Whither the world’s policeman?

Since Saturday I’ve been trying to process my thoughts about Afghanistan.  Yes, part of it’s personal, a reaction to seeing the Taliban back in charge, making we wonder if we accomplished anything in two decades of leaving our families for months at a time, risking life and limb, and watching teammates going home in flag-draped caskets.  But it’s more than that.  I think many of us knew when the mission changed from driving the Taliban out of power in late 2001, to one of trying to remake the country into a Western-style democracy, we were going a bridge too far.  I’m not surprised that failed to take root there even after a generation of effort.  We often forget it took Western Civilization centuries of fits and starts to get where we are now (or at least were, before we started eating away at the foundations of our own structures… but that’s off topic for the moment).

What leaves me soberly shaking my head is the utter ignominy of our departure.  We are suffering a global humiliation on a scale not seen in half a century, if even then.  We had already said we were leaving.  But it was supposed to be on our timetable, not the Taliban’s.  They weren’t supposed to be broadcasting from the presidential palace in Kabul while we scrambled helicopters to move our people to the airport, which itself had disintegrated into chaos.  This isn’t a withdrawal.  It’s a rout.  The Afghan forces we lavishly spent time and billions of dollars on simply melted away, while we tried to come to grips with events our intelligence services and leadership said would take far longer to materialize.

This is a national security disaster and likely a turning point in the history of American power and influence.  Not just because a hostile regime is returning to power.  It’s a disaster because of the conclusions both friends and foes will take from it.  Does anyone in either China or Taiwan have reason to believe we will intervene decisively if the former moves to swallow the later?  If America can’t manage a better endgame than this in a technologically lopsided fight against people who aided a stunning attack on us, how likely is it we’ll summon the national resolve to fight a rising peer competitor (China) that claims it’s simply resolving an internal affair?  After all, the last time we fought China (in Korea), the best we managed was an uneasy draw that continues to this day.  Similar assessments are no doubt being made in Moscow and NATO capitals as well.

After Vietnam, our military was demoralized and distrusted, both for good reason.  It took years to rebuild both capability and public confidence.  There is at present little to no reason to believe our national leaders, in and out of uniform, know how to wisely employ our military power.  There is even less reason right now for a Soldier, Sailor, Airman, Marine or Guardian to believe the sacrifices he or she is willing to make for their country will prove meaningful in the end.  In such an environment, who will stay?  Who would join?  And what quality of force will result from those hundreds of thousands of individual decisions that are even now being made?   We spend trillions on our military and intelligence services, but that alone is no guarantee against a hollow force.

We’ve not managed a solid closure to a conflict since 1945.  Even Desert Storm, which seemed to vindicate the oft-heard maxim that we have the best military in the world, dragged out into a decade of combat air patrols and low-intensity shooting matches until we finally decided to oust Saddam after 9/11.  That was followed by years of counterinsurgency warfare, and the jury is still out on what we accomplished in Iraq.  In the absence of realistic strategic objectives and a willingness to fully commit to what is required to achieve them, expensive hardware and brave Americans can only accomplish so much.  And much has been asked of them over the past thirty years.  War without end was never what the early Americans envisioned for the nation they fashioned.

Patriotic Americans are quick to thank military members for their service.  The sentiment is appreciated, but the average non-veteran citizen simply can’t comprehend the cumulative costs of that service: broken veterans, strained and failed marriages, the emotional baggage carried by the children of military families.  The legions are beyond tired, the equipment is wearing out, and from the world’s perspective right now, it appears the Emperor has no clothes.  We won’t even secure our own border, so how likely is it we’ll fight to the death over Poland’s or Ukraine’s?  Our geopolitical ego, to crib a phrase, has written checks our willpower is unlikely to cash.  And our enemies know it.

The world became more dangerous on September 11, 2001, but you ain’t seen nothing yet.

Saturday Patriot Sounds

The next couple weeks will be a milestone in our nation’s history, one way or the other. As part of that, thousands of Americans plan to descend January 6th into the pit known as Mordor D.C. at the request of the President, to show their support for the current administration and investigations into alleged electoral fraud in November. This week’s Saturday Sounds are dedicated to all of them, and to all of us praying that God spares us a fraudulent Biden (or should I say Harris) administration, and returns of the rule of law to this country.

