City Life Show on Short Hiatus

For John, BLUF:  The Producer of City Life Show, and its leadin, The Dawn Patrol, is on a one week break, but the discussion goes on.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Last Time we Said it. This Time it's True.

Here is the sub-headline:

Je Suis Charlie Isn't Just a Slogan Anymore

From The Conservative Historian, by Blogger JIM MCCOY, 13 September 2025.

Here is the lede:

Once upon a time, I sat in a classroom at Wayne State University and, having listened to a faculty member scream offended and threaten to have me expelled because I wouldn’t kiss her ass, told her that the only way to silence me would be to kill me. I meant it then. I mean it now. If standing up for what I believe in costs me my life then know that I am content to have died in service to a good cause and that, given the chance, I’d do it again.

But, not everyone is sensitive to the events of last week.

1. First we had the horrid murder of Ukrainian Refugee Iryna Zarutska, on August 22, 2025, on the Lynx Blue Line in Charlotte, North Carolina, by a mentally unstable career criminal.
2. Then, the next day, we had the assassination of Turning Poit USA Head, Charlie Kirk, by , it ppears, Mr Tyler Robinson, who was arrested peacefully.
3. Then we had the outpouring of vile comments following the Assassination, from Office Depot, to social media, to classrooms and the media.

Mr Robert Sterling on X wrote a long piece on this last ooint, which started:.

My liberal friends are completely oblivious about how radicalizing the last week has been for tens of millions of normal Americans. Zero clue. I’m not talking about people who are “online”; I mean regular, everyday Americans. “Normies.” People who scroll through Facebook posts and Instagram reels from the Dutch Bros drive thru line. Political moderates who have water cooler chats about Mahomes touchdowns and Bon Jovi concerts, not Twitter threads or Rachel Maddow monologues. Millions of them. Tens of millions. They’re logging on, they’re engaging, and they’re furious. And I’ll be candid: They blame you guys. They blame the left. Regardless of whether you believe it to be justified, they think you’re the bad guys here. And they are reacting accordingly.

Let us emulate Charlie Kirk and engage in respectful debate.  Let us not resort to comparing our fellow citizens to the worst of our opponents (or Allies) in WWII.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

End of Bombing in Cambodia

For John, BLUF:  History may be boring, but it is important.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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1973 – Vietnam War: The USAF bombing of Cambodia ends.

From Wikipedia.

Here is the extract:

August 15 – The U.S. bombing of Cambodia ends, officially halting 12 years of combat activity in Southeast Asia according to the Case–Church Amendment-an act that prohibits military operations in Laos, Cambodia, and North and South Vietnam as a follow-up of the Paris Peace Accords.

This is just a very small note on the last USAF mission into Cambocia.

In August of 1973 I was the Wing Commander's back seater in the F-4E, at Korat RTAFB (Royal Thai Air Force Base).  I had the position because I was an Instructor Pilot and Flight Examiner.  Five years laterr I again worked for Colonel Robert Crouch, although several layers down in the NATO Air Headquarters in Naples, Italy (AIRSOUTH).

It was public knowledge that our efforts in support of the Cambodian Military was coming to an end.  The US Congress had voted to quit.  I decided that there would be press present and I further decided that I would not wish to be interviewed.  I didn't expect I would have nice things to say.

So, I took leave and flew back to be with my family in Fort Walton Beach, Florida.  Sitting in our Florida Room I watch Colonel Crouch on TV News, nding the last official flight, taxing into his parking spot and deplaning, alonog with Major Paul Schwimm, who was his back seater for the day.  That was my war [termination] protest.

In researching this blog post I came across a New York Times article from 16 August 1973, "No Champagne or Cheers as Last Plane Comes In From Cambodia;" which said the last to land from Cambodia was Captain Lonnie 0. Ratley, an A-7 Pilot.  I knew Lon Rstley, from Ramstein Air Base, in Germany.  He was a Suadron Commander in the 86th Tactical Fighter Wing.

Retired in Lowell, MA, every week I run into Refugees from Cambodia, or their children.  My State Rep is a Cambodian Refugee.  I know a couple of City Councillors, including our Vice Mayor, who are Cambodian Refugees.  Sometimes I apologize for our failure in our support of the Cambodian Army, which led to the Cambodian Genocide.

UPDATED.

Regards  —  Cliff

History Flag Day

For John, BLUF:  History is the good and the bad and how it merges.

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Building Inspector Shoots Up Republicans

From The Redheaded libertarian, 14 Jun 2025, 12:10 AM

Here is the Tweet:

June 14, 2017, BernieBro James Hodgkinson opened fire on Congressmen, Senators, staff & police at their baseball practice. Steve Scalise was shot. This was a textbook act of domestic terrorism, but the feds would deem it “suicide by cop” before sweeping it under the rug.

I had forgotten, just like they wanted me to.

Today is the 250th Anniversary of the founding of the US Army, Flag Day,♠  President Trump's Birthday, and the Anniversary of the shooting of the Republican Congressional Vbaseball Team.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit, who notes:

AND TODAY BERNIE IS CALLING FOR INSURRECTION:

Regards  —  Cliff

♠  Remember when Nike was going to recognize Betsy Ross ?  Then they pulled the shoes because someoone sho doesn't believe in political evolution objected.

