Tag: American Civil War

FAHRENHEIT 2023: CHARLOTTESVILLE ROBERT E. LEE STATUE MELTED DOWN TO MAKE “INCLUSIVE” ART

On By kingsjesterIn PoliticsLeave a comment

“The statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee that once stood in Charlottesville, Virginia, was secretly melted down at a ceremonial event.

After both cultural and legal battles, the statue of Lee that sparked the infamous Charlottesville “Unite the Right” rally was reportedly melted in a secretive ceremony in order to ensure the safety of those involved. The Washington Post reported that the statue met its end “in a 2,250-degree furnace” when it was “secretly melted down” to become a new piece of public art.

Footage of Lee’s likeness being melted went viral across social media.

The Washington Post reported that “Swords Into Plowshares,” a project led by University of Virginia religious studies professor Jalane Schmidt and Charlottesville’s Black history museum executive director Andrea Douglas, “will turn bronze ingots made from molten Lee into a new piece of public artwork to be displayed in Charlottesville. They made arrangements for Lee to be melted down while they started collecting ideas from city residents for that new sculpture.”

The Post went on to say that due to “past threats” and “worries about legal action” the project went to great lengths to keep itself secret until now.” (Courtesy FoxNews.com)

This clandestine act should not surprise any thinking American.

Nor should the Far Left Democrats’ support of Hamas.

Since before the 2016 President Election, I have referred to Far Left Democrat Activists as “The New Bolsheviks”, or “Wokesheviks” because of the striking similarity of their actions to the ruthless aggression displayed by those who followed Vladimir Lenin in the Russian Revolution of 1918.

However, there is another group that these “brave new radicals” remind me of: Radical Islamists.

When Radical Islamists take over a city in the Middle East, for example Palmyra, one of the first things that they do is to tear down the area’s historical sites, destroying any artifacts and antiquities which they did not like, in order to establish that their culture is supreme, just as Lenin’s Bolsheviks did.

The Far Left Democrats who are bringing down these historical statues that have stood unmolested for over 100 years also proclaim their self-righteousness through their actions.

As an American, I see nothing different from their actions than those of the Bolsheviks and the Radical Islamists of ISIS.

The subjects of the statues in question were Americans. Most of them were West Point Graduates who proudly served their country before the War Between the States.

The Civil War was a seminal moment in American History.

If you find the statues offensive, then that is your prerogative as an American. However, your hurt feelings do not give you just cause to attempt to erase history by pulling down a statue which is not your property.

History cannot be hidden, nor can it be changed through violent acts in the present. It just is.

Those statues were put in place so that Americans might learn about those historical figures and learn FROM them, as well.

And that brings me to very important point: Lenin’s Bolsheviks and Radical Islamists also destroyed historical artifacts in order to make the populace “malleable” and “agreeable”.

Without their history there to remind them through statues, buildings and antiquities, the populace would lose their sense of “country”, not to mention knowledge of how their nation had evolved and changed into what they had become comfortable with.

These New Bolsheviks who are committing these acts of historical vandalism do not understand that in order to be properly educated as an American Citizen, you need to be aware of our Sovereign Nation’s History and reminded of it constantly, the good and the bad, so that our nation does not lose our cherished liberty which was bought by the blood of those before us.

So why, all of a sudden are these statues, which have been standing for so long, so offensive?

Perhaps because they stand in the way of those who would replace our Constitutional Republic with a Marxist form of government…like “Democratic Socialism”.

After all, those with a proper knowledge of history would not make very good “useful idiots”.

Until He Comes,

KJ

Disrespecting the Dead: The House Votes to Ban Confederate Flags…at National Cemeteries.

On By kingsjesterIn Politics1 Comment

thUUM99QQC

CNN.com recently reported that

Washington (CNN)American public opinion on the Confederate flag remains about where it was 15 years ago, with most describing the flag as a symbol of Southern pride more than one of racism, according to a new CNN/ORC poll. And questions about how far to go to remove references to the Confederacy from public life prompt broad racial divides.

The poll shows that 57% of Americans see the flag more as a symbol of Southern pride than as a symbol of racism, about the same as in 2000 when 59% said they viewed it as a symbol of pride.

On the wall beside my computer desk, hangs my family crest, which I shipped to my Daddy (Southern Colloquialism for male parental unit) in the summer of 1978, from the York Insignia Shoppe in England.

This same family crest also hangs in the home of Jefferson Davis, distinguished Graduate of West Point Academy, and the President of the Confederate States of America.

