Tag: confusion

Is America going to finally catch up to China? A look at Bidens “Build Back Better” trillions in investment

Oh my goodness! Trillions of dollars in rebuilding America. That means roads, bridges, trains, infrastructure, and factories. Trillions of dollars in spending. There is no doubt that with this enormous outlay of spending that American can catch up and overtake China. The inflation will be worth it. Right? Don’t be so sure.

There’s not much in the way of actual STEM budgeting. It’s all FIRE nonsense. Here we talk about it.

I Read Biden’s Build Back Better Plan and…Oh, My God

Ann Coulter

November 11, 2021

The White House’s official press release announcing the Build Back Better Act (BBB) pitches it as a “PLAN TO REBUILD THE MIDDLE CLASS.” It rhapsodizes about “working families” squeezed by the economy, and reminds voters that “Biden promised to rebuild the backbone of the country — the middle class.”

A cartoon illustrates the sort of person who would benefit from Biden’s Build Back Better programs: “Linda,” a white woman, who works at a manufacturing plant but struggles to raise her son, “Leo.”

One thing the White House’s official press release did not mention is that almost all of the $2 trillion doled out under BBB is expressly designated for Black, Latino, Native American, Asian American, Pacific Islander and non-English speaking individuals. White Americans will get nothing and like it.

“Even provisions that don’t explicitly exclude whites, turn out, on closer examination, to exclude whites.”
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Over and over again, the bill is written expressly NOT to help the hardworking Linda, apparently because she is white.

Here are just a few examples:

— $1 billion to Native American, Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian communities for housing “needs.”

— $500 million for minority-serving schools of medicine.

— $112 million for teacher preparation programs at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs).

— $75 million for culturally appropriate care management and services for older individuals who are racial and ethnic minorities or are underserved due to sexual orientation or gender identity.

— $75 million to study maternal health for pregnant and postpartum minority individuals.

— $50 million study maternal mortality among minorities.

— $50 million to improve behavioral health outcomes for communities of color with substance abuse.

— $75 million to increase research capacity at minority-serving institutions.

And on and on and on.

The very first item in Title II of the bill, titled “ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY EDUCATION,” is a program to distribute more than $100 million in grants to address “low diversity within the teacher and school leader workforce.”

To be eligible for a grant, the recipient must have a plan “to increase the diversity of qualified individuals entering into the teacher, principal, or other school leader workforce.”

Similarly, the first provision of BBB’s “ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT” section is: “Minority Business Development Agency.”

But wait — here’s a plot twist!

This part also includes something for rural America! (So Democrats have heard of Appalachia.)

Twenty-one percent of the country is rural. Twenty-four percent is non-white. Guess how the money is divvied up?

One billion dollars for minorities and $200 million for “rural business centers.”

Even provisions that don’t explicitly exclude whites, turn out, on closer examination, to exclude whites. I’ve never seen so many synonyms for “non-white,” such as “persistent poverty communities,” “historically economically distressed,” “historical injustice” and “underserved communities.”

Hang on, Ann — what makes you think “underserved” means “non-white”?

I refer you to page 111 of the bill:

“This section also defines an ‘underserved community’ as a group of people who have been systematically denied the full opportunity to participate in aspects of economic, social, and civic life. Underserved communities include Black, Latino, Indigenous and Native American persons, Asian American and Pacific Islanders, other persons of color, [etc.].”

How about changes to our environmental laws?

White people love the environment!

Sorry, out of luck, again, white boy. BBB allocates almost $7 billion for …

“national service programs to carry out projects related to climate resilience and mitigation.”
Unfortunately, however, all those billions have to go to 

“entities that serve and have representation from low-income communities …; utilize culturally competent and multilingual strategies; … implemented by diverse participants from communities being served.”

One billion dollars of the “Climate Resilience and Mitigation” loot is specifically directed to “individuals who were formally incarcerated.” [Sic.]

Sure, climate change is important — but not as important as giving money to convicted felons!

What the hell happened to Linda?

Linda is wearing a hardhat, so her job has probably been outsourced. Maybe she’ll be helped by BBB’s humongous expansion of the Trade Adjustment Assistance program (TAA).

That’s the law passed in the 1960s to compensate American workers whose jobs have been shipped abroad by globalist swine who couldn’t care less about their fellow Americans and don’t mind that every single thing we need, including masks and medicine, is made in China.

Surely, some white people will qualify for that — steelworkers, autoworkers, glass, plastic and paper manufacturing employees.

In fact, the BBB hijacks the whole idea of compensating globalism’s losers and turns the TAA into just another massive welfare scheme.

