Do Elected Officials in Representative Government Really Keep Us Free/Safe?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1871&v=tclAbWvBt70

I am pretty sure most people vote to get the right people in office so that they, their family, their community and their people can enjoy safety and freedom from generation to generation. If only we get the right person in the right position .. what can go wrong?

Well, in an enlightening well documented effort, James Corbett once again weaves transcript and audio (with video graphics that paint the picture) together to bring about some understanding of WWI. I believe that this world war (called the Great War) is a good place as any to frame the problem of democracy in the short and long term. This effort also shows to what lengths a declining empire will go to in order to remain the “main thing on the global stage” even as its power diminishes.

Part 1 of this series (located at the top of this post via YouTube) is all I have listened to at this point, but it is much better than anything I might be able to dig up on History.com. Below is a clip from the transcript that includes the key of what we can still see remnants of today, a world order that was handed-off from the British Empire to a ‘3D’ US Empire (not your mama’s empire) was achieved post-WWII and is now in a state of decline and irrelevance to more and more nations around the world. Only our military, CIA and deep state threats keep the remaining nations hostage. It is only a matter of time that this New World Order (President HW Bush spoke of this openly) unravels, destroying the elite’s generational dreams of global control:

… the machinations that led to war (WWI) are a master class in how power really operates in society. The military compacts that committed Britain—and, ultimately, the world—to war had nothing to do with elected parliaments or representative democracy. When Conservative Prime Minister Arthur Balfour resigned in 1905, deft political manipulations ensured that members of the Round Table, including Herbert Henry Asquith, Edward Grey and Richard Haldane—three men who Liberal leader Henry Campbell-Bannerman privately accused of “Milner worship”—seamlessly slid into key posts in the new Liberal government and carried on the strategy of German encirclement without missing a step.

In fact, the details of Britain’s military commitments to Russia and France, and even the negotiations themselves, were deliberately kept hidden from Members of Parliament and even members of the cabinet who were not part of the secret society. It wasn’t until November 1911, a full six years into the negotiations, that the cabinet of Prime Minister Herbert Henry Asquith started to learn the details of these agreements, agreements that had been repeatedly and officially denied in the press and in Parliament.

This is how the cabal functioned: efficiently, quietly and, convinced of the righteousness of their cause, completely uncaring about how they achieved their ends. It is to this clique, not to the doings of any conspiracy in Sarajevo, that we can attribute the real origins of the First World War, with the nine million dead soldiers and seven million dead civilians that lay piled in its wake.

But for this cabal, 1914 was just the start of the story. In keeping with their ultimate vision of a united Anglo-American world order, the jewel in the crown of the Milner Group was to embroil the United States in the war; to unite Britain and America in their conquest of the German foe.

Yes, hatched before the end of the 19th century, this “world order”cabal was being formed behind the curtains from the world stage. The fact of the matter is, “how power really operates in society .. [what committed] the world—to war had nothing to do with elected parliaments or representative democracy..”, means that your votes really do not matter.

-SF1

When Windows 10 (or AVG, or Hard Drive Errors, etc.) Let You down

So back in the day, you knew it was a bad day when the head of the hammer came flying off after using it for decades hitting nails, or, way back in the day when your favorite axe did the same thing or worse, have the handle break on you, the very axe that helped you clear the “back 40” and now decades later “let you down”.

Well welcome to the 21st century, where a 4 or 5 year old laptop can do the same. Ain’t technology great?

So yesterday was supposed to be a relaxing day off but when the laptop I had been using (Lenovo G510 originally equipped with Windows 8) started making disk read error sounds (yes, nerds have an ear for that) I was like “I better attach my external drive for one last backup”. So I did that and then started tinkering with this PC.

The history on this PC is interesting, it was my wife’s (to replace the laptop she had prior to that, a 2008 Dell Inspiron, that I am using right now but with Linux Mint 19.0 (Tara) Operating Sysytem (OS) on it) until earlier this year when it kept rebooting on her for no reason and she was forever losing documents, etc. By then I had already took her files she had on there when it was a new Windows 8.1 laptop, placed them on an external drive and installed Windows 10 on it from SCRATCH.

