Like the French — retired US generals and admirals have spoken — should we roll the cannons out?

13 May 2021

Following the French example?

Recall how retired French generals set off a fire storm recently by publicly questioning the French Ship of State's course?

And how that was followed up with another letter — this time from currently serving French troops — warning of a coming civil war?

Well yesterday — in 'Ahmurika'

Reportedly 124 of the United States' retired generals and admirals effectively did the same thing.

"Flag officers 4 America" published a public letter telling Sleepy Joe — who they implied stole the 2020 election — to un-dementia himself. And they sternly warned the rest of us to keep commies, socialists, progressives and scheming border-crossers out of the country.

Plus (they say), we have to squash China and Iran and support Free Speech — as well as the Rule of Law.

And so on.

Order of the below discussion

First, I present the flag officers' letter in full — minus its very long list of signatures.

Second, comes a representative example of Snowflake America's response to that letter. Plus some observations regarding the Huffington Post's questionable take on the situation.

And third — arrives a very tentative view of what all this may mean to developing history.

Body of the flag officers' letter

I reproduce the letter because so many Lamestream outlets were too lazy (or too hostile to its contents) to publish it fully:

Open Letter from Retired Generals and Admirals

Our Nation is in deep peril. We are in a fight for our survival as a Constitutional Republic like no other time since our founding in 1776. The conflict is between supporters of Socialism and Marxism vs. supporters of Constitutional freedom and liberty.

During the 2020 election an “Open Letter from Senior Military Leaders” was signed by 317 retired Generals and Admirals and, it said the 2020 election could be the most important election since our country was founded. “With the Democrat Party welcoming Socialists and Marxists, our historic way of life is at stake.” Unfortunately, that statement’s truth was quickly revealed, beginning with the election process itself.

Aside from the election, the Current Administration has launched a full-blown assault on our Constitutional rights in a dictatorial manner, bypassing the Congress, with more than 50 Executive Orders quickly signed, many reversing the previous Administration’s effective policies and regulations. Moreover, population control actions such as excessive lockdowns, school and business closures, and most alarming, censorship of written and verbal expression are all direct assaults on our fundamental Rights. We must support and hold accountable politicians who will act to counter Socialism, Marxism and Progressivism, support our Constitutional Republic, and insist on fiscally responsible governing while focusing on all Americans, especially the middle class, not special interest or extremist groups which are used to divide us into warring factions.

Additional National Security Issues and Actions:

- Open borders jeopardize national security by increasing human trafficking, drug cartels, terrorists entry, health/CV19 dangers, and humanitarian crises. Illegals are flooding our Country bringing high economic costs, crime, lowering wages, and illegal voting in some states. We must reestablish border

controls and continue building the wall while supporting our dedicated border control personnel. Sovereign nations must have controlled borders.

- China is the greatest external threat to America. Establishing cooperative relations with the Chinese Communist Party emboldens them to continue progress toward world domination, militarily, economically, politically and technologically. We must impose more sanctions and restrictions to impede their world domination goal and protect America’s interests.

- The free flow of information is critical to the security of our Republic, as illustrated by freedom of speech and the press being in the 1st Amendment of our Constitution. Censoring speech and expression, distorting speech, spreading disinformation by government officials, private entities, and the media is a method to suppress the free flow of information, a tyrannical technique used in closed societies. We must counter this on all fronts beginning with removing Section 230 protection from big tech.

- Re-engaging in the flawed Iran Nuclear Deal would result in Iran acquiring nuclear weapons along with the means to deliver them, thereby upsetting Mideast peace initiatives and aiding a terrorist nation whose slogans and goals include “death to America” and “death to Israel”. We must resist the new China/Iran agreement and not support the Iran Nuclear Deal. In addition, continue with the Mideast peace initiatives, the “Abraham Accords,” and support for Israel.

- Stopping the Keystone Pipeline eliminates our recently established energy independence and causes us to be energy dependent on nations not friendly to us, while eliminating valuable US jobs. We must open the Keystone Pipeline and regain our energy independence for national security and economic reasons.