Rating the US Presidents

For John, BLUF:  This is a good sorting of our Presidents in terms of how well they performed in Office.  It is different to some degree from what I leanred in Elementary School, back in the 1950s.  But, our understanding evolves.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Rating the Presidents on Presidents' Day

From Vodka Pundit, by Blogger Stephen Green, 17 February 2025, 12:31 PM.

Here is the lede:

Presidents' Day is a stupid holiday.  We used to have two presidential holidays.  One for Washington, who showed noteworthy restraint in setting the precedents that his successors ought to live up to — and that's on top of successfully commanding the armies that won the Revolutionary War.  The other was for Lincoln, who saved the Union from rupture and was murdered for his efforts

Then Mr Green racked and stacked our Presidents.

As one might expect, the top two were Presidents Washington and Lincoln.

Then there are 15 described as worth remembering, including:

• John Adams
• Thomas Jefferson
• James Madison
• James Monroe
• James Polk
• U S Grant
• William McKinley
• T Roosevelt
• Calvin Coolidge
• Harry Truman
• D D Eisenhower
• Gerald Ford
• Ronald Reagan
• GHW Bush
• John F Kennedy

Then there is the list of the ten worst:

• James Buchanan
• Andrew Johnson
• Woodrow Wilson
• Herburt Hoover
• Franklin D Roosevelt
• Lyndon B Johnson
• Jimmy Carter
• Barack Obama
• Joseph R Biden

He does bring the receipts.

Regards  —  Cliff

Holding a Grudge

For John, BLUF:  My "edition" of The Boston Globe was short of what I considered important an interesting news this morning.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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? ? ? ? ?

From The Boston Globe.

At 0502 this morning The Boston Globe sent out their daily EMail of the articles in the paper.  Missing, however, was anything on the airplane crash in North Philly last evening, which took at least six lives.

Is this an indicatino that their Lordships at The Boston Globe have not yet forgiven Dr Benjamin Franklin for decamping from Boston at a young age and estblishing himself in Phalidelphia.  And thank God he did, so he could be available to help guide the Founding Fathers during the American Revolution..

Regards  —  Cliff

His Last chance to Make Everyone Happy

For John, BLUF:  As the Biden Administratino winds down there is a question some minds as to how it will end.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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How Can I Miss You When You Won’t Go Away?

Here is the song:

Dan Hicks Sings It

President Joseph Robinette Biden has been in politics since 1970, and in Federal Office since 1973.  He did have a four year hiatus while Donald J Trump served his first term.

Some wondered if Cabndidate Biden running his 2020 Campaign out of his Basement was a sign that he was being hidden away.  That was viguriously denied by one and all, including by Presidential Spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre, including, recently, with her classic line regarding "'Cheap Fake' Videos".

REPORTER:  There seems to be a sort of a rash of videos that have been exited to make the president appear officially frail or mentally confused. I'm wondering if the White House is especially worried about the fact that this appears to be a pattern.

KARINE JEAN-PIERRE:  Yeah, and I think you all have called this the cheap fakes video and that's exactly what they are. They are cheap fakes video, they are done in bad faith and, and some of your news organizations have been very clear, have stressed that these right-wing, the right-wing critics of the president have a credibility problem because of the fact-checkers have repeatedly caught them pushing misinformation, disinformation.

And so we see this and this is something coming from your part of the world, calling them cheap fakes and misinformation. And I'll quote the Washington Post where they wrote, they wrote about this and they said how "Republican used misleading videos to attack Biden in a 24 hour period" and to their credit, we have a conservative Washington Examiner did call them out as well, calling out the New York Post.

Ironically several recent cheap fakes actually attack the president for thanking troops -- for thanking troops. That is what they're attacking the president for, both in Normandy this happened and again in Italy, and I think that it tells you everything that we need to know about how, how desperate, how desperate Republicans are here. And instead of talking about the president's performance in office, and what I mean by that is his legislative wins, what he's been able to do for the American people across the country, we're seeing these deep fakes, these manipulated videos. And it is again done in bad faith.

This all came up for review two days ago in an article in The Wall Street Journal.  .

I believe some are asking themselves if President Biden will make it to 20 January.  His deteriorization has been slow.  Is it to a point when it could pick up speed and he could find himself undeniably incapable of czrrying on as President.  None of us should wish that on him, but it is possible.  It could happen to any of us who have reached the 82 age mark.

There is, however, another possible branch for this story.  It is possible that President Biden could step aside and allow his Vice President, Kamala Harris, to become President for the last month of this Administration.♠  I, for one, think this is a distinct possibility.  I would give it a one in three chance.  If President Biden ressigned, it would make Vice President Kamala Harris the first female President, even if it were just for a month.  It might also set a precedent as to the idea of Presidents stepping down when they find that physically or mentally they can't keep up.  A previous example could have been President Woodrow Wilson, who sufferred a stroke in October 1919, with his Wife, Edith Wilson, basically assuming the office.

Regards  —  Cliff

♠  While President Biden appears to be angry with the leadership of the Democratic Party, and thus is unlikely to take actions to help out the party, his Wife, Dr Jill Biden, may well be thinking that such a move would enhance his place in history, and thus be an good thing.

