Campus Chaos

                A commentary

                By J. F. Kelly, Jr.

                Students, playing the role of useful idiots for outside agitators, cannot be allowed to take over universities. Aside from the obvious legal reasons, students, when formed into a shouting mob, lack the intelligence and judgement that effective leaders require and are not capable of running anything more complex than a keg party. For most, their brains are not yet fully developed. The signs of their stunning degree of ignorance were on full display during the campus disruptions that rocked the nation.

                For example, take those female rioters who waved Palestinian flags and shouted, “We are Hamas!” Shouldn’t they, then, have been accompanied in public by an adult male relative? I’ll bet they were even driving cars without adult male supervision and associating with members of the LGTB+ community. Hamas is a recognized terrorist organization and sworn enemy of the United States that proclaims “Death to Americans and Jews”. Its members stone gay people and treat women like property, What are these people even doing in this country? Oh, right; the southern border is open. All are welcome here. And by the way, Palestine is not a nation.

                Who is financing this epidemic of student temper tantrums? While much of it comes from outside sources, money is fungible. Much of it also comes from the parents of students who went to great lengths and expense to send their darlings to elite universities like Columbia, ground zero for the current mess, only to have their children learn to hate their country and pledge allegiance to its enemies. This is the flower of American youth and our hope for the future? God help us.

                What to do about all this? Arresting them for breaking the law doesn’t help much, except for the satisfaction some people may get in watching their well-nourished, limp bodies being hefted onto police buses like baggage only to be released a few hours later to return to the protest party and their charges expunged. Suspending them amounts to a few days off from school. They must, instead, be expelled for violating university rules and the law after repeated warnings so that they will be required to explain to potential employers on job applications why they were kicked out of school. Falsifying any data on a job application is grounds for immediate termination at most large companies. It was the “go to” method for terminating a problem employee when I was director of human resources for a Fortune 500 company.

                But that would be unfair to the parents who paid big bucks for that education, you may say. The Bible does tell us that we shouldn’t blame parents for the sins of their children (and vice-versa) but it is mute regarding protecting them from bad investments. Expelling them would give the students pause to reconsider the consequences of supporting the cause du jour they select as student activists.  

                By way of full disclosure, I may have been considered a student activist 75 years ago when, as editor and editorial writer of my small college newspaper, I advocated for higher teacher salaries. This earned the wrath of the local school board which subsequently denied me employment although I had an offer at higher pay elsewhere in the state. My parents wanted me to teach in my hometown and I would soon be departing for Navy Officer Candidate School in any event. I was finally hired (at a yearly salary of $2700) after a group of Jewish businessmen which included my employer at my part-time job, intervened and questioned why a graduate of the local teacher’s college who ranked 11^th academically among the men in his class was denied employment  when there were vacant positions. In the Navy I successfully advocated for women in ships before the idea became fashionable and for many of Adm. Bud Zumwalt’s liberal policies.

                Students, of course, have a right to demonstrate peacefully but any fool knows that many of these demonstrations have gone far beyond peaceful protest and were laden with hate speech, most of it reflecting blatant anti-Semitism which put many Jewish student in fear of their safety and denied many students access to their campus facilities for which they or their parents or the taxpayers paid. Many were denied graduation ceremonies to celebrate their accomplishments. I’m not a lawyer but it seems to me that they deserve to be compensated financially for their loss. So should foreign students.

                As for the university presidents who failed in their fundamental responsibility to provide a safe learning environment, free of outside agitators, violence, threats and hate speech, they should be terminated for incompetence and lack of faith in their leadership ability.

May 9, 2024

Prioritizing Our Proxy Wars

                A commentary

                By J. F. Kelly, Jr.

                In spite of a full plate of problems at home, America hangs in there as the nominal leader of the free world. With that title comes duties as the world’s policeman, like it or not. An increasing number of Americans seem not to like it much but they’d soon like it a lot less if the People’s Republic of China (PRC), governed by the Communist Party of China, took over those functions.

                Our leadership role also gets us involved in those expensive and seemingly endless regional wars in faraway places with strange sounding names that most Americans would have trouble finding on a map. Most, like Vietnam and Afghanistan, do not end well for us. Perhaps we should look at this as the price of leadership. We may not wish to become involved in all the world’s regional quarrels or to broker their solutions but regional quarrels may quickly morph into global wars which we can no longer be shielded from by the vast oceans that surround us. Missile and drone technology has put all of our cities in range. We no longer have the luxury of living in isolation.

                Since we have failed to arm ourselves sufficiently to defer the threat posed by our adversaries, China, Russia, Iran and North Korea, we must now more than ever rely on coalitions and proxies to provide much of the deterrence and, if deterrence fails, do much of the fighting. We can’t do everything and we have to husband our resources wisely. There follow some thoughts on this matter.

