Sic Semper Tyrannis

"Strike The Tent" trilogy by W. Patrick Lang

     

Available from:

 iUniverse

http://www.iuniverse.com/Bookstore/BookSearchResults.aspx?Search=patrick%20lang

E-Book version of all three available at iUniverse

Barnes and Noble

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/W--Patrick-Lang?keyword=W.+Patrick+Lang&store=allproducts&iehack=%E2%98%A0

Amazon

http://www.amazon.com/Butchers-Cleaver-Confederate-Secret-Services/dp/0595474764/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1358700423&sr=1-1&keywords=The+Butcher%27s+Cleaver

I was interviewed some time ago by the North Carolina Museum of History concerning the writing of this trilogy.

"The Confederate Secret Services, a conversation with W. Patrick Lang, novelist, retired U.S. Army colonel, and military intelligence consultant

Patrick Lang discusses his two novels, The Butcher’s Cleaver and Death Piled Hard, both of which focus on Claude Devereux, a Virginia banker who is recruited by the Confederate secret service and placed in the office of Union secretary of war Edwin Stanton. Approximate run time: 24 minutes. Podcast " 

This podcast is highly recommended

http://ncmuseumofhistory.org/civil-war-and-reconstruction

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"Science currently holds that time travel is an impossibility, but readers of Down the Sky, thefinal volume of Colonel Pat Lang’s Strike the Tent trilogy will question that assertion. Code-named “Hannibal,” Confederate penetration agent Claude Devereux is firmly lodged in the upper echelons of the Federal war machine. Now a Brigadier General of the Union forces with the new Congressional Medal of Honor on his chest, Major Devereux of the Confederate Secret Service knows time is running out. His minders in Richmond may no longer trust him, his personal life is a shambles, and Union spy-catcher Lafayette Baker is determined to bring him down. Only his peculiar, personal friendship with President Lincoln holds his enemies at bay.

Claude’s missions for the Federal War Department take him to major battles, and the reader will experience Cedar Creek, and Fort Fisher as if in person. The vision of Lincoln standing in full view of the Confederate sharpshooters at Fort Stephens is indelible, as is the vignette of a severely wounded Union officer on the grounds of the Belle Grove Plantation after Cedar Creek. Such a view of battle could only have come from the author’s personal experiences.

The book stands alone, but it is a worthy successor to its two predecessors, The Butcher’s Cleaver, and Death Piled Hard. The great Shelby Foote said:

'The Civil War brings everything into a sharper focus with heightened color. Anytime you want to study human behavior, it is well to study the Civil War, because in that you study human behavior under terrific pressure and heat. So that men show what they are for good or bad more readily than in ordinary times.'

Readers of the trilogy, and of Down the Sky in particular will find this unerringly demonstrated by the historical rigor and deep creativity of Patrick Lang.

James Peak

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These books are available in electronic formats to include "Kindle' from major vendors. pl

Finito Sic Semper Tyrannis

We are done here.  turcopolier.com is working now.  I have cancelled all guest author ships here.  RSS is enabled on the new blog.  Comments will no longer be moderated on SST.  pl

turcopolier.com

My new blog is now public.  available at turcopolier.com  I will be moving all business to that blog shortly.  Authors on the new blog are being notified of their status.  I will leave this one up for a while to enable use of the archive.  pl

" ... Florida Gov. DeSantis a 'Strong Potential Presidential Candidate'" Gaetz

"Rep. Matt Gaetz on Sunday floated a potential presidential bid by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and implied the Biden administration is considering pre-flight testing and domestic air travel restrictions to "cast aspersions on the Florida experience" because DeSantis could be a rival. 

"He is a strong potential presidential candidate in 2024," the Florida Republican said Sunday on Fox News. "The Biden team knows that, and so they're trying to somehow cast aspersions on the Florida experience because you know what, throughout America, there's a lot of Florida envy right now."

Gaetz's comments came after Fox interviewed DeSantis on Sunday, with the governor accusing President Joe Biden of mulling travel restrictions to target Florida for its thriving economy and housing sector. 

According to reports, the Biden administration has been looking into imposing domestic travel restrictions to curb the spread of coronavirus variants. The administration isn't targeting any particular state but is reviewing how to stop the spread of the virus mutations that are surging in some states, including Florida and California. "  Gaetz

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It would be very nice if Trump would hunker down and shut up so as to clear the way for a viable 2024 candidate like DeSantis.  Do I think he will?  No.  His hubristic self destructive instincts apparently rage on even as he faces the prospect of criminal and civil legal action against him.

Do I think  the left cabal did everything fair and foul they could manage to steal the election?  I do, but the time has come to march forward and the path forward lies in backing young Republican candidates like DeSantis.  The troop of howler monkeys that is now the Democratic Party will greet my statement about their dishonesty with all the usual Goebbels style screeching about Qanon, the Proud Boys, etc., etc., ad nauseam  

To hell with them!  Ignore them.  There are 75 million actual citizens out there in the much despised flyover country who cry out for real leadership. 

The Democrats are a party that despises traditional America.  Despise them in return, but find viable leaders.  DeSantis is one such.  pl 

https://www.newsmax.com/politics/gaetz-desantis-florida-presidential-run/2021/02/15/id/1010038/

Cuomo should be recalled, and then prosecuted ...

"Unlike California, which is petitioning to recall Democrat Gov. Gavin Newsom for his coronavirus lockdowns and mismanagement, New York does not have a recall procedure.

Pataki once sought a New York amendment for just that in 2002, but then Democrat Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver swatted it down.

Gov. Cuomo is facing fire after his aide Melissa DeRosa admitted to Democrats this week the administration withheld nursing home deaths data from media and lawmakers fearing a Trump administration Justice Department investigation. Cuomo is one of five Democrat governors who issued a mandate to nursing homes at the start of the coronavirus pandemic to take in COVID-19 positive patients.

About 40% of New Yorkers supported a recall of Gov. Cuomo even before the DeRosa admission, according to the Post.

"Crime is through the roof," Pataki told the Post, adding, "You have mentally ill people on the street harassing you and this is Sixth Avenue and midtown in the middle of the day. There is a tremendous concern that things are not as they should be and it's not because of COVID.""  Newsmax

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So change da law awready, Change da law!

Get this monster rotten with self-centered egotism out of Albany before he can steal, wreck or kill anything else.

This creep sat on his ass and performed for the camera everyday while old people were dying like flies in the death cells he had condemned them to even as he complained about the lack of support from Trump.

This is also the character who ignored and under used the Navy hospital ship ties up at the pier in New York and the large field hospital the Army Corps of engineers built for the people of New York City.

Women across the country thought him attractive?  Perhaps we should reconsider the 19th Amendment.  pl 

https://www.newsmax.com/politics/andrewcuomo-nursinghomes-deaths-georgepataki/2021/02/14/id/1009958/

" ... enough signatures to potentially trigger special election." foxnews

"Organizers of a campaign to recall California Gov. Gavin Newsom say they have obtained the required number of signatures to trigger a special election.

The secretary of state's office will need to process the signatures and determine if they are valid.

Randy Economy, the senior adviser and official media spokesman for Recall Gavin 2020, told Fox News on Saturday that the campaign has received around 1,509,000 signatures -- more than the required amount. Organizers said they expect to have 1.6 million signatures by Sunday."  foxnews

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Been busy all day learning to do Wordpress.  The devotees have developed a whole vocabulary and language of their own  The Iceland blog will run on Wordpress.

I would love to see Newsom AND Cuomo go down.  Be still my heart.  pl

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/recall-newsom-campaign-signatures-special-election

Who IS Juan Williams? Re-posted 12 February 2021

"Williams was born in Colón, Panama, to parents Akin Jules Williams and Sharon Williams, who were both Panamanian. He graduated in 1972 from Oakwood Friends School in Poughkeepsie, New York where he became clerk of the student body, editor of the student paper and was captain of the baseball, cross-country and championship basketball team. He attended Haverford College, from which he graduated with a baccalaureate in philosophy in 1976." wiki

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I am curious as to how JW (Foxnews' most prominent token Lefty)  got from Colon in the Republic of Panama where he was a son of the generally oppressed and typically impoverished class of  West Indian people settled in the Republic of Panama to the Oakwood Friends School and then graduated from Haverford College.  Both of these are private Quaker schools and not cheap.  I do not know the answer to my question.

I was stationed in the Canal Zone 1965 and 1966 as a member of the "8th Special Forces Group" at Ft. Gulick.  I was in the intelligence staff section of the Group Headquarters.  Because of that I spent a lot of time with the operatives of Army Intelligence and the CIA, both of whom were engaged among other things in Force Protection activities designed to make safe the Canal Zone and US forces stationed therein.