Ignorance in the Young

Those who don't know history are in danger of being led around by the nose by dangerous ideologues.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Students for Justice in Palestine at Columbia University

Here is the sub-headline:

At Columbia University

From 𝕏, by Eyal Yakoby, 16 December 2024, 8:17 AM.

Here is the posting on 𝕏:

Students for Justice in Palestine at Columbia University revealed they are "fighting for the total eradication of Western civilization."

Why are taxpayer dollars going to Columbia University when they are teaching students to take down Western civilization?

cuapartheiddivest  —  FOLLOW

• •• We are Westerners fighting for the total eradication of Western civilization. We stand in full solidarity with every movement for liberation in the Global South. Our Intifada is an internationalist one-we are fighting for nothing less than the liberation of all people. We reject every genocidal, eugenicist regime that seeks to undermine the personhood of the colonized.

As the fascism ingrained in the American consciousness becomes ever more explicit and irrefutable, we seek community and instruction from militants in the Global South, who have been on the frontlines in the fight against tyranny and domination which undergird the imperialist world order. "Biplob Cholbe" (Revolution must continue)

Columbia University Apartheid Divest (CUAD)  —  "The Palestinian cause is not a cause for Palestinians only, but a cause for every revolutionary, wherever [they are], as a cause of the exploited and oppressed masses in our era." - Ghassan Kanafani.

The problem with not knowing history is that one is likely to fall for any rubbish that comes down the road.  Judging by student reactions on campus one can only assume that these students learned little history, and no economics before graduating from high school and this ignorance was not corrected in college.

It is sad.  Very Sad.

I blame Ms Randi Weingarten.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Restricting Space Travel

For John, BLUF:  This is over a month old, but the story has not gotten better with time and now SpaceX has sued the California Coastal Commission over obstruction based on Mr Musk's political views.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Biden Admin to SpaceX:  Drop Dead!

From Vodka Pundit, by Stephen Green, September 11, 2024, 10:00 AM.

Here is the lede plus three:

It isn't a joke whenever I say that the new space race is Elon Musk versus the rest of the world, and I'm not joking now when I tell you that his company's biggest competitor isn't China — and it certainly isn't Russia — but the Biden-Harris FAA.

SpaceX's Starship promises to revolutionize spaceflight by reducing launch costs by two orders of magnitude — that's a 99% savings — and vastly expanding current limits on the size and mass of what can be lifted into orbit and deep space.

If SpaceX can get permission to perform the necessary flight tests, that is — and the FAA is dragging its feet.

"Starships are meant to fly," the company reminded the Biden administration in a lengthy statement released on Tuesday. "We recently received a launch license date estimate of late November from the FAA, the government agency responsible for licensing Starship flight tests. This is a more than two-month delay to the previously communicated date of mid-September. This delay was not based on a new safety concern, but instead driven by superfluous environmental analysis."

"Starships are meant to fly."  That is correct.  There is, however, an apparent tension between our free enterpise approach of exploring space and the desire of progressives to protect the environment by constraining free lance exploration that damages our enviroment and could damage enviornments on other worlds.

My sense is that a cheap trick now will cost us later.  We need to let ingenuity roam free and count on self interest to ensure we do not act, in the long run, in stupid ways.  Early constraints on such exploration is reminiscent of China in 1405 to 1433, which had conducted seven voages by its treasure fleet, only to back away from it all and eventually fall into a period of decline, finally pulling out recently.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Origin of Species

For John, BLUF:  Science is about upstarts posing new ideas that disrupt the established ideas.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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The Wild Tale of the Cerutti Mastodon, a Fossil That Could Rewrite the Human Story

Here is the sub-headline:

The Cerutti Mastodon, found near San Diego, shows signs of being butchered 130,000 years ago—but by who? Or what?

From Atlas Obscura, by Reporter Gemma Tarlach, 1 August 2024.

Here is the lede plus five:

CALIFORNIA’S HIGHWAY STATE ROUTE 54, skirting southeast of San Diego, doesn’t seem like it would be the catalyst for challenging some of the longest-held ideas about human evolution and our spread across the planet. And yet, in 1992, along SR 54’s ribbons of asphalt and exit ramps to malls, taco joints, and subdivisions, road-widening construction unearthed a fossil that could rewrite the human story—if scientists ever stop arguing about it.

Here, 130,000 years ago beside the future site of SR 54, a young mastodon perished. There’s nothing uncommon about that—these heavily-built, distant relatives of modern elephants were found throughout much of North America at the time. Paleontologists don’t know how the mastodon died, but there is evidence preserved in its bones, and in rocks found nearby, that the animal’s carcass may have been butchered by humans. There’s just one problem with this scenario. Most scientists agree: Homo sapiens left our ancestral homeland of Africa less than 100,000 years ago, and arrived in the Americas only in the last 15,000–25,000 years, as the last ice age ended and travel from Asia and the land bridge known as Beringia, into Alaska and Canada, became possible.

So who—or what—made a meal out of that mastodon?