                First, the matter of Vladimir Putin’s war on Ukraine which has become a war of attrition. Ukraine cannot win a war of attrition against its much larger and more powerful neighbor under the current rules of engagement which places restrictions on the use of the aid provided by the U.S. and Europe. Ukraine will also run out of people to fight this war which means a negotiated end is inevitable. The U. S. and Europe failed to deter this war by investing in enough defense resources and we are stuck with the consequences of defending an ally albeit not a member of NATO.

                This is the most contentious of the proxy wars and one from which we have no apparent exit strategy. Ukraine’s chances of driving Russian troops from all of its territory, especially Crimea which contains is home port for Russia’s Black Sea Fleet and was once part of Russia, seem unlikely without significant increases in American and European aid for the foreseeable future. A negotiated settlement will not mean a victory for Ukraine. The good guys don’t always win. At the same time, however, the continued fighting serves U.S. interests by keeping Russia engaged in a stupid and costly war which could drag on for months or even years. But the wealthy nations of Europe need to realize that Russia, the world’s largest country, one that spans two continents, is not going away.

                Of even greater importance to the U.S. is the volatile Middle East where our ally, Israel, is locked in a war with Hamas which has morphed into a war with its sponsor, Iran. We are committed to the defense of Israel, our closest ally and the only democracy in the region. $26B of the aid package is for Israel. Hostilities between Israel and Iran have been briefly dialed down after a drone and missile exchange which enabled each side to claim a victory of sorts. Iran fired hundreds of drones and missiles indiscriminately at Israel from its territory. Almost all were destroyed by Israel and its friends. In response, Israel demonstrated with only three well-placed missiles, how easy it was to penetrate Iran’s defenses.

                Here, too, alliances are needed to counter Iran’s influence and threat to the region, building on the Abraham Accords. Iran is moving ever closer to enriching enough uranium to acquire a nuclear weapon. The U.S. and its allies have stated unequivocally that we cannot allow this to happen. Saying so is not enough. Acquiring nuclear weapons by irrational mullahs simply cannot be permitted. The time to prevent this is before they do.

                Finally, there is the matter of Taiwan. Formerly known as Formosa, and officially known as the Republic of China (ROK), Taiwan is a robust democracy of 24 million people. Contrary to assertions of the Communist Party of China, Taiwan is not an integral part of mainland China and has never been under Communist China’s rule. In fact, it was ceded to Japan in 1895 by the Qing dynasty following the Sino-Japanese War and was ruled by Japan until WWII. Known also as Nationalist China, the ROK was our staunch ally in WWII.

                In addition to threats against Taiwan’s independence, China has colonized and militarized islands, atolls and vast stretches of international waters in the South China Sea, the gateway between the Indian and Pacific Oceans, through which over half of the world’s maritime cargo transits daily, threatening freedom of navigation. Taiwan received the smallest share of the aid package but remains of prime importance in prioritizing our efforts. We are committed to the defense of Taiwan just as we are committed to the defense of Israel. We need to make this red line clear to all adversaries and to help in clarification, we must continue building alliances in this vital region and stepping up our own defense ante.

May 2, 2024

Land That I Love

  By J. F. Kelly, Jr.

                Anti-Israeli protesters across the nation reacted to the unprecedented drone and missile attack against Israel by blocking bridges and highways and shouting death to Americans and Jews. The protestors were for the most part Americans also, actually calling for the death of their fellow Americans. I’ve been fortunate enough to have lived for over 93 years during which I have seen fifteen American presidents come and go. Never during that time have I seen such hatred directed toward one’s own country and countrymen.

Such behavior would never be tolerated in many other countries. One wonders why it is tolerated here. Freedom of speech does not include the right to shout “Fire!” in a crowded theatre as Justice Oliver Wendall Holmes, Jr. once opined. This is purely and simply hate speech. How, then, should patriots who love their country react? Those of us who served in the armed forces took a solemn pledge to support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies foreign and domestic. If you hate America are you not its enemy?

Israel has been a target of hatred and violence by most of its Muslim neighbors since its inception as a Jewish state. The latest act of violence was the massive drone and missile attack of April 13. More than 300 drones and cruise and ballistic missiles were fired indiscriminately from Iran across Jordan into Israel. Most were shot down by Israel’s air defense system assisted by American and other friendly forces. No one was killed, thanks to these defenses, but those drones and missiles were designed to kill civilians. They were used in retaliation for an attack on an Iranian embassy which killed an Iranian general. The attack, attributed to Israel, was a surgical strike, designed to avoid civilian casualties. Iran’s attack, on the other hand, consisted of a swarm of drones and missiles fired indiscriminately into Israel, designed to kill civilians. The fact that they failed should not lessen Iran’s liability or make it less of a war crime.

