The classic definition of stupidity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.  Western Europe has for decades put proof to this idea.  Massive social spending, increased government regulations, the pursuit of inefficient green policies, a plunging birth rate and a focus on working less and playing more has led to decreased competitiveness in an increasingly competitive world. 

The attached pod cast presents a very scary group of facts regarding the future of Western Europe, and this is without bringing up the elephant in the room, immigration, and the lack of assimilation by individuals who view the liberal values of Western Europe as nothing short of blasphemy.   Expanding welfare rolls (up to 400,000 new claimants in France alone each year) of individuals with neither the education nor skills to contribute only makes the calls for new EU immigration rules even more urgent.

There are lessons to be learn for the U.S. from Europe, but they unfortunately shall be ignored by those on the radical/Marxist/anarchist Left who inhabit the deep administrative state and who put ideology above science and common sense.  Listen to the podcast and then plan your visit to Western Europe while you still may and enjoy those golden days.

https://www.wsj.com/podcasts/google-news-update/europe-poorer-us-richer-as-wage-gap-widens/746b1896-2001-405b-9bee-79815842bf26?page=1

It is the time of the Belle Epoque in France and during the summer of 1885, Samuel Pozzi, the Comte De Montesquiou and Edmond de Polignac decided to visit London for a few days of intellectual shopping.  These three men represent the best and the worse of that time in France; they moved in the same circles; they were very friends but not rivals.

Of the three, Pozzi, Dr. Samuel Pozzi is the lead character in this book and is the man in the red coat.  In that famous painting by John Singer Sargent, he captures the mindset and Pozzi’s vision of his place in the world.  Pozzi unlike the other two individuals central to the book was a “productive” man, known for being a society doctor, a man of science, the doctor who brought French medicine into the nineteenth century. Brilliant, handsome, and cultured, he moved effortlessly through French and English society.  Married but a lover of women who found him all but irresistible, he was welcomed at the finest houses. Pozzi introduced modern gynecology to France and was feted in England for his break throughs in medical hygiene and surgery which led to shorter and higher recovery rates.  When he took over the Lourcine-Pascal Hospital in 1883, it was almost entirely occupied by those infected with venereal disease which was very common in the poor population.  He restructured the hospital, added wings, and went on to create the first gynecological clinic and chair at a university in France.

As we move through the book, we are brought into the society and world of the upper class, mostly in France, somewhat in England.  If one is broke but with a great name, such as Montesquiou and Polignac, one will move smoothly though the houses of the rich and those who play the part.  The parties, affairs, marriages made for financial and name considerations allow men and women to live a life far beyond the lives of the average.  Snobbery is taken to be a fine art, and it continues until the Great War of 1914.

I believe the author enjoyed writing this book as he has felt free to insert his own witticisms and caustic remarks from time to time; they help to keep the reader engaged and draw attention to a detail that might have otherwise been overlooked.  Although not for everyone, the book gives an excellent glance into a world that is long gone, taking its abuses, but also unfortunately, its finest moments with it. It was a time when a man (or woman) could make their mark in the world by combining their talents and interests to create their own unique image.

A short book, well written that breaks into three parts: 1) how the people of Rome managed to conqueror and incorporate many of the separate peoples of the Italian peninsula prior to 90 BC, 2) why those people rose in revolt against Rome and Rome’s triumph and 3) the war between Generals Marius and Sulla.  Woven into the history is a tale of governmental corruption on a vast scale by the Senators and Equity class which led to the revolt, the civil war, and the destruction of the Republic. The masses were bought off with entertainment and lost their old virtues.

Marius is painted in a most unflattering light, and to be fair, more should have been said of this General who won so many battles for Rome. The description of Sulla is excellent; pleasure loving but bound to duty, a harsh rule who never forgave a slight and who perfected proscriptions in Rome. The author unfortunately does not mention Sulla’s inscription above his tomb: “I have never had a friend or an enemy I have not repaid in full.”

In the end, it is a book about how a great Republic turned to dictatorship and later, rule by Emperors and finally by bribery.  At the heart of the degeneration is the decline of the populace which ceased to take an interest in their military and who succumbed to lives of entertainment and the public dole.  It is a lesson that should be taught to every child of every nation who wishes to survive.

As I write this, much of the United States is suffering under a heat wave and accordingly, the usual suspects are on television reminding us that if we do not follow their wonderful directions and stop flying to our vacation destination the temperature will continue to rise until we are all reduced to cinders.  After their forecast of doom, they nobly get on their private jet and hurry off to a luxury location where they are joined by fellow travelers who then congratulate themselves on their noble and brave appearances on television.

