Tag Archives: America

by Barry Kelly | February 18, 2015 · 7:54 am

INSIGHTS 190 — THE DANGER TO AMERICA IS WITHIN

It is time to recognize the truth.

For the first time since the Revolution and the Civil War, I believe the greatest danger to our nation is coming from within. The outside threats to our way of life are formidable, but we can handle them once the danger from within is defeated.

This danger from within is the Obama administration. It has a drive to destroy the America so many of us have fought and worked for and died for.

It is hard to blame President Obama solely. He did tell us exactly what he was going to do. And it was clear. Obama’s transformation of America was nothing less than substituting a republic that encouraged the growth of a fledgling colony into a world power with a socialist, elite-led system of government.

People get the government they deserve. We are all to blame but not equally. Those of you who voted twice for the Obama progressive regime and who still are making excuses for his actions bear most of the blame.

We have a strong socialist percentage of citizens in America. These are the people who welcomed Obama as a transcendental leader who would cure all of America’s faults, starting with the transfer of wealth among citizens and also among nations. The core of the progressive philosophy is to share the wealth according to a long-held dream of Marxists. It makes no difference that this scheme has never worked on any scale.

Without wealth, nations can have no physical power. Obama is dedicated to making America just another nation in an international organization. I believe Obama intends to destroy our military power. He believes his words can bring about a much better world than we had before his rise to power. He’s had four secretaries of defense in six years. I believe he has wasted more American blood and wealth than any other president — and he isn’t done yet.

His weakness and failure to see the world as it is has brought us closer to global conflict than anytime since the end of WWII. Peace doesn’t come from weakness. It comes from strength and the principles that made us what we used to be. Obama and his progressive followers would have been right at home in England when Chamberlain returned from a meeting with Adolph Hitler, saying to great acclaim that he had assured “peace for our time.” Obama, I believe, has given us enough signals that he is approaching Iran with the same Chamberlain mentality. Hitler’s armies paid no more attention to the Chamberlain agreement than the Iranians will to any agreement with Obama when they get nuclear weapons and mate them with their developing ICBM missiles. Seeing the world as you believe it to be instead of what it actually is is only a great danger if you are the president of the United States.

President Obama’s dealings with Iran, ISIS, and Putin’s Russia can only result in more aggression and a greater threat of war. One thing is certain — we cannot survive a war with this president as our commander-in-chief. My belief that Obama is the greatest danger from within we have faced since the Civil War is based on more than just his international failures. He is corrupting the civil service, the military Joint Chiefs structure, abusing the Constitution, the separation of powers doctrine, and is deliberately handicapping economic recovery to further his divisive messaging of class warfare and racism. He cannot be impeached with nearly half the population still in favor of his presidency, a media that is friendly beyond reason to Obama’s progressivism, and a republican leadership that is no match for Obama’s messaging.

The next two years will be very hard. We need to do everything legally possible to delay Obama’s brand of transformation.

Written by the author of the Jack Brandon thriller/suspense novels and “Insights: Transforming America — Is This What We Fought For?” available now as an e-book, in paperback or hardcover on Amazon.com or BN.com. Another analytical book on the transforming process, “Insights: Stepping Stones to Tyranny,” is now published and available in paperback at $9.95 and on nook and kindle at $6.99. Follow the author on Twitter @factsfictions80. “Quiet Justice,” a new novel dealing with ISIS in America, will be out by mid March.

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Filed under Barry Kelly, class warfare, Conservative views, Eight Decades of Insights, foreign policy, global warming, Intelligence & Politics, ISIS, Obama, Politics, Progressives, Putin, Russia

Tagged as America, danger, Obama

by Barry Kelly | December 5, 2014 · 7:35 am

INSIGHTS 176 — WHO IS TO BLAME?

Pulling the lever at the polling place for your party or candidate is a citizen’s duty. But it doesn’t begin or end there. When you vote for a winning candidate, you own a share of the candidate’s successes and failures. After all, you helped put them in office.

Being president of the United States is the most difficult job in our world. The decisions or lack of decisions the president makes affects the very existence of our nation and the continuation of life on planet Earth. How do you select a man or woman to move into the White House?

It is your responsibility to make an effort to size up the candidates, separate facts from fictions, and understand the difference between your emotional inclinations and the actual observable facts. You may believe your candidate would make a great president but recognize your candidate does not have the experience to be a president. You also know no one, no matter how cool or smart, can learn enough after taking office to be a good president. This is not a position for basic leadership nor ‘on the job’ training. Even highly qualified candidates have much to learn. The good ones have had years of management experience, are natural leaders, and realize their limitations require them to surround themselves with very good people who know how to do their jobs. A good staff makes a good president even better.

The qualification of experience is easy to judge. A candidate either has had years of command experience in management of large organizations with thousands of people or not. They have either learned the importance of keeping their word and know their actions will define them or they don’t know it. They either realize they are not defined by their speeches or they believe their speeches make their presidency a good one.

