The Mattis way of War: Meet our new Secretary of Defense

Secretary of Defense, James Mattis is likely a man of many quips and words.Among my favorite, when asked in an interview,”Does anything keep you up at night,” his reply was simple, sleep just find, I keep other people up at night. (Source)

Of course, he said the above.

What, you thought I made it up? (Source)

He must have been the near perfect candidate, why else would the progressives tried to stall him nomination? Rhetorical.

Under Obama, there were far too many pencil pushing Generals and Admirals more concerned about our wars in The Middle East and Africa concerned about their pensions and retirement benefits.

Those days are officially gone,

The Washington Examiner

By Alex Pappas

 Jun 19, 2017

Fired under Obama, General “Mad Dog Mattis,” is Donald Trumps best Cabinet position choices.

Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis visited Capitol Hill last week and gave Congress an important message

He told lawmakers that President Trump had authorized him to decide how many American military personnel should be deployed in Afghanistan

This is good news if there is to be anything like a sustainable peace there.

For too long, the military has been unable to send more personnel than the amounts decided arbitrarily by Obama, who was obsessed with building a legacy as a peacemaker rather than with doing what would have been effective.

This forced the Pentagon to keep a low troop presence in Afghanistan, but it was not a path to stability, let alone peace.

The caps were akin to Obama’s declaration that the Iraq War was over, when all that was over was Washington’s commitment to the benighted people of that country.

Obama’s approach was the height of strategic incompetence.

Elevating domestic politics over strategic needs, he prevented the military from carrying out his own strategy and attaining his own goals.

But where Obama was strategically illiterate, Mattis is the opposite.

A keen thinker renowned for his grasp of military theory, history, and philosophy, Mattis can bring new energy to America’s long war in Afghanistan.

His strategy, due to be presented to Congress next month, is likely to involve three key components: combating Islamic State, strengthening the Afghan government, and pressing the Taliban and other insurgents toward serious negotiations.

See the entire article below.

 

A shocker from the Wall Street Journal: Exclusive Test Data: Many Colleges Fail to Improve Critical-Thinking Skills

Many colleges fail in Teaching How to think.

 

This should come as no surprise to those interested in any education at any level.

What is presented below is a testing set.

Predictably it would not be favored by students and faculty in some institutions that didn’t fare well, at others, this was not the case.

One this that is certain is that far too many institutions of higher learning are packed with instructors, assistant professors and professors not interested in teaching critical thinking skills but more interested into indoctrinating the student into a specific belief system.

This is more apt to be problematic where the softer “sciences,” are majored, psychology, sociology, philosophy, anthropologyy, and gender studies etc, while the “Hard Sciences,” math, physics, chemistry, engineering,  architecture, computer sciences, biology, and pre-med are more fact based.

 

 

 

Look no further that our college and university campus’ across the country and the aberrant behavior among both teachers and students typically based on the Marxist concept of so-called political correctness and it is very clear how far our institutions of “Higher Education,” have fallen.

Results of a standardized measure of reasoning ability show many students fail to improve over four years, even at some flagship schools, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis of nonpublic results.

 Students at Plymouth State University in New Hampshire showed extensive progress in critical thinking over four years, as measured by a test called the CLA+.

 

 Above, Kate Frederick, a sophomore. Photo: Cheryl Senter for The Wall Street Journal

The Wall Street Journal

 

By Douglas Belkin

 

June 4, 2017

 

Freshman and senior students at over 200 colleges across the U.S. take a little-known test every year to measure how much better they get at learning to think.

The results are discouraging.

At more than half of schools, at least a third of seniors were unable to make a cohesive argument, assess the quality of evidence in a document or interpret data in a table,

The Wall Street Journal found after reviewing the latest results from dozens of public colleges and universities that gave the exam between 2013 and 2016. (See full results.)

At some of the most prestigious flagship universities, test results indicate the average graduate shows little or no improvement in critical thinking over four years.

This is true, too, of similar tests.

 

A Closer Look at the Test Results

Search how 68 public colleges and universities performed on the CLA+ standardized test. (Source)

Some of the biggest gains occur at smaller colleges where students are less accomplished at arrival but soak up a rigorous, interdisciplinary curriculum.