The fossil is now known as the Cerutti Mastodon, after the late paleontologist Richard Cerutti, who recognized the significance of the bones as they were uncovered during the highway expansion project. Greater San Diego was growing rapidly at the time, and so was its infrastructure. Previous highway projects had turned up a wealth of fossils, from ancient walruses to dinosaurs, and Cerutti worked on behalf of the San Diego Natural History Museum as a site monitor, on the lookout for more discoveries. But he wasn’t expecting this.

Cerutti was initially excited because he thought the fossil belonged to a mammoth. However, further excavation over several months revealed the distinctive teeth of its close relative, the mastodon—and turned up strange things neither Cerutti nor his colleagues could explain.

The heavy, massive limb bones of a mastodon are not easy to break, and specific fracture patterns on the Cerutti specimen were not consistent with natural processes, such as being tumbled in river rapids. There was also the curious arrangement of the bones. Two broken femurs appeared to be placed side by side, and one of the animal’s tusks was almost vertical, as if stuck upright in the sediment like a flagpole.

So maybe we have it all wrong.  Maybe the human species evolved in San Diego, a veritable Garden of Eden, and then moved across the Bering Strait, into Asia, Africa and Europe.  Perhaps we evolved from the Grunion, as they turned their fins into legs..

On the other hand, getting such a theory to be considered, considering the power of the scientific establishment, is a Sisyphian Task.  Look at the efforts expended and wasted by those scientists who differed from Doctor Anthony Fauci during the Covid-19.  Dr Fauci, who famously saaid:  "I Am the Science".

In the mean time, we have a conundrum.  How do we explain the early emergence of human type activity in San Diego, California.

Regards  —  Cliff

Running Against Ms Harris, Alternative View

Mr Trump's private life has not been off limits in 2016, 2020 or today.  An important question for Republicans in the 2024 Presidential Race is if Democratic Nominee Harris' personal life should be off limits.  Will the Republicans gain more votes by scuffing her up or by walking past the issue in a dignified manner.  The answer turns on how we view the female voting block.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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YOU DON’T HIT A GIRL

From According to Hoyt, by Author Sarah Hoyt, 25 July 2024.

Here is the lede plus seven:

I’m tired. Maybe the fact that Canada is burning and in the air again has to do with this, or maybe it is the eternal wishful stupidity of the right.  Could be either or.

Unfortunately this means I have a fever, which lately happens when I’m having an auto-immune outbreak.

For those of you who are new here, when I get a fever it’s like when other people are on prednisone.  I lose what little governor I have. , Also, because my head hurts, I become very short on patience.

What does this mean?  Well– The old hands will tell you.

It means I roll up my sleeves, turn the Heinlein picture to the wall and speak without prettifying it for the sensitive souls.  I’m sorry.  But in case I haven’t mentioned it, I’m tired.

On facebook, someone took offense at my “Getting it out of the way” post.  First at my saying that Kamala probably has less recent African ancestry than I do — and mine isn’t that recent.  It’s someone who comments here, but he primly informed me that a little research would have prevented my embarrassing faux pas, since her father is of Jamaican ancestry so, obviously she has recent African ancestry.

Head>desk, repeat with gusto.  He then insisted the “cast of her father’s features” meant he was black.  I know that what y’all are conditioned to think of as “black” reads as “What?” to me, but seriously, the man looks Mediterranean with some English and I checked with people born here.  Also, I’m not going to post my own family photos, but the side that so far as we know (unless that’s the tiny amount of Nigerian in my 23 and me.  Yes, that’s right.  I’m a princess!) has no African blood looks more African than Kamala’s father.  Because, well… Portugal is a very mixed place, but also because what American’s consider “black” is not.

But even so, my contention in making that statement was not to dispute one-drop rules, because frankly who cares, but to argue that Kamala is no more black than I am:  She’s not black American by culture or ancestry.  Meaning that as far as there is a common (and there is) experience among Americans of (some) African ancestry whose ancestors were brought here as slaves, she ain’t got it.  She got made “black” because Joe wanted a “black woman” vice president and it was her or the “real governor of Georgia.”  That was it.  Which is disingenuous.

For those who don't follow Sarah, she is an immigrant from Portugal, having come here initially as a high school exchange student.  There is much more to the blog post.  Read the whole thing.

I take Ms Hoyt's point about is Vice President Harris Black.  When I look at her, or listen to her, I do not think Black.  I think Indian Subcontinent.  I am sure some would suggest I am in some form of denial.  Perhaps I am.  However, in my dillusion I am not denigrating her.  I liked Governoors Bobby Jindal and Nicky Haley and I liked Vivek Ramaswamy.

And, Vice President Harris was mentored, may still be being mentored, by the smartest politician in California, and perhaps in the US, former Assembly Speaker Willie Brown.

Besides the issue of is Ms Harris a Black candidate or a Middle Class "White Adjacent" candidate is the question of if her previous sex life is fair game for criticism.  I think it is disrespectful of her Husband. : Blogger Hoyt thinks we should not be delicate about this, just as Democrats and the Media (and the courts) have not held back in going after Mr Trump's private life.  We are in the big leagues now.

I still wish to focus on policy and Ms Harris' policy record as VEEP, Senator and California Attorney General. : For others, your milage may differ.  The question is, will US female voters clutch their pearls or will they be willing to take a hard 360 degree look at Ms Harris?

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Where Are We?