Both the eligibility requirements and payment amounts are expanded beyond all reason, entitling “workers” to years and years of payouts, with no minimum employment period required, and no stipulation that trade has anything to do with the loss of their jobs.

Thus, for example, a program that is — again — meant to remunerate workers whose jobs were shipped abroad will now offer assistance to public sector employees.

How does a government employee lose a job at all — much less to trade? (I only wish we had Chinese people running our grade schools.)

Naturally, states will be required to work with “training providers” that have a proven track record serving “Black, Latino, Indigenous and Native American persons, Asian American and Pacific Islanders, other persons of color, members of other minority communities” and so on.

Republicans seem to think that if they just talk about how much Biden’s BBB plan costs, their job is done. They ought to read the bill. It might prompt them to finally say something about the Democrats’ clear animus against white Americans.    

Conclusion

Imagine. Imagine trillions of dollars going into these urban enclaves to serve the 13% of society. What will be the result? Will it be many bright and shining cities full of impressive skyscrapers, fast high speed trains, and more parks and infrastructure?

Where will the money go to, and who will have it, and what will they use it on? Because you KNOW that there is going to be a lot of holes in those massive sacks of money. So who is going to really benefit?

  • The under-employed and under-privileged?
  • Or the very wealthy that runs the cities like the mob bosses of old?

And of the money that flows to these areas, and those that flow out, what about the rest of the nation? Like Trump’s budget that make the Wall Street Bankers fantastically wealthy, this is poised to make the city mob bosses fantastically wealthy as well.

Who will not get wealthy?

I see the makings of a massive and colossal storm, and I do not want to be at ground zero when it hits. Look I am not being racist, I am being real. You just cannot exclude people from a budget by their race, upbringing or social standing on a whim and NOT expect consequences.

I am worried about those consequences.

And you should be as well.

It wouldn’t be so bad if there was some balance in the budget, but there isn’t any. It’s all a lopsided manifestation of corruption.

I have no answers, but I see no real changes anywhere in government structure. Just more of the same race baiting, underhand dealings and crime and corruption. For a nation that is supposed to be color-blind to race, this bill is the most racist document I have ever heard and read about. And that is disturbing. Because, knowing what I do know about the see-saw of American politics, that when the tide of public opinion flows in the other direction…

…things are going to get really, really bad. video 26MB

Ann said

How does a government employee lose a job at all — much less to trade? (I only wish we had Chinese people running our grade schools.)

Well, it would American schools look like then? Well they would look like this…

Here’s a video about the roll call in first grade. video 25MB

Here’s a video on school food discipline, and eating everything that is on your plate. video 40MB

School; it would look like this. video 83MB

Second grade roll call. China. Discipline. video 6MB

School assembly practice. And it would look like this. video 55MB

And it would look like this. video 25MB

And like this too. video 27MB

America really needs to up it’s game instead of playing the blame game and pointing fingers. It needs to accept that the government is a travesty, the society is fucked up, and it is in it’s death thrall.

Do you want more?

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China sitrep December 2021

Oh my goodness!

Amazing skills of Chinese Kids

Video 2MB

“Given the gigantic scale of China’s achievements, anyone with sense in the world will study these intently.”

– There was a time when such things needed not be said.

Impressive speed of Change in China

Really impressive. Video 5MB

China is part of the solution

Video 1.5MB

Chinese vs. American “democracy”

Video 5.8MB

China and Cambodia relations

Contrary to the bullshit “news” out of the “West” China is great friends with it’s neighbors. Here’s a brief interview worthy of review. video 8MB

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Sitrep: Here Comes China – Taking the lead – a dialogue on democracy in China

By Amarynth for the Saker Blog including a number of data points from Godfree Roberts

Did you know that a huge International Forum on Democracy is ongoing in China right now?  This is before the supposed Biden “Summit on Democracy” which is an attempt to divide the world into Democracies and Autocracies, according to the wishes of the rules-based international order.

As we have seen so often from China, they acted with incredible speed and presented their own high-quality International Forum.  They also published a Chinese White Paper on Democracy and it outlines how their Whole Process People’s Democracy functions for their people:  http://en.people.cn/n3/2021/1204/c312369-9928374.html

In addition, China released a full report on the state of US democracy:  http://www.news.cn/english/2021-12/05/c_1310352578.htm

Interesting to note the tussle for the meaning of ‘democracy’ between PRC, or rather CPC, and the Empire in the CGTN piece.

https://news.cgtn.com/news/2021-12-04/Opening-ceremony-of-international-forum-on-democracy-begins-in-Beijing-15IRPiuCnsI/index.html

China has learned over the past three years how to defend itself against accusations coming from the combined Western influence sphere.  Although we know that the media in general still balances toward the combined Western Sphere, there is now a serious contender in the room with the ability, incredible speed of implementation, track record, education, and creative expressive talent to gain media supremacy in getting their message to the world.