Ever the loyal friend and ally, President Joe Biden immediately cautioned Israeli Prime Minister against retaliating, making it clear that we would take no part in it if he did. “Take the victory,” he was quoted as advising Netanyahu. Others described the engagement as a win for each side. What utter nonsense. This is not a win/win situation. A war of survival such as Israel is fighting does not end in a mutual victory when one side is dedicated to the total destruction of the other.

Superior American and Israeli technology was on display during this encounter. No one died but thousands could have, likely resulting, in a major war. Israel would not go quietly nor will it decline to retaliate. How could it? The next attack, if not deterred, may be successful. Moreover, Iran is getting closer than ever to becoming a nuclear power, thanks to the feckless behavior of successive U.S. administrations determined to negotiate with the mullahs an end to their quest for nuclear weapons.  Nuclear weapons in the hands of irrational mullahs dedicated to the destruction of Americans and Jews and placing the American homeland at risk would be a game changer.

Nations will inevitably act in their own self-interest. Tehran believes that it is in their best interest to become a nuclear power and to dominate the Middle East, a Middle East without Israel or an American presence. Ours and Israel’s is to prevent that from happening by whatever it takes. If we fail the future will be bleak for peace in the region. I have little confidence in Mr. Biden’s ability to deter our enemies or reassure our allies. His latest tough-guy threat, “Don’t”, comes across more like a plea to “quit picking on us”, words the schoolyard bully loves to hear from his victims.

Where are the leaders in this land that I love? Americans deserve better choices in November.

April 24, 2024

Biden Cannot Have It Both Ways

                A Commentary

                By J. F. Kelly, Jr.

What a difference half a year makes.  The October 7 massacre of 1,200 Jews by Hamus terrorists who crossed into Israel from Gaza, the worst massacre since the Holocaust, shocked the civilized world.  America pledged to help Israel respond to this outrage by defeating Hamus and rendering it incapable of attacking Israel again.  We pledged to support our closest ally in the Middle East however long it took, knowing that it could take months or even years and involved tracking down all those responsible wherever they hid.

Alas, we failed to take into account the short attention span and patience of Americans as memories of the unspeakable atrocities committed against women and children which included the torture and rape of women and the beheading of babies and other war crimes faded.  Perhaps they also forgot the Palestinians, 70% of them by some estimates, celebrated the massacre.  Some danced in the streets.  This time, the Israeli’s response was different.  “Never again”, they said, would they just turn the other cheek or allow another hostile state that was dedicated to the destruction of Jews and the Jewish homeland to exist adjacent to Israel.

There are those, including some of our own leaders, who now say that Israel wasted an opportunity to gain world-wide sympathy by executing more restraint.  This is nonsense.  Restraint would instead demonstrate to their few friends and numerous enemies that they accepted permanent victimhood stature and ensure that more attacks would follow.  Ask yourself if we would exercise similar restraint and accept permanent victim status if we were in their shoes?  Didn’t the bloody outrages of October 7 elicit enough sympathy?

It didn’t take long for President Joe Biden to go wobbly.  Pressure from the progressive wing of his party and the widespread antisemitism here at home and abroad was more that he could handle and caused him to cave and to put pressure for a cease fire on an ally, fighting for its very existence, to provide for the safety of Palestinian civilians. Presumably that included those who celebrated the massacre of October 7.

Senator Chuck Schumer, the Senate Majority Leader, took it upon himself to call for the resignation of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in the middle of Israel’s fight for survival.  President Biden warned Israel that its planned attack on the remaining Hamas brigades in Rafah would be crossing a red line in the absence of a credible plan to keep civilians there safe.  The Hamas strategy, of course, is to intermingle their fighters among civilians and to use civilians as human shields, which is a war crime.

The Geneva Convention permits attacks against military targets which may involve civilian casualties. It’s called collateral damage and we inflicted plenty of it in World War II by firebombing German and Japanese cities and obliterating Nagasaki and Hiroshima.  The Israelis attempt to avoid civilian casualties, Hamas does not.

Israel is a sovereign state fighting for its very existence. It’s the only democracy in the region surrounded by Muslim nations, some of whom will not accept its right to exist.  What gives us the right to dictate its war-time strategies or to call for elections?

Even more than sympathy, the Israelis need to live in peace and safety.  Now President Biden demands that the operation to eliminate the last Hamas strong-hold, by attacking Rafah be placed on hold which will allow Hamas to regenerate and undoubtedly prolong the war and the human suffering.

How can Biden and Blinken call, with straight-faces, for a 2-state solution when it has already been offered repeatedly and met with rejection by the Palestinians?  And who anointed us with the power to make that decision and to serve as a broker?  Israel is a tiny nation the size of New Jersey.  The Gaza Strip is a sliver of land the size of Chicago.  Given the choice of governing Gaza, its people selected Hamas.  The Palestinians, most of whom detest the Jews, are clearly not ready to govern anything.

Meanwhile, Gaza is in ruins with more destruction likely to follow.  Over 33.000 Palestinians and about 1,500 Israelis have died.  Their deaths and the cost of this war must not have been in vain by allowing Hamas to attack again.  The Palestinians were offered a 2-state solution several times but it was never enough.  It never will be.

April 19, 2024

Acting Far Above His Paygrade———————–

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   A Commentary

                By J. F. Kelly, Jr.

                In the military, the expression, ‘‘acting above his (or her) paygrade”, was commonly used to describe the actions of someone that was not justified by that person’s rank or job description. It seems applicably applied to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer who gave a speech calling for elections in a foreign nation and the replacement of its democratically-elected head of government. Mr. Schumer clearly acted above the powers conveyed to him by his office as a legislator representing the people of the State of New York and his duties as majority leader.

                Among the powers given to the U.S. Senate by the Constitution are the power to legislate and to advise and consent, including the ratification of treaties and trade agreements and approval of certain presidential appointments, and to try impeachment cases. It is silent with regard to calling for elections in foreign countries or to otherwise meddle in the politics of sovereign nations. An individual senator does not speak for the nation. He represents the people of New York State. In fact, prior to 1913, when the 17^th Amendment was ratified, U. S. senators were chosen by their state’s legislature.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   

                In his speech, Mr. Schumer declared that Israel’s Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu,                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            had lost his way and criticized his conduct of the war to eliminate Hamas which, while it exists in any form, will pose a threat to the safety of Israelis. Every nation must ultimately act in its own best interest and that would be the safety of its people which is Netanyahu’s chief responsibility. Calling for the replacement of the elected leader of a sovereign nation while it is engaged in a war to eliminate a threat to its very existence is nothing short of outrageous. That this nation is our closest ally in the volatile Middle East makes it especially egregious. It gives aid and comfort to an enemy not only of Israel but of the United States.

                To compound the insult, President Joe Biden endorsed Schumer’s view that Netanyahu has “lost his way and must be deposed.” With friends like us, who needs enemies? Who is running this administration? Mr. Biden is under intense pressure from the left wing of his party to back off from fully supporting Israel’s goal of destroying Hamas because of collateral civilian casualties. Hamas employs a strategy of operating and hiding among civilians, using them as human shields. This is a war crime. Civilian casualties will be unavoidable if the goal of eliminating Hamas is to be achieved. Where is the world outrage over the Hamas strategy? It, not Israel, is solely responsible for the predictable carnage.

                In less than three months since the October 7 massacre, Biden has gone wobbly and favors a two-state “solution”. Seriously? The only solution that would provide would be to resolve any questions regarding our inability to learn from our past mistakes. Palestinians are not ready for statehood and will not be until their children are no longer being socialized to despise Jews and Americans and seek their destruction. Biden cannot have it two ways. He is either fully supportive of Israel and lets them finish the job or we will cave in to the world-wide bias against the Jewish State.  

                The best way to end the carnage and famine is to end the war by winning it instead of pausing it while negotiators dither. Having accomplished about 75% of the goal of eliminating Hamas leaders, it would be a huge and historical mistake to fail to take out the remaining Hamas leaders in Rafah. To leave any of them capable of regrouping would be to lose the war and waste the sacrifices of those they lost. How quickly the critics of Israel seem to have forgotten the horrors of October 7 when pregnant women were tortured and raped in front of their husbands and children and their bodies dragged through the streets. How quickly they seem to have forgotten the beheading of babies in front of their parents. Many Palestinians celebrated these events and danced in the streets. Where was the outrage among the many decent Palestinians who did not? How can the Israelis be blamed for saying, “Never again. Never again will we just turn the other cheek.” Hamas destroyed any guarantee of a morally equivalent response. What would that even be? I haven’t read of any Israeli soldiers torturing or raping pregnant women or dragging their mutilated bodies through the streets or beheading babies.

                Schumer’s status as the senior elected official of Jewish descent gives him no license to meddle in Israeli politics. He claims that many Israelis have lost confidence in the vision and direction of their government. Many have not, however, and support Netanyahu as a wartime leader. They’ll be time enough for elections when the war is won. In any event, it wasn’t Schumer’s call.

                Mr. Biden warned that an Israeli attack on Rafah would cross a “red line”. He reportedly left open the possibility that we may withhold some military assistance if the operation caused extensive civilian casualties. He needs to be careful about drawing too many red lines. His 1% increase in our military budget before inflation was not exactly a mandate to continue talking tough even to our allies. We need all the help we can get from them.

