If these are our "elite," what does that say about us?

The Department of Justice (DOJ) has dropped the charges against General Michael Flynn.  It's about time.  Indeed, they should have never been brought in the first place.  The fact that they were is owing to the profound corruption at the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) the various intelligence agencies, and the DOJ under Obama.  And now, in an article by Mollie Hemingway over at The Federalist entitled Obama, Binden, Oval Office Meeting On January 5 Was Key To Entire Anti-Trump Operation we learn that, just as suspected, the entire operations proceeded from orders from the top.  Hemingway writes:

A clearer picture is emerging of the drastic steps that were taken to accomplish Obama’s goal in the following weeks and months. Shortly thereafter, high-level operatives began intensely leaking selective information supporting a supposed Russia-Trump conspiracy theory, the incoming National Security Advisor was ambushed, and the incoming Attorney General was forced to recuse himself from oversight of investigations of President Trump. At each major point in the operation, explosive media leaks were a key strategy in the operation to take down Trump.

Not only was information on Russia not fully shared with the incoming Trump team, as Obama directs, the leaks and ambushes made the transition chaotic, scared quality individuals away from working in the administration, made effective governance almost impossible, and materially damaged national security. When Comey was finally fired on May 9, in part for his duplicitousness regarding his handling of the Russia collusion theory, he orchestrated the launch of a Special Counsel probe that continued his efforts for another two years. That probe ended with Mueller finding no evidence of any American colluding with Russia to steal the 2016 election, much less Trump or anyone connected to him.

An analysis of the timeline from early 2017 shows a clear pattern of behavior from the federal officials running the collusion operation against the Trump campaign. It also shows how essential media leaks were to their strategy to sideline key law enforcement and intelligence officials and cripple the ability of the incoming Trump administration to run the country.

She goes on to share a timeline of events that clearly show Comey, McCabe, Strzok, Page, and others acting in concert to entrap Flynn, as well as to 'create" evidence for a Russia conspiracy hoax. Of course, as always, gentle readers should read Hemingway's work at the link provided. But it may be helpful to understand why Flynn in particular was targeted. First, McCabe held a personal grudge against Flynn, that he should have put aside when performing his professional duties. The fact that he did not only shows that Flynn was right. However, the real reason is that as National Security Advisor, Flynn would have had to have been briefed on the Russia Conspiracy fraud, and would surely have led to mass firings of people involved. Flynn had to be "got."

We move on now to Derek Hunter's article today at Townhall.com entitled Simply The Worst Types of People. Hunter refers to reporting by Hemingway, both husband and wife, and others to make the point here:

We’ve known all along that his henchmen were, but it turns out Barack Obama, the “scandal-free president,” was also neck-deep in the Russia hoax and the framing of Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn. There’s a bitter irony in a man who spent his life serving our country being smeared by one who spent theirs attempting to break it down.

Of course, audio of a call between Obama and former staffer “leaked” where the ex-president proclaimed outrage over his plan coming to its ultimate and just end. Movies aren’t as scripted as that call and its release.

Its release was an attempt to do what Democrats attempt to do: to lie to the American people; to fool us. If there’s one thing a progressive can’t stand it’s accountability. Barack Obama and his minions don’t want any for their illegal surveillance of the Trump campaign, Democrats in Congress don’t want it for their enabling of that illegal activity, and Democrats in the media don’t want it for anything. But make no mistake, they are all the worst kinds of people, and the future of the country is dependent upon all of them being held accountable for the things they’ve done.

They manufactured a scandal, violated the civil rights of their fellow Americans, ruined lives, and won the House of Representatives for their troubles. From there, they launched an impeachment of a duly elected president of the United States over the same scam.