For John, BLUF:  Our Society is showing signs of misfunction, and we should do something about it.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Niall Ferguson: We’re All Soviets Now

Here is the sub-headline:

A government with a permanent deficit and a bloated military. A bogus ideology pushed by elites. Poor health among ordinary people. Senescent leaders. Sound familiar?

From The Free Press, by Professor Niall Ferguson, Thursday, 20 June 2024.

Here is the lede plus five:

The witty phrase “late Soviet America” was coined by the Princeton historian Harold James back in 2020. It has only become more apposite since then as the cold war we’re in—the second one—heats up.

I first pointed out that we’re in Cold War II back in 2018. In articles for The New York Times and National Review, I tried to show how the People’s Republic of China now occupies the space vacated by the Soviet Union when it collapsed in 1991.

This view is less controversial now than it was then. China is clearly not only an ideological rival, firmly committed to Marxism-Leninism and one-party rule. It’s also a technological competitor—the only one the U.S. confronts in fields such as artificial intelligence and quantum computing. It’s a military rival, with a navy that is already larger than ours and a nuclear arsenal that is catching up fast. And it’s a geopolitical rival, asserting itself not only in the Indo-Pacific but also through proxies in Eastern Europe and elsewhere.

But it only recently struck me that in this new Cold War, we—and not the Chinese—might be the Soviets. It’s a bit like that moment when the British comedians David Mitchell and Robert Webb, playing Waffen-SS officers toward the end of World War II, ask the immortal question: “Are we the baddies?”

I imagine two American sailors asking themselves one day—perhaps as their aircraft carrier is sinking beneath their feet somewhere near the Taiwan Strait: Are we the Soviets?

Yes, I know what you are going to say.

Then the Author goes on to look at comparisons between the late Soviet Union and current America.  Things like the dynamism of the ledership and population death rates, including suicides and drug overdoses.

After looking at the economy the Author looks at the American Sociwety and the way it is divided between the upper class and the working class and looks at DEI (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion).♠

The equivalent falsehoods in late Soviet America are that the institutions controlled by the (Democratic) Party—the federal bureaucracy, the universities, the major foundations, and most of the big corporations—are devoted to advancing hitherto marginalized racial and sexual minorities, and that the principal goals of U.S. foreign policy are to combat climate change and (as Jake Sullivan puts it) to help other countries defend themselves “without sending U.S. troops to war.”

In reality, policies to promote “diversity, equity, and inclusion” do nothing to help poor minorities. Instead, the sole beneficiaries appear to be a horde of apparatchik DEI “officers.” In the meantime, these initiatives are clearly undermining educational standards, even at elite medical schools, and encouraging the mutilation of thousands of teenagers in the name of “gender-affirming surgery.”

Anyway, it is an interesting critique of where we, in America, are today, and some areas we need to examine to do better in the future.

Regards  —  Cliff

♠  In my mind DEI is like PERT, which was all the rage in management terms in the 1960s, but then was found to have not been a real thing, at least in the project floouted as its success, the Polaris Missile Program, but rather a way of conveying information on a project.

OVERLORD

For John, BLUF:  Freedom of the People is something we hold in commonn with the French.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Normandy is in party mood on the eve of D-Day's 80th

From The Times, by Historian Max Hastings, Monday, 3 June 2024, 12.01am BST.

Here is the lede plus three:

Normandy, where last month I was doing book research, proved en fête before the 80th anniversary of D-Day. Every shop and restaurant was adorned with period caricatures, flags and welcome signs. Banish the legend of French rudeness — everybody was delightful. There seemed more American than British visitors. The vast US memorial at Omaha Beach was a heaving mass — take a bow, Steven Spielberg — whereas when we visited two of the Commonwealth cemeteries, Tilly-sur-Seulles and Jérusalem, which seem much more moving because they're so intimate, we were alone.

Keith Douglas lies in the former, he who wrote "And when I prepare to die behind my gun/ I shall not glow with fervour like a sun/ Then, whatever will restrain/ the coward reasoning closely in my brain/ I think it will be that I am mad to see/the whole performance and what the end will be". He never did fulfil that latter ambition of survival, shared by almost every man of the millions who fought in Normandy, being killed on June 9, 1944, aged 24.

Driving through the lush Norman countryside, with so many golden-walled manor houses such as once we coveted, I recalled the 1980s when I began to write about the Second World War, and met a host of veterans. One of my favourites was an exuberant French former officer of the Special Operations Executive named Jacques Poirier. "Since you are to write about Resistance," he cried — I was then doing a book about that experience — "we must share the drink of Resistance!" And thus he introduced me to Kir, named for Canon Félix Kir, a famous Dijon Resister.

I have been drinking white wine with cassis ever since. If one orders it in most English restaurants they overdo the latter, but on Friday at Jeremy King's newish Arlington, it was just right.

So, it seems, we (and the British, Canadians and French and some Poles) were, in fact, liberators in 1944.  And, it was not a free ride for the French Civilians.

What is interesting is that the People of France, or at least the People of Normandy, at a distance of 80 years, still are appreciative of the efforts expended to liberate their territory from German occupation.

