Category Archives: Barry Kelly

by Barry Kelly | May 12, 2015 · 7:00 am

INSIGHTS 205 — THE PRESIDENT LECTURES THE ADVISOR

As the President walked with Chris, the Secret Service chief of his detail, he was anxious for the chance to put the Advisor straight. For all his cultured ways and knowledge, the Advisor is living in a different world, the president thought. He is no revolutionary. He might be black but he doesn’t understand how American blacks are truly the victims of capitalism, colonialism, and white supremacy. Left to people like him, blacks would still be second-class citizens. My mission is to not only transform America but to fix it so that it will never be a world power again. Capitalism, the free market, individual rights and freedoms, and the two-party system will be replaced by a progressive elite that knows better than the masses what the people need. The last thing I do will be to weld this damned old iron door shut with the so-called Advisor inside.

Chris said, “Mr. President, we are here.”

“Yes. I won’t be long.”

The President pressed his right palm against the copper plate and the door slowly opened without a sound. The president wondered, how does this door move so quietly? The old man must have a daily schedule to lubricate the hinges. I’ll give him credit . Everything he does is impeccable. His manners are so correct they piss me off. Somewhere he learned the fine art of brewing outstanding coffee. Damn recipe probably extends back to the days of the founders. He may revere them but I surely don’t. Their system of government was designed to protect property and enable the rich a way to become richer and more powerful, thereby perpetuating the class system.

“Good evening, Mr. President. I’m anxious to hear your response to our last session. If you will take a seat, I’ll pour you a cup of my special blend. It is not much different. But it does have a deeper aroma and a pleasant after taste.”

The President put his nicotine gum in the waste basket and lit up a real cigarette. “It is almost worth coming here just to have your coffee with a cigarette and with no one looking at me at me for smoking. A president has to have a few personal perks. I tell you, I have precious few. Between my wife, my main above-ground advisor, and a bunch of whining bureaucrats, I don’t have much free time. Playing golf, coming here, and speaking at fundraisers are my only getaways.

“I take issue with your comments from last week. No matter what happens after my transformation process, America and the existing world order will never be the same. The world will be a much better place for all but the current rich and powerful. They, along, with the twin evils of capitalism and individual freedoms, will be gone. And so will all the complicated self-serving alliances, treaties, and subtle forms of modern colonialism. Both on the national and international stages the principle of ‘to each according to need and from each according to ability’ will govern. There is not a better guiding theme in any religion or governing scheme.

“I favor Islam for its no-nonsense legal system of Sharia law and its historical hatred of capitalism and all things Western. The religions of the West all support western political goals and objectives. Just look at the death and destruction the Crusades caused. From within Islam I’m a supporter of the great civilizations of the Persian Empires. They embrace the Shiite form of Islam rather than the radical and harsh Sunni version of Islam. Also, the Sunnis have sided with the West, especially America, and that is not good.

“I want the Iranians to have nuclear weapons. The world playing field needs to be leveled and the West has told us for decades that ‘Mutual Assured Destruction’ is a peaceful principle. For when everyone has the bomb, no one will use it. If they do use it, my transformation of the world order will still take place. A new and more just world will rise from the ashes of the past.”

The room grew silent. The Advisor sat quietly. Finally, the president said, “I’m through. Any comments?”

“Yes. One main one. Your goal is not new. Others have tried Marx’s principle. All have ended up in mass deaths, prison camps, and rule by an elite that quickly takes the riches and prerogatives of the wealthy class they replaced. What has ended up are inefficient governing models, a shrinking of economic growth, a harsh and stagnant rule by a group that is not elite but only serves the people in power with no checks on their rule. Individual freedoms, hopes, social mobility are gone. What remains is not a beautiful, better world but an ugly totalitarian rule by believers in a utopia that does not exist and never will.”

“I didn’t think you would understand.”

“On the contrary, I understand all too well.”

“At least you are honest. I’ll come back because I want to tell you about the next two years on the domestic front.”

The president signaled for Chris, drained his cup, and walked to the door. Over his shoulder the president said, “You might not know it but the weather outside is beautiful, gardens are blooming, beautiful women are walking the streets, the rain is soft and warm, it is a real delight to wander around my Rose Garden. You should try it sometime.”

