I received a short note from my wife that she had had to turn the news off after five minutes. Since I had just done the same thing myself, I shot her the following reply, written in a state of deep anger.
Oh, I
know, it’s getting ridiculous. Here are these people in a diplomatic building,
guarded by a Welsh “private security” contractor, who pocketed the USG money
and hired a few locals with rifles to sit in chairs near the compound, under
attack, calling Embassy Tripoli, the DCM calling Washington, the Secretary
calling the DCM back and Washington does….nothing. The President tells the Defense Secretary and
the Joint Chief to do whatever is necessary and heads off to a Las Vegas
fundraiser. Now, their excuse was that
there were no military assets that could have gotten there in time, so it doesn’t
matter.
How did
they know how long the attack was going to be?
Did
someone in the terrorist group call them and say “Hey, we’ll be done here no
later than 5am local time.”
No. Only after-the-fact of the ten-hour ordeal do
we know when the attack ended. But it
could have gone 12, or even 17 or 24 hours.
And in
the middle of it, four special forces guys told their “leaders” to fuck off and
engaged the enemy. Two of them died as a
result. Once again, we see the brilliant
perversity of this system, which leads the good people to sacrifice and the bad
people to profit.
And our
ridiculous press is still stuck in the 1970s. Watergate. Special Prosecutors.
What did they know and when did they know it? Bob Woodward. It’s laughable, really.
They are
so out of touch with reality that all one can do is gape at the sight.
The
Justice Department is spying on reporters and editors, we have “law enforcement
agencies” striving to deploy surveillance drones in the U.S., the IRS is
targeting white, middle-class conservative organizations, the black cities,
like Detroit and Birmingham, are complete and utter failures, millions of legal
and illegal immigrants are pouring in every year without end, practically all
of New England, the upper-Midwest and the West Coast are one-party states with
no real political opposition, and overseas our military engagements and foreign
policy meet failure after failure.
And,
since all of this is starting to make even the most average American question
the legitimacy of the regime, I could not be happier about it.
Kevin I worry that too many of the "average Americans" are bought into - and complicit in - the "regime".
ReplyDeleteYour average teacher / fireman / cop / city worker is bought in. Not all, to be sure, and I don't mean to demonize or demean these people. Many are fabulous. But they (like most people in all places and all ages) know which side their bread is buttered on and they are careful to keep the bread butter-side up. The butter-spreaders have done their work very carefully and their system will be damned hard to flip.
It's shocking how little "average people" seem to care about what happened in Benghazi. Perhaps people have been this detached all their lives but if the media tells them "nothing to see here, move on" they seem to do it.
The IRS scandal seems to break down along generational lines; it bothers older people more. Younger people were brought up to think that the First Amendment is almost as bad as the second (hate speech is a weapon and should be banned) and if the IRS had it in for the teabaggers then the teabaggers had it coming. What's not to like? Older liberals may have their vestigial "principle" neural networks triggered but they'll get over it.
It may be the Clinton people and the Obama people have each other in a Mexican standoff over the IRS and Benghazi scandals; perhaps they'll come to some agreement. I expect each to die down and in six months the MSM story will be as it has been for the last 2 years, namely what a dick Darrell Issa is.
I agree with you to a point on this, Lewy, but only to a point. Right now, these low-level public sector workers and other average Americans have absolutely no opposition leadership to guide them and inspire them. I believe very strongly that a proper opposition, done with wit, grace, intelligence and, most importantly, great disdain and mockery of the powers that be, could rally these people to re-make what is their legacy.
DeleteAnd, I don't view the regime as quite that large. After all, we'll need teachers, police officers and city workers in whatever follows USG.
But, USG needs to end. It's just a government. It's not the flag, not the American people and it certainly is not the United States. It's just a government. That thing that Jefferson advised replacing every few generations.
Kevin....I keep hearing, and seeing the term "low level public sector employees" etc...and you just used it. Just what are these people? What GS or SES or FSO or Flag Rank grade levels is being called "low level".
DeleteKevin it's rather more than just a government.
DeleteAri I think Kevin is referring to the people I mentioned in my first comment - not Federal government employees per se, but anyone in the "public sector".
Lewy....Kevin made the remark, I'd like to hear his answer. BTW, non-federal public sector folks also have ranks. My question is specifically what does "low level" mean, specifically, federal or otherwise. The core of this topic involves federal folks, however, so that is why I asked the question as I did.
DeleteAri - In the sense I used it above, I meant people in the public sector like teachers, patrol police officers, city sanitation workers, etc.