So I got her a new Dell laptop with Windows 10 and I took over using it daily and was able to get a more stable Windows OS on it (version 1803) so I could use it as my primary PC for personal use. After yesterday’s experience, I had my doubts as to how long I was going to be able to trust this Win10 (1803) PC. THEN, after checking three times that morning I finally got this:

OK, so maybe THAT was why it was behaving so badly. It was like it would not admit there was an update coming BUT it was doing all kinds of things to the PC that made it practically unusable. I also checked the event log thinking that the CPU or memory was at fault and found some 55 second delays caused by “firmware” as well as some disk related errors, but it was rather hard to tell even for this nerd.

But today took the cake. While crafting a post earlier today I suddenly got this full screen message:

No one wants to see this message. So when it hits 100% and Microsoft has all their details .. then you can hit the power button and reboot. Until then the CPU fan is blazing away .. not sure what all the PC was doing in the background behind this curtain. I trust MS like I trust the government 🙂

So now I am transitioning to Linux OS for all my personal computer work. I have another 7 year old HP laptop that is prime material for becoming yet another Linux PC. Then there is the 4-5 year old Lenovo, and the question remains, can it be a trusted PC with Linux as the OS?

So my final test was to run CHKDSK (a 30 year old program) on the Win10 PC’s hard drive:

Results:

Even before it scanned it, Windows 10 said in effect “you really don’t have to do this”, because it was checking it all along.

So I guess this winter I will be “recycling” PCs, running the Linux version of CHKDSK on the hard drives BEFORE I place the Linux OS on them.

1st world problems I guess, there are days I would almost rather work out in the woods with an axe and build stuff with a hammer and sit by the fire and read books, but then I would not have a chance to share life with y’all!

Thank you for sharing your time with me as I vent about life 🙂

Take care my friends.

-SF1

Terrorism: 1780, 1865, 1991 and Beyond

In the past weeks and months I have indicated how the British Empire’s use (and sometimes American patriots as well) of tactics that are less than honorable, yet attain short term military goals, would have unintended consequences .. when is it proper to apply this same understanding to other periods of American History?

The last few days has been a time in “American society life” that reflects on a 90-something man’s passing away and a reflection on what he meant to this country as well as the world. This man was the last president to have participated in WWII, which alone puts him on a pedestal in this land. Although the actual events surrounding him being the lone survivor of the plane he was piloting are cloudy at best (pardon the aviator’s pun), it seems that American loves heroes, and it willingly excuse many many character faults along the way as long as one has this elite (no pun intended) status. (think George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, etc)

While this post is not about the life of HW Bush, and while I have no animosity towards him personally (“revenge is mine says the Lord”), or his family who is in mourning, it does us well as a people (or as various groups of people/cultures across this land) to reflect of certain aspects of their legacy and learn from them.

“Those who do not know history’s mistakes are doomed to repeat them.” George Santayana

So the point here is to reflect on an aspect of Gulf War I that has always disturbed me even as I “thought” I understood the justification of the war at this time. From The Intercept article we read the following:

U.S. bombs also destroyed essential Iraqi civilian infrastructure — from electricity-generating and water-treatment facilities to food-processing plants and flour mills. This was no accident. As Barton Gellman of the Washington Post reported in June 1991: “Some targets, especially late in the war, were bombed primarily to create postwar leverage over Iraq, not to influence the course of the conflict itself. Planners now say their intent was to destroy or damage valuable facilities that Baghdad could not repair without foreign assistance. … Because of these goals, damage to civilian structures and interests, invariably described by briefers during the war as ‘collateral’ and unintended, was sometimes neither.”

Got that? The Bush administration deliberately targeted civilian infrastructure for “leverage” over Saddam Hussein. How is this not terrorism?

