My eyes were also opened re: the Iraq War. When I was in my 30s, I had NO notion of the corruption that existed in the higher levels of our own government. My dad had a good job, my mom stayed home to raise us, we were never asked "are you going to college" but rather "where are you going to college", and we had no reason to believe that our future would be markedly different from our parents' present. When Saddam invaded, my heart and head (such as it was) were fully behind Bush and the plan to evict the Iraqis from Kuwait (remember "Bomb Bomb Iraq"?).
Fast forward to the present and I find I've become as disillusioned as Peachy regarding our leadership. I've always maintained that a little bit of graft, a little bit of grease (throw a little patronage to useless uncle Joey...), were essentially harmless (and basically unavoidable) AS LONG AS those in charge truly loved our country. That no longer obtains. Most of our elite class is about power, fame, wealth...not much room in that triumvirate for a little thing like "patriotism".
I love my country. It is still the greatest nation that ever existed. But I am so heartily ashamed at our foreign policy; I simply cannot understand why any other country would trust us. This is the doing of our betters and, ultimately, of ourselves. We are the ones who elect these psychopathic narcissists. We truly are one generation away from total collapse. If we do not get kids out of the public schools (into parochial schools like Chesterton Academy, or into homeschool coops, or even your garden variety private school where flags still fly), we will no longer have the numbers to fight back.
Thanks but I'm unclear regarding exactly why you are claiming public schools are "low grade garbage"? Are you saying that attempting to educate the "whole mass of the people" leads to bad results?
Dude: the Uniparty makes the schools bad so they cannot educate the people as Jefferson deemed essential. Said another way--if the schools did as Jefferson said, voters would be wise and would never vote for the jokers we now have in office. ‘Nuff said.
I understand that he is saying THAT public schools are low-grade garbage (of course they are)... what I can't figure out from his comment is "why?" He asked me if I want to know "why", but then doesn't provide his answer.
He’s counting on you being able to grasp an inference. He offers Jefferson’s good goal, which by definition is hated by the powers that control public education. Then you can infer that because it’s good, they will do the opposite.
NO. Bin Laden wanted to DESTROY America, not save it. Putin, Xi, Fidel Castro, Maduro, etc. have all written their own "why America is bad and needs to be destroyed" screeds. BLM, Antifa and all the other domestic terrorist groups have similar documents.
Destruction of America is not the answer. Without a strong, moral, viable America there is no hope for the world. America must be saved not destroyed.
I think Peachy may have just described the GenX experience with our government. Was late to the questioning myself. Was a CPT in the Army National Guard on 9/11 and was both terrified and exhilarated that this was 'our war'.
I also carry the shame of being a full-on 'Team America FU$K Yeah!' mindset. Even lasted long enough to blame Obama for ISIS & the shitshow Iraq had become. My suspicions began 2015ish when I retired. Peak disenfranchisement was watching the criminal withdrawal from Kabul in August 2021. There goes Ukraine, there goes Taiwan circled my brain for weeks afterward.
Re-grieving lost friends. Seeing in full naked glory the results of our moral collapse of materialism over spirit/God/values.
Very well written. Thank you.
Just had a thought. One of my Soldiers was looking to return to war about 2 months after our return. We all feel this way. Long for combat once we home. It's weird and hard to understand, explain (we usually only talk about this with other Soldiers because we think it will hurt our families and they wouldn't understand anyway...) or live with.
The Soldier asked for my help (to find a deployment), and I answered, "The real war is here. Finish school. Get married. Build a life. This is all hard and noble as well."
The real war is here, but it is a deathmatch for ideas and values and the very soul of our nation and ourselves.
Yes. The real war is here. Against an enemy so stealthy it gets inside your head and makes you love Big Brother. The Christian way is to prune away our own egotistical ways and our thirst for being seen as greater than others. As we combat our selfishness, God shows us what to do next. And that doesn’t include doing the bidding of totalitarians.
There was a great SNL skit in the 80s about the blacks and Jews feuding in NYC, until they had “a coming together” after realizing that it wasn’t actually the Jews who killed Christ … “was the Italians that did it!”