The Partido del Pueblo was the Cuban and Soviet aligned Communist Party.  The national government of Panama treated it as a deadly enemy and a conduit for Cuban subversion.  The Panamanian government encouraged the US to keep the Partido del Pueblo as weak as possible.  This party led street riots, bank robberies and looting of stores in Colon in 1964 and 1965.  Half a dozen US solders were killed by snipers in these fandangos, shot in the Canal Zone from across the border.

To get a grip on this situation the CIA and Army Intelligence and probably the FBI clandestinely recruited as assets most of the senior members of the party and the politburo of the Partido del Pueblo.  We had so many that if USI told the politburo to not attend a meeting and stay home, they lacked a quorum.  To achieve these recruitments, the standard lures were; US money, assistance for relatives to move to the States and scholarships (full ride) for their children at good US private schools and colleges whose benevolent leaders could be persuaded to help (fully funded) 3rd world kids.

Is there a connection?  I have no idea.  pl

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/People%27s_Party_of_Panama

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juan_Williams

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oakwood_Friends_School

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haverford_College

Without us ...

"Officials in Jerusalem believe the Jan. 31 declaration by Secretary of State Anthony Blinken that Iran was just months, and possibly weeks, away from obtaining sufficient fissile material for a bomb were exaggerated and deliberate. According to Israeli diplomatic and security sources, Blinken knows that the figure he mentioned was imprecise and relates only to fissile material and not to Iran’s ability to manufacture a nuclear warhead and install it on a delivery vehicle. They believe Blinken’s declaration was intended to provide a convincing rationale for a speedy return to negotiations with Iran and perhaps even a nuclear agreement, as if to say that the new administration was saving the world and rolling back Iran’s ambitious nuclear program.

Netanyahu’s people were underwhelmed by Blinken’s forecast, to put it mildly. Israeli security officials are more concerned by the gaps in perception with the Americans. “Generally speaking, the Americans want to get out of the Middle East as fast as possible,” an Israeli security source told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity. “They do not view a nuclear-threshold Iran as a threat or danger; they have the capabilities of a world power and a different timetable than ours. For us, Iran as a threshold state is very dangerous and a nuclear-capable Iran is an existential threat, whereas America can handle both options. It has different capabilities, its distance from Iran is far greater and its triggers are completely different.”"  al monitor

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Well, well.  Here is one issue or set of issues on which I agree with the Biden Administration.   Blinken, Malley, Bill Burns et all are a seasoned crew who have a long and bitter experience of the nasty, bullying way the Israelis treat the US.  Natanyahu once said "Don't worry about the Americans, they are easy to push around."  This is one case in which the Borg (US foreign policy establishment) has it right.  The Israelis need to be reminded that they are the tail and not the dog.  

If they want to fight Iran, let them, but without us.  No target intelligence, no air to air refueling, no supplemental funding for this, no assistance to get them access to  Iraqi airfields, no SAR anywhere.  Nothing.  If they want to fight Iran, let them, but without us!  Woof!  pl

https://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2021/02/israel-us-iran-joe-biden-benjamin-netanyahu-anthony-blinken.html

"Next stop Mars: 3 spacecraft arriving in quick succession" phys.org

"Perseverance is aiming for an ancient river delta that seems a logical spot for once harboring life. This landing zone in Jezero Crater is so treacherous that NASA nixed it for Curiosity, but so tantalizing that scientists are keen to get hold of its rocks.

"When the scientists take a look at a site like Jezero Crater, they see the promise, right?" said Al Chen, who's in charge of the entry, descent and landing team at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. "When I look at Jezero, I see danger. There's danger everywhere."

Steep cliffs, deep pits and fields of rocks could cripple or doom Perseverance, following its seven-minute atmospheric plunge. With an 11 1/2-minute communication lag each way, the rover will be on its own, unable to rely on flight controllers. Amal and Tianwen-1 will also need to operate autonomously while maneuvering into orbit."  phys.org

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The Perseverance landing attempt is scheduled for 18 February.   pl

https://phys.org/news/2021-02-mars-spacecraft-quick-succession.html

" ... major advancements in aerospace propulsion and generating power ..."

"Among Dr. Pais's patents are designs, approved in 2018, for an aerospace-underwater craft of incredible speed and maneuverability. This cone-shaped vehicle can potentially fly just as well anywhere it may be, whether air, water or space, without leaving any heat signatures. It can achieve this by being able to create a quantum vacuum around itself with a very dense polarized energy field. This vacuum would allow it to repel any molecule the craft comes in contact with, no matter the medium. Manipulating "quantum field fluctuations in the local vacuum energy state," would help reduce the craft's inertia. The polarized vacuum would dramatically reduce any elemental resistance and lead to "extreme speeds," claims the paper.

Not only that, if the vacuum-creating technology can be engineered, we'd also be able to "engineer the fabric of our reality at the most fundamental level," states the patent. This would lead to major advancements in aerospace propulsion and generating power. Not to mention other reality-changing outcomes that come to mind.

Among Pais's other patents are inventions that stem from similar thinking, outlining pieces of technology necessary to make his creations come to fruition. His paper presented in 2019, titled "Room Temperature Superconducting System for Use on a Hybrid Aerospace Undersea Craft," presents a system that can achieve superconductivity at room temperatures. This would become "a highly disruptive technology, capable of a total paradigm change in Science and Technology," conveys Pais." bigthink

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Something to ponder.  pl

https://bigthink.com/surprising-science/us-navy-inventions-change-reality?rebelltitem=2#rebelltitem2

" ... she reminded reporters that Air Force One is a 'private plane.'"

"President Biden is expected to travel to Delaware this weekend, in what will be his first out-of-town trip since taking office, despite warnings from the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention to avoid travel.

The CDC’s guidance this week said that "travel increases your chance of spreading and getting COVID-19," and recommended "that you do not travel at this time.""  foxnews

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/biden-flying-to-delaware-despite-cdc-warnings-to-avoid-travel

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I suppose Psaki meant that although Air Force One (usually a Boeing-747) is public property, it (or some other aircraft) is exclusively for the USE of the president.

It is 111 miles (179 kilometers) from DC to Wilmington, Delaware.

They took that plane up there for the weekend so that Joe could return to the shelter of the bunker/basement?  

I understand that the stress involved in trying to satisfy all those special interest groups while pumped up on Ritalin and Adderall must be appalling but, c'mon man, take a smaller plane.  C'mon man!

I include below a link to a piece enumerating Joe's EOs to date.  One of my faves is the one in which he tell the Central American governments that the US no longer wants their help in restraining waves of migrants seeking to escape their "countries."  In return for whatever it is that he and his band of illegal immigration enthusiasts think will result he has also stated that we will increase the amount of money we give them every year for "development."

The pressure on the southern border is now steadily building up.  Detention facilities built during the Golden Age of Obama are being re-opened.  The decline in illegal border crossings in the era of the Orange Devil has been reversed.  People from all over the world now understand that Joe has opened the border for them.  A favorite tactic for Line Crossers is to cross with a child, give the child a note to relatives now in the states in the knowledge that HHS will turn the child over to the "relative."  This establishes an Anchor Point useful as leverage against US immigration laws.

The re-opened detention facilities should IMO be called Bidonian Tiger Cages.  pl

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/a-look-at-each-of-president-biden-e2-80-99s-executive-orders/ar-BB1dqCbi?ocid=uxbndlbing

 

Jackson Lee wants your guns.

"The publicly-accessible list would contain serial numbers, owner names and gun locations. Obtaining a license would require gun owners to undergo a psychological evaluation, which would include interviewing family members or associates to determine mental and emotional states.

Applicants must also be at least 21, take 24 hours of training and pay $800 per firearm for “liability insurance.” Critics said the additional fees and requirements would restrict low-income Americans from owning guns.

Under Lee’s legislation, possessing an unregistered firearm would boast a minimum $75,000 fine and 15 year sentence. Additionally, lending a firearm without letting the attorney general know would cost $50,000 and ten years in jail."  OANN

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In my wandering about Capitol Hill after I left the active employ of the US Government I visited a lot of members of Congress for the purpose of developing a set of contacts that would be valuable to me as a private consultant.

One of those was Shelia Jackson Lee, Democrat of Texas.  She represents a district that is mainly in the old city of Houston.  It is wrapped around the skyscraper laden financial heart of the the "oil patch."  The inhabitants are mostly poor and minorities.  The Houston metro area has the financial district at its heart, then it is encircled by Jackson Lee's district and then outside that ring are the new, high rise dominated, mostly white areas like the Galeria to the south and places like the old, small City of Humble north of Houston.  "Houston" is really more like  a region than it is like a city.  In going from one place to another the distance seemed to me to always be about 20 miles and to involve an hour of travel by car.