 I am a proud Southerner.

As a Christian American, I attend church on Sunday mornings with my brothers and sisters in Christ, both black and white.

American Progressives, both Democrat and Republican, have taken advantage of the horrible church massacre in Charleston, SC, to accomplish something that they have been trying to do for years: minimize the South’s political clout and erase our uniqueness as a region, through the taking away of a symbol of our heritage, and, any traces of the historical aspects of the Confederate Side of the Civil War, as exemplified by the current mission of Memphis Mayor AC Wharton and his minions on the City Council to dig up Nathan Bedford Forrest and his wife, and move their bodies and a statue of the general, which all currently “reside” in a downtown park in the Medical Center.

And now, that same cowardly, revisionist history has reared its ugly head on Capitol Hill.

As they say (instead of “Once Upon a Time”) in Southern Fairy tales,

Y’all ain’t gonna believe this s@#t…

WTOP.com reports that

The low-profile move came Tuesday evening after a brief debate on a measure funding the National Park Service, which maintains 14 national cemeteries, most of which contain graves of Civil War soldiers.

The proposal by Rep. Jared Huffman, D-Calif., added language to block the Park Service from allowing private groups to decorate the graves of southern soldiers with Confederate flags in states that commemorate Confederate Memorial Day. The cemeteries affected are the Andersonville and Vicksburg cemeteries in Georgia and Mississippi.

“The American Civil War was fought, in Abraham Lincoln’s words, to ‘save the last best hope of Earth,’” Huffman said in a debate in which he was the only speaker. “We can honor that history without celebrating the Confederate flag and all of the dreadful things that it symbolizes.”

The flag ban was adopted by a voice vote. The Park Service funding bill is scheduled for a vote on Thursday.

Pressure has mounted to ban display of the flag on state and federal property in the wake of last month’s tragic murders at a historic black church in Charleston, South Carolina. The accused killer, Dylann Roof, posed with the Confederate flag in online photos and reportedly has told authorities that he wanted to start a race war.

Following the lead of GOP Gov. Nikki Haley, the South Carolina Senate has voted to remove the flag from the Capitol grounds and the state House was taking up the measure Wednesday.

But House leaders have deferred action on a plan by Bennie Thompson, a black Democrat from Mississippi, to ban Confederate images such as that contained in the Mississippi flag from being displayed in the House complex. Numerous statues of Confederate figures such as Jefferson Davis, the president of the Confederate States, are also on display in the Capitol.

A little over an hour away from where I sit, lies a very special place, where brother fought against brother, and are buried together, along with succeeding generations of family members.

The Shiloh National Cemetery at Pittsburg Landing, Tenn., is situated on the west bank of the Tennessee River, just below the landing, and on the bluff immediately overlooking it. It contains ten acres of ground, and is enclosed by a rough stone wall of the most substantial character. A convenient lodge has been erected, and a permanent keeper is stationed at the Cemetery. A flag-staff has been erected on the bluff overlooking the river, from which the Union flag is kept constantly floating. The grounds are laid off into sections and groups by avenues and walks, neatly graded and graveled.

The number of interments in this Cemetery is 3,584, of which 2,359 are at present unknown. They represent 203 regiments from thirteen different States, besides colored troops and employees. The graves are all designated by head-boards numbered to correspond with the printed Roll of Honor.

These remains have been collected with great care from their scattered graves through that wild and desolate country, and on the line of the Tennessee River from Fort Henry to the foot of the shoals; and from no less than 565 separate localities.

The most interesting feature of this Cemetery will be found in the numerous Regimental Groups, of which there are no less than twenty-nine. These were originally buried upon the battle-field by their comrades, and great care has been taken to preserve the original arrangement. Occasionally the addition of a few scattered graves has been made to the original group.

On no other battlefield through the entire South and Southwest, does there seem to have been so great care and pains taken in the burial of the dead and in providing for their future identification. In the case of some of the regiments, even after the lapse of five years and the exposure of the head-boards to the annual ravages of fire, every grave has been identified.

Several years ago, I bore witness to the annual reenactment, which is held every Memorial Day on the Civil War Battlefield of Shiloh.

Cannons are fired, guns discharge, men feign falling in battle.

All that day, “Decoration Day” was observed, as family members laid flowers on the graves of those who had been laid to rest at  Historic Shiloh Cemetery.

This yearly event is a solemn occasion, a chance to teach young Americans about the sacrifices of those who came before them.