I’m not a Muslim but I have read a bit about the passage regarding the Muslims “conquering” the Romans.
Remember that Emperor Constantine moved the center of the Roman Empire from Rome to Constantinople -now Istanbul- at it became a Christian , the Byzantine Empires . Eventually the Muslims conquered it.
So there’s that history.
But what’s interesting is that Muhammad used the “conquering” as a metaphor for the journey of the stages of the human soul as it strives to turn away from self and passion and to turn towards God, rely upon Him, trust in Him.
Moses and Christ taught the same thing of course, as did Baha’u’llah, founder of the Baha’i faith.
Muhammed did not use "conquering as a metaphor." He actually practiced it. He went from being a fringe nutcase to being the most powerful force in the Arabian peninsula after his massacre of the Banu Qurayza, 627AD. He ordered that "The men should be killed, the property divided, and the women and children taken as slaves." After that he gained a lot of opportunistic followers. The Banu Qurayza was a Jewish tribe living near Mecca. Muslims have been killing Jews ever since.
"Moses and Christ taught the same thing of course, as did Baha’u’llah, founder of the Baha’i faith"
I'm guessing you haven't read much of the Koran. I have (and nearly all of the Bible) and what you declared here is simply not true. The really good stuff is in the Hadith, however -- the part about massacring a whole Arabic tribe of Jews -- men and boys, that is -- and enslaving the women and children. Lotta that kind of thing in the Hadith, related with evident approval and gusto.
Okay I’m gonna start by saying I’m not religious. I’m agnostic so please don’t hold that against me lol.
I’m also not well read enough about the history of that part of the world to really give a properly informed opinion.
All I know is that innocent women and children (on both sides) have been killed, once again because people believe different religious ideas. I just want it to stop (it won’t of course since America is funding both sides) so that innocents don’t get killed.
I don’t think I’ve even got a point except people (not you) need to stop commenting on stuff they have no idea about.
Innocent women and children are dying because one side are jihadists and want the other side eradicated. This desire is what is killing innocents on both sides. If the one side weren’t so extreme in their jihadist beliefs they could have peace.
I agree with you Vulkan:) I’m not extreme in any way except that I am extremely domestic hahaha and complete normie in every imaginable way
I agree that religious differences/interpretations are a huge part of what’s happening. I deplore terrorists using religion to justify their evil actions. Its disgusting.
Every time I read about them using their scripture to justify their evil doings I try to take the time to study the actual scripture and understand the meaning. Every time I do that I learn the truth and understand more:)
I read the letter and was even more surprised that kids are agreeing with it. It flat-out states that he wants the US to adopt Shariah law and take away all our freedoms, and that was the real reason. That, and because we support the “evil” Israel, although he gives no reason for believing that land should belong to them. While there is some valid criticism of the US for meddling in foreign affairs, sometimes with terrible results, that isn’t really the crux of the letter. It’s amazing to me that people are that influenceable. It’s also amazing to me that censoring the latter has been the response because I really think if most people read it they’d see it for what it is, and allowing people to read and refute it is the best remedy
The Koran specifically states that Jews are to killed where ever they are found and that same gender sex is an abomination to God and participants are to be destroyed. As you point out, the vast majority of those non-Muslims supporting the Islamic jihad in Judah and Israel and Osama's fatwah would themselves be on the chopping block, literally. I am reminded of H.L. Mencken's observation about democracy and would like to paraphrase it here: these people, Jews and gentiles, are going to get their social justice good and hard from the jihadists, and the Karens amongst them are going to find out what patriarchy really is, in the Islamic way.
Jews inhabited Jerusalem more than 2,000 years before Muhammad was born, I don't care what Osama believes. That means that it is the Jews who are the indigenous people there. Arab Muslims are the invaders/colonizers.
But, but, but... Muhammad insisted Jerusalem belongs to Islam because he flew there on a magical horse in a dream one night after a spicy meal! ("The Israʾ and Miʿraj," it is in the Quran and therefore just HAS to be true!)
Exactly! I’m your age, Peachy, and your reversion to conservatism is identical to mine. I was dumb enough to think the Bushes were alright and the Iraq war was just. As soon as Trump said, “Only Rosie O’Donnell” and made Ted Cruz look like a smarmy tent revivalist, I started to dig up and take notice.
