The Forth of July as seen by a 17 year old

For John, BLUF: I'm proud to be a Catholic American! (: .

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What Does The Church Say About Patriotism? (Morning Air)

From Relevant Radio, by Mr. Moralies, 3 July 2025.

Here is the lede plus one: Here is a quote from the Catholic Catechism:

"The love and service of one's country follow from the duty of gratitude and belong to the order of charity."

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It is importent that as young people we understand that we are not given things becouse we desere them, but because somone before us loved us, even though they never knew us and died for a county they would no longer get to live in.  Graditude is severly lacking in our culture because people have forgotten what it means to need something. I'm not talking about needing the next new iphone or car or a better house, but really NEEDING somthing like the freedom to pray, to sell your goods at a price that you set, without the crushing weight of taxes sucking the life out of you. 

Freedom is not the government helping us when we need help, but stepping out of the way so that others might come to our aid. it is incredible what human beings will do when left to their own devises with the government there only was a light guideline for their our actions. 

So the 4th of July, I belive is not the only day to remember The United States of America, but simply one in which we remeber it in a special way.  We have to live out our graditude because it belongs to the order of charity, that is, love, and if we can't love our county how can we look into the eyes of the One who gave it to us and say we love Him. 

Regards  —  Cliff's granddaughter

v

Are we in the Midst of a Color Revolution?

For John, BLUF:  The Democrats lost in November and now they are protesting, thinking, perhaps, that that will cow the voters who voted for Donald J Trump, and cow the President Himself.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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The liberals’ license:  How the left finds release in an age of rage

From The Hill, by Professor Jonathan Turley, 5 April 2025, 10:30 AM ET.

Here is the lede plus four:

“We should replace our piece of crap Constitution.”

Those words from author Elie Mystal, a regular commentator on MSNBC, are hardly surprising from someone who previously called the Constitution “trash” and urged not just the abolition of the U.S. Senate but also of “all voter registration laws.”

But Mystal’s radical rhetoric is becoming mainstream on the left, as shown by his best-selling books and popular media appearances.

There is a counter-constitutional movement building in law schools and across the country. And although Mystal has not advocated violence, some on the left are turning to political violence and criminal acts. It is part of the “righteous rage” that many of them see as absolving them from the basic demands not only of civility but of legality.

They are part of a rising class of American Jacobins — bourgeois revolutionaries increasingly prepared to trash everything, from cars to the Constitution.

Jacobins:

Commonly known as the Jacobin Club (Club des Jacobins) or simply the Jacobins (/ˈdʒækəbɪnz/; French: [ʒakɔbɛ̃]), was the most influential political club during the French Revolution of 1789. The period of its political ascendancy includes the Reign of Terror, during which well over 10,000 people were put on trial and executed in France, many for "political crimes".[3][4]

The author, Elie Mystal, is a graduate of Harvard Law School.  One wonders, some times, what exactly they are teaching down county.

Am I going to have to read Mr Mystal's book to understand if he even has something to reploce our current controlling document.  I grant the Constitution is not perfect, and in the beginning had compromises to get each of the thirteen states on board.  On the other hand, it has worked to provide a certain degree of prosperity for a large portion of the population and opportunity for the rest.

Yet, we see people burning Tesla vehicles and attacking dealterships.  In Lowell we have had a Tesla shot on the street.  Now, on Saturday we had demonstrations trying to reverse the results of the November past election.  Do we all still live in a Democracy?  Time will tell.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

24/7

For John, BLUF:  I am impressed that Waffle House provides greaat waffles 24/7, and works to do it under all conditions.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Yes, Waffle House really has a storm center

Here is the sub-headline:

Waffle House has a reputation for not only staying open 24/7, 365 days a year, but also for its disaster response. Here’s what we can VERIFY about its storm center.

From Verify This, by Author Erin Jones, 5:29 PM EDT, 9 October 2024.

Here is the lede plus one:

Hurricane Milton made landfall in Siesta Key, Florida, as a Category 3 storm on Wednesday, Oct. 9.

On Oct. 8, an X post with over 2.6 million views claimed Waffle House, a popular restaurant chain with more than 1,900 restaurants in 25 states, set up a storm center ahead of Milton.

“Waffle House has a Storm Center with an entire operations team that is so good at their job they assist FEMA during hurricanes,” the post said.

Many people who commented on the post questioned if Waffle House really has a storm center.

Yes, Waffle House has a storm center and it works to keep its resturants open or to get them back up and runnihng, even if with a limited menu and on temporary power.