As an American I am proud of the fact that we went to the aid of the French.  Also, I am appreciative of the fact that those liberated, and the descendents of those liberated, are appreciative of our efforts.  We have had our differences with the French, but we pull together on the idea of the inherent right to freedom on the part of the people.

Regards  —  Cliff

6 Jan Issues Again Surface

For John, BLUF:  Some wish to make 6 january into a terrible tragedy and a threat to our way of Governmnent.  I am not sure they are convincing.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Liz Cheney, Jan. 6 Committee suppressed key evidence of Trump pushing for 10,000 National Guard troops to protect Capitol: Report

From Blaze Media, by Reporter Paul Sacca, 10 March 2024.

Here is the lede plus six:

Former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) and the January 6 Committee suppressed key evidence that former President Donald Trump pushed for 10,000 National Guard troops to protect the U.S. Capitol building ahead of the riots, according to a report.

Cheney and the Democratic-led House Select Committee on January 6 contended that there was "no evidence" to support Trump officials' claims the White House had pressed for 10,000 National Guard troops ahead of the protests in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 6, 2021.

However, a transcribed interview conducted by the committee from January 2022 appears to show evidence that Trump urged Democrat leadership to bring in thousands of National Guard troops to prevent any widespread violence on Jan. 6, according to a new report from The Federalist.

Then-Deputy Chief of Staff Anthony Ornato was interviewed by the committee on Jan. 28, 2022.  The transcripts show that he told Cheney and other investigators that he overheard White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows urge Democrat D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser to request as many National Guard troops as she needed to protect the city before the demonstrations centered around the results of the 2020 presidential election.

By signing up, you agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use, and agree to receive content that may sometimes include advertisements.  You may opt out at any time. Ornato testified that Meadows "wanted to know if she need[ed] any more guardsmen."

"And I remember the number 10,000 coming up of, you know, 'The president wants to make sure that you have enough.'  You know, 'He is willing to ask for 10,000.'  I remember that number," Ornato told the January 6 Committee.  "Now that you said it, it reminded me of it.  And that she was all set.  She had, I think it was like 350 or so for intersection control, and those types of things not in the law enforcement capacity at the time."

Mollie Ziegler Hemingway wrote, "Not only did the committee not accurately characterize the interview, they suppressed the transcript from public review.  On top of that, committee allies began publishing critical stories and even conspiracy theories about Ornato ahead of follow-up interviews with him.  Ornato was a career Secret Service official who had been detailed to the security position in the White House."

President Biden's State of the Union characterization of our political ssituation is dire:

Not since President Lincoln and the Civil War have freedom and democracy been under assault here at home as they are today.

Do we believe that, aside from the persecution of Donald Trump by a form of Lawfare,♠ that our political system is in trouble?  I am not so sure.  How does it compare to the Palmer Raids or the 47,000 who showed up for the Bonus March?  What about the shoot-up of the House of Representatives, wounding four Congressmen, back on 1 March 1954, just over 70 years ago?

A for the 6 January 2021 event itself, there is too much hand waving to satisfy me.  For example, the murder of Ashley Babbitt.  The pipe bombs.  The Capitol Police waving in visitors.  The failure to release hours of video.  The fact that arrests in the wake of of 6 January are increasing today, rather than decreasing.♥ However, there are certain time limits.  U.S. Attorney for D.C. Matt Graves says the statutes of limitations for many of the charges used by prosecutors will expire on 5 January 2026 – "on the eve of the riot's five-year anniversary."

If then Speaker Nancy Pelosi has not appeared to stack the Special Committee I would be more trusting of the cohnclusions.  As it is, it appears tainted and that is on Ms Pelosi.

Regards  —  Cliff
♠  The thing most glaring to me is the way DoJ has passed over Preside4nbt Biden's mishandling of classified information from when he was a Senator and Vice president, but prosecution of President Trump for like offenses, from when Mr Trump was President, when he had vastly greater powers.  while some don't see it, it screams at me. ♥  Is this some form of political intimidation?

First in the Hearts of His Countrymen

For John, BLUF:  If we are to become a better nation, it needs to be based on something—I recommend the efforts of the founding fathers.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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It's George Washington's Birthday

Here is the sub-headline:

He was the greatest American. Don't settle for less.

From Don surber Substack, by Reporter Don Surber, 19 February 2024.

Here is the lede plus three:

“First in war, first in peace and first in the hearts of his countrymen.  He was second to none in the humble and endearing scenes of private life; pious, just, humane, temperate and sincere; uniform, dignified and commanding, his example was as edifying to all around him, as were the effects of that example lasting.

“To his equals he was condescending; to his inferiors kind; and to the dear object of his affections exemplarily tender:  Correct throughout, vice shuddered in his presence, and virtue always felt his fostering hand; the purity of his private character gave effulgence to his public virtues.”

— Henry “Light Horse” Lee.

In that first sentence, Lee summed up the the life of the man who transformed America from a collection of British colonies to independent states that formed what is now called the United States.  I saw a meme on Twitter the other day.  It showed Trump:  Make America Great Again.  Above him was Lincoln:  Make America Great.  Above him was Washington:  Make America.  Only the Lord stood above him with the simple word:  Make.  How true.

Yes, he is.

