Author Archives: starediting

INSIGHTS 214 – A REVIEW OF ‘ISIS: QUIET JUSTICE’

My latest novel, “ISIS: Quiet Justice,” was reviewed in the local daily newspaper this week, The Sun News. Read the review online here or read it below:

Leave a comment

Filed under Action thrillers, Barry Kelly, Books, Spy novels

INSIGHTS 177 — STEPPING STONES TO TYRANNY

This is not a normal blog. America is beginning the road to recovery from six years of the progressive party’s attempt to transform America. It is vitally important that as many citizens as possible understand where that road was heading. We might not be so fortunate the next time. Insights_press_2

 

Leave a comment

Filed under Intelligence & Politics

INSIGHTS 158 — WHO IS TO BLAME FOR OUR MESS? PART 2

In my previous blog, I outlined the mess we are in. Find that blog here. Read on to find out who is to blame for that mess.

Now, who is to blame for all this mess we are in?

Many brilliant scholars and thinkers have long pointed out that people get the government they deserve. In my mind, we are all to blame.

The people voted for an unproven candidate with a dubious background that included many blank spaces. These voters believed the progressives’ promises about hope and change would enable them to transform America. This was not a hidden agenda. Barack Obama was clear about what he was going to do. His candidate speeches and writings were transparent.

What wasn’t transparent was how this transformation of America was to take place. The citizens who voted twice for this president bear some of the blame

beforeitsnews.com

beforeitsnews.com

for today’s mess. Their votes were based on hope, dislike of President Bush, and ignorance of the history of the world’s transformers, Marx, Lenin, Mao, Castro, Hitler and several lesser-known champions of utopian societies under the management of a so-called benign elite. All utopian -isms end up the same way. In harsh, repressive societies.

Conservatives and independents are not free of blame. In fact, their participation, or lack thereof, may deserve a large part of the blame. Most of us knew electing a man with no experience to be president was very high risk. If he surrounded himself with knowledgeable Cabinet members and White House staff, we thought it might be okay. Also, he is black and many of us were proud America had elected a black president. Now I wish it had been a different black candidate.

We didn’t know this president had a very different agenda. His transformation plan required the destruction of the opposition before a one-party system could take over and complete the socialization of America, where everyone got a fair shot and income is redistributed from the haves to the have-nots, both domestically and internationally. The usual utopian drivel.

We, who had reservations, didn’t do enough in either 2008 or 2012. We didn’t try hard enough to explain the transformation process to our more liberal friends. We didn’t contribute enough money. We didn’t support good candidates and let the Republican establishment and the stupid cumbersome primaries pick our candidates. Both candidates, at best, had only a marginal chance of winning. So we got the government we deserved. Now, what do we do about it?

Do you like and understand what you’re reading? Share it with your friends and leave me comments here or on Amazon. I read them! You can also visit my Facebook page or follow me on Twitter. This content and more is available in my latest book, “INSIGHTS: Transforming America.”

Leave a comment

Filed under Intelligence & Politics

EIGHT DECADES OF INSIGHTS – 154

OBAMA’S SCORECARD – PART 2

It will soon be six years since Barack Obama was elected president of the United States. The traditional way of evaluating a president is to judge how he has done as a leader to solve problems concerning the economy, national security, and foreign policy. We could do that here, but that wouldn’t be addressing what President Obama has been doing. To be fair, he should be scored on what he has been working to accomplish. To do that, we have to use the tasks relevant to progressive goals, for those are what is important to President Obama and his legacy.

President Obama’s overall goal is the transformation of America. That term means very little unless you examine the steps that are required in the process of transformation. The first step is to marginalize his opposition, the Republican Party, by a skillful manipulation of issues. Remember, the progressive mantra is “the issue is never the issue.”  In short, that means you don’t try to solve problems or issues, you simply use every issue to instead attack the opposition. Changing sides on issues or lying about what you said previously about the issue doesn’t matter and happens often.

In Part 1 of this blog I scored Obama on redistribution of wealth and weakening America on a worldwide scale. Read that blog here.

All socialist ideologies require the move of the means of production from the private sector to governmental control. Beginning with Obamacare and moving to micro-managing regulations on manufacturing, coal mining, nuclear power, oil exploration and drilling, and energy use, the president has made an auspicious start but he still has a long way to go. His grade here for advancing progressive programs only rates a “C” minus.

To create a one-party political system run by a progressive elite, Obama needs to destroy the Republican Party and absorb the legislative power of Congress into the executive branch by using executive orders and department regulations. He has made the executive branch more powerful than the office he was elected to fill, but the stubborn resistance from the tea parties and other conservatives has slowed the process and the progressives will probably (hopefully) lose control of the Senate in November 2014. The president gets only another “C” minus here.

To prepare the way to move America into the control of an international organization, he needs to withdraw from foreign bases and weaken the U.S. military forces, which are still the best in the world. The president has announced his intent to cut the manpower of the Armed Forces to pre-WWII levels. The Defense Department, under timid civilian and military leadership, has rolled over and begun implementing manpower cutbacks by informing several hundred captains and majors they will no longer be needed. I’m sure notices to sergeants and others will follow. Majors, captains, and sergeants are the backbone of any military organization. It will take 15 years or more to replace the expertise being wasted. As long as the Pentagon is so gutless, Obama will succeed in diminishing both manpower and weaponry. He gets a “B” plus here.

Unless conservatives, independents, and moderate Democrats wake up, President Obama will eventually get higher grades as a progressive than he ever got during his academic training.

Do you like and understand what you’re reading? Share it with your friends and leave me comments here or on Amazon. I read them! You can also visit my Facebook page or follow me on Twitter. This content and more is available in my latest book, “INSIGHTS: Transforming America.” 

Leave a comment

Filed under centralization, Conservative views, foreign policy, Intelligence & Politics, Obama, Politics, Progressives

EIGHT DECADES OF INSIGHTS — 134

A BREAK FOR FICTION

I’ve been blogging a lot lately about the Obama administration and how our current president has been transforming America piece by piece during his first five years. While this is an extremely important message that is outlined in my first non-fiction book, I haven’t touched much on my fiction novels, something I was reminded of when I received a very nice review on Amazon from a reader.
Barry Kelly's fourth novel

Barry Kelly’s fourth novel

I’ve posted the review below. If you’ve read any of my novels or my non-fiction book “Insights: Transforming America,” I’d love to know what you think of them. Please feel free to leave me a review on Amazon, Facebook, or on this website. Thank you!

“Run to Freedom” is the story of John Brandon, grandfather of Peter Brandon, the man on whom the series is centered. “Run to Freedom” begins in 1919 with Lieutenant Brandon on a train that’s bound for Siberia. There follows the story and the struggle of the Brandon family as they try to escape the Soviet Union to find freedom in America …

If I had to choose which book of Barry Kelly’s was my favorite of “Justice Beyond Law,” “Justice Without Mercy,” “Shades of Justice” and “Run to Freedom,” I’d have to say “All of them.”

“Run to Freedom,” however, was an amazing read and probably the one I was able to enjoy most.
“Run to Freedom” was most enjoyable for a couple of reasons: not only was it a clever way to catch readers up to speed then wanting for more, but it connected and completed the story of the Brandon family so well that whether a reader chose to start with “Run to Freedom” or work their way through the series as I did, it wouldn’t matter.
Kelly is an equal-entertainment author and knows how to keep a reader on the edge and wondering. For example, from the train wreck in Siberia in 1919 when we first learn of the life of Lieutenant John Brandon, grandfather of Peter, did (his life) end the way or even when we think it did? That alone is reason (and hope) to believe Kelly considers his fans first and keeps his pen poised to many possibilities.
Reading all four in order isn’t a requisite, either. With more than enough action and adventure in each, all are able to stand alone as a single story, however, as any avid reader knows, it’s a “more is better mindset” that keeps us in books and turning pages.
Reading the series though, is most definitely recommended as it’s an all-inclusive adventure that delivers what is promised: fast breaking action, suspense and drama. Kelly’s writing is refreshing, enjoyable and hard to put down.
The biggest challenge for me began as I got started with “Justice Beyond Law:” I spent a great deal of time wondering (while I read) exactly how ex-CIA agent Kelly was able to take his experiences and turn them into fiction without giving away any government secrets. Needless to say, I was captivated with questions but not for long: I soon found myself too enthralled to worry.
That Kelly also found a way to use just the right mix of humor was one of those pleasant surprises that, stereo typically speaking, isn’t normally associated (for me anyway) with a person who’s spent his entire career submerged in the serious and secret nature of government operations.
Of course, by the time I made my way to “Run to Freedom,” I was left longing for more and hoping Kelly has plans to continue intriguing fans with future adventures for the Brandon family.
I’d recommend “Run to Freedom” — and the other three books by Kelly — to anyone who’s a fan of mystery, intrigue and espionage. And for anyone who argues they aren’t? Be assured: read just one and that will change. These four books should be a must have for everyone who enjoys a good read -or several.

2 Comments

Filed under Intelligence & Politics