Excellent food and excellent serice, 24/7.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

University Indoctrination

For John, BLUF:  We have thought of higher eductioin as being about expanding one's knowledge, but now it appears to be about indoctrination.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Samizdata quote of the day – The American University Madrassa System

From Samizdata, by Samizdata Illuminatus (Arkham, Massachusetts), 21 July 2024.

Here is the lede plus two:

You might be wondering, where does all this come from, can we blame those French thinkers?  Is Foucault to blame?  No, not really.

It’s the American University that has whipped up this dish, and it all really started to take shape and form in the early nineties, so about 40 years ago.  The second generation “thinkers” then were building on Neo-Marxist and Post-Modern ideas sourced from the 60s and 70s, but those ideas would not have had the influence they have today without a second and third generation of thinkers and professors in American Universities that have ended up influencing a generation that has then gone out into the world and redesigned that world along those ideas.  We are all paying the price today.

The right way to think about the American University as a generator and propagator of these ideas is the way that you already think about The Madras as a potentially indoctrinating breeding ground for Islamic Extremism.

And there is more ar the link.

I do think this theory explains univerity student response to the Hamas attack on Israel, back on 7 October.  Not every university student, but quite a few amongst the Ivy league.

One wonders about the future of our democratic experiment, given the ignorance of those being groomed to join our elites.  On thw other hand, Senator J D Vance, and his Wife, Usha Chilukuri Vance, are both graduates of Yale Law School and seem to have turned out OK.

Regards  —  Cliff

What is Behind the Protests

For John, BLUF:  We, the Citizens of these United States, are being gaslighted by those who are using the Israeli response to the 7 October 2023 attack to justify demonstrations in the halls of academia.  Yes, people should be free to demonstration what they see as oppression, but we, the Citizens, need to understand that the movement behind the demonstrations is bigger than Gaza and the Palestinians.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Student activists or pro insurgents?

Here is the sub-headline:

The terrorism that's infiltrated the most elite US college campuses

From The Cosmopolitan Globalist, by Ms Eve Barlow, 4 May 2024.

The article linked is dated 4 May, but I became aware of it from an EMail this morning, from The Cosmopolitan Globalist (Claire Berlinski) (at 9:45 AM).

Here is the lede:

Last night I gained access to a GoogleDrive (see below) obtained by social media account Israel War Room via a source who is allegedly within the UPenn “anti-war” encampment. It contains over 200 documents linked below that are pro-terrorism, with guidelines on how to riot and cause disruption, how to make weapons and take over buildings. Israel War Room highlight that the drive lists Carrie Zaremba as the owner of all files, who is reportedly a spokesperson for National Students for Justice in Palestine, aka SJP.

This reovew of documentzs on-line leads to some interesting discoveries.

This is from an X posting, by Ms Laura Powell, a Blue Check, @LauraPowellEsq:

One of the spokespeople for the UCLA protesters explains their end goal is for "more than divestment." She says, "Given that the University of California is founded on colonialism, it's inherently a violent institution." She argues the UC system is linked to both foreign wars and domestic police brutality and demands this be addressed.

She's saying the quiet part out loud. They intend to dismantle our domestic institutions. The Palestinian cause is just a warmup.

When the unnamed spokesperson says "the University of California is founded on colonialism", is she talking about Spanish colonialism of Alta California out of Mexico, or was it the Bear Flag Republic revolt in June of 1846?  Or was it on 9 July 1846, when U.S. Navy Lieutenant Joseph Revere raised the United States flag in Alta California.  And what is the payback being demanded?  Should the University of California sytem be abolished and all diplomas revoked, back to 1866?

In another part of the documents there is a call to, apparently, eliminate some of the leading Western Nations.  It calls for "NO MORE ISRAEL", naturally.  But it also calls for "NO MORE USA" and "NO MORE UK".  It goes on to call for the elimination of Italy, France, Canada, Germany and Australia  Why not Chile or Venezuals or Mexico?  This is a Marxisst like movement that is designed to destory Western Europeans ideas.  Then we will be left with the Paternalism of organizations like the World Econommic Forum and the People's Republic of Chinz.

Those who think that the Pro-Hamas movement we see is just a collection of sympathetic students hoping to ease the suffering of Palistinians in Gaza, a deeper dive is needed.  For eample, what does it mean that there is a Gays for Gaza movement?  Do they not understand the rules in Gaza?  Or are they just riding on the issue of the hour to push their own agenda?

It is time for our political leadership to step up and fight back to save our Republic.