We are a nation of humans, and thus a nation with flaws,  Yet, George Washington stands out in striving to form a more perfect union, to bring all of us together.  Not that it was perfect.  Nor is it yet perfect, but he lead those who put us on the path.

Stay on the Path.

Regards  —  Cliff

Misunderstanding the Holocaust

For John, BLUF:  The Holocaust killed 12 million people during World War Two.  The death of six million Jews has the Hebrew name of Shoah.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Whoopi Goldberg’s Ignorance About The Holocaust Is What Happens When Intersectionality Rots People’s Brains

Here is the sub-headline:

The Holocaust was not, as Goldberg put it, about ‘man’s inhumanity to man.’ It was about man’s genocide of Jews.

From The Federalist, by Ms Eve Barlow, 1 February 2022.

Here is the lede plus one:

It’s a chilling concern that corporate media repeatedly get matters of Jewish life and identity wrong.  What happened on “The View” Monday morning was a perfect capture of the absolute ignorance about the Holocaust of American non-Jews with captive audiences in major media.

In a panel segment, host Whoopi Goldberg began, “the Holocaust isn’t about race.”  She said it four times:  “It’s not about race.”  When asked to explain what it was about, Goldberg responded:  “It’s about man’s inhumanity to man.”

She continued, “These are two white groups of people.”  This is the version of the Holocaust that Goldberg and her cohorts agree children should be taught.  A butchered, ahistorical, Americanized, watered-down, downright incorrect version of the Holocaust, in which white people were being – I guess – unkind towards one another.

What Ms Goldberg seems to have not learned in school was about the story of eugenics and the fact that German Furher Adolf Hitler, looking to the United States, saw Jews as an inferior race, lesser than the German Aryans.  And then he acted on that theory, killing about six million Jews in various death camps.♠

We are looking at a failure of Ms Goldberg's teachers, duirng the 1960s, at St Columba's Catholic school and Washington Irving High School failed to teach her the history of our larger culture, much of which we inherited from Europe.  This is a major FAIL.  I sure hope we are doing better today, but I have my doubts.  Look at the antics by Harvard University Students after 7 October events in Israel lat year.  You could check the Pioneer Institue's book Restoring the City on a Hill:  U.S. History & Civics in America's Schools, by Mr Chris Sinacola, released in September of last year.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

♠  And, he killed another six million people he saw as inferior (e.g., Romani) or otherwise bothersome

Honoring and Learning from History

For John, BLUF:  Our inability to learn from history is only exceeded by our unwillingness to learn history.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Under Fire, Biden Admin Scraps Plan To Remove William Penn Statue From Philly Park

Here is the sub-headline:

‘No changes to the William Penn statue are planned,’ National Park Service says

From The Washington Free Beacon, by Jessica Costescu, 9 January 2024.

Here is the lede plus one:

The Biden administration scrapped its plan to permanently remove a statue of William Penn from Philadelphia’s Welcome Park, claiming the controversial proposal "was released prematurely and had not been subject to a complete internal agency review."

President Joe Biden's National Park Service announced the reversal Monday evening, just days after it unveiled its "rehabilitation proposal" for the park. That proposal called to remove the Penn statue and replace it with "an expanded interpretation of the Native American history of Philadelphia," which the agency said would bring "a more inclusive experience for visitors."

One would think a park would have a theme, an idea around which the visitors can gather.  In my mind this park and the surrounding environs represent the founding of William Penn's Woods, with its new burst of freedom and the events flowing from it, inclusing the Declaration of Independence and the US Constitution.  Where was all that history going to be represented if the park was repurposed?

It is important to remember and celebrate those cultures that went before us.  We need an appropriate location.  However, this was not the appropiate place.

If we lose the history of these United States, how soon after will we lose the nation and its institutions?  Who will the survivors blame?  The oppressors, the colonists, the old caucasians males from Europe, of course.

In the mean time we confront several crises around the world (Israel/Gaza, Ukraine/Russoa, Houthi/Yemen and Saudi Arabia, ROK/DPRK, China/Taiwan, China/South China Sea Neighbors), crises where reconciliation is needed.  Yet we just tore down a monument in Arlington Cemetary that symbolized and actuated reconciliation between the North and South (Union and Confederacy) in our own Civil War.  Not perfect reconciliation, but a start.  Have we dilligently mined that history or just dismissed it as too racist to bear?

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Unbounded Ignorance

For John, BLUF:  It appears the teching of history is a disaster.  The author, below, Professor Reynolds elsewhere quotes his Daughter as sayiing World War Two was a long time ago, but Slavery was yesterday.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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FRUITS OF THE WORLD’S MOST EXPENSIVE EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM

From InstaaPundit, by Professor Glenn Reynolds.

Here is the lede plus one:

POLL: 50% of young Americans think the Holocaust may be a ‘myth.’

Putting the enemies of civilization in charge of educating our kids may have been a mistake.

You think I exaggerate?

Check out this post on X.

I take this 50% Holocaust denial amongst the youth of the nation as a sign that I am ancient.  I remember learning that General Dwight D Eisenhower arranged for the Press to record what conditions were in Germam camps.  Six million Jews died in German death camps and other exterminatino efforts.  Six million others also died in the same process.  It was horrendus.  People from that time vowed "Never Again".