Here we are 27 years later knowing that Iraq has since been invaded yet a second time and has never returned to its previous state where the average Iraqi could earn enough to support their family in relative peace. We all know it will take decades or centuries to recover from this US/UN effort to “spread democracy” to the Middle East.

If we back up in our mind’s eye and consider the tactics the British opted to use more frequently, especially as they grew increasingly frustrated in not meeting their objectives against “farmers with pitchforks”. Is it ever right to choose tactics that are less than honorable to achieve the ends usually determined by leaders and politicians far away? How can those “sworn” into the service of these military entities individually object to be a part of those types of actions?

In 1780 it was the dreaded Tarleton that we read about and how he is the bad guy. But what happens when these types are on “our” side? Do we treat them different? How does this country’s text books treat Sheridan, Grant and Sherman from the directives each of these generals issued in the early 1860s against innocent families that happened to be in states that peacefully seceded?

“To the petulant and persistent secessionists, why death is mercy, and the quicker he or she is disposed of the better . . . . Until we can repopulate Georgia, it is useless to occupy it, but the utter destruction of its roads, houses, and people will cripple their military resources” – William T. Sherman after the war

“Government of the United States” had the “right” to “take their lives, their homes, their lands, their everything . . . . We will take every life, every acre of land, every particle of property . . . ” – William T. Sherman after the war

“the war will soon assume a turn to extermination not of soldiers alone, that is the least part of the trouble, but the people . . . . There is a class of people, men, women, and children, who must be killed . . .” – letter to William T. Sherman’s wife on 31JUL1862

“We must act with vindictive earnestness against the Sioux, even to the extermination, men, women and children” ..”The more Indians we can kill this year, the less will have to be killed next year,” William T. Sherman wrote to Sheridan. By 1890 the U.S. Army murdered as many as 60,000 Indians, placing the survivors in concentration camps known as “reservations.”

So it seems we have the British Empire using these tactics in 1780s, and the USA adopting these tactics in 1860s as well as with the American Indians the balance of that century .. and then fast-forward to 1991 and we find ourselves as “bad” as the British yet again!

So what kind of “democracy” are we spreading? It stinks!

All of this to say once again, to know history is to be best prepared to scrutinize government propaganda when their mouthpieces try to convince the public of the “good” in what they are doing. They know that the first impression is a lasting impression for so many that are not critical thinkers in this land.

So be prepared! Be a student of history, a critical thinker, considering things that you are still in process forming an opinion on.

Stay the course!

-SF1

01DEC1780 – Psych! PLUS Marion Camps at Snows Island, Ready for the Next Opportunity

As we last heard of Francis Marion’s situation, he had written Gen. Gates about a large encampment of British in Kingstree and wondered if he was ever going to be supported in the effort to keep the British occupied and delayed in the south. As it turns out, Marion’s reputation alone causes this force of almost 300 men to be vary nervous and so they break camp in Kingstree a day later and head to a more secure location, farther away from Marion’s lair, first at Murry’s Ferry on the Santee River and then at Sumter’s abandoned plantation further up river.

.. The Tory reinforcements McLeroth was expecting from Georgetown also had failed to show up; they had gone home after their leader, Barefield, was wounded in the skirmish with Marion’s men. Believing his position too weak to stay at Kingstree, McLeroth moved his 64th Regiment of Foot out of the patriot-infested Williamsburg area ..

Oller, John. The Swamp Fox: How Francis Marion Saved the American Revolution

This is not the only instance of the British playing it safe as the December 1780 calendar continues to unfold. This psychological element would be yet one more advantage that the guerrilla patriot force will need to not only survive, but also to continue distracting the British as long as they can.

The British high command were concerned with McLeroth’s performance, that he was more timid than the other commanders they had in the field. McLeroth’s force swelled to over 400 when he was reinforced at Murry’s Ferry before moving to Sumter’s plantation:

There he set up camp around Sumter’s plantation, the site of Marion’s daring rescue mission in August. Unlike Wemyss or Tarleton, though, McLeroth did not vent his frustration by laying waste to the countryside. A Scotsman by birth, he declined to burn the homes of his Scotch-Irish kinsmen, earning him the disdain of Cornwallis and other British officers.

Oller, John. The Swamp Fox: How Francis Marion Saved the American Revolution

Apparently, honorable British officers would be marginalized as it seemed that short-term goals were achieved better by the likes of Tarleton and Weymss. This strategy would continue to come back to bite them as the psychological aspect of this war would play a very important role in its outcome.

Marion wrote an updated letter to Gen. Gates on 22NOV1780 that the British moved away from Kingstree, but with limited resources as far as men and ammunition, he and what was left of his men moved to Snows Island on 24NOV1780 through 04DEC1780. Unknown to Marion at this time was that Maj. Gen. Nathanael Greene arrived in Charlotte, North Carolina on 02DEC1780 and took command of the Southern Army on 04DEC1780. This would bring a different dynamic to the relationship between the Continental army in the south and Marion’s militia in the months to come.

It seems that the non-traditional has an advantage. Marion, trained with British tactics also abandoned these tactics when they did not make sense. Greene as well came from a non-traditional background:

Nathanael Green had what was probably the best military mind in the Continental Army. Yet he had no military training and little formal education. A lapsed Quaker, he was suspended from their meetings after being seen at a public alehouse in 1773; later he formally withdrew from the pacifistic sect. In 1774 he organized a militia in his native Rhode Island to oppose the British. His military learning was self-taught, gained from books among his 250-volume personal library. When the Revolution came in 1775 Greene was promoted from private to major general of the Rhode Island state army, and in June of that year Congress appointed him as a brigadier in the Continental Army. He was only thirty-two.

Oller, John. The Swamp Fox: How Francis Marion Saved the American Revolution

So with Greene now in North Carolina, he was able to effect the strategy so desperately needed to delay Cornwallis as more British arrived. Unlike in the north where December meant winter quarters, down here in the South Carolina colony there were plenty of upcoming opportunities as the British attempted to gear up for a springtime move into North Carolina.

Stay tuned as by the end of the first week in December, events would unfold and harvest activities would wrap up so that would have Marion’s ranks swell with volunteers yet again!

-SF1

15NOV1780: Georgetown Targeted by Marion’s Militia

 

As a follow-up to my last blog post where Marion’s militia out foxes the undefeated British Legion commander Tarleton, it is apparent that the burning of homes of patriots in the region was Tarleton’s attempt at rattling Marion and his men psychologically and again tempt them to come out in the open to fight. It is essential for the guerrilla commander not to act emotionally but to act strategically and tactfully if they are to keep their forces intact against a larger force, in this case, an empire’s force in North America in the colony of South Carolina.

The lull in Marion’s activities of only a few days gave Tarleton the prideful thought that he had put Marion in his place and therefore used this time to issue a proclamation on 11NOV1780:

“It is not the wish of Britons to be cruel or to destroy, but it is now obvious to all Carolina that treachery, perfidy, and perjury will be punished with instant fire and sword,” his proclamation read. “The country seems now convinced of the error of insurrection,” he boasted to Cornwallis … offering pardons to any rebels who returned to their homes to live peaceably and promised to alert the Tory militia leaders to any future insurrections…

Oller, John. The Swamp Fox: How Francis Marion Saved the American Revolution

Gen. Lord Cornwallis seemed to believe the reports and assumed that Tarleton’s pushing the fox to the swamp would convince the locals, especially those that leaned more patriotic, that “there was a power superior to Marion”. Flush with this euphoric feeling that Marion was marginalized, the British Camden HQ changed their commander on 13NOV1780 as Francis, Lord Rawdon relieved Lt. Col. George Turnbull who had contracted malaria. The next day, 14NOV1780, Lt. Col. Tarleton leaves Camden and heads towards Winnsboro in pursuit of another militia leader, Thomas Sumter.

So with the Sumter distraction towards North Carolina, this allowed Marion to move on Georgetown, the opposite direction from Camden and Tarleton. Marion had received Intel that only 50 wounded soldiers were guarding this port city, key in one of the supply lines to inland British forces and was in need of ammunition, clothing, and salt. Marion was surprised, due to dated Intel, to find that a force of 200 Loyalists under Capt. Jesse Barefield had entered Georgetown to reinforce it. Marion then splits his forces into two separate reconnaissance parties and engage in two skirmishes, one at Allston’s plantation and the other at White’s plantation.

At the White’s plantation, Marion’s militia found civilian cattle being slaughtered. The militia engages this force suffering some losses but also killing the commander of up to 200 men, a Capt. James Lewis.

At Allston’s plantation, two companies of militia (one from SC the other from GA) come upon Capt. Jesse Barefield and his Loyalists forces. Both sides fire at the same time and the Loyalists capture Lt. Gabriel Marion and begin clubbing him with their muskets until he is knocked senseless. A mulatto named Sweat recognizes who he is and he fires a load of buckshot into his heart, killing him instantly.

Lt. Gabriel Marion was Francis’ favorite nephew from his brother Gabriel’s family:

Marion’s horsemen killed a Tory captain and wounded the redoubtable Jesse Barefield on the head and body before he got away. The patriots also took twelve Tory prisoners. But Marion’s men suffered a grievous loss of their own. In the scuffle with Barefield, Marion’s nephew Gabriel Marion, a lieutenant in the brigade, was captured and then shot through the chest at point blank when the Tories learned his identity. Recently turned twenty-one at the time of his death, Gabriel was Marion’s favorite nephew—the son of Marion’s closest and late brother, Gabriel, who had done so much to help Marion financially over the years. … Marion, childless himself, mourned young Gabriel’s death as a father would a son. But his official report of the skirmish was typically laconic: “Our loss was Lt. Gabriel Marion and one private killed and three wounded.” When, the day after the skirmish, one of Marion’s soldiers put a bullet through the head of a captured mulatto man suspected—without evidence—of having killed his nephew, a furious Marion severely reprimanded the captain of the prisoner guard for failing to prevent it.

Oller, John. The Swamp Fox: How Francis Marion Saved the American Revolution

It was in this epic seesaw of an internal civil war in the South Carolina colony that rapid buildup of British forces seem to happen overnight. The same day the skirmishes occurred north of Georgetown,  15Nov1780, that British Lt. Col. Nisbet Balfour sends out 275 men, with two three-pounders from Georgetown towards Kingstree. This force was made up of Provincials, Loyalist Militia and Hessian mercenaries.

Upon returning to camp at Black Mingo on 17NOV1780, Marion writes to his friend Brig. Gen. Henry William Harrington (NC) and relates his
two recent engagements and that his men have less than six rounds of ammunition each. By 21NOV1780, Marion camps along the Pee Dee River near Britton’s Ferry and writes a letter to Maj. Gen. Horatio Gates telling him about the large enemy force now encamped at Kingstree and openly wonders when the Continental Army was planning to return to South Carolina:

“Many of my people has left me and gone over to the enemy, for they think that we have no army coming on, and have been deceived,” he informed Gates. “As we hear nothing from you a great while, I hope to have a line from you in what manner to act, and some assurance to the people of support.” The next day he wrote Gates to reiterate the point. “I seldom have the same [militia] set a fortnight,” he lamented, “and until the Grand Army is on the banks of Santee, it will be the same.”

Oller, John. The Swamp Fox: How Francis Marion Saved the American Revolution

Marion understands that the dynamic nature of his volunteer forces tests his leadership ability and his patience. He appeals to those who could bend the ears of the Continental army leadership that with things still in play in South Carolina, that it might be a good time to take the fight south again, undoubtedly with different leadership then they had back in August in their embarrassing loss to the British at Camden, SC.

Harvest time is drawing to a close, but Francis Marion still has several objectives in mind to keep the pressure on the British so that they have to stay in the Southern Theatre of the Revolutionary war and preserve Gen. George Washington’s stalemate in the north.

Stay tuned ..

-SF1