And now, a bunch of spineless jellyfish, far removed from that historic battleground in Middle Tennessee, are attempting to take away a solemn heritage and birthright, from the very people who gave them their cushy jobs, while they genuflect to the altar of Political Correctness and the philosophy of “going along to get along”, led by their High Priest John Boehner.

Spineless, Vichy Republicans and Hive-Mind liberal Democrats.

The dead can not fight back.

This is beyond disgraceful.

Until He Comes,

KJ

 

Independence Day 2015: These Colors Don’t Run.

On By kingsjesterIn Politics4 Comments

Fourth of July 2015Back in 2011, as I was contemplating what to write about on the 4th of July, I came upon an article titled, “Down on the Fourth of July: The United States of Gloom”, on the London Daily Telegraph’s website, written by Tony Harnden, their U.S. Editor. Mr. Harnden presented a synopsis of the state of our country and came to the following conclusion:

On this day in 1776 a group of 13 colonies broke away to found a new nation free to govern itself as it saw fit, pledging that each citizen would have the unalienable right to “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness”. A nation, as Americans are apt to declare without equivocation, which became the greatest on the face of the earth.

That’s the good news. On the flip side, however, a country whose hallmark has always been a sense of irrepressible optimism is in the grip of unprecedented uncertainty and self-doubt.

With the United States mired in three foreign wars, beaten down by an economy that shows few signs of emerging from deep recession and deeply disillusioned with President Barack Obama, his Republican challengers and Congress, the mood is dark.

The last comparable Fourth of July was probably in 1980, when there was a recession, skyrocketing petrol prices and an Iranian hostage crisis, with 53 Americans being held in Tehran.

…The 2010 mid-term elections showed that the Tea Party movement, drawing its small-government, low-tax inspiration from the revolutionaries who overthrew the British, was a phenomenon that could turn American politics upside down.

Previous elections had been about choosing the lesser of two evils but 2010 was about throwing the bums out. Luntz, a Republican, predicts that 2012 will be a “none of the above” contest. What is needed above all is optimism: it is a prerequisite for the risk-taking needed to invest and start new businesses. Its absence could turn into a self-fulfilling prophecy as belief in American decline helps ensure that the halcyon years are indeed in the past.

The 1980 election was won by Ronald Reagan with his “Morning in America” message. Today, a 10ft bronze statue of Reagan will be unveiled outside the US Embassy in London’s Grosvenor Square, which, in another sign of the times, is due to move to Battersea next year because of concerns about its vulnerability to terrorists. Thus far, there is no sign of a new Reagan emerging.

More worryingly, the optimism he embraced and came to personify is all but absent in America this Fourth of July.

Pretty depressing, huh?

Mr. Harden was a bit of a prophet. Things have not gotten any better. In fact, under the poll-proven Worst American President Since World War II, things are actually getting worse.

America’s populace is still struggling through the worst economic situation our country has seen since the Great Depression. Approximately 20% of our countrymen are unemployed, underemployed, or have just plain given up. One-sixth of our nation has to rely on assistance from our government just to have food on the table, while remaining under the governance of a president who worships a Far Left political ideology steeped in the redistribution of wealth teachings of Karl Marx and Saul Alinsky.

Americans have watched, feeling helpless, as he and his self-centered minions in Congress took our tax dollars and spent all of it and then some, as if there was no tomorrow, leaving our children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren with a debt that this shining city on a hill may never recover from.

We’ve watched, with our mouths hanging wide open, as the President of the United States and his State Department, have reached out to embrace the very barbarians that want to murder each and every one of us, while at the same time, criticizing and alienating our closest allies.

And, at the same time, taking away our Freedom of Self-Determination through the use of activist judges, at the state level to overthrow the will of the people, and then, through a Liberal-Majority Supreme Court, who decided to legislate, instead of performing their actual job description, changing the definition of a sacred ceremony, which has meant one thing for centuries.

Meanwhile, my beloved Dixie, is finding itself under attack by condescending Liberals, led by the leaders, who have decided that a Battle Flag from the American Civil War, has the ability to come to life, and willfully kill innocent people, and somehow, constrain their lives., hiding their real goal of eliminating the region’s political and economic power.

Finally, on this 4th of July, in the year of our Lord 2015, our Southern Border continues to be invaded by tens of thousands uninvited guests, bringing disease, and perhaps, being accompanied by our enemies, traveling in secret, among them.

However, even now, I do not subscribe to Mr. Harnden’s assessment of gloom and doom. Rather, I stand with this man, who embodied the American Spirit that is beginning to once again, reawaken across our Sacred Land.