The entire affair is a sad, sad case. I am not sure the conspirators have any idea of the magnanimity of what they have done. First, the attempted to overthrow a duly elected President of the United States. This is no small thing, and a first in our history. This is the stuff of banana republics, not the United States. Then, the attempted to use the color of law to undermine and eventually to prosecute an innocent man whose only crime was serving the incoming President. The lies, misdirection, manufactured evidence, hiding of exculpating evidence, threats even to his defense attorneys is breathtaking. These people should all be disbarred at least, and probably should serve some prison time as well.

But, of course, the real problem may not be the people who perpetrated this destructive hoax on the American people, but may well be the American people themselves.  If these are our "elite," what does that say about us? 

Police Misbehavior Losing Support For Their Fellow Officers

Once again, Kurt Schlichter has an excellent piece on the issue of the police blindly following orders at Townhall.com entitled Dumb And Corrupt Cops Risk Losing Our Support.

A big chunk of society, mostly on the left, detests the police. It would be a really poor idea to convert the right to that point of view too. But that’s where these trends lead.

Here’s the thing – we normals respect our police not merely because they have badges and funny hats but because they take personal risks to protect us from those who would violate our rights. Usually, these violators are criminals. But the category of “People who violate our rights” also includes political hacks and bureaucratic petty fascists. And we reasonably expect to be protected from those creeps too.

“But we might get suspended or fired!” is the response.

Well, yeah. That’s correct. And that’s immaterial. We flat-out expect cops to run into gunfire to save lives, cowards like that Florida slug aside, just like we expect firemen to run into burning houses. If doing that stuff was easy and safe, they would not get respect and be honored. See, that’s the deal. They get pay and prestige, honor and respect, because they do things other people can’t or won’t for the good of the community. It’s like soldiers – the troops don’t get thanked for their service because their job is kick-back and safe.

The police have discretion in how they perform their duties. One of the things that affects that is the fact that they all take an oath to defend and protect both their State and the U. S. Constitutions. That means that whatever orders they may get must be in line with those two documents. Otherwise, the orders must not be obeyed.

Please go read Schlichter's article. His writing is typically snarky, but beneath that is a very serious issue. While most police officers do the right things most of the time, there are those that enjoy the role of petty tyrant. These need to be weeded out. Their role in society should be as servants of the people, not the peoples bosses. After all, what master who hires a servant then allows the servant to tell him what he may or may not do? For that matter, will a servant be allowed to be better armed than he or she is?

National Day of Prayer

Today is the National Day of Prayer.  Interestingly, this morning during my morning prayers, I was thinking of, and praying for, our Christian communities around the world that are being persecuted around the world.  Then, I opened up the American Thinker and find an article by Lela Gilbert and Arielle Del Turco entitled National Day of Prayer: Remembering Those Suffering Worldwide For Their Faith. God does truly inspire, for while I often pray for people I know, I don't often think about the many people in far off places where fellow Christians are being persecuted.

It does truly amaze me, though, that what one Christian believes so offends others that they want to shut him up, any way they can.  It's as if they think that if Christianity becomes widespread, it might threaten their power.  But that is just crazy, right?  If Christianity became widespread in China, would that truly take down the Chinese Communist Party?  Hmmm...

Now, in places where Islam is the dominant religion, I understand the need to root out Christian belief more.  After all, while the God of Creation, maker of Heaven and Earth, with our Lord Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit is worshiped by Christians, the evil one is the god of Islam, to whom the Muslims dedicate their lives and pray 5 times a day.

To believe in the Christian God is to struggle with God, the very meaning of Israel.  Indeed, that is how Jacob became Israel, by wrestling with God all night long.  Indeed, to read the Bible and try to put it into practice in our daily lives is to struggle with God and his Word:

Genesis 32:22-32 New King James Version (NKJV) Wrestling with God

22 And he arose that night and took his two wives, his two female servants, and his eleven sons, and crossed over the ford of Jabbok. 23 He took them, sent them [a]over the brook, and sent over what he had. 24 Then Jacob was left alone; and a Man wrestled with him until the [b]breaking of day. 25 Now when He saw that He did not prevail against him, He [c]touched the socket of his hip; and the socket of Jacob’s hip was out of joint as He wrestled with him.