“Thank you, Mr. President, but my place is here as long as I can physically do my duty. I look forward to our next visit.”

The above is a fictional account of a president meeting with a legendary but fictional advisor.

“ISIS: Quiet Justice,” a new Jack Brandon novel dealing with ISIS in America, is now available from Amazon and Barnes and Noble in print form and nook and Kindle formats. Follow the author on Twitter @factsfictions80.

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Filed under Barry Kelly, Capitalism, class warfare, Conservative views, Eight Decades of Insights, Intelligence & Politics, Iran, political solutions, Shiite, Sunni, totalitarianism, Utopian

Tagged as Islam, Middle East, transformation

by Barry Kelly | May 8, 2015 · 7:47 am

INSIGHTS 204 — The Advisor’s Core Facts of the Middle East

The Advisor had no trouble putting together the realities of the Middle East, but he spent extra time deciding how to present a picture that would not cause the president to walk out on him during his presentation. The president was intelligent but had a very thin skin for such an accomplished political campaigner. Perhaps, he thought, it is because the truth had no place on his campaign trails. On the campaign, the ends for him clearly justified whatever needed to be done or said to weaken the opposition. The president had taken on board the Saul Alinsky rules totally. The issue is never the issue is his guidance for all his policies and speeches. The man is remarkably consistent and, for his followers, he is brilliant. He can avoid and ignore issues that any previous president would have believed he had to take on.

As he mused over his dilemma, the Advisor worked to stay within his historic guidelines. He had to advise his president to the best of his ability. The fact that he thought this president was clearly focused on destroying the political and economic structure he inherited was a problem, for his responsibility was to advise the president in his role to protect and improve the life of its citizens. If he could be just a little dishonest, he could rationalize that the president wanted to improve America. But in the process of socialization, great harm would be done. Freedom and the ability to rise above the norm would be lost as long as socialism, communism, or progressivism prevailed. He just couldn’t, or more honestly, wouldn’t follow that path.

At that moment, the Advisor’s only phone rang, with the only person he ever spoke to, outside the president, on the other line. Chris Hammond, the chief of the President’s Secret Service detail, said the president would late, somewhere near midnight. Good, he thought, that will give me time for a nap, a shower, and a frozen Indian curry dinner.

It was almost midnight when the Advisor put on a fresh pot of Sumatra dark roast. He was just getting ready to pour himself a cup when the faint alarm sounded and the president entered.

“Welcome, Mr. President. You must be able to smell fresh coffee brewing.”

The president chuckled. “When the coffee is as good as yours, I could smell it for miles, even when it is coming from an underground cave. Your existence is even more constrained than mine. I suspect you have learned to take pleasure in small things.”

“Yes, I have. That is very perceptive of you. There doesn’t seem to be much instant gratification in your life.”

“No, there isn’t. And I think I won’t get much in the next hour or so. Shall we begin? Surprise me.” The president sat back in his seat at the conference table, a cigarette already between his fingers.

“First, some basics. You know most of these but they are important in any discussion of the Middle East, no matter the subject. The people of the Middle East have a past they are proud of and a present they are not. Tribal allegiance is still a very important factor. Mobility up the social chain is much harder than it is in America where education is the key to improved status. In the Middle East it is religion and revolution. For reasons beyond my understanding Asian and Middle Eastern people have a very long and usually patient view of the time/progress ratio. Americans are only comfortable with instant gratification plus a decade.

“Then, there is the history of religious wars and colonialism when troops from the West with superior weapons and technology subjugated people of the Middle East and attempted to impose Western culture and even religion in the conquered areas. As a result the people of this historic crossroad both admire and hate the West with its superior technology.

“After World War I, diplomats from the West drew national boundaries that failed to consider tribal loyalties, religious affiliations, and the hunger of people for their own homeland. The situation of present-day Kurds is an example. The destruction of Saddam Hussain’s Iraqi ’empire’ created a vacuum that the Iranians are filling after noting the West had abandoned the region.