April 1, 2024

The People’s Choices

                A commentary

                By J. F. Kelly, Jr.

                Super Tuesday has come and gone and with it any realistic path to the GOP nomination for Nikki Haley to head her party’s ticket in November. The pity is that polls consistently showed her beating the incumbent president Joe Biden by a greater margin than former president Donald Trump, the presumptive GOP candidate, would. Polls have his margin of victory barely above the margin of error. We know that polls are only snapshots in time, however, and there are eight months to go before the election. Mr. Trump has previously demonstrated that he can always figure out a way to lose. 

As expected, Trump cemented his commanding lead over the former South Carolina Governor and his former Ambassador to the United Nations who had the audacity to challenge him, thus earning his wrath. Will Trump be magnanimous in victory and reach out to her? He should because Republicans need a female on the ticket to help counter the female vote over the abortion issue. A recent Wall Street Journal poll shows Biden leading Trump among women under 30 by 32 percentage points and among women of all ages with college degrees by 22 points. A ticket headed by Nikki Haley, on the other hand, would beat Biden by about 10 points, according to the polls.

As things now stand, voters will get the same flawed choices for the most powerful elected office in the world. They might reasonably ask why the parties can’t do better than this. Surely, there are transformational leaders out there without baggage like that which these two candidates carry who would make great presidents. But ask yourself if you would put yourself and your family through what candidates and office holders are subjected to these days.

Mr. Trump likely will have the nomination wrapped up by the end of March. This was hardly even a contest. We didn’t hear either candidate debate. We hardly heard from Biden at all. Trump will continue to attend rallies surrounded by adoring fans. We will probably continue to not hear much from Biden. His access to a microphone will be carefully managed by his handlers. This is Biden’s fifth campaign for the presidency or vice-presidency. It’s Trump’s third run for the presidency. We already know most of what we need to know about both candidates. Think of the millions wasted on campaign expenses. It’s shaping up to be a long, boring summer. Thank Heaven for baseball. The people deserve better choices.

They also deserve fewer elections. Since neither Biden nor Trump, if elected in November, can run again, they will be lame ducks from day 1. The campaign to replace them in 2028 will begin very early. First term Incumbents spend too much time campaigning for re-election and not enough doing what they were elected to do. The Mexican model of a single, six-year term is far more efficient.

Both candidates, in taking credit for their victories, called for unity. Unity, however, is not Mr. Trump’s strong suit. He said previously that any of Haley’s supporters who have contributed financially to her campaign would not be welcome in the MAGA movement. He missed a golden opportunity to be gracious in victory by reaching out to her and her supporters. Biden did. Trump will need them to win. He should seriously consider her as his running mate.

Haley also missed the same opportunity to show unity by offering her support to Mr. Trump and remaining open to any key role in his administration including vice-president. Unfortunately, she said that she would not and Trump said that he wouldn’t ask her. Big mistake. Since Trump can’t run again and if Haley aspires to run in 2028 the best preparation might be four years as his vice-president with significant responsibilities including counseling Trump against the overreach he is prone to (although that role didn’t do much for Mike Pence’s presidential aspirations). In the early years of our nation, the top two vote getters in presidential elections, regardless of party, served as president and vice-president, respectively. The VP, being elected, could not be fired by the president and replaced by someone of his own party. 

When Donald Trump laments that he envies dictators he gets accused of admiring them. But envy is not the same as admiration. He says he would be a dictator only on day one. But so was Biden in terminating many of Trump’s initiatives, notably regarding border security. Trump envies their power to get things done. China, for instance, recently announced that it plans to increase military spending by 7.2% this year, matching last year’s increase. This continues two decades of continuing increases in defense spending, resulting in among other things the largest navy in the world and a huge defense infrastructure enabling it to grow even larger. This despite an economy that is stalling, a real estate market on the verge of collapse and a population that is ageing.

Whatever Xi Jinping wants, he gets. Can you imagine a U.S. president of either party asking for a 7.2% increase in defense spending? Investors in the defense industry in China, unlike ours, know that this commitment is not just good until the next administration takes over. They can actually take it to the bank and invest in expansion for the long term with confidence. Capitalism has many advantages but flexibility in defense spending is not one of them. That’s why we’ll probably never catch up with China as a maritime power unless its economy collapses like the Soviet Union’s did or Xi falls from favor. Don’t hold your breath.

March 26, 2024

From Superpower to Entitlement State—–

                A commentary

                By J. F. Kelly, Jr.

                President Joe Biden did his best to sound tough in his State of the Union address but he instead came across as a cranky, old man. His claims of accomplishments are not consistent with reality nor did he acknowledge the failures. China recently announced a 7.2% increase in defense spending, matching last year’s increase. Mr. Biden’s budget for FY 2025 countered with a 1% increase in defense spending which amounts to a net loss when inflation is taken into account. Take that, axis of evil.

