Tag Archives: socialism

Current Events

Soviet Politics, American Style

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The above photo is of Young Communists saluting as they pass Lenin’s Tomb in the U.S.S.R., May 1, 1924. Many of you are probably going to consider I have gone off the deep end and finally crashed into insanity. Hell, I don’t know, maybe I have? However, I cannot help but believe my country that I love more than anything. The country that gave a dumb shit Baltimore HS drop out kid of 17 the chance to make something of himself and have a wonderfully, fulfilling, fantastically enjoyable career serving it is doomed due to the likes of the mentally sick, brainwashed, nitwitted young fools  who are convinced our country is sick. Below is a well written, easily interpreted essay of doom. Enjoy if you can. Be sure to read the Postscript.

On Christmas Day 1991, Mikhail Gorbachev, president of the Soviet Union, gave his farewell speech and more than seven decades of Russian revolutionary socialism came to an end. A generation later, the spirit of the Soviet Union has re-emerged with mass support in the U.S.

When I arrived in Moscow in 1976 to begin a six-year stint as a correspondent, I was struck by the red flags flying from government buildings and the somber streets devoid of advertising except for garish posters showing workers with clenched fists demanding an end to the arms race.

When the Soviet Union fell, it seemed the Soviet attempt to impose a deluded version of reality had died with it. Francis Fukuyama, in his 1989 essay “The End of History,” said that Marxism-Leninism was doomed as an alternative to liberal democracy. I argued at the time that the drive to make a religion out of politics had not disappeared.

For the past four years, potted histories have warned about the rise of fascism in the U.S. But the real danger is the transformation of “tolerance” into an ideology with its own courts, informers and punishments, all of them reminiscent of the Soviet Union.

One of the pillars of the Soviet Union was a controlled press in which all coverage was organized to confirm a mendacious ideology.

A friend of mine in Moscow, Vladimir Fyodorov, went to work for the TASS news service, which offered readers not news but a “correct” depiction of events, especially regarding the U.S. and the “ulcers of capitalism”—racism, crime and unemployment.

On his first day at TASS, Vladimir was handed a United Press International story about a U.S. company that was promoting a high-quality tire and offered to replace older tires free of charge. Vladimir wanted to kill the story but his boss rewrote it. The new version read: “In the crafty capitalist market, firms frequently offer low-quality products. This is why a well-known American firm was forced to replace tires that were of inferior quality.” The headline was “Deception of Buyer.”

A few weeks later, Vladimir was given a report that prisons in Fiji were so comfortable that people preferred to stay there than to be at liberty. He produced a report that life in Fiji was so unbearable that people preferred to live in prison. His colleagues congratulated him. He told himself: “I’m going to go out of my mind here.”

Soviet practices would have once been unthinkable in the U.S. media. But in August 2016, Jim Rutenberg, media columnist for the New York Times, wrote that if journalists believed that Mr. Trump was a “demagogue playing to the nation’s worst racist and nationalist tendencies,” it was necessary to “throw out the textbook of American journalism.” The Times started to characterize Mr. Trump’s statements as “lies” in news stories and suppress news that worked to Mr. Trump’s advantage, such as the Hunter Biden story this fall.

The Times also advanced an ideological account of U.S. history, according to which the American Revolution was undertaken to defend slavery, and promoted it over the objections of historians and the paper’s own fact-checkers.

The Soviet system also relied on the complete liquidation of academic freedom. Marxism-Leninism was treated as a perfect science. But the ideology raised obvious questions: In a “classless society,” why were there special stores for officials? If socialism ended war, why did the Soviet Union and China go to war in 1969 over Damansky Island?

If a student tried to raise these questions, he was expelled from the Komsomol, the communist youth league. That ended any hope of a career. I knew a young man in Moscow who refused to be intimidated and continued to ask questions. He was committed to a mental hospital.

The Soviet style has become a reality in the U.S. Speakers are routinely canceled on ideological grounds: In July the College of the Atlantic in Bar Harbour, Maine, canceled a virtual talk with Leonard Leo of the Federalist Society because of “the moment of reckoning our society is going through.” At my alma mater, the University of Chicago, the English department announced that it would “only accept applicants interested in working in and with Black Studies.”

