The prime function of a military is to be prepared to inflict and sustain violence. Other functions include socializing an individual into a given society, creating a sense of order and discipline in the individual and creating a bond which will, when needed, allow the individual to take an action that is more important than the narrow self-interest of that individual. We see this in what we call “heroic actions” or acts of “bravery.” It is reinforced through group recognition and the awarding of medals and citations. To achieve its goals, the military must constantly be involved in training which will not only help to achieve those goals but will also enhance the individuals’ chances of survival if there is a call to violence.

Anything during an individuals’ time in the military which lessens or diminishes either the period of training, or which hinders the creation of the military bond is a distraction which could put the individual and the group in greater danger due to the loosening of that bonding process or the missed training.

The link below looks at the rise of Wokeness and its cost in the military. What exactly is the upside to such a program and what sort of measurement if any, is being used to judge its impact? For generations, the U.S. military was seen by most as an equal opportunity operation. Not always, not perfectly, but its mindset like society’s and like the weapons it employs has been in a constant state of evolution. Does the ideology of Wokeness enhance or subvert that natural evolution and distract from the primary functions of the military? The margin for error in the military is small and can easily be a mater of life and death. Is it correct to experiment with an organization on which the fundamental security of the nation depends? Read the article which may help you decide.

There are voices in the land forecasting a new American Civil War; I disagree. I do believe however, that we have unknowingly been in a revolution for a few decades. It is a revolution from the radical Left which has sought to alter many of the fundamental institutions and beliefs which has driven our nation. Attacks on the legitimacy of the Supreme Court, Electoral College, the police, and others has served to split our Republic into a variety of warring tribes. Add to this the attack on the rights of parents from the medical and educational establishments and the flaunting of basic biological facts have driven many on the center and right to demand a counter revolution.

The failures of highly touted and well-funded governmental agencies during the recent pandemic have shown that they have lost sight of their primary responsibilities; working to protect the public from the exact type of challenge offered by Covid. Where have they gone wrong and how do they regain any degree of legitimacy in the eyes of those not aligned with the radical Left? The attached article suggests that those charged with specific duties have gone astray and need to be brought back to center

https://www.dailysignal.com/wp-content/uploads/220823_Fauci-1260×650.jpg

The California Air Resource Board (an unelected regulatory body) is pushing for California to join the EU and Canada in only allowing EVs to be sold in the state by 2035. The state (like the EU and Canada) is unprepared for such a change over as it only has about one-third of the necessary charging stations, plus the electric grid is not able to manage hundreds of thousands of EVs all charging at the same time.  One of the suggestions is that EV owners should spend several thousands of dollars (on top of the already inflated EV prices) to install solar panel at their homes. At the same time, there is no industry in place to dispose of or recycle either old EV batteries millions of solar panels which are nearing their twenty-five-year life cycle.

Of course, powering all the EVs will require either additional nuclear generating plants, or a vast increase in fossil-based plants which will hardly insure the zero-emission goal for 2035. There are no plans, funding or clearing of environmental lawsuits from numerous special interest groups for an expansion of fossil or nuclear facilities so the practical feasibility of success by 2035 would require a crash program of funding and construction. There is no such talk to support the reality of sufficient supply except for the thirty billion in the recently passed Inflation Reduction Act which will have to spread over all fifty states. The Watts Bar Nuclear Plant #2 in Tennessee took forty years to build and two new plants in Georgia have seen their costs rise from fourteen to twenty-three billion ($14 billion to $23 billion).

The linked article points out that “the future is eclectic, not electric.”

https://www.city-journal.org/how-hybrids-can-beat-electric-vehicles-on-emissions

“What we have here, is a failure to communicate.”  That is one of the most famous movie lines of all time. It could be altered to sum up the average person’s view of government; “What we have here is a failure to listen to your citizens.”  We seem to have a growing belief that government, at many levels, goes about its business without caring about the people it is there to serve, without learning from their failed policies. Government (and in this specific instance, the Federal government) seems to go on its merry way, instituting policies that fail time far more than they are successful; ignoring basic rules of economics and human nature, is wasteful and those who are entrusted with the wealth of the land are incompetent and corrupt while being without fear of retribution. I must admit that the government is excellent at merchandising, a prime being the recently passed Inflation Reduction Act which has little to do with reducing inflation and much to do with vast sums of borrowed money given to a select few political favored industries which have yet to live up to even minimally acceptable standards.

