reasons for voting for a slate of wild-eyed communists.

I look forward to not reading them.

Is Ukraine the new RUSSIA?

One of the things I learned under Bill Clinton's presidency is that whenever a Democrat has broken a law, there will immediately be media reports that Republicans have done the same thing, only worse.

It was a novel invention 30 years ago, but now it's becoming a dull, predictable routine.

In other words: the magic is gone.

Clearly Joe Biden and the Obama administration know they are vulnerable on this.  There's also the lingering question of Uranium One and the decision process in approving the sale of a strategic ore to the eeeevil Vladimir Putin.

Based on experience, I'm going to assume that this whole fake scandal is an attempt to get in front of new revelations about both Biden and Clinton.  Just as the same two photos of Trump in the same room with Jeffrey Epstein were the only ones used in an effort to tie Trump to the noted sex-trafficker, so the same hackneyed allegations are being trotted out as cover for the corrupt Deep State.

The problem as that - as with Epstein - the Clinton ties are far deeper and Trump isn't shy about pointing them out.

Adding to the risk is the fact that the federal government is no loner a wholly-owned subsidiary of Clinton Inc.  There are still pockets of resistance, but there are also honest cops who seem determined to break some of these cases open.

ClintonWorld is in eclipse.  It's power came from the ability to dispense political favors and that influence is fading.  Without it, the foreign hired guns are no longer willing to do the dirty deeds that gets them paid.  In fact, they may well turn on their prior benefactors who were stiffed by Hillary's failure to win the White House.

There are a lot of unpaid I.O.U.s out there and the holders are likely looking for some payback.

 

Another China retreat?

Over the weekend, Communist China announced that it was lifting tariffs against soy and pork products from the US.

If this is the case (note that the ChiComs lie early and often), it would be a significant win for Trump's trade policies.

As we've pointed out several times, the US holds the upper hand in this dispute.  The US is almost entirely self-sufficient, and only allowed itself to become dependent on Chinese manufactured goods through a combination of laziness and corporate greed.

China, on the other hand, cannot even feed itself.  This dependency goes behind basic nutrition to prestige items like pork, which is highly-valued in China.

The Communist regime's legitimacy rests in large part on increasing prosperity.  Forcing people to cut back on favorite foods while factories close undermines that legitimacy and strikes at the heart of the regime's power. 

There is also the problem that the rest of the world doesn't have enough soy or pork to feed China.  America remains the garden of the world, and without our foodstuffs, global famine is a certainty.

Trump's economic team has always known this, and it's worth noting that while the national security and political appointees seem to have regular turnover, the economic side of the administration remains stable and successful.  This is perhaps because Trump understands that without a firm economic footing, all else is weakened.  China's leaders are now learning the same lesson.

9/11 Comes of Age

The artificial outrage over the Trump Administration seeking a negotiated settlement to the Afghan War tells us all we need to know about the Bipartisan Establishment and the Democrat-funded "peace movement."

They are both incompetent and fake.

War is not a condition to be managed, it is an existential struggle for those involved.  It is true that a coldly rational policy might require sacrifice for a greater strategic aim, but no such vision is now being articulated regarding Afghanistan.  It's a quagmire so we must stay because that's what we have to do.

It's significant that our current Ruling Class is entirely insulated from the war's costs but richly rewarded by its benefits.

This is why Trump's effort to wind down the now-aimless struggle are being attacked from the left of all places.  So much for Cindy Sheehan.  The widows and orphans of the current war are drawn from the Deplorable class, so no attention need be paid them.

The desire to smear Trump as anti-military or defeatist will fail, just as all the other smears have failed because the truth is unmistakable.  Actual combatants and their families are tired of a war without end.  The ardent volunteers of 18 years ago are now watching their children come of military age to take up the torch from failing hands, but to what end? 

A punitive expedition to Afghanistan was always a good idea, and the installation of a friendly client government was a not unreasonable solution.  But one cannot "reconstruct" a society that never was.  George W. Bush ran for president in part by ridiculing "nation-building," and yet he was the worst nation-builder of them all.

Just as the attacks 18 years ago this morning tore away the illusions that our Ruling Class knew what it was doing, so the bumbling effort since has further destroyed their credibility.  In a sense, this is the 9/11 about 9/11.