Recommended by Ricochet Members Created with Sketch. James Lileks: National Treasure

 

I know that just about everybody here knows who James is, probably largely from the podcasts where he stands athwart Rob Long, enticing him into breaking into his segue, but I’ve only sporadically checked out his Bleat blog, which he has been doing since Moses took two tablets of Advil down from Mt. Doom and rebuilt his lightsaber to defeat the Sith on a volcano planet somewhere, out there, in the galaxy.

Today, he’s documenting what’s happened in his town, pictures of the buildings, many of them with boards on the windows, but he’s also got these fantastic tidbits on the architecture and the background on the buildings.

Recommended by Ricochet Members Created with Sketch. The Weekly Standings: Warm Bucket of Spit Edition

 

Hank Howdy: Hello and welcome to the Weekly Standings. I’m chief analyst Hank Howdy.

Bob Spwortz: And I’m your host, Bob Spwortz. Along with Kurt Kurtsson at the tracking board, we’ll be following the most exciting Vice President competition in US history to the very end. Last week’s leader Amy Klobuchar has taken some hits after suggesting that all Minneapolis police officers should be tarred and feathered and run out of town on a rail.

“Conservatives should be leading the civil rights movement,” says Kay C. James, President of The Heritage Foundation. Conservatives have the solutions to solve much of the racial inequalities and injustices present in America today.

James joins the podcast to explain that the answers to many of the issues plaguing the African American community, such as poverty, lack of access to good healthcare, and poor education systems, are issues conservatives have the viable solutions for.

Recommended by Ricochet Members Created with Sketch. Mattis Is Dangerously Wrong

 

Mattis: “When I joined the military, some 50 years ago, I swore an oath to support and defend the Constitution. Never did I dream that troops taking that same oath would be ordered under any circumstance to violate the Constitutional rights of their fellow citizens—much less to provide a bizarre photo op for the elected commander-in-chief, with military leadership standing alongside.”

This is an idiotic and baseless claim from an educated man who ought to know better. The president will call in the military not to shut down peaceful protests but to stop the rampant looting of businesses – retail outlets, pharmacies that provide critical medications for people; as well as stop the burning down of buildings and stop the attacks on innocent people (many of whom are attempting to protect their businesses from destruction). Given the theft, arson, destruction, and violence that has occurred, these aren’t minor incidents by just a few people. If POTUS calls in the military to shut down the looting, the arson, and the attacks on innocent civilians, there is absolutely nothing “illegal” about that order. No one has a Constitutional right to steal, burn down businesses or government buildings, or to attack innocent people!

Given the idiocy or the blatant and possible deliberate misrepresentation that Mattis espouses, he deserves every bit of ridicule that can be heaped upon him. He does a disservice to the nation and a disservice to the truth. He also may be influencing other currently-serving, high-ranking officers to disobey the Commander-in-Chief’s lawful order when given, as the Dan Bongino video below suggests. If that is the case, Mattis has become someone who has disgraced himself and permanently marred his otherwise honorable career.

Recommended by Ricochet Members Created with Sketch. Chaos on Chaos

 

Retired general and former Secretary of Defense James Mattis, call sign Chaos, denounced President Trump’s riot response in a statement published in The Atlantic, upon which of course ensued reciprocal disparaging comments. Was he right? Does his statement have merit? Here are takes from the Washington Times and The Hill, two news sources not considered full-blown Leftists. Following is Mattis’ full statement (bold emphases mine), and my take:

I have watched this week’s unfolding events, angry and appalled. The words “Equal Justice Under Law” are carved in the pediment of the United States Supreme Court. This is precisely what protesters are rightly demanding. It is a wholesome and unifying demand—one that all of us should be able to get behind. We must not be distracted by a small number of lawbreakers. The protests are defined by tens of thousands of people of conscience who are insisting that we live up to our values—our values as people and our values as a nation.