Regards  —  Cliff

Rioters Get It Easy.

For John, BLUF:  To the eye of the Common Man, legal justice in New York City seems to be a two level system, harsh on supporters of Mr Trump, and easy on Democrats, and especially Progressives with anti-American ideas.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Outrage as Manhattan DA Bragg’s office drops nearly all cases from Columbia University’s anti-Israel protest

From The New York Post, by Kyle Schnitzer, 20 June 2024.

Here is the lede plus four:

Nearly all the protesters charged with storming and occupying Columbia University’s campus during heated anti-Israel demonstrations won’t face criminal charges, Manhattan prosecutors announced Thursday — drawing outrage from law enforcement and Jewish advocates.

District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office dismissed cases against 31 of 46 people charged with trespassing in the Ivy League school’s Hamilton Hall after a dramatic April 30 NYPD raid rounded up protesters on the Morningside Heights campus.

Prosecutors largely cited lack of evidence, such as security video footage, that could tie the students or staff to the building takeover for leaving them free and clear without even a slap on the wrist.

The dismissals quickly drew fury from rank-and-file NYPD officers, higher education officials and Jewish leaders who spoke with The Post.

“This is turnstile justice,” said Michael Nussbaum, a 25-year member of the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York.

So, what happens to the remaining 15?  Will they also slip through the crack?  One might think he is waiting for a busy news day to slip them out the back door, making them "old news" the next day.

In a way, I have some sympathy for the problem of identifying the perps and what they did.  On the other hand, based on how the Government has gone, and is still going, against the peaceful demonstrators on 6 January 2021, it looks weak in comparison.  It allows one to think about the issue of two levels of justice.  The treatment of Trump Supporters versus the treatment of Progressive Haters of America and what we, as Americans, stand for.

And what does DA Alvin Bragg stand for?

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Preserving Our Freedoms

For John, BLUF:  We are missing the erosion of our society, but an immigrant points it out to us..  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Ayaan Hirsi Ali:  We Have Been Subverted

Here is the sub-headline:

What is at stake in our ability to see the threat plainly?  Nothing less than the preservation of our way of life.

From The Free Press, by Ayaan Hirsi Ali, 4 June 2024.

Here is the lede plus seven:

If you wonder why I—a woman of color, an African, a former Muslim, a former asylum seeker, and an immigrant—look at the antics of today’s anti-Israel, anti-American protesters with such fear and trembling, allow me to explain.

I was born in Somalia in 1969. The country had achieved independence nine years before. But less than a month before I was born—on October 21, 1969—a junior member of the brand-new Somali armed forces seized power with the help of the Soviet Union. The first two decades of my life were shaped by the upheaval that followed that coup.

The Somalia that gained its independence was a young, optimistic society full of national pride. We had such hope for growth, political stability, prosperity, and peace. But, in a story sadly familiar to many of my fellow Africans, those hopes were dashed.

What followed was a nightmare.

For me it is all captured in the earliest memories of my youth: statues of Mohamed Siad Barre, our dictator, sprung up across Mogadishu, flanked by a trio of dark seraphim: Marx, Lenin, and Engels. This particular communist experiment plunged Somalia into bloodshed, mass starvation, and a 20-year period of suffocating tyranny. I recall my grandmother and mother smuggling food into our house. I also remember the whispering: we felt the state was omnipresent. It could hear everything.

My father was thrown into prison. His friends—those other pioneers in pursuit of a democracy modeled on America—were either jailed like him or, in many cases, executed.

By the time I was eight, my family knew we needed to escape. We left in 1977. By 1990, the country had descended into a civil war from which it has never fully recovered.

I never stopped longing for the kind of freedom my father had taught me about. And at the age of 22, I fled to the Netherlands seeking it. There—and later, in America—I discovered what we’ve come to call “Western” values.

This is a companion piece to the one noted in an earlier blog post, "Niall Ferguson: We’re All Soviets Now".♠

We are where we are, in terms of political organization, because of those who went before us, stretching back thousands of years.  We have the Magna Carta, from 1215 AD.  It was kind of narrow when signed, but it grew in meaning until we had the Common Law protecting the rights of Citizens.  Before all thar we had the Decalogue, the Ten Commandmentd, brought down from the mountain by Charlton Heston.  It was a set of rules about how Citizens should relate to each other.

But, today these underpinnings are being dismissed or buried.  An example of this ahistoric approach is the recent outrange regarding a Louisiana Law signed Wednesdaay, by Governor Jeff Landry requiring the posting of the Ten Commandments in every classroom.  But, not everyone is happy to see the Ten Commandments put forward as a guide for life, as this Slate article shows.

Our system of government works because there are rules and we follow them.  Author Ali is saying that is slipping away.  On the one hand, we have moral relativism.  However, it does not provide a solid basis for agreeing on the future, as discussed here.  On the other hand we have the Marxist Woke culture of group pitted against group, destroying unity.  Remember, our motto, as a nation, from 1782, was E pluribus unum ("Out of many, one").  What do we rally around?

We would do well to pay attention to Ms Ayaan Hirsi Ali.

Regards  —  Cliff

♠  The two authorw are married.

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.

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

Desiring a Polite Society

For John, BLUF:  we are no longer a polite society, but one where everyone is a possible enemy.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Diversity and the death of polite society

From The Conservative Woman (UK), by Commentor Frederick Edward, 16 February 2024.

Here is the lede plus four:

TRYING to enter a Boots the other afternoon I had to wait to be buzzed in. According to a sign on the door this was because of a recent spate of aggressive behaviour towards its employees:  as such, after 5pm, entry into the shop was controlled.

This was not, may I add, in some inner-city slum, but in an average retail park in an average town.

Similar trends are visible elsewhere.  Petrol stations near me – though it tends to be the nicer ones with an M&S or Little Waitrose bolted on – have started employing security guards.  These shops, which previously had no bouncers, have for the last few years had two on duty at any time.

Obviously this is necessary owing to a rapid increase in both scummy behaviour towards its employees and an increase in theft (or, as it is euphemistically called in retail, ‘shrink’).

It is a sad token of society’s general direction, and one borne out by statistics. Reported recently was that violence and abuse against shop workers had risen 50 per cent year-on-year, and that the total lost to shoplifting has reached an all-time high of £1.8billion.  Such are the records that are broken in 21st century Britain.

When I was youbg we were taught it was an honor to live in these United States.  Yes, you could assert that it was that wy for Caucasians, but I would suggest World War Two showed that it was so for other folks also.♠  All being happy to be here♥  we treated each otherr with rewpect.

Today, with the division of the natoin into oppressors and the oppressed, and with gradations therein, we are not one people, but a swrl of bickeering sub-nations.  I had hopes that President Obama would begin the healing process, but it didn't advance past his Attorney General Eric Holder saying "We need to have a conversation,"  Surprisingly, President Trump seemed to make some small progress.,  Candidate Biden promised to bring us together, but there has been no follow-through.

The person who will lead us out of this morass is the one who will show respect to all and build trust between groups, offering the American Dream to all.  someone who will build a concensus on what we owe to help marginalized groups their own opportunities and fair share.  Someone who will support the idea that respect goes in all directions and that the sins of the past are for historic review and lesson learning and not a way of creating new groups to be eschewed.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

♠  Just for example, the Navajo Code Talkers, the 442nd Regimentsl Combat Team (Go For Broke) and the Tuskeegee Airmen (thank you Mrs Roosevelt).
♥  Not everyone who immigrated to the United States was happy to be here.  A surprisingly large number returned to their home countries, and that is fine.

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

Not Unified

For John, BLUF:  The Biden Administration is not united on Israel vs Hamas, and neither is the nation.  It is not like the situation in the wake of 911.  And this is not good.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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400 Government Officals Sign a Letter Objecting to Biden's Israel Stance

From PJ Media, by Columnist Lincoln Brown, 14 November 2023, 12:46 PM.

Here is the lede plus three:

Many years ago, after a hard day of radio journalism and program directing, I stopped at my favorite brewpub for an IPA and some chicken wings.  I noticed a few friends who worked for a government agency and struck up a conversation.  I mentioned having seen a story on TV at the gym about the federal government offering free health care to illegal immigrants.  I opined that there were plenty of Americans who should receive that consideration before it was extended to people who entered the country unlawfully.  One of the women looked at me, blinked, and said, "Well f**k you!"

Alright, then.  Good talk.  It wasn't the response I expected but considering the fact that people in the federal ecosystem function in an echo chamber, I guess I should not have been surprised.  Mike Lee once told me that the people inside the Beltway are essentially unaware of the America or the world outside the Beltway.  And with the advent of curated media, it should not be an eye-opener that the same mentality extends to many federal employees.  That may go some ways to explaining the letter sent Tuesday to President Joe Biden that was signed by over 400 government officials.

