WWI Museum Commemorates the Human Cost on 100th Anniversary: ‘7,200 Deaths a Day, 300 an Hour, 5 a Minute’


Dr. Matt Naylor, president of the National World War I Museum and Memorial in Kansas City, Missouri, joined Friday’s edition of SiriusXM’s Breitbart News Tonight to discuss this year’s centennial commemoration of WWI’s armistice. Sunday will mark 100 years since WWI’s conclusion.

SiriusXM host Rebecca Mansour introduced the segment with the first two stanzas of “In Flanders Fields,” written by Lieutenant-Colonel John McCrae of the Canadian Forces in 1915:

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Naylor said of WWI, “I think that the world came undone during those years, and after more than four years of conflict, it’s as though the world came to its senses. When it was put back together, it wasn’t quite what it was before.”

LISTEN:

Naylor described America’s geopolitical ascendance via WWI, “For the United States, it was such a profound dramatic transformation, being drawn out from essentially an isolationist country onto the world stage demonstrating its financial power, its economic and industrial might, retreating perhaps a little after the war into its own self for a period, but really set the stage for and birthed the first American century.”

A little girl shakes the hand of an American soldier as his troop parade through the streets of London on August 15, 1917. (A. R. Coster/Topical Press Agency/Getty Images)

Naylor examined broader impacts of WWI on international affairs, “Empires done away with, new countries formed, experiments in democracy, enormous development in technologies; we can’t underestimate the impact of World War I in really defining for us the last 100 years, and so it’s right that we should commemorate the founding catastrophe of the 20th century.”

Naylor noted how WWI saw 65 to 70 million service men and women — primarily men — mobilized for war, with casualties of more than 30 million. About half of all combatants were killed or wounded. “Seven thousand two hundred deaths a day, 300 an hour, five a minute; for more than four and a half years,” said Naylor. “The scale of this is just difficult to wrap your head around. So it’s right that we commemorate, that we learn lessons, and that we honor those who served, to acknowledge their courage and the sacrifice that they gave, and to reflect on the risk there is, as it were, of sleepwalking into catastrophe.”

French soldiers on the battlefield, during an offensive action on the French fortress town of Verdun. (Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

French troops advancing under fire during World War I, France, circa 1916. (General Photographic Agency/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Originally from Australia, Naylor reflected on WWI’s impact on Australians, “Forty percent of all males of service age [in Australia] were shipped off to Europe, of those, a 65 percent casualty rate. There wasn’t a household that wasn’t somehow impacted by WWI.”

Naylor added, “For Australia, World War I also begins the 100-year defense relationship with the United States, On July 4th, 1918, the Battle of Hamel, American troops served under Australian command … a 90-minute battle, it was a successful battle and significant in the beginning of the turning of the war, and that began what has been a very successful and important defense relationship. Australia and the United States have fought together in every major war since World War I. July 4th, 1918, marks an important moment for the U.S. and Australia.”

Allied troops of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) at Anzac Cove, Gallipoli Peninsula, during the Gallipoli campaign of 1915. (Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

“We’re bathing the memorial in poppies from sunset until the early morning hours for the nine nights leading up to and including November the 11th,” said Naylor of the National World War I Museum and Memorial’s commemoration of WWI’s end. “At the time of the armistice … many church bells began to ring in cities. At 11 o’clock on November 11th, on Sunday, many communities will be ringing or tolling bells to commemorate the fallen and remember the armistice, and that’s what we’ll also be doing at the National World War I Museum and Memorial. There will be a wreath laying and bell tolling ceremony at 11 o’clock, and we’ll be tolling the bell 21 times.”

Naylor continued, “In fact, the bell that we’re tolling was rung each day during the U.S. involvement in World War I by the Daughters of the American Revolution in 1917 and 1918, each day, and then in 1926, when President Coolidge came to Kansas City to open the memorial and dedicate it, that bell was rung. The bell was tolled 11 times, its ringing was broadcast by radio together with President Coolidge’s speech, and that very same bell is going to be tolling 21 times at 11 o’clock to honor the Americans. More than 116,000 Americans who lost their lives, approximately 4.7 million Americans who served … and perhaps as many as 65 million others who were involved as combatants in the war.”

The National War War I Museum and Memorial will be livestreaming its centennial ceremony via its Facebook page and website beginning at 10:30 a.m. Eastern (9:30 a.m. Central and 7:30 a.m. Pacific).

