Month: December 2022

Think quickly. What is the most important aspect of America and the American way of life? What is it that sets us aside from any other country? What is it that if we were to lose it, it would destroy America as we know and love it? Some of you might respond “the Constitution;” others of you might say, “The Bill of Rights.” Both good answers. But, I would maintain it is “free and fair elections and the acceptance of the results.”

In order for America to function as a Republic we MUST have free and fair elections, and the people MUST accept the results of said elections as the honest and valid result. Some of us may not be happy with the result. Some of us may dislike or distrust the winner, but it is absolutely imperative that we accept the result and move on secure in the knowledge that the majority of voters have spoken. That doesn’t mean that the results can’t be questioned. That doesn’t mean that recounts are not appropriate in close elections. That is all part of the process so that, in the end, the losers can be satisfied that the election was valid.

It is imperative that the results were not influenced by outside sources. It is imperative that no outside agency, either domestic or foreign, had “their finger on the scale.” It is imperative that no agency ether domestic or foreign, altered or suppressed significant information in order to deceive voters. As I said, it is imperative that in the end voters accept the results as honest and valid.

Many of us have suspected or even thought they “knew” that that was not the case with respect to the last few elections. Many of those who have had the temerity to question the results have been ridiculed and scorned as “sore losers,” conspiracy theorists, or even worse, unpatriotic and “racist” (the tried and not so true catch-all criticism). At last, in the last week or so, thanks to Elon Musk’s releasing of previously-secret Twitter files the curtain has been drawn back. At last, proof is emerging that the vast conspiracy of the DNC, Dem candidates, the FBI, the Justice Department, Twitter, Facebook, and most of the media has been guilty of all the nefarious things mentioned above. Is this American? I think not. All may be fair in love and war, and often the ends may justify the means, but not in elections. Perhaps, in autocracies, but not in America.

To be sure, American history is replete with examples of backroom deals in “smoke filled rooms” as far back as the origin of the Republic, itself. But, it had never been conducted on this vast a scope. Perhaps, the two most notorious examples are the elections of 1824 and 1876. In 1824 there were four candidates for president. Andrew Jackson won the most electoral votes, but he failed to win a majority. Eventually, the winner, John Quincy Adams, was selected by the House. Jackson’s supporters were convinced that Henry Clay, another candidate, worked a backroom deal with Adams giving Adams his electoral votes. This became apparent when Adams later chose Clay to be Secretary of State. In 1876 Sam Tilden fell one electoral vote short of the needed majority, but there were 20 electoral votes in dispute in various southern states. Ultimately, a backroom deal was struck giving Rutherford B. Hayes all 20 electoral votes and the election. In return, Hayes agreed to recall all Federal troops that had been occupying the South since the end of the Civil War.. This effectively ended Reconstruction to the long term detriment of the African Americans domiciled there.

Back to the present, there is evidence emerging that the current shenanigans have been going on for some time, at least as far back as the 2016 presidential election. I am not talking about complaints relative to “voter suppression” or mail-in ballots, or “hanging chads.” Those were minor league compared to this, and getting bogged down in those issues now would only serve to obscure the real issues as outlined above. I am referring to things like the Steele dossier, illegally obtained FISA warrants, The Biden family’s numerous and ongoing nefarious “pay to play” bribery and corruption deals with Russia and China, and the suppression of the story about Hunter Biden’s laptop. This is NOT just about Hunter Biden, although he may be the focal point. It encompasses President Biden, himself, the “big guy.”

As bad as all of the above is, it is not the whole story, maybe not even the worst part. Although not yet proven, I, for one, am convinced that most of President Biden’s decisions as president have been influenced by his bribery and corruption deals with China and Russia. There is circumstantial evidence to support these quid pro quos. Almost everything he has done or not done, almost every decision he has made or not made has benefited China and/or Russia to the US’s detriment. Below please find just a few examples:

1. Canceling the Keystone Pipeline. In one fell swoop this took us from energy independence to being supplicants to our enemies for energy. There was no logical justification for this, not one. It didn’t conserve the environment. We still need fossil fuels. They have to come from somewhere. We still need to run our economy; we still need to keep warm in the winter. Only now, we get it by begging our enemies for it. Moreover, this oil has to be transported here by ship, which uses fuel. And it is not as “clean” as our oil. As an added “bonus,” the decision threw tens of thousands of Americans out of work and exacerbated inflation. This was the worst geopolitical decision imaginable. Furthermore, what happens if there is a war, and our enemies cut off our supply?
2. Allowing Russia to build its own pipeline to Europe. This saved Russia from bankruptcy, enabled it to finance its war with Ukraine, and allowed it to gain control over our NATO allies’ energy sources. In what universe is US-produced oil a threat to the environment but Russian-produced oil is not?
3. Opening our southern border. This is a very complicated issue with many economic and social facets, but one thing it has undeniably done is facilitate China’s and the Mexican drug cartels’ ability to smuggle in fentanyl and other drugs. According to Google deaths from these drugs has risen to approximately 100,000 per year. For perspective, the US suffered 58,220 deaths in the entire Vietnam War. These drugs are destroying an entire generation of young people.
4. Failure to aggressively pursue of the source of COVID pandemic outbreak. The pandemic destroyed our economy, turned a presidential election and has caused and will continue to cause untold social and emotional damage. Yet, we still don’t know definitively the source, although most of us strongly suspect it. Biden has demonstrated no desire to find out.