John Wayne with FlagWhy I Love Her

You ask me Why I Love Her? Well, give me time and I’ll explain.
Have you see a Kansas sunset or an Arizona rain?
Have you drifted on a bayou down Louisiana way?
Have you watched a cold fog drifting over San Francisco Bay?

Have you heard a bobwhite calling in the Carolina pines,
Or heard the bellow of a diesel at the Appalachia mines?
Does the call of Niagara thrill you when you hear her waters roar?
Do you look with awe and wonder at her Massachusetts shore,
Where men who braved a hard new world first stepped on Plymouth’s rock?
And do you think of them when you stroll along a new York City dock?

Have you seen a snowflake drifting in the Rockies, way up high?
Have you seen the sun come blazing down from a bright Nevada sky?
Do you hail to the Columbia as she rushes to the sea,
Or bow your head at Gettysburg at our struggle to be free?

Have you seen the mighty Tetons? Have you watched an eagle soar?
Have you see the Mississippi roll along Missouri’s shore?
Have you felt a chill at Michigan when on a winter’s day
Her waters rage along the shore in thunderous display?
Does the word “Aloha” make you warm? Do you stare in disbelief
When you see the surf come roaring in at Waimea Reef?

From Alaska’s cold to the Everglades, from the Rio Grande to Maine,
My heart cries out, my pulse runs fast at the might of her domain.
You ask me Why I Love Her? I’ve a million reasons why:
My Beautiful America, beneath God’s wide, wide sky.

-John Wayne

Our American Spirit of Independence, Courage, and Love for our Country , embedded in our souls by the generations of brave Americans before us, often presents itself in the most bleak of situations, as this now-famous account from World Ward II demonstrates:

mcauliffePer military.com:

Gen. Anthony Clement McAuliffe is best remembered for uttering a single word — no mean feat, considering that even the shortest Bible verse has two. Commanding the U.S. Army’s beleaguered and surrounded 101st Airborne Division during World War II’s Battle of the Bulge, McAuliffe received a German surrender ultimatum. “Nuts!” he replied, and became a lasting symbol of American courage and determination under fire.

A 1918 West Point graduate, McAuliffe held various field artillery positions before World War II. On the eve of D-Day, McAuliffe jumped with the first wave as a commander of division artillery, although he had never received formal parachute training.

In December 1944, during the siege of Bastogne, Belgium, McAuliffe was acting commander of the 101st in Gen. Maxwell D. Taylor’s absence. The Americans had been holding the Belgian town “at all costs,” and on Dec. 22, Gen. McAuliffe received the encouraging news that the 4th Armored Division was beginning its drive north to relieve the 101st. Later that morning, members of the division’s glider regiment saw four Germans coming up the road carrying a white flag. Everyone hoped they were offering surrender. Instead, they presented two pages demanding the Americans’ surrender: “To the USA Commander of the encircled town of Bastogne. . .There is only one possibility. . .the honorable surrender of the encircled town.”

McAuliffe glanced at the message and said, “Aw, nuts!” When he told his commanders he didn’t know what answer to send, Lt. Col. Harry Kinnard said ‘That first crack you made would be hard to beat, General.” Everyone laughed as a sergeant typed up the succinct response: “To the German Commander: Nuts! The American Commander.”

Between this stoic reply, Patton’s troops from the south, and a change in the weather that allowed air reinforcement the following day, the 101st was able to hold Bastogne. Their victory resulted in the first full-Division Presidential Distinguished Unit Citation.

McAuliffe’s actions at Bastogne helped assure the final defeat of the Germans. Gen. McAuliffe continued to serve on active duty, including assignments as Head of the Army Chemical Corps, Commander, 7th Army, and Commander-In-Chief of the U.S. Army, Europe, until his 1956 retirement. He died in Washington, D.C. in 1975 and is buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

In the opinion of this 56-year-old, sitting in the Northwest corner of the Magnolia State in America’s Heartland, the current administration and Mr. Harden have underestimated the American Spirit, just as King George and the British Aristocracy did, so many years ago.

As our enemies, both foreign and domestic, have discovered since the birth of our nation, Americans will fight for our freedom. And we shall prove it again, in November of 2016, with an electoral explosion of nuclear magnitude, which shall make November of 2014 seem like a firecracker in comparison.

May God Bless you and your family on this 4th of July, the Year of Our Lord, 2015, and may God Bless America.

Until He Comes,

KJ