Oh, the poor ‘partners’ …

Australia

The ‘partners’ are being led by their noses.  The Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported that the US and its allies are the “biggest beneficiaries” of Australia’s trade row with China. Washington is in bed with Canberra, at the same time, it points the finger at Beijing and in the background, it picks up Australia’s lost Chinese trade.  So, simply stated, all the trade that Australia lost in their trade row with China, from coal to iron ore to meat, the US quietly picked up.

Taiwan

From Taiwan, I hear a similar activity is taking place but this is not yet confirmed by the needed 3 sources.  The idea of keeping the issues with Taiwan hot, is that the Taiwanese semiconductor foundry company (TSMC), the biggest employer in Taiwan with a raft of supporting industries around it, is being moved lock, stock, barrel, and existence to new facilities in Arizona.  We will wait for more confirmation, but this is a very dangerous move to make, as TSMC is not only the biggest semiconductor company in the world, the industry itself depends on a highly educated and trained workforce.  The Taiwanese workforce will lose its lunch.

But…

Following the US sanctions, China’s government stood up and took notice, and, being China, it wasn’t long before they developed a long term plan: Build from the ground up an entirely China developed chip manufacturing system that is 100% free from foreign companies and intellectual property.

Beijing hired over 100 TSMC specialists to help build their own semi-conductor industry and has been diligently building its own chips so it is not reliant on Taiwan:

https://sputniknews.com/20200812/beijing-seeks-100-tsmc-chip-staff-in-bid-to-boost-chinese-tech-self-reliance-in-major-trade-war-1080143216.html

To that end, a couple of years ago China set up several institutes of technology dedicated to training the physicists, engineers and workers needed to develop chip manufacturing techniques and technology that is free of western IP. The timetable is to be able to bulk manufacture 14nm chips (think PC desktops from two years ago) by 2024, to manufacture the current generation of chips by 2028 and to be equal with the best in the world by 2030.

The Chinese know that the “silicon tech route” is nearing its end and so they know that they can’t win the competition following that route. So their investments in the silicon route will remain limited.

The thinking in China is now focused on what comes after “Moore’s Law”. They know that the West is invested in the silicon route and needs to recuperate its huge investments by generating profits in that route. This means that the West will not be able to focus its investments on newer routes for the foreseeable future. Such a situation is seen as an opportunity : few competitors and the potential to being first to master these new technological routes.

Chinese technology institutes are fully immersed in these new routes. And huge investments are now being realized to try to leapfrog the Western Silicon Route by focusing on carbon chips or photonic-chips that seem to promise far higher speeds and far lower energy consumption…

China’s New Hypersonic Aircraft Is Based on a Rejected NASA Design

And it can go faster than five times the speed of sound.

A team of researchers in China has built and tested a prototype hypersonic flight engine that is allegedly based on a design that was scrapped by NASA over 20 years ago, according to a report from the South China Morning Post (SCMP).

The prototype itself might not lead to a production version of hypersonic aircraft. Still, in a paper in the Journal of Propulsion Technology, the team behind the machine said “understanding its work mechanism can provide important guidance to hypersonic plane and engine development.” 

NASA’s scrapped X-47C program is revived

The original design was proposed by Ming Han Tang, a former chief engineer of NASA’s hypersonic program in the late 1990s. Tang’s Two-Stage Vehicle (TSV) X-plane design was at the center of the Boeing Manta X-47C program, as per the SCMP report. However, before the program could verify the viability of the design, it was terminated by the U.S. government due to its high costs as well as a series of technical issues.

Unlike the majority of hypersonic aircraft proposals, which feature an engine on the underside, the TSV X-plane design by Tang has two separate engines on each side. At lower speeds, the engines work as normal turbine jet engines. With no moving parts, the configuration then allows the aircraft to quickly switch to high-speed mode to accelerate to more than five times the speed of sound.

Now, Professor Tan Huijun and colleagues at the Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics in Jiangsu, China, have constructed a prototype based on Tang’s original specifications. They were able to do this due to the fact that the blueprints for the Boeing Manta X-47C program were declassified in 2011. Huijun and his team tested the prototype in a wind tunnel that allows testing in conditions resembling flight at Mach 4 to Mach 8. The tests revealed that Tang’s proposed engine design works in these conditions, meaning they should be able to conduct further tests and build new iterations of their prototype. 

The race to go hypersonic

The U.S. and China are in the midst of a space and aviation race. According to the SCMP article, a number of high-profile Chinese scientists quit NASA and other government engineering firms in the U.S. in the late 90s due to strained relations between the two countries. This reportedly coincided with the start of China’s hypersonic weapons program in the early 2000s.