CONCLUSION

The foregoing is very scary stuff. It would take a 1,000 page book, not a 1,000 word blog, to explain in proper detail all of the examples of this vast conspiracy. It has nothing to do with Dems, the GOP, Trump, “wokeness,” CRT, climate change, or any of the other issues that have been in the news. Those may be important to some, but they are just distractions compared to this.

Regardless of one’s political bent, this story is something that you should be concerned about and follow. So I will ask you, the reader, to pay attention to this story as it unfolds over the next several weeks or months. Don’t just look at your favorite media outlook or social media platform. Check all outlets including, yes, Fox, in order to get a fair and balanced report. Pay attention to the hearings that will (hopefully) be conducted by the various House committees.

Basically, it comes down to do you want to leave your children and grandchildren a strong “America” or a weak “banana republic.” America has never been conquered by external force. Let’s not let it be conquered from within.

Wednesday, December 7, will mark the 81st anniversary of one of the most heinous, despicable acts in modern history – Japan’s sneak attack on Pearl Harbor.  In 1994 Congress designated December 7 as Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day as a way to remember and pay homage to the 2,400 US military and civilian personnel who were killed and 1,800 wounded in the attack.  The day is not a federal holiday, but flags are flown at half mast and many organizations hold special ceremonies.   

Each year thousands of people flock to the Pearl Harbor National Memorial and Visitors’ Center to pay their respects. For many years thousands of survivors made the journey to honor their fallen comrads. Unfortunately, at the present time the few remaining survivors are too old and infirmed to attend. It is estimated that there are only 1,500 left ranging in age from 97 to 101.

The 81st commemoration is scheduled to commence early in the morning at the exact time of the commencement of the attack. Various ceremonies are scheduled throughout the country most of which will be livestreamed. One of the highlights will be a Pearl Harbor Memorial Parade. Appropriately, the theme of the parade will be “remembering our past while celebrating that once bitter enemies can become friends and allies.” In point of fact, that accurately characterizes the relationship between the US and Japan for the last 80 years or more. Another highlight will be the 6th annual “Blackened Canteen Ceremony” aboard the Arizona Memorial. US and Japanese survivors will pour whiskey out of a canteen into the water to pay homage to those who were killed in the attack. The canteen is a relic of an air raid conducted by the US over Shizauoka, Japan in 1945.

As President FDR forecast, December 7, 1941 is truly a date that has lived in infamy.  It is one of those dates we can never forget.  It is burned into our very souls. Mention that date to a person of a certain age and their reaction will be akin to later generations’ reaction to November 22, 1963 or September 11, 2001.  Most any person over the age of five on those dates remembers where he was, what he was doing and how he felt when he heard the news.  Those are dates that had a profound effect on our lives both individually and collectively.

On December 6, 1941 America was still working its way out of the Great Depression, which began in 1929 with the stock market crash.  Unemployment was at 9.9%, not good, but a significant improvement from the peak of 25% in 1932.  Americans were not thinking about war.  After all, we had just fought the “Great War,” (aka, the “war to end wars”).  Sure, there was a war waging in Europe, but we were not involved directly.  We had no boots on the ground, and we had a vast ocean between us and them.  Most Americans were focused on their own lives, not on world events. America was in full isolationist mode.  All that was about to change suddenly, violently, tragically and irrevocably.

We all know what happened on December 7, 1941.  We know that the Japanese executed a devastating surprise attack on our naval base at Pearl Harbor that precipitated our involvement in WWII.  Approximately, 2,800 lives were lost, civilian as well as military, along with most of our Pacific Fleet and airplanes.  America switched immediately from peacetime mode to wartime mode.  Patriotism and nationalism abounded.  The “greatest generation” was on the march.

As we all know, America recovered to win the war after four years of intense and costly fighting.  There is no need for me to rehash those events.  The Pacific War has been the subject of numerous books, movies, and tv productions.  The central theme of this blog will focus on the events that led up to the war with Japan.

Every war has its immediate cause and its underlying causes. The attack on Pearl Harbor was the immediate cause. But, what were the underlying causes? What would make Japan start a war that it had virtually no chance of winning? Glad you asked. Read on.

Many, if not most, historians maintain that the US actually provoked Japan into starting the war, although we did not intend for them to devastate our naval fleet in the fashion they did.  Over the course of the 1930’s we took various actions that, in reality, left Japan no choice, to wit:

1. The US was providing assistance to the Chinese who were at war with Japan.  This included providing airplane pilots, armaments and other supplies and materials. Japan had been at war with China since the 1930’s.  Its extreme brutality was exemplified by the Nanking Massacre, aka the Rape of Nanking, which began in December 1937.  In a six-week period over 300,000 Chinese civilians were murdered, and there was widespread raping and looting.  This shocking brutality was a portent of the Pacific War.