26 And He said, “Let Me go, for the day breaks.” But he said, “I will not let You go unless You bless me!” 27 So He said to him, “What is your name?” He said, “Jacob.” 28 And He said, “Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but [d]Israel; for you have struggled with God and with men, and have prevailed.”

29 Then Jacob asked, saying, “Tell me Your name, I pray.” And He said, “Why is it that you ask about My name?” And He blessed him there.

30 So Jacob called the name of the place [e]Peniel: “For I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved.” 31 Just as he crossed over [f]Penuel the sun rose on him, and he limped on his hip. 32 Therefore to this day the children of Israel do not eat the muscle that shrank, which is on the hip socket, because He [g]touched the socket of Jacob’s hip in the muscle that shrank.

Islam, by contrast, means to submit.  Their god does not want you to struggle with him, but to merely obey.  Thus to two religions are profoundly different.  One is the Truth, and the other is an impostor, posing as a real god.  It is a shame that this false god has taken over so much of the world.  We should pray for them also.

But more than that, we should pray more often for the Universal Church, and all its people

War With China?

In an interesting post by one Richard Jack Rail at the American Thinker today, the author asks the question: Is WWIII On The Horizon? Rail lays out a case that the Chinese economy is in worse shape than we have been led to believe, and that without the ability to sell to U. S. markets, they may be forced to initiate military actions. With people suffering and sometimes on the verge of starvation, the Chinese politicians will need to point to some outside cause. And of course, if they don't want that 12 million man army turning on them, they will have to find something else for it to do.  I suspect that one of the things the Chinese will quickly go after is Australia, pulling the British government into the turmoil.

The timeline is advancing swiftly toward an end state adversely affecting the whole world: WWIII. The tell-tale sign is China's economy, which, without American markets to sell to, is in free fall. As much as we may complain about the shutdown, Americans have it better by far than most of the rest of the world, including Japan and Europe. 

With desperation growing in China, Xi will have to do something. Expect it to be military action so that China's 12-million-man army has something to do and the rest of the country has something to focus on and support. War is immensely destructive; it will create a domestic market to partly replace foreign markets no longer available.

I have reported several times about a paper I read while still working for the Navy, that concluded we would be at war with China inside of twenty years. That was 15 years ago. So far, the paper looks fairly prescient. The United States needs to decouple its economy from China. We need to bring our manufacturing capabilities back to the United States and stop relying on antagonistic regimes, such as China, for strategic supplies. That should be our goal, but it clearly can not be achieved over night.  Our President and Congress should get on the same page here, and set out milestones for achievement towards that goal, with incentives to private business to make it happen.

As things stand right now, it is not entirely clear that we could win such a war, or that if we did "win," that society would survive as before.  Wars are always destructive.  Reagan said: "Freedom is a fragile thing and is never more than one generation away from extinction.It is not ours by inheritance; it must be fought for and defended constantly by each generation, for it comes only once to a people. Those who have known freedom and then lost it have never known it again." We must, in this era, tread carefully. Please go read the article.

And speaking of the possibility of war, high frequency (HF) communication ability allows a person to communicate with others similarly equipped both regionally and world wide.  Today at the American Partisan NC Scout has an article dealing with the Coming HF Resurgence. If you are a ham, you will already understand why solar cycles are important for world wide communications. But even regional communications are affected. If you are a ham, now may be a good time to begin investing in a more capable antenna array. If you are not, now may be a time to study to obtain a Amateur Radio license, and get on the air.

Yes, right now cell phones and satellite communication are possible, and certainly more convenient.  But what happens when these communication means are taken out, by for example an electromagnetic pulse caused by a overhead nuclear explosion.  We need to maintain lower tech solutions to communicate effectively.  I remember when 9/11/2001 hit and the Pentagon was struck by terrorists using an airliner as a weapon.  The phones were shut down due to overload.  Had it not been for ham radio operators setting up on the Pentagon grounds and transmitting health and welfare traffic through the repeater across the river in Alexandria, the people in the community would not have known how their loved ones had fared during the attack.