Tripling down – and getting personal

I’ve written before about attorney Lin Wood’s accusations against Supreme Court Justice John Roberts and Associate Justice Stephen Breyer. Last night, Wood tripled down:

I pointed out before that Wood is an expert defamation lawyer. He is also admitted to practice law before the U.S. Supreme Court. The fact he has not yet been sued, nor barred from the Supreme Court, nor disciplined by his State bar, makes this ongoing series of tweets stand out amid the noise since the election. But don’t count on seeing any coverage of these accusations in the corporate media.

In fact, I’m noting an interesting trend here on WordPress with my humble little blog. The first time I wrote about Wood, I kept getting error messages, failure to save drafts, and such. It also kept trying to block me from using certain tags on the post. I ended up rewriting the entire post before it was over. I chalked it up to imperfections of the internet. Today, however, as I tried to upload the tweet above, WordPress went nuts, claiming I was not an authorized editor of this account, etc. Multiple attempts to add it failed. If you look closely, you’ll see I subtly modified the background color of the tweet by running a few pencil lines of a slightly different color in Photoshop. I then screenshot the open file, capturing another photo behind it on the sides. It then uploaded on the first try with no issue at all.

What does this mean? Given online chatter I’ve seen about algorithms being used by social media to suppress information, it would appear Wood’s tweet has been targeted. Adding other colors to the background and additional information around the side defeated the algorithm.

There’s a saying: once is an accident, twice a coincidence, three times is enemy action. While I’ve only experienced this twice, given that both times it was writing about the same subject, I’m inclined to think we’re beyond coincidence. I moved this site from Blogger to WordPress in 2013. In seven years, I’ve never seen it do what it has with these two posts. I could play devil’s advocate and say social media is squelching defamatory accusations — except the lack of reaction by Roberts, the Supreme Court, and Wood’s home bar seem to indicate they’re not treating them as defamatory.

Make of all this what you will. There are, of course, other things happening these days. Yesterday during a hearing by the Georgia Senate, an IT expert reported a live hack of a Dominion machine in use for the Georgia U.S. Senate runoff races — proving both that the machines are online (they aren’t supposed to be), and can be hacked. In addition, a statistical expert who works with the Department of Justice released a non-official report alleging widespread fraud in Georgia and Pennsylvania during the election. (Note: paragraph edited to clarify the report is not an official DOJ product.)

Stay hopeful and keep praying. Truth always wins in the end, no matter the attempts to block it.

UPDATE: Quadrupling down! When I read this tweet just now, I blurted “Oh my God,” causing my wife momentary concern. Wood has either just committed professional suicide and made himself an outcast for all time, or we’re about to see some extraordinary things. I didn’t have to modify this tweet, but it may be new enough the algorithms aren’t looking for it yet. Stay tuned.

Time to alter or abolish

Can anyone make an argument these days that our government does more good than harm? That it actually represents the aspirations of our people, rather than that of a transnational elite that is more interested in personal gain than the public good?

Exhibit A: Congressional leaders finally got around to green-lighting another coronavirus relief package, as part of a $2.3 trillion, 5,500-page pile of last-minute legislation that represents the largest bill ever passed by Congress. The orgy of spending passed hours before the government’s current spending authority was set to lapse. Rank and file members of Congress had only hours to review the final backroom deal before being required to vote on it. I’ve shouted for some time now that this inability of Congress to pass an annual budget before the start of the new fiscal year is simply intolerable, and should always result in them losing their seats. As with everything else, in 2020, this has been further compounded by the coronavirus. I’m not a fan of direct payments to citizens, and I believe this has set a horrible precedent. That said, the $1200 per person earlier this year, plus the $600 just approved, is nothing short of insulting, considering what ELSE was included in all the spending:

• $500 million of foreign aid for Israel (with a population of 8.9 million, that’s $56.17/Israeli)
• $453 million to the Ukraine (haven’t we been entangled enough with them already?)
• $700 million to Sudan (why?)
• $135 million for Burma (ditto…)
• $130 million for Nepal (ditto…)
• $25 million to Pakistan, including money for “gender programs” (I’m sure THAT will make them love us…)
• Approval of two new Smithsonian museums (wonder when it’ll be “safe” to visit them?)
• $14 billion for municipal mass-transit systems, airports and AMTRAK (aren’t we supposed to be at home?)

