Christmas

 

The Prattville Dragoons SCV Camp

 Henry Timrod (1828-1867) the Poet Laureate of the Confederacy.

How grace this hallowed day?
Shall happy bells, from yonder ancient spire,
Send their glad greetings to each Christmas fire
Round which the children play?

Alas! for many a moon,
That tongueless tower hath cleaved the Sabbath air,
Mute as an obelisk of ice, aglare
Beneath an Arctic noon.

Shame to the foes that drown
Our psalms of worship with their impious drum,
The sweetest chimes in all the land lie dumb
In some far rustic town.

More @ The Abbeville Institute

Intelligence If Any: Its Care and Feeding

 

Today, fun with genetics, specifically genetic determination of intelligence and behavior. In doing this we will seek to annoy as many people as possible. (This column prides itself on being an equal-opportunity irritant. ) First, reference to amusing contradictions in IQ theory as offered by IQists and such as the Human Biodiversity Movement (hbd).

Let’s start with Colombia, since I know the country reasonably well. Colombians are said to have a mean IQ of 84. This is quite dim, below hamsters but better than turnips. Yet they run  airlines, telecommunications, and all the things one associates with modern cities. How is this?

More @ Fred on Everything

The fallen metropolis: the collapse of Caracas, the jewel of Latin America

Via John

  

Luis Saavedra, 65, holds the keys to the apartments and vehicles he now cares for in Caracas after their owners fled overseas to escape the crisis.

More Socialism, yeah! :)

Once a thriving, glamorous city, Venezuela’s capital is buckling under hyperinflation, crime and poverty 

A portrait of Hugo Chávez and a Bolivarian battle cry greet visitors to the Boyacá viewpoint in the mountains north of Caracas. “It is our duty to find one thousand ways and more to give the people the life that they need!”

But as Venezuela buckles, Chávez’s pledge sounds increasingly hollow. Vandals have splashed paint into the comandante’s face and beneath him Venezuela’s capital is dying.

“A ghost town,” laments Omar Lugo, director of news website El Estímulo, during a night-time driving tour of a once-buzzing metropolis being eviscerated by the country’s collapse. “It pains me so much to see Caracas like this.”

A generation ago, Venezuela’s capital was one of Latin America’s most thriving, glamorous cities; an oil-fuelled, tree-lined cauldron of culture that guidebooks hailed as a mecca for foodies, night owls and art fans.

More @ The Guardian

Trump’s Syria Withdrawal Policy Is Correct, But Communicated Horribly

Via Billy

Requiring "enduring defeat" in Syria will only result in endless war. 

 “Trump Criticized For Breaking With Longstanding American Tradition Of Remaining In Middle Eastern Countries Indefinitely,” joked the Babylon Bee upon the news President Donald Trump is bringing troops home from Syria, but the joke wasn’t far from the truth at all.

The news deeply angered the Washington foreign policy consensus, which argues that troops should stay in the region indefinitely even though the stated mission of defeating ISIS has been accomplished.

It’s true that Trump’s decision to depart Syria was sudden and poorly communicated. Viewed one way, however, it was not a complete surprise. Since at least 2013, Trump has repeatedly argued against the idea we need a sustained conflict in Syria:

More @ The Federalist

Ted Cruz Is Right: Make El Chapo Pay for the Wall

Via Oldbroker

It would be poetic justice, is deliciously named, and wouldn’t cost the taxpayers a dime. It doesn’t make Mexico pay for the wall, just one particular Mexican who has done great injury to the people of the United States and who is responsible for a major part of drugs flooding into the United States.

It is legislation introduced by Sen.Ted Cruz of Texas last year -- the Ensuring Lawful Collection of Hidden Assets to Provide Order (E.L.C.H.A.P.O.) Act which would use fund confiscated from drug dealers like El Chapo and traffickers to pay for border security. As Cruz explained after introducing his bill in April of 2017:

More @ American Thinker

Turkey: As soon as the U.S. leaves Syria, we’re going to slaughter the Kurds

 Via Billy

 

I had a theory that maybe Trump had worked out a deal with Erdogan to leave the Kurds alone, perhaps using the threat of renewed sanctions the lines of which won the release of Andrew Brunson.
Yeah . . . guess not:

More @ Herman Caine

Trump ends Hillarys illegal war.