Certainly, if you were a member of the baby boom generation, you might take the news that we are all doomed unless we begin to cook using electric stoves with just a bit of skepticism.  Why?  Because we have heard it all before; in fact, we have heard the tales of doom multiple times.  Remember the fact that we were headed to a new ice age?  Or, that billions of people were going to starve due to a shortage of food?  How could we forget that the world would run out of oil sometime in the 1990’s, or that all the polar bears were going to die due to the disappearance of the ice caps?  Strange isn’t it that all of those and other forecasts were wrong and yet we are expected to blindly believe and follow the new messiahs as they want us to march bravely backward into the fourteenth century.

Yet, there may be some degree of truth in their dire forecasts, and if there is, individuals such as Bjorn Lomborg will help us all to put them into the proper perspective.  In the article linked below, Lomborg points out that people are not stupid, and that the history of mankind has been a lesson on how humanity lives with and adapts to the natural world. For example, the number of deaths from climate in the last century is down by over 95%.  How is that possible if the earth is going through a major climate change?  Perhaps it is because we have adapted to the world around us and by taking steps to shape our environment. Or, what about those “super storms” who are bearing down on us?  Actually, the number of hurricanes that have made landfall since 1900 is down slightly.

The article helps to put climate change in perspective, in terms of costs, impact, and realistic options.  It is a bit of fresh air that can help you judge better those talking heads and messiahs who somehow fail to lead by example; they continue to purchase huge houses by the shore, travel in private jets and leave behind the largest of carbon footprints. 

https://imprimis.hillsdale.edu/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/Imprimis_Apr_8pg_5-23WEB.pdf

After conquering most of North America, the United States was filled with success and energy.  The expansion of the economic power of the United States was viewed with awe by the Europeans and dynamic politicians, such as Theodore Roosevelt, Henry Cabot Lodge believed that it was the destiny of the United States to carry on into what is now called the “third world” to bring Christianity, modernity and progress to the inhabitants of those regions.  Our soul was pure (unlike the Europeans who only sought to exploit those foreign lands) and we were sure that we would be welcomed with open arms as saviors.

The destruction of the battleship Maine in the harbor of Havana provided the opportunity to Under Secretary of the Navy Roosevelt whose immediate supervisor left the day to day running of the Navy to Roosevelt.  Seizing the opportunity, Roosevelt and his fellow expansionists put in motion a war with Spain which led to not only Roosevelt’s famous charge in Canada but also the destruction of the outdated Spanish fleet in the Philippines.  With the end of the war, the United States paid Spain between $15 to $20 million dollars and in return we ended up with the Philippines.  Simple, except that the local “intelligencia” within the Philippines had their heart set on their setting up and governing an independent Philippines.

In the end, both parties were fooling themselves; the local Philippine leaders had neither the expertise, financing, military strength or history to create a nation, while the U.S. was not prepared for the “dirty” war that it would find itself caught up in as many of the locals responded to the call of local leaders. 

As time went on, and the U.S. responded with great brutality to the guerillas (using the same techniques they learned from the guerillas), the image of a local primitive people welcoming the heroic Americans began to crumble.  The U.S. was in the end able to win the war but it suffered a blow to its self-image thanks to the stories printed in the press which turned against the war as it went on.

Jones has presented story which shows the U.S. to be an aggressor and seems to gloss over the hundreds of schools, medical facilities, etc. which the U.S. constructed.  He also totally ignores how it was that after such a brutal war, the people of the Philippines came to look upon the U.S. with fondness as we promised and moved towards Philippine independence (which was temporarily held up by World War II).  This is a good basic book in helping one to understand the politics of the war and can be a starting point for future reading if one is so inclined.

The link below to the video by Christopher Rufo outlines how the transgender empire is powered by big money, political ideology, and medical experimentation (often on the poorest in the minority community).

WARNING: YOU MAY BE DISGUSTED BY THE INFORMATION PROVIDED

https://manhattan.institute/multimedia/how-the-trans-movement-conquered-american-life-the-transgender-empire

Less than one month ago (06/19), I posted on my blog, “France at the Crossroads”. It was an article which questioned if France was governable given several internal challenges which have been ignored and glossed over for decades. Although the article was excellent, it ignored what should be viewed as it’s greatest challenge, immigrants who do not or will not assimilate.

This latest article asks the question, “Is France on the brink of a civil war?”  Unfortunately, I do not believe it is hyperbole as it is now acknowledged that there are over seven hundred and fifty “no go zones” which police, fire and emergency medical units met with not only hostility, but street blockages, rioting and fire bombing. As little as three years ago, French government officials denied any such “no go zones” existed. These zones have even begun to filter into the smallest rural communities where local municipal services are minimal and the number of church desecrations and murder of priests has been on the rise.