Military historian Patrick O’Donnell, author or The Unknowns: The Untold Story of America’s Unknown Soldier and WWI’s Most Decorated Heroes Who Brought Him Homealso joined Friday’s edition of SiriusXM’s Breitbart News Tonight to examine WWI’s significance.

O’Donnell said, “If Germany had been allowed to remain a great power in Europe, it would have changed the entire world. It would have changed the trajectory of the United States, for sure. … I think World War I is the seminal event of the 20th century, and it leads America on a trajectory to lead the American century, too. Everything from the birth of the modern Marine Corps to the modern Army, there’s a rise of international communism, there are so many first-, second-, and third-order effects that come out of the war. It still continues to impact us today.”

O’Donnell noted how hundreds of Americans were killed in the hours before WWI’s armistice, detailing some of the story in his Friday-published article, “Armistice Day, The Last Night of WWI and a Bridge Into Hell.”

President Donald Trump traveled to Paris, France, to mark the centennial of WWI’s armistice.

Breitbart News Tonight broadcasts live on SiriusXM Patriot channel 125 weeknights from 9:00 p.m. to midnight Eastern or 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. Pacific.

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STUNNING! Criminal Palm Beach Elections Supervisor Accuses Trump and Rubio of “Trying to Disrupt Our Democracy” (VIDEO)


STUNNING! Criminal Palm Beach Elections Supervisor Accuses Trump and Rubio of “Trying to Disrupt Our Democracy” (VIDEO)

Jim Hoft
by Jim Hoft
November 11, 2018

Following Tuesday’s election losses, Democrats ran a ballot production operation in Broward and Palm Beach Counties for several days.

On election night Governor Rick Scott was more than 80,000 votes ahead of Democrat Senator Bill Nelson.

Since then corrupt election officials in Broward County and Palm Beach County manufactured 83,000 votes.

Elections supervisor Brenda Snipes reported 634,000 votes on election night. Since then the number of manufactured votes in Broward County soared 83,000 votes.

In Palm Beach County elections supervisor Susan Bucher did not allow media cameras into the public ballot counting. Bucher did not allow Republican watchers into the counting room. She force d party officials to stand behind a glass window where they could not see the ballots. She continues to manufacture votes and last night she refused a court order to submit overvotes and undervotes to the Palm Beach County Canvassing Board to review.

Brenda Snipes and Susan Bucher broke the law in several ways.

On Saturday Elections Supervisor Susan Bucher accused President Trump and Marco Rubio of “trying to disrupt our democracy” after officials shut down her illegal ballot manufacturing operation.

This woman needs to be thrown in prison.

Marco Rubio set her straight.

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Antifa Attacks Restaurant’s American Flag Mural, Asks ‘What Is There To Be Proud Of?’


Apparently, you can only attack Tucker Carlson’s house so many times before that gets old and/or the police get involved. So, what’s a good antifa to do?

Well, attack something with an American flag on it, of course. After all, the American flag is a political symbol — right?

That’s apparently what happened at a pizzeria in New Paltz, New York, where an American flag mural was vandalized early in the morning on Election Day.

It wasn’t the first time the flag had been targeted, though.

Maria Lisanti, owner of La Bella Pizza Bistro in the Hudson Valley town, said she had initially faced some opposition to the American flag mural when it was proposed because critics said that the flag represented “a symbol of hate and oppression,” according to Fox News.

TRENDING: 15,000 Ballots Magically Appear in FL, Gov. Scott Orders Law Enforcement To Investigate

In late October, Fox reported, “(Lisanti’s) friend Joey Garcia, a New York state corrections officer and Army National Guard veteran, organized an ‘American flag appreciation walk’ to rally the community together and show their support for the flag, military, law enforcement, and the country.”

However, while most of the people at the flag appreciation walk were there to do just that — appreciate the flag — a group of protesters identified as antifa by Breitbart gathered with signs reading, “Yes, I’m anti-AmeriKKKan” and “Stop Pretending your Racism is Patriotism.” Another sign, according to  IJR, asked, regarding the flag, “What is there to be proud of?”

Charming. Here’s some of the video of the protest, which we must warn you contains some vulgarity. Viewer discretion is advised.

“They didn’t want a flag. They thought that it meant a political position and they were opposed,” Lisanti told Fox News’ Laura Ingraham on Friday.

Then came the Election Day vandalism, when balloons filled with paint were lobbed at the mural, apparently because, well, oppression ‘n stuff.

Garcia told Ingraham he was called names by the protesters during the October event.

“I tried to explain, ‘Hey, you guys have the right to be out here, so do we. Let’s keep it peaceful.’ They really didn’t want to hear any of that,” he said.

