The North won the Civil War for many reasons: more manpower, greater industrial strength, tremendous capital, a better idea. They also won because they had three generals who believed in total war. It was not enough to defeat an enemy in the field; no, one had to tear the insides out of the enemy. Bring war with its flames and cruelty to the very hearths of the enemy to make them realize what war really was and is to this day. Those three generals are Ulysses S. Grant, William Tecumseh Sherman, and Philip H. Sheridan. These men knew that with the material, industrial and manpower strength of the Union, they could win and were determined to ensure that there could be no future Civil War.

The article linked below should be extremely alarming to all of us.

• Did phony videos produced by Communist China cause a stampede by our “leaders” to actions which destroyed tens of thousands of businesses, created huge financial upheaval, consolidated power in the hands of unelected bureaucrats and power-hungry politicians and harmed the educational options for a generation of youth?
• Did the “leaders” of German base their support of lockdowns, quarantine facilities, etc., based on clinical results from Communist China?
• Did a major Dutch agency determine that the cost of a lockdown would six times more than the benefit, but the Dutch government decided to go with lockdowns due to a fear of negative optics in the news?
• Using information from Chinese journals, did the WHO recommend a rush to ventilators which killed thousands of Westerners?
• When it was widely realized that the New Zealand Department of Health had based their recommendations based on information from Chinese journals, the references were deleted.

The common thread was that unverified reports and claims from Communist China were used by Western “scientist” and “leaders” to create public policies which were disastrous and non-effective. Where was the checking for accuracy, the due diligence that we should expect from those who handle the levers of power over our lives? As time goes on, will more revelations become known, and we ever hear one apology for massive public policy failures? Of course not, for being in government, and increasing it appears in science, means never having to say, “I’m sorry, I failed.” https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/masked-ball-cowardice

There is no doubt that the recent flooding by Hurricane Ida was terrible for millions of Americans. Everyone was concerned initially about the possible impact on New Orleans and instead for a week we watched a single storm march across the nation like Sherman’s March to the Sea; unstoppable and truly frightening. We saw in no uncertain terms, the might of mother nature. In my mind, anyone who believes that we can have a decisive impact on nature in terms of stopping or controlling such power must have a self-image that defies all reason.

Having previously read Goldsworthy’s biography of Augustus Caesar this biography is in my opinion, much better; perhaps it is because Julius Caesar led a much more active life being involved directly in years of military campaigns, writing massive volumes of poetry, literature and laws as opposed to Augustus Caesar who was not as robust (physically) and had the invaluable help of Marcus Agrippa for decades to share the burdens of rule.

After decades of huge spending on education and the installation of a “progressive” educational agenda, we continue to hear cries of “systemic racism” as the cause of failure within our public-school systems. To cover the failure of the “progressives” (I am never quite sure what they which to progress too) regarding the disastrous reading and math scores among some minorities, they now wish to eliminate correct and incorrect answers in math and science (as that is racist) along with any notice of hard work and merit.

Severus is sometimes called the last of the “Good Emperors” for his ability to bring stability and success to the mid-Roman empire (he was emperor A.D. 193-211).  Born in Tripolitania in North Africa (no, he was not black), he was of that stock from which sprang Carthage and Hannibal.  He has also been called a typical cosmopolitan Roman bureaucrat, the destroyer of the existing social order and (by Gibbon), the principal author of Rome’s decline.  Take your pick.  But he did represent the ability of the empire to pull on its subjects to infuse new blood and energy into its body from time to time and this kept the empire from fading away for an extra hundred years.

A restless man, he traveled across the empire and early on, name one of his sons and trained him to succeed him.  Unfortunately, that son, later know as Caracalla also known by historians as “the enemy of mankind”.  But Severus coming after Commodus and Pertinax brought a period of peace, often by simply scaring the corrupt Senate and the power of his personality.

This book is a bit heavy for the casual reader interested in this period and unless you are familiar with the period, may not be a good read.  Yet there are excellent passages, and the author feels free to criticize other historians, arguing that they have misrepresented or misunderstood various facts.