I didn't even realize mrs. K wrote this until I was about halfway through and I thought wow this is really good! And then I realized she wrote it and said of course it's good it was written by mrs K!
My eyes were also opened re: the Iraq War. When I was in my 30s, I had NO notion of the corruption that existed in the higher levels of our own government. My dad had a good job, my mom stayed home to raise us, we were never asked "are you going to college" but rather "where are you going to college", and we had no reason to believe that our future would be markedly different from our parents' present. When Saddam invaded, my heart and head (such as it was) were fully behind Bush and the plan to evict the Iraqis from Kuwait (remember "Bomb Bomb Iraq"?).
Fast forward to the present and I find I've become as disillusioned as Peachy regarding our leadership. I've always maintained that a little bit of graft, a little bit of grease (throw a little patronage to useless uncle Joey...), were essentially harmless (and basically unavoidable) AS LONG AS those in charge truly loved our country. That no longer obtains. Most of our elite class is about power, fame, wealth...not much room in that triumvirate for a little thing like "patriotism".
I love my country. It is still the greatest nation that ever existed. But I am so heartily ashamed at our foreign policy; I simply cannot understand why any other country would trust us. This is the doing of our betters and, ultimately, of ourselves. We are the ones who elect these psychopathic narcissists. We truly are one generation away from total collapse. If we do not get kids out of the public schools (into parochial schools like Chesterton Academy, or into homeschool coops, or even your garden variety private school where flags still fly), we will no longer have the numbers to fight back.
Keep up the great work, Peachy!
You want to know why our public schools are low grade garbage? Here’s why:
Educate and inform the whole mass of the people... They are the only sure reliance for the preservation of our liberty.
—Thomas Jefferson
When discipline crashed due to pandering to a certain subculture…
the learning crashed… 20% of teaching time lost to brats and thugs and that was maybe 20 years ago and it’s worse now…
so here we are…
I taught 6 years of high school science then 27 years of college…so been there seen that!!
Thanks but I'm unclear regarding exactly why you are claiming public schools are "low grade garbage"? Are you saying that attempting to educate the "whole mass of the people" leads to bad results?
I’m saying that the Regime doesn’t want an educated population who then would preserve liberty.
Much like cleaning up San Francisco for the visit of a dictator, they can do it if they want to do it. They don’t want to do it.
Thus public education is low grade garbage.
Dude: the Uniparty makes the schools bad so they cannot educate the people as Jefferson deemed essential. Said another way--if the schools did as Jefferson said, voters would be wise and would never vote for the jokers we now have in office. ‘Nuff said.
Most voters fall into one or more of these three categories:
1. Hopelessly stupid
2. Willfully ignorant
3. Consistently foolish
We have extended the franchise of voting way too far. Fraudulent voters are a growing segment.
Maybe we need to rethink our assumptions about the beauty of democracy.
I understand that he is saying THAT public schools are low-grade garbage (of course they are)... what I can't figure out from his comment is "why?" He asked me if I want to know "why", but then doesn't provide his answer.
He’s counting on you being able to grasp an inference. He offers Jefferson’s good goal, which by definition is hated by the powers that control public education. Then you can infer that because it’s good, they will do the opposite.
Ding ding ding … winner!
Ah, the "uniparty" did it to us. That explanation is so simple that only a simpleton could have missed it. I am grateful for your condescension.
TikTok is digital opium. Its addicts are Emperor Xi’s court eunuchs. Many have already castrated themselves.
History repeats again: https://yuribezmenov.substack.com/p/ccp-opium-war-tiktok-fentanyl
Funny thing is that I actually like the second part of his letter..the immoral and intoxicated rant was pretty on target
The incest part was a little ironic tho. Where is the incest happening in the US? As compared to how much of it is happening in muslim countries?
Umm, Joe biden and his granddaughter?!! .. my daughter in law by her uncle etc, etc
me too!
NO. Bin Laden wanted to DESTROY America, not save it. Putin, Xi, Fidel Castro, Maduro, etc. have all written their own "why America is bad and needs to be destroyed" screeds. BLM, Antifa and all the other domestic terrorist groups have similar documents.