- Using the U.S. military as political pawns with thousands of troops deployed around the U.S. Capitol Building, patrolling fences guarding against a non-existent threat, along with forcing Politically Correct policies like the divisive critical race theory into the military at the expense of the War Fighting Mission, seriously degrades readiness to fight and win our Nation’s wars, creating a major national security issue. We must support our Military and Vets; focus on war fighting, eliminate the corrosive infusion of Political Correctness into our military which damages morale and war fighting cohesion.

- The “Rule of Law” is fundamental to our Republic and security. Anarchy as seen in certain cities cannot be tolerated. We must support our law enforcement personnel and insist that DAs, our courts, and the DOJ enforce the law equally, fairly, and consistently toward all.

- The mental and physical condition of the Commander in Chief cannot be ignored. He must be able to quickly make accurate national security decisions involving life and limb anywhere, day or night. Recent Democrat leadership’s inquiries about nuclear code procedures sends a dangerous national security signal to nuclear armed adversaries, raising the question about who is in charge. We must always have an unquestionable chain of command.

Under a Democrat Congress and the Current Administration, our Country has taken a hard left turn toward Socialism and a Marxist form of tyrannical government which must be countered now by electing congressional and presidential candidates who will always act to defend our Constitutional Republic. The survival of our Nation and its cherished freedoms, liberty, and historic values are at stake.

We urge all citizens to get involved now at the local, state and/or national level to elect political representatives who will act to Save America, our Constitutional Republic, and hold those currently in office accountable. The “will of the people” must be heard and followed.

Predictably, the American Lamestream

. . . in its self-assigned role as propaganda outlet for the US Deep State (as well as for the Deep State's currently useful Democratic Party appendage) — immediately attempted to discredit what the retired (presumably Trump-supporting) former flag officers had said.

An especially egregious example of such distortion is this one — from the Huffington Post — here quoted in abbreviated extracts:

Over 120 retired U.S. generals and admirals published a disturbing open letter earlier this week pushing the false conspiracy theory that President Joe Biden stole the election while arguing that he might be mentally unfit for office.

“This is really, to my mind, a classic very bad example of the erosion of civil-military relations in America, which is the bedrock of our democracy,” retired Army Col. Jeffrey McCausland, a visiting professor at Dickinson College and a national security consultant for CBS, told HuffPost.

A cursory glance at the 124 signatories shows them to be almost uniformly white men who have not served in the military for decades.

Most are also only one or two-star generals or admirals. (“I covered the military for a very long time. The most remarkable thing about this list is how few names I recognize on it,” veteran Washington Post reporter Greg Jaffe noted on Twitter.)

Among its other more well-known signatories are retired Army Brig. Gen. Don Bolduc, a U.S. Senate candidate in New Hampshire;

retired Army Lt. Gen. William Boykin, a virulent anti-Muslim bigot who now heads up the anti-LGBTQ Family Research Council;

and retired Vice Adm. John Poindexter, best known for being convicted for his role in the Iran-Contra Affair as national security adviser for President Ronald Reagan.

McCausland, the retired Army colonel and professor, said that although it’s not uncommon for retired American military officers to engage in politics, endorsing certain candidates or policies, it’s a dangerous development for them to take part in a clearly anti-democratic campaign to overturn the results of a fair election; to attack the legitimacy of a major political party; and to use ad hominem attacks against the current commander in chief.

To have these 124 retired officers attack the peaceful transfer of power in favor of their preferred candidate sets a dangerous precedent, McCausland said, and threatens America’s history as one of the world’s “few democracies in which the military hasn’t threatened to take over control of government.”

There is no evidence of fraud affecting the results of the 2020 election.

Yet the admirals and generals who signed the letter argue there need to be more restrictive voting measures to ensure “election integrity.” Such measures, currently being enacted by Republican state legislatures across the country, seek to make it more difficult for Black and brown people to vote.

I found it amusing . . .

