There Is Nothing "Disturbing" Here, Mr. Davis.

Daniel Davis writes about US Vice-President Mike Pence's Memorial Day address in next terms:

Memorial Day. It was designed to be a somber remembrance of the pain and loss suffered by those made the ultimate sacrifice for the security of the nation. Now, however, it seems it’s becoming more a celebration of combat.On Saturday, Vice President Mike Pence told the graduating class of the U.S. Military Academy that the world is “a dangerous place” and that future combat isn’t a possibility, but a near-sure deal. “It is a virtual certainty that you will fight on a battlefield for America at some point in your life,” he said. “It will happen.” With all due respect to the Vice President, I find these statements and underlying mentality disturbing.  The Commander in Chief’s number one priority is to keep our citizens safe—but his sacred duty to the men and women who wear the uniform is to consider their lives as the most precious commodity our country produces. 

Well, yes, Lieutenant Colonel, you assess Mike Pence's, indeed, disturbing mentality as a military professional and, which shines through your writings, an American patriot. But you miss the point. From Mike Pence point of view--there is nothing disturbing about what he states. In fact, what he states is a normal, fully organic and natural thing for people like Mike Pence. Let us open his biography, it speaks volumes.

Pence graduated from Columbus North High School in 1977. He earned a BA degree in history from Hanover College in 1981, and a JD degree from the Indiana University's Robert H. McKinney School of Law in Indianapolis in 1986. While at Hanover, Pence joined the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity, where he became the chapter president. After graduating from Hanover, Pence was an admissions counselor at the college from 1981 to 1983. In his childhood and early adulthood, Pence was a Roman Catholic and a Democrat. He volunteered for the Bartholomew County Democratic Party in 1976 and voted for Jimmy Carter in the 1980 presidential election, and has stated that he was originally inspired to get involved in politics by people such as John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr. While in college, Pence became an evangelical, born-again Christian, to the great disappointment of his mother. His political views also started shifting to the right during this time in his life, something which Pence attributes to the "common-sense conservatism of Ronald Reagan" that he began to identify with.After graduating from law school in 1986, Pence was an attorney in private practice. He ran unsuccessfully for a congressional seat in 1988 and in 1990. In 1991, he became the president of the Indiana Policy Review Foundation, a self-described free-market think tank and a member of the State Policy Network, a position he held until 1993.

This is a biography of a colorless lawyer who slowly migrated from Roman Catholicism to "born-again" allegedly "Christianity", which is a euphemism for being a Christian Zionist and a neocon--a precise strata of American society who, together with a number Israeli and Gulfies' influence groups, make sure that US is Israel's (and sometimes Saudi's) stooge and fights wars on behalf of those in the Middle East. As we can see, Mike Pence doesn't know (as doesn't his President) shit from shinola in anything war related. This is NORMAL for D.C. bureaucracies, and especially those parts which are vehemently pro-Israel. In this case, Pence, must make sure that his son is sent to combat zone together with West Point's graduates and takes part in those promised battles. Fact is, it would have been really good to send Mike Pence himself to spend couple months at some FOB in Afghanistan and experience all pleasures of said combat. After all, he is second in the chain of command of the United States and should have his leadership qualities honed in real conditions, before sending someone's sons and daughters to die for Israel or Saudis. No? Well, too bad. It is such a pity that most militarily aggressive nation since 1993 is continuously led by pathetic mediocrities who are good only for private law practice or real estate business and who never served a day in uniform. 

I can totally understand Lt. Colonel Davis' plea, but it is in vain, as will be any attempt in trying to find any qualities which make a real man (not just a dick-bearer) in Donald Trump, Mike Pence or, for that matter, Bill Clinton or Barak Obama. US political top today is a combination of perverts, imbeciles and cowards who wouldn't last a day when and if faced with military realities. So, I get it:

You want to honor the memory of those who have sacrificed so much for this nation on Memorial Day? The best way to honor those who have fallen is to make sure their sacrifices prevent future generations from having to fight. A good first step towards that goal would be to stop boasting about how much combat our current generation of troops will see and start looking for non-lethal ways to foster and maintain peace.  

But it will fall on deaf ears. Normal for these people is evil covered by the fig leaf of their perverted "faith"--it is the world of upside down being normal. 

It Is Not Just Trump Admin.

I understand Daniel Larison's frustration with US actions abroad, with him, finally, starting to use proper terminology about US foreign policy, which includes such terms as lunatics, fanatics and now degenerates--about time:

No one has ever accused the Trump administration of being interested in history or logic, so we shouldn’t expect their policies to be informed by either one. It is nonetheless remarkable how heavily the administration continues to rely on “maximum pressure” tactics to achieve its goals in its three most high-profile foreign policy initiatives (i.e., Iran, Venezuela, North Korea) when there is absolutely no reason to think that such pressure tactics can force another government to make major concessions or capitulate. They have targeted three governments that define themselves in large part by their opposition and resistance to the U.S., and they think that they can squeeze them into surrender or collapse. Like a degenerate gambler at a slot machine, the administration thinks that all they need to win is just one more set of sanctions, and then another and another, and when the latest effort doesn’t get them the desired result they keep pulling on the same lever in the hope of a jackpot. 

But truth to be told, it is not just Trump Administration, this applies to  US political class as a whole, granted with few and notable exceptions. Can we start from the beginning and admit--US political class as a whole is utterly incompetent and aggressive. Replacing Bolton with someone else will make few, if any, differences. Even what passes in the US for so called realists is an amorphous group of good ol' American exceptionalists, who still think that US is "good". It is not--this whole, let's call it for what it is, US imperialism and militarism is a natural state of what came to be known as national security-warfare state which sits firmly on the foundation of a large financial capital, which in desperate attempts to save itself will go to any length to find something to consume. So, low life Bolton or Pompeo are merely material manifestations of the most sinister interests of globalist financial mafia, which will dispose of the remnants of the American Republic if need be. 

The transformation I observed in the US since 9/11 cannot be described in words other than an accelerating slide towards totalitarian society. And then you have, of course, moral freaks such as Maddow and HRC:

Clinton offered a hypothetical to Maddow: A Democratic candidate for the 2020 election comes on her show and says, "China, if you're listening, why don't you get Trump's tax returns? I'm sure our media would richly reward you." 

And here is my pitch--could it be that there are few, if any, simply decent human beings left in US political class? By decency, I, of course, do not mean nice on the surface people who pay taxes and attend church on Sunday--by that I mean not being a moral freak and lowlife scumbag in a larger metaphysical sense. I mean people who do the "right thing" and who are honest in the most fundamental way, under most difficult circumstances. Judging by the position United States finds itself today--no such people exist anymore. Just zombies, but that is precisely a social demand of a system--honest (and competent) people are simply filtered out. Look at the faces and behavior of Marco Rubio, Mike Pence or imbecile Joe Biden--little, fragile people who convinced themselves through ballot, which is to say through professional lying to people, that they are great. Indeed, it is not just the Ship of Fools, it is the Ship of Zombies. Zombies have no morality or decency and that is their defining characteristic which makes them not human and that can explain a lot. The system is IN the process of implosion and we observe it right in a front of our eyes and do not expect anyone to save it--there is simply no one decent out there.