Turning the Tables on the Left

They're gearing up their organizing efforts. They are quite proud of their work, putting links to various organizing manuals/documents on their website. I've downloaded some of the more pertinent docs/pdfs, and plan to use them:

• To show how the 'organic street protests' are nothing like what they are said to be, but a deliberate, programmed effort to destroy the administration and put themselves back in power.
• To learn more about Leftist tactics and strategies - you have to Know Your Enemy, as a famous military leader once said. Patton would agree:
• "What he said during a battle in North Africa may be legend, but it typifies the man. Patton’s troops and tanks were engaged in a successful counterattack of German forces under General Erwin Rommel. Patton is reported to have shouted in the thick of the battle, “I read your book, Rommel! I read your book!” And that he did. In Rommel’s book Infantry Attacks, the famed “Desert Fox” carefully detailed his military strategy. And Patton, having read it and knowing what to expect, planned his moves accordingly."

Willful Misunderstanding The Opposition

One of the ways that Leftists/Progressives get their side agitated and willing to commit their bodies, their minds, and - most importantly - their money to the Leftist agendas is to use their opposition's words (or some twisted reading of those words) to excite their base. Such an opportunity happened, again, recently. Here's what Ta-Nehisi Coates had to say about it:

On Monday, the retired four-star general and White House Chief of Staff John Kelly asserted that “the lack of an ability to compromise led to the Civil War.” This was an incredibly stupid thing to say. Worse, it built on a long tradition of endorsing stupidity in hopes of making Americans stupid about their own history. Stupid enjoys an unfortunate place in the highest ranks of American government these days.

 Note what Kelly DIDN'T say - that the North SHOULD have compromised on the principle that no man should be owned. He merely affirmed the reality - that, because the main issue did not allow for compromise, the Civil War resulted.

The other unacceptable thing that Kelly said was:

Robert E. Lee was an honorable man" who "gave up his country for his state, which 150 years ago was more important than country.

 Apparently, actually understanding the norms of that time, which were exactly what Kelly stated, is horrible, vicious racism.

I've grown tired of using the historical record, logic, and patience to combat hysterical and rabid fulmination that replaces fervor for facts. For too many in the Progressive camp, it is impossible to engage them in discussion. Their understanding of how that works is:

• State the most twisted interpretation of reality, loosely based on facts
• When any, or all of those points are refuted, with proof, either
• Veer off into another topic
• Scornfully assert that the sources are unreliable
• Insist that only a racist/homophobe/h8r could possible say what the opponent just said. If they don't immediately fold, use that as "proof" that they are a Nazi
• Start chanting
• Write a vicious Tweet, FB post, SnapChat critique - block that person, so their arguments won't infect any of your followers, or that they will use your inane posts in their own social media
• Declare victory over the Fascists
• When the non-Leftist becomes weary of the tirades, use that as "proof" that they lost the argument
• Repeat, over and over and over...

It's tedious. It's time-consuming. It's what political/cultural discourse has become in this country.

I still occasionally dip into the fray. Sometimes, an issue comes up that I just HAVE to respond. Mostly, I'm out of it. Sometimes, several days can go by before I realize that I haven't seen the news - on TV or the Internet. I've been in a bubble, and missed some tedious "incident".

Some of that ability to disconnect is due to Trump (not that he's all that perfect). Over the last year, I've seen a lot of TrumpTweets, followed by furious opposition and scorn for his stupidity. Over and over.

What I have not seen is effective opposition to his initiatives - reversing the Executive Orders of Obama, selecting non-Leftist judges, putting people in charge of the departments who are working to de-Alinsky-ize the bureaucracy, and moving international relations in a less agenda-driven direction.

Small things. Important things. Little noticed things.

So, gradually, I've unwound from a white-knuckled tension, worried about what fresh Hell a Leftist president could unleash, to a more relaxed position. In short, I'm relatively at peace.

That being the case, I'm able to focus on other things - my family finances, personal/home organization, my family, and my writing (books). 

I'm writing the second book, using National Novel Writing Month as a vehicle to speed the process. Once December 1 hits, I'll temporarily set that book aside to finish the revisions on the first one.

I'll be meeting with a copy editor in the next week, to arrange a time she can slot me into her schedule. The deadline for revisions will depend, in part, on that.

I'm really excited about the next book. It's one that I've been thinking about for around 25 years.

Earth has a protest problem - the Alien8, colonists from one of Earth's first podcities, are a symbol of 'Spacism' - inequitable treatment of the Off-Earth pioneers living on the home planet.

They've captured the attention of the media and various Vir-Families - those groups that comprise Virtual Families of like-minded citizens.

The protests are spreading, threatening both public order - and, as of today, the leader of the opposition to the Alien8, Milt-201 "The SlingRocket" Gonzalez.

Who was found dead. In Cleveland. On the 9th Street Pier. With a hatchet buried in his neck.

