During the first world war, Corporal Barthas kept a diary, totaling some nineteen notebooks; in those books, he recorded his thoughts and actions while serving in the French Army.  A simple but educated man, he hailed from what is known as the Midi, which is Southern France, bordered by the Atlantic and the Mediterranean.  He was a barrel maker, a respected craftsman, a socialist and anti-militarist, none the less, he was called up in his late 30’s to serve in what was a reserve unit.  As the war went on, that reserve unit was called on to enter the front lines on a continual basis and he served in the battles for Artois, Flanders, Verdun, the Somme and the Argonne.  Fortunately for him, his unit was not involved in the bloody offensives but managed to serve in the “quieter” sectors of those famous and terrible battles. He thus managed to escape the murderous infantry attacks against barbed wire and machine guns but was still subjected to the daily filth of the trenches with its rats, bodies in shallow graves and being covered from head to toe in mud for weeks on end. After the war, Barthas set out to complete the notebooks by corresponding with surviving companions via letters and postcards, and re-writing them in new notebooks as the older ones were covered in mud, chewed by rates and subject to all of the indignities of any ordinary soldier. Having achieved that, the manuscript lay untouched until it was finally published in 1978, sixty years after the end of the war and twenty-six years after his death.

His diary is highly unusual for the great classics we have from the first world war were by and large written by officers, such as Siegfried Sassoon, Ernst Junger, Robert Graves and others.  This is one reason why this book is so important; it tells the story of the war from the sharpest end of the bayonet, from the perspective of the average infantryman.  Barthas did manage to attain the rank of corporal (although it was temporarily lost) and it is clear that there was even a noticeable distinction between a corporal and a sergeant let alone the gap with the officers. It is also important as having read literally hundreds of military books covering many nations, I personally have never read a book in which the attitude towards the lowly infantryman was so great as existed in the French army at that time.  If the locations were different, I would have assumed I was reading about the army of the Czar at the time so brutal and calloused was the mindset of the officer corps. 

The lack of care and general attitude that is shown in the pages of the diary are exhibited in so many ways; a lack of leave, poor food, cowardly and inadequate medical care, failure to plan and provide shelter and basic sanitation for troops as they rotate out of the front line, the list goes on and on.  Coupled with the sheer willingness to sacrifice troops in a war of attrition (as General Joffe would say, “nibble at the enemy until there are no more”), there is no wonder that the French army had a mutiny which, had the Germans realized it’s existence, they could have all but walked through entire sections of the French line.  Barthas does not cover the mutiny in any detail, also in his section some soldiers’ councils were set up and he was offered to be elected as the President of his.  Fortunately for him, he refused the “honor” and thus avoided the punishment when the council was dissolved (for more information, read Dare Call it Treason by Richard M. Watt).  It is a miracle that the troops did not turn their guns on their officers.

Barthas makes it clear that the soldiers fought not for glory, honor or the fatherland, but rather for their comrades, the man next to you in the firing line, your mate who would carry your pack as your feet are blistered and you cannot go on, the man who would share the precious parcels that he received from home.  Perhaps after the war, after the pain begins to go away, some of the men will remember what passed as good times, the small victories be they in a fight or in the scramble for a good place to sleep, but Barthas makes a strong argument that at least for the French, the first world war held little to look back on with anything except distain and disgust.

An outstanding book which will make every individual who has not been in the military and especially in a war, look with new respect on those who have given that precious piece of their life for others.  Barthas is in the end no flag waving patriot and he had a different vision of the future; he was against war and we shall never know if he ever came to realize that the human cycle contains that terrible seed that must bloom in order to keep safe the life all man want.

I recently received as a gift a bottle of Kavalan Concertmaster single malt whisky which is considered a top Taiwanese whisky. Top Taiwanese whisky? OK, let’s give it a try.

The Kavalan brand was the personal project of a whisky enthusiast and head of the King Car Group. Founded in 2002, the first distillery opened in 2006 and by 2017 the company had two warehouses with 130,000 casks. Along the way, the brand won numerous international awards and was well received by most markets. The Concertmaster brand is first aged in American oak casks, then finished in Portuguese Ruby Port barriques. This is designed to create a mixing of flavors and a smoother taste.

Upon opening the bottle, a pleasant hint of ruby port was noticeable and continued through my first tasting. Smooth and tasty. The Concertmaster has hints of several flavors including chocolate and raisins. What a pleasant surprise! As I tend to do in a first tasting, I went back a couple of hours later for another taste to see if the initial reaction could be duplicated and lo and behold it was!  I enjoyed the second tasting as much as the first and was very happy with the smooth ending.  I had one more tasting, this with a White Band Montecristo robust cigar and found that they made a nice match; there was no fighting between the two, no hint of bitterness and again, a nice smooth finish.

If you want to offer your guests something new, you will be complimented after they taste the Concertmaster single malt whisky.  Give it a try!

Prior to World War II, the established bureaucracy within the U.S. navy felt that battleships would decide victory or defeat in any ocean-based war. During the war, it was realized that it was not battleships which were the deciding factor, but the aircraft carriers and hence, a new bureaucracy displaced the old.  There was another weapon which created its own set of followers and that was the submarine.  It was the submarine in the Pacific that accomplished what the U-boats could not achieve in the Atlantic; the destruction of the Japanese to transport the basic materials they needed to conduct a war.  The U.S. submarine fleet destroyed the Japanese merchant fleet which carried the oil, wood, coal, foodstuffs and all the other ingredients upon which Japan depended.

The submarine officers were a different breed apart from the officers on carriers and other surface vessels.  They were so different in fact, that officers who served in submarines knew they did not have a chance to access the highest ranks in the navy.  They were considered mavericks, risk takers and prone to striking out on their own.  They readily admitted these characteristics but then their service was entirely different from the rest of the navy.  A surface vessel can have engine problems and get towed, but if a submarine has major engine problems, it sinks.

Against this backdrop of two entrenched bureaucracies, each attempting to snare more dollars in the military budget, comes Hyman Rickover, a man of Jewish background, born in Russian occupied Poland in 1900 who has chosen to make engineering as his course in the Navy.  Talk about handicapping! As with sub officers, an engineering officer realized that getting a shot at Admiral status was small.  Not only those black marks, but he also becomes the driving force behind creating a force of nuclear submarines while disdaining the sub captains who came out of WWII with honors and medals.  Yet somehow, despite all odds, he manages to defeat much of the naval bureaucracy, convince powerful Congressional leaders and several President’s to create a nuclear submarine force that although smaller than the Soviet fleet, was technologically far ahead of the Soviets.

The struggles within the Democratic Party are based on problems of their own making. Those lies which they sold to the American people, and which were supported by the legacy media are coming home to roost and we can only feel sorry for the American people who were the victims of those lies.

The very idea that one major political party would even think of putting into the highest office in the land an individual mentally impaired, whose mental condition can only deteriorate and use him as a puppet by unelected individuals who have a record of failure is amazing. But it goes to show those individuals arrogance based on what they have been doing for years.

The attached article helps to explain how this fiasco happened historically. How do we correct the system? Perhaps by reverting to the values and ideals that we discarded decades ago as pointed out in the article.

Let us hope it is not too late.

To open the link, press on the triangle on the lower right and copy the link to your browser.

Contrary to the paranoia (and actions) of my friends on the Left, I don’t worry about President Trump (if he wins) using the power of his office to punish and seek revenge on his political opponents.  Why don’t I worry?  One big reason is that he did not seek retribution against Hillary Clinton who not only worked with Russians to create a false flag operation but she also committed numerous possible felonies while in office.  Additionally, I believe that he would rather win through being successful than by using the power of the State to go after those who for years have attempted (unsuccessfully) to bring him down.

With that in mind, the Left fails as usual to take a negative and turn it into a positive.  Instead, as usual, they take a positive and attempt to turn it into a negative in their quest for a cheap political gain.  Of course, I am referring to the recent Supreme Courts decision regarding Presidential immunity. The article linked below explains how the Court decision clearly lays out the limits of Presidential immunity.  This is extremely important as it has never been done before, but like President Washington being conscious that his every action created precedents for future Presidents, this decision provides a guiderail for future Presidents and others.  The decision stops Trump, Congress or local politicians from going after former Presidents for purely personal or political differences.

The nation now has a template which will prevent the lawfare which has become the tool of politicians of all stripes.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/supreme-court-donald-trump-presidency-immunity-administrative-state-joe-biden-3b7a0559?page=1

Justice Clarence Thomas has been a target of the Left for many years. Aside from being Black and not a member of the Left’s “plantation,” he has stood like a rock in the court for his belief in Originalism in his interpretation of the Constitution. How to deal with a non-believer like him?

One way is to attack him personally in an attempt to discredit him in the eyes of the public. Fix the Court, who claims to be a “nonpartisan advocate for Non-ideological fixes” has released a report which accuses, without actually saying so, that Justice Thomas has received gifts and vacations worth hundreds of thousands of dollars from a wealthy businessman who has never appeared before the Supreme Court.

Examination of their reports shows an amazing lack of objectivity, false assumptions and outright false estimates of the cost of various activities between Justice Thomas the his long time friends, Harlan and Kathy Crow.

Between Fix the Court and ProPublica (another self-serving organization which claims to be, “an independent, non-profit newsroom that produces investigative journalism with moral force”), their reports appear to be poorly researched and overly partisan. 

The attached article is a fine example of how one needs to not be carried away by sensational headlines and be skeptical of any organizations which claim such a high moral ground. The more grandiose the rhetoric, it seems, the lower their professional standards.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-fix-is-in-with-the-latest-attack-on-clarence-thomas-scotus-c64453aa?page=1

There is a saying in France when comparing Cognac to Armagnac and Calvados; Cognac is a city girl, Armagnac and Calvados are country girls.  That is a nice way of saying that the former is smoother, silkier and gentler whereas the other two are a bit rougher but also more challenging.  As a rule, I would agree and I would also say that there are times and places for both to be enjoyed.

This July 4^th holiday was an excellent time to enjoy a good cigar and a twenty-five-year-old Bas-Armagnac by Delord (also under the Marie Duffau label).  Bas-Armagnac is a region of France and the Delord family has been producing excellent Armagnacs since 1875.

I read a review of this vintage, and it went as follows:

The nose is biscuity, caramel-like, cream Sherry-like with a touch of cheese-like rancio. The palate entry tastes like bittersweet dark chocolate, cocoa butter, chocolate-covered raisins and dark honey; the midpalate is fruity and less bittersweet than the entry, making for a succulent aftertaste. A genuine classic.

I am sure that to an individual with a fine nose and a cultured pallet, this might make sense, but, being the simple soul that I am, I would sum this excellent vintage as being smooth, silky with a wonderful smell that makes one want to slow down and enjoy.  With a good cigar ( I chose an AVO Classic), and cradling the Armagnac in a cut crystal brandy snifter, one must slow down and enjoy those precious quiet moments.

I am always satisfied with a vintage with the Delord label, and I recommend with ease.  Enjoy!

A massive biography which covers the first half of Wellington’s life. Not being the first son, he was relegated to joining the military (under British custom, the first son inherited the title, the second went to the military and the third son entered the Church of England).

As was common at the time, Wellington had an unhappy childhood and like many men of that time, he made his mark and fortune in India. His military victories and diplomatic skill in India allowed him to assume command in the Peninsula during the Napoleonic wars where he reorganized the army of Portugal and created the famous defensive lines which the French under a number of Napoleon’s generals refused to attack. In a series of brilliant maneuvers, he out generaled every force sent against him as he slowly pushed the French out of the entire peninsula. That does not mean that he had an easy time as Napoleon poured men and material into the fight, but his real struggle was with various politicians and powers in London who were jealous of his successes and who kept Wellington’s forces on a strict leash.