For prospective students and their parents looking to pick a college, it is almost impossible to figure out which schools help students learn critical thinking, because full results of the standardized test, called the College Learning Assessment Plus, or CLA+, are seldom disclosed to the public.

 

See the entire article below.

Memorial Day: May 29, 2017 Just A Common Soldier

By JimCampbell

May 28, 2017

 

Indeed, be it soldier, Marine, airman, and gunners from the sea, without the common soldier nurses and corpsman we would not be free.

Politicians, for the most part, are wimps who send our best and brightest off to die.

When and if they come home and ask the politicians none can tell them why.

Have a wonderful Memorial Day and never forget the sacrifices of many who made the day a national holiday.

This is something we should teach our children as to the reasons we celebrate.

Hamburgers and Hot Dogs are wonderful, but not without the meaning forever etched in the hearts of the young.

This is also a day to think about the loved ones and members of our own families, just think about the good times and let your heart become free.

 

 

 

 

Larry Vaincourt’s classic poem was first published in his 1987 Remembrance Day newspaper column.  There are several incorrect versions of this poem circulating the web; below you’ll find the original text.

 

JUST A COMMON SOLDIER and Other Poems

is now available in PAPERBACK and HARDCOVER

For information regarding reprints please e-mail vaincourt@gmail.com

 

Note: This poem has already been licensed as a song and is part of a musical stage production. We do not authorize any other musicalization of this text.

Now a beautiful new recording by the legendary Connie Francis.

Avaible on iTunes HERE.

 Larry’s books and poems, including JUST A COMMON SOLDIER and Other Poems,

are available on this site.  Beautiful, often hilarious and always touching, Larry’s books make great gifts. For more information please click HERE.

 

• CLICK HERE to enjoy a beautiful recitation of the poem by voice-over artist MICHAEL R. DUDLEY (announcer for Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall)

 

• Larry’s books are now a musical stage production.  To watch video clips from

BORN LUCKY,  click HERE.

JUST A COMMON SOLDIER

(A Soldier Died Today)

by A. Lawrence Vaincourt

 

He was getting  old and paunchy and his hair was falling fast,

And he sat around the Legion, telling stories of the past.

Of a war that he had fought in and the deeds that he had done,

In his exploits with his buddies; they were heroes, every one.

 

And tho’ sometimes, to his neighbors, his tales became a joke,

All his Legion buddies listened, for they knew whereof he spoke.

But we’ll hear his tales no longer for old Bill has passed away,

And the world’s a little poorer, for a soldier died today.

 

He will not be mourned by many, just his children and his wife,

For he lived an ordinary and quite uneventful life.

Held a job and raised a family, quietly going his own way,

And the world won’t note his passing, though a soldier died today.

 

When politicians leave this earth, their bodies lie in state,

While thousands note their passing and proclaim that they were great.

Papers tell their whole life stories, from the time that they were young,

But the passing of a soldier goes unnoticed and unsung.

 

Is the greatest contribution to the welfare of our land

A guy who breaks his promises and cons his fellow man?

Or the ordinary fellow who, in times of war and strife,

Goes off to serve his Country and offers up his life?

 

A politician’s stipend and the style in which he lives

Are sometimes disproportionate to the service that he gives.

While the ordinary soldier, who offered up his all,

Is paid off with a medal and perhaps, a pension small.

 

It’s so easy to forget them for it was so long ago,

That the old Bills of our Country went to battle, but we know

It was not the politicians, with their compromise and ploys,

Who won for us the freedom that our Country now enjoys.

 

Should you find yourself in danger, with your enemies at hand,

Would you want a politician with his ever-shifting stand?

Or would you prefer a soldier, who has sworn to defend

His home, his kin and Country and would fight until the end?

 

He was just a common soldier and his ranks are growing thin,

But his presence should remind us we may need his like again.

For when countries are in conflict, then we find the soldier’s part

Is to clean up all the troubles that the politicians start.

 

If we cannot do him honor while he’s here to hear the praise,

Then at least let’s give him homage at the ending of his days.

Perhaps just a simple headline in a paper that would say,

Our Country is in mourning, for a soldier died today.

 

© 1987 A. Lawrence Vai

Played by Pershing’s own Buglers 5000 times a year on request.

 

The words and meaning of Taps in the Video below.

 

THE END

From the mouth of a self congratulatory punk kid who believes he should tell us how we should spend our money

 

At age 34, what could he possibly tell us about what will make us happy?