 Via Generic

Many of you may not remember this, but Syria is not an actual enemy of the United States. It became policy of the USA to overthrow Assad while Hillary Clinton was secretary of state. With no congressional approval or presidential order, she declared war on Syria and started funding and arming opposition groups in Syria. One of those groups later became ISIS who used that funding and arms to take a foothold in Syria and expand into our “friends” Iraq. ISIS didn’t grow because the USA left Iraq too soon. They grew because the USA, under Clinton, fed them. Iraq and Syrians paid for Hillary’s treating the world like a game with the blood of tens of thousands of their citizens.

More @ Generic Views

Falling on the Altar of His Country

 

General JEB Stuart recommended Major John Pelham of Alabama for promotion in early 1863 after his exemplary initiative, coolness under fire and bravery at Fredericksburg. Stuart viewed Pelham as “one who possessed a heart intrepid, a spirit invincible, a patriotism too lofty to admit selfish thought and a conscience that scorned to do a mean act. His legacy would be to leave a shining example of his patriotism to those who survive.”
Bernhard Thuersam, www.Circa1865.org   The Great American Political Divide

Falling on the Altar of His Country

“You know how much his death distressed me. How much he was beloved, appreciated and admired . . . the tears of agony we had shed, and the gloom of mourning throughout my command [bore] witness.”

He fell mortally wounded in the Battle of Kellysville, March 17, with the battle cry on his lips, and the light of victory beaming from his eye. Though young in years, a mere stippling in appearance, remarkable for his general modesty of deportment, he yet disclosed on the battlefield the conduct of a veteran, and displayed in his handsome person the most imperturbable coolness to danger.

His eye glanced over every battlefield of his army from the first Manassas to the moment of his death, and he was, without a single exception, a brilliant actor in all. The memory of “the gallant Pelham,” his manly virtues, his noble nature and purity of character, are enshrined as a sacred legacy in hearts of all who knew him.

His record was bright and successful. He fell the noblest of sacrifices on the altar of his country, to whose glorious service he had dedicated his life from the beginning of the war.”

(JEB Stuart Speaks: An Interview with Lee’s Cavalryman, Bernice-Marie Yates, White Mane Publishing, Inc., 1997, excerpts pp. 58-59)

What Are Symbols For?

 

In 1875, Rev. Moses Drury Hoge stood before 40,000 people in Richmond, Virginia, at the foot of the newly dedicated statue of Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson, and delivered what one historian called the “noblest oration of his later life.”

He believed that in the future, the path to that statue would be “trodden” by the feet of travelers from “the banks of the Hudson, the Mississippi, [and] the Sacramento…from the Tiber, the Rhine, [and] the Danube.” They would be accompanied by “Honor” and “Freedom,” the twin principles by which Jackson lived and died and which these pilgrims would seek to celebrate. Jackson represented the best of American society and his memorial reminded not just America, but the world, of patriotism, heroism, and duty, the highest traits of Western Civilization and of all dead heroes.

More @ The Abbeville Institute

Trump signs Reciprocal Access to Tibet Act of 2018

Via Lê Bá Dzũng

 

The act supports access to Tibet by U.S. citizens, punishes Chinese officials for restricting travel.

 

The Reciprocal Access to Tibet Act of 2018 was signed into law by U.S. President Donald Trump on Dec. 19, signaling strong support for U.S. citizens to have the same access to travel throughout Tibet as Chinese nationals enjoy in the U.S.

The act calls for the U.S. government to restrict Chinese officials from visiting the U.S., if found to have impeded travel of U.S. citizens in Tibet.

More @ Taiwan News