RELATED: Leftists Rage Outside Tucker’s House, Threaten Violence to Him and His Family

If there’s a plus side to all of this, it’s the fact that a GoFundMe page for the mural established in late September has raised over $12,000, exceeding an initial goal of $8,000.

The page has a note from Lisanti at its top:

“Due to the overwhelming support and patriotism of our community and country we have decided to increase our target goal to help enhance our vision and maintain its glory for years to come. The increase in donations will help fund paint, materials, future maintenance and display lighting to increase visibility,” Lisanti wrote.

So, yes, antifa can still do wretched things. However, the majority of people in this country are good, patriotic Americans — and they’re more than willing to help other patriots in need.

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News Anchor Releases Touching Pro-Life Message for Unborn, Terminal Baby – ‘God Has a Plan for Her’


She is a news anchor for WISH-TV in Indianapolis and shared her pregnancy news with her viewer “family.” Married with a son already, for Brooke Martin and her husband, the prospect of a little brother or sister for their child was exciting news for her family, co-workers and viewers alike.

But life isn’t always fair and when Martin saw the doctor for a lingering case of bronchitis she found out her baby girl has anencephaly. It is a rare and fatal condition.

Many couples with such a pregnancy are advised to abort. The Martins opted to share the news with Brooke Martin’s viewers, along with the couple’s decision about their baby girl.

While the video, published by WISH on Nov. 1, is approximately 7 minutes long, it is Brooke and her husband, Cole, telling their story in their own words. As strong as both appear to be, there are times when Martin is clearly choking back tears as she shares the heartbreaking news.

But their heartbreak isn’t all that the couple share in their story. Their respect for life and faith in God come shining through, despite the pain they are enduring. They have named their daughter Emma Noelle, a form of the name “Emmanuel,” which means “God is with us.”

Even though they know little Emma may not make it to full term, or if she does, only live a few hours or maybe even days, the couple have opted to keep the pregnancy going and to love the child all they can while they have her.

Do you think Brooke and Cole Martin are doing the right thing?

Martin stated that she believes “God has a plan” for their baby.

“We are heartbroken, you guys. We are so sad. But on the other hand, we are so confident that God has a plan for Emma, that he is going to redeem her story.”

In a WISH interview after the initial video, Martin shared how difficult the situation is for her, along with her faith throughout. ” … (I)t’s the hardest thing I’ve ever been through, but what I can tell you honestly — the overwhelming peace I have felt throughout this entire journey so far, and it’s just begun — has been unbelievable,” she said.

“We have felt such a comfort and peace, and I know that a lot of that is from an outpouring of support we have received from everyone. You never know until you get news like this how you’ll receive it, and we can just say that the Lord has been faithful, and we have been incredibly at peace.”

As rare as the condition is — Martin mentioned a CDC statistic of 3 in 10,000 births — social media has a lot of stories of people who were given the same devastating news Brooke and Cole got. Many opted for abortion, some sharing that they felt it was the least painful choice.

RELATED: Sick: Google Helps Libs Who Interrupted Moment of Silence for Pittsburgh Victims

But there are those who chose as Brooke and Cole did. And in the aftermath, some still believe it was the right call.

In 2015, Live Action News shared the story written by Kari WIlliams about her choice to keep going with her pregnancy with baby Marley. Her daughter only lived five hours after her birth, but to Kari, it was inspiration to reach out to others to share what she learned from her experience.

Williams has started a Facebook page to raise awareness. She wrote, “My hopes are to help other mothers dealing with similar situations. I want people to see that you don’t have to be scared into termination or inducing early because society deems your child imperfect and incompatible with life.”

“Marley was perfect, and she was compatible with life and love. She lived for 5 beautiful hours and I am blessed for that and blessed that I was chosen to be her mommy.”

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Fraudulent: Gillum and Nelson Actively Fighting for Allowing Non-Citizen Votes To Count


Commentary Politics

Fraudulent: Gillum and Nelson Actively Fighting for Allowing Non-Citizen Votes To Count

Tallahasse, Florida, Mayor Andrew Gillum, left; and Florida Sen. Bill Nelson, right.(Shutterstock; Getty ImagesFlorida gubernatorial candidate Andrew Gillum, left, and Sen. Bill Nelson, right, are challenging their apparent losses in Tuesday’s election in the Sunshine State. (Shutterstock; Getty Images)

So you can officially party like it’s 2000 because we’re having a Florida recount — this time for the Senate and gubernatorial races. Get your Dreamcast out and put on OutKast’s “Stankonia” while you play some “NFL Blitz.” It’s Y2K again, baby.