My visit to Jackson Lee was a revelation.  There are a lot of members who rule their office staffs like Roman emperors.  Her place was exceptional in the degree of abject worship and fear that prevailed among her nearly all Black staff.  She wanted to know what I could do for her, what my clients, both American and foreign could do for her.  She was extremely ill informed about the world and uninterested in listening long enough to learn anything.  I never returned.

Her bill would disarm the American people, especially people of limited means.  She wants your guns.  pl 

https://www.oann.com/texas-rep-lee-under-fire-for-restrictive-gun-control-policies/

Time to leave Murdoch TV

If you think yourself a Conservative, the decline in conservative editorial policy on Foxnews and Fox Business should have been clear to you for months.

First we saw the now fired Politics Editor Chris Stirewalt and his team of eggheads call Arizona and other states very early for Joe Biden.  After doing that his academic advisers mocked news anchors who questioned their judgment.

And then we have seen people on Murdoch air who were clearly anti-Trump and pro-left.  Neil Cavuto comes to mind but there are others like Arthel Neville.

Now we have the reflexive, probably lawyer driven decision to fire Lou Dobbs because he is named along with the network in a lawsuit brought by Smartmatic, a firm much accused of fiddling electronically with election results on November 3.

Well, pilgrims, having eliminated Dobbs by threatening Murdoch TV with the possibility of a massive judgment against it, the Leftist coalition forces will undoubtedly move on in eliminating other conservative voices using the same tactic.

NewsmaxTV now has a greater audience than either Fox channel.  Vote with your TeeVee remote.  Tune Fox out.  There are a number of conservative networks rising out of the burning embers of Murdoch TV.  Try them all.  pl

"... animals prowl in our abandoned 'ghost villages'" The Guardian

"For many years it seemed that overpopulation was the looming crisis of our age. Back in 1968, the Stanford biologists Paul and Anne Ehrlich infamously predicted that millions would soon starve to death in their bestselling, doom-saying book The Population Bomb; since then, neo-Malthusian rumblings of imminent disaster have been a continual refrain in certain sections of the environmental movement – fears that were recently given voice on David Attenborough’s documentary Life on our Planet.

At the time the Ehrlichs were publishing their dark prophecies, the world was at its peak of population growth, which at that point was increasing at a rate of 2.1% a year. Since then, the global population has ballooned from 3.5 billion to 7.67 billion.

But growth has slowed – and considerably. As women’s empowerment advances, and access to contraception improves, birthrates around the world are stuttering and stalling, and in many countries now there are fewer than 2.1 children per woman – the minimum level required to maintain a stable population.

Falling fertility rates have been a problem in the world’s wealthiest nations – notably in Japan and Germany – for some time. In South Korea last year, birthrates fell to 0.84 per woman, a record low despite extensive government efforts to promote childbearing. From next year, cash bonuses of 2m won (£1,320) will be paid to every couple expecting a child, on top of existing child benefit payments.

The fertility rate is also falling dramatically in England and Wales – from 1.9 children per woman in 2012 to just 1.65 in 2019. Provisional figures from the Office for National Statistics for 2020 suggest it could now be 1.6, which would be the lowest rate since before the second world war. The problem is even more severe in Scotland, where the rate has fallen from 1.67 in 2012 to 1.37 in 2019." 

The Guardian

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New York City looks like a ghost town.  COVID-19 and the machinations of state and city government have accelerated the already present influences of declining birth rates brought on by the empowerment of women and their understandable desire to have fewer children in order to live better lives.  And then, the severe limitation placed by the Trump Tax Law on deductibility of state and local taxes has caused a flight from high priced real estate markets and high local taxes.

I am a bit surprised to learn that the pressures on US population are so universally felt across the world. 

People no longer compete so strongly for space with the fauna.  You can see the effects here in Alexandria, Virginia where wildlife sightings are steadily increasing in the heart of this metropolitan area.  Deer, foxes, opossum, bird predators, coyotes and of course raccoons are caught every night on the camera records of my motion activated security system.  The raccoons climb the drain pipes leading to my roof, walk to the front of the house and sit observing traffic on this street in the heart of the city.

As someone who spent much of his life in the natural world on several continents, I confess to enjoying their company.  pl 

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jan/24/as-birth-rates-fall-animals-prowl-in-our-abandoned-ghost-villages

A political purge that will drive people into militias.

" ... the sorts of beliefs that lead to the kind of conduct that can be so detrimental to good order and discipline and in fact is criminal."

Still, Austin said in the meeting with military leaders that while the numbers may be small, they are not as small as anyone would like. "No matter what it is, it is … not an insignificant problem and has to be addressed," Kirby said during a press gaggle in the Pentagon.

The stand down will occur over the next 60 days, Kirby said. This is so "each service, each command and each unit can take the time out to have these needed discussions with the men and women of the force," he said.

There is much that needs to be hammered out including the details of the training that will go along with the stand down and what the secretary and all in the military want to accomplish. The stand down is similar to safety stand downs that units may have, Kirby said. 

Austin called extremism in the ranks a leadership issue, and "it's got to be a leadership issue down to the lowest levels, small unit leadership all the way up to him," Kirby said. "So if you consider it a leadership issue, then maybe there will be some potential solutions there to allow us greater visibility."  defense.gov

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As is mentioned in this piece there are already regulations and instructions "on the books" that prohibit radical (whatever that is) political action by members of the US armed forces.  Kirby is a retired admiral who has always been a political hack and PR creature.  He made a career in Navy as a talking head.   

Austin himself seems to be talking about the political views and actions of former military people as well as people now  in the regular forces,  and the reserve components.  Is he also talking about people like me who are retired from the armed forces?  We are still members.

He mentions that "beliefs" of a kind that he doesn't like are leading to conduct that is "in fact criminal."  Beliefs?  Really?

Austin makes it clear that for him the existence of such criminal beliefs will be a "leadership issue."  That means that if you are a squad leader (sergeant) or a ship's CO,  complaints about your command concerning criminal beliefs will be cause for destruction of your career.   Military people want to succeed in their careers.  The result of this kind of command pressure from above will be waves of secret denunciations and expulsion from the services.

IMO those most likely to be judged criminal dissidents will be in the ground combat arms; infantry, artillery, armor, SOF, combat aviation.  Why?  Simple, this is where the most aggressive and assertive are to be found.

Where will they go?  You know where they will go.  pl 

https://www.defense.gov/Explore/News/Article/Article/2492530/austin-orders-military-stand-down-to-address-challenge-of-extremism-in-the-ranks/

"Iran’s Flexible Fatwa" WINEP

"The Supreme Leader first issued an oral nuclear fatwa in 2003, and he has repeated it in numerous speeches since then. These pronouncements, which use a religious idiom to describe nuclear weapons as “forbidden” (haram), have the same legal standing as written fatwas.

The precise formulations used in these pronouncements have varied. Khamenei has at times categorically forbidden the development, stockpiling, and use of nuclear weapons. On other occasions, he appeared to tacitly permit their development and stockpiling, but not use. When addressing a group of top scientists on October 9, 2019, he stated, “Although we could have taken this path [of producing a nuclear weapon], we decided not to...based on Islam’s verdict; it is wrong to make it and it is wrong to stockpile it because it is forbidden to use it.”

Notably, both the initial fatwa and early Iranian efforts to highlight it followed not long after the discovery and public disclosure of the regime’s clandestine nuclear enrichment program in 2002. These efforts should therefore be seen, at least in part, as damage control. The fatwa has been used for other purposes as well:

• To legitimize the nuclear program as a strictly peaceful activity via religious justification
• To deflect potential domestic criticism for the program’s slow progress, its numerous setbacks, and the regime’s decision to eschew a rapid breakout
• To help the regime promote revolutionary Islam as a coequal system of international legitimacy alongside international law, as expressed through proposals in 2013 to get the fatwa enshrined in a UN resolution."

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I would agree with the authors that Iran can be negotiated with and that the ideological shine has gone off the apple with regard to Iran's revolutionary fervor.  National interests, real or imagined, are probably paramount priorities now.

What I would not agree with or support is the notion that Iran must be made into a land locked country devoted to the cultivation of pistachios and the weaving of fine carpets.  This is the Israeli policy position which WINEP, an arm of AIPAC, supports.

This is one area in which I can be persuaded to think that Blinken/Harris/Biden would be right in returning to JCPOA.

