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Hegseth's ideological war on truth and military education damages the nation.
I grew up in the Army. My father, Colonel Harold F. Hamit MD, FACS, was drafted in World War Two. He was a medical student at NYU and ordered to stay and complete his degree. He was very smart, published some scientific papers before the Army drafted him, and knew how to do research. He got a taste of combat as the Regimental Surgeon for the 12th Philippine Scouts at the end of the war, and afterwards was part of the Occupation Forces in Japan.
This was after I was born. Mother had to give up her own nursing career. This was part of the morals of the time.
Having no money to buy a medical practice, Dad stayed in the Army and began a series of surgical residencies at various Army hospitals. We moved from post to post every two to three years, a traumatic event for my mother, my sister, and me, every time, because we had to always start over in a new place. The needs of the service came first. Dad served in Korea as Commanding Officer of the 1st M.A.S.H. Yeah, the one they made the funny movie and television series about, based on a book written by one of his fellow doctors.
It wasn’t funny for him. He came back a changed man. Looking at my own PTSD symptoms, I believe he was also a sufferer but could not admit it. In the 1950s any suggestion of mental illness would have been career ending. So would have been any political activity. Army officers served the nation, but they didn’t vote and expressed no political opinions. Dad became impatient, quick to anger, demanding, and a bully. His free time was consumed by a series of research papers. He drew and lettered his own charts and graphs, a painstaking process. During his surgical residency in Denver, the Army tasked him to get a Masters degree in biochemistry from the University of Colorado, Boulder. We then transferred to Washington DC, where he was assigned to the Army Surgeon General’s office to administer research contracts. He had quite a few, and traveled a lot to projects at various universities and corporations that made medical gear and developed new medicines and therapies.
Two of these projects stand out. They had major impacts upon not just American but global society. The first was a method for treating heart attacks at the moment they happened. Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation, or CPR — quickly adapted worldwide, saving millions of lives. The second was for “bone glue”, originally intended as a quick fix for fractures, and then discovered to stick anything back together with amazing speed and strength, including soft tissue. Thus was born Superglue! A very useful product. And created with a few thousand dollars of government money.
Dad’s part was to approve the payments. Nothing more. But it was the combination of surgical residency and his Masters in Biochemistry that gave him the knowledge to supervise that research.
Let me depart from my family history, and explore some examples from military history. Army involvement in scientific and technological research goes back to the days of Thomas Edison. Officers with advanced degrees are commonplace, and becoming a General now requires a Doctorate or multiple Masters or both. We have the most educated, intellectual military in the World. It is part of our soft power. This is part of what our very insecure and jealous Secretary of Defense seeks to undermine.
In 1942, a Lt. Col. named Jimmie Doolittle planned a daring raid on Japan with B-24 bombers flying from an aircraft carrier. It was a daring demonstration, but one based in science and engineering. Doolittle had a PhD in aeronautical engineering from M.I.T. He was a famous aviator in the 1930s and helped design the new generation of bombers. He knew it could be done. He’d done the math. But it was his military education, discipline, and leadership that got it done, and propelled him up to General’s stars on his shoulders.
Few officers are selected to study at civilian universities. The Defense Department has its own schools in abundance, many of which offer advanced degrees in topics seldom taught elsewhere. Strategy, Logistics, and Intelligence are some of them, although a few civilian institutions now also offer such degrees to satisfy an increasing demand. A high-tech military needs high-tech leaders, both military and civilian.
After the Vietnam War, General William E. DePuy determined that we lost that war because many of our officers simply didn’t have the smarts that went with advanced education to win it. Yes, we won every battle, but still lost the war. Why? Because we underestimated the enemy, because we did not know him. We had a distorted primitive view of his culture, resolve, and political will. We didn’t understand the situation. and that started with Westmoreland himself, trapped in his own nostalgia for the big battles of World War Two.
DePuy was part of the “never again, no more Vietnams” faction in the Defense Department that thought the next war would begin with a Soviet Invasion of Western Europe though the Fulda Gap. I served in Frankfurt then, and that was the thinking. The Soviets had better tanks and more of them.
In 1973, DePuy created the Training and Doctrine Command or TRADOC. It became the largest university in the world, incorporating courses from many civilian institutions. This only makes sense. Why create a MBA degree when Harvard has the best one in the World? Forget about “woke” or political considerations. You want your logistics officers, all of whom interact with the civilian sector, to walk the same walk and talk the same talk. It saves time and money, and provides new careers for retiring officers and NCOs. It puts everyone on the same page.
A comfortable retirement is the goal of almost every American military officer intent on a career. Those multiple assignments are building blocks to acquire knowledge and expertise. They test people and gradually weed out the ones less able or less willing. Career decisions are family affairs. I’ve known officers to leave mid-career when their spouse said, “enough, it’s me or your career.” The usual tour is two or three years, before you move on to a new assignment and make room for someone else. The maximum is five years. My father had that as Chief of Surgery at Brooke Army General Hospital in San Antonio near the end of his 26-year career. He was a Colonel by then. Before that, he worked on a research project at Baylor University Medical School with famous surgeons Michael DeBakey and Denton Cooley. He was their equal then, and teaching other doctors the delicate art of surgery.
This carefully planned system of education and practical knowledge acquired over 20 or more years is what Hegseth messed with when he blocked four promotions from Colonel to Brigadier General. Two are Black and two are women. Hegseth’s overreach is based on his well-known bigotry. It is “command interference”. Way below his pay grade. There is an informal rule in our military. You don’t break another man’s (or woman’s) rice bowl. Not without certain cause, based upon violations of trust or the regulations.
Stopping a career because of prejudice disrupts military planning. It makes the organization less intelligent, and reinforces bigotry that the US military has been trying to eliminate since 1948. Sentimental appeals of “heritage” based upon the Lost Cause mythology of Neo-Confederates, and the desire to keep women “barefoot and pregnant” at a time when human capital is at a premium, is another part of the Christian Nationalist agenda being advanced at every level of society. Hegseth glories in this identity.
He fired the top Army chaplain not just because he is Black and a Baptist, but because he resisted Hegseth’s interference in matters of Faith. Like politics, religion is supposed to be free of command interference. The firing of the leader of the Training Command is another effort to impose ideology on the force. Hegseth’s culture war extends to military dependents’ high school libraries. He has done the same for those at other military schools. He has been sued for violating the civil rights of children. An ignominious first. The goal is to suppress thought and discourse at a time when our soldier scholars are rethinking tactics, strategy and the military of the future. Hegseth seems to have no idea about this. He postures and he preaches, but he does not lead.
Hegseth’s public religious services and prayers are obscene, and seek to override decades of military culture and law. He is already a probable war criminal, and his excuse that he is just following policy set out by President Trump simply puts our Criminal-in-Chief in the dock with him.
Hegseth wants to turn back the clock to a hundred years ago when Jim Crow laws and terrorism ruled many communities. Suppression of Civil Rights deprived the nation of many talented workers in both our military and civilian workforce.
Hegseth’s military career ended because his bigotry labeled him an insider threat and cancelled his security clearance. It denied him higher rank. In his own words, the Army “spit him out”. Trump’s selection of him as Secretary of Defense was a bad joke, except no one is laughing. Hegseth is advocating war crimes and creating a quiet mutiny among the flag rank officers he despises.
~~~~
Tens of Billions of Dollars has been spent for a war that was not approved by anyone that is responsible for such military actions...
Peniel E. Joseph's Freedom Season - An Essential Text
In 1963 the Civil Rights struggle came alive
Francis Hamit
Publisher: Basic Books, an imprint of the Hachette Book Group 467 pages with notes, bibliography, acknowledgments and index ISBN: 978-1-5416-7589-6
1963 was the year I graduated high school in Marin County, California. It was in Mill Valley at Tamalpais High school, considered the toughest high school in the county because we had Black students. The farther you went North in Marin, the more you encountered the Jim Crow prejudices of the deep South. But at Tam High we were down with the Struggle. In the Drama Department our teacher, Dan Caldwell, did something very brave and subversive. Rather than another Broadway musical, he chose Arthur Miller’s “The Crucible” as our class play. The play is a not-so-subtle push back against the excesses of the McCarthy era, the early 1950s.
Parents objected to the theme and some of Miller’s language. Dan pointed to the language in the Samuel French contract that forbade us from changing a line of the play. His defiance taught us more than dramatic art: it was a lesson in courage, Of not giving in to political or cultural bullies. He put his job on the line and won. He taught there for more than 30 years. The theater is named after him.
We were very aware of Civil Rights. Some of us also participated in demonstrations and protests. The Vietnam War was already on the horizon. As were the Hippies and Timothy Leary’s poison promotion of the drug culture. But in that moment it was Civil Rights. White kids wanted to help. We had been too young to be Freedom Riders. It was our time.
Peniel E. Joseph’s “Freedom Season” is a narrative history of that year, filled with hope, but also murder and tragedy, as Jim Crow terrorists tried to preserve the political system that had served them so well for almost a century. Jim Crow infected the North as well.
The primary change agent in 1963 was the author James Baldwin. His novels and essays were lyrical and their critical reception paved the way for the Struggle. He became a best-selling author, read by the larger white community. These days, military and intelligence strategists talk about seizing the narrative and dominating the Information Space. That is what Baldwin did for Civil Rights in 1963. He was not so much a leader as an influencer. He raised our consciousness.
As Joseph details in this even-handed and thoroughly researched account, he was not the only one. The Black Civil Rights movement had its “Old Guard” and they resented upstarts such as Martin Luther King. Jr. and Malcolm X. There were rivalries and internal dissension. Joseph details it all. Voters’ registration in Mississippi, the Birmingham March, The initial reluctance of President John F. Kennedy and his brother Attorney General Bobby Kennedy to get involved. The courageous activism and murder of Medgar Evers, the Birmingham church bombing that killed four innocent Black girls and the assassination of JFK himself . All one story like a novel.
These events resonate down the corridors of time to the present day. This is an essential text for anyone seeking to understand today’s politics, especially in the face of the Trump Administration’s efforts to erase history and create a new Jim Crow order.
In the recent past I have been finding more and more connections that are both informative and haunting... I found, for instance, the War of Words written by Francis Hamit as I was concluding my discussion on Hamit's latest book, Out of Step. I will be writing my own thoughts about truth and lies this weekend. The above video I found as I opened YouTube this morning was immediately a connection to the entire cosmic issue of where we are heading in relation to person-to-person, state-to-state. nation-to-nation communication. Rightly so, the Catholic Church has chosen to speak from the standpoint of their mission. While Francis Hamit and I speak on our own personal goals or mission... Top to Bottom or Bottom to Top... Side to Side. This is the method by which we communicate with all of nature, including animals and all that exists on planet earth... Let me stop now, and read Hamit's words for inclusion in this article...
Trump's War of Words Targets Us All
Cognitive Warfare Is The Latest Weapon In His War To Attain Total Control
Francis Hamit
Lies, Lies, Lies and more lies. Donald Trump does not even try to convince us that what he says is true, given that he has been proven a liar so many times, he just keeps repeating his version of truth. Here is the probable cause--he believes every word he says and he no longer has anyone in his immediate circle, as he did in his first term as President, who can remind him that he is wrong.
The first person a con man has to convince is himself. The result is chaos on steroids. And that is the intent. To wear the rest of us down so that we just go along to buy a little peace.
The cost of that is too high. It’s our freedom and our democracy. Tyranny abounds. It is just not the firing of journalists and entertainers by their craven billionaire bosses whose fears only begin with the loss of a little revenue. Beyond that it is phony accusations and government investigations that carry legal and publicity defense costs and the psychological costs generated by the name calling and lies. Easier by far to buy peace without honor. Most of us just want a quiet life.
Trump doubles down with the lies, adding threats and bullying even more than in the past. Over and over again. His actions are robotic and performative. This leads me to believe that he is simply a front for other actors intent on destroying the nation. This reaches beyond Project 2025, parts of which he and his toadies are executing. Those closest to him continue to flatter him and pour rhetorical poison in his ears. His words are weapons they can deploy, while accommodating his worst instincts. His racism and hatred of people of color has emerged into full view. Ridiculous claims about Haitian workers in Ohio eating people’s pets are comical and easily refuted, yet he persists, as he does with his claims about the 2020 presidential election, also disproven en masse and in detail. Those he keeps alive and it seems that he may try to steal another election this Fall. His tactics are crude but he has directed the FBI and National Intelligence to seize ballots and then murmurs about a Federal takeover of elections. That sets a precedent that excuses tyranny and a slide into a fascist state.
Trump et al fears an educated and thoughtful electorate. That is why they use anti-DEI to attack institutions ranging from high school libraries to national museums to advanced education, especially military education. Those 800 senior military leaders that Secretary Hegseth summoned rewarded his rants with a stony silence. Every one of them earned multiple advanced degrees. Such credentials are as essential to attaining flag rank as airborne and combat infantry badges. The world is too complex to employ generals and admirals who do not understand the world or the enemies they face. Ignorance can be fixed. Stupid is forever. Hegseth’s military career simply does not impress them. Why would it? Why listen?
The Trump administration favors stupid. Since the 1990s the US military has elevated Information Warfare to another combat arm, deployed alongside Cyber Warfare to overwhelm enemy sensors and perceptions. The point of this particular spear is Cognitive Warfare. Repetition of memes that crowd out the enemy. This is how Trump won his first election. Unprecedented name-calling, false accusations, outright lies repeated to the point where your attention shuts down. You don’t want to hear any more and stop listening.
And there is the genius of Cognitive Warfare. It is cheap, easy, and insidious. Writing recently in the Small Wars Journal, Sara Russo said, “The real question is why (Cognitive Warfare) works so persistently. The explanation does not lie in the novelty of the phenomenon or the technological superiority, rather it is about cost. … It is cheap to start, hard to pinpoint the perpetrator, and a lot more expensive to counter. One single ambiguous action-- may it be legal, narrative, administrative or informational--has the the potential to trigger a cascade of reviews, coordination mechanisms, public responses and internal alignment activities that overwhelm the initial investment. … Most of the time the aim of cognitive warfare is not to maintain a decisive victory or escalate the situation. Rather it is to survive by making the defenders assume a position that is permanently costly.”
This is our position with Trump and his crew of misfits. He has deliberately chosen people like Hegseth, Patel and RFK Jr., not for their expertise and ability but for their facility to cause chaos and eventually bring down his own government. As they spin out lies to confuse and mislead the rest of us, he stuffs his own pockets with billions of taxpayer dollars and corruptly undermines the Constitution he swore to uphold and defend, while an impotent GOP sits by and…
But you’ve heard that all before haven’t you? That’s the heart of the matter. You’ve heard it all before. You are tired of hearing it. Tired of waiting for yet another fresh outrage as Trump establishes his own secret police in ICE and tries out the mechanisms of tyranny. If you are weary (and God knows I am) it is time to take fresh courage and sharpen your attention.
If Trump is not the master of his own house and merely a puppet for rich and powerful interests, then the coming elections matter more than any that have come before. So, if you love this country and cherish freedom, pay attention. Ignore the buzz of Trump’s words and really, really pay attention.
Folks, I can guarantee you that my interaction with Francis and my other ongoing contributors is either minimal or nonexistent in between specific postings. Yet, Hamit's words in this essay have eloquently pulled together everything I have thought or said at one time or another related to Trump's administration(s).
You may recall that I've said that Trump is nothing but a stooge. I believe it... I flash back to a mention from my niece that said that, really, only 3 (if I remember right) men really own the large corporations in the US... Are these individuals the ones that are attempting to take over the world for many varied reasons, most of which are based upon financial gain/power needs they strive for...?
For today, I want to close out by pinpointing once again my concern about turning the world away from God through using religion as a tool in various ways. Our God is the Great I Am. We do not need to concern ourselves with affiliations/doctrines. Thus, listening to what the Vatican states as their position--
our similar. Love for our neighbors, our fellow men and women--is appropriate in my opinion.
Reading anybody's memoir of their time in a war zone is not going to be an easy read. Reading Out of Step byFrancis Hamitjust may be one of those you may want to read to discover the reality of what was actually going on when they say they were in Vietnam. More, however, since it was recently written, readers are aware that this writer has lived through that war and has gone on to be able to look back--and evaluate--what actually was happening.
Hamit has exposed readers to reality, not only the bitter actions of destruction and men, women and children, blown to pieces from bombs, often civilians who just happened to be in the area where fighting was nearby... It reveals the coldness where only statistics of those fighting for one country is ever really provided to "those back home..." It reveals the separateness of races as most who are giving the orders are white men who have never actually been in the trenches. While, often, those who received an ongoing accumulation of medals and promotions based upon the "winning" events are rarely ones who gave their lies in actual battle
The juxtaposition of videos cannot be better illustrated than to see that one white man, and others, have initiated a war based upon no credible reason... We know that something similar occurred for Iraq also under a republican president. We've questioned what the various bombings across the world by this same president has been based on and received no real response... We do know none were approved and declared by congressional action.
Let's face it, this president has also declared war on individual states, such as Minnesota, where at least two citizens were accused to be domestic terrorists based upon NO documentation...and have chosen to not even investigate the facts that we have all plainly seen as ICE committed murder!
Looking back to the 1960s is easy for me and may be for many of readers here... Whether or not you can remember a war that nobody was willing to talk about, or a war where we know that soldiers came home with no real feeling of gratitude, is not as important as, right now, we MUST look backward to such devastating activities that is created over and over and over, mostly by those men who wish to gain control over their realm of influence, for riches and prestige... For surely, the deaths of war are not worth it for this selfish reason that as we look back, such as with Vietnam, we can once again verify that good men die while rich men get richer...
This book is the only book I have read that presents facts that are easily understood, explored and thus able to be used to gain a new, different, perspective of the reason why wars keep happening...
When an author and screen wordsmith speaks, I tend to listen, so I wanted to share this as a professional verification of my and many others' Truth...
Trump's War of Words Targets Us All
Cognitive Warfare Is The Latest Weapon In His War To Attain Total Control
Francis Hamit
Author, playwright and award-winning screenwriter
Lies, Lies, Lies and more lies. Donald Trump does not even try to convince us that what he says is true, given that he has been proven a liar so many times, he just keeps repeating his version of the truth. Here is the probable cause; he believes every word he says and he no longer has anyone in his immediate circle, as he did in his first term as President, who can remind him that he is wrong. The first person a con man has to convince is himself. The result is chaos on steroids. And that is the intent. To wear the rest of us down so that we just go along to buy a little peace.
The cost of that is too high. It’s our freedom and our democracy. Tyranny abounds. It is just not the firing of journalists and entertainers by their craven billionaire bosses whose fears only begin with the loss of a little revenue. Beyond that it is phony accusations and government investigations that carry legal and publicity defense costs and the psychological costs generated by the name calling and lies. Easier by far to buy peace without honor. Most of us just want a quiet life.
Trump doubles down with the lies, adding threats and bullying. Over and over again. His actions are robotic and performative. This leads me to believe that he is simply a front for other actors intent on destroying the nation. This reaches beyond Project 2025, parts of which he and his toadies are executing. Those closest to him continue to flatter him and pour rhetorical poison in his ears. His words are weapons they can deploy, while accommodating his worst instincts. His racism and hatred of people of color has emerged into full view. Ridiculous claims about Haitian workers in Ohio eating people’s pets are comical and easily refuted, yet he persists, as he does with his claims about the 2020 presidential election, also disproven en masse and in detail. Those he keeps alive and it seems that he may try, to steal another election this Fall. His tactics are crude but he is directing the FBI and the DNI to seize ballots and murmurs about a Federal takeover of elections. That sets a precedent that excuses tyranny and a slide into a fascist state.
Trump et al fears an educated and thoughtful electorate. That is why they use anti-DEI to attack institutions ranging from high school libraries to national museums to advanced education, especially military education. Those 800 senior military leaders that Secretary Hegseth summoned rewarded his rants with a stony silence. Every one of them earned multiple advanced degrees. Such credentials are as essential to attaining flag rank as airborne and combat infantry badges. The world is too complex to employ generals and admirals who do not understand the world or the enemies they face. Ignorance can be fixed. Stupid is forever. Hegseth’s military career simply does not impress them. Why would it? Why listen?
The Trump administration favors stupid. Since the 1990s the US military has elevated Information Warfare to another combat arm, deployed alongside Cyber Warfare to overwhelm enemy sensors and perceptions. The point of this particular spear is Cognitive Warfare. Repetition of memes that crowd out the enemy. This is how Trump won his first election. Unprecedented name-calling, false accusations, outright lies repeated to the point where your attention shuts down. You don’t want to hear any more and stop listening.
And there is the genius of Cognitive Warfare. It is cheap, easy, and insidious. Writing recently in the Small Wars Journal, Sara Russo said, “The real question is why (Cognitive Warfare) works so persistently. The explanation does not lie in the novelty of the phenomenon or the technological superiority, rather it is about cost. … It is cheap to start, hard to pinpoint the perpetrator, and a lot more expensive to counter. One single ambiguous action, may be it legal, narrative, administrative or informational - has the the potential to trigger a cascade of reviews, coordination mechanisms, public responses and internal alignment activities that overwhelm the initial investment... Most of the time the aim of cognitive warfare is not to maintain a decisive victory or escalate the situation. Rather it is to survive by making the defenders assume a position that is permanently costly.”
This is our position with Trump and his crew of misfits. He has deliberately chosen people like Hegseth, Patel and RFK Jr., not for their expertise and ability but for their facility to cause chaos and eventually bring down his own government. As they spin out lies to confuse and mislead the rest of us, he stuffs his own pockets with billions of taxpayer dollars and corruptly undermines the Constitution he swore to uphold and defend, while an impotent GOP sits by and…
But you’ve heard that all before haven’t you? That’s the heart of the matter. You’ve heard it all before You are tired of hearing it. Tired of waiting for yet another fresh outrage as Trump establishes his own secret
police in ICE and tries out the mechanisms of tyranny. If you are weary (and God knows I am) it is time to take fresh courage and sharpen your attention.
If Trump is not the master of his own house and merely a puppet for rich and powerful interests, then the coming elections matter more than any that have come before. So, if you love this country and cherish freedom, pay attention. Ignore the buzz of Trump’s words and really, really pay attention.
~~~~
This is the first of a very few I've heard to actually say what I've thought since this second administration started. Trump, in my opinion, is not capable of doing what he claims to be doing. Of course, he is lying, stopping the projects funded by Biden for New Jersey/New York, as is now being litigated... But his childish bargaining to name "things/places" after him is nothing but that--childish... There are many though that have funded this venture from the far right--literally far right--so right that it is not even a part of the republican party, in my opinion. These are people who use other people for purposes of power. They can remain secret because their money speaks for them and they are used to getting what they want. How sad!
Yes, Sad... because millions of people who have hooked their lies to a false god--Trump--who has no real power, other than he is willing to spew his lies openly and be seen as the man responsible... Look at his record. He's had more bankruptcies than successes. That tells me that he is unable to actually run a business...No wonder he lies about everything. He has no knowledge of the government and legal nomenclature for the breadth and depth of a federal government such as we have. He has only one skill, he lies and thinks fast to formulate somewhat credible responses, while actually saying or claiming nothing. Quite a skill for a conman, but not for a united states president...
Rick Rescorla has always been a particular hero of
mine. We shared a past as Vietnam veterans and in the Security Industry, protecting property and people. When the 9/11 attacks occurred he was the Security Director for Morgan Stanley at the World Trade Center. Despite a prior rather lame attack with a truck bomb in 1993, most of the people who worked in those towers did not take security seriously.
Rick did. So much so that he was willing to be a pain-in-the-ass about it and insist that Morgan Stanley hold regular drills to evacuate their offices, drills that required all of their employees to walk down several flights of fire stairs to the ground level. Rick knew that the timing of another attack was uncertain, but that it was not a matter of “if” but “when.”
When the fateful day came he evacuated all 800 Morgan Stanley employees from their offices safely and in good order without panic. He went back up to make sure he had everyone out and was still there when the building collapsed. His remains have never been recovered.
James B. Steward is a journalist better known for financial coverage but here he tells Rick’s story in a sensitive and compelling narrative. Rick not just had the heart of a soldier, he was a soldier, part of Hal Moore’s 7th Cavalry in Vietnam.
In a time when we need heroes, it is proper to remember this one.
The book is still in print in several editions.
~~~
Editorial
Jeremiah Davis's Commentary
on Trump's Autocratic Takeover
Former Intelligence Analyst Hits the Mark.
With a few recent exceptions, I have tried to refrain from posting political comments for a dozen or more years. I sincerely regret that I feel compelled to depart from that practice now and for the foreseeable future. I fear that we have reached critical mass in the struggle between our beloved constitutional democracy and the immoral authoritarian movement which I believe threatens it. Please try to understand that my motivation is my sincere belief in the lifetime oath I took to protect and defend the Constitution from all enemies both foreign and domestic.
The POTUS and his team are sending federalized National Guard troops into cities governed by Democratic mayors under the ridiculous pretext that these cities are out of control and that federal buildings and ICE officers need NG protection.
The governors and mayors insist that these federalized forces are not only not needed but that they are unwelcome and more likely to provoke violence than to prevent it. Federal district court judges predominantly agree that the federalization and deployment of these troops are unwarranted and most probably illegal. Nevertheless, the Administration apparently proceeds with the deployment in defiance of the courts’ orders.
Meanwhile, in recent weeks, a significant number of very senior flag officers (generals and admirals) have been fired, resigned, or retired under pressure from the Trump Administration. They include the most senior legal (JAG) officers who are responsible for ruling on the legality of orders directed to ranking military officers. (All members of the military take an oath to follow all “legal orders” issued by those above them.) They will undoubtedly be replaced by officers who are more willing to adhere to the desires of their political masters, regardless of the constitutionality of those desires.
It is absolutely essential that those of us who oppose the authoritarian goals of this administration NOT play into the hands of the architects of Project 2025. We must not engage in any violent confrontations with ICE and others who are quickly becoming the US equivalent of the Gestapo and Heinrich Himmler’s brutal SS.
Instead, we must adopt the tactics of Gandhi, MLK, Nelson Mandela, and other champions of civil rights who peacefully but forcefully demonstrated their opposition to those who sought to repress them. They endured brutality in Selma, Birmingham, and elsewhere. They showed who the actual thugs were and that peaceful demonstrators represented more noble ideals, such as those articulated in our Declaration of Independence and in the Constitution itself. We must be resolute in our determination to replace the would-be dictators through constitutional means as soon as possible. Meanwhile, Lady Liberty weeps...
Jeremiah Davis served in the US Army Security Agency during the Cold War and had Top Secret/ Crypto access. His remarks above are reprinted by permission.
McLean heard the middle stair creak and felt Frazer come cautiously in the door. He turned, smiled at him reassuringly, and then said, “This is Mr. Frazer. Jim, meet William Pinkerton, the President of our company. William, Mister Frazer is a scholar from England with the Ethnographic Survey.” He raised his eyebrows significantly, but William did not catch the meaning behind those words. “Really?” William stood up and offered his hand. “And where do you study?” Frazer looked from one to the other, slightly confused. “Well, for the moment, here. I’m collecting tales of native cultures. But I read at Trinity. Cambridge.” William looked suitably impressed. “I’m a Notre Dame man myself.”
McLean decided to jump in. “Jim needed a connection to someone in a local tribe. We have a young lad helping us who was able to help, and settled on a price for that service. It’s a per diem.” William Pinkerton, who was stout, with a big square head crowned with black hair, accented by a small mustache, and bright blue eyes, nodded. “How much are you paying the boy?” “Yet to be determined,” McLean said. “It depends on the client’s satisfaction.” Pinkerton nodded. Was it worth asking further? He decided not. Harry McLean was already irritated enough. And could simply take his pension and retire to a comfortable life in Denver if pushed too far. Fortunately, William knew, he loved the work too much to do that. “Well, I’ll leave that to you. Are you satisfied so far, Mister Frazer?”
“Jim, please. Yes. It’s going very well. Harry has also been very helpful.” William Pinkerton smiled. “Glad to hear it.” McLean nodded. He cleared his throat. “Uh, Jim, I think we will have to pick this up later. William and I have agency business to discuss.” Frazer looked slightly surprised. “Of course,” he murmured. “Perhaps tonight?” “I will find you,” McLean promised. Frazer was quickly gone.
The two detectives stared at each other. “What the Hell are you playing at, William?” McLean finally exploded. “This is one diabolical liberty, just showing up like this!” “Why are you surprised?” Pinkerton leaned back. “I do the same with other branches now. It keeps people on their toes. And with the current political and economic situation, we need to be sharp. Got the big Centennial celebration next year, and the election.” McLean stared at him, and then sighed. “Working as hard as I can, Boss. You don’t like it, then send me back to Denver and my wife and kids. Run this yourself.”
Pinkerton held out both hands before him as if pushing back an invisible wall. “Now, Harry, I meant nothing by it. You know that we miss you in Chicago, and we need someone we can trust here. This is a great location. It gets us into Mexico.” McLean began to make a pot of coffee. “Not sure we want to go there, myself. Different system of law. Napoleonic Code. Different language, and, by the way, about a hundred thousand Indians in various tribes that don’t recognize that border or any White Man’s authority.” “We go where the business is.” Pinkerton looked at the journal again. “Explain this bit of correspondence. Why are you writing Elmer Washburn about a balloon?” McLean’s face relaxed into a smile. He chuckled. “Now that is a mystery. You’ve not been over to the Mercado? The big square near the cathedral?” Pinkerton shook his head no. McLean set the coffee pot on top of the pot bellied stove, lit the fire and sat down in the chair at the next desk.
“Yesterday, a big hot air balloon appears there and lands. Bigger than you have ever seen. Now young Frazer and me, we’d struck up an acquaintance the day before, and he’s told me about Mademoiselles Pompadour and her traveling show. I thought he was having me on until I saw this prodigious balloon appear, and this very attractive blonde lower herself over the side, wearing pink tights that did nothing to conceal her figure. Quite an entrance.”
Pinkerton stared at him, and then nodded. “Young Frazer has been hired by them as an advance man, and there is a big greeting with a band, and he introduces me to the lady. She sees my badge and wants to know, right away, if I’m from the Government. I explain that we are and always have been a private enterprise. She says you must come to dinner. So I do that.” The coffee was ready and McLean got up and poured two cups. “Be careful not to burn your hand,” he cautioned. Pinkerton took his cup and set it on the desk to cool. “And?” “They are staying at the Excelsior. Best hotel in town. And the name of the lady is actually Rose Green, and she’s from Liverpool. And the pilot is Sir Percy Wyndham, who does not have his trademark mustaches that he wore when he commanded the First New Jersey during the War. The others are a mixed lot, Italian and French scientists. The crew are dressed like French sailors, but King Victor Emmanuel is the sponsor.” Pinkerton nodded slowly. “I am going to have to read up on this, because I’m understanding only about half of what you are saying. Cut to the chase, Harry. Why write Washburn about this?” McLean shook his head.
“Come on, William. Ethnographic Survey? That’s a British Secret Service cover most of the time. Jim Frazer’s research may be on the up-and-up, but the rest of it stinks like fish that’s been left out too long. And why the big show to cover what they are really doing? Rose Green’s real name is Rose Greenhow.” Pinkerton was startled. “Like the famous Confederate spy?” “Her daughter. And reputedly the bastard child of her and Jose Limantour, the current Minister of Finance for Mexico. As crooked as they come, and Rose’s paterfamilias in England is Judah P. Benjamin. She was a little drunk and feeling sorry for herself, and just babbled on. Or so it seemed.” “You think it was an act?”
“They were trying to recruit me, William. Pull me back in. I came here for them before the War. Your Dad knows all about it. He worked for them, too.” “What?” McLean sighed. “You ever talk politics with Allan? Back then, we were Chartists, rebels against the Queen. We got caught. Given a choice between a rather grisly traitor’s death and working here for Percy Anderson at the British Legation helping the Abolitionists. Well, that suited us just fine, and we joined the Chicago Police and became detectives, and then Allan set up the agency, and then found another lost cause, the Presidential campaign of a railroad lawyer by the name of Lincoln.
Railroads made us what we are today, but Lincoln, and Judah Benjamin, who was, back then, one of his law partners, got us started.” William Pinkerton shook his head. “Dad is writing his memoirs, but he’s left that part out.” He took a sip of his coffee. “So, how did you get out of it?” “Helping run the Underground Railroad helped, and then we spied against the South. Had to take the Oath of Allegiance, and become American citizens. With Judah Benjamin running the other spy service, the, as we called it, ‘adversary party’, we had to make a choice. In 1862 you were either a patriot or a traitor. Traitors got hung. It helped that we suddenly had money, lots of money. Our fortune was here and we cannot go back, on pain of death. I’m sure that warrant is still valid. And we saw how England was trying to break up the country and wanted no part of that. So we’re Americans now. And you and your brother and sister were born here. Natives. So I never considered it for a moment.” Pinkerton nodded. “You are right, of course. What else bothers you about the balloon?” McLean looked upwards, trying to remember something. “Ah! Something Frazer said. They are armed. Gatling guns. In case they set down and have to defend themselves from unfriendly natives. They don’t display them, but they are there. And the crew has the new Winchester rifles.”
“That is troublesome. You might call it ‘overkill’.” McLean laughed and nodded. “Think about it, William. It’s a massive craft for what it is, and, aside from having a 21-year-old woman in charge, seems to be very military. Or maybe naval. Sir Percy Wyndham is a star soldier, a mercenary, which means while his title comes from King Victor Emmanuel, he’s also British Secret Service. He said he was on ‘detached service’.” “And if it traveled on the water instead of through the air as some kind of amusement, it would cause alarms to be sent up. Have we been invaded?” McLean shook his head. “I think it’s more in the nature of a reconnaissance. They say they are searching for minerals and land to buy. But the Confederate government angle troubles me. The Confederate Treasury had four million in gold that’s never been found. Judah Benjamin burned all the Secret Service records in Richmond as they evacuated the government. There’s a whole network of traitors in the North that’s never been found out.” “And an amnesty in ‘72. They can’t be prosecuted.”
“That don’t matter. Exposure would bring social and financial ruin. They can be blackmailed. James Buchanan was.” “The President?” William looked shocked. “How?” “He liked men, not women. This was well known before the war, and tolerated because he was a very able politician. Yet he sat on his hands and did nothing as the nation came apart, and we had the worst war in history. Rose Greenhow was his beard. He visited her at night so everyone drew an obvious and wrong conclusion. She worked for the French and the British and anyone else who’d help finance those elaborate balls she put on. Senator Judah Benjamin was one of them. Seems the Confederate Secret Service was operating before there was a Confederate government. The Brits again. Ol’ La Fayette Baker was right, the treason was years in the making. ‘The South will rise again?’ Reconstruction has not really pacified the South.
Imagine those balloons coming against what’s left of the Union Army now, invading Texas and rallying all those poor bastards who saved their Confederate money to the cause. Throwing down grenades and Greek fire in bottles? Percy Wyndham was a Brigade Commander during the Italian War. Just the man to make it happen. He could be making military maps with that crew of his. Planning a march in from Mexico of a mercenary army.” William looked very grave. “So this is why you are writing to Washburn?” “Yes. If we are Americans, then I think we have a duty. It’s not a pitch for business. He has his own detectives. Leave it to them.” William smiled. “Write the letter and I will sign it. It will have more weight coming from me.” “How do you make that out?” “I’m the President of this agency.”
McLean smiled kindly. “And he remembers you in short pants, getting caught stealing apples from a neighbor’s tree when he was a beat cop in Dundee. You’re new, and haven’t proven yourself in his eyes.” Pinkerton blushed and looked offended. He looked away and murmured, “Have it your way. We both can sign.” “Whatever you like, Boss,” McLean said, twisting the knife a little.
~~~
The only way to describe this book is to quickly say, that it must be experienced! This multi-genre novel is awesome in breadth and scope of the storyline. It blends historical reality with bits of whimsy and sorcery/witchcraft and pulls it off wonderfully. It moves back in history much further than the 1800s and makes a clear statement about how history can be destroyed intentionally, as well as routinely. It throws in the sexual trade historically as well as a romance or two. More importantly, I don't know whether on purpose or not; but, it shares much about the actual background of what happened in America which has led, in my opinion, to the situation we now face.
What d0 I mean by that? Well Hamit has done much research for this and his other historical book. When you read a novel that uses dialogue that might be a problem, you suddenly realize that this is what was happening then...and what has led to our present life in America... We have been too quick to try to "whitewash" that history...
The primary character--Harry Elliott McLean--called McLean--moves from beginning to the end and is one of the Pinkerton Detectives. He has been sent by the home office to work in the creation of a new office near the Mexican border in a city called El Paso. He was not thrilled to be sent there, but with his experience, he had been the logical choice, especially since the son of the original man who had started the company, has now taken over and is still quite inexperienced. We meet him and you'll see the difference in the two men.
You will also meet another primary character by the name of Jesus--pronounced Hey-seuss... He is an Apache and young as the book started; however, at one point he asked "How old do you want me to be?" when he was asked to take on a new role in the office. Watch this character closely or you might miss some of his activities!
With those two characters highlighted, let's start at the beginning... when a hot air balloon arrived in town--with passengers! One of those individuals was a passenger who was an Ethnographer, which is the study of native cultures. He had traveled from England and had also agreed to assist the remaining members on the balloon in getting to know the area... Now, these individuals were looking for riches that could be found... And, indeed, they do find something that was extraordinary... only to become lost.. Yes, the entire balloon and its occupants had dropped of Frazier and was (almost) never seen again...
Frazier had arranged to meet with the Apache tribe, and would be led and introduced by Jesus. This part of the book was fascinating. It was Frazier's hope that he would be permitted to live with the local tribe and learn their stories. Not only did he succeed, but after some period of time, he was asked to leave the tribe, as if he had graduated. He came back to El Paso a completely different man in looks... Can you guess why? I loved this, what you might call, a subplot, as Frazier soon leaves and goes back to England...
In any event, we do catch up with the balloon's occupants as they cry, "Where the devil are we?" And one of the occupants looked around for Jesus...and another timidly said, "he flew away..." do...do... do...do... no scary movie music...this is in the 1800s when real Apache magic was alive and well...
But it gets even spookier... By the way, a reminder, the author said he decided to have fun with his book! Well... I had lots of fun reading it...even if with just a hint of what's really happening???
A new case has been assigned to McLean. The family has asked them to find their son who had last been seen in the El Paso area... Another agent, Blake Talman, has been assigned to the office and they plan to start out, not knowing where they will wind up. These two have completely different personalities, so the trip should prove interesting... But not as interesting as it really turned out to be... Oh, yeah, it was discovered that the local postmaster was a thief, so they'd be looking for him along the way... And, by the way, McLean's wife and daughters have shown up and the two daughters have already been trained and accepted as Pinkerton Agents... Now, it is really going to get complicated... Especially when William Pinkerton shows up and plans on staying awhile... And, wait for it, they have been notified that one of the gunmen McLean had formerly captured and had been convicted, was now free and heading...for... him...
So, folks, we got a posse being put together to go out into the wilds of the area... With a group of the Apaches as guides and a few Mexican police and a few caballeros who wanted to make sure if the posse may need to cross the border (which, of course, was not clearly marked those days!) And maybe a few that they picked up along the way... Because they were soon hearing about a new town and as they got closer, they began to hear loud noises that they couldn't place...
Until they came to the first body... The smell told them what the noise had been. The man was recognized as a criminal on their wanted list... As they moved on, now carrying the dead body, the horses were getting restless as another loud bang came... Soon, they saw another body. The man was still alive, but managed to say "they're not actually human!" Jesus later pointed out at one point that if they were not human, then it may not be a sin or a crime... if...
Finally they reached the town and located the sheriff's office. Jesus was in charge of the jail (yes, the same man--he get's around a lot) and they had found Derek Seaton, the missing son... In Jail... for murdering a guest of Jake Martin, the mayor, and owner of just about everything in the town. By the way, one of those guests was "Sheriff for the Day." Think the Ok Corral...
Yes, the town had been turned into an old west town where gun fights occurred daily, there were saloon girls available, and even a card shark came to town..
Thing is, all of the "new residents" had been invited by the Mayor... most of them were criminals now out of jail, or high-priced call girls from big cities who were now branded... Only, the girls wound up being mostly matched up with those criminal-type that wasn't like the gentlemen criminals of the real early west like, say, Doc Holliday...LOL, at least in our movies... Frankly the stranger guests really weren't interested in that type of participation.
They were interested in the gun fights, and they normally occurred about once a day... probably about the time when their spaceship came and hovered to see how the guests were doing... or to pick up the first group of guests and drop off the new guests...
So, who exactly were the STARMEN? Well, you're going to have to read the book to find out... Because even I am not sure just which were the ones for which the book was named... So, let me know your opinion after you read this fabulous, extraordinary and, yes, fun book! Don't miss it!
By the way, finally, one word was used in this book that was prominently used during the time period. The authenticity of Hamit's history is very clear and confirming of what those of us who have accepted what really happened already knew... And, it is no wonder that many came to disdain white men in general. At that time, it was white men who were murdering our indigenous americans... and our non-white americans as well... See Hamit's earlier post on this issue.
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