DeleteTo answer your specific question, on the Federal level, all I am really involved with are the FS ranks. I tend to ignore CS ranks because most CS people are worthless. (Note: There are a large number of exceptions that that general rule). I don't care about useless people's ranks, so it just doesn't register with me.
With regard to FS, our ranks break down as follows, with the LOWER the number being higher in rank:
FS-7
FS-6
FS-5
FS-4
These four ranks are considered junior officers, and are called "entry level" in official communications.
FS-3
FS-2
These two are considered mid-level officers.
FS-1
This is a full FSO, roughly equiv. to Colonel.
Here the FS ranks end, and one must compete for a spot in the Senior Foreign Service. They have four ranks which are considered "flag" level.
Like the old-time Army, MOST career officers top out at the colonel level, FS-1
The story with legs may be the AP wiretapping - and now Fox as well. You know it's serious when journalists start defending Fox.
ReplyDeleteThis is an issue for the media not because it threatens their principles.
It's an issue for the media because it threatens their business model.
They press is not the fourth estate, an essential pillar of the Republic.
The press is an ad revenue machine. They sell advertising. That's what they do.
Part of the mainstream media's "brand" - and demographic - is that it is not the E! Network. It is not MTV. It is not ESPN. It is an outlet for content which serves a demographic which fancies itself to be informed. Part of this conceit is nurtured by stories from "leakers" and "whistleblowers" in government and industry. This conceit is itself unimportant; what matters is that this conceit correlates with spendable cash, and so is a valuable advertising demographic.
Without the drama provided by "leakers" and "whistleblowers", there is little to distinguish a CBS or an ABC from a CSPAN on the one hand or an MTV on the other. So "sources" who dish stuff - doesn't matter what, as long as it results in clickthroughs, pageviews, and cookie tracker pings from the profitable demographic - are essential to the MSM business model.
We all know that the Gov has the means, motive and opportunity with modern technology to shut down every leaker practically before they hang up the phone.
But the press has the power to cause the Government pain, and, as others have observed, even a flatworm turns away from pain.
The current administration seems to have failed to clear the flatworm IQ hurdle and quite understandably the press is hurt and confused that it has to cause the administration pain - but it's an existential issue for the MSM business model. Already the "sources, whistleblowers and leakers" are shutting up. Bad for business.
The Obama folks have countered with the Press Shield Law... the endgame is negotiations over a protocol where a modfified First Amendment really only applies to the accredited and co-opted press; citizens get surveilled routinely. US practice will be "harmonized" with the international consensus on human rights (namely the rights of the most vicious and bloodthirsty cultures not to be offended.)
This will satisfy the MSM business model and eliminate any resurgence of those pesky "bloggers"...
...so it is what I predict will happen.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI have a lot more to say later in response to Kevin's post...because it mirrors a lot of what I feel now. Emotion is what we have because truthful information is what we lack.
ReplyDeleteAs for the list of useful crisis, Benghazi stands out to me....and has since it began. I published a time line earlier that was ass backwards, but my revised one that correctly reflects GMT+2 for Washington DC time (EDT)says that baring huge violation of protocol, a CRITICOMM [Critical Intelligence Communications] message, a system of NSA's which essentially places a flash message before the President and several Secretaries/Agency heads within 10 minutes. This would have been sent by 4:00 PM Washington DC time, 9/11/2012, even if delayed, and been in hand in time for the POTUS daily security briefing around 5:00 PM EDT....of which there are photographs published showing puzzling informality.
We know nothing was done...thus everything emanating from anywhere in Washington DC after 5:00 PM 9/11/2012 is a total fabrication of narrative to conceal something. What was concealed? Why was it concealed? Why is it still concealed? In my experience I'd suggest it was hardly a conventional USAID development effort.
I'm asking because I have participated [as a Staff Duty NCO long ago] in encrypting and implementing a CRITCOMM message working with an Officer of the Day [Duty Officer] when an enemy incursion of less initial violence, than Benghazi, but equal magnitude of enemy personnel, occurred and we'd ramped up instantly to an aggressive defense posture....pending a response to the CRITICOMM message and pending an anticipated follow on large enemy maneuver behind what we observed as a recon probe by skirmishers.