                Our Navy will continue to shrink, adding only six warships but retiring ten early in addition to nine already at the end of service life. The long awaited and much needed Columbia class ballistic missile submarine (SSBN) lead ship may face a one-year delay due to “supplier issues”, putting the Navy’s most important acquisitions program at risk by potentially creating a gap in replacing the ageing Ohio class SSBNs.

                The Columbia class program enhances the sea-based leg of our nuclear “triad”. It has a tight schedule already and now may require extending the Ohio class subs in service. Chief of Naval Operations Lisa Franchetti was quoted by U.S. Naval Institute News (USNI) recently as saying that the program is still meeting its deadlines but the “the margins are eroding”.   

                Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro who recently completed a 45-day review of the Navy shipbuilding program, warned that the program was facing major headwinds according to another USNI report. The secretary toured Japanese and South Korea shipyards including Mitsubishi Heavy Industries in Yokohama and Hyundai and Hanwha Oceans shipyards in South Korea and called for more investments by foreign shipbuilders in U.S. shipyards. The question is, why should they do that when Biden’s budget limits the new ship buy to 6? Why should U.S. shipyards invest in expanding while Washington continues to shrink both the military and the merchant fleets?

                China already dominates the global shipbuilding industry having merged its two largest shipbuilders to create a state-owned industrial and military giant that dwarfs all rivals. China has thus surpassed our allies, Japan and South Korea as global leaders in shipbuilding enabling it to expand its military and merchant fleets at will. No shortage of investors there, not that they need then, being state-owned and subsidized.

                Secretary Del Toro said that U.S shipyards could learn from the Asian shipyards on how to retain their workers. He was quoted as citing examples such as building hospitals, schools, child care centers and bowling alleys which the Asians yards provided for the workers. I have a hunch that U.S. shipyard workers would probably settle for enough ship orders to ensure some job security. Del Toro said that our Navy suppliers here have not invested enough in defense infrastructure (as I’ve said for years), putting resources instead into stock buy-backs and executive compensation.

                Defense equipment and platforms of war are very expensive. Investors and firms seeking to expand abhor uncertainty. Before they expand capacity they need some assurance that the demand for their products will still exist by the time they are built. If Mr. Biden or his successor is going to continue to shrink the military and merchant fleet, why should they expand?

                Asian shipyards have much less uncertainty to live with. They are in the shipbuilding business to stay and will still be after the next election. Instead of criticizing what’s left of our defense industry, perhaps he should make it clear to his commander-in-chief, the president, that the Navy is too small by far to do the job it is expected to do if circumstances demand it or to deter an enemy from starting a war.

                This year, interest on the national debt will exceed Biden’s military budget. We’ve finally reached the point where we are placing a higher priority on entitlements and benefits than on defense. Perhaps we should apply for membership in the European Union. The president’s budget signals to the world that the era of U.S. world leadership is coming to an end. It was a great ride.  

March 21, 2024

Cracking Down on Scamming

                A commentaryac

                By J. F. Kelly, Jr.

                The sobbing, panicked, young female voice on the landline telephone can sound like just about anyone’s daughter once an anxious, protective parent’s imagination kicks in. The parent is led to believe that she’s been in a serious auto accident and is being held at a police station pending posting of bail. She is terrified and confused and doesn’t want to spend the night in jail. She is also ashamed and begs you to tell no one about this. A public defender, she says will come to the phone shortly with instructions for posting bail. All you want to do at this point is recue your little girl and bring her home.

                A quick call to your child, however, might reveal that she has not been involved in an accident and is perfectly safe. Another call to your attorney, if you’re fortunate enough to have one, might tell you that there is no such attorney as the one whose name you were given and that a public defender wouldn’t be calling you and requesting financial information and money in this manner. When the supposed public defender overhears that you are speaking to a real attorney, the scammers just hang up.

                There are many variations of this scam and many victims who fall for it. The victims are mostly elderly but they come in all ages and some have lost much or all of their savings and their sense of security. The usual mode of communications apparently is the landline telephone and many customers scan all calls before answering or have simply closed their landline accounts.

                If you suspect a call is a scam, my advice is don’t engage in any conversation. Your attempt to be courteous and polite or to scold the scammer is purely counterproductive. The more you talk the more likely you are to provide information of use to the scammer. Also, your voice or the voices of other household members may be recorded and the scammer may learn how to imitate those voices and expressions. Some scammers are so skillful at doing this that some victims refuse to believe they’ve been scammed for hours in spite of an abundance of clues.

                There are companies that offer protection from identity theft for a fee. Some offer different levels of protection and some offer to provide up to a certain level of legal assistance in repairing the damage done. They appear to have something in common in that they report suspicious activity often after the damage is already done which, of course, is perfectly legal.

                A service widely advertised on television may offer to protect your ownership in real estate including your home. It monitors your title and reports any activity to change the title or place a lien against it so you can be alerted to take proper action to resolve the matter. Again, you must resolve the matter yourself. The advertisement may say that the City Clerk or similar official is required to accept a document properly signed and notarized to transfer ownership in a property even though that official may know it to be fraudulent. If this is the case, then perhaps Charles Dickens was right; the law is indeed an ass. A local area county or city clerk or tax collector, moreover, may perform this function free for property owners who sign up for the service on their web site.

                Life is difficult enough these days without having to deal with scammers on a what seems to be a daily basis. It seems to me that the government could do a lot more to prevent it. Perhaps it should not be so easy to transfer a valuable property like one’s home by simply presenting a one-page document that a city clerk or other official suspects, or indeed knows, is fraudulent.

                Scammers, particularly the ones that prey on the elderly and the poor, deserve to receive a punishment that will deter others. The Fraud and Scam Reduction Act (04/15/2021) expands activities to address mail, telephone and internet fraud, particularly such scams targeting older adults. It establishes a Senior Scam Prevention Advisory Group which must create model educational materials to educate employees of retail, financial service companies and wire transfer companies on how to how to identify and prevent scams that affect older adults. Monitoring and education, however, are not enough. An example needs to be made of scammers by penalties that actually deter scammers.

                By way of full disclosure, I am not an attorney nor am I offering legal advice or expertise on fraud protection.

March 9, 2024

When Cultures Clash

                A commentary

                By J. F. Kelly, Jr.

                In the recent literature on organizational theory and transformational change, considerable attention has been given to the roles that cultures play. Nations are characterized by unique cultures and so are religions, ethnic groups, large business organizations and other entities. There is general agreement among researchers that a strong and durable culture is an essential part of a successful, well-run organization. In earning a doctor of education degree at the University of San Diego, I became interested in the role that culture plays and how transformational leaders changed the culture of mature business organizations to effect change.

                After completing the required three years of coursework, I spent two years researching and writing my doctoral dissertation and published “The Transformation of a Corporate Culture in a Mature Organization” (1989) University of San Diego, 297 pp, which studied the process in the savings and loan industry as S&Ls converted to full-service banks and transformational leaders manipulated the cultures to expedite the changes. Changing a deeply-entrenched culture is difficult and not always successful as the number of failures during the S&L crisis demonstrates.

                There are many definitions of culture and the topic is still relatively new. The definition I settled on was that set of values, habits, characteristics, rules, traditions, stories, legends, heroes, metaphors and myths shared by a significant number of members that shapes their organizational, and sometimes their private, behavior. Transformational leaders, as compared to managers, will usually manipulate the culture to implement the desired change.

                Complex organizations like nations, armed forces and large corporations have sub-cultures as well which often compete for resources and attention. Some large universities with multiple schools or colleges provide an example of loosely-coupled organizations with semi-independent departments, each with a distinct culture. In the S&L industry, the principal sub-cultures were those of the branch system which gathered deposits (liabilities) and the lending offices which made the loans (assets). The successful change agent will need to be familiar with all the cultures involved. I was facilitated in this effort by having served as a career naval officer for over 30 years and as a bank executive for eleven years so I had the appropriate access for research.

                The culture of the United States is changing. Its origins date back to the founders but the founders would be aghast at the recent changes. Steve Stalinsky, executive director of the Middle East Media Research Institute, writing in a Wall Street Journal op-ed recently, described Dearborn, Michigan, as “America’s jihad capital” where thousands marched in support of Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran shouting, “Intifada,” “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free!” and “America is a terrorist state!”

                According to Mr. Stalinsky, almost immediately after Oct. 7 people in Dearborn were celebrating the massacre of Jews by Hamas. Local Imams and politicians sided with Hamas against Israel and the United States. A local headline describing an event at the Ford Performing Art Center read “Michigan rally cheers Hamas attack.” An Imam at Dearborn’s Islamic Center of Detroit prayed that Allah would eradicate the “sick, disgusting Zionist regime.” According to the Washington Free Beacon, Stalinsky says, the Imam’s organization received funding from the Homeland Security’s nonprofit grant program. Another local sheikh implores Allah to “purify the land from the aggression of the apes, swine and hypocrites” and to normalize the use of the term “jihad”.

                Mr. Stalinsky reports that support for terrorism in Southern Michigan has been a concern for U.S.  counterterrorism officials. A 2001 Michigan State Police Assessment after 7/11 called Dearborn “a major financial support center and recruiting area and potential support base for international terror groups.”