As a rule, senators and representatives do not acquire leadership or management skills in the performance of their responsibilities. They manage by manipulating individuals and playing one group against the other. These are not the primary skills a president needs. In their world, words are the tools they use, not actions. They are used to saying one thing when later say they meant another. When a candidate uses the words “I” and “my” many times in every speech, you know this person is not a leader and does not understand how to manage large numbers of complicated missions.

In American political life, leaders come from being governors, high-ranking military officers, and captains of industry. You still need to be careful in selecting from these ranks, but at least you know they have had the required management and leadership experience.

One of the things I have learned from life is that no matter what a job requires, people do what they know how to do. If that happens to be giving speeches, fundraising, and playing one group against another, that’s what you get.

Written by the author of the Jack Brandon thriller/mystery novels and “Insights: Transforming America — Is This What We Fought For?” available now as an ebook, in paperback or hardcover on Amazon.com or BN.com. Another analytical book on the transforming process, “Stepping Stones to Tyranny,” will be published before Christmas. Follow the author on Twitter @factsfictions80.

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Filed under Barry Kelly, Books, Conservative views, Intelligence & Politics, political solutions

Tagged as America, candidates, Obama, President, qualifications, speeches, voting

by Barry Kelly | December 3, 2014 · 7:30 am

INSIGHTS 175 — POLITICAL CORRECTNESS IS A VIRUS

Most of the phenomenon of political correctness is rooted in liberalism. But it seems to be immune from messages from the ballot box. Common sense is a better antidote to political correctness than conservatism. Maybe there should be a common sense party. They would get my vote.

Political correctness is often wrapped in angry statements or charges of racism and the violation of minority rights. Let’s expose a few of the most common uses of political correctness:

Racial profiling is often mentioned when used by law and order authorities in fighting crime. This use of PC is used almost 100% of the time in discussions of police abusing black citizens, especially in high crime areas. In these areas, most of the crime is committed by blacks on blacks. If a local population has a very high percentage of one race, most of the crime will be performed by that racial group within the predominant racial group they share. It doesn’t matter what ratio of blacks or other races are on the police force. The police force will attack crime where it is and will be not be on the alert for racial groups that do not have a history or record of violent crime. If young black men are committing most of the violent crime who will the police, regardless of procedures or sensitivity training, profile?

This same anti-common sense thinking has worked its magic in a group that is supposed to protect us from all dangers, foreign or domestic. None of the people who try to manage an unmanageable Department of Homeland Security believe that elderly American men or women are likely terrorists. Yet they are treated as if they present the same profile as a Middle Eastern appearing traveler from Muslim countries. Why? Simply because they are afraid to say publicly that Arab Muslims are a much higher threat than any other group. A common sense approach would be to openly conduct security operations with the concept that all Muslims are not terrorists, but most terrorists have been Arab Muslims.

Moving beyond profiling, our local governments and all educational institutions should start applying common sense in the management of their respective responsibilities. Refusing to allow public displays of traditional Christmas scenes, religious or not, is not in keeping with our history, traditions, or freedoms. The common sense approach would be allow all religions to celebrate their traditions without local governments or schools having a say, yea or nay. As long as the government doesn’t discriminate among religions, what is the harm?

Displaying the American flag and maintaining English as the language of our educational system is another area where political correctness raises its loud, ugly head. This is America, the United States. The American flag should be at home wherever it is raised. Repeating the “oath of allegiance” in school and saluting the flag is a good thing. Unlike many other nations with enforced political correctness of a more ominous kind, people who don’t want to respect America’s flag and traditions are free to go elsewhere. English is the national language. Every citizen should know how to use it. Not teaching English in our schools handicaps non-English speaking children.

Lastly, if other religions want to respect their fallen with a different symbol than the cross, they should do so. But don’t object to the use of the cross to mark the resting place of our dead or of our monuments. After all, you are here by choice. The door swings both ways. We welcome those who want to come here and understand those who want to leave.

Let’s all forget about and ignore the rules of political correctness. They don’t belong. Common sense does. Forget the liberal leap to defend the criminal. Show more concern for the victim.

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Tagged as America, flags, political correctness, racial profiling, religion

by Barry Kelly | October 9, 2014 · 7:30 am

INSIGHTS 164: IF WORDS WERE BULLETS AND PROMISES BOMBS

Our president fills the airwaves with words and promises. Most of us have learned to just tune them out. He has a reputation as a good speaker but only if someone else writes the words and his technical staff puts them on a teleprompter. It would be more accurate to say he is very good at reading speeches. Words are simply a means to achieve some murky end.

The president’s words in a war environment are very different. We do not dare tune them out. People’s lives and freedoms are at stake.

This president is the least equipped to be a commander-in-chief than any president in my lifetime, which goes back to FDR’s first term. President Obama carries with him some very strange baggage. I think he believes American troops in foreign lands are and were there as occupiers. He has even referred to our troops in Iraq during the actual war as an army of occupiers. His anti-colonial distrust of American power is deeply ingrained, but not well hidden. No troops were left in Iraq because he wanted his legacy to be the president who lived up to his pre-election rhetoric to end wars, not start them. Any American forces left behind in Iraq would be interfering with the sovereignty of Iraq and be occupiers, not protectors of the peace.