Destruction of America is not the answer. Without a strong, moral, viable America there is no hope for the world. America must be saved not destroyed.
The point was that he made a good point that seem to have flown over the head of the young tiktokers....tldr I guess
Agreed.
I think Peachy may have just described the GenX experience with our government. Was late to the questioning myself. Was a CPT in the Army National Guard on 9/11 and was both terrified and exhilarated that this was 'our war'.
I also carry the shame of being a full-on 'Team America FU$K Yeah!' mindset. Even lasted long enough to blame Obama for ISIS & the shitshow Iraq had become. My suspicions began 2015ish when I retired. Peak disenfranchisement was watching the criminal withdrawal from Kabul in August 2021. There goes Ukraine, there goes Taiwan circled my brain for weeks afterward.
Re-grieving lost friends. Seeing in full naked glory the results of our moral collapse of materialism over spirit/God/values.
Very well written. Thank you.
Just had a thought. One of my Soldiers was looking to return to war about 2 months after our return. We all feel this way. Long for combat once we home. It's weird and hard to understand, explain (we usually only talk about this with other Soldiers because we think it will hurt our families and they wouldn't understand anyway...) or live with.
The Soldier asked for my help (to find a deployment), and I answered, "The real war is here. Finish school. Get married. Build a life. This is all hard and noble as well."
The real war is here, but it is a deathmatch for ideas and values and the very soul of our nation and ourselves.
bsn
Yes. The real war is here. Against an enemy so stealthy it gets inside your head and makes you love Big Brother. The Christian way is to prune away our own egotistical ways and our thirst for being seen as greater than others. As we combat our selfishness, God shows us what to do next. And that doesn’t include doing the bidding of totalitarians.
And there it is. “When the Muslims conquered the Romans.”
So really Palestine belongs to the Italians 😂😂.
There was a great SNL skit in the 80s about the blacks and Jews feuding in NYC, until they had “a coming together” after realizing that it wasn’t actually the Jews who killed Christ … “was the Italians that did it!”
A funny skit from SNL!! It was the 80’s so it does sound hilarious 😂
I’m not a Muslim but I have read a bit about the passage regarding the Muslims “conquering” the Romans.
Remember that Emperor Constantine moved the center of the Roman Empire from Rome to Constantinople -now Istanbul- at it became a Christian , the Byzantine Empires . Eventually the Muslims conquered it.
So there’s that history.
But what’s interesting is that Muhammad used the “conquering” as a metaphor for the journey of the stages of the human soul as it strives to turn away from self and passion and to turn towards God, rely upon Him, trust in Him.
Moses and Christ taught the same thing of course, as did Baha’u’llah, founder of the Baha’i faith.
Muhammed did not use "conquering as a metaphor." He actually practiced it. He went from being a fringe nutcase to being the most powerful force in the Arabian peninsula after his massacre of the Banu Qurayza, 627AD. He ordered that "The men should be killed, the property divided, and the women and children taken as slaves." After that he gained a lot of opportunistic followers. The Banu Qurayza was a Jewish tribe living near Mecca. Muslims have been killing Jews ever since.
"Moses and Christ taught the same thing of course, as did Baha’u’llah, founder of the Baha’i faith"
I'm guessing you haven't read much of the Koran. I have (and nearly all of the Bible) and what you declared here is simply not true. The really good stuff is in the Hadith, however -- the part about massacring a whole Arabic tribe of Jews -- men and boys, that is -- and enslaving the women and children. Lotta that kind of thing in the Hadith, related with evident approval and gusto.
Okay I’m gonna start by saying I’m not religious. I’m agnostic so please don’t hold that against me lol.
I’m also not well read enough about the history of that part of the world to really give a properly informed opinion.
All I know is that innocent women and children (on both sides) have been killed, once again because people believe different religious ideas. I just want it to stop (it won’t of course since America is funding both sides) so that innocents don’t get killed.
I don’t think I’ve even got a point except people (not you) need to stop commenting on stuff they have no idea about.