 

Hell, he’s still popping zits and using Clearasil.

If you take the time to listen to his speech, I’m sure you will believe as I do that he should have his ass kicked, and at the very worst be run over by a bus.

In any event, get out the barf bags, and keep a bucket of water handy, in case your hair catches on fire.

How many times did the pud puller say I?

Certainly equal to his mentor, Barack Obama.

 

 

For the most part, his speech was self-congratulatory looking at his days at Harvard as a screw up who eventually dropped out of little Moscow on the Charles River. 

For the most part, the audience was asleep when they were awakened with the words “Global warming.”

He also received another “Handjob,” when he brought up a new social contract with free education and a free guaranteed income to provide for a nice standard of living.

 

Sorry. best I can do for the handjob scene from Animal House.

 

He claims he will pay for this, through a charity he and his wife Priscilla set up.

Think tax break.

Guaranteed minimum income is the euphemistic old leftist idea that’s hot all over again. Otherwise known as forcing working people to pay people who don’t work an income. Why?

Otherwise known as forcing working people to pay people who don’t work an income. Why?

Why? Because of the left. That’s why.

Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, an overgrown college student who became a powerful billionaire through a misused  site, embraced it at Harvard in his misguided bid to pretend to be a human being. 

 

Front Page Magazine

Daniel Greenfield

May 26, 2017

 

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg called on the need to consider universal basic income for Americans during his Harvard Commencement Speech.

“Every generation expands its definition of equality.

Now it’s time for our generation to define a new social contract,” Zuckerberg said during his speech.

“We should have a society that measures progress not by economic metrics like GDP but by how many of us have a role we find meaningful.

We should explore ideas like universal basic income to make sure everyone has a cushion to try new ideas.”

Should we? None of them are new, what’s wrong with this kid?

 

 

Zuckerberg said that, because he knew he had a safety net if projects like Facebook had failed, he was confident enough to continue on without fear of failing.

A new social contract.

One in which everyone gets free money so they can develop the next Facebook.

In other news, Mark Zuckerberg doesn’t understand reality or basic economics. Not to mention human psychology.

But I welcome Mark Zuckerberg recreating Facebook into a corporation based on this new social contract that values employees based not on economic metrics, but meaningful roles.

It’s certainly an experiment worth conducting and he has the money to conduct it.

 

Furthermore, he’s fully entitled to hand out a free income to everyone in the country.

If he would like the government to do it, he can bring back Facebook’s revenues from its Irish tax shelter instead of expecting middle class families struggling to get by to subsidize his social experiments.

Speaking of taxes…

The Internal Revenue Service said Facebook may have understated the value of intellectual property it transferred to Ireland by “billions of dollars,” unfairly cutting its tax bill in the process, according to court papers.

But Zuckerberg wants to tax us for his social welfare schemes.

She Just Said What: Why Did He Do That?

By Jim Campbell

May 26, 2016

 

Former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi has likely said more ignorant things in her vastly overrated term in the House of Representatives and this rates high among them.

On his visits abroad, just why did President Trump go to Saudi Arabia first? (Source)

 

Saudi King Salman bin Abdul Aziz presents President Trump with his nation’s highest civilian honor. (Evan Vucci/Associated Press)

 

She is right, Canada, starting with a “C,” is ahead of them in alphabetical order.

A hapless being who likely doesn’t have the time to read, with physician visits for Botox and her psychiatrist to continue modifying here mental meds that have never been prescribed correctly.

This of course while on the taxpayer’s dime!

 

 

 

 

“Our friends and neighbors,” she said.

“What was the decision-making process to go to Saudi Arabia first? That is a question that I have,” she said.

For 29 years, Pelosi has represented San Francisco, California’s 12th District, in Congress.

She has led House Democrats for more than 12 years and previously served as House Democratic Whip.

Let me see if I can help her out a bit here?

Dear Nancy,

Indeed, the United States, Canada, and Mexico are on the same continent.  (4th-grade material)

Heads up, things seem to be going as well as can be expected with Canada and of course, there is Mexico with the “Little Wall Issue.)

 

Canada’s prime minister, the Islam loving, Justin Trudeau announced the withdrawal of Canadian fighter jets from Syria and Iraq, in October 2015, the day after his election victory. Photograph: David Kawai/Xinhua Press/Corbis

The Saudi’s are helping the United States in their war against ISIS.