I have seen it happen once, it can happen again.

It Doesn't Require A World Class Harvard Law Degree To Run Soviet Style Show Trials

Now for something different from the "all coronavirus all the time" that we have been hearing for  six or seven weeks now, here is another missive from Kurt Schlichter entitled America Doesn't Have A Justice System Anymore. Schlichter takes us on a typical tour de force of snark and sarcasm while explaining that current Federal injustice system is a two tier system: one for you and me and a separate one for the elite. It reminds of nothing if not the mafia, where if a person was a connected "made man" he would be almost immune to discipline by his peers. Such seems to be the case of not just the to bosses at the FBI, but such deep state actors as Brennan and Clapper.

The good news is that you might get out of future jury duty, because when you are asked under oath about your own biases during a federal criminal case jury selection you would have to answer honestly by responding, “Your Honor, I don’t trust a damn thing anyone in the FBI says.”

If the heirs of Efrem Zimbalist, Jr., were to go up on the stand and testify, the recent disgraceful revelations about how their bosses tried to frame LTG Mike Flynn mean you would be entirely correct to grant them the same credibility as the dude caught wearing a black cape, a Lone Ranger mask, and a nametag that says “Willie Sutton” while tip-toeing out of First National carrying a big sack with a dollar sign on it as the alarm goes off.

Oh, and if an FBI agent asks if he can ask you some questions, try not to burst into laughter before you reply, “No, I assert my right to remain silent” and call your lawyer.

And this sorry state of affairs is all the FBI’s fault.

Despite the apparent efforts of William Barr and the appointment of John Durham to the case, Schlichter does not hold out much hope that any of these people will see the inside of a jail. As far as General Flynn is concerned, Schlichter views his only real hope of salvaging his reputation lies with his lawyer, Sydney Powell.

Sorry folks, none of them will ever see a day in jail. I hope I am wrong. I hope William Barr and John “Mind Flayer” Durham will see that these criminals are prosecuted for these outrageous crimes. But I don’t believe it will happen. Our justice system is really two justice systems, one for them and one for us, which means that we have no justice system at all.

In this two tier injustice system, we, the "little" people are subject to the full weight and power of the Federal Government, while the politicians and the members of the deep state are largely immune. This can not stand. The theory of law is that it must apply to everybody, or everybody loses respect for it. Once the average citizen loses respect for the laws, they begin to find ways around it, and we become a nation of scofflaws. It didn't used to be that way. it used to be that most people respected the law, and the people elected to administer that law. But I see this respect eroding. Once it is lost, we will never get it back.

Is William Barr trying to run out the clock, betting that Trump will not be re-elected?  I don't know.  But Durham is running out of time if he wants to save the justice system.  If not, Barr may as well close up shop now.  After all, it doesn't require a world class Harvard law degree to run Soviet style show trials.  And that is what we are devolving into.

Police Officers "Following Orders" Should Study History

Here in Raleigh, yesterday, I did notice more traffic on the roads.  However, church services remain a mostly online affair.  The "Tech Team" in our congregation has moved to having online services on Youtube.  Wonder how long that will last?

Meanwhile, Derek hunter has a very clear explanation of exactly what is going on over at Townhall.com entitled If 'Congress shall make no law...' Why Can Governors? And of course, it is a good question. The Bill of Rights, which consist of the first 10 Amendments to the U. S. Constitution, were incorporated into State Constitutions by the 14th Amendment after the Civil War. Therefore, what Congress can not do, the Governors of States theoretically can not do.