2. Along with the British and the Dutch the US military was actively planning prospective military operations against the Japanese in the Far East to counter its aggression.

3. Japan had few natural resources of its own; it needed to import raw materials, such as coal, iron, oil, rubber and bauxite, from the US and other countries in Southeast Asia to fuel its burgeoning industries.  In the late 1930’s the US began to severely limit its access to these materials by enforcing sanctions, limits and embargoes.  This aided the British and the Dutch, who were concerned about Japan’s aggressive behavior in the Far East, but it provoked the Japanese.

4. Thus, one can view the attack on Pearl Harbor, not as an isolated event, but rather, as the last act in a long line of connected ones.

Many historians believe that FDR provoked Japan intentionally, because he wanted to go to war against the Axis Powers, and the American people were decidedly against doing so. Before you scoff at that notion, consider that we have fought other wars following provocations that may or may not have been fabricated. For example:

1. The Spanish-American War in 1898 began when the battleship, Maine was blown up in Havana harbor under mysterious circumstances. 75% of her crew were killed. “Remember the Maine” became the signature battle cry of that war.  There is evidence that suggests that the Maine was not blown up by the Spanish, but may have blown up by accident or been sabotaged to provide a pretext for us to enter that war.

2. The legal basis for commencing the Vietnam War was the Gulf of Tonkin incidents of August 2 and 4, 1964. A US destroyer, the USS Maddox, exchanged fire with North Vietnamese torpedo boats in the Gulf, which is off the coast of Vietnam. As a result, Congress passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, which authorized President Johnson to assist any Southeast Asian country that was being jeopardized by “communist aggression.”  Johnson was only too eager to do so.  It was later determined that some key facts, such as who fired first, are in dispute.

3. President Bush, 43, “sold” the Iraq War to the American people by asserting there was “proof” that Iraq possessed “weapons of mass destruction.” Such weapons have never been found.

So, if FDR did, in fact, goad Japan into attacking us so that we could enter the war against the Axis Powers, it would not have been the only time the US Government used that tactic. In the 1950’s the renowned historian Harry Elmer Barnes (who, ironically, later lost much of his credibility by becoming a vociferous denier of the Holocaust) published a series of essays describing the various ways in which the US Government goaded the Japanese into starting a war it could not win and manipulated American public opinion.  After the war, Secretary of War Henry Stimson admitted that “we needed the Japanese to commit the first overt act.”

Most historians agree that even the Japanese leadership in the 1930’s knew it could not win a prolonged war with the US. They realized that the US was vastly superior in terms of men, material and resources, and eventually, it would wear down the Japanese.  That, in fact, is precisely what happened.

In 1941 the die was cast when a more militant, nationalistic government came into power headed by Emperor Hirohito and Prime Minister Hideki Tojo.  They spent several months planning the pre-emptive strike. In his best selling book, “Killing the Rising Sun,” Bill O’Reilly denoted that the Japanese sought to imbed spies into the Hawaiian civilian population to gather intelligence.  O’Reilly quoted one senior officer who found out that his Japanese gardener was actually a colonel in the Japanese army.

Many historians believe that the Japanese hierarchy was emboldened, in part, by the successful surprise attack on the Russians in 1905 led by then-Admiral Tojo during the Russo-Japanese War. It had worked once; why not again? Their intention was to neutralize American naval power in the Pacific so that it would be unable to block Japan’s aggression in Southeast Asia. They determined that Sunday would be the best day of the week to attack. They also weighed the advantages and disadvantages of attacking the fleet in the harbor or at sea before settling on the attack in the harbor. Although the battleships were “sitting ducks” in the more shallow harbor, Admiral Chester Nimitz pointed out later that one crucial advantage to the US was that we were able to raze several of them later and return them to active duty.

Despite its years of provocations, the US was ill-prepared for an attack. In addition, we had failed to confront the Japanese directly earlier when they could have been dealt with more easily. So, instead of fighting a small war in the 1930s we ended up fighting a world war just a few years later.

One could argue that there were strong parallels between then and our more recent history with respect to various terrorist groups operating in the Middle East and elsewhere. Once again, we have failed to deal with these problems when they were manageable; once again most of the country has been very reluctant to get involved in “other people’s problems (Afghanistan, Syria and Iraq);” and, we are now embroiled in the more costly aftermath (conflicts, refugees, and a likely nuclear-capable Iranian).  History, when ignored, does tend to repeat itself.

CONCLUSION

Ultimately, the Japanese underestimated the US. Their leaders knew we were in isolationist mode. They did not think we had the “stomach” to fight a prolonged, brutal war.  Also, they knew we would be fighting the Germans and Italians as well. Furthermore, they figured that with our Pacific Fleet decimated, if not destroyed, we would be unable or unwilling to counter their aggression in the Far East.  The Far East was their end game for reasons discussed above; they were not interested in attacking the US mainland, although much of the US civilian population feared that they would.

Obviously, the Japanese misjudged us.  They were not the first enemy to do so, and, in all likelihood, they will not be the last.