Unlike other Wellington biographies, Muir provides excellent insight into Wellington’s excellent political skills not only in India, but also in Europe where he moved with ease. He was recognized as skillful, even tempered, and able to bring various factions together after the defeat of Napoleon.

He was a man of his age but also a man of a different age. Unlike most commanders of that time, he took great care for his men, ensuring that they had adequate food and logistical support. He may have been arrogant and superior in his manner to his men, but unlike Napoleon, he was careful with their lives and tried to avoid the typical frontal attacks which so wasted his opponent’s armies.

This is a long read, incredibly detailed, but for a serious scholar, an excellent biography on a complex individual.

Israel today faces what is beyond a doubt, the most dangerous time since its founding. It faces escalating wars on several fronts and its closest ally, the United States is “slow walking” munitions and support that is desperately needed by the IDF. Additionally, reports state that Iran who as sworn to destroy Israel is only weeks away from creating a nuclear weapon, while Israel is viewed as a “one-bomb” state (meaning that a single nuclear weapon that hits Israel can in effect destroy the state of Israel). Given the very real threats to the nation and unless the current U.S. administration changes course and expedites munitions deliveries to Israel (ala the 1973 Nixon airlift which all but saved Israel), Israel will be forced to examine all military options. Can that include a nuclear first strike?

The linked article outlines options that Israel must review as it faces a time of “total war.”  With the scanty militaries of Western Europe looking at the threat from Russia, the U.S. must move quickly to support Israel. Unfortunately, the current U.S. administration has shown by its actions in Ukraine that it does not understand that a policy of slow support only increases the cost of war.

A Call for Emergency Mobilization in Israel (jihadwatch.org)

According to Marxist “scientific thought”, man is shaped by his environment; change the environment and you can create a “New Man”.  The same belief applies to plants and animals.  Thus, it was that while the Soviet Union spent more on scientific research than any other nation, they also managed to produce some of the worse examples of what we would call “junk science”. 

Part of the problem was that it was believed that the masses which were held down by the forces of reaction, exploitation, etc., contained within them the seeds of greatness.  Thus, it was possible for a poorly educated individual like Trofim Denisovich Lysenko and others of his ilk to make fantastic claims of break throughs in agriculture and dominate the Soviet scientific community.  With the right backing (Stalin), Lysenko, who denied the existence of genes, kept many of the older, traditionally educated scientists in a scientific limbo.  They were forced to work secretly in small poorly equipped labs while millions of rubles and huge tracks of land were given over to dubious experiments and the results doctored to fit “Marxist scientific” thought.  Attempts were made to grow lemon trees above the artic circle, millions of trees were planted in arid waste lands in an attempt to change the environment (the trees all died from lack of water, brutal winters or scorching summers), etc.  Foreign species were introduced into areas where the wolves had been killed off with the result that those populations greatly expanded by they passed along their diseases to the local domestic cattle which caused a great death toll and thus shortage of beef in the country.  There was even a theory that apes could be used to inseminate women to create a new race.

During World War II, in the face of national disaster, the strict guidelines of adhering to Marxist theory was relaxed with the result that a newly educated generation of scientists were allowed more freedom.  The results were staggering as break throughs not only in weapon development, but also in agriculture and genetic research helped to save the State.  After the war however, many scientists were forced to adhere more closely to the pre-war scientific theories.  This included theory related to such fields as psychoanalysis, social psychology or individual psychology (Pavlov had not ventured into these areas, so research was not considered necessary).  The only psychologic theory that seemed to hold any sway was that anyone who did not adhere to Soviet thought must be schizophrenic.

While there was hope for greater freedom after Stalin’s death, the agricultural experiments and failures under Khrushchev were examples of the continuation of the continued life of the theories of Lysenko.  To this day, Russian agriculture continues to suffer for the errors of previous times.  The amazing thing is that even under the warped science theories of the time, there were positive break throughs which have been beneficial to the scientific and non-scientific worlds. 

This book is one great story of political correctness in the scientific world at that time and should serve as a warning to all of us, both scientist and non-scientist of the dangers of the concept of “settled science”, a frightening term if ever one existed.