The recent weeks of rioting which continued although faced with forty-five thousand police poses a deadly challenge to French leadership which for at least three administrations has promised to address but has produced nothing. Other European nations have taken steps to maintain their unique cultures, notable Poland, Hungary, Denmark, Finland, and others. Often the steps taken are hard, such as limiting welfare, stopping family reunification, stopping new immigration, etc. With such a large number of immigrants who so aggressively reject French and Western values, France (like Sweden) faces a time of trials and hardship if they decide to act to save their values. The alternative is the possible destruction of centuries of culture and progress with a march back into the Middle Ages.

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/19798/france-chaos

Due to recent Supreme Court decisions, we have had the pleasure of hearing from numerous modern versions of chicken little (politicians and public pundits) that the sky is falling. OK, not exactly the sky but according to these modern purveyors of doom, we are about to lose our freedom of speech, our voting rights are about to be lost, some minorities are doomed to never attend a university and more.

We are told that we as a nation, has a problem, and that problem is the Supreme Court which is woefully out of touch with the American people. We are offered various solutions such as packing the court with judges who understand the American mind. Other suggestions include term limits (this from career politicians who spend their entire lives in the sacred halls of the Capitol), enforcing Justices to testify before Congress every time they make a decision that right-thinking politicians disagree with, etc.

Yet those very same politicians seem to live in a bubble where they believe the volumes of silliness they spew forth during daily diatribes. A recent SCOTUS poll of 2,209 Americans by research from the University of Texas, Stanford University and Harvard (NYT, 7/2/23, pp18-19) points to a quite different conclusion. It is the foaming at the mouth politicians who are woefully out of touch with the American public, not the majority of the judges on the Court. Let us look at the result of the poll.

Davies is in my opinion, the foremost living historian on Eastern Europe; his books on the Warsaw uprising of 1944, the histories of Central Europe (those countries comprising of Poland, Hungary, the Baltic states, etc.), are outstanding examples of, in my opinion, objective history.  This book is a bit different from his others in topic as it covers the war in Europe from 1939-1945, on several levels such as military action, politics (before, during and after), soldiers, civilians, and portrayals (in movies, literature and history). 

Those separate sections give both the novice and serious historian excellent reference points as they give an overview of those areas which I have found are often forgotten by other similar histories.  As an example, the section on soldiers covers such sub-topics as identity, enlistment, training, officers, discipline, generals, a brief section on each of the sub sections such as artillery, engineers, etc.  This approach allows the reader to go beyond the typical history to better understand the complexity of the subject and plan out further reading.  And, as these sections cover both the Allies and Axis powers, an excellent comparison can be found in numerous areas.

It does not matter if you are a novice to World War II or a self-proclaimed expert, this is one book which will provide an excellent overview of the European war, not from the overall strategic side or individual battles, but rather from the perspective of logistics, human needs, and military management.  I would recommend No Simple Victory.  Interesting, concise, inclusive it provides an excellent touch stone and one which will allow the reader to easily go back to review some facts which were of special interest.

This is Stephen Ambrose at his best; after conducting interviews with over 1000 veterans, on both sides of the line, and reviewing outstanding studies by Russell Weigley, Paul Fussell and other excellent historians, some of who fought in the theater, Ambrose has created a fast-moving history from the ground level.  The cold, the thrill of the chase, the shock of retreat, the realization that the war is almost over and the fear of being the last man to die are brought home in a book that is difficult to put down.

Numerous other books have cast doubts on the fighting skills of the average U.S. soldier, especially in the infantry arm, especially in relation to his counterpart on the other side.  While Ambrose does not dispute that debate, he does not acknowledge it, instead focusing on the amazing ability of eighteen-year-old teenagers who served as privates and even officers to learn quickly how to survive during the terrible winter of 1944-45.  There is no doubt that thousands died due to poor training and an inability to master their weapons (young men trained as infantrymen were suddenly given a two-hour course on how to drive and use a tank with the result that in many instances, they did not last a day against the more professional German army).  Yet enough did to stop the German’s time and again and create the conditions for victory.

Ambrose does focus on the infantry as they are the sharp end of the bayonet, yet he also has chapters on the medics and nurses who provided the difference between life and death for literally tens of thousands of G.I.s who were wounded and rescued from the battle field and cared for by over worked nurses at the aid stations.  The relationship between the G.Is and those who treated them was one of mutual respect and admiration.

There are dark scenes and he discusses the execution of prisoners by Americans.  Some killings are done in the heat of battle, some are done coolie as a soldier is detailed to take prisoners back to battalion but somehow the prisoners never make it back.  How much killing of prisoners went on?  It is difficult to say, as only one veteran admitted to killing a prisoner, but hundreds “heard” of such actions.  Did the veterans condemn such actions?  Not to any great degree and the general impression from the book that such actions happen in war and that is that.