Innocent women and children are dying because one side are jihadists and want the other side eradicated. This desire is what is killing innocents on both sides. If the one side weren’t so extreme in their jihadist beliefs they could have peace.
I’ve often thought that if Hamas and the Palestinians who live there, put down their guns and lived in peace then Israel would leave them alone.
If Israel put down their guns then Hamas would be straight over the fence killing all they could.
I agree with you Vulkan:) I’m not extreme in any way except that I am extremely domestic hahaha and complete normie in every imaginable way
I agree that religious differences/interpretations are a huge part of what’s happening. I deplore terrorists using religion to justify their evil actions. Its disgusting.
Every time I read about them using their scripture to justify their evil doings I try to take the time to study the actual scripture and understand the meaning. Every time I do that I learn the truth and understand more:)
Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours :)
Completely agree. We need to figure out how to right our ship.
I think that deep down, we know what to do, but for whatever reason, we can’t bring ourselves to do it - yet.
Remember, if people like bin Laden had their way, the world would be one big caliphate.
I'm grateful to have grown up amongst refugees from the former soviet union. The other side is a useful reminder to have.
I read the letter and was even more surprised that kids are agreeing with it. It flat-out states that he wants the US to adopt Shariah law and take away all our freedoms, and that was the real reason. That, and because we support the “evil” Israel, although he gives no reason for believing that land should belong to them. While there is some valid criticism of the US for meddling in foreign affairs, sometimes with terrible results, that isn’t really the crux of the letter. It’s amazing to me that people are that influenceable. It’s also amazing to me that censoring the latter has been the response because I really think if most people read it they’d see it for what it is, and allowing people to read and refute it is the best remedy
I used to think that the term ‘Balkanization’ was pejorative. I now view it as ‘rational behavior’.
There’s no fixing these indoctrinated leftist sociopaths, there’s only avoiding them.
Yes. Divorce is not optimal but it is better than a murder-suicide.
Or expelling them to permanent exile.
Well done! And every bit true.
The Koran specifically states that Jews are to killed where ever they are found and that same gender sex is an abomination to God and participants are to be destroyed. As you point out, the vast majority of those non-Muslims supporting the Islamic jihad in Judah and Israel and Osama's fatwah would themselves be on the chopping block, literally. I am reminded of H.L. Mencken's observation about democracy and would like to paraphrase it here: these people, Jews and gentiles, are going to get their social justice good and hard from the jihadists, and the Karens amongst them are going to find out what patriarchy really is, in the Islamic way.
Danny Huckabee
Memo to all the Hamas-loving idiots:
Jews inhabited Jerusalem more than 2,000 years before Muhammad was born, I don't care what Osama believes. That means that it is the Jews who are the indigenous people there. Arab Muslims are the invaders/colonizers.
But, but, but... Muhammad insisted Jerusalem belongs to Islam because he flew there on a magical horse in a dream one night after a spicy meal! ("The Israʾ and Miʿraj," it is in the Quran and therefore just HAS to be true!)
The holy land belongs to Christians.
yeah, that second part...
hmmm,
reminds me of reading Ted Kaczynski's manifesto. kinda felt weird to agree with some of that...
Your words make my heart sing, in the same way that the late PJ ORourke did. Well-done!
Exactly! I’m your age, Peachy, and your reversion to conservatism is identical to mine. I was dumb enough to think the Bushes were alright and the Iraq war was just. As soon as Trump said, “Only Rosie O’Donnell” and made Ted Cruz look like a smarmy tent revivalist, I started to dig up and take notice.
The 2002 "Letter to America" was crafted specifically as a propaganda message to sway American audiences. It is crafted to be far more appealing to Westerners than bin Laden's original 1996 "Declaration of War" <https://www.911memorial.org/sites/default/files/inline-files/1996%20Osama%20bin%20Laden%27s%201996%20Fatwa%20against%20United%20States_0.pdf>
Or his 1998 fatwa against America and the West: <https://irp.fas.org/world/para/docs/980223-fatwa.htm>
.
Interesting I’ll look into the validity of these claims
I didn't even realize mrs. K wrote this until I was about halfway through and I thought wow this is really good! And then I realized she wrote it and said of course it's good it was written by mrs K!