As a result, we have ISIS. I gave the president credit for putting together a coalition of Islamic countries and for authorizing the air war. The no-boots-on-the-ground chant bothered me but I thought he would take advice from the Pentagon and intelligence agencies to guide the air war and when the time was right to put some troops on the ground to direct the air war and stiffen the Peshmerga and Sunni tribes to resist ISIS advances. The airstrikes did work to save Kirkuk and the huge nearby dam complex. Now ISIS commanders have adapted and the air war failed to reach the level of hundreds of strikes per day against fixed targets and targets of opportunity. Even now, outside the Kurdish city of Kobani, which ISIS is poised to capture and massacre thousands of non-believers in ISIS’s brand of Islam, the airstrikes are far to few and ineffective.

To reach Kobani with the troops and fire power necessary to push the Peshmerga out of part of their homeland, ISIS had to establish and maintain long lines of logistical support. These kinds of targets are vulnerable to air interdiction. ISIS logistical convoys of tanks and trucks have to move though miles of desolate, sparsely populated areas. There is no cover and very little need to worry about collateral damage. Yet the might of the American air power is not being used.

Civilian command over the military is a very important Constitutional precept. But that doesn’t mean political hacks in the White House should manage the war. Militarily, they are worse than incompetent, because in arrogance they believe they are right. How many books by former Cabinet officers in the Obama administration do we have to read or hear on TV before everyone realizes there is a huge difference between civilian control and civilian-hands-on-management by politicians whose primary purpose is to make the president look good? I thought we had learned our lesson in the Vietnam War when the White House acted as a command center and target selection facility outside the Pentagon. Then, as now, no high-ranking generals or admirals resigned rather than kowtow to politicians with no or very limited military credentials. It would be more honorable if, rather than write books afterward, they openly resisted bad political/military orders and resigned. Their oath is to defend America, not their careers or the political legacy of any president.

Written by the author of “Insights: Transforming America — Is This What We Fought For?” available now as an ebook, in paperback or hardcover on Amazon.com or BN.com. Follow the author on Twitter @factsfictions80. If you think this message is important, please share it.

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Filed under Barry Kelly, Intelligence & Politics, ISIS, Kurds, Sunni, Terrorism

Tagged as America, BarackObama, iraq, ISIS, Islam, Middle East, White House

by Barry Kelly | October 8, 2014 · 7:30 am

INSIGHTS 163: TRUST YOUR GOVERNMENT?

This is your government. You own them. You put them in power to take care of the people.

Are you better off economically? Do you even have a job? Are you feeling safer? Do you trust your government?

That last one is a critical question. If you don’t trust it how can you act on what you’re told? Trust has at last two critical elements:

Do you trust what they are doing?
Do you believe what they tell you?

Of course the second question is the key to the first. If you don’t trust the information the government gives you, how can you trust what they are doing?

We were just told that we are better off now then we were six years ago. Maybe so, considering the financial crises of 2008 and its immediate consequences when the housing bubble crashed. But we are certainly not better off than we were eight years ago. In fact, there were as many Americans with jobs in 1978 as there are today. In 1978 our population was around 222 million. In 2013 the population had grown to 317 million, not including uncounted illegal immigrants. That’s a difference of approximately 95 million more Americans today versus in 1978. The government unemployment numbers show none of those 95 million more Americans who want to work and do not have jobs. Granted, some unknown number work in the hidden cash or barter economy.

When the government, including President Obama, point with pride to the new jobs created, remember we just caught up to the job level of 1978. The government tells us the unemployment number is 5.1 percent. That ridiculous number does not include the number of people who have given-up looking for work and dropped out of the workforce. Only those who are drawing unemployment benefits are counted in the unemployment numbers. The real unemployment number is well above 11 percent. For blacks, women, young people just entering the work pool, and recent college graduates, the unemployment number is much higher.

Many of these new jobs are low-paying. Wage levels have not keep pace with inflation nor the Federal Reserve’s constant weakening the dollar by pumping $86 billion a month into the economy for years to keep inflation near zero. Americans on fixed incomes have seen their buying power eroded by ‘Qualitative Easing’ on the part of the Federal Reserve.

The result is that under Obama, the rich and upper middle class who had the resources to invest on Wall Street have done very well. With all of Obama’s preaching about re-distribution of income and decreasing the gap between the haves and have nots, the effect of his policies have increased the gap between the rich and poor.

Do not believe the Obama spin that is put on all information released by the government. His administration has lied about gun running by the Department of Justice; leaving people to die in Benghazi and lying about their complicity; has used the IRS to handicap Republican political organizations; has unlawfully tapped the phones of reporters; has claimed they weren’t adequately briefed about the strength of ISIS; called it workplace violence when an Islamist murdered others; and guaranteed you could keep your doctor and health plan under Obamacare.

You should not be surprised if we don’t trust them. The Obama government is proving that liberty requires eternal vigilance.