I wonder if anyone has had a go at explaining all this to Harris.  pl

https://www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/irans-flexible-fatwa-how-expediency-shapes-nuclear-decisionmaking

Bidonian oddities

Jen Psaki who seems an effective press secretary, was asked a few days ago if the Biden Administration supported the existence of the US Space Force.   Her response indicated that she thought the question was a joke and that she did not know of the existence of the latest addition to the armed forces of the United States. The creation of the Space Force has been widely covered in the press.  The head of the space Force has a seat in the Joint Chiefs of Staff committee and the SF is now a full member of the Intelligence Community.   A day later she announced to the WH press corps that the Biden Administration does indeed support the US Space Force.  General Raymond, the Chief of Space Operations has since offered to go over to WH to brief on the existence and missions of the SF.  It seems passing odd to me that an intelligent person like Psaki who obviously follows the news in detail would not have know of the Space Force.

 

2.  President Biden actually said yesterday  that "the great            majority of FBI agents are good people" or words to that                effect.  This was on a day when two FBI were killed and three wounded in line of duty during an attempted  search of  a dwelling.  With these words Biden endorsed the political positions of the Left rather than supporting the efforts of law enforcement in the US.  Incredible! pl

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Space_Force

Open Thread - 3 February 2021

pl

Brigadier Farooq Ali has left us.

 

"After the great and good fight, at the age of 92, Brig F.B.Ali has made his final graceful bow, and walked out into the sunset and beyond.

And in so doing, he has left the world a poorer place.

If one were to pick out the finest sons of the land, such a list would be incomplete without the Brigadier being included in it among the very top..

In him intellectual brilliance, moral rectitude, courage of conviction, and professional excellence came together in rare and felicitous harmony.

I first heard of him when an officer, some years my senior, with ill-concealed relief, thanked God for making the GHQ competitive essay "open" again.

Those were the days when there used to be an annual GHQ essay competition in which all officers could participate. For years on end FB won this competition, till at last GHQ decided to "open" the contest by withdrawing FB's right to participate!."

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I will see you at the last jump, brother.  pl 

https://defence.pk/pdf/threads/from-the-vault.656556/page-42#post-12939298

Joe is a little weak on history - The Alliance for Progress

"The program was signed at an inter-American conference at Punta del Este, Uruguay, in August 1961. The charter called for:

• an annual increase of 2.5% in per capita income,
• the establishment of democratic governments,
• the elimination of adult illiteracy by 1970
• price stability, to avoid inflation or deflation
• more equitable income distribution, land reform, and
• economic and social planning.

First, the plan called for Latin American countries to pledge a capital investment of $80 billion over 10 years. The United States agreed to supply or guarantee $20 billion within one decade. 

Second, Latin American delegates required the participating countries to draw up comprehensive plans for national development. These plans were then to be submitted for approval by an inter-American board of experts.

Third, tax codes had to be changed to demand "more from those who have most" and land reform was to be implemented.

U.S. aid to Latin America

Because of the program, economic assistance to Latin America nearly tripled between fiscal year 1960 and fiscal year 1961. Between 1962 and 1967 the US supplied $1.4 billion per year to Latin America. If new investment is included, the amount of aid rose to $3.3 billion per year during this timespan while the total amount of aid was roughly $22.3 billion. "  wiki cited below

--------------

Guess what, pilgrims, this old man worked on the ground in that program in 1964 to 1967.  Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala.  I worked in all those countries.

Over all, the program was a total "bust."

Why?  The latifundistas and gente decente  simply dug in their heels and refused to give power to the campesinos, and also refused to implement reforma agraria but they took all the money offered by the US and stuffed it in their pockets.

Well folks, Joe doesn't seem to know that in those years and all subsequent years the US has through USAID provided massive amount of money for development in Central America and the same thing has happened in every year and every US administration. The elites there pocket the money.

Some ass will want to talk about the United Fruit Company long ago.  Long. long ago.

Should the US seize power in these miserable countries and try to impose our concept of "reform?"  Ah, we tried that in Iraq.

Does Joe think that his little contributions will be treated differently by the rulers in these places?  Sad.  pl

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alliance_for_Progress

"BIDEN PLAGIARIZES AGAIN AFTER BLOOMBERG POINTS OUT VIRUS PLAN IS BASICALLY TRUMP’S" Blomberg/Zerohedge/SF

(We'll catch'em wit' spaghetti on their forks)

"Biden – who has a history of plagiarism – was essentially lying, especially when one considers the mammoth effort involved in distribution efforts which would make major changes costly and risk setbacks to the program. Bloomberg adds that “some aspects of the program don’t offer much wiggle room to begin with, while the trickiest part are yet to come.”

Bloomberg does toss Biden a bone, however, reporting that Trump ‘undercut’ Biden’s efforts to shape the program by delaying the transition while disputing the results of the election. Trump’s team, however, says they had over 300 transition briefings with health officials – which Biden officials claim contained little useful information until just days before the inauguration.

Meanwhile, officials from the Operation Warp Speed – the joint effort between the Trump administration’s Departments of Health and Human Services and DoD, say the partisan sniping from Biden’s team is hurting morale among career staff who are handling the vaccine rollout.

“The transition is happening less well than I, and my team, had been hoping,” said Moncef Slaoui, chief scientific adviser to Operation Warp Speed. “The team doesn’t understand why the Operation is being criticized as it is. It is so unfair and unjustified.”

“If it wasn’t for this Operation, we may not have as many vaccines as we will now.”

Also pushing back against the Biden team’s besmirchments is Anthony Fauci, the highest-paid employee in the federal government and ongoing COVID-19 advisor to the Office of the President.

“We certainly are not starting from scratch,” Fauci said earlier this month. “It’s taking what’s gone on, but amplifying it in a big way,” he added. Even Biden said that “credit is absolutely due” to the Trump administration for launching the vaccine program."  SF

--------------

He is a demented liar and plagiarist pumped up on Aderall and Ritalin, head of an Irish crime family reminiscent of the one in the movie, "State of Grace,"  What should you expect of the guy?

THIS!!!

I hope I am still around for his post presidential impeachment and trial.    pl

https://southfront.org/biden-plagiarizes-again-after-bloomberg-points-out-virus-plan-is-basically-trumps/

Sam Grant will ride again?

"The white supremacist insurrectionists of the 1870s focused on just one region — the South — while the Trumpian insurrectionists have no geographic restrictions. This explains why, in the immediate aftermath of the Jan. 6 riot, the FBI found it necessary to warn of potential attacks and insurrectionist activity on state capitols and federal buildings across the country. And the Trumpian insurrectionists, at least thus far, don’t yet come with the full-throated, unequivocal support of a major political party (though that may change if non-Trumpian Republicans continue to lose ground).

But if you squint, it’s not too difficult to see how the insurrections of the 1870s and of the 2020s share a clear lineage. In many ways, the “Lost Cause” has now metamorphosed into the “Trump Lost Cause.”

“As I heard someone say, what we saw was that the Red Shirts of South Carolina have been replaced with the Red Hats of MAGA,” Janney said. Both are clearly aimed at upending the outcomes of democratic elections, willing to use violence to cow legislators — or worse. And both aim at thwarting multi-racial coalitions in the pursuit of ethnonationalist rule, a through-line of attempting to restore white rule that connects 1861 and 1876 to 2016 and 2020. As such, Grant’s experience in battling white insurrectionists presents a pair of primary lessons for the new Biden administration.

The first lesson, experts say, is relatively clear. As Trumpian insurrectionists continue popping up across the country — propelled by “the Big Lie” that Trump’s re-election was stolen—and as Republican legislators saber-rattle about potential violence if they don’t get their way, the administration has to use the full range of tools at its disposal. “There are so many more federal laws that can be used now,” Pitcavage said. “Conspiracy laws that didn’t exist [in the 1870s], laws about federal property that didn’t exist back then, laws about paramilitary training designed to foment civil disorder—there are any number of laws on the books now that theoretically could be used.”"  msn.com

---------------

The Left is now speaking clearly about what it, as a collective, has in mind for you Conservatives.

Pelosi, AOC, Jake Tapper, the Washington Post, the academy generally, etc., etc., ad nauseam  are resolved to project a vision of white supremacist insurrection that they believe will convince enough citizens and most importantly the military that Conservative Organizations and Conservative Opinion must be suppressed and proscribed.

They forget that the excesses of the Grant run occupation of the South led directly to a "Bourbon" restoration that ruled the South for a hundred years and which was focused on African-Americans as the supposed cause of the economic and demographic misery of the South's condition.  Do they think that a new Occupation Regime can be imposed on 75 million people?  If so, they are massively and probably irredeemably deluded.

As I have written here before, the US military is a badly flawed instrument for the imposition of a leftist occupation of the US.  Careerist generals and admirals in the Regular forces may be be willing to swear allegiance to wokism but their people, both officers and enlisted, in the main are of the despised Smelly and Deplorable classes.  Would the flag grandees not understand that they probably cannot simply order Regular Amy and USMC units to fight and oppress their own people?