“Iran is the dominant single nation in the Middle East today. For decades, they have been working to take control of Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, and Yemen by creating and funding Shiite terrorists groups in all these nations. The West has been ineffective in thwarting the Iranian drive to hegemony in the Middle East. Now the Iranians want to solidify their gains and they need to be a nuclear power to do so. Unless they are presented with strong military and economic resistance, they will not be deterred in achieving nuclear status with an ICBM capability. They cannot be trusted to honor any agreement or treaty that stands in the way. Nor will they stop the funding and equipping of proxy terrorist organization to further their dominance of the Middle East. Nothing in Iran will change for the better in Western terms without a regime change. I know you have other reasons for negotiating with the Ayatollahs but there will be a terrible price to pay in human terms.”

The president sat still for a moment, then took a final drag on his cigarette before grinding it down on the table. “There were some surprises but you gave the speech I expected. I have to go, but this is interesting. I’ll give my response at one of our next meetings.” He left without another word or without a look back, per usual.

The Advisor found himself already impatient to hear the president’s response.

The above is a fictional account of a president meeting with a legendary but fictional advisor.

“ISIS: Quiet Justice,” a new Jack Brandon novel dealing with ISIS in America, is now available from Amazon and Barnes and Noble in print form and nook and kindle formats. Follow the author on Twitter @factsfictions80.

INSIGHTS 200 — THE BIG LIE

In the late 1930s and early 1940s the Nazi propaganda chief, Goebbels, coined the phrase, “The Big Lie.” I’m sure the concept wasn’t original with him, but the Nazis used it consistently in their propaganda. The essence of the idea is that if you tell a big lie often enough, people will gradually come to believe it.

I can take the theory even further. If you tell the same lie often and with conviction, you will believe your own lie.

Conservatives and traditional Democrats have their image issues, but it is nothing like the progressive radical left that is now running the country. Progressives believe from deep in their DNA that the end justifies the means as long as the intent is to overthrow and replace the current political structure. Saul Alinsky, the brilliant guru of the progressives, explains this issue in his books. Reading his “Rules for Radical” is enlightening. Both President Obama and Hillary Clinton are Alinsky disciples. Hillary Clinton had a personal as well as an intellectual relationship with Alinsky. Conservatives tend to avoid the consistent use of lies as their core culture values the integrity of the spoken word.

A clear and recent example of the progressive use of the big lie by a leading progressive is Harry Reid’s statement as the Senate Majority Leader in which he charged presidential candidate Mitt Romney with not paying his taxes. When confronted with this big lie, Reid said, “He didn’t get elected, did he?”

An even more famous example is President Obama saying repeatedly that, “If you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor.” He said the same thing regarding your health care insurance, i.e. “If you like your insurance you can keep your insurance.” He knew all the while that neither statement was true, but the end justified the means in his mind. He delivered these lies with such conviction, I believe he actually believed he was telling the truth.

Below is a partial list of current big lies being supported by our progressive president and his followers:

AL-QAEDA IS ON THE RUN;
THE ATTACK ON BENGHAZI WAS THE RESULT OF ANTI-ISLAM VIDEO PRODUCED IN AMERICA;
WE WILL TRACK THE ATTACKERS DOWN AND BRING THEM TO JUSTICE;
ISIS, AL-QAEDA, AND ALL THEIR OFFSHOOT TERRORIST ORGANIZATIONS ARE NOT PART OF OR MOTIVATED BY ISLAM;
THE ECONOMY IS GOOD AND UNEMPLOYMENT IS DOWN;
COUNTER-TERRORIST POLICES IN YEMEN AND ETHIOPIA HAVE BEEN SUCCESSFUL;
PUTIN’S POLICIES WILL LEAD TO RUSSIA BEING ISOLATED BY THE CIVILIZED WORLD;
MY ADMINISTRATION WILL FOLLOW ALL POSSIBLE PATHS TO ENERGY SUFFICIENCY IN AMERICA;
BUILDING THE KEYSTONE PIPELINE WILL NOT CREATE MANY FULL-TIME JOBS;
CREATING NEW JOBS IS OUR NUMBER ONE PRIORITY;
OUR NEGOTIATED DEAL WITH IRAN IS THE BEST WAY TO PREVENT THEM FROM DEVELOPING NUCLEAR WEAPONS AND STOP THEIR SPONSORSHIP OF TERRORISM THROUGHOUT THE MIDDLE EAST;
CARE OF OUR VETERANS HAS IMPROVED;
POLICE PROFILING AND TARGETING OF BLACKS IS THE CAUSE OF URBAN RACIAL VIOLENCE;
INCREASED GOVERNMENT SPENDING ON INFRASTRUCTURE, RESEARCH, AND EDUCATION WILL CREATE ECONOMIC GROWTH;
THE COLD WAR POLICIES OF PEACE THROUGH STRENGTH NO LONGER WORK. WE NEED A NEW WORLD ORDER;
THE BIGGEST THREAT TO OUR CIVILIZATION IS GLOBAL WARMING;
THE ROOT CAUSE OF PROBLEMS IN THE WORLD IS THE RESULT OF AMERICAN MILITARY AND ECONOMIC POWER OF THE PAST.