This is but a small sample, but it makes the point:

Is the dam about to break?

“Nothing is covered up that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. Therefore whatever you have said in the dark shall be heard in the light, and what you have whispered in private rooms shall be proclaimed on the housetops.” Luke 12:2-3

Item 1: The corporate media are finally willing to admit Hunter Biden’s business dealings are questionable enough he’s been the subject of an FBI investigation since 2018. Never mind that honest reporting on that would have been more useful before Nov. 3. Apparently Joe Biden’s brother is also under the microscope. Naturally, Senator Chuck Grassley is annoyed at the previous treatment he received from the press when raising these very issues.

Item 2: Republicans in Congress are calling for the removal of Democratic Congressman Eric Swalwell from the sensitive House Intelligence Committee, after public revelations in Axios that he was targeted by a Chinese agent who helped his campaigns, and even placed an intern in his office. There are (as yet) unverified accusations the relationship was even closer than that. Ironically, Swalwell was one of the leading voices charging President Trump with being under Russian influence. And as the Axios story makes clear, he was far from the only U.S. official targeted by Christine Fang and her fellow agents.

Item 3: California Senator Dianne Feinstein, last in the national news after it was revealed her personal driver/staffer for 20 years was also a Chinese spy, is now publicly reported to have been confronted by Senate Majority leader Chuck Schumer due to her alleged cognitive decline. It just so happens that Feinstein serves on the Senate Select Committee for Intelligence (see a pattern here?). At age 87, Feinstein has probably outlived her usefulness to the Democrats, so why not kick her to the curb to show belated concern over cognitive health in public officials… just in time to remove a projected President Biden from office in favor of Kamala Harris?

Item 4: While the corporate press is desperately trying to convince everyone there’s nothing shady about the Dominion voting systems used in all four of the States currently being sued by Texas and 22 other States, this was not always their story, as this report from NBC just a year ago shows:

The secrecy of ES&S [Dominion’s parent company] and its competitors has pushed politicians to seek information on security, oversight, finances and ownership. This month, a group of Democratic politicians sent the private equity firms that own the major election vendors a letter asking them to disclose a range of such information, including ownership, finances and research investments.

“The voting machine lobby, led by the biggest company, ES&S, believes they are above the law,” said Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., a member of the Intelligence Committee who co-signed the letter. “They have not had anybody hold them accountable even on the most basic matters.” (emphasis added)

ES&S sold a $400 million stake in October 2020 to UBS Securities LLC… a Chinese investment bank and brokerage firm. Let me restate that: less than a month before the 2020 election, $400 million of Chinese funds flowed into a company that owns voting machines used in 28 States.

China has a lot of friends, and increasing influence over what happens here… as they’re starting to admit out loud:

The Deep Breath

The need for discernment in the days ahead will be greater than ever. To paraphrase Tolkien from Return of the King, “It’s the deep breath before the plunge… the board is set; the pieces are moving.”

I believe the United States currently faces its greatest crisis since 1861. Yes, we’ve fought against Nazis, Soviets, etc, but as Abraham Lincoln put it more than 20 years before the Civil War, “if destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher.” As things currently stand, no matter who is inaugurated January 20, roughly half the country will consider him an illegitimate president. Trump supporters have good reasons to believe the election last month was manipulated to produce a Biden victory. But should Trump’s challenges prevail in the state legislatures and courts, and overturn that verdict, the unprecedented chain of events will seem equally shady to the Left, who simply cannot abide the Bad Orange Man.

Unless there is indisputable evidence the public can see and easily understand, I don’t see how this situation resolves without a high probability of the two factions resorting to blows. Not one, but two retired three-star military officers have suggested publicly that Trump use some form of martial law, during which the military would oversee a new election — one supposedly safeguarded against the chicanery that appears to have occurred in November. As a retired military officer, who swore to uphold the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic, I’m instinctively appalled at any suggestion the president take such action. Suspending standing law during an ’emergency,’ real or perceived, has often been the first act of a would-be tyrant. Regular readers of this blog know I have been a Trump supporter, and believe his actions and agenda have been largely good for the country. But I’ve also noted more than once he is a flawed character, and his public displays reveal a temperament that needs external moderation and governance. Unbound, even briefly, by the framework carefully crafted by our nation’s founders, it is not clear what sort of executive he might become.