We live in a time where politicians can lie and change the standards by which they are judged. The traditional definition of when a recession starts is thrown out, or the border is secure even through we can see that millions have entered our country illegally. Too many politicians seem to believe in telling the big lie; tell it often enough and it will become the truth.

We have a trust deficit because politicians have become so arrogant in their distain to the average person. Perhaps they believe that because they are re-elected so many times, despite their policy failures, the average person really must be stupid. What other explanation can there be for their hold on office? But the average person is beginning to awaken; it has happened before in our nation, when the lies, corruption and cronyism became so blatant that the people literally did “throw the bums out.”  Are we approaching that time? When our politicians and their families make millions working with a foreign power determined to replace us, when our leaders institute economic policies which destroy the opportunity for a better life, we need to see a day of reckoning.

The attached article provides examples of how government speak is wearing thin as reality hits more citizens. It is time for the “protected” class to feel some of the pain their inflict on the “unprotected” citizens. The actions of busing a few thousand illegal immigrants to sanctuary cities is having an effect (although I would prefer, they be bussed to certain parts of Delaware and around the neighborhoods of those pols who distain border walls). Americans are losing confidence in the ruling class; all they want is to be told the truth and to have accountability. If that is too difficult for today’s political leadership, then they deserve to reap what they sow.

https://nypost.com/2022/07/28/team-biden-denies-were-in-a-recession-americans-dont-trust-government/

One of the most hotly contested rules of the Covid lockdown was the various mask mandates. Wearing a mask was a mark of subservience to the unscientific political whims of elected officials who suddenly seemed to believe that they had secret knowledge of Covid. The rules and exemptions were often silly and illogical, such as being allowed to not wear a mask when dining out, but if you went to the washroom, you needed to wear the mask while in transit. Or, if on an airplane, keep the mask on during flight service but you could quickly slip it down while taking a sip of your beverage. Somehow Covid would be too slow to attack you or slip past your uncovered mouth during those couple of seconds. It always struck me as odd that healthcare workers often had to wear hazmat suits while treating patients, but we could all help stop Covid by wearing a cheap piece of cloth for days on end.

Finally, we are seeing some studies which show that wearing masks may be a wonderful way to be virtue signaling, but aside from puffing up one’s ego, it does little if anything to successfully fight off Covid.

Re-reading Barbara Tuchman’s The March of Folly from Troy to Vietnam (originally published in 1984) and reviewing the foolish foreign policy decisions around the world since then, seems to give proof to the statement by John Adams that government, “is little better practiced now than three or four thousand years ago.”  Policy makers seem to delight in flying in the face of common sense, logic, and facts in pursuit of their policies. A wiser man than most, Jordan Peterson once said that when he makes a major decision, he does not look at the best possible outcome, but the downside cost if he is wrong. Too bad that statement is not hammered onto the desktop of every government policy wonk as a warning against their hopes and dreams.

In her book, Tuchman studies the times, forces and choices made by the Greeks who were given a horse, the Renaissance Popes, the British lost of the colonies and American leaders regarding our experience in Viet Nam. Of course, trying to separate fact from fable in the story of Troy is the most difficult, in part because the very ideas that a hollow wooden horse filled with one’s enemies willingly being brought into the city of Troy defies logic. Yet Tuchman does an excellent job of examining the tales from several sides and trying to understand how the leaders of Troy ignored legends, omens, and warnings. The result is well known and should serve as a warning against acting on the basis on ego and hubris.

As much of the world is finding out, “green” energy is expensive. Electricity rates in Germany are 3-4 times higher than in the U.S., in California they are 2-3 times higher than in the rest of the U.S., the list goes on and on. Added to this is the fact that it is unreliable and even if all noble targets were reached, the world would still get 75% of it’s energy from fossil fuels.

But the numbers are even worse than we think, for the rates do not include the subsidies which we all pay for delivery for unreliable service. In 2017, the Department of Energy found that subsidies to the “green” sector were running ten times higher than to fossil fuels. This does not include the problem yet unsolved, of disposal of wind turbine blades (mostly buried in some remote location), recycling of solar panels and batteries which have outlived their efficiency, etc.

The promise of efficient, clean, and dependable “green” energy is a myth. The cost of “green” energy has not gone down, the cost of electric autos continues to climb, and we face the fact that lower- and middle-income families are subsidizing electric cars for the wealthier; this is a transfer of wealth from the poorest to the richest. Robin Hood in reverse.