Of course, things have changed since the day of hanging chads (or “hanging chad,” as per Jake Tapper, who insists that the singular and plural of “chad” are the same), and probably not for the better.

In fact, according to court records, lawyers for Democratic candidates Andrew Gillum and Sen. Bill Nelson — both of whom lost during the first count — actually tried to get the vote of a non-citizen to count.

The incident was first reported by The Daily Caller’s Luke Rosiak, who used court documents to illustrate that lawyers for Gillum and Nelson, during a meeting of the Palm Beach County Canvassing Board, tried to get the ballot of someone who isn’t even an American counted:

TRENDING: 15,000 Ballots Magically Appear in FL, Gov. Scott Orders Law Enforcement To Investigate

“Michael Barnett, chairman of the Palm Beach Republican Party, told TheDCNF that the county’s canvassing board was going through provisional ballots and quickly deciding whether to allow or disallow each. This exchange is of the first non-citizen’s vote they encountered,” The Daily Caller reported.

“The vote was disallowed despite the objections of the lawyers because two of the three members of the canvassing board ruled that it was an impermissible vote.” (Emphasis mine.)

That’s right — two out of three.

Do you think there needs to be a Florida recount?

There wasn’t unanimity over whether a non-citizen’s vote ought to count. Believe it or not, things somehow get worse from there.

“The lawyer who was present was not someone we had authorized to make such an objection. Non-citizens cannot vote in U.S. elections,” said Marc E. Elias, lawyer for Nelson.

If the name Elias sounds familiar, it should.

Here’s Lusiak describing him on “Fox & Friends.”

RELATED: Dana Loesch Speechless After Learning Parkland Shooter Registered in Florida Election

Elias is also the guy who, on behalf of Hillary Clinton and the Democratic National Committee, hired Fusion GPS to put together the Trump dossier.

“The Hillary Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee helped fund research that resulted in a now-famous dossier containing allegations about President Trump’s connections to Russia and possible coordination between his campaign and the Kremlin, people familiar with the matter said,” The Washington Post reported in October of 2017.

“Marc E. Elias, a lawyer representing the Clinton campaign and the DNC, retained Fusion GPS, a Washington firm, to conduct the research. After that, Fusion GPS hired dossier author Christopher Steele, a former British intelligence officer with ties to the FBI and the U.S. intelligence community, according to those people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

“Elias and his law firm, Perkins Coie, retained the company in April 2016 on behalf of the Clinton campaign and the DNC. Before that agreement, Fusion GPS’s research into Trump was funded by an unknown Republican client during the GOP primary.”

This isn’t exactly a pleasant augury, particularly since a phalanx of lawyers are now descending on the Sunshine State.

If we can’t agree unanimously that non-citizens shouldn’t vote, that’s a sign something is seriously broken — and that’s not good for either our democracy or the people of Florida.

We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism. Read our editorial standards.

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Abbas: We Will Thwart Trump’s Peace Plan, Continue Pay-for-Slay


TEL AVIV – Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas reiterated his vow Saturday to thwart President Donald Trump’s upcoming peace proposal and pledged to continue paying convicted terrorists and their families. 

“The occupation will end,” Abbas said in a speech marking 14 years since the death of PLO leader Yasser Arafat, according to Channel 10 news.

“We will remain on our land and continue to act. We adhere to our principles. Our flag will continue to be raised on the walls of Jerusalem,” he added.

He said that the Palestinians are in “one of the most dangerous stages” in their history, but would fight “all liquidationist schemes and conspiracies that are being concocted against their national cause.”

His comments came as President Donald Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East, Jason Greenblatt, said that the U.S. is set to unveil its long awaited peace plan in the near future.

“Neither side will like everything written in the peace plan and there will be a need to compromise,” Greenblatt said during a trip to London.

“But we’re sure that if the two sides agree to enter negotiations they will understand why we reached the conclusions that will be presented in the peace plan,” he added.

Greenblatt stated that the so-called “deal of the century” seeks to bring a final status solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and is not another interim agreement that will “only extend the cycle of suffering and violence.”

“Judge our peace plan according to what it is supposed to be: a proposal for a comprehensive solution to the Israeli-Palestinian process,” Greenblatt cautioned the Palestinians, according to the Channel 10 report.

Abbas accused the Trump administration of attempting to create a wedge between Gaza and the West Bank but said it would not succeed.

“They won’t find one honorable Palestinian who will compromise on the right of our people to freedom, sovereignty and independence,” Abbas said.