The Soviet Union finally counted on the readiness of people to betray even family and friends. The regime held up Pavel Morozov (1918-32) as a martyr. He lived in a village in the Urals when the regime was collectivizing agriculture. When Pavel learned that his father was helping peasants hide grain, he walked 35 miles to the nearest town to report him to the secret police. His father was arrested and Pavel was stabbed to death by relatives.

I thought of Pavel Morozov when I read a June op-ed in the New York Times by Chad Sanders, a black writer. He told his white friends that he didn’t need their “love texts” and suggested that instead they cut off contact with family members until they sent money to Black Lives Matter or joined their protests.

When Mr. Gorbachev began the reforms that destroyed the Soviet Union, he said, referring to the U.S.: “We’re going to do something terrible to you. We’re going to deprive you of an enemy.” Twenty-nine years later, it’s clear he was right. Without the ideological challenge of the Soviet Union, we have become immersed in internal conflicts and have made an ideology out of them.

It is true that Marxism is a more coherent system of thought than “wokeism.” But even an intellectual hodgepodge can engender totalitarian habits if it fulfills an emotional need and becomes a device of interpretation.

The antidote is fidelity to higher values. But that requires a moral seriousness that a world at peace and in thrall to superficialities does not inspire. “The West does not know and does not want to know what shaped it,” writes Cardinal Robert Sarah, a Guinean prelate. “This self-asphyxiation leads to new barbaric civilizations.”

The Soviet Union is dead, but its ghost wanders an unsettled world. Finding a lodestar for society’s moral development is the most important challenge facing the U.S. today.

Mr. Satter is author of “Age of Delirium: the Decline and Fall of the Soviet Union” and a member of the academic advisory board of the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation.

Postscript from anonymous.

Franklin Graham said it right and so have I, this is the last free election if Donald Trump doesn’t win we will ever SEE in America . We are done here. Unfortunately we are too late to be effective with a vote. There will be only two alternatives left to us if Biden is seated as President. We have heard it once in our history loudly at Concord. The British are coming to take our guns. Then a shot was fired. The rest is history.

We may hear again a shot fired when someone is burning our town, or another family arrested for protecting their home standing on their steps. Or another old man or woman is hit to the ground for no reason other than walking on a public street. I ask you to think about that. If licensed to carry, do it. If not licensed, get licensed now! Be prepared to defend others in need. Lawlessness is coming on scale. We must decide to stand aside or to stand up. Not a pleasant decision. Get your head straight and make some decisions on how you will react. Be ready to defend your family and for some of us, the Constitution we have sworn to protect.

President Clinton started the ball of breakdown to socialism. I am proud that American’s stood up for a disrupter like Trump. I thought I was alone. I was SO proud of America . Today, Trump is all that is left holding the line. Give him what you’ve got. Prepare to defend yourself!!!

 

Originally posted 2020-12-23 10:38:57.

Current Events

Need Some Help Folks

8 Comments

Okay, as I’m sure you are as well, I am sick over all this election trouble, but knew it was coming. The Dems have had four years to ensure what happened to Clinton would not happen to him. So while we wait for all the legal battles I need some help.

I am a die hard right wing conservative through and through. So, what are we supposed to do now?

I reckon we are supposed to take a clue from that other side and should be rioting,  breaking windows, burning down buildings,  looting the stores in our area, and maybe even shooting at policemen and burning their cars?

Personally, I favor Bass Pro Shops or Home Depots. My wife says she favors Bed, Bath, & Beyond. What about food and beverages? We’ll bring a cheese and cracker tray. I’m wondering about the dress code, are dungarees okay or something a little less formal; maybe western? Actually, since we are in Florida, I favor shorts and an UA T.

We need an organizer and of course, some one to fund the operations and transportation; I seriously doubt if George Soros would finance this one; he’s probably short on funds by now.

We need some lists. I have so many questions since I’ve never done anything like this before. Maybe some of the Dems on here can help us. Oh, I forgot, I don’t think we have any of them on here except this Daniel fellow, but he is so stupid he wouldn’t know how to find his butt with both hands, about as ignorant as a box of hammers.

Perhaps some of you could contact folks in MI, PA, WI, CA, OR, WA, or NV and ask for their suggestions. But then they may be too busy carting in more mail-in ballots.

Anyway, lets try and get some answers from someone. Biden , the puppet, wouldn’t know since he hasn’t figured out where he is, or if they have even let him out of his basement yet.

I have decided I need we new name for what is supposed to be the Democratic Party or DNC as some call it. I wonder what Carter thinks about his party, of JFK, or even LBJ? Me think LNC as in Liberal National Committee, or maybe the Scum Sucking Party, or the American Communist Party? Any suggestion?

I refuse to take my Trump signs down from my yard or stop wearing my red MAGA hat. So in a year or so when everything turns to dodo, I can smile and proudly say, not my fault!

Originally posted 2020-11-07 13:35:51.

Current Events

How the hell did we get here?

1 Comment

Good morning gang. After last night’s Super Tuesday results I imagine everyone is all fired up and ready to go vote for the former Vice President…….NOT!  Some of the Village People have dropped out. We lost the gay guy and the rich guy, but the fake Indian, the befuddled guy, and the communist are still around. I believe the  last two will fight it out to the end. I noted MSNBC (an acquaintance of mine and his bride believe they are the most reliable and non-partisan news show on TV, I know, you can stop laughing now), commented that POTUS is now scared because he may have to debate babbling Joe. Seriously? They’ll have to check Joe for an earphone  as he’ll need someone to keep reminding him where he is and for what job he is running. But, anyway, I digress.

Now to the point of the blog, the document here is long, so I recommend you print it out and read it at your leisure. I guarantee you will learn something. The writer, in my view, has provided a succinct and verifiable history of how our society got to where it is today. Trust me, take the time to read it and absorb what he is saying. Personally, I was so impressed, I had to go back and read it again to make sure I had it all in perspective. He makes a very strong case for when it all started and how it grew to the shithole we are now in. I’d love to hear your comments on the treatise. Right click on his name below and open in new tab or window; it’s a Word Document and it is safe!

Caldwell

Originally posted 2020-03-04 11:30:44.

Current Events, Recent Posts

A Little History

4 Comments

Failure in Afghanistan Has Roots in the All-Volunteer Military

For the past three decades, careerism among senior officers coupled with the disconnect between the American public and the All-Volunteer Force have led to failed and unnecessary overseas military interventions.
By Paul Cavallo

September 2021
Proceedings
Vol. 147/9/1423

The tragedy that unfolded over the past several weeks in Afghanistan began with the creation of the “all-volunteer” military in 1973 and the self-promoting careerism that has stalked the Pentagon ever since. Too few leaders have been willing to speak truth to power and say no to overseas military adventurism that had little bearing on the safety and security of this nation. And it goes without saying that those in charge when the war begins are never those who have to finish it.

We saw this most clearly when, in 1990-91, America sent its young warriors into the deserts of the Middle East. We called it “The Gulf War” and “Desert Storm,” but it was, in reality, America’s first mercenary war. The Bush administration cut a deal with the Saudis and Kuwaitis: our men, their money. Kuwaiti “princes” lived large in hotels from Saudi Arabia to Paris while our young soldiers and Marines dug fighting holes in the desert under a searing sun.

U.S. Marines in Desert Storm
U.S. Marines in Operation Desert Storm in 1991. (Naval Institute archives)
The peacetime, all-volunteer military, after all, was a good job with benefits and perks. And that “war” went relatively well and quickly with few American servicemembers killed or injured, to the high praise of the U.S. public who were entranced, awed, and seduced by the lethality, performance, and accuracy of our high-tech weapons, while forgetting that the troops on the ground, in the desert, held it all together and made the irrefutable success of the war possible. Yet it was also the start of the forever wars. Saddam Hussein remained in power after the war and the U.S. military remained in the Middle East—enforcing no-fly zones and oil embargoes on Iraq with naval forces in the Persian Gulf and air and land forces based in Kuwait, Bahrain, and Saudi Arabia.

While it might be a “chicken or the egg” argument, it is hard not to see that the permanent increase of U.S. military presence in the Middle East went hand in hand with the rise of militant Islam and anti-American terrorism. How many Americans remember the 1996 terrorist bombing of a U.S. Air Force barracks in Khobar, Saudi Arabia? Nineteen U.S. servicemembers were killed and 498 wounded. Two years later, the embassy bombings in Tanzania and Kenya killed 12 Americans and hundreds of civilians and wounded 4,500 people. Then came the October 2000 attack on the USS Cole (DDG-67) in Aden, Yemen, killing 17 sailors and injuring dozens of others. Less than a year later came the 9/11 attacks, answered shortly by the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan. A little over a year later, under the false pretense that non-existent Iraqi weapons of mass destruction would be used against the United States, came the invasion of Iraq.

Khobar Towers bombing in 1996 in Saudi Arabia
The 1996 Khobar Towers bombing in Saudi Arabia killed 19 U.S. servicemembers and injured nearly 500 more. 

By the end of 2003, U.S. special operations forces had completed much of their mission in Afghanistan to capture or kill senior leaders and high-value targets within both al-Qaeda and the Taliban. The Pentagon, however, rather than putting their “swords” away somehow decided to “nation build” a medieval land of warring tribes into a Western-style democracy, ignoring the fact that our democracy took centuries and many great wars to achieve.

For the past 31 years, the brunt of the cost has been borne by the all-volunteer force. The majority of American citizens have not served (none were required to), and most know few who have. A few dozen—or even a few hundred—servicemembers killed per year was the cost of doing business. But where were the generals and admirals who should have stood up to the civilian leaders, without compromise, to say “enough,”—that foreign wars too often leave our soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines dead and forgotten, and for what? Were the military’s senior leaders just following along in-line, waiting for their moment, their chance for another star, or a richly coveted post-retirement job with a “vendor.” Were they just inured to the burdens of the profession? Unable to see the giant machine in which they were cogs—the failed foreign policy that resulted in the spilling of blood and national treasure for questionable (if any) gain.

It is no surprise that the “war” in Afghanistan eventually became a bottomless money pit. More than a trillion dollars was spent; did it make our nation safer, or did it just make Washington-connected corporations rich? Some of that money was funneled back to Congress through campaign donations and favors, all the while young Americans were being killed and wounded. Walk into any Veterans Administration hospital and see first-hand the reality that was brought home.

So, with the most recent deaths and injuries at Kabul International airport—clearly caused by a lack of planning, foresight, and courage at the top—we witness more evidence of the ongoing tragedy and travesty that is American “foreign policy” and the willingness of senior military leaders to go along with it. Will we ever learn? History suggests, no.

Postscript: While some commenters on the  actual article disagree with the author, I do not. I understand where he is coming from and follow his line of thought completely. The disconnect between the American public in general and the military and their assigned missions is indeed relevant. A quick “war story” if I may.

Serving as a temporary Chief of Staff at a command when the actual made a quick decision to retire, I had to handle my job as well for a few months while the Corps had to find a colonel for the billet. After a few months of this double duty my general, a fresh-caught BG, comes in my office with a cup of coffee to shoot the bull. Out of the blue he calmly says, Jim you know you will never make general.” To which I laughed telling him all I ever wanted to be was a Gunny. He asked if I wanted to know why, and of course I knew he wanted to tell me so I said yes.

He told me he knew several generals who would jump at having me as their COS because I had a knack of letting seniors (and juniors) know that if they cannot handle your answer they should never ask me the question. He said generals cannot do that. They must always speak the party line or they will never move above one star, which is why so many generals retire as a BG. They spoke outside the party line once and were passed over, or they  want nothing to do with it and retire.

Personally, I took his comments as compliment as that philosophy helped me to rise from private to colonel, and I was not about to change it. When a general speaks, understand he is never telling you what he truly believes in his heart. He is simply a mouth piece for the admisntration at the time.

Current Events

Making America 1979 Again

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Good Morning Gang, it’s Saturday, the day before the traditional Memorial Day, initially referred to as Decorations Day by MajGen Logan after the Civil War. Personally, I celebrate on the traditional Day, 30 May. So, I will lower my flag tomorrow morning and raise it back up at noon. Changing the day so federal workers could get another day off with pay didn’t impress me since my experience with those snakes in the grass (in the Corps, we called them “Sand Crabs”) has been  most don’t earn a day’s pay anyway. But then that’s my personal opinion and preference.

So what are the swamp creatures up to as they begin their long weekend cook out? Well, the big talking point this week has been inflation. What is that? Well simply, it is the rising cost of goods and services.  There is cost-push inflation where the cost of goods is caused by a rise in the cost of production e.g., gas. Then there is demand-pull inflation where the rise in prices is caused by an increasing demand and firms push up prices due to the shortage of goods e.g., toilet paper. LOL.

The swamp doesn’t fear inflation, just like Peanut Jimmy didn’t in the 70s, but beware folks, the signs are there, they are just being ignored.

By: G. Maresca

You do not have to be a scholar with a dollar to notice how prices are increasing. The Consumer Price Index that measures costs for goods and services increased 4.2% in April. Gas jumped 9%, while housing prices rose 17%.

The Powerball Lottery jackpot is now a tank of gas, a bag of groceries and a sheet of plywood.

A late seventies ambiance has returned with the cyber-attack on the Colonial pipeline cyber-attack and its resulting gas lines. Add to it emboldened Iranian Ayatollahs in a cooking Middle East; an increasing U.S. crime rate; a refugee crisis at the southern border, and a simmering Cold War II. The recent visit Joe and Jill Biden had with Jimmy and Roslyn Carter makes it official that the torch has been finally passed. Their photo op, if you have not seen it, is one for Ripley’s Believe it or Not.

The Carter’s even gifted to Hunter Biden their home-brewing recipe to Billy Beer.

It is time travel Democrat style and for those 41 and younger, welcome to 1979.

At least back then the music was better, and you didn’t need a second mortgage to attend a major league baseball game. Kids went to school and actually played outside, and mask wearing was strictly for Halloween.

It was also in the summer of ‘79 that Carter gave his infamous “malaise speech” about “the erosion of our confidence.” Today, Biden successfully dismantles the myth of white privilege and primacy every time he comes in contact with a microphone.

The Labor Department’s latest jobs report had employers adding only one-quarter of an anticipated one million jobs, while unemployment claims actually increased. Many are choosing not to work since being paid to stay home is now an option. Such a major disincentive to work is unprecedented and brings with it the predictable consequence of labor’s availability. With jobs plentiful combined with escalating unemployment benefits only serves to grease the rails for socialism.

Former Treasury Secretary under Bill Clinton and former head of the National Economic Council for Barack Obama, Larry Summers spoke truth to power when he warned against too much stimulus.

There is no true stimulus, only irrational leftist reasoning that justifies increased deficit spending that is endorsed by bogus good intentions that leads down a path to fiscal ruin.

No one on either side of the aisle gave Summer’s reasoning a second thought.

Biden and his Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen actually claimed, “there is no significant inflation.” Record-low interest rates coupled with a rise in prices is what happens when central banks have a surplus of money that outstrips demand. As we stifle the supply side with handouts, while printing dollars by the trillions the result is Inflation. Prudent advice to any weather forecaster is to look out the window first. Perhaps this dynamic economic duo needs to go grocery shopping and fill the gas tank before making their next inflation forecast.

In a recent press conference, Vice President Kamala Harris ignored a question about inflation with her infamous laughing crackle as she quickly walked away. Perhaps she was on her way to the southern border?

The fear of inflation is why the 10-year U.S. Treasury yield is up 80%, and the 5-year U.S. Treasury yield is up 123%.  Spending and printing comes with consequences as you cannot print your way to prosperity.

Perhaps Biden should consider surrounding the White House with an orchard since he and his economic team believe money grows on trees. The only problem would be when Biden ends up chopping down all the trees for the paper to print even more money.

When the Federal Reserve finally admits that there is too much inflation, interest rates will rise and polarize the economy followed by a toxic bout of stagflation. Such economic malaise hurts the same people that the spend and tax Biden Democrats say they want to help.

Moreover, any stock market gains will be deceiving thanks to inflation where any capital gains taxes will be a direct result of the dollar’s decline.

In 1979, the Carter coast-to-coast malaise paved the way for Ronald Reagan’s conservative reform.

History would do well to not only rhyme but repeat itself.

 

Happy Memorial Day everyone. While cooking steaks, burgers, dogs, and drinking your favorite libation, please remember the nearly 1.1 million Americans who gave their lives  so we could celebrate this day! And remember to lower you flag to half mast on which ever day you traditionally celebrate and raise it back to full staff at noon.. Semper Fi, Jim