China’s space agency recently announced that it is building a fission reactor for the Moon that will reportedly be 100 times more powerful than one in development by NASA. China’s government also announced earlier this year that it will collaborate with Russia on a lunar space station, which will directly rival NASA’s lunar Gateway program. In October, China also launched a hypersonic missile with “an advanced space capability” that took U.S. officials by surprise.

In July, meanwhile, the U.S. Air Force granted a hypersonic aircraft startup called Hermeus a $60 million contract to develop a prototype aircraft within three years that could travel at speeds of Mach 5 using only one engine. The race to go hypersonic is in full force.

China facts tell it all.

Seriously. When you see what the United States is, how it operates, and what it is doing you cannot help but come to the most obvious of obvious conclusions. video 60MB

Impressions of China

video 24MB

How Chinese Democracy works…

What most people seem not to know is that this internal process of representation in the party is mirrored at the level of state institutions :

— direct public elections take place at the local level of rural villages (since the nineties if my memory serves me well). Everyone can decide to be a candidate and all villagers can vote for the candidate of their choice. Cities rely on voluntary participation in local “quarters” (sorry I don’t know the right English word). The same goes on in the lowest party structure which is the local cell.

— the elected officials of the multiple villages then elect their representatives at the district level by choosing among themselves who they think is the most qualified to have authority over themselves in the future.

— and this representation mechanism is repeated at the higher institutional levels till the top echelon the Political Bureau.

The West calls democracy the fact of voting for representatives every 4 or 5 years. But in the meantime the citizens have no say over any decisions at the different institutional levels of state power.

In China things are quite different.

Representatives, elected directly by the people or elected among themselves, have to implement the will of the people. This is done through various consultation mechanisms.

Direct consultation means asking for the citizens’ opinions about the texts of a legislation before it is being voted upon… Some legislation texts come for public consultation then are reworked by the Congress and the reworked version comes back for further consultation…

Indirect consultation means various polling techniques. The implement of the will of the people necessarily implies that congress members know what the people want. Polling in China is not about getting someone elected. It is about legislating according to the will of the people…

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A taste of China

Dancing at the gateway to the Tibetan plateau. video 4MB

William Buffet Explains

Video 2.4MB


The Chinese are able to save money

They they can. In a nation that is not for-profit, that cares about the well being of it’s people, of course families can save, strive and grow. video 6MB

All the latest from Godfree Roberts’ newsletter,

Here Comes China:

BeiDou conducted the first inter-satellite and ground station communication using using lasers instead of radio signals, transmitting data a million times faster than radio and increasing satnav accuracy 4000%. Read full article →

A high-speed railway linking China to landlocked Laos opened Friday. The 660-mile, 160 km/h line runs through mountains and ravines from Kunming to Vientiane. Read full article →

Premier Li Keqiang says the establishment of a centre in Hong Kong to handle Asia – Africa trade and investment disputes will strengthen the city’s role as an arbitration hub and “provide more convenient and efficient dispute resolution services” for parties in both regions. [It also bypasses the WTO–Ed.] Read full article  →

China’s service trade rose 13% YoY to $659 billion in the first ten months of the year. Service exports rose 29% YoY, and service imports rose 1%. In October alone, the country’s service trade hit 414 billion yuan, up 24% YoY. Read full article  →

China now leads the world in trade of both goods and services and its trading partners now cover 230 countries and regions. China contributed 35% of the growth in global imports in the past five years. Read full article  →

Meeting its carbon goals could save China trillions: China could dodge $134 trillion in climate-related losses by meeting carbon neutrality targe. China is predicted to see an 81% reduction in its accumulative climate-related losses by 2100 if it achieves its carbon neutrality target, according to a new study from think tanks in Beijing and London. Read full article →

And extreme ethics violation in my view:  In 2018, Dr. He Jiankui shocked the world by announcing that he had used the CRISPR genome-editing technique to alter embryos that were implanted and led to the birth of two children. Today, the children are healthy toddlers and Western researchers want to get their hands on their DNA.  Read full article →

China has doubled installed renewable energy capacity since 2015, to one billion kW, or 43% of total installation: Wind power generation increased 30% year-on-year (299 million kWs), solar power generation grew 24% (282 million kWs), and hydropower remains at 385 million kWs; Cost inflation delays solar energy expansion. Read full article →

New groundwater regulations tackle overuse and contamination of 16 billion m³/year of water. Fines could reach  $783,000 daily. Right now 44% of groundwater monitoring stations record Grade V, the lowest water quality. Read full article →