This last big lie explains most of Obama’s policies and actions. He really is a man who is mentally and psychologically from a different era. He believes his legacy will be the progress he has made in the transformation of America and in changing the current world order. To accomplish this task he must first destroy the America he was elected to defend and protect and then, to destroy enough of the old world order to allow the ensuing chaos to give birth to the emergence of a fairer national and international society devoid of any super powers and replaced by a revitalized United Nations.

“ISIS Quiet Justice,” a new Jack Brandon novel dealing with ISIS in America, is now available from Amazon and Barnes and Noble in print form and nook and kindle formats.

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Filed under Alinsky, Barry Kelly, Clinton, Conservative views, Eight Decades of Insights, foreign policy, Intelligence & Politics, ISIS, Obama

Tagged as big lie, Obama, Progressives, Saul Alinsky

by Barry Kelly | April 14, 2015 · 7:36 am

INSIGHTS 199 — A WORD TO LIBERALS

I think I know how to talk to a liberal because I once was one.

Of course, that was before the progressives took over the Democratic Party and moved it so far left it would be right at home in Russia, China, or Cuba. No, it is not repressive enough yet for those bastions of central planning and re-education camps. But unless the more centralist members of the party retake control, a one-party system with increasing repression is coming.

I left the Democratic Party because I saw their fixation on the application of Keynesian economics was just not working and it doesn’t take years of pondering to see that growing the size and scope of government beyond absolute needs doesn’t in itself solve problems. Many times it only makes things worse by drafting and implementing more and more regulations.

It is not only the Democrats that grow government. There are big government Republicans who are just as culpable in the increasing size and scope of government. Two of the worse examples occurred with a Republican White House.

After Sept. 11, 2001, President Bush created two large and, I believe, nearly useless bureaucracies: the Department Of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Director of National Intelligence (DNI). Everyone was in shock over 9/11 and were making frantic efforts to fix whatever problems prevented us from thwarting this historical terrorist event. It is in our DNA to centralize anything at the slightest opportunity. When things go wrong, “Put someone in charge.” Is the cry that echoes across the land. The fact is that someone was already in charge but didn’t make the right choices or put their own agency’s interests over that of the nation. Replacing these people and changing the bureaucratic nature of their organization was what should have been done. We should not have put many diverse organizations that were already on the edge of being nearly unmanageable due to size and complexity under a single new manager. Adding layers of management seldom has improved anything.

Big government and its sister, centralization, is at the core of all socialist systems. Republicans and Democrats are both at fault. I can’t blame the Progressives for growing and centralizing the size and scope of government. It is what they do. It is their mantra. Leaving the Saul Alinsky followers and other Progressives aside under leaders like President Obama, Hillary Clinton, and Elizabeth Warren, it might be possible for traditional Democrats and Republicans to have real discussions.

I believe a starting point for dialogue to save our country is to use the following principles as a foundation for cooperation:

Honesty and openness in the conduct of government;
Peace comes through the prudent use and display of strength;
A foreign policy that is loyal to our allies and respected by our enemies;
A recognition that freedom is not free;
We are an exceptional nation based on the rule of law;
Tax rich more than others, but everyone pays something in some way;
Corruption has no place in our government or in our economy;
The civil service must not be political and public workers should not organize against the people;
We can be judged on how we treat our children, the sick, the poor, the elderly, and our veterans;
A nonpartisan and objective media is a necessary part of our democracy;
We are a nation of immigrants and will always welcome newcomers who obey our laws and learn our language, history, and culture.

“ISIS Quiet Justice,” a new Jack Brandon novel dealing with ISIS in America, is now available from Amazon and Barnes and Noble in print form and nook and kindle formats.

INSIGHTS 198 — BRANDON NOVELS ARE NOT JUST GOOD STORIES

Since the beginning of the craft of storytelling, fictional situations have been used to describe subjects that were forbidden, too sensitive for plain talk, extremely complex, or buried in boring detail. To explain the message, the story has to capture the audience with suspense, mystery, intrigue, romance, and exciting action by attractive characters. The listeners can imagine themselves acting out some of the story. The author works to develop a captivating story that people will want to read and talk about. That is my top priority. But I also want these stories to give the readers a deeper understanding of issues that may invade their world.

My first novel, Justice Beyond Law, shows how a renegade KGB officer uses an abandoned network of KGB agents that was infiltrated into America years ago. The methods, Yuri, the renegade KGB officer, uses to turn his network into a profit-making enterprise and to manage his diverse network with agents of different skills is more than plausible. The methods he uses strain the traditional law-and-order approach to terrorism.

The second novel, Justice Without Mercy, shows the process an extremist Muslim group like al-Qaeda might use to set up a series of terrorist acts in America to weaken the resolve of the people and lessen their trust in government to protect them. The plot in this novel is more probable than most people believe. Traditional law-and-order process is not capable of dealing with the fast-moving action of terrorism in the homeland. The law-and-order process pushed by the Obama administration, particularly by the attorney general, is more political than an effective counter-terrorist approach. There is a war brought by Islamic jihadists against us. It needs to be fought with a similar approach. Foreign jihadists don’t qualify for the protections of our constitution.

The third Brandon novel, Shades of Justice, deals with human trafficking that can be a profit-making business both for terrorist organizations and criminals. Readers of this novel will see how simple it is to set up a human trafficking business in nearly any large city. They will also come away with an understanding of how the traffickers operate their business from the spotting and selection of targets to the capture, movement, holding and marketing of the victims. The ‘good guys and gals’ in this novel understand and attack all aspects of the human trafficking process. As you read this, note the challenge human trafficking poses to traditional law-and-order forces.

The fourth Brandon novel, Run to Freedom, is the prequel to the Jack Brandon adventure series. In this story I rely heavily upon my knowledge of the old USSR and its KGB intelligence apparatus. The story starts in 1920 in Siberia, with a little-known deployment of American troops just as WWI was wrapping up. In this novel the readers will travel from Russia, to Poland, to Canada and several cities in America as Peter Brandon, Jack’s father, tries to escape the KGB in America. The forces the KGB deploys in America to capture or kill Peter were and are entirely within the capabilities of Russian intelligence in 1970s America, as are the methods Peter uses to escape the dragnet.

The fifth novel, ISIS Quiet Justice, is to my knowledge the first novel using ISIS attacks in America as the central plot. The story shows the difficulty law-and-order forces have in fighting terrorism.

The blurb on the back cover of ISIS Quiet Justice reads:

ISIS is here!

Jack Brandon is back in the nick of time!

Follow Jack and his growing team as they join with the CIA to take down ISIS terrorists in Jacksonville, Florida; Minneapolis; Charleston, South Carolina; and on the terrorists’ own turf in Fallujah.

This latest adventure in the Jack Brandon series pits Jack’s wits against those of a terrorist known as The Fist of Islam, who has been converting U.S. citizens into warriors for Islam. Can Jack’s knowledge, planning, and execution skills save the day — and the nation — once again?

All of the Jack Brandon novels have been reviewed by the CIA to prevent the disclosure of classified information.

ISIS Quiet Justice is available on Amazon now as a paperback or an ebook, as are the rest of the Jack Brandon novels. The first three are available as a trilogy.