The task of solving this murder, and keeping the Alien8 from tearing the city apart, falls to Aylea, Director of the Violent Crimes Division. She battles city leaders, the regional representatives of the Earth-Colony Regulatory Commission, the protestors and their allies, and police officers and their leadership, to find out who killed Gonzalez.

An offer you can't refuse

Enemies Foreign and Domestic

Domestic Enemies

Foreign Enemies and Traitors

All from Matt Bracken, the author of the in-depth article

"TET, TAKE TWO: ISLAM’S 2016 EUROPEAN OFFENSIVE," linked to earlier today.

Rebel with a cause: #FreeSpeech and the flying of the #ConfederateFlag

It started with a cartoon on Wednesday, then a little bit of a video rant on Thursday. Since it's Friday, I'm sharing both here. Like I said in one of those places (or was it on Facebook?), I never cared to wear this particular flag before. Now that it's come down to a Free Speech & Free Expression issue? I just can't help myself.

Do you agree or disagree with my premise that the flag, "isn't about slavery; it's a sign of rebellion against 'Authori-TAH'?"

The Ant, Atlanta, and Allatoona

King Solomon said, “Go to the ant, you sluggard!  Consider her ways and be wise, Which, having no captain, Overseer or ruler, Provides her supplies in the summer, And gathers her food in the harvest.”

We recently spent a few days at Lake Allatoona, in Bartow County, Georgia.  While there, I met a woman who was devoted to gardening, canning, and tanning (of animal hides).  I asked why she felt that compulsion.  She said, “Since I was a teenager, God has put it in my heart to get ready.” Canning and tanning in 2015 – how primitive.  Although her desire to be self-reliant may seem out of step now, she would have been in good company in Allatoona 150 years earlier.  

In spring, 1864, General Sherman’s forces bypassed the Allatoona area on their way to Atlanta.  Nonetheless, Allatoona remained strategically important since the Western and Atlantic Railroad ran through it.  Sherman knew the terrain could be easily defended because twenty years earlier, in 1844, as a young Lieutenant, Sherman had ridden through there on horseback.  

Because of Sherman’s foreknowledge, his axis of advance from Tennessee to Atlanta initially bypassed the Allatoona Pass.  He later secured Allatoona to establish a logistical hub from June until November of 1864. The rail line and surrounding area were deemed indispensable to supporting Sherman’s “scorched earth” strategy, his 100,000 man Army, the September 1864 sacking of Atlanta, and eventual March to the Sea.    

Failing to halt the Federal forces’ advance on Atlanta, the Confederates determined their best way to stop Sherman would be an attack on Allatoona.  On October 5, 1864, Confederate General Samuel French moved his 3,300 man Division northward to attack the Federal supply base.  They also intended to “fill up the deep cut at Allatoona with logs, brush, rails, dirt, etc.”  The “needless effusion of blood” produced a high percentage of casualties: 706 Union; 897 Confederate.  The Rebels destroyed about eight miles of rail line, but were unsuccessful in blocking the pass, destroying the garrison, and were unable to seize or destroy the one million rations stored there.

Regarding the Federal forces, one report says, “Elements were out of control and sacked homes depleting meager supplies.” Concluding that, “Property destruction and the deaths of one-third of Bartow county's soldiers during the war caused financial and social calamity for many.”  

The ransacking of Americans’ finances by the feds continues unabated to this day: a fiscal policy of printing and pumping, $18 trillion in debt, and trillions more in unfunded liabilities.  They fail to enforce our borders and then bestow benefits on the lawbreakers.  

A recent Wall Street Journal article reports, “A solid majority (62 percent) of Americans say they have a household budget, but too few have the ability to cover expenses …only 38 percent said they had enough extra money in the bank to pay for emergencies such as car repair bills, visits from plumbers, or small medical problems.”

 

The federal government is not content to just destabilize nearly two-thirds of America’s families.  They’ve weaponized government agencies to threaten all kinds of institutions.  The IRS is targeting conservative organizations.  The EPA is targeting the energy sector.  FEMA is after governors that don’t accept climate change.  Obamacare is sabotaging the medical system and economy in all sorts of ways, and most recently, “The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee released a report saying the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation unfairly treated gun dealers and other companies as illegal entities, convincing banks to stop doing business with them under the Obama administration’s Operation Choke Point.”  Now they’re even naming their destructive operations.   

My newfound Allatoona friend eventually became a Scout leader.  Makes sense-- their motto which has been used by millions of Scouts around the world since 1907, “Be Prepared.”  In Scouting for Boys, the   motto is explained:  “This means you are always in a state of readiness in mind and body to do your duty… by having thought out beforehand any accident or situation that might occur, so that you know the right thing to do at the right moment, and are willing to do it.”  It continues, “BE PREPARED to die for your country if need be, so that when the moment arrives you may charge home with confidence, not caring whether you are going to be killed or not”

It remains to be seen who ultimately will do more destruction to Allatoona and Atlanta, William Tecumseh Sherman or the present administration.  Nonetheless, like the lady at Allatoona and the ant -- Be Prepared.