The Palestinians have boycotted Washington since Trump formally recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and transferred the U.S. embassy there. The U.S. has also cut all funding to the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA.

 

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Georgia Democrats Tout Surprise Ballots In Their Attempt To Grab Governor’s Race From GOP


Florida 2.0. They’ll keep “finding” votes until they win.

Via Washington Examiner:

There may be hope yet for Stacey Abrams, the Democratic candidate for governor.

The Democratic Party of Georgia tweeted Saturday evening that a “handful” of Georgia counties reported thousands of “new” absentee, early, and Election Day votes not accounted for by Republican candidate Brian Kemp.

Kemp, who resigned as secretary of state on Thursday, has asserted victory even though the race has not been called and Abrams has yet to concede.

Keep reading…

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STUNNING! California Republicans Face More Losses as Late Votes for Democrats Continue to Trickle In #StopTheSteal


STUNNING! California Republicans Face More Losses as Late Votes for Democrats Continue to Trickle In #StopTheSteal

Jim Hoft
by Jim Hoft
November 11, 2018

Republican candidates who led their races on election night continue to suffer losses as Democrats across the nation have been able to manufacture tens-of-thousands of new votes since election day.

Democrats stole races in Florida, New Mexico and California since election results were announced on Tuesday night.

Democrats have mysteriously found thousands of new votes in Georgia on Saturday after losing the governor’s seat on Tuesday.

And now several California Republican candidates who led their races by significant margins on election night days later are losing their seats as Democrats produce new votes several days later.


Dana Rohrabacher is the latest Republican to lose his race after Democrats discovered several thousand ballots after election day.

Breitbart.com reported:

Several California Republicans who appeared to have held onto their congressional seats on Election Day saw their leads narrowed — or reversed — as late ballots continued to be counted, almost uniformly helping Democrats.

In the 10th congressional district, Democrat Josh Harder had taken a lead of over 3,000 votes over Republican incumbent Jeff Denham by Saturday evening. Denham led by a slim margin on Election Day.

In the 48th district, incumbent Republican Dana Rohrabacher saw a small Election Day lead reversed decisively, and the race was called for Democrat challenger Harley Rouda.

In the 39th and 45th districts, Republicans Young Kim and Rep. Mimi Walters narrowly clung to leads that had diminished to just over 2,000 votes in both cases, with many more ballots still to be counted.

And in the 50th district, which the Associated Press called for incumbent Republican Duncan Hunter, Democrat challenger Ammar Campa-Najjar has refused to concede, citing the possibility of late counted ballots giving him a win.

Once again, the Republican party elites got suckered and had no idea Democrats would be this crooked.
The party leaders should immediately resign for not anticipating this lawlessness by Democrats.

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Pinkerton: Learning the Right Lesson of World War I on Its 100th Anniversary


Today is not only Veterans Day, it is also the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I, when the armistice went into effect exactly a century ago, on November 11, 1918. After more than four years of bloody fighting, the Great War was finally over.

The standard view of World War I is that it is a testament to the futility of war. Yet maybe the better way to think of the war, which lasted from 1914 to 1918—including American participation in 1917-1918—is that if war comes, it’s better to win than to lose.

So while any war is a cause for somber reflection—and world leaders, including President Trump, are gathered in France this weekend to reflect on World War I—it’s perhaps even more important to learn enduring lessons of preparedness and strength. 

Most of the chronicling of that war is heavy on mournfulness, along with the implication that war solves nothing.  Hence we see headlines such as  “The Tragic Futility of World War I” and “The Most Unnecessary War in History.”

Still, we are left to wonder: If the war was “futile” and “unnecessary,” does that mean it would have made no difference if, for instance, the U.S. had not fought in it? Would it have been okay if the Kaiser’s Germany had won?   

And for that matter, what about France? That was the country that the German Army invaded in 1914, and, following the notorious Schlieffen Plan, the Germans stormed through a neutral country, Belgium, as part of their drive toward Paris.  So what should the French have done, other than defend themselves?  If one says that the French could have done a better job of planning and preparing for the war, that’s certainly true. But pacifism, in the face of a conqueror, is not a good option.  

Back then, the Germans had their Schlieffen Plan, which was a cynical violation of international law; attacking neutral countries is a no-no.  For their part, the French had Plan XVII, which was the right idea, done the wrong way.  Plan XVII was unwise because it attempted to convert the glorious idea of military bravery—attaque à outrance (attack to excess)—into a formal military doctrine.  That is, the French war planners had convinced themselves that their brave soldiers could overcome the enemy through élan, and so that was all that was needed; the French would charge, bayonets fixed, and win with cold steel.