We did NOT sit idle awaiting development of a potential large scale conflagration, that was NOT our job...our job on that duty at Oh Dark Thirty was to notify ...and we did so within 15 minutes. We received a response within an additional 35 minutes, that incorporated wider area surveillance information than we had available in our locale that indicated it was only a skirmisher probe with no build up behind it....e.g., hold position for now, but deal with the skirmishers...who were all killed within the next 24 hours. Now, had the response been affirmative for scaled up action, we were ready to respond en' mass and so were assets from as far away as Guam and Thailand.
The point is that a decision was reached within one hour, 40+ years ago, and came from the highest level in the land. WTF was going on vis a vis Benghazi? What is the real reason nothing was done? Why in fact was the false narrative embedded by the Chairman-JCS in a telephone call, before Noon 9/12/2012, to a no-account preacher "beard" in Florida [one used previously by Gen Petraeus as a "beard"] and near simultaneous notification of Reuters News by his PAO?
The scary part of all this is simply that the administration and the administration's institutionalized senior executives actually believe we are all too ignorant or stupid to catch on to the gaming. They apparently know they can crush anyone who speaks up...and that brings on the rest of the current scandals, doesn't it?
Here is a photo of the preacher man Terry Jones, the guy on the left with a gun on his hip, when he was here last fall...do you really think this guy is an international mover and shaker? Without official government and MSM media hype, what is he?
imgw:"http://www.pressandguide.com/content/articles/2013/05/09/news/doc518c0f25287e58723356771.jpg"
Corrected estimated Washington DC time-line:
Delete3:40 PM Washington DC time, 9/11/2012, the attack begins on the Consulate.
4:00 PM Washington time, 9/11/2012, [even allowing 10 extra minutes] the CRITICOMM message was sent to all crisis response offices...which includes, State, CIA, DOD, NSA , etc.
8:00 PM Washington DC time, 9/11/2012, Secretary Clinton telephones Gregory Hicks in Libya and he reports the *attack* directly to Secretary Clinton.
10:00 PM Washington DC time, 9/11/2012, the Annex in Benghazi is attacked.
Answering myself ...
DeleteWithout official government and MSM media hype, what is he?
What he is is a representative of what many like to call conservatives and Christians. He calls himself both and claims to be a "fighter" [every time I see that word I know the opposite is true] for Constitutional rights and liberty, blah fucking blah. Like Fred Phelps he get publicity for outrageous behavior, but better [worse] than Phelps he also gets government publicity.
These guys like Phelps and Jones are what gives the left cause to claim the right is looney, and the government aids it as does the media...it serves their overall narrative. How convenient.
Jones, and his fellow travelers, is the leader that caused my neighbors to cancel their annual Arab Festival, along with pressure from our Democratic [dick kissing] city administration who really prefers Arabs just pay taxes and STFU...euwww, and not move west. A festival that is 18 or so years old designed to celebrate the local Arab community and the Arab businesses [mother fucking investments!] that prevented our neighborhoods from becoming extensions of a Detroit ghetto of ghettos. In short 80,000 people, the vast majority of which have no radical inclinations, are disenfranchised by pseudo-Christians who march in to town waving dead pigs heads on poles to challenge Islam...which is not the point of the festival....they just make it their cause. The allege they proselytize under their First Amendment Rights, but can't count a single convert.
Conversion is not their goal anyway. Their goal is the same as that of the old KKK. Among the 80,000 they have now insured that more radical attitudes will form. This is their goal...provocation.
They still wail and shriek about the injustice to Christians, never mind that many of us Christians live here without issues...and they live in Florida and California and come HERE to have issues, ...but all are welcome at this festival, and I should know...I live a block and 1/2 from where it has been held as a street festival....it has never harmed a soul. But yeah, some young Arabs took offense at the pigs heads last year, big deal. I was offended too. Parading decomposing animal offal on a city street is a health violation...where was the arrest for that? A federal judge just threw out the Christian wackos lawsuit claiming civil rights violations and assault.
The end effect if this continues will be a situation similar to the UK and France where Arabs have never been encouraged to assimilate. Nut jobs who can play the politics of it assure it. They won't pay for it, we will. If not one more Arab arrives here, it is already a fact that many are already here. How do you assimilate anyone you refuse to set an example for that is positive...instead you feed a victim-hood meme?
In short, when progressive lefties call conservatives loons, they are framing you and me as additional Terry Joneses .... and surprise, surprise, our government approves that message.
I have found over 50 odd years of travel and service that the best way to proselytize the American way of life is to live and behave as an example to the best of your ability within the constraints around you...being shot at tends to interrupt the harmony, but it doesn't eliminate the need. I continue in that tradition right here where I live now.