. . . that the author (Christopher Mathias) of the Huffington Post hit piece would:

attack the Trumpian letter signers

for making an (allegedly) ad hominem attack on President Biden

(who clearly does appear to suffer from dementia's onset)

and then

do the same ad-hominem-izing himself

regarding

"bigot" William Boykin

and

"convicted" John Poindexter,

whose conviction was reversed on appeal, which 'Slimer' Mathias does not tell us

and

whom the Post conveniently forgets

worked for the also Iran-Contra-tainted

commander in chief, President Ronald Reagan

(the gist of all that being — who ordered whom to do what?)

Notice, too, that it is the Post's view that the 2020 election was not fraudulent (apparently) anywhere or ever.

This, despite the fact that most of the courts involved in the alleged election 'reviews' ducked the most pertinent issues. Including, most blatantly and juridically contemptibly, the US Supreme Court.

Last, I cannot let slide the flippant snobbery involved in Mathias's claim that the generals and admirals who wrote the letter "are . . . only one or two-star generals or admirals".

I suspect that such vacuously based forms of contempt-displaying dismissiveness perfectly describes the Huffington Post's accustomed mentality.

Consider, here, an especially revealing slip-of-mind. In implicitly asserting the worthlessness of the Flag Letter-signing one and two stars — the Post article's author is quoting a retired colonel.

In military truth, there exists a huge gap in rank and prestige between most (but not all) colonels and any one star general or admiral.

I am not saying that generals and admirals are wiser than lower ranking officers and enlisted folk. In my view, they are (sadly and generally) the reverse.

However, one cannot rationally dismiss (a) a group of one and two stars in favor of (b) a group comprised of colonels plus three and four stars.

How would one rationally justify omitting the rank-crossing bridge between the two groups?

I conclude — from this and thousands of similar instances — that consistency, logic, rationality and evidence — all, seemingly obligatorily — consistently escape the average Snowflake and Cancel Culturist.

Where we are we now? — does the Flag Officers' letter matter?

My first suspicion is that the Flag Letter is not one necessarily lifted by History's occasional tides of amorphous (but significant) societal movement.

Instead, I suspect that Toddling Donny has been behind the scenes, mischievously arousing certain folks' ire. And y'all know how Tantrum Toddler Boy loves generals.

If it is mischief — rather than a Time's Birthing Tide — it becomes more difficult to assess the Flag Letter's importance.

In tentatively assessing the probable outcome, I do not consider the absence of three and four stars in its list of signatories to be particularly telling.

By nature, people of those two highest military ranks are socially adept — meaning well-adapted ass-kissers — and are unlikely to risk themselves, until they know which way Success's Wind is blowing.

More significant, probably, is the Huffington Post's observation that the signatory group is decades past its 'sell by' date.

Seen that way, the Flag Letter may indicate only a Boomer generation (curmudgeon-like) malaise that lacks the power to move younger folk — who would have to provide the 'swell' of any efficacious upheaval.

An unfortunate metaphor about virility's tumescence comes to mind.

Ergo, the inferred sell-by date.

In sum, I cannot begin to predict how this is going to work out. But I tend to think that this Flag Officers' Letter may (behind-the-scenes) precipitate more than one would think.

Like some the French military's unhappiness with President Macron's increasingly tumultuous France — and the alleged Islamic Invasion that is (they say) debasing French culture's stability — this American Flag Letter may be signaling similarly roiling dissatisfaction (in the United States) with things as they are.

If so, the only question is how old — and how vigorous — the people who feel the same way are:

Can they read?

Do they?

Do they know enough about how America works to get anything done?

Have they significant enough attention spans?

One wonders.

The moral? — The magnitude of what has been concealed below the American surface . . .

. . . is beginning to bubble up.

American complacence may finally be breaking apart.

We may get 'progress' or (alternatively) a dose of deadly sorrow out of what happens.

Either would, arguably, be preferable to the Rotting Stasis that is strangling us now.

Pain has its place in correcting maladaptions.

PeteFree.com

Like the French — retired US generals and admirals have spoken — should we roll the cannons out?