French troops advancing under fire during World War I, France, circa 1916. (General Photographic Agency/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Yes, French soldiers were plenty brave, but so, too—looking back to military history—were the American Confederates who launched Pickett’s Charge at Gettysburg in 1863, and they, too, failed. By the mid-19th century, the evolution of the needle gun had given rise to rapid-fire riflery, which meant that infantry and cavalry charges were both more costly and less likely to succeed.  Moreover, advances in artillery were devastating, also, to mass formations.  Finally, by the early 20th century, the machine gun was being deployed.  

Gas-masked men of the British Machine Gun Corps with a Vickers machine gun during the first battle of the Somme. (General Photographic Agency/Getty Images)

Yet despite all these deadly technological innovations, generals were reluctant to give up on their old ways.  In other words, generals were no different from everyone else—we’re all creatures of habit.  So during the opening weeks of the war, in August and September 1914, generals ordered charges just as they had done in battles for thousands of years; only now, the results were disastrously different. 

In particular, French soldiers, obedient to their Plan XVII, and wearing easy-to-see bright blue tunics and red pantaloons, went charging at the Germans—and the result, of course, was disaster.  The overconfident French were decimated, and only a last-minute rally—the so-called Miracle of the Marne—stopped the Germans from capturing Paris.   

By now, mid-September 1914, all the combatants in the West—the French, British, and Belgians against the Germans—were beginning to comprehend that the nature of war had taken a decisive turn.  That is, the new ways of delivering firepower, combined with additional innovations such as barbed wire and echeloned entrenchment, made rapid offense difficult, if not impossible.  Yet not every military leader got the message; during the war, millions of lives were lost as armies persisted with lethally ineffective frontal assaults.

Still, in the years that followed, nations increasingly relied on their industrial power to supplement the blood-sacrifice of their soldiers.  It’s estimated, for example, that from 1914 to 1918, the warring countries fired between 900 million and 1.2 billion artillery shells at each other.  In the meantime, other technological advances were emerging from various nations’ military-industrial complexes, including the submarine, the flamethrower, and poison gas.  Once again, the impact of these new weapons was to make it all the more obvious that the old ways of warfare were obsolete.  

British soldiers lined up in a narrow trench during World War I, on October 28, 1914. (Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Infantry of the 15th Brigade in a bomb-step close to the enemy line near Morlancourt, July 9, 1918. (Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

British soldiers enjoy a jaunt on a British Mark IV tank. (Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

A captured British tank advances through a bank of artificial fog, which shields a body of infantry. A low flying German aeroplane circles overhead. (Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

World War I dogfight (Getty Images)

German Anti-Aircraft Gun (Getty Images)

A German Zeppelin in World War I. (Getty Images)

Yet we can also observe that new killing machines did not make war “futile,” or “unnecessary,” for the simple reason that even if the technology of war had changed, the psychology of war had not.  That is, some leaders and peoples still wanted to fight, for reasons ranging from injured honor to outright avarice.  

We can pause to observe that warlike sentiments have been painfully visible throughout human history; the wise have always known this. For instance, in the New Testament, the Apostle Paul lamented: “None is righteous … Their feet are swift to shed blood; in their paths are ruin and misery, and the way of peace they have not known.” Two thousand years later, it’s hard to say that anything much has changed.    

So we can see: If the world contains many lions, it’s not a good idea to be a lamb.  The Roman military strategist Vegetius had it right in the fourth century: If you want peace, prepare for war. 

And so as we think about America’s role in World War I, we should rightly think of the heroes of that conflict, such as Alvin York, further immortalized in the 1941 film starring Gary Cooper.  We should also think of the 116,516 Americans who gave their lives, including a Marine private, Foster Stevens, recently remembered in The Washington Post.  Indeed, all those millions who served merit our attention and respect, including Oscar Rhoades of Wilkes County, North Carolina, who came home and lived another 70 years. 

Yet precisely because we remember past heroes, we should be thinking constantly about the safety of future heroes.  The first way to assure their safety, of course, is to avoid unnecessary wars, including wars of choice, but sometimes, inevitably, without any fault of our own, war will come. 

World War I was such a war. That conflict was so awful, in terms of carnage, that it’s tempting to conclude, as many have, that it was “futile” and “unnecessary.” According to this popular line of thinking, the fighting was all a tragic misunderstanding, and so as a solution for the future, the thinking goes, let’s all have better understanding—let’s communicate more.  