And then there is the National Guard.  These are citizen-soldiers.  Good luck on using them to suppress the citizens of their states.

The FBI, the ATF, federal marshals?  A few hundred policemen.  Good luck to the left.   pl 

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/what-ulysses-grant-can-teach-joe-biden-about-putting-down-violent-insurrections/ar-BB1deGWw?ocid=uxbndlbing

Job Killer Joe

"As the plumbers and pipefitters union noted: “The Biden administration has now put thousands of union workers out of work. For the average American family, it means energy costs will go up and communities will no longer see the local investments that come with pipeline construction.”

Some estimates said the pipeline would employ 11,000 American workers in 2021 and create more than $1.6 billion in wages.

The same day, Biden imposed a 60-day moratorium on oil and gas leases on federal lands. The American Petroleum Institute calculates that, if made permanent, Biden’s ban will cost nearly 1 million jobs over the next two years and cut the nation’s economic output a total of $700 billion by 2030. Oh, and it will make the U.S. more dependent on oil imports.

As ABC News reported, Biden’s “moratorium on new oil and natural gas leases and drilling permits is prompting widespread concerns in New Mexico, where spending on education and other public programs hinges on the industry’s success.”

Carlsbad, New Mexico, Mayor Dale Janway told the Associated Press that “Eliminating drilling on public lands will cost thousands of New Mexicans their jobs and destroy what’s left of our state’s economy.”

Biden also pledged to rejoin the Paris Climate Accord, which according to some estimates, could slash another 3.1 million jobs by 2040.

With these moves, Joe “Unity” Biden is not only destroying jobs but has managed to upset our Canadian allies, a major union, as well as officials in reliably blue states such as New Mexico – all to appease “climate crisis” environmental extremists.

But Biden isn’t done destroying jobs. He’s also pushing a job-killing national $15 minimum wage, starting with an executive order that lays the groundwork for a $15 minimum wage for federal workers.

A Congressional Budget Office report found that a federal $15 minimum wage could destroy as many as 3.7 million jobs. It further reported that “Raising the minimum wage would probably reduce employment, capital, and efficiency, in CBO’s assessment” and that, “over time, those reductions would lower the nation’s output and income.”"

---------------

Well, OK.  Someone told Joe about the  "whatsis act."  You know the one.  C'mon man give me a break.  

I would like to know what they are pumping him up with lately.  His speaking performance has markedly improved.  I hope there is nothing deleterious to his long term health in the "cocktail."  pl

https://issuesinsights.com/2021/01/26/meet-joe-biden-the-job-slayer/

"Kerry admits zero emissions in US wouldn’t make difference in climate change" NY Post

"President Biden’s climate czar, John Kerry, admitted Wednesday that the US reducing its emissions to zero wouldn’t make much of a difference in the global climate change fight — before pushing domestic manufacturing of electric cars and solar panels in favor of energy production.

Kerry’s remarks were made ahead of Biden’s signing of a host of executive actions on Wednesday pushing his $2 trillion Green New Deal-inspired climate agenda.

“He knows Paris alone is not enough,” Kerry told reporters at a White House press briefing, referring to Biden re-entering the US in the Paris Climate Agreement in one of his first acts as president.

“Not when almost 90 percent of all of the planet’s global emissions come from outside of US borders. We could go to zero tomorrow and the problem isn’t solved,” Kerry conceded.

The former secretary of state, now Biden’s climate envoy, acknowledged that it would be difficult to bring the world’s top polluters to the table, including China, which produces 30 percent of the world’s carbon emissions."  nypost

-------------

I confess to being in deep spiritual sympathy with the "swift boaters" of yore.  John Kerry is a liar who bought his way out of Vietnam and then came home to lie before the senate about things he never witnessed, things written by another liar.

When Kerry was "heroically" fishing some Vietnamese fisherman out of a river.  I and my comrades were busy burying 400 enemy soldiers at a place called Song Be.  They had died when their valorous effort to overrun the town and kill us and our non-communist Vietnamese allies failed.  Prisoners who survived their attack told me that they had lost even more than that.  So, for me, John Kerry is a POS whose only real accomplishment in life was in seducing and marrying John Heinz' widow Teresa and all that lovely money.

So now we have him in this new role, and guess what, he is still full of crap.  pl

https://nypost.com/2021/01/27/kerry-zero-emissions-wont-make-difference-in-climate-change/

Starlink Launch Alert- January 31, 2021

 

https://spacelaunchnow.me/launch/falcon-9-block-5-starlink-17

pl

"The Unitary Executive" is NOW!

From his actions and apparent attitude in the first days of his administration it appears that President Joe (the Union guy) intends to rule by decree (executive orders)  What are we up to now 24 or 25?  The Dems have effective but small majorities in both chambers of Congress, but thus far there have been ample evidences that Joe (and the junta) prefer to rule directly, bypassing the Congress altogether.  

That seems odd.  EOs are really fragile things.  They lose force with the passage of administrations unless they are renewed or modified by new presidents.

The "authority" of vice-presidents is an example.  The vice-president of the United States has no constitutional functions other than to await the incapacitation of the president and to act as the presiding officer of the US Senate.  All else is really froth and the politics of the moment.  There actually is no constitutional reason for the VP to live in Washington.  Perhaps it would be better if the VP did not.

Presidential EOs are subject to contest in the federal courts.  In the shock and awe of the last two weeks that process has only just begun.  The prospect is visible in the action of a federal judge in Texas blocking Señor José's ukase on a "pause" in deportations of illegal aliens for 100 days.  This judge is federal but he is also a Texan, and he acted at the request of the sovereign state of Texas.  Can other suits based on the constitutional  "standing" of the states be far behind?

Statehood for the District of Columbia?  Basic changes in the conduct of elections?  Star Chamber proceedings against dissidents like the man in Florida arrested in a Cheka-like action of the FBI against his political speech?

Uncle Joe should be very, very careful about provoking desperate resistance.  pl

"Joe Biden's call for unity is a sham" The Telegraph

"In his inaugural speech last week, Joe Biden promised to unite his country. But read his words closely, and examine his first actions as president, and you will see confusion, contradiction and dogma that is likely to lead only to further division.

Of course, absolute unity is impossible to achieve in any political system. Autocratic regimes intimidate and bully their citizens into conformity with the ideologies of their leaders, and try to present an image of a united people to the outside world. But the whole point of liberal democracy is that it is supposed to tolerate difference and disagreement.

For liberal democracies are built on the premise that human values and interests are unavoidably and perpetually in conflict with one another. The solution to these conflicts is not to grant total victory to one side or another, but to accept a system of government and civil society that allows pluralism to flourish within a common culture and single legal framework."  Nick Timothy

---------------

No comment is necessary.  pl

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2021/01/24/left-cannot-overcome-division-remains-obsessed-identity-politics/

Solar Winds was an Israeli penetration? Not Russia?

"As Russiagate played out, it became apparent that there was collusion between the Trump campaign and a foreign power, but the nation was Israel, not Russia. Indeed, many of the reports that came out of Russiagate revealed collusion with Israel, yet those instances received little coverage and generated little media outrage. This has led some to suggest that Russiagate may have been a cover for what was in fact Israelgate.

Similarly, in the case of the SolarWinds hack, there is the odd case and timing of SolarWinds’ acquisition of a company called Samanage in 2019. As this report will explore, Samanage’s deep ties to Israeli intelligence, venture-capital firms connected to both intelligence and Isabel Maxwell, as well as Samange’s integration with the Orion software at the time of the back door’s insertion warrant investigation every bit as much as SolarWinds’ Czech-based contractor. "   unlimitedhangout

----------------

Pilgrims!  I am suggesting or at least raising the possibility that Israel has massively broken into American government IT systems.  Hmmm.  Does that mean that I am a Rooshan asset?

The sadly funny thing in this is how deaf, dumb and blind the main stream media are with regard to any, any, any possibility that Israel does not think its interests are identical with those of the US.

Natanyahu is quite open about his intention to bully Biden into continuing Israeli policy aimed at a Morgenthau model for Iran.  

People openly say on the TeeVee that not only must Iran give up its nuclear ambitions but it must also accept Israeli hegemony in the region.  Joltin' Jack Keane is one of the foremost proponents of such a vision of the future Middle East.  For him the Syrian military are merely "Iranian surrogate forces."  Perhaps someone should look carefully at the funding for the Institute for the Study of War.  Keane is the chairman thereof.  pl

https://unlimitedhangout.com/2021/01/investigative-reports/another-mega-group-spy-scandal-samanage-sabotage-and-the-solarwinds-hack/

The Dems want Obedience, not Unity

Watching the behavior of the Democrat/Marxist/Anarchist coalition over the last couple of weeks,  I am drawn to the conclusion that they think their seizure of power through elections and street theater is permanent or at least something as durable as the long, long reign of the Bloody Shirt Republicans after the Civil War.  In that time all you had to do to beat the Democrats was talk about "Rum, Romanism and Rebellion and you were "in."  

The Democrat led alliance is now seeking to proscribe the opposition root and branch, beginning with the man 75 to 80 million citizens voted to re-elect and extending down through the ranks of probable or possible successors to the Orange One.

Banning from social media, actions to eject members from legislatures at the national and state levels, prosecutions for supposed incitement of violence.  These are among the tools contemplated.  People who work for the leftist media like Margaret Sullivan of the Washington Post openly advocate pressuring advertisers to threaten Murdoch over commentators like Carlson and Hannity.  The Democrat coalition supports bans on hiring their opponents at universities and in the business world as well.

"Re-education and de-programming" are advocated in the MSM as solutions for re-capturing control of the Smelly masses.  

It is now probable that Kamala Harris will preside over the senate trial of former president Donald Trump.  The US Constitution requires that the Chief Justice of SCOTUS preside over the trial of a SITTING president because of the obvious conflict of interest involved in a trial in which conviction results in the accession to power of the vice-president, but Trump is not a sitting president so she evidently is free to run her possible opponent in 2024 out of public life.

How long will the Smellies endure all this?  Well, pilgrims the tyranny of Communism lasted a long time in the USSR.  pl

Open Thread - 24 January 2021

pl

Joe! Joe! Save us Joe. You said you would save us ...

"Biden addressed his administration’s response efforts during a press briefing on two executive orders meant to provide food assistance to low-income families and protect workers’ rights during the pandemic. Days after the US surpassed 400,000 deaths related to COVID-19, the president warned the country had little ability in the near term to prevent spiking case totals.

"If we fail to act, there will be a wave of evictions and foreclosures in the coming months as this pandemic rages on because there’s nothing we can do to change the trajectory of the pandemic in the next several months," Biden said."  foxnews

--------------

Hey!  Wait a minute!   Didn't you run on this?  Weren't you going to halt the pandemic through good government and compassion?  

What?  What?  Trump did it?  He made all those people die through neglect and some as yet undetected crime?

But what about all those millions of doses of vaccines out there in freezers?  Ah, Trump screwed that up.  Poor Cuomo!  Poor Newsom!  What could they do?  pl 

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/biden-nothing-we-can-do-to-change-coronavirus-pandemic-trajectory-in-coming-months

Hey, c'mon man. I go to Mass ...

"White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki described President Biden as a "devout Catholic" after being asked about his stances on taxpayer funding for abortion.

Psaki's comments came during her first press conference Wednesday, where an EWTN Global Catholic Network reporter asked her about "two big concerns for pro-life Americans" -- the Hyde Amendment and Mexico City Policy. The former bars the use of federal funds to pay for abortion under most circumstances, while the latter restricts taxpayer funding of abortion abroad. "What is President Biden doing on those two items right now?" reporter Owen Jensen asked.

Psaki responded that the administration would have more to say on the Mexico City Policy, adding: "I will just take the opportunity to remind all of you that he is a devout Catholic and somebody who attends church regularly. He started his day attending church with his family this morning but I don't have anything more for you on that."

The Mexico City Policy, which blocks overseas funding for abortion, has repeatedly been reversed and reinstated by previous administrations. Biden, however, sent shockwaves through the media when he announced that he would reverse his position on the decades-old Hyde Amendment."  foxnews

--------------

Joe is a "cafeteria Catholic," or maybe  a Chinese menu Catholic (columns A and B).  He and Giuliani and all them shifty crew are Catholic when it suits their political goals.

Evidently he doesn't remember what Sister Mary Margaret taught him out of the Baltimore Catechism.  I do. The message I have in mind is that if you want to be a Catholic you follow the teaching of the Holy Roman Catholic and Apostolic Church.  If you don't, then you aren't.

Now, nobody is saying that Joe can't follow whatever policy he chooses.  That is what it means to have religious liberty, but, in my opinion he should stop approaching the sanctuary rail for the purpose of receiving the Body and Blood of Christ.  pl 

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/white-house-psaki-biden-devout-catholic

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raymond_Leo_Burke

Starship Launch

https://spacelaunchnow.me/launch/starship-sn9-10-km-flight

pl

"Antifa protests Biden ..." Newsmax

"Anti-government and anti-fascist protesters in Portland and Seattle vandalized a Democratic Party office and other buildings and scuffled with police on Wednesday, protesting against President Joe Biden's inauguration.

People dressed in black and with their faces covered broke windows and the glass door at the Democratic Party of Oregon business office in Portland, spray-painting an anarchist symbol over the party sign, video posted on social media showed.

"We don't want Biden. We want revenge for police murders, imperialist wars, and fascist massacres," read a banner they marched under."  Reuters and Newsmax

---------------

Well, there it is.  The Deplorables don't need to mount an opposition, the Marxists and anarchists will do it for them.  pl

https://www.newsmax.com/us/antifa-anti-fascist-protest-portland/2021/01/21/id/1006552/

WH Harrison caught cold et voila! John Tyler was president!

 

"The inauguration of William Henry Harrison as the ninth President of the United States was held on Thursday, March 4, 1841, at the East Portico of the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C. This was the 14th inauguration and marked the commencement of the only four-year term of both William Henry Harrison as President and John Tyler as Vice President. The presidential oath of office was administered to Harrison by Chief Justice Roger B. Taney.^[1] Harrison died 31 days into his term, the first U.S. president to die in office and has the shortest presidential term in American history. Tyler then succeeded to the presidency, creating precedence which would be followed seven more times before it was officially regulated through the Twenty-fifth Amendment in 1967." wiki

---------------

Ah, the now famous 25th Amendment!  

Harrison, the first president of that name, was a military hero having been the commander at the Battle of Tippecanoe, fought in Indiana against a Shawnee run confederation led by Tecumseh.

According to rumor, legend or perhaps actual history Harrison caught cold during a two hour inaugural speech.  This turned to croup, then pneumonia and off he went, on his way "home."

This took VP Tyler somewhat by surprise, but he rose to the occasion.  He seems to have been a gentlemanly type whose wife entertained well.  He, like John Quincy Adams, held office after his term as president.  Tyler was a senator in the Confederate congress as well as a member of the Confederate House of Representatives.  

What I remember best about Harrison is that in his short time in office he ordered that the US cannon factory make four light model field guns for the training of the cadets at VMI, my alma mater.  They are named "Matthew, Mark, Luke and John"  That is cast in the metal.  This was supposedly Harrison's idea.

Today I watched President Biden sit and sign a series of papers in the President's Room at the US Capitol just after his inauguration.   Joe sat there as VP Harris handed him paper after paper as though she were an administrative assistant of some kind.  Never saw the like before.  She clearly is staking out her right to act as president in waiting.  SWMBO watched that and commented on the coming struggle between Jill and Kamala over Joe's person.  pl

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inauguration_of_William_Henry_Harrison

Battle of Tippecanoe - Wikipedia

T for Texas - Call them home governor. Call them home ...

(36th Infantry Division - T for Texas)

"Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Monday said he finds it "offensive" that the FBI is vetting National Guard members, including those from his own state, ahead of President-elect Joe Biden's inauguration on Wednesday.

"This is the most offensive thing I've ever heard," Abbott, a Republican, wrote on Twitter. "No one should ever question the loyalty or professionalism of the Texas National Guard.""

"Approximately 25,000 National Guard troops have been sent to the capital -- including about 1,000 from Texas.

"I authorized more than 1,000 to go to DC," Abbott wrote. "I'll never do it again if they are disrespected like this.""   foxnews

----------------

Governor Abbott indicates that he "authorized" the deployment of Texas Guardsmen to DC.  That says to me that the Texas National Guard HAS NOT been federalized and is at present under state control.  Given the disrespect shown by the Democrats, the RINO Republicans and the federal cops in distrusting the loyalty and devotion to duty of the Texas National Guard, Governor Abbott should withdraw his troops from the security mission in Washington.

The National Guard is a force with two masters, the state and the federal government when ordered into federal service.

Call them home!  Now!  pl 

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/texas-gov-abbott-rips-vetting-of-national-guard-the-most-offensive-thing-ive-ever-heard

United States National Guard - Wikipedia

 

Joe says we have 100 days to make it to America ...

"Guatemalan police and soldiers on Monday broke up a group of hundreds of migrants who had spent two nights stuck at a roadblock on a rural highway.

Some migrants threw rocks while authorities launched tear gas and pushed the migrants with their riot shields back down the highway. Migrants with children were more gently prodded back the way they had come.

The year's first migrant caravan had largely stalled two days before President-elect Joe Biden's inauguration. Biden has promised to take a different approach to immigration and even though immediate changes at the U.S. border are not expected, it has created some hope in Central America."  newsmax

---------------

Quoting President Joe, "There will be no deportations in my first 100 days."

Quoting Honduran migrant at the Guatemalan border.  "The new president says we have 100 days to cross the American border and find refuge."

It is an impeachable offense for the president of the US to not enforce US law.  pl

PS - I take note of the statements by Biden's crew that they have been talking to the Iranian government (denied by the Iranians).  This is what they accused Flynn of doing, i.e., conducting foreign policy before the inauguration of their regime.

https://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/central-america-migrants-guatemela-caravan/2021/01/18/id/1006123/

Falcon 9 Transporter launch

pl

 

https://spacelaunchnow.me/launch/falcon-9-block-5-transporter-1-dedicated-sso-rides

Starlink Launch Alert

 

https://spacelaunchnow.me/launch/falcon-9-block-5-starlink-16

Will the non-monoparty majority of the GOP be outlawed?

 

"The Republican Attorneys General Association was involved, as were the activist groups Turning Point Action and Tea Party Patriots. At least six current or former members of the Council for National Policy (CNP), an influential group that for decades has served as a hub for conservative and Christian activists, also played roles in promoting the rallies.

The two days of rallies were staged not by white nationalists and other extremists, but by well-funded nonprofit groups and individuals that figure prominently in the machinery of conservative activism in Washington."  washpost

---------------

Be not deceived!  The vast left wing conspiracy intends to destroy all resistance.  It intends to de-legitimize all non-monoparty conservative organizations for the purpose of leaving the Smelly Deplorables a headless mass, unable to communicate and soon to be disarmed.

CNN is attempting to destroy Newsmax TV, which is presently the 4th most watched cable news outlet.

The ridiculously oversized 25,000 National Guard force in DC is being screened and purged to remove any soldier with conservative leanings.  The same process is underway in the Regular military, initiated by people like Secretary of the Army McCarthy, who evidently cannot wait for the inauguration to show his love of the new maximum leader.

Citizens are being urged in the press to observe and report evidence of dissident right-wing political sentiment.

Biden clearly intends to rule from behind the screen of an emerging well-purged praetorian guard and inside well fortified presidential bunkers.

Those officials who had the temerity to question the legitimacy of the election of 2020 will be driven from office by claiming they "incited terrorism."  Will they be charged with insurrection?  We will see.  pl 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/capitol-rally-organizers-before-riots/2021/01/16/c5b40250-552d-11eb-a931-5b162d0d033d_story.html

https://www.newsmax.com/us/cnn-cancel-culture-big-tech-censorship/2021/01/17/id/1006021/

Grilled Sword with Cajun Blackening

50 degrees backyard 17 January, 2021

The Great Purge Approaches

"A show trial is a public trial in which the judicial authorities have already determined the guilt, and/or innocence, of the defendant. The actual trial has as its only goal the presentation of both the accusation and the verdict to the public so they will serve as both an impressive example and a warning to other would-be dissidents or transgressors.^[2] Show trials tend to be retributive rather than corrective and they are also conducted for propagandistic purposes.^[3] The term was first recorded in 1928."  wiki on show trial

******

"National Guard troops deployed in Washington, D.C. for the Biden inaugural in the wake of the storming of the Capitol last week have been authorized to use lethal force, according to a report by U.S. News that cited a Defense Department official. The D.C. National Guard had issued a statement Wednesday that troops under its command had been authorized to carry weapons."  gateway pundit

********

"Is there something in the character of politics that makes it illogical, a “blood sport”? Is that why it is called an “arena”? Perhaps a brief look at early American history might give a clue.

From the beginning, Americans were fiercely independent, passionate, but deeply divided. Only about one-third supported the revolution; the majority were either neutral or remained loyal to the British (“Tories”). A fierce internal terrorist campaign raged throughout the war between these two groups of Americans. So intense was the divide that a British Chaplin was moved to write that,

'These Americans, so soft, pacific and benevolent by nature, are here transformed into monsters, implacably bloody and ravenous; party rage has kindled the spirit of hatred between them, they attack and rob each other by turns, destroy dwelling houses, or establish themselves therein by driving out those who had before dispossessed others.' [Note the word “rage.”]  "political hysteria"

------------------

It appears to me that Schumer has in mind to try former President Trump in the senate with John Roberts presiding.  IMO this is unconstitutional.  As Alan Dershowitz said on the TeeVee today, the prospect of such a procedure should be horrifying to all.  Why?  If the congress can try a private citizen and bar him/her from holding federal office, then whichever party controls the congress can simply bar significant opposition figures from office by re-defining the meaning of statutes, imputing motive where there is none and through guilt by association.   This all begins to smell like Stalin's show trials in the 30s in which he killed off his Old Bolshevik comrades and the leadership of the Red Army.  Trump will always remain vulnerable to the civil courts.  The Dems fear that Florida or federal courts in Florida will not extradite him?  They should live with that in the interest of maintaining the Union.

We now have most of downtown Washington, DC transformed into a Green Zone on the Baghdad model.  25,000 federalized National Guard troops plus various kinds of cops occupy that zone.  25,000?  How about 1,000?  How about 2.000?  What do they expect, an attack on the Biden inauguration platform from the other end of the Mall?  The bridges from Virginia are closed by order of his majesty Ralph Northam.   We live here under Ralph's imperial decrees in a vast outdoor prison.  The ability of the imperial authorities to wall us up, each in our own crummy little domain bodes ill for the future.

Not for the first time am I disgusted by the susceptibility of those I thought my countrymen to waves of hysteria.   German and then Communist spying in WW1,  Prohibition, internment of Japanese descended citizens of the US in WW2,  McCarthyism, the 2K fantasy in which people waited for the end of civilized life, 9/11, after which the whole country went into a profound funk and stumbled about terrified of the NEXT ATTACK.   And now, we have the Left's desire to destroy opposition, the opposition of 75 million citizens and to do it through mass mobilization of political hysteria.

This will never be the same country again.  We have lost the talent needed to maintain a federal republic.  pl

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2021/01/biden-inaugural-national-guard-troops-authorized-use-lethal-force-d-c-turns-police-state/

https://www.iwp.edu/articles/2019/07/29/political-hysteria-american-as-cherry-pie/

Show trial - Wikipedia

Virgin Galactic Space Launch

https://spacelaunchnow.me/launch/launcherone-launch-demo-2

Open Thread - 16 January 2021

pl

Facebook page closed

I have voluntarily closed my FB page.  I do not want to participate in the censorship circus.  pl

Silence the racist conservatives! All of them! All 75 million!

"Rep. Brian Mast, R-Fla., on Newsmax TV responded Thursday to CNN host Jake Tapper's questioning his commitment to democracy over his comments about the riot at the Capitol last week.

Mast, on the House floor on Wednesday, questioned whether anyone had interviewed the rioters themselves about why they stormed the Capitol. During CNN's coverage Wednesday, Tapper questioned Mast's ''commitment'' to the United States.

''I served this country, I fought for this country,'' Mast, a veteran who lost both his legs while on duty in Afghanistan, told Thursday's ''American Agenda.'' ''I love this place more than anything. And it brings me to tears to think about some of the sacrifices I've seen for this country.''  newsmax

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“I said, if you see them anywhere, if you see them in a restaurant, if you see them in a department store, even at a gasoline station, just tell them, you’re not welcome here or anywhere,” she recalled. 

“Of course it frightened a lot of people,” she added. 

But, the exact quote was a bit more in depth: “Let’s make sure we show up wherever we have to show up. And if you see anybody from that Cabinet in a restaurant, in a department store, at a gasoline station, you get out and you create a crowd. And you push back on them. And you tell them they’re not welcome anymore, anywhere. We’ve got to get the children connected to their parents,” Waters said at the Wilshire Federal Building in June."  gregjarrett.com quoting Maxine Waters

*****

"Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said that Congress is looking into media literacy initiatives, including a commission to help "rein in" misinformation in the wake of last week’s deadly breach of the U.S. Capitol – and one critic slammed AOC’s suggestion as "wholly un-American."

During a lengthy live stream on Instagram on Tuesday night, the leader of the so-called "Squad" discussed the aftermath of the Capitol riot, how she feared for her life during the chaos and what needs to be done going forward."  foxnews

*********

"As with the “War on Terror,” short-term victories seem certain, and enticing; Big Tech made it harder for Trump to disrupt the inauguration, which is great. But in the longer term, we may radicalize people who were previously neutral, and thereby empower even worse foes than the ones we vanquished. The other day I heard from a never-Trump friend, a Biden voter, who is convinced that eventually, after we all get comfortable with what Big Tech has done, it will come for conservatives like him. If that happens, he — and others like him — are not going to ally with their censors, public or private.