The New York Times obtained a copy of the letter, signed by appointees and staffers across 40 agencies.  It began by denouncing the Hamas attack on Israel but also stated:

We call on President Biden to urgently demand a cease-fire; and to call for de-escalation of the current conflict by securing the immediate release of the Israeli hostages and arbitrarily detained Palestinians; the restoration of water, fuel, electricity, and other basic services; and the passage of adequate humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip.

As an aside, that extract is 53 words in a single sentence.  One should avoid sentences over 20 words! or so I was taught.

The thing that fascinates me is the people calling for a cease fire with no idea of what comes next.  Nor any indication of how Hamas would respond.  My understanding has always been that staff are not supposed to bring problems, except with propsed solutions.  A ceasefire is not a solution.  A plan for getting Palestine (with or without Hamas) is a solution.  I am not seeing such a thing.

The author may be close to the mark with his remark about those inside the Beltway not having a feel for the rest of the nation.  Not all of them, but a significant portion of them.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Open Season for Haters of Israel

For John, BLUF:  I am disgusted by the Anti-Semitism I am seeing across the Fruited Plain.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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NYC public defender Victoria Ruiz backs Hamas, like all other kidnap poster vandals

From The New York Poat, by the Post Editorial Board, 7 November 2023, 11:25 a.m. ET.

Here is the lede plus five:

What are the consequences for a New York City public defender caught suppressing the First Amendment rights of New York’s citizens?

Nothing — at least when the speech being suppressed is pro-Israel.

Victoria Ruiz was caught on camera ripping down a poster of a kidnap victim from Hamas’ barbaric Oct. 7 attacks.

Despite this effort to interfere with legally protected speech, her employer, New York County Defender Services — which holds a rich contract with the city — decided she gets to keep her job after what’s clearly a total whitewash of an internal review.

The message could not be any clearer.

For whole swaths of the city’s public workers, from CUNY to the courts, it’s open season not only [on] for supporters of Israel but the helpless victims of Hamas.

I think the editor of the Editorial Board has a typo in the last quoted paragraph, which I have tried to correct.

That a public and responsible agent of the Government would be ripping down posters of victims kidnapped by Hamas is deplorable.  That it would be someone whoo is supposed to be a public defender makes it so much worse.  This is not about IDF soldiers.  This is about innocent civilians kidnapped as part of a brilliant Hamas terrorist attack.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

An Adult in the Room

For John, BLUF:  When I knew Dr Condoleezza Rice she was an Intern on the Joint Staff and someone with solid ideas and an ability to communicate.  She moved on to be the National Security Advisor and then Secretary of State.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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The New Axis of Evil: Condoleezza Rice on War in Israel and a Changed World

Here is the sub-headline:

The former secretary of state says an attack on Israel is an attack on America.

From The Free Press, by Interviewer Bari Weiss, 13 October 2023.

Here is Secretary Rices response to one of Reporter Bari Weiss' questions:

If you really think the world is better off with Saddam Hussein murdering a million people and putting them in mass graves, be my guest.  If you really think it was a better Afghanistan when women were beaten in stadiums, given to the Taliban by the UN, when girls and women couldn’t go to school, well be my guest.  The United States is not a perfect power.  There’s no such thing.  But I would argue that on balance, the United States has been a force for stability in the world, that a lot of what we think of as a stable international system, not to mention a prosperous one, is because the United States has been willing to step up and to try to be the provider of a security commons, the provider of an economic commons—sometimes with not much benefit to ourselves.  When I hear this, I think, “Do you really think the world is better with the United States stepping back?”  Well, take a look out of your window at Vladimir Putin.  Take a look out of your window at Hamas.  Take a look out of your window at what Xi Jinping is doing in the South China Sea or in Taiwan.  If you really want the United States to step back, that’s what you’re going to get.

Yes, America is not perfect.  I come from segregated Birmingham, Alabama.  I was a little girl at a time when you could not go to a movie theater or to a restaurant.  Speaking of terrorism, I had a classmate killed in the 16th Street bombing of that church in Birmingham in September of 1963.  I don’t look at the United States through rose-colored glasses, but I can tell you there is no country like it on the face of the earth with this kind of power and this kind of capability that has tried—sometimes a little bit clumsily, sometimes a little bit failingly—to provide for a more prosperous, more democratic, and safer world.

I believe that Americans carry simultaneously in their heads two very different thoughts.  One is, “Haven’t we done enough? We defeated the Soviet Union.  We unified Germany.  We liberated Eastern Europe.  We were able to defeat at least al-Qaeda.  Haven’t we done enough?  Can’t somebody else do it?”  I understand that sense of exhaustion.  On the other hand, other Americans carry in their heads, “I can’t watch Syrian babies choke on nerve gas.  I can’t watch the massacre of the people in Sderot.  I can’t watch as a large country decides to extinguish its smaller neighbor to rebuild an empire.”  And then Americans say, “If not us, then who?”  And under those circumstances, Americans can be led to take this burden, if you want to call it that, or this obligation, to be a part of a more stable world.  I’m just looking for American leaders who are willing to say that.

As Law Professor Glenn Reynolds would say, "Read the whole thibg."

Regards  —  Cliff

Rough and Tumble

For John, BLUF:  We are a lucky nation. lucky in the blessings of God and lucky in the common folk who help right the ship of state when it starts to list.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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America Is Often a Nation Divided

Here is the sub-headline:

U.S. politics today is ugly and broken, true enough.  But the good news is that it was worse in the past, and it will get better again.

From The Wall Street Journal, by Political Analyst Karl Rove, 25 August 2023, 3:03 pm ET.

Here is the lede plus two:

America is deeply divided. Our politics is broken, marked by anger, contempt and distrust.  We must acknowledge that reality but not lose historical perspective.  It’s bad now, but it’s been worse before—and not only during the Civil War.

Let’s look backward and start with the mid-1960s to early ’70s.  The nation was bitterly divided over civil rights, the “sexual revolution” and an increasingly unpopular war in Southeast Asia.

The just and peaceful civil-rights protests of the 1950s and early ’60s were often met with state-sanctioned violence.  Then Harlem exploded in 1964, followed by a riot in Philadelphia.  Watts went up in flames in 1965; Chicago, Cleveland and San Francisco the next year.  A total of 163 cities—including Atlanta, Boston, Buffalo, Cincinnati, Detroit, Milwaukee, Newark, N.J., New York and Portland, Ore.—suffered widespread violence in the “Long Hot Summer” of 1967.  On April 4, 1968, Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in Memphis, Tenn. Riots broke out in more than 130 American cities, with 47 killed in the ensuing violence. Two months later Robert Kennedy was assassinated in Los Angeles.

I remember the Watts riots.  My then Girlfriend and I were driving back from The Desert, enroute to her home on the other side of Watts.  We stopped at my Father's place in Long Beach and he cautioned caution.  We spent the night in Long Beach, her in my bed and me on the couch.  In the morning things were calmer and we proceeded on to her place.

The Rove article goes back through our history, even to the Election of 1800, between Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr.  The election was ugly and the aftermath was ugly, including a dual and, eventually, a former Vice President arrested on the charge of treason.♠

Colonel George Everette (Bud) Day was shot down over North Viet-nam on this day in 1967.  Upon his return he said:  "I have faith in my country, and am secure in the knowledge that my country is a good nation.”  That is the hope with which I go foeward.  Shelfish people, even in high places, do selfish thing.  But, eventually Americans do the rught and proper thing.

Hat tip to the Patrick Devine.

Regards  —  Cliff

♠  He beat the charge, twice.

Preparation

For John, BLUF:  Here is a very short article calling us to prayer and preperation for our nation's 250th anniversary in 2026.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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My homeland in Ordinary Times

From The Pilot, by Ms Lucia A. Silecchia, 21 June 2023.

Here is the lede plus one:

Three more years.

As we celebrate Independence Day this year, I can't help thinking that we are now in the three-year run-up to our nation's 250th anniversary in 2026. In some ways, three years seems like a long time away. Yet, if advancing years have taught me anything, it is that time passes far more quickly than I anticipate!

The celebration of our nation's bicentennial in 1976 dominated some of my early childhood memories. Yet, so far, the celebration of our nation's fast-approaching 250th birthday is not receiving much public attention. I hope that this changes soon.

Meanwhile, I have a modest proposal.

And her modest proposal is prayer for this noble experiment, broken into three prayers over three years.

• Perhaps we can direct our prayers in each of the next three years to one of our three branches of government.  (Legislative, Executive, Judicial)
• Perhaps, instead, we may order our prayers toward the three levels of government, rather than the three branches.  (Federal, State, Local)
• Perhaps, instead, we can organize our prayers temporally -- praying on our nation's past this first year, its present in the second year, and its future in the third year.

A good thought for preparation for our 250th Anniversary.