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

No Cigar

For John, BLUF:  Actress Cynthia Nixon (Sex and the City) appears to have whiffed on a question on Celebrity Jeopardy, but she actually got a bit of it.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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And just like that … Cynthia Nixon loses ‘Celebrity Jeopardy!’ with embarrassing history clue flub

From The New York Post, by Reporter Lauren Sarner, 30 November 2023, 1:53 p.m. ET.

Here is the lede plus seven:

And just like that … Cynthia Nixon blows it on “Celebrity Jeopardy!”

On the episode of “Celebrity Jeopardy!” aired Wednesday, the “Sex and the City” and “And Just Like That…” star lost, with stand-up comedian Heather McMahan beating both Nixon, 57, and fellow celeb participant Cedric the Entertainer, 59.

During the episode, going into the new Triple Jeopardy! round, Cynthia led with $7,100, while Heather had $6,600 and Cedric, $3,200.

The game between Nixon and McMahan was close, but Nixon got the last Daily Double, adding $2,000.

By Final Jeopardy!, it seemed like Nixon would win, as she had $19,700, Cedric had $4,000 and McMahan had $15,600.

The clue under “Unique Buildings” read: “Despite 17.5 miles of hallways, you can walk anywhere in this Virginia building within about 5 minutes, due to its concentric layout.”

Nixon revealed that she scribbled something that looked like “VA Hospital” and tossed up her hands, in apparent confusion.

Cedric and McMahan both correctly guessed, “The Pentagon.”

This topic was discussed on The Grace Curley Show on Thursday, the 30th of November.  I tried to call in to give them the 'gen, but after keeping me holding for about 15 minutes, they dropped me.  Such is life.

It turns out that the building, as originally designed and build was intended to be a Veterans Hospital with the close of World War II.  You could see it in the 1980s, with the large elevators, capable of holding two gurneys and in the gently sloping ramps between floors, allowing equipment to be pushed between levels.  It is just that the conversion never happened.

As Agent Maxwell Smart often said:  "Missed it by that much."

So, while i think her views on the Hamas war on Israel need some more insight, her insight into the Pentagon was very good.

Hat tip to the The Grace Curley Show.

Regards  —  Cliff

If Not Now, When

For John, BLUF:  The current conflict between Israel and Hamas may well represent God acting to gather the Jewish People from where they have been scattered for the last 1900 years.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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The Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe

First Reading

From Ez 34:11-12, 15-1.

Here is the Reading:

Thus says the Lord GOD:
I myself will look after and tend my sheep.
As a shepherd tends his flock
when he finds himself among his scattered sheep,
so will I tend my sheep.
I will rescue them from every place where they were scattered
when it was cloudy and dark.
I myself will pasture my sheep;
I myself will give them rest, says the Lord GOD.
The lost I will seek out,
the strayed I will bring back,
the injured I will bind up,
the sick I will heal,
but the sleek and the strong I will destroy,
shepherding them rightly.

As for you, my sheep, says the Lord GOD,
I will judge between one sheep and another,
between rams and goats.

If Scripture is to be believed, and it is, God will gather the People of Israel, who have been scattered.  Do we wish to get in the way of God?  Do we wish to stand athwart the path of history, yelling "STOP"?  I would think not.

As a result of the Jewish-Roman Wars the Jewish population in Judaea was greatly reduced and many Jews were killed, sold into slavery or driven away.  The Roman Government renamed the area Syria Palaestina.

Would it not be possible that God is correcting this injustice toward His People?

Regards  —  Cliff

Slavery and Capitalism

For John, BLUF:  I have heard it suggested that Slavery creates production and wealth through the power of the oversear.  Not everyone agrees.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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The Father of Capitalism and the Abolition of Slavery

From Quillette, by Blogger Matthew Lesh, 22 Jun 2020.

Here is the lede plus three:

It has become a common trope that slavery and the slave trade is responsible for the industrial revolution, if not our entire modern prosperity.  Slavery is often called capitalism’s “dark side.”  A recent column in the Guardian claimed the slave trade “heralded the age of capitalism” and Guardian columnist George Monbiot said on Twitter:  “The more we discover about our own history, the less the ‘trade’ on which Britain built its wealth looks like exchange, and the more it looks like looting.  It meant extracting stolen resources and the products of slavery, debt bondage and land theft from other nations.”  The same line has been taken by London Mayor Sadiq Khan, who tweeted:  “It’s a sad truth that much of our wealth was derived from the slave trade.”

But what did the “father of modern economics,” Adam Smith, actually think about slavery?  And is it responsible for our modern prosperity?

Adam Smith argued not only that slavery was morally reprehensible, but that it causes economic self-harm.  He provided economic and moral ammunition for the abolitionist movement that came to fruition after his death in 1790.  Smith was pessimistic about the potential for full abolition, but he was on the side of the angels.

Smith’s The Wealth of Nations, published in 1776, contains perhaps the best known economic critique of slavery.  Smith argued that free individuals work harder and invest in the improvement of land, motivated by their interest in earning a higher income, than slaves.  Smith refers to ancient Italy, where the cultivation of corn degraded under slavery.  The cost of slavery is “in the end the dearest of any,” Smith writes.

There is a lot of bad history out there.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff