Liberty Relearned

A trip to the grocery store

Let's Talk About Gen Milley

General Mark Milley, current Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff is no stranger to controversy. He is the top-ranked military official who presided over the most humiliating military failure in modern American history-- the disastrous Afghanistan pullout that ended with hundreds of Americans left behind in enemy-controlled territory, subject to being used as hostages. Before that, he famously publicly showed regret for walking from the White House to Historic St. John's Church in a show of solidarity against the BLM rioters who attempted to burn it down the night before. Then, he spoke of the need to keep the actions of the military distinct from those of the civilian government. Less than a year later, according to reporting, he seems to be much more comfortable with blurring, even erasing the lines between military and state.

According to Michael Ginsburg, writing for the Daily Caller in an article dated September 17th, 2021:

“Republicans on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee are demanding the full transcripts of two phone calls held by Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley and chief of the Joint Staff Department of the Chinese Central Military Commission Gen. Li Zhuocheng.

During the calls, first made public by Bob Woodward and Robert Costa of The Washington Post, Milley reportedly promised Li that the U.S. would not strike China and that Milley would warn Li if they did. The calls were reportedly conducted Oct. 30, 2020, and Jan. 8, 2021...”

If the account given by Woodward and Costa is true, then Gen Milley would be a traitor to the United States. Upon such an action, he would also be guilty of treason. These are accusations not lightly made against a senior serving US general. We don't know if things when down the way that Woodward and Costa claim, but Gen Milley needs to answer these accusations directly.

There is evidence-based upon reporting by various news outlets, including by U.S. News back in January, that Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi (D, CA) spoke to Gen Milley about disarming then President Trump:

“The Defense Department's top officer on Friday confirmed he had spoken with Nancy Pelosi about President Donald Trump's powers as commander in chief but in a carefully crafted statement distanced the Pentagon from any attempts by the House speaker or other congressional leaders to strip the president of his authorities.

'Speaker Pelosi initiated a call with the chairman," Col. Dave Butler, a spokesman for Gen. Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, tells U.S. News. 'He answered her questions regarding the process of nuclear command authority." – Paul D. Shinkman, US News and World Report, Jan. 8, 2021

The left's abusive relationship with democracy

"Americans are so enamored of equality that they would rather be equal in slavery than unequal in freedom... The subjection of individuals will increase amongst democratic nations, not only in the same proportion as their equality, but in the same proportion as their ignorance." ~ Alexis de Tocqueville

If there is one thing the Democrat Party has taught us is that democracy by itself does not equal freedom. A democratic society is not the same as a free society.  Democracy only produces freedom if freedom is on the ballot.

For the left, democracy is a means to an end.  As Democrats shrilly shout “democracy!”  and claim that events like January 6th, 2021 were an assault on democracy, they fail to realize that the vast majority of the crowd that day was protesting in favor of it.  In fact, their central grievance was that democracy had been trampled on during the election and needed to be set right, and were calling on Congress to do that by not allowing electors to be accepted from states where America's electoral process had been hijacked by the Democrats.

What the Democrats can't accomplish by democracy, they're perfectly willing to accomplish through the courts, unelected bureaucrats, and even by force (read terror). The KKK, Antifa, and BLM are all groups the Democrats have directly or indirectly employed for this purpose. For the left, the purpose of elections is to give their seizure of power an air of legitimacy, not to increase individual freedom. This is what de Tocqueville was warning us about.

The following are excerpts from President Biden’s “Vaccine Mandate” speech of September 9, 2021:

“…This is a pandemic of the unvaccinated. And it’s caused by the fact that despite America having an unprecedented and successful vaccination program, despite the fact that for almost five months free vaccines have been available in 80,000 different locations, we still have nearly 80 million Americans who have failed to get the shot.

And to make matters worse, there are elected officials actively working to undermine the fight against COVID-19. Instead of encouraging people to get vaccinated and mask up, they’re ordering mobile morgues for the unvaccinated dying from COVID in their communities. This is totally unacceptable.

Third, if you wonder how all this adds up, here’s the math: The vast majority of Americans are doing the right thing. Nearly three quarters of the eligible have gotten at least one shot, but one quarter has not gotten any. That’s nearly 80 million Americans not vaccinated. And in a country as large as ours, that’s 25 percent minority. That 25 percent can cause a lot of damage — and they are.

The unvaccinated overcrowd our hospitals, are overrunning the emergency rooms and intensive care units, leaving no room for someone with a heart attack, or [pancreatitis], or cancer..."

He continues, using explicitly divisive rhetoric:

"...My job as President is to protect all Americans.

So, tonight, I’m announcing that the Department of Labor is developing an emergency rule to require all employers with 100 or more employees, that together employ over 80 million workers, to ensure their workforces are fully vaccinated or show a negative test at least once a week…”

“…Let me be blunt. My plan also takes on elected officials and states that are undermining you and these lifesaving actions. Right now, local school officials are trying to keep children safe in a pandemic while their governor picks a fight with them and even threatens their salaries or their jobs. Talk about bullying in schools. If they’ll not help — if these governors won’t help us beat the pandemic, I’ll use my power as President to get them out of the way…”

Wow! In one paragraph, Biden goes full authoritarian, shredding both the concept of Federalism and the separation of powers according to the Constitution. For a member of the party always screaming– “Democracy! Democracy! Democracy!” he doesn’t sound like he’s very into democracy here, does he?

...Also: As we remember the events of Sept 11, 2001, let's not forget what happened, both the good and the bad. It was an alarming, traumatizing day, another day that will live in infamy.  It was also a day that turned into days, weeks, and months that saw America shine.  American exceptionalism was on full display during that memorable period.  For a brief time, we set aside our differences and all became just Americans. Keep that in mind as a goal, a unified America, a country fitting the vision of our Funders. As we fight the scourges of CRT, wokeism, cancel culture, this is the kind of unity we fight for. E Pluribus Unum. 

The Afghanistan Debacle and why it matters.

The US gave the Afghan military an estimated $28 billion in weaponry between 2002 and 2017 — including seven brand new helicopters delivered to Kabul just a month ago.

The war chest also included the supply of at least 600,000 infantry weapons — including M16 assault rifles — as well as 162,000 pieces of communication equipment and 16,000 night-vision goggles.

In just two years from 2017 to 2019, the US gave 7,035 machine guns, 4,702 Humvees, 20,040 hand grenades, 2,520 bombs and 1,394 grenade launchers, The Hill noted, citing a report last year from the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR).

“Everything that hasn’t been destroyed is the Taliban’s now,” one US official told Reuters, speaking on the condition of anonymity.” Excerpt from NY Post article from Taliban has billions in US weapons, including Black Hawks and up to 600K rifles

Tom Tugendhat, who chairs the foreign affairs select committee, said he was “extremely angry” at Biden’s criticism of Afghan soldiers, calling those troops “incredibly brave” and saying the US withdrew “like a thief in the night” with no proper handover. The former Treasury minister Huw Merriman, who chairs the transport select committee, called Biden a “total blithering idiot” for blaming Afghan forces. “Makes me wonder if he is the Siamese twin of Donald Trump. Tony Blair left us with this mess and we did not try hard enough to clear it up,” he tweeted. Another former minister, Simon Clarke, said it was the end of an American era. “The more you reflect, the more you realise the speech [Biden] gave last night was grotesque. An utter repudiation of the America so many of us have admired so deeply all our lives – the champion of liberty and democracy and the guardian of what’s right in the world,” he said.” --Excerpt from The Guardian article from 17 Aug 21 article: UK politicians decry Joe Biden’s defense of Afghanistan pullout

Where did it all go wrong?  That is the subject of this week's podcast. I'm not talking about Afghanistan.  The Afghan exit debacle in this case is a symptom, not the problem.  (If you want to know what went wrong there, go back and listen to last's week's podcast where I talk about how and when the situation in Afghanistan went FUBAR.)  I'm talking about where, and more precisely--  When did this whole march towards the leftist dystopia we have today get set into motion?  The short answer is 1913 when Woodrow Wilson was inaugurated president of the United States.  The how and why are more difficult to answer. 1913 is when among other things, the federal income tax was initiated, among a host of other progressive measures that have been building upon one another until this day. 1913 is the year when American statism became a thing. The Independent Institute (not affiliated with this podcast) put a pretty good article on the subject entitled: 1913: The Final Days of the Old Regime in the United States  Now in 2021, where are starting to see the disastrous results of the statist/leftist program. Statism, by its very nature, brings about authoritarianism. No collectivist form of government, be it socialism, fascism, or communism can exist without an authoritarian government. Under COVID, formerly free countries like Australia and New Zealand have thrown off any tendencies on the part of their governments towards liberalism and have chosen, mainly out of fear, to take the authoritarian route. The idea of "democratic tyranny" seems like an oxymoron, yet here we are. Leftists Democrats in the US are trying to install this collectivist, authoritarian state here. 

(BTW, If you happen to live in Australia or New Zealand, your voice is needed.  Please contact this podcast and leave a voice message, or email me at: [email protected]  I'd love to hear from you if only to hear your horror stories of COVID tyranny.)

The Afghanistan Debacle

COVID 19 measures

If you haven’t listened to the Liberty Relearned podcast in a while, I really hope you’ll listen to this one and the last. All of the major topics I’ve discussed since the inception of the podcast will be covered in a planned multi-part series. I’d like to think that the ideas I talk about are of value to the listener. I deeply value the opinions of my readers and listeners so I encourage you to share your thoughts on this episode. Your feedback is the primary way I know to make the necessary improvements and adjustments, plus I want people to feel free to add their own thoughts to what I say — Thanks. J.P. Mac.

The lessons I hope you've taken from this Podcast so far: