Tuesday, April 25, 2017

New Orleans: A People Without A Past Have No Future

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Early this morning the local television station WRAL, Raleigh, NC, broadcast news that the first of “four Confederate monuments in New Orleans…honoring white supremacy” will come down today.

The fate of these monuments has been debated now for a number of years, with the majority black city government wanting to expunge these reminders of New Orleans’ history, while various heritage and preservation organizations have fought to keep them in place.

The one that comes down today is the “Liberty Monument,” an obelisk erected in 1891 to commemorate the overthrow of Reconstruction. Proponents argued that it is a symbol of “white supremacy” and racism, while defenders declared that, although it may be offensive to some, it also an integral part of the city’s history and, thus, should be kept where it is as a part of that history.

But it is the remaining three monuments that raise the most vociferous ire of traditionalists and those concerned about preserving the historical record: the city plans to take down statues to Generals Robert E. Lee and P. G. T. Beauregard, and President Jefferson Davis.

Unlike the Liberty Monument, which symbolizes the political redemption of the city from Reconstruction, the Lee, Beauregard and Davis monuments commemorate exemplary individuals who ended up defending a lost cause. Through honoring them, the city fathers had honored the soldiers and the extreme sacrifices and hardships endured during a brutal war 155 years ago.  But, as we know, history often does not treat well the champions of a lost cause; the victors usually write the histories and establish the narrative.

The effort to take down these symbols reflects a frenzied desire to, in effect, efface portions of our history, to revise the past, if it no longer comports with the ideological Marxist vision that is currently fashionable and politically-correct. Certainly, one can argue that each generation engages in a bit of revising; that is part and parcel of what human beings do, to enhance their history and their genealogy, while downplaying events and individuals that may not fit smoothly into the current narrative.

Those who argue that the New Orleans monuments should come down suggest that what is needed is a re-interpretation and a revised view of history, and that such monuments only serve to remind us of past “sins” of racism and white oppression, slavery, and rebellion.

Yet, a deeper issue demands consideration. What does such zealous “purification,” such “censorship,” such abrupt dislocation, do to our understanding of who we are as a people? What happens when we radically suppress, re-arrange, and expel integral portions of our past?  Does not such extreme surgery leave us bereft of a fuller understanding of our historical experience?

The great late nineteenth century Spanish philosopher, Marcel Menendez y Pelayo, once said of Spain, that it was the shining champion, buckler, and defender of Christendom:  “this is your heritage, you have no other,” he cautioned.  Cannot this same metaphor be applied to the South? Can there be, truly, a real South without not only monuments commemorating noble men like Robert E. Lee, but also an understanding that men like Lee and Davis and Beauregard occupy a pivotal role in our history, and that their vision and their lives were exemplary and admirable witnesses in the difficult historical era in which they lived?  Must everything be compressed and re-interpreted by a sharply defined, ideological historicist litmus test?

Where, indeed, does such a process of homogenization and re-writing stop? George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and other Founders of this nation were slave holders; must their monuments be taken down and their names suppressed, too? Must their legacies be radically revised, and their essential roles in the creation of this nation be ideologically perverted?  The triumphant cultural Marxist school of historical writing, the Eric Foners of the historical establishment, would have it so, and in so doing, they turn history into fanatical ideology. Hollywood and the dominant popular culture follow along like yelping pups, parroting in offensive and over-the-top exaggeration the new dogmatism that reigns nearly supreme.

One cannot transgress the new totalitarian dogmatism. Not only our media, our entertainment, and our educational establishment, but even some of our friends who should know better, participate in this insane brainwashing acceptance that warps our understanding of our past.

Our objective, then, must be to redeem our history, recover the past, paint it in all its colors; but keep all our monuments and all our artifacts up and visible, recognizing that not everyone will see them in the same light. Yet, even those symbols that some may find objectionable tell a story and open a window on our past. And to comprehend who we are, we neglect such a full vision at our great peril.

A people without a past, that is, a real and discernible history, is a people with no real future.

1177 BC: The Year Civilization Collapsed

Via David


From about 1500 BC to 1200 BC, the Mediterranean region played host to a complex cosmopolitan and globalized world-system. It may have been this very internationalism that contributed to the apocalyptic disaster that ended the Bronze Age. When the end came, the civilized and international world of the Mediterranean regions came to a dramatic halt in a vast area stretching from Greece and Italy in the west to Egypt, Canaan, and Mesopotamia in the east. Large empires and small kingdoms collapsed rapidly. With their end came the world’s first recorded Dark Ages. It was not until centuries later that a new cultural renaissance emerged in Greece and the other affected areas, setting the stage for the evolution of Western society as we know it today. Professor Eric H. Cline of The George Washington University will explore why the Bronze Age came to an end and whether the collapse of those ancient civilizations might hold some warnings for our current society.

Considered for a Pulitzer Prize for his recent book 1177 BC, Dr. Eric H. Cline is Professor of Classics and Anthropology and the current Director of the Capitol Archaeological Institute at The George Washington University. He is a National Geographic Explorer, a Fulbright scholar, an NEH Public Scholar, and an award-winning teacher and author. He has degrees in archaeology and ancient history from Dartmouth, Yale, and the University of Pennsylvania; in May 2015, he was awarded an honorary doctoral degree (honoris causa) from Muhlenberg College. Dr. Cline is an active field archaeologist with 30 seasons of excavation and survey experience.

The views expressed in this video are those of the speaker and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Capital Area Skeptics.

Ret. Air Force Captain and Whistleblower: Pentagon Covered Up Real Story on ‘Extortion 17’ Navy SEAL Helicopter Crash

Via Billy


On August 6, 2011, 30 US service members were killed when a CH-47 Chinook helicopter they were being transported in crashed in Wardak province, Afghanistan. It was the deadliest single loss for U.S. forces in the decade-long war in Afghanistan. 17 members of the elite Navy SEALs were killed in the crash.

Human Trafficker Confesses on Camera to Murdering Between 4-500 Little Girls

Via Billy

How does a man live with himself doing such things?  Ross Kemp, a British investigative journalist, interviewed a self-professed child trafficker from India in 2013.  If confessing to child trafficking were not enough, the man in the interview claims to have killed somewhere between 4-500 little girls.

The man in the interview is referred to as "Mr. Kahn."  Most child traffickers are embarrassed or will not confess to such depravity, but not Kahn.  He is on record confessing to selling thousands of children into sex slavery and killing hundreds that he was not able to sell.

New Poll Finds Record Number Of Brain-Dead Americans Want More Government In Their Lives

Via 4Branch


In a poll conducted a few days ago by NBC News / Wall Street Journal, a record 57% of Americans responded that they want MORE government in their lives, and that the government should be doing more to solve people’s problems.

That’s the highest percentage since they started asking this question in 1995.

In fact, 57% is nearly double what people responded in the mid-90s.

More @ Zero Hedge

Compare Trump's pro-life first 100 days to what would have been under President Clinton

Via Billy

 For conservatives and the pro-life movement, if the election had gone the other way, these first 100 days would be the start of a very long nightmare. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

President Trump will round out his first 100 days in the Oval Office at the end of the week. He's already taken heat from the media and his critics about a lack of accomplishments, which is unfair and inaccurate.

For conservatives and the pro-life movement, if the election had gone the other way, these first 100 days would be the start of a very long nightmare.

There would be no pro-life attorney general and secretary of health and human services.

Taxpayers would still be funding international abortion groups.

A Supreme Court justice in the mold of pro-abortion Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg would have been seated on the bench.

Planned Parenthood CEO Cecile Richards and all her friends would have staffed the West Wing and Oval Office, instead of pro-lifers like Kellyanne Conway and Vice President Mike Pence.

Sean Spicer: Trump not backing down on wall funding in spending bill

Via Billy

Image result for Sean Spicer: Trump not backing down on wall funding in spending bill

White House press secretary Sean Spicer said President Trump will not budge on his main priorities for the spending bill to keep the government fully running past Friday, namely his controversial wall for the southern border.

Spicer told reporters Trump is negotiating with House and Senate leaders on the continuing resolution to keep the government open and avoid a partial shutdown. It appears the wall along the border with Mexico might end up being one of the major sticking points in negotiations to get a bill on Trump's desk by Friday.

The message Maj Bung Dropped On The Midway

Message via Khai Co Vu

No automatic alt text available.

ENLARGED



 The Cessna O-1 Bird Dog that Major Bung landed on the USS Midway

 America the beautiful * Honoring the 35th Annivers...

Judge declares mistrial in Bundy standoff after jury deadlocks on conspiracy counts

Via Billy

Carol Bundy, center, wife of Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy, looks at her phone beside Bailey Logue, daughter of Cliven Bundy, while waiting for a verdict outside of the federal courthouse, Monday, April 24, 2017, in Las Vegas. A jury found two men guilty of federal charges Monday in an armed standoff that stopped federal agents from rounding up cattle near Cliven Bundy's Nevada ranch in 2014. Jurors said they were deadlocked on charges against four other men, and the judge told them to keep deliberating. (AP Photo/John Locher)

A federal judge on Monday declared a mistrial after a jury deadlocked on conspiracy counts against six men charged in the 2014 armed standoff between the Bureau of Land Management and Nevada’s Bundy ranching family.

The jury had reached guilty verdicts earlier Monday on lesser charges against two of the six defendants, but jurors declared themselves “hopelessly deadlocked” on federal conspiracy charges against the group.

Greg Burleson, 53, of Phoenix, and Todd Engel, 49, of Boundary County, Idaho, were found guilty of obstruction of justice and interstate travel in aid of extortion stemming from the April 2014 clash over grazing rights on federal land.

Burleson, who was described as an ex-FBI informant and shown in a video saying he posed as a member of a bogus film crew during the standoff, was convicted on six other counts, including threatening and assaulting a federal officer.

Confederate monuments are coming down in NOLA

Via Carl


Via Nancy



This is deeply disgusting on so many levels:
“On the same day that some southern states were honoring their rebel heritage, masked workers in New Orleans dismantled a monument to that past — chunk by chunk, under darkness and the protection of police snipers.
“We will no longer allow the Confederacy to literally be put on a pedestal,” Mayor Mitch Landrieu (D) said after a 19th-century obelisk honoring what the mayor called “white supremacists” was taken down early Monday. …
After a small group of protesters dispersed about 1:30 a.m., police officers barricaded surrounding streets, and snipers took position on a rooftop above the statue, according to the Times-Picayune. By 3 a.m., workers were drilling into the obelisk’s pale stonework.
Contractors wore face masks, helmets and what one reporter described at a news conference the next morning as “militarylike bulletproof vests.” Landrieu said the workers were disguised for their protection. …”
What lessons can we draw from this?

1.) We stayed out of these heritage fights for a reason. We wanted to illustrate that groups like the SCV are incapable of preserving our heritage with their preferred methods.

Entire Senate being called to White House for North Korea briefing

Via Billy

Image result for Entire Senate being called to White House for North Korea briefing

The entire U.S. Senate has been invited to the White House for a briefing Wednesday on the North Korea situation, amid escalating tensions over the country’s missile tests and bellicose rhetoric.

White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer confirmed the upcoming briefing, for all 100 senators, on Monday.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Joseph Dunford and Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats plan to provide the update to lawmakers.

It is rare for the entire Senate to be invited to such a briefing.

More with video @ Fox

Kelly issues nuclear missile prediction

Via Billy