Filed under: Bureaucracy, Capitalism, Free Markets, Freedom, Germany, History, Intelligence, Japan, Law, Military, National Security, The United States, World War II | Tags: A Carrier Navy, Congressman Carl Vinson, Pearl Harbor Day
U.S. Navy Photo: USS Carl Vinson
Seventy-seven years ago on December 7, 1941, carrier planes from the Imperial Japanese fleet attacked Pearl Harbor, Hawaii in a surprise attack on the home of the U.S. Pacific Fleet. It was followed a few days later by an attack on the Philippines.
The surprise attack on the fleet killed 2,402 Americans, sank or submerged 19 ships, including eight battleships damaged or destroyed. Just four days later, Germany and Italy declared war on the United States.
Victor Davis Hanson writes today of the contribution of one Democratic Congressman from Georgia, Carl Vinson. Do read the whole thing.
The Japanese fleet had missed the three absent American carriers of the Pacific Fleet. Nonetheless, Japanese admirals were certain that the United States was so crippled after the attack that it would not be able to go on the offensive against the Japanese Pacific empire for years, if at all. Surely the wounded Americans would sue for peace, or at least concentrate on Europe and keep out of the Japanese-held Pacific.
That was a fatal miscalculation.
The Japanese warlords had known little of the tireless efforts of one Democratic congressman from Georgia, Carl Vinson.
For nearly a decade before Pearl Harbor, Vinson had schemed and politicked in brilliant fashion to ensure that America was building a two-ocean navy larger than all the major navies of the world combined.
If you have a history buff on your gift list, get them a copy of Dr. Hanson’s brilliant new book: The Second Word Wars. If you’re feeling generous, add With the Old Breed by Eugene Sledge.
This should be a good reminder to consider carefully who you are electing to serve in Congress. It matters.
Filed under: Bureaucracy, Domestic Policy, Education, Freedom, History, Intelligence, Law, News, The United States | Tags: "Gender Identity", A False Narrative of Victimhood, Identity Politics
Heather MacDonald warns that our colleges are breeding hate and intolerance on our college campuses, and it’s going to be bad for our society. On the Mark Levin show, she warns that students are taught to hate. The bureaucracy is teaching hate, and kids are learning that lesson. They have a delusional idea that they are victims of an oppressive society, and it is leading to a potential civil war.
Filed under: Bureaucracy, Capitalism, Domestic Policy, Economy, Education, Energy, Environment, European Union, France, Freedom, Global Warming, History, Immigration, Intelligence, Junk Science, Law, Politics, Science/Technology, Technology, The United States, United Kingdom | Tags: What is Reality?, What is Truth today?, When the Fact-Checkers Lie
I don’t know if there has ever been a time when reality was so much in question. What’s true and what’s not. The new federal climate report comes out and climate scientists call it “tripe”–”embarrassing” – “systematically flawed” and said the key claim comes from a study funded by Tom Steyer and Michael Bloomberg. The climate scientists who assume they can program the world’s climate into a computer and get accurate answers about what will happen in the next hundred years have too much faith in computers. (GIGO)
The nation’s farewell to President George Herbert Walker Bush was alternately a celebration of the life of a war hero and a patriot and a good man, and a rebuke to the current president, and the current president and Melania were rebuked by Hillary, but Jeb said the President couldn’t have been nicer.
In Britain, Brexit is damaging to the nation and the European Union, and alternately, it is necessary for Britain to get out from under the control of the European Union, and the migrants may be a huge problem or not at all.
In France, Prime Minister Macron wants a big carbon tax to lower their efforts to damage the climate, and the people don’t want any carbon taxes and don’t plan on having any. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez says it is inevitable that climate governance will create economic, social and racial justice. There will only be benefits, and no costs to passing a raft of new climate change laws. Others laugh at her.
Whatever the subject, opinion varies, which is normal, but opinion has become truth, and is not to be doubted. Google has been shown to be eliminating conservative truth and favoring their own leftist leanings. President Trump has said firmly that he is a nationalist, by which he means he loves his country and favors it. The President of France, Emmanuel Macron rebuked U.S. President Donald Trump for putting the interests of U.S. citizens above the demonstration of moral values, and said that nationalism is a bad thing.
The media in this country is conducting a war on President Trump, who they consider an illegal president to whom they are opposed, but clearly he is the legally elected and widely approved President of the United States. President Trump wants to build a wall on the Southern border to prevent the influx of illegal aliens. California has Sanctuary Cities and is, I believe, a sanctuary state.
Forest fires are caused by alternately poor forest management or global warming, as stated by President Trump or California Governor Jerry Brown. We can determine the truth to the extent that we agree with one side or another, but over and over, there is no widely accepted truth.
This is the reality exposed by the technology giants, who are supposedly emanating only truth, and eliminating “hate speech”, but what is called “hate speech” depends on which voices attract the most valuable clicks. Hollywood celebrities, who have only the fact that we may recognize their faces or names to attest to the worth of what they say, are free to use all the “hate speech” they want because being celebrities they will have lots of followers, which means a lot of clicks for the website. So “Truth” is not what is approved by the websites that claim to be impartial judges of truth and falsehood, but the impartial judges lie as well.