The article below has the nerve to include all the costs involved in going “green.”  The energy czar still flies on his private jet, not one auto in the President’s garage has gone electric but you are paying more for the privilege of going to work, buying food, and simply trying to make a better life. How long will this be allowed to go on?

There seems to be a war on food; worldwide, we see national leaders following policies which have been proven to lessen the amount of food, increase prices on food and create social upheaval. The attached article points out that the Netherlands, the worlds second-largest exporter of agricultural goods by value after the U.S., is determined to shut down over 11,000 livestock farms and have another 17,600 farmers reduce their herds. The noble goal is to reduce the amount of nitrogen and ammonia emissions to protect European nature areas.

What is interesting is that the same national leaders are not producing solutions to problems what will occur by their actions. Higher unemployment, higher food prices, a loss of international trade, etc. And these actions fly in the known result of such “green” policies as exhibited in Sri Lanka where widespread rioting led to not only a reversal of “green” policies, but the overthrow of the government. Worldwide, we see similar actions such as in Canada where the government has a goal of cutting nitrates by thirty percent within eight years. Farmers face a difficult choice of submitting to working for less, or spending more by planting more acreage even though the Canadian government has just raised the price of fuel further cutting into practical solutions.

At one time, one could believe that governmental leaders were at least trying to help the citizens have a better life, but it is becoming increasingly difficult as we see policies aimed directly to the detriment of the citizens. Wind power, solar power, cutting agricultural productivity, limiting energy choices, do we really have to put up with leaders to seem bend on policies of de-civilization? Must we boldly march backwards into the fifteenth century?

https://www.wsj.com/articles/europes-green-vision-finds-latest-foe-in-dutch-farmers-angered-by-greenhouse-gas-targets-11659690358?page=1

One of the great lessons of the recent pandemic, was the realization that the average American can be as cowed by the authorities as anyone else in the world. The image of the rugged, individualistic American has been severely damaged, and it shall be difficult to regain. It appears that most Americans are as sheep like as the typical Europeans who have left their individual sense of worth in the hands of the bureaucracy generations ago in exchange for the welfare state.

I fully realize that Covid was a new virus and that consequently, there were destined to be many errors in attacking it. That is to be expected and anyone who expects politicians, scientists, doctors, other self-proclaimed experts to be on target with every decision is foolish; we are all human and subject to pressures, politics and pre-conceived notions as we move through the challenges of life. But we should be able to expect those who are in positions of power to act in a relatively rational manner. Remember the Governor who decreed that consumers could purchase certain products at a store but not others? Did she have insight that Covid was attracted to certain products or activities than others? What about another Governor who distained the emergency services provided by the Federal government because he did not want to give credit to a President he disliked? How does that square with the deaths of thousands due to his decision? The list goes on and on, especially of politicians who made medical and policy decisions for which they had little if any training.

Perhaps the single individual who did more to destroy that iconic image more than anyone was Dr. Anthony Fauci. As the pandemic went on, he spoke increasingly Ex-Cathedra finally stating that “If you attack me, you attack science.”  The problem was that his version of “science” had little in common with traditional science. Clink the link below for a review of the five mistakes Dr. Fauci made which brought about terrible results. What makes those errors even worse, is that even today, he holds some of the same views despite the proven costliness of those policies. As time goes on, those who were pushed out of the decision-making process because they dared to disagree with him and his policies are being seen in a new light, for they represented “science” as we traditionally think of it as a realm of questioning as opposed to an area of dogma.

Perhaps, just perhaps, more Americans will be a bit more skeptical next time and so easily bullied into giving up so much freedom to self-proclaimed “experts.”

https://nypost.com/2022/07/23/dr-anthony-faucis-5-disastrous-covid-mistakes/

Since the outbreak of the Russian invasion of the Ukraine, Western leaders have followed a strategy of providing the Ukrainians enough weapons and support to hold the Russians at bay but not enough to defeat the invaders. The reason is that the West is concerned with what Putin might do if backed into a situation where he is facing defeat; would he go nuclear or unleash some biological weapon? If he did, would such a response be limited to the area of the Ukraine or would he in a fit of anger, target NATO members? While Putin may appear to be unstable or not have a grasp of reality to some, he has been highly successful in keeping the Western nations at bay while increasing his influence with other nations who are not in the immediate area. All the while, the people of the Ukraine bleed to death while attempting to keep the Russian forces at bay, while hoping for a change in Russian leadership. A strategy of attrition by the West using someone else’s blood.