There are a couple of interesting side notes about Severus.  As he lay on his death bed, his sons asked him what they should do; his words in this book were “Do not disagree between yourselves, give money to the soldiers and despise everyone else”, although other translations quote him in a more “earthy” manner. 

Another tidbit I have often thought that F. Scott Fitzgerald plagiarized when he had his main character in The Great Gatsby say: “I have been everywhere and seen everything, god oh god am I sophisticated”.  Although this author disputes the accuracy of Severus’ quote, I remember reading it when I was in my early 20’s and feeling a bit depressed, for he said, “I have been everywhere and seen everything and it is not really much”.  If a Roman emperor could say that what hope was there for me!  But Birley says the quote (again, disputed) was that “I have been everything and what has it profited me”.

The pull out of the U.S. and our allies presents many challenges and opportunities; unfortunately, there is no real upside for the U.S., but it could present China with the opportunity to further corner the market on rare earth elements and create more problems for India.  Not is all positive for the Chinese as the cost of mining will involve considerable expense; the minerals are in areas with little if any infrastructure and the current rail lines are week. 

Additionally, they will have to face the same tribal challenges as the U.S. and their record of inhumane treatment of their own Muslim minorities could put them at deadly odds with the various Islamic militant groups within Afghanistan. Although Pakistan, another player in the area has been moving closer to China, will elements of the Pakistani Intelligence Service will willing to give China a free hand in the area? Pakistans support of the Taliban will be a key element in the future of the area. Given the internal politics of China at this time, the last thing that President Xi needs is a military problem in the area.

This excellent article discusses these and several other factors which will make the exploitation of the area by China a challenge.  Will China go the same way as the British, Soviets and the U.S., or will they be able to create success in Afghanistan?  Given the drawback of some counties which have seen the true cost of co-operation with China, it would be wise for China to move carefully in the future in the area. For a full analysis, please go to https://www.geopoliticalmonitor.com/taliban-redux-opportunities-and-challenges-for-china-in-afghanistan/?_se=YmtsYXp1cmEwMUBnbWFpbC5jb20%3D

“You shall not press down upon the brow of labour this crown of thorns; you shall not crucity mankind upon a cross of gold”-William Jennings Bryan, July 9, 1896

Bryan was a Presidential candidate in the 1896 election, and his speech has gone down in history as a rallying cry of the poor man against the big money of the day.  The fight was those like Bryan who believed in “bimetallism” where silver and gold would be the standard for the U.S. dollar as opposed to only gold which was seen as an attempt to keep down the masses.  Bryan went on to lose the election and his case when the way of the dodo bird.
Four years later, Frank Baum wrote and publised the world famous “Wizard of Oz” which became a huge best seller.  Little did Baum realize how popular his book would be and certainly he never envisioned the famous movie.  There are those who believe that his book is an allegory for Bryan’s fight over bimetallism.  There is no documentation for this theory, but let us take a look at some of the players:

“If all economists were laid end to end, they would not reach a conclusion”-Gerorge Bernard Shaw

The claims from the left that math is racist and that CRT needs to be the basis for our educational system all in the name of equity come at the cost of the death of merit and an assault on science.  The threat to our society, our standard of living both now and in the future are very real as we condemn literally millions of our children to a world ruled not by science and facts, but rather by an ideology which is grounded on the inability to deal with facts.  Not since the Soviet experiment under Stalin and Lysenko has a society been so threatened by an attack on science.  Those on the left who gleefully claim to “believe in science” do not condemn the attack on science, fact, and merit in their support of the goal of equity.  In doing so, they kowtow to the rule of the lowest common denominator.  Our “friends” in China are taking a different tack and must be amazed at our willingness to do harm to ourselves.  Check out this excellent article on how the U.S. is failing in the STEM race. https://quillette.com/2021/08/19/as-us-schools-prioritize-diversity-over-merit-china-is-becoming-the-worlds-stem-leader/