Alas, while such thinking might be tempting, it’s not correct: The truth is that Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany understood full well that he was plunging Europe into war in 1914; he had his eyes wide open, and he welcomed the conflict, because he thought he could win.  As we have seen, Germany happily trampled through neutral Belgium on its way to France; at least 123,000 Belgians died as a result.  Indeed, Germany’s “September Plan” proved that the Kaiser and his aides had high hopes for seizing control of all of Europe.  Thus he, more than anyone else, is responsible for 15 million deaths.  

Moreover, the Kaiser, personally, was a warmongering hothead, given to making bloodthirsty speeches to his soldiers, such as, “Should you encounter the enemy, he will be defeated! No quarter will be given! Prisoners will not be taken! Whoever falls into your hands is forfeited. Just as a thousand years ago the Huns under their King Attila made a name for themselves, one that even today makes them seem mighty in history and legend, may the name ‘German’ be affirmed by you.”

Kaiser Wilhelm II, Emperor of Germany and King of Prussia, in the field during army maneuvers with General Helmuth Johannes Ludwig von Moltke (right), circa 1914. (General Photographic Agency/Getty Images)

It’s also worth recalling that Germany’s imperial ambitions were not limited to Europe; Germany was interested, too, in fomenting war in North America—against the U.S.A. The so-called Zimmermann Telegram was sent by the German foreign secretary, Arthur Zimmermann, in January 1917 to the German ambassador to Mexico; the goal was to entice Mexico into declaring war on the United States.  

Of course, the idea of Mexico militarily attacking the U.S. might have been a crazy fantasy, and yet it speaks volumes about the mindset of the Kaiser’s regime. The British intercepted the telegram in February; Zimmermann truthfully, but idiotically, confirmed its contents in March—and President Woodrow Wilson asked for, and received, a Congressional declaration of war against Germany in April. (The vote in the Senate was 82:6; in the House, 373:50.) 

So we can see: America’s participation in what was then known as the Great War was inevitable. If we wished to remain a great and honorable power, we had no choice but to stand up to great and dishonorable threats. 

Yet not everything about the way we fought the war was great. Most obviously, we were militarily ill-prepared. When the first units of the American Expeditionary Force reached the front in October 1917, our doughboys were ready to fight, but they lacked the new essentials of military success. 

In March 1917, American troops train for WWI on a mock battlefield with leaders on horseback. (Topical Press Agency/Getty Images)

Yes, they had plenty of food and rifles, but they were not ready in terms of advanced equipment and military doctrine. Fighting had been raging for more than three years, and yet the American generals, from commander John J. Pershing on down, had not really absorbed the lessons of, yes, the machine gun and rapid-fire artillery.  So we went into battle just as the French had in 1914—overconfident and under-prepared. American casualties, as a result, were far heavier than they had to be.  

American soldier shakes hands with a boy as American troops parade through the streets of London on August 15, 1917. (A. R. Coster/Topical Press Agency/Getty Images)

A woman cheers on a troop of American soldiers as they parade through the streets of London on August 15, 1917. (A. R. Coster/Topical Press Agency/Getty Images)

Flag-bearing troops leading the U.S. 23rd Infantry, circa 1917. (Sgt. Mike Olive/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

American infantry soldiers on the march towards the Rhine, circa 1918. (Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

U.S. forces in a first line position in Lorraine, circa 1918. (Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

And so we come to the two most important weapons to emerge from World War I: the tank and the airplane.  And thereby hangs a particularly disturbing tale of American unreadiness. 

Frustrated by the stalemate of trench warfare, the British had been experimenting with “land dreadnoughts” as early as 1915. Tanks were, in fact, a genius solution to the stalemate, and they ultimately helped make the breakthroughs that enabled the Allies to win the war. And yet here’s the thing: The Americans never produced a single tank that fought in the war. 

That is, even after the British started deploying them on the battlefield, American military planners just sat there, watching, from afar, with incomprehension. And this dithering is all the more remarkable since the U.S. was home to the Ford Motor Company, which had pioneered the assembly line. In fact, in 1916, the last peacetime year for the U.S., Henry Ford and his automotive rivals had built 1.3 million cars. So we had the productive capacity to make tanks, we just didn’t have the vision.  

To be sure, some Americans did grasp the importance of the tank, including Captain (later Major) George S. Patton. But during the war, Patton and his fellow tankers had to fight in French and British tanks.