Currently, the United States is engaged in battles across the Middle East and parts of Africa.

President to recommit to the strategic alliance providing stability in an unstable region.

The symbolism of this is exceptionally important, illustrating that the Trump administration understands the fundamental issues at play in the Middle East today.

Please resign.

Thank You,

Jim Campbell

Make no mistake: The Middle East today faces a determined effort to bring down the Saudi-led Gulf Monarchies that constitute the front line in the battle against terrorism.

And while it is not popular to praise monarchies, particularly when the crown sits atop an Arab head, Saudi Arabia and other countries governed by ruling families have emerged as the last line of defense in a dangerous “great game” for the heart of the Middle East, and with it, global stability.

Iran, ISIS, and al-Qaeda all want to replace the Gulf monarchies, with rulers under the sway of Iran’s Shia theocracy or, in the case of ISIS and al-Qaeda, with a radical Sunni caliphate.

Both Iran and the Sunni jihadis dream of controlling Islam’s holy cities of Mecca and Medina, as well as the oil fields of Arabia, prizes that would endow them with tremendous influence over the Islamic world and beyond.

Just this week, Saudi Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman warned that his country is “the primary target for the Iranian regime.”

Why President Trump chose Saudi Arabia as his first foreign visit (Source)

 

THE END

This Just In: Unnamed Sources Confirm Washington Post’s Unnamed Sources Have Slutty Moms

By Jim Campbell

May 21, 2017

When it comes to purveyors of fake news, WAPO is right up there with the NEW YORK TIMES and M.S.N.B.C.’s Rachael Maddow in bringing up material not worth reading.

I am reluctant to report this because, how many people will believe a scandalous story whose only source is “unnamed sources,” but for the future of this great land, I feel I must go with it.

 

Twenty-nine different unnamed sources, plus one that had a name but forgot it, ten of whom are close to the NY Times management (they live in Manhattan), ten close to Washington Post management, and ten play in the Atlanta Corporate softball league with CNN management shared some scandalous information today.

There will be some who say I am using unnamed sources just to prevent the MSM from continuing its agenda to slow down the Trump team from advancing the policies it promised America.

Or that I am trying to drain the swamp of the established media.

That is ridiculous!

No one would ever try to slow down an agenda using unnamed sources and if that was what I was trying to do no one would believe me…they are unnamed sources for God’s sake.

THE END

What happened to Seth Rich, in contact with Wiki Leaks: Did he Fill Another Clinton Body Bag?

If the reader doesn’t remember or know who Seth Rich is/was, he was the guy who was leaking the DNC information to WikiLeaks.

 

He was a big Bernie supporter.

Like anyone else who crosses the Clintons, he wound up dead.

Imagine that.

 

 

If anyone could have been the one to break the news on possible election fraud, it would have been Mr. Rich.

If his death somehow is confirmed as part of corrupt Clinton collusion, then it is important to know that with the major players involved,

Mr. Rich would have posed the least significant threat, at least in comparison to Vladimir Putin or those high up in the Washington D.C establishment.

Many questions remain on my mind that are, and will probably forever, remain unanswered.

According to Rich, “Perhaps I have an inherent bias in actual democracy,” as you can see in my post history that I’ve been a staunch supporter of Senator Sanders.

The context, but mostly imminent timing of the loss of this young insider seems to go beyond “pure coincidence”, despite the number of robberies in the D.C area lately

 I  believe that Hillary Clinton’s team or the DNC could have colluded to dispose of this young man who happened to be exposed to a little too much information he said before he was murdered.

 

* Murdered DNC staffer Seth Rich had sent 44,000 internal emails to WikiLeaks

* Podesta: “I’m definitely for making an example of a suspected leaker whether or not we have any real basis for it.” 

* WikiLeaks issues U.S. $20k reward for information leading to the conviction for the murder of DNC staffer Seth Rich.* 

The  Washington Post, (FAKE NEWS) publishes dubious story on President Trump “leaking classified information.

 

 

 

Seth Rich being the leaker effectively kills the entire Russian hacking narrative, and thus the entire Trump-Russia collusion narrative that was built upon it, and thus all the manipulations which were built upon the collusion narrative.

THE END