But those of us who opposed Trump should also be cautious about such alliances. The right-wing fringe is about to discover what it feels like to be on the receiving end of the anti-terror surveillance state it supported so enthusiastically. Perhaps we could learn from their example and ask what sort of society we want to live in before we start authorizing sweeping new powers."  Meghan McCardle

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Pilgrims, students at Harvard University are petitioning to have the degrees of alumni who supported Trump revoked.  Bless their little hearts!   

AOC was afraid?  That poor little thang was afraid?  The obvious response should be to re-educate the press, bloggers, etc.  so that people don't say or write things that make her unhappy or afraid.

And this fellow Mast, how dare he talk back to Jake Tapper?  We all know the depth of the sufferings that Tapper has endured for his country.

Meghan McCardle - She says that she and her friends thought that people who judged the invasion of Iraq to be foolish were "naifs." But now she sees that the big bad wolf of censorship may bite her.  Better late than never.  pl 

https://thegreggjarrett.com/maxine-waters-says-she-threatens-trump-supporters-all-the-time/?utm_source=socialflow

AOC’s suggestion of commission to 'rein in' media slammed as ‘wholly un-American’ | Fox News

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/why-we-should-be-frightened-by-tech-companies-censoring-of-conservatives/2021/01/12/e9da7ce2-5512-11eb-a08b-f1381ef3d207_story.html

https://www.newsmax.com/newsmax-tv/brian-mast-jake-tapper-military-veteran/2021/01/14/id/1005662/

51% of Americans ready to go to Starlink

"A recent survey has determined that over half of Americans are ready to switch to SpaceX’s Starlink satellite internet service. This was despite only 5% of internet subscribers in the United States being connected via satellite today. 

The study was conducted by Reviews.org, which asked respondents whether they would consider getting on board with Starlink once the satellite internet service is fully set up. As it turns out, over half of those surveyed stated that they’d be signing up for the Starlink Beta program, despite the $499 cost of the satellite dish and the service’s current $99 per month fee. "

"Interestingly enough, 55% of the study’s respondents who do not use satellite internet today noted that they would stay with Starlink permanently if the system’s connection was faster, even if its price was higher than their current internet service provider. Over 40% of the respondents also stated that they would stay with Starlink if SpaceX would allow subscribers to make payments on the satellite system instead of an upfront $499 fee. "   Teslarati

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It seems to me that Musk is going to get richer and richer.  Hell, I can't wait to disconnect from Comcast.  

The amount of revenue available to him is going to fund all his visionary colonial schemes for outer space.  Up! Up! And Away!   (That was the intro on some radio show when I was a kid).

Musk is  a force of nature.  I am glad that he is not a native born American.  I wouldn't want to see his talents wasted on being president of the United States.  pl

https://www.teslarati.com/spacex-starlink-50-percent-usa-adoption-survey/

You may not want to know this ...

All those of us who took up military service under the US flag took an oath which most of us have engraved on our souls.  

In the context of last week's attack on the US Capitol, the question of the status of; active duty soldiers, reservists, former military and military retirees has come up in the press.

Many of us think that our oath is sacramental, i.e., spiritual in meaning and that it is indelible and eternal.  You may feel that to be true but that belief is not legally true.

In the course of my 30 year enlisted and officer service and then 8 years as a DoD SES I had occasion to discuss the oath with many JAG officers and General Counsels.  This came up repeatedly because of  a need to determine what the continuing obligations of people were.

In fact, the oath is contractual rather than sacramental.

If you are "discharged" or "dismissed" (officers) from the service you are no longer bound by your oath.  Your service has legally ended.  OTOH if you are "retired" from the military whether officer or enlisted  you remain a member of the military and are still bound by your oath.  pl

Why the Dems have to ban Trump from federal office ...

"Pollster Frank Luntz released results Monday from a poll of Americans who support President Donald Trump after the lethal rioting at the U.S. Capitol.

Luntz said that he polled 800 Trump voters and found that a great majority of them would vote for the president again if given the opportunity.

“Despite their criticism of his conduct since November 3rd and last week, 𝟵𝟭% of Trump voters say they’d still vote for him if another presidential election were held today,” Luntz said on his official social media account."

"Luntz said that of the Trump voters he polled, 73% said the election system was rigged, “even after being reminded that Trump and his allies lost more than 60 cases in court challenging election results.”

And 61% of the Trump voters polled said they would “never” trust election results again."  politico

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I watched Lunz brief on this on the TeeVee.  He looked puzzled.

How many voted for the Orange One?  74 million?  75 million?  Someone here on SST suggested that the actual number of his supporters, as opposed to voters, is probably more like 100 million when you include non-voting supporters too old to go out, too young this time, etc.

The Dems need to keep him penned up on Elba, err, in Florida where he can hold court, brood and play golf.  Could he run for Governor of The Great State of Florida?  Sure.  DeSantis will want to move on to the Senate, the White House, somewhere. 

The era of the great orange manatee may still await us.  pl 

https://politicofire.com/2021/01/12/frank-luntz-polls-trump-voters-to-see-if-their-support-has-changed-since-the-lethal-rioting-at-the-us-capitol/

"Finding Your Roots" - The Nancy Pelosi reveal

"Pelosi comes from a strong family tradition of public service. Her late father, Thomas D’Alesandro Jr., served as Mayor of Baltimore for 12 years, after representing the city for five terms in Congress. Her brother, Thomas D’Alesandro III, also served as Mayor of Baltimore. She graduated from Trinity College in Washington, D.C. She and her husband, Paul Pelosi, a native of San Francisco, have five grown children and nine grandchildren."  pbs

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Being married to a genealogist, I find it obligatory to observe Professor Henry Louis Gates'  weekly TeeVee extravaganza on the subject of the ancestry of various famous, or semi-famous folk.  The show is a classier version of the oldie "This is your life" which ran for many years during my "ute."  ("My Cousin Vinnie" reference).  During the proceedings in that show, one's cousins, 3rd grade teachers and former bosses were brought out from behind the curtain after attempts to guess the identity by remembering their voice.  It was truly fun for the feeble minded.  Gates' show mainly involves construction of a "book of life" on the basis of records research and DNA wizardry.

Last night's principal guest was Nancy d'Alesandro Pelosi.  Wow!  I have never met her and have never paid much attention to her as a personality, but all you had to do was watch her "mug" for the camera and "sculpt" her answers to create her desired narrative to understand that this woman is carrying a lot of psychological baggage and has done so for a very long time.

Her  paternal grandparents were immigrants from a mountain village in Abbruzzo.  Her father, Thomas d'Alesandro, was born in Baltimore (photo above).  He comes across in the Nancy construct as a political version of the De Niro character in "Raging Bull," no beatings but lots of bullying and domination by "the Don."  

This guy was determined to keep his family "in line," especially Nancy and her mother, another Nancy.  Any effort on the part of the mother to establish a separate identity was squelched by the father.  The mother created a cosmetics business that had nation wide custom.  The father made his wife close it.  The mother bought investment real estate.  The father made her sell it.  These women, the two Nancys, were his, his possessions, and they were not allowed to have anything like a life of their own.

Speaker Nancy "excuses" his behavior by saying that Italian American men were like that in that era.  At the same time she extravagantly praises her mother.  Gates takes note of the expression of a greater depth of feeling for the mother.  The excessive praise is a hint of the kind of daughter-mother rivalry for the affection of the "Raging Bull" that characterizes the neo-freudian Electra Complex.  

I am not a psychiatrist but I made a living for many years by perceiving and manipulating the weaknesses and vulnerabilities of others, both men and women.  Pelosi exhibits the characteristics of someone wounded by her father's personality. 

Speaker Nancy escaped the pain of her parental relationships by  marrying a nice Italian-American fellow from San Francisco and migrating to the west coast where after having given life to five daughters she turned to politics.  Her husband is still living but invisible.

Trump seems to be for her an avatar of her father.  He is a domineering man who recalls for her the frustrations of her childhood and adolescence.  The childish, mocking acts of revolt, the tearing up of a copy of his state of the Union Address for all the world to see, the tunnel-vision focus on revenge before all else, these are all symptoms of an irrational obsession.

This is IMO profoundly unfair.  Trump is  a boor.  He is a boastful braggart about women.  He is crude in the mainstream tradition of New York City bullies, but there is no evidence that he ever did anything to hold the women in his family back from personal or business success.  Actually, the women who worked in his corporate headquarters praise him highly.

But, you cannot tell that to anyone suffering the kind of psychological scars that Speaker Nancy bears.  pl

https://www.pbs.org/weta/finding-your-roots/about/meet-our-guests/nancy-pelosi

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electra_complex