China is scouring the countryside to find native seed, animal and fish genetic resources in a national germplasm census to protect “family property” and gain self-reliance in crop and animal breeding. “Excellent” plant and animal resources will be protected on company-run farms if they are in danger of extinction or turned over to Chinese breeding companies to exploit their commercial potential to propel Chinese seed companies as global competitors. Read full article →

Guinea-Bissau and Eritrea join the Belt And Road Initiative. Guinea-Bissau covers 36,125 square kilometres, with a population of 1,874,303, and like China’s Macau, was once part of the Portuguese Empire. Eritrea also signed an MoU with China to join the BRI and is expected to cement China’s presence in the Horn of Africa and the Red Sea, with interests ranging from a military base to protect shipping, in addition to infrastructure projects in ports and railways. China has been investing in the country for some time. Read full article →

To conclude, China developed its policies to deal with its national issues. But in so doing it has created both practical and theoretical achievements which are the world’s most advanced. China has never asked other countries to learn from its example, but neither can if forbid them to do so. Given the gigantic scale of China’s achievements anyone with sense in the world will study these intently. The “Resolution on the Major Achievements and Historical Experience of the Party over the Past Century” is therefore not only key for China, it is a document of crucial importance for the entire world. Learning from China.

China is going to grow a lot more.

You bet that it will. video 5MB

China inspirational song

This is big all over China. Let the Western news media and their idiotic leadership howl. China ain’t taking shit from no one. Deal with it. video 5MB

How China selects and trains it’s leadership

So very, very different from the group of morns that run the West these days. It’s actually applaudable. video 80MB

Chinese High Speed Train

It’s commonplace all over China. Not a big deal. video 5MB

Conclusions

Do your best. Be good, and realize that there are places on the planet that have their act together. China is one of those places.

Do you want more?

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You’ll not find any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you because I just don’t care to.

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All it takes is one really bad leader; the story of Braxton Bragg, The Confederacy’s Worst General

Have you ever wondered why some people become filthy rich while others remain poor for their entire lives? Ah, well if you haven’t you should of. It pretty much explains the nature of the universe, don’t you know.

Here we are going to look at a a “successful” loser.

We are going to tear his life apart, dissect it and study it. For we want to know how a person who was such a terrible General, so much that everyone realized it, that he still continued and was able to maintain his position without troubles of demotion. Why do some absolutely awful people get into such powerful positions?

…

No. This isn’t a rehash of the “Peter Principle”.

In the 1969 book, "The Peter Principle," authors Dr. Laurence J. Peter and Raymond Hull wrote that workers in a hierarchical structure get promoted to the level at which they are incompetent and stay at that level for the rest of their careers.

Well, I don’t have the answer to that question. It’s a complex one and involved many factors, but we can look at certain people. We can study them. And they we can see what we would do different if we were in their shoes. We must realize that we are not perfect, and that we have faults.

And the true man (or woman) in control of their life is one that knows their faults and compensates for them.

Introduction

Why did the South lose the Civil War? That question has produced many books, lectures, and heated discussions from both historians and Civil War buffs. Now, it is my personal belief that all it takes is one bad leader to totally destroy a nation and lose a war. Indeed, the tales of all those cities that misjudged Genghis Khan can so very clearly illustrate this. Now, as far as the American Civil War goes, one of the many answers that could be given can be summarized in two words: Braxton Bragg.

Bragg achieved the rank of full general in the American Civil War.

With a military background, he quickly rose through the ranks after his adopted state of Louisiana seceded. (He was originally from North Carolina.) Early on, he led a group of volunteers in capturing a federal arsenal in Baton Rouge. During the first year of the war, he proved to be an apt troop trainer. He later became a corps commander under General Albert Sidney Johnston at the Battle of Shiloh. After Johnston was killed at Shiloh, he was succeeded by P. G. T. Beauregard. When Beauregard left his command for health reasons, Bragg inherited the leadership of the Army of Tennessee, which would be the primary Confederate military force in the western theater of the war.

Most people will not turn down a promotion, especially if it comes with greater pay and prestige—even if they know they are unqualified for the position.

Skilled in training troops and having earned praise for his leadership in early battles, Bragg seemed worthy of his rise in the ranks.

A terrible General

Yet, despite the early signs of success, General Bragg became a strong contender for the title of “worst high-ranking Confederate general.”

There is certainly no shortage of grist for the mill when making the case against Bragg. Quite a few of his fellow commanders, most of whom served under him, were contemptuous of his leadership.

  • Artillery officer E.P. Alexander said that Bragg was “simply muddle headed.”
  • On several occasions generals in his army sent letters to President Jefferson Davis asking that Bragg be sacked.
  • General Frank Cheatham, after the Battle of Stones River, vowed never to serve under Bragg again.
  • After that same battle, General John C. Breckinridge, seething over a failed charge Bragg had forced him to make, challenged Bragg to a duel.