And yet… is that more dangerous than the real possibility of a Leftist cabal seizing unchallenged power (including the Senate, which is still up for grabs) through what appear to be constitutional means, but are in reality a sham version of what is supposed to be an expression of the people’s will? If the president has conclusive evidence the election was severely compromised, and neither the State legislatures nor the courts will intervene, what does the president’s own oath to the Constitution require in response? Faced with large-scale (and, after Ft. Sumter, violent) rejection of Federal authority in 1861, Lincoln did not hesitate to act, suspending the right of habeas corpus, and issuing a call for 75,000 militia — in essence, preparing to apply martial law in the States attempting to secede. Lincoln’s actions were controversial then (four additional States — Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee and Arkansas — seceded rather than comply) and debated today, but there is no question they helped achieve his stated purpose: to enforce the Union.

In issuing his call for militia, Lincoln cited “combinations too powerful to be suppressed by the ordinary course of judicial proceedings, or by the powers vested in the Marshals by law.” Is it possible today, as some accuse, that not only Democrat, but some Republican officials, are unwilling to consider evidence that would vindicate the president? That they would rather see him defrauded of office, because he is not of their globalist/corporatist clique that crosses party lines? Possibly. We foolishly like to think “it can’t happen here,” but history certainly provides ample exhibits of the complete corruption of legal and governmental structures. Would such deliberate derelictions of duty constitute “combinations” that justified the president to act outside the Constitution in an effort to save it?

That such a case is being voiced — loudly — in some quarters shows the peril we are in. I only know this: if Trump “crosses the Rubicon,” as some are urging, he’d better be prepared to show indisputable evidence of its necessity, including complicity in an election scheme by all the normal entities (legislatures, courts, etc) that should have blocked it. Otherwise, any legitimacy he has will be forfeited in the public’s mind, and that is where the real battle is always fought.

Precipitous action without ironclad evidence will likely destroy the barely United States — and may do so even with it. Our republic has been sick for a long time — some would argue since the end of the War Between the States. Like ancient Rome, we have our patrician families: Clinton, Bush, Kennedy, and other, more regional surnames that recur every election. They jostle for power with public consequences, just as their counterparts did centuries ago. The personal ambitions that subverted the celebrated virtues of Republican Rome, and eventually its society, are the same sinful ones present in our own.

Pray, fellow patriot. For wisdom, clarity and discernment for all our countrymen. For selfless statesmanship of a kind that occasionally manifests and diffuses explosive situations. For decisiveness by those who may be called upon to act in extraordinary circumstances. And most of all, for a turn to Christ, who alone can bridge the wide fault lines that have grown dangerously active in this country. Pray, and pay close attention, for in these circumstances, deception abounds.

Government theatrics

From a recent op-ed:

If you go to a restaurant in Gotham right now, you might be subjected to a temperature check. It’s no big deal, it takes a second — but it’s pointless; plenty of COVID-positive people don’t have a fever. So why do we do it? It’s part of a growing trend of COVID-19 security theater. We do things that have no bearing on our actual safety but that make us feel safe…

…Americans love their security theater. That was the lesson of post-9/11 air travel. And perhaps feeling safe might be good enough, for now. People wearing masks in ridiculous situations might be OK, if it means more people are going outside and we can return to normalcy.

But in the long-term, our pretend safety will have consequences. If rules seem dumb, and they do, Americans may stop following them altogether. The arbitrariness and hypocrisy displayed by the likes of Cuomo and Fauci could lead to people rebelling against following any of it.

Regular readers might well guess why I excerpted the part I did about “security theater.”  Rather than write it out, I’ll add my humble contribution to a current meme:

Given the legitimate concerns about the vaccine industry well before the arrival of COVID, I don’t plan to line up to be a guinea pig for anything Bill Gates or Tom Hanks encourages us to let someone jab into our bodies (what, exactly, are their credentials in this field?).  Make no mistake: COVID is real and in some cases lethal.  I personally know people who have had it.  I also realize that by published statistics, only 3.7 percent of diagnosed cases worldwide have resulted in fatalities.  Given the high likelihood there are millions of milder, non-diagnosed cases, the mortality rate is likely far lower.