An American soldier walks ahead of an MKIV British-made tank, circa 1918. (Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

A similarly infuriating tale can be told about American aviation in the war.  The airplane had, of course, been invented in the U.S., and the Army did use airplanes for its Signal Corps.  And yet once again, top commanders were obtuse about the need for American-made combat aircraft.  And so during the war, American fighter ace Eddie Rickenbacker flew the French-made Nieuport 28, while other Americans pilots flew another French make, the SPAD S.VII. 

America’s top World War I air-ace Eddie Rickenbacker in the cockpit of his French-built SPAD 13. Rickenbacker survived the war with 26 ‘kills’. (Sgt. Gideon J. Eikleberry/Getty Images)

So what went wrong?  How could the U.S., boasting the largest economy in the world, let itself be flummoxed on the basics of military production?  Well, that’s a good question; perhaps the biggest single reason is that the Wilson administration chose to run war production with a series of boards and administrations; the result was a bureaucratic mess. 

Of course, in the end, Uncle Sam prevailed. The Germans were exhausted, and our forces, despite their homefront handicaps, fought well.

In fact, it can even be said that there was a silver lining to U.S. underperformance in World War I. Two decades later, when World War II was brewing, American war leaders, military and civilian alike, were determined to do better.  Indeed, American war production in the Second World War was the envy of the world; most obviously, we built 108,000 tanks—a lot more than the zero of the previous war—which Patton and his fellow commanders used most effectively.

And oh yes, we built 324,000 airplanes—again, that’s a lot more than the previous zero. (In 2017, Breitbart News paid tribute to some of those homefront defense workers, the men and women who built the B-24 Liberator at Willow Run, Michigan, here, and here.)

So to what should we attribute this enormous success—in such sharp contrast to the dismal precedent of just two decades earlier?  One answer is detailed by the historian Arthur Herman in his 2012 book, Freedom’s Forge: How American Business Produced Victory in World War II.  In contrast to the Wilson administration’s emphasis on bureaucratic committees, the Roosevelt administration appointed a series of no-nonsense “czars” to oversee production.   

Of course, in contrast to World War I, nobody dares say that World War II was “futile” or “unnecessary.” By 1941, when the U.S. entered the war, it was obvious that Hitler and his ilk were so evil, and so threatening, that we had no choice other than to fight. Fortunately, once we did start fighting, we were ready.

Crowds celebrating the signing of the Armistice at the end of World War I on November 11, 1918. (Topical Press Agency/Getty Images)

So we can see: Once you’re in a war of national survival, there’s no point in thinking about whether it’s “futile” or “unnecessary.” Instead, the point is to win it, with as few casualties as possible—or, more precisely, with as few casualties on your side as possible. As George Patton—by then Lt. General Patton—said in 1943, “No dumb bastard ever won a war by going out and dying for his country. He won it by making some other dumb bastard die for his country.” 

With that sort of mindset, backed up by the best technology, America will always have the military muscle it needs. The hope is that robust American armed forces will persuade potential foes that it is a bad idea to fight the U.S.  That is, we want everyone else thinking that war with the U.S. is, indeed, “futile.” 

But of course, hope is never enough in world affairs. So we must always be prepared for war. As the ancient Roman Vegetius knew, preparation for war is the best preparation for peace. We can pray that all wars we fight are necessary wars, but we must prepare, too, so that we can win them all.  

via Breitbart News

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Illinois Woman Catches Democrat Voter Fraud in St. Clair County — Where They Have a History of Selling Votes for Crack


Illinois Woman Catches Democrat Voter Fraud in St. Clair County — Where They Have a History of Selling Votes for Crack

Jim Hoft
by Jim Hoft
November 11, 2018

St. Clair County in Illinois has a long history of confirmed cases of voter fraud.

One St. Clair official Kelvin Ellis was also sentenced for attempting to arrange the murder of a witness to the county’s rigged voting system.

In 2015 Belleville, Illinois resident Peggy Hubbard posted an epic rant on the police shooting of young black man in North St. Louis.

Peggy compared the black community’s reaction to the shooting of Mansur Ball-Bey in North St. Louis outside a crack house with the shooting death of 9 year-old Jamyla Bolden in Ferguson. Jamyla was shot dead while studying on her bed. Peggy was outraged the liberal media made more out of the crackhead’s murder than that of the little girl. Peggy was called an Uncle Tom, Aunt Jemima, the White Man’s Bed Wench, and the White Man’s Black B*tch for speaking her mind.

on Tuesday Peggy volunteered as a poll watcher in St. Clair County. Peggy later tweeted out that she caught drunks, dementia patients and voters who did not reside in the city attempting to vote on election day.

Peggy stopped it.

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via The Gateway Pundit

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