Even General Forrest was infurated

Nathan Bedford Forrest was never known as a commander easy to work alongside, but his greatest outburst against a commander came after the Battle of Chickamauga. Having won a great battle, arguably in spite of his own actions, Bragg refused to follow up his victory with further pursuit of the Union Army. This was too much for Forrest. After nearly begging Bragg for the chance to put his cavalry on the heels of the Union troops, Forrest turned from supplicant to accuser. Forrest said, “You have played the part of a damned scoundrel, and are a coward, and if you were any part of a man I would slap your jaws and force you to resent it.” He then told Bragg that he would never obey any orders from him.

Historians hated him…

Historians have not been gentle with Bragg either.

  • David Donald said Bragg was “tense, punctilious, arrogant, a martinet, and a dawdler.”
  • T. Harry Williams said Bragg “lacked the determination to carry through his purpose.”
  • Douglas Southall Freeman, after comparing Bragg with Robert E. Lee, pondered, “How different might have been the fate of Bragg and perhaps the Confederacy if that officer had learned . . . from Lee.”
  • James McPherson said that it was “bumblers like Bragg” who lost the war in the west.
  • Bruce Catton, with a little more balance in his observation, said, “Braxton Bragg was as baffling a mixture of ability and sheer incompetence as the Confederacy could produce.”

Biography

Even Bragg’s biographers were critical. Grady McWhiney said Bragg had “failed as a field commander,” that he had “no real taste for combat,” that he had no ability to inspire confidence in other commanders, that he was “notoriously inept at getting along with people he disliked,” and that he had failed to learn from his mistakes. To make matters worse, McWhiney noted that Bragg was “not lucky.”

The first volume of McWhiney’s biography, Braxton Bragg and Confederate Defeat, was published in 1969.

It was 1991 before the second volume appeared, and it was authored by one of McWhiney’s graduate students, Judith Lee Hallock.

This prompted another historian to speculate that McWhiney had found his subject “so nauseous that he abandoned the project.” Hallock disagreed, but she had her own criticisms of Bragg. She thinks his worst problem was his inability to establish and maintain group solidarity within his army. After noting other such problems as Bragg’s not being able to distinguish friends from enemies, not recognizing the abilities of his subordinates, and being a poor judge of character, she summed up his faults with this: “He could manage everything but people.”

Private Sam Watkins, in his outstanding memoir of Confederate service titled Company Aytch, expressed continual grumbling from himself and others about his service under Bragg. He said…

“None of Bragg’s soldiers ever loved him. They  had no faith in his ability as a general. He was looked upon as a  merciless tyrant.”

What was Bragg’s problem?

The answers and speculations are many. His health didn’t help his leadership duties. Migraine headaches, boils, and dyspepsia plagued him, especially in times of overwork and stress. He also suffered from rheumatism and nervousness.

Besides the responsibilities of leadership, Bragg was personally prone to drive himself relentlessly in his work. One general said he was “the most laborious of commanders, devoting every moment to the discharge of his duties.”

Bragg likely had psychosomatic problems as well. McWhiney said that at times Bragg “lost touch with reality.”

Compounding all this was his use of calomel, a mercury-based purgative, which had severe side effects. It is also possible that his physicians prescribed opium to Bragg for his ailments. That might explain some of his tendencies to lose track of what he was doing in the midst of a battle.

Halleck said it might also explain his paranoia toward fellow officers.

Grady McWhiney also attributes Bragg’s failures to his penchant for frontal attacks.

This was a topic that McWhiney developed more fully in his book Attack and Die and then repeated in his biography. Southern commanders were obsessed with frontal attacks, which were based on military tactics from previous wars.

Civil War weaponry had made such attacks extremely costly in terms of casualty counts. But if this line of argument is taken, it begs the question of why Bragg was unsuccessful when the same tactics were used by almost every other general in both Northern and Southern armies.

The Theater of War

Since Bragg’s command was in the western theater of the war, most of his battles were in Tennessee. In contrast with Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia which spent much of the war in a confined region of Virginia, the Army of Tennessee, Bragg’s command, covered a wider area and suffered from greater hardships in terms of supply and support from the Confederate government. Bragg was given a near impossible task in defending Tennessee and the western Confederacy.

Consider also the size of the armies of the Civil War.

George Washington led about 15,000 men at the most during his years in the American War for Independence. Andrew Jackson won the Battle of New Orleans with less than 6000 men. Bragg and other full generals were commanding armies four times the size of Washington’s army and ten times the size of Jackson’s.

Bragg is usually given high marks by the historians for his ability to organize and supply his troops. His West Point education and experience in the Mexican-American War had equipped him for leadership. But the logistics and demands of leading an army of such size was beyond even most trained military officers.

Primarily, it was battlefield actions that unhinged Bragg.

Bragg tended to lose his grip on the reality of what was happening in the proverbial “fog of battle.” He judged victories as defeats and defeats as victories. He was indecisive when decisiveness was needed and was decisive when discretion was needed. He exasperated his commanders, lashed out at them at the wrong times, closed his ears to their counsel, and generally destroyed any chances of coherent, unified leadership.

Wins and Losses…

Bragg failed in the western campaign.

He lost Stones River and Perryville and abandoned Chattanooga.

He failed to follow the unexpected and decisive victory at Chickamauga and was not able to hold the seemingly unconquerable defensive position on Lookout Mountain. But then what commander in the west did succeed?

Albert Sidney Johnston lost his life and the Battle of Shiloh.

John Pemberton lost Vicksburg.

John B. Hood abandoned Atlanta and went on to destroy the Army of Tennessee in his epic failures at Franklin and Nashville.

Joseph E. Johnston was perhaps the best commander in the west, but his record was one of strong defenses followed by skilled retreats.

Was Bragg a total failure?

That question calls for a lot of reflection that goes beyond the complaints of his subordinates.

History has not been kind to him.

It is hard to imagine fans of the Confederacy decorating their walls with pictures of Bragg or naming their sons “Braxton” in his honor. To a large degree, McWhiney was on target when he said that Bragg was simply just not lucky.

Conclusion

It’s easy for us, sitting in our comfortable chairs, to judge a man for his deeds or misdeeds over a hundred years ago. But that is not what we are doing here. We are trying to learn from his mistakes, and in so doing, imagine what we would have done differently were we to be in his place.

Here is a man that was very good in military logistics, and was promoted over and over again for various reasons. Eventually reaching the rank of General.

And in that role, he was a failure.

This could happen to anyone, and everyone. Just because you can fix a race car engine, does not mean that you have the ability to be a race car driver. Or if you are a wonderful cook, that you can create and expand a large chain of fast food restaurants. Or, more contemporaneously, if you are quite adept at building casinos and golf courses, you might not be qualified to lead a nation as big as the United States.

Which is a law, I believe that is missing in Robert Greene’s “48 Laws of Power”, which should be “know your limits, and know your strengths”.

To be successful you need to build up, or compile a small group of people that have strengths to complement your weaknesses. If you are strong in organization, but weak in finance, you need to find a strong finance person to work with. And if you are and the finance person are weak in Sales, perhaps you should consider adding a strong and experienced salesman to your group.

This is what Ronald Regan did when he was President of the United States, he staffed competent people, and then managed them. This is what Xi Peng is doing today.

Do not believe that you know everything and that your decisions are always ideal. That is a fantasy.

The idea that one lone person can do it all, and be the ultimate best is a uniquely American fantasy. It is false. Don’t ever believe that you are in your role or position because you are somehow “special” or that “God granted you that position”. Instead look at what you need to make your situation a success, and realize too that your weakness can absolutely kill any prior “good” work that you have accomplished.

Do not fall into the narcissistic trap of self-superiority. Do not believe that you, and only you, knows how to do things. That is an illusion.

Work as part of a team toward well-defined and common goals. You will succeed.

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It is time for America to dramatically alter it’s government structure. It needs to change.

The United States was set up as a Republic way back in 1776, and over the years “improved” into other things. First it was a “democracy”, then into an “oligarchy”, followed by “empire” in the 1960’s and now exists as a military Empire controlled via oligarchy. It’s a real mess. It’s ungainly, corrupt and dysfunctional.

And, it is handling this COVID-19 emergency outrageously bad.

In fact, the handling of it is so incompetent, and unfathomably bizarre, that it would probably be best not to have a government at all. Just let the sheeple graze on the “fruited plains” freely without any “assistance” from Big Brother Government.

Seriously, it’s time to demolish the old, and look towards new horizons.

Is It Time for a New Direction?

This article was written by Jacob G. Hornberger on April 10, 2020. Edited to fit this venue and all credit to the author.

If Americans are not doing some serious soul-searching in the midst of this crisis, they need to start. Where America goes from here is not some sort of esoteric debate. What we do at this point has life or death consequences. Get it wrong, and suffer more death, suffering, and impoverishment. Get it right, and America moves toward life, health, liberty, peace, prosperity, and harmony.

What everyone needs to recognize is that they are facing a choice of systems, not a choice of people. Either stick with the same systems or switch over to new systems. That’s the choice now facing the American people.