But even a 96.3 percent survival rate, in my mind, is far better survival odds than putting my fate in the hands of Big Government and Big Pharma.  Sorry, gang, but squandered trust is not easily regained.

As for TSA, it should come as no surprise I’ve not flown commercially since retiring from the military four years ago… and that’s by conscious choice, as the opportunities have been there.

American insurgency

“The guerrilla must move amongst the people as a fish swims in the sea.” – Mao Zedong

Under cover of protesters reacting understandably to what appears to be yet another instance of police brutality, the enemies of our nation have launched what amounts to a full-blown insurgency.  Pallets of bricks conveniently show up in time to be thrown through store windows.  Networks of celebrities are providing bail money for those who are arrested.  Politicians are pledging support to Antifa, even as the Federal government finally labels it a terrorist organization (spoiler: it always has been).  And the airwaves are thick with misinformation and misdirection, minimizing the extent to which actual violence and destruction have become daily routine over the past week.

And if that wasn’t enough, at least one potential agent provocateur has now been arrested while posing as a National Guardsman.  Keep that in mind the first time you hear of an incident between a Guardsman and a ‘protester.’  Things are not always as they seem, especially in press reports.

This is perhaps the most dangerous moment for the U.S. since 1861.  President Abraham Lincoln rightly pointed out:

At what point shall we expect the approach of danger? By what means shall we fortify against it? Shall we expect some transatlantic military giant, to step the Ocean, and crush us at a blow?  Never!–All the armies of Europe, Asia and Africa combined, with all the treasure of the earth (our own excepted) in their military chest; with a Bonaparte for a commander, could not by force, take a drink from the Ohio, or make a track on the Blue Ridge, in a trial of a thousand years.

At what point then is the approach of danger to be expected? I answer, if it ever reach us, it must spring up amongst us. It cannot come from abroad. If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher. (emphasis added)

And so it was our adversaries, beginning in the Cold War, began the “long march” through American institutions, seizing control of the means to shape the culture in such a way as to alienate a significant portion of the population from loyalty to the United States.  Their efforts were greatly aided by the deep scars of slavery and racism in our country.  One of the major reasons any sort of lasting racial reconciliation eludes us is that the issue is too useful a wedge for gaining influence — and yes, this is a trick used by partisans of many persuasions.  Remember the adage “divide and conquer.”

Now we’ve arrived at a point in our cultural programming where trying to rightly discern between protest and pillaging is dismissed as ‘racist.’  Now Mao’s ‘fish’ in the above quote can swim easily in the ‘sea.’  If only pillaging were the only goal, however.

Mao Zedong literally wrote the book on insurgency, after successfully fighting the Japanese in World War II and toppling the post-war Nationalist government of China.  He identified three phases to a revolutionary insurgency:

(1)  Organize: Build cells and support
(2)  Guerilla Warfare: Undermine the Government
(3)  Conventional (open) Warfare to topple the Government

Our internal enemies are well organized and enjoy considerable support from “the commanding heights” of society: educators, politicians, entertainers, wealthy ‘movers and shakers’ and so forth.  The violence we now witness is the movement into phase two.  Our Federal, State and local leaders are confronted with a choice: show restraint, in which case they look weak, or crack down, in which case the propaganda machine will work overtime to paint them in the worst possible light.  Either way, the insurgents seek to reduce support for our government.  President Trump has openly criticized State and local leaders for not doing more to control the violence.  Contrary to published reports, he is not calling for the arrest or abuse of peaceful protesters.  (Don’t rely on reports: listen to the man’s own words.  And notice ABC’s headline for the linked video.  Do they match?)  The corporate media blur the distinction between protester and criminal so that the president’s calls for law and order appear to be an effort to curb legitimate expressions of dissent.  Heads, they win.  Tails, he loses.

Do not lose sight of the fact that during all of this chaos, the public is not paying attention to the recent declassification and release of very damning documents that show how contrived and politically motivated the entire “Russia Russia Russia” hoax was, and how Michael Flynn was wrongly targeted as part of that process.  Powerful people have great reason to do anything to keep focus from turning to these developments.  Many have remarked about 2020’s penchant for disaster. Think of the main media themes in the U.S. this year: in January, it was impeachment.  Hardly had that fizzled than we were told COVID would kill us all, so better shut society down.  Once it was clear society was tired of being shut down and was de facto on the way to opening up, suddenly a case of police brutality sets the nation on fire.  (By the way, want to see ‘diversity?’  Look at the four officers involved and fired — it wasn’t a gang of white cops, but photos of officers Thao, Kueng and Lane don’t appear in the Minneapolis Star’s report on Monday. Why is that?.)