                How can this be happening in the United States of America? This is not free speech. It’s hate speech, directed against our Jewish brothers and sisters. It is dangerous and inflammatory. Why is it tolerated?  Please don’t feel it necessary to remind me that there are many loyal, patriotic Americans of Palestinian descent. We could sure use their voices to condemn this antisemitism.

                Since President Joe Biden took office over three years ago we have lost more than just control of our southern border. We are in the process of losing our unique culture, for which many fought and died, partly because we have admitted millions of unvetted immigrants to cross illegally into our country. They come from all over the world and they include criminals and foreign agents intent on doing us harm. They are in many cases, bringing their cultures with them and despise ours. Not all cultures are created equal. Mr. Biden has either willfully or stupidly allowed this to happen. The harm is irreparable. 

March 2, 2024

America As a Declining Maritime Power

A commentary

                By J. F. Kelly, Jr.

                It’s time to acknowledge what is becoming increasingly obvious to our adversaries. We no longer have a navy fully capable of safeguarding all our vital world-wide interests. Most of the world’s trade moves by sea and ours in particular is dependent upon freedom of navigation. China, unfortunately, is intent on colonizing and militarizing most of the vast South China Sea connecting the Western Pacific and Indian Oceans through which over half of world trade transits daily.

We simply don’t have a large enough naval fleet to protect these vital interests and we still lack the defense industrial base to build what we need in time to make a difference. Moreover, there appears to be little sense of urgency regarding this need on the part of the public and the risks it poses, pre-occupied as we are with election politics and domestic issues, in spite of repeated warnings by defense experts. Indeed, the nation seems to be lapsing back into the isolationism of its past. This would create a vacuum in world leadership that China and the Chinese Communist Party would be delighted to fill. We would not prosper in such a world. Also, the oceans no longer insulate us against threats such as cyber warfare. It’s important that the American people are made to understand this. When you fall to second place among the world powers, life is never the same again. Ask the British.

America won the war in the Pacific as a naval power; the greatest the world had ever seen. Although we were slow to get involved until our hand was forced by the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, we ended with a naval force of more ships and aircraft than we could use and we won the Cold War that followed by convincing the Soviet leaders that they could never match our ability to mobilize rapidly for any contingency.

Those days are over and if we are unable to deter wars in the near future, we are going to have to fight them with the forces we have, not those we wish we had built. We don’t know what the future will bring and can’t say for certainty whether or not our military forces are properly sized and prepared for all types of warfare. We appear to be relying on our ability to deter war but the deterrence must be credible and ours may no longer be. Future wars will likely be fought differently from past wars but it’s been a long time since we actually won a real war. If it is with China, however, it will be a naval war and the stronger maritime power will have the advantage.

The United States ranks as a maritime power only by virtue of its powerful but undersized navy. China’s navy is growing rapidly from its current 370 ships to a projected 435 by the end of the decade. Ours will shrink below 300 and we will lack the defense industrial capacity to build what we need to meet even current commitments and keep up with maintenance. In a conflict with China, for example, we would need about twice as many nuclear-powered attack submarines as we currently have but lack the capacity to build more than one and a half per year. Eleven nuclear-powered aircraft carriers are insufficient to provide for a reasonable tempo of operations and time for maintenance. It’s taking two carrier strike groups just to cover the Israel-HAMAS war. Imagine what an expanded war on multiple fronts would require. Navies are not sized to match an opponent’s but rather to cover commitments and ours is overcommitted.

But sea power requires more than warships. A large and modern merchant fleet will be required to keep our homeland and deployed military forces supported. China is the very definition of a maritime power. It is the world’s largest shipbuilder by far, followed by Japan, South Korea and Taiwan. The United States isn’t even a player. Most of our trade is carried in foreign-flagged and foreign-owned ships the availability of which, once the shooting begins, is far from assured. We lack a significant merchant fleet of our own. We have exported so many functions and products that characterize a maritime power that it is ludicrous to assume that good, old American ingenuity and can-do spirit will figure out a way to mobilize for the next conflict if deterrence fails. And it is obviously failing as Iran proxies use our warships in the Red Sea for target practice.

Asian shipyards are profitable with steady customers and funding. We are among the customers. So are our allies. Meanwhile, our shipyards and other repair facilities struggle just to keep up with maintenance and can’t count on long range funding or planning as administrations come and go. In the event of a conflict, there would be no need for China to mobilize. They already have.

The truly alarming part of all this is that Americans no longer seem overly concerned. They seem bored with foreign affairs and endless wars. They are pre-occupied with domestic issues concerning which they are deeply divided. They assume that our military will always figure out a way to prevail, no matter what the odds. The British felt the same about the Royal Navy and the durability of the British Empire. They have already made the classic choice of economists between guns (defense) and butter (benefits). Butter won big.

Brush up on your Mandarin.

February 22, 2024