Let’s examine four systems under which we currently live and have lived for decades.

America’s economic system
This is a centrally planned and centrally managed system run by the federal government. Its central aim is to “wage war on poverty” by forcibly taking money from everyone and redistributing it to people in need, such as the elderly and the poor. It is based on massive confiscation of income and wealth by the Internal Revenue Service, in the form of income taxes and payroll taxes.
America’s healthcare system
This too is a centrally planned and centrally managed system run by the federal government. It is based on big, powerful central planning agencies like as the Centers for Disease Control and the FDA, as well as massive socialist programs like Medicare and Medicaid, both of which are responsible for foisting a never-ending healthcare crisis onto the American people consisting of ever-increasing healthcare costs that have bankrupted people or sent them into deep debt.
America’s monetary system
This too is a centrally planned and centrally managed system run by the federal government, specifically the Federal Reserve. From its beginning in 1913, its job has been to print up ever-increasing quantities of paper money to enable the federal government to fund the ever-increasing expenditures of the welfare-warfare state way of life.
America’s system of empire and foreign intervention
This too is a centrally planned and centrally managed system by the national-security branch of the federal government. Its job is to wreak death and destruction among foreigners and, in the process, bring ever-increasing amounts of taxpayer-funded largess to its army of well-heeled “defense” contractors, which are composed of former members of the national-security establishment.

Consequences of central planning

How are all these systems working out? Most, if not all, people would agree that they are not working out well at all. Together, they have either bankrupted people through taxes or debts or left millions of people without even enough savings to get them through a couple of months of unemployment.

And guess who is now paying the biggest price for the coronavirus crisis — seniors and the poor. That’s because the FDA, in all its central planning wisdom, prohibited the private sector from producing test kits that would have, without any doubt, significantly reduced the coronavirus infection rate.

How can they lower the infection rate if they don’t know who has the virus, especially since people who have the virus are infecting people for about a week before they show any symptoms? A massive number of cheap testing kits would have enabled people to ferret out quickly and early who was infected, enabling everyone else to continue working.

Given that their dysfunctional healthcare system has totally failed to stem the crisis, they have resorted to tyranny and oppression through a mandatory shutdown of the economy, sending millions of people into unemployment and even bankruptcy.

To relieve the financial distress from their destruction of people’s livelihoods, they are resorting to their dysfunctional monetary system. The Federal Reserve is now printing money like it was going out of style. Does anyone really believe that printing trillions of dollars is a way to relieve economic distress? It’s just another form of taxation, one that plunders and loots people, specially the elderly and the poor, through the massive devaluation of their money.

Meanwhile, their fourth dysfunctional system is ensuring that the national-security establishment will suffer no budget cuts whatsoever in order to enable to maintain its oversees machinery of empire and intervention.

Isn’t that ironic? Their four systems of central planning and management are responsible for massive death, suffering, and impoverishment not only here at home but also abroad.

A different direction

If you like how all these dysfunctional systems have worked out, are working out, and will continue to work out into the future, just continue supporting their existence.

But make no mistake: There is a choice to be made here because there are four systems that are opposite to the four systems under which we are are suffering. These four systems are as follows:

A free-market economic system
Under this system, everyone keeps everything he earns — 100 percent, which enables everyone to save lots of money. No income taxation and no IRS. It’s a system based on 100 percent voluntary charity. This was America’s founding economic system for more than 100 years. It produced the wealthiest and most charitable society in history.
A free-market healthcare system
Under this system, the private sector and the free market are entirely responsive for healthcare. No more having to get permission from federal bureaucrats to produce test kits or anything else because the federal government will play no role whatsoever in healthcare. A total separation of healthcare and the state, just as our ancestors had the wisdom to separate church and state. This was America’s founding healthcare system and last for more than 100 years. It produced the finest healthcare system in history, one in which healthcare costs were cheap and affordable and in which doctors and hospitals treated the poor for free on a purely voluntary basis.
A free-market monetary system
Under this system, the free market determines the currency that is going to be used. No more Federal Reserve and no more legal-tender laws. For more than 100 years, America had the finest monetary system in history, one based on gold coins and silver coins. A free-market monetary system would improve upon that concept.
A limited-government republic with a small, basic military force.
No more national-security state and no more foreign military bases and foreign interventionism. No more sanctions, embargoes, invasions, occupations, wars of aggression, torture, state-sponsored assassinations, secret mass surveillance, and other destruction of civil liberties. America was founded as a limited-government republic, which lasted for more than 100 years.

The same old direction versus a new direction

So there you have it: Four completely different systems from which to choose. Americans should choose wisely. Your lives, health, and financial well-being and those of your loved ones, friends, and neighbors depend on it.

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