None of these events are occurring in isolation.  This is not a normal election year.

I believe the experience gained in our overseas fights must be put to use here at home, and quickly.  The networks of support for organizing violent, criminal activity, must be rolled up, and those involved forced to pay a high price for their incitements.  There are very good reasons not to like Donald Trump, who is a deeply flawed man.  But many of his opponents (on both sides of the aisle) are no longer the “loyal opposition” — they are literally fifth columnists who are a domestic threat to the Constitution of the United States, willing to overturn an election through rumor and innuendo from within the apparatus of shadowy government agencies.  Never forget that our leaders and our armed forces take an oath requiring them to defend that document against ALL enemies, foreign AND domestic.  At the very least, there are a large number of people guilty of sedition in this country.  And while treason is a word too lightly tossed around these days, an argument could be made it’s applicable in some cases as well.

Even if the government moves effectively to end the current crisis, it’s not finished.  The reason insurgency is so hard to defeat is that unless the ideas and motives behind it are completely discredited, even losing in stage three can leave a small cadre of the committed to begin all over again.  This is the type of war we have been fighting in Afghanistan and the Middle East since 9/11, and the reason Al Qaeda and Islamic State still persist, however diminished.  Killing combatants is easy.  Killing an idea is damned well impossible.  (I use “damned” deliberately, as the resiliency of Marxist and Jihadist aspirations, despite the long historical record of horrors in their names, shows the hellish perniciousness of their deceit.)

This is why the price of freedom is eternal vigilance.  We have been lulled into complacency, our attention directed anywhere other than where it needs to be.  Whether the insurgency grows to phase three or is knocked back to the starting line for another generation depends on Americans learning what’s really going on.  Lots of dots need to be connected to see the picture.  The question is whether we have the attention span and discernment to do so anymore.  Otto von Bismark, the statesman most responsible for the creation of a unified Germany in the 19th Century, is said to have remarked “God has a special providence for fools, drunkards, and the United States of America.”

I certainly hope that still holds true.

The clueless would-be rulers

Today’s must-read, by Walter Mead:

This is not what his critics expected. At 49% overall job approval in the latest Gallup poll, and with 60% approval of the way he is handling the coronavirus epidemic, President Trump’s standing with voters has improved even as the country closed down and the stock market underwent a historic meltdown. That may change as this unpredictable crisis develops, but bitter and often justified criticism of Mr. Trump’s decision making in the early months of the pandemic has so far failed to break the bond between the 45th president and his political base.

One reason Mr. Trump’s opponents have had such a hard time damaging his connection with voters is that they still don’t understand why so many Americans want a wrecking-ball presidency. Beyond attributing Mr. Trump’s support to a mix of racism, religious fundamentalism and profound ignorance, the president’s establishment opponents in both parties have yet to grasp the depth and intensity of the populist energy that animates his base and the Bernie Sanders movement. . . .

That a majority of the electorate is this deeply alienated from the establishment can’t be dismissed as bigotry and ignorance. There are solid and serious grounds for doubting the competence and wisdom of America’s self-proclaimed expert class. What is so intelligent and enlightened, populists ask, about a foreign-policy establishment that failed to perceive that U.S. trade policies were promoting the rise of a hostile Communist superpower with the ability to disrupt supplies of essential goods in a national emergency? What competence have the military and political establishments shown in almost two decades of tactical success and strategic impotence in Afghanistan? What came of that intervention in Libya? What was the net result of all the fine talk in the Bush and Obama administrations about building democracy in the Middle East? . . .