Regards  —  Cliff

Being a Good Citizen

For John, BLUF:  It is easy to complain about our Government, but we, as citizens, have obligations to keeping the ship of state in the proper channel, and doing an ever better job of looking out for the crew and passangers.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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The Bill of Obligations: The Ten Habits of Good Citizens
Author:  Richard Haass
Kindle Version:  237 Pages
Publisher:  Penguin Press
Language:  English
ASIN:  B0B8R2HJVJ
Publication Date:  January 24, 2023

the author of this little handbook on Democrcy, Doctor Richard Haass, is the outgoing President of the Council on Foreign Relations.  He has made a career in foreign relations, including being Director of Policy Planning at the Department of State, a position once held by Mr X, George F. Kennan.

As Mr Haass tells us, his answer to the question, "What keeps you up at night" is:

The most urgent and significant threat to American security and stability stems not from abroad but from within, from political divisions that for only the second time in U.S. history have raised questions about the future of American democracy and even the United States itself.

He is one of those who subscribes to the theory that the 6 January 2021 riot on Capitol Hill is the result of scheming by Members of Congress and the President, claiming there is "overwhelming evidence".  If there is such evidence, former Speaker Nancy Pelosi has kept it well hidden.

Calling on his background in Government the author has framed ten obligations of citizenship, things that should happen but that the law cannot require.  The reason for these obligations is the fact that the promises of the Declaration of Independence has not been fully delivered.  Only by all of us communicating with each other can we move beyond the issues in society toward the full promise of the Declaration.  The Author points to slavery, the status of women and the treatment of Native Americans, with the discrimination based on race, gender, religion or nation of origin or some other characteristic.  Progress has come in these United States slowly, but it has come through people learning more and then taking political action.

It is that learning and political action that Author Hass has incorporated in his ten obligations:

1. Be informed
2. Get involved
3. Stay open to compromise
4. Remain civil
5. Reject violence
6. Value norms
7. Promote the common good
8. Respect government service
9. Support the teaching of civics
10. Put country first

At first I was disappointed that voting was not his number one obligation.  However, voting without being informaed can do as much harm as good.  As I worked through the list I saw the wisdom in the choices and order.

Voting is very important.  It is one of the big hammers in a democracy, another being campaign contributions.  Elected officials respond to Voters.  If the voting numbers fall off, the politicians feel free to proceed as they will.  If voters increase in number, the local politicians pay attention.  I encourage people I meet to vote.nbsp; I try to do it with humor.  But, I want my fellow Citizens to vote.

Voting is very important, but it should be informed voting.  We gather what we know from our family and our friends.  In the past we bought newspapers and news magazines.  Today not so much.  There is the Internet, with news available from original sources and from collections of articles, such as Drudge and memorandum.  The key is the reader and his or her choices of sources.  Some searh to reinforcee their existing beliefs and some search out opposing views, to test their views.  I favor the second.

The rest of the list is the mechanics of making a diverse society work as the various members and groups compromise for the greater good.

I highly recommend this book.  The author has just retired and he can use the royalties.  The rest of us can use the book as a civics booster shot.  That booster is important as we go into an election campaign that seems more fraught than normal..

Regards  —  Cliff

Memorial Day 2023

For John, BLUF:  All gave some.  Some gave all.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Memoriaal Day

Originally known as Decoration Day

Most of us know someone who died while serving in Uniform.  The first persoon I knew was a classmate at the Air Force Academy, William Hickox, who died in a plane crash enroute to compete in the 1961 Olympics.

But others also, including a Classmate who died in an aircraft mishap in pilot training.

My wife's late husband died in an aircraft mishap oover the Pacific, on day 179 of a 90 day Temporary Duty assignment to Okinawa.

Fate is fickle.  During my first tour in Southeast Asia my squadron lost no aircrew.  We had two aircraft badly banged up during emergency landings.  On the other hand, my Pilot Training Roommate died on his first mission out of Camh Ranh Bay, when his front sester flew them into a mouontain.  And being a war, there were others.

People have been sacrificing for this nation from when it was a hope in the minds of the Founders.  We should take a moment to think about those people.  Pray if one prays.♠  Or, just reflect and carry that reflection to the polling place the next time there is an election.  Exercising the right to vote is a proper payback for the sacrificies remembered on Memorial Day

Regards  —  Cliff

♠  My Youngest Son and his Wife and four Kids just drove to a local cemetary, to pray for the fallen. Both he and his Wife are "Service Brats" and thus more aware than some of the costs of service.

Ms Griner Stands Up

For John, BLUF:  Ms Brittney Griner has not always been easy on the U nited States.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Brittney Griner plays in first game since detainment, says hearing national anthem 'definitely hit different'

Here is the sub-headline:

Griner spent nearly 10 months in a Russian prison

From Fox News, by Reporter Joe Morgan, 13 May 2023 10:40am EDT.

Here is the lede plus one:

Seven-time WNBA All-Star Britney Griner returned to game action on Friday for the first time since being arrested in February 2022 at Moscow's Sheremetyevo Airport after authorities discovered vape canisters with cannabis oil in her luggage.

Griner spent nearly 10 months in a Russian prison after she pleaded guilty to drug charges, and she returned to the United States in December after a prisoner exchange.

I take her comment to be a kind statement about her Country and applaud it.

Hat tip to the Drudge Report.

Regards  —  Cliff

The Dissatisfied Sometimes Move

For John, BLUF:  People who are unhappy with theeir local governments are moving to places they find more congeniel.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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The Great Divorce? 2.6 Million Fled Counties That Voted For Biden

From Issues and Insights, by I & I Editorial Board, 19 April 2023.

Here is the lede plus one:

Is the country separating itself into two distinct camps?  One increasingly leftist and the other trying desperately to cling to traditional American values?  Census data seem to show that it very well could be underway. Last week, we commented on recent population data showing that people have been fleeing urban areas, noting that these are mostly Democratically controlled, and we pointed out that people have also been moving from blue states to red.

But we wanted to go deeper and get more precise numbers.  So, we matched Census net migration data from mid-2020 through mid-2022 for all the nation’s 3,000-plus counties (or their equivalents) and compared that with how these counties voted in 2020.  Our working assumption is that the results of the incredibly divisive 2020 election would be a good barometer of the devoutly held political views in those counties.

What we found was striking: There has been a vast migration out of counties that voted for Joe Biden into those counties that voted to reelect Donald Trump.

Census data show a net internal migration of almost 2.6 million (2,584,459 to be exact) from blue counties to red since Biden was elected.  (These figures don’t count immigrants or births or deaths, just those Americans moving from one location to another.)

Here are some of the findings from their look at the data:

• More than 61% of the counties that voted for Biden in 2020 lost population, while 65% of Trump-supporting counties gained population.
• Of the 555 counties Biden won, 335 (or 61%) lost population due to internal migration, our analysis found. Of the 2,589 counties that Trump won, 1,675 (or 65%) gained population.
• Two Biden-voting counties that lost the most from net migration were Los Angeles County, which was down 363,760, and Cook County, Illinois, down 200,718. While many of the blue counties that lost population were urbanized, the exodus was widespread and nationwide, including many far more sparsely populated liberal areas.
• In contrast, the biggest loss in any red county was Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, down just 18,470, followed by Worcester County, Maryland, which is in the southern part of the state, down only 17,545.
• In 13 states that had a net loss of population, red counties nevertheless showed gains. In California, which saw a massive net outflow of 871,127 people in just the past two years, counties that backed Trump had a net gain of 8,412.  New Jersey suffered a loss of 107,749 over the past two years, but counties in the Garden State that voted for Trump gained 22,507.  Michigan lost 43,188 overall, but its red counties had a net gain of 28,091.

Does this mean there will be a shift in voting for President?  That is not obvious.  The migrants may be moving away from "Blue" problems, but they may be bringing "Blue" attitudes with them.  A friend of mine in New Hampshire last week wrote about a quiet little town that attracted people from Masschusetts, who brought with them a desire for curbs and sidewalks and traffic lights and soon taxed the locals out of the town.

On the other hand, the recent wilding in Chicago may be the kind of thing that causes residents to change their minds on law and order and to move to find it, thus changing their political orientation at least somewhat.

However, businesses closing in downtown areas may also cause some to flee from those areas.  For example, Whole Foods announced in early April that it is closig its flagship San Francisco store over employee safety concerns.

The reason this matters is the impact of geography on the elections of Presidents.  Each state automatically gets two Electors, and then more based upon popultion. As population flows out of California or New York, those states may lose Electors, while other states gain Electors.  Mr William A. Galston, writing in The Wall Street Journal, tells us "What Drives Political Polarization".  Per Mr Glston, "A new study suggests that the jobs gaps between rural and urban places is a key."

In a way, internal migration is a way for politics to work itself out.  Small groups, which can not influence their own local governments can move and help influence the overall national approach by uniting with like minded people in their new locations.

November 2032 will tell us if there is an impact on voting patterns.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff