Posse Incitatus

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.

 

 

 

 

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.

Happy (belated) Birthday, America!

As all normal people should, I took a break from the flickering screen yesterday and enjoyed Family, Faith and Freedom.

After a refreshing session of recreational firepower, it was time to fire up the grill and then set off some fireworks as the evening closed in.  The neighbors complimented us on our display, which was nice.

Seasoned readers have no doubt noticed that I'm not posting as often as I used to, and part of this is that things are getting too stupid for words.

Even the trolls are transparent idiots, on the one hand maintaining Antifa doesn't exist, and on the other claiming that no black businesses have been harmed in widespread rioting.

Given the prevalence of damage (and black-owned enterprises in city cores), this is not only patently false, but insultingly so.

It's on part with a Monty Python sketch in its absurd denial of observable truth.  With such people, discussion is pointless.

This blog has lasted far longer than I thought it would, and it provides a written record of the left's utter degeneration from credible political philosphy to a nakedly illogical movement bent purely on the seizure of absolute political power.

Gun control is a great example of this.  Back in 2004, there was still a serious discussion over whether it was necessary or effective.  This was based on actual evidence, and a particularly telling piece of it was that more and more states allowed concealed pistol licenses and yet the crime rate continued to fall.  Clearly the more guns = more crime theory had been disproven.

Tellingly, this is was the signal to move away from any association with logic and to pure insult and social punishment.  Gun control - like so much of the leftist agenda - became couched in moral terms and those who opposed it were evil.

So it is with Black Lives Matter, whose policies have destroyed lives and livelihoods.  Crime is soaring across the country and it is the black community in particular that is suffering.

The "autonomous zone" in Seattle claimed the lives of two young black men, but no one knows or cares about them, because their deaths don't advance 'the cause.'

Another example:  Remember when George W. Bush was a warmonger?  Remember the peace movement?

Where did it go?  Donald Trump is trying to pull out US forces from pointless and unwinnable wars and yet the Democrats are now demanding that they continue!  It's fascinating to watch the same people who denounced General Petraeus as "General Betray-Us" now quoting him as a wise sage who wants unending death and destruction.

Also disappeared - wrenching stories of civilians killed by US bombs, or the struggles of wounded veterans.  BTW, do those black lives matter - the ones in uniform being wasted in sandpits across Asia?

This is why I've cycled down, because arguing with idiots gets old.  I have not yet closed the comments, but I have blocked trolls and recently deleted a comment that violated our long-standing policy against substituting links for commentary.

If you have something interesting to say, say it, don't spam my comments with your links.

 

There can be no discussion about race because progressives are dishonest

Recently I had to banish our remaining troll (who I strongly suspect was a sock-puppet of another troll) because the cartoonish parodies of actual insight it offered had become tedious.

Such nonsense is sadly all too common on the left these days.

The troll's last act of defiant stupidity was to insist that Antifa does not actually exist, and also to ask for specific links of minority-owned businesses damaged by Democrat-sponsored riots.

This willful dishonesty is what precludes any kind of intelligent politics.

Antifa is of course real, it has adherents, "liberated zones," and a number of partisans who boast of their strength.  It cannot be "legitimate protest" and also "a bugbear of the right."

Similarly, one can't keep going on about "mostly peaceful protests" and ignore the massive physical destruction they caused.

The media is now openly into Goebbels mode, pushing Big Lie after Big Lie, completely indifferent to the contradictions in their statements.  Similarly, Democrat politicians and their corrupt public health allies want to simultaneously emphasize the need for eternal lockdowns, but then make bogus exceptions ("racism is woth the risk").

Right now there is chatter hyping the growing number of "cases," by which they mean people who test positive for the Wuhan Virus.  This is meaningless.  There are a number of viruses that have almost universal spread, such as the herpes variant that gives one "cold sores."  None of these would justify an economic shutdown of indefinite length.

The reason for the shutdown was to prevent hospitals from being overwhelmed by sick patients.  That risk has disappeared.  Not only has the case load dropped, capacity has been increased in case there is a surge.  Responsible, non-partisan scientists would point this out.

But science also must serve The Party, so whatever The Party requires is now the new science.

All of this renders normal politics impossible.  I don't think the left understands that what comes next will be beyond the ability of their twitter accounts to control.