On domestic policy, the criticism is equally trenchant and deeply felt. Many voters believe that the U.S. establishment has produced a health-care system that is neither affordable nor universal. Higher education saddles students with increasing debt while leaving many graduates woefully unprepared for good jobs in the real world. The centrist establishment has amassed unprecedented deficits without keeping roads, bridges and pipes in good repair. It has weighed down cities and states with unmanageable levels of pension debt…

…Mr. Trump’s supporters are not comparing him with an omniscient leader who always does the right thing, but with the establishment—including the bulk of the mainstream media—that largely backed a policy of engagement with China long after its pitfalls became clear. For Americans who lost their jobs to Chinese competition or who fear the possibility of a new cold war against an economically potent and technologically advanced power, Mr. Trump’s errors pale before those of the bipartisan American foreign-policy consensus…

…the U.S. establishment won’t prosper again until it comes to grip with a central political fact: Populism rises when establishment leadership fails. If conventional U.S. political leaders had been properly doing their jobs, Donald Trump would still be hosting a television show. (emphasis added)

To reinforce the point, Exhibit A, from the just-passed Senate coronavirus relief bill:

The legacy media portion of the establishment is no better, in their deranged hatred both for Trump and those in the country who prefer risking him rather than the proven failures of past leadership.  CBS screamed in a headline recently that a man died and his wife was seriously hurt after taking an anti-malarial drug (hydroxycloroquine) Trump and Democratic New York Governor Andrew Cuomo have expressed optimism about as a possible treatment for COVID-19.  The problem?  What the Arizona couple actually did was notice their fish tank cleaner contained the chemical, and consumed it as a preventative measure, without consulting any medical expert.  Only two-thirds of the way through the story does it clarify the headline: “The difference between the fish tank cleaning additive that the couple took and the drug used to treat malaria is the way they are formulated.”  In other words, despite the headline, the couple didn’t take the drug.  They drank fish tank cleaner!  A factual headline, though, wouldn’t have been potentially damaging to Trump, which seems to be the primary goal of all mainstream journalism these days, facts and context be damned.

We’re supposed to be practicing social distancing.  But the elites in this country are (and have been for some time) so far out of touch with the common person’s daily experience that it shouldn’t be a surprise the latter has had more than enough of the former.

Government by gangsterism

Senator Chuck Schumer personifies the authoritarian nature of the Left: “our way, or else.”

In front of the Supreme Court Wednesday, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer joined pro-choice protesters on the day justices debated the constitutionality of [legislation in Louisiana] titled “Louisiana Unsafe Abortion Protection Act.”

During his speech, Schumer made threatening remarks aimed at Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh.

“I want to tell you Neil Gorusch, and you Brett Kavanaugh, you have unleashed a whirlwind, and you will pay the price,” Schumer said. “You won’t know what hit you, if you go forward with these awful decisions.” (emphasis added)

How inappropriate were these remarks?  His spokesman strained credulity to the limit trying to walk them back:

Sen. Schumer’s comments were a reference to the political price Senate Republicans will pay for putting these justices on the court, and a warning that the justices will unleash a major grassroots movement on the issue of reproductive rights against the decision,” Schumer spokesman Justin Goodman said in a statement.

A plain reading of Schumer’s remarks reveals no reference to the GOP’s political fortunes, only two Supreme Court justices being called out by name.  Nor is this the first time Schumer has engaged in marginally veiled personal threats:

The new leader of Democrats in the Senate says Donald Trump is being “really dumb” for picking a fight with intelligence officials, suggesting they have ways to strike back, after the president-elect speculated Tuesday that his “so-called” briefing about Russian cyberattacks had been delayed in order to build a case.

New Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) said Tuesday that President-elect Donald Trump is “being really dumb” by taking on the intelligence community and its assessments on Russia’s cyber activities.

“Let me tell you, you take on the intelligence community, they have six ways from Sunday at getting back at you,” Schumer told MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow.

Former Justice Antonin Scalia, often considered one of the most influential conservative jurors in the history of the Supreme Court, died in 2016 under circumstances that offered plenty of opportunity for so-called ‘conspiracy theory.’  When such public threats as Schumer’s are being issued by a ranking member of Congress, and FBI agents are revealed to have sent texts during the last presidential election worrying about a Trump victory and saying “we’ll stop it,” and a reputed pedophile with links to prominent people “commits suicide” in his jail cell despite being a high-profile prisoner, is it any wonder the public increasingly agrees there is a “Deep State” at work that ensures its own purposes regardless the expressed wishes of the American people?

For the record, the Senate should call for Schumer to resign.  His remarks are wholly inappropriate for a person in his position.  Don’t worry, though — I’m not holding my breath.