Hunter:

The First Amendment states, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” That’s unambiguous. Not “pretty unambiguous,” just unambiguous. Full stop. Yet governors across the country are ignoring or suspending almost every one of those rights enumerated at the top of the Bill of Rights, with little to no pushback from the press, which just happens to be the only part of the first two amendments not under assault.

It’s actually not under assault -- it’s gone -- suspended indefinitely in the name of “the common good.” Governors have declared coronavirus emergencies and wiped clean the rights our nation was founded for the purpose of putting those rights beyond the reach of government.

These suspensions were not done by vote; they were done with the stroke of a pen. Constitutionally, they can’t be done by either. There is no provision of the Constitution allowing for the waiving of rights under any condition, but most legislatures are content to sit back and watch this all proceed without their fingerprints anywhere near it.

Governors made a point of canceling Easter services, even at drive-in churches set up in parking lots. “You’re not allowed to leave your home,” they declared. The irony of placing innocent Americans under house arrest while releasing prisoners in the name of “compassion” was lost on journalists too busy expressing indignation that people might want to worship even in the face of a pandemic.

The same journalists were perplexed by why those same innocent Americans might want to exercise their Second Amendment rights, another right with which we are born that shall “not be infringed” that is being infringed all over the place without concern from the media. “Gun stores are non-essential” in a time prisons are being emptied seems like a set-up for a bad joke, not a public policy.

Hunter lays the situation out pretty clearly in those first several paragraphs. At first, most people complied because we believed what we were being told. But as more data have come in, it is becoming increasingly clear that the Wuhan Flu is no worse than the usual seasonal flu. While every death is a tragedy for those close to the victim, we do not stop living our lives because of it.  Yet we find ourselves with some Governors doubling down on house arrests and other lunatic orders, many of which have no bearing on efforts to stop the spread of the virus.  Governor Whitmer of Michigan comes to mind for completely insane orders.  In Kansas City, Missouri that Mayor (arrested for DUI, no less) has ordered churches to give up the names, addresses, and telephone numbers of members and attendees at their services (Hat Tip to Drakes Place).

Our rights can not be trampled on because of an "emergency."  If that were so, we would be in a constant state of emergency.  Not unlike what is happening before our eyes, politicians and the "Ministry of Truth" mainstream media would drum up one emergency after another to keep the people in a state of panic.  Just read Orwell's book 1984 to see how that turns out.

That Democrat Governors in particular seem to have a authoritarian itch is no surprise.  Nor that the mainstream press, including Fox News, is in the tank with 24/7 coronavirus panic.  No, the question I have is why to the police violate their oath of office to enforce these Unconstitutional orders/ After World War II, we learned, if we didn't know it falready, that "following orders" was not enough. Each officer who takes that oath has a duty to determine for himself that the orders he is given are legal. It is a difficult burden to follow, but it must be done, for their actions may be scrutinized in the future, and history may not take kindly to their actions during this pandemic.

Profiling the Tyrants and Dictators

Again, I don't have much time today, so let me just leave you, gentle readers, with an article at Townhall.com today by Marvin Folkertsma entitled Profiling The Democrats: A Summary. Of course, Mr. Folkerstma's brutal characterization of the Democrats refers not to the run of the mill voters, but rather to the politician class. it certainly rings true for these petty tyrants and dictators.

Folkertsma points out under "Catastrophe as Catalysts" that the current Wuhan Flu is being used to convince Americans that we do indeed have a catastrophe on our hands. The 24/7 all coronavirus all the time reporting by the media is driving people to believe, without evidence, that we are literally all going to die. The fact that better than 90% don't even have any symptoms, and that the actual death rate is looking more and more like that of the standard flu, despite padding the numbers, does not figure in the reporting. This unbalanced reporting is, of course, journalistic malpractice, indicating the media bias in favor of Democrats.

As always, please go read the article...and think.  The one thing Republicans have going for them is they are generally weaker than the Dems, and less unified.  But still dangerous.  The best situation we can have is complete gridlock in Washington, DC.