Electoral Fraud is widespread, or simply does not exist. It is hardly surprising that so many are claiming that we are on the brink of a civil war. Truth is fiction, Animal Farm is real, and Maisie Hirono (D-HI) urges Democrats to consider “heart over mind. Don’t tell everybody how smart we are.”
The ceremonies for the mourning of a past president and the long, long lines of people waiting in the cold for a chance to pass by the catafalque suggested to many that President H.W. Bush was the last of the patricians, when everybody agreed on right and wrong and true and false. Of course they didn’t agree then, but the times have changed and we have organizations like Snopes and the SPLC, PoliFact, NewsBusters, the Media Research Center to tell us what is true and what is not, and they deliver falsehoods, and the atmosphere out there is far worse than it ever was.
Filed under: Bureaucracy, Capitalism, Domestic Policy, Education, Free Speech, Freedom, History, Immigration, Intelligence, Law, Politics, Progressives, The United States | Tags: Identity Politics, Protesting White Males, Why Is It Threat?
I ran into this article on “Identity politics” and with all the terminology thrown around today, I realized I was not really sure what was meant by the term. so I looked it up. The formal definition is here. Powerline linked to a Heritage Foundation panel on the problem which I found completely fascinating. It’s sharp look at what is going on in our world today, by several of the sharpest minds out there, who all consider this real problem but differently. Each of the panelists had 10 minutes, which they over ran, but the proposed time limit kept it shorter than it might have otherwise been. I think most of us are somewhat aware that we are hovering around the edges of a political civil war. It’s getting increasingly angry out there:
If you are going to solve a problem, you have to understand what it is first. There is a deep lack of understanding of ordinary human nature. Life is hard, you will make mistakes. You enjoy being with people who share your interests, whether it’s a knitting circle, or watching a football game. Selecting such a group is not prejudice against some other group or sexual identity. More women are apt to be interested in knitting, and more men are apt to care about a football game. Human nature.
Filed under: Bureaucracy, Capitalism, Domestic Policy, Economics, Education, Free Speech, Freedom, Intelligence, Taxes | Tags: " Intellectuals in America, Who Knows Best? And How?, Why We Shouldn't Listen
This is an oldie, but worth reviewing for its appropriateness for today. A fascinating interview with Thomas Sowell about “intellectuals”. Do make time to watch the whole thing, It throws a lot of light upon what is happening in our present day, how to consider what’s going on. Whats the matter with intellectuals anyway? Aren’t they smarter than the rest of us? Shouldn’t we listen to them?
So whose opinion matters? See the previous post on “Opinion.“
Filed under: Bureaucracy, Capitalism, Domestic Policy, Economics, Economy, Education, Freedom, Immigration, Intelligence, Media Bias, Politics, Regulation, The Constitution, The United States | Tags: Diversity, Does it Matter?, Race
Heather MacDonald spoke a couple of weeks ago at Hillsdale’s Washington DC outpost, about diversity, based on the research done for her new book The Diversity Delusion. If you wonder why every college now seems to have a Diversity Office, as well as large groups of “snowflakes” and frequently gets into the news for some protest or riot, and is so sensitive that hearing something with which they disagree gives them major cases of the vapors, Heather explains. Her speeches have been protested, yet she speaks in favor of the police, the dismantling of what she properly calls “the diversity delusion.”
At a time when race seems to matter less and less, we talk about it more and more. We have a long and unfortunate history of assuming that race matters, and officialdom still wants to know just what our race is, even in situations where it does not and should not matter. It’s because we are run by a bureaucracy that wants to protect itself by keeping track. It’s a very interesting speech, and eye-opening about the dysfunction on our college campuses. And yes, if you have kids now in college or soon to be, you need to be informed. Heather MacDonald always does her homework. She searches out the data and verifies it, and what she says can be taken to the bank.
Filed under: Bureaucracy, Capitalism, Democrat Corruption, Economics, Economy, Free Speech, Freedom, History, Humor, Immigration, Intelligence, Islam, Media Bias, National Security, News, Politics, Progressivism, Terrorism, The Constitution | Tags: How and Why, So What to Do?, The Suicide of Europe
Here is another speech, a very good one, and important,by Douglas Murray.
Douglas Kear Murray (born 16 July 1979) is a British author, journalist, and political commentator. He is the founder of the Center for Social Cohesion and is an associate editor of The Spectator, a British magazine discussing culture and politics, and is the associate director of the Henry Jackson Society. (Yes, our own Scoop Jackson) Murray’s most recent book is The Strange Death of Europe: Immigration, Identity, Islam(2017).
Douglas Murray clearly identifies the strange case of the suicide of Europe, and how and why it is happening. The speech is a very real warning to America. We need to pay attention.
It’s all about guilt, the new theme of our Democratic Party, guilt for the misdeeds of our forbears, the shame of our past, and how (they think) we can redeem ourselves. Throw in political correctness and goofy feminism, racism, and a deep lack of understanding of history, with our Constitution, and the overweening importance of power and control.
