-
It's that time of year again - our ISP is asking for money. If you have some spare change, please click the Donate link... Thanks!
- About Us
- Search
- Need Help?
- Donate
- Login/Register
Latest Entries
Actions Menu
Blog Roll
- 4F Facebook Page
- Turn Up The Night with Kenny Pick
- Stephanie Miller Show
- The Tim Corrimal Show
- The Rachel Maddow Show
- Angry Americans with Paul Rieckhoff
- Thom Hartmann Program
- Turnips! Fans of Turn Up the Night Facebook Page
- Snopes.com
- Factcheck.org
- Official White House Page, if you must.
- The Brad Blog / Green News Report
- The Poorly Written Political Blog (Joe Santorsa)
Ask a Vet
Author: TriSec
Date: 03/08/2022 00:50:18
Good Morning.
Well, we've got two wildly different things to ponder this morning.
In any war, there are many fronts. Sometimes they're easy to define, other times not. Given the modern society in which we live, the newest front in the current war is in cyberspace.
While propaganda is not new, the ways the government's messages reach their intended audience is always changing. As it turns out - Ukraine is pretty good in that regard.
Those "hearts and minds" are often the most important thing in any conflict. Just looking at our own history...recently, it was easy to be super-patriotic and united on September 12, 2001 - but by the time the conflicts ended some two decades later, we had long since lost on the media front. All we were was tired, and long past the point of any common sense.
Long before that, the Vietnam war was more likely lost on the college campuses and city squares of America rather than on any battlefield.
But I had two things today. Are you familiar with a letter of Marque and Reprisal? Well of course we are!! It's the Four Freedoms crew here, after all. But did you know that such a thing is actually in the United States Constitution and has never been repealed?
From Article I, section 8:
So curiously enough, an actual United States Representative (R-TX) has called for the President of the United States to issue letters of Marque so that Russian assets can be legally seized on the High Seas.
These are very strange days indeed. President Putin has openly stated that a "No-Fly" zone over Ukraine enforced by the West would result in a State of War. I wonder what one of his Oligarch friends might think seeing a Privateer bearing down on them under the flag of the United States?
Well, we've got two wildly different things to ponder this morning.
In any war, there are many fronts. Sometimes they're easy to define, other times not. Given the modern society in which we live, the newest front in the current war is in cyberspace.
While propaganda is not new, the ways the government's messages reach their intended audience is always changing. As it turns out - Ukraine is pretty good in that regard.
The laundry list accomplishments of the “Ghost of Kyiv,” Europe’s first Ace pilot since World War II, continues to grow as the Russian invasion in Ukraine, which began Feb. 23, rages throughout its cities.
Latest kill count reports suggest the Ghost has downed six Russian aircraft. But is he real? Nobody knows, though it‘s unlikely. For now, the phantom flying legend is proving to be, more or less, a great piece of Ukrainian propaganda.
Though its troops face what some would call an insurmountable challenge from the Russian military, Ukrainian media, with the help of organic reach, is currently winning the hearts of minds of people in the Western world with tales of old ladies standing up to Russian troops, 80-year-old grandfathers volunteering to fight, Army cats that catch snipers, and one brave soul who punched a convoy of Russian trucks in the face.
The veracity of these stories have proven impossible to independently verify as firefights rage across the country. But the enigmatic nature of these stories, as New America strategist and the author of ‘Likewar: The Weaponization of Social Media’ Peter Singer notes, may actually be helping the cause.
“It is more about the story of a hero fighting back against the odds than his name or even the truth of the story,” Singer told Military Times.
Those "hearts and minds" are often the most important thing in any conflict. Just looking at our own history...recently, it was easy to be super-patriotic and united on September 12, 2001 - but by the time the conflicts ended some two decades later, we had long since lost on the media front. All we were was tired, and long past the point of any common sense.
Long before that, the Vietnam war was more likely lost on the college campuses and city squares of America rather than on any battlefield.
But I had two things today. Are you familiar with a letter of Marque and Reprisal? Well of course we are!! It's the Four Freedoms crew here, after all. But did you know that such a thing is actually in the United States Constitution and has never been repealed?
From Article I, section 8:
The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States;
To define and punish Piracies and Felonies committed on the high Seas, and Offences against the Law of Nations;
To declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water;
So curiously enough, an actual United States Representative (R-TX) has called for the President of the United States to issue letters of Marque so that Russian assets can be legally seized on the High Seas.
On Monday, Rep. Lance Gooden, R-Texas, introduced to Congress a bill which, if passed, would authorize the president of the United States to issue letters of marque and reprisal to seize Russian property.
The eccentric proposal comes amid international furor over Russia’s invasion of neighboring Ukraine, which began Feb. 23.
“Corrupt Russian oligarchs have enabled Putin’s war,” the lawmaker tweeted. “That’s why I have introduced legislation to allow U.S. citizens to SEIZE yachts and jets of sanctioned Russians.”
Formerly, letters of marque and reprisal allowed privately owned and operated seafaring vessels to carry out acts of war, which became known as privateering — not quite piracy, but pretty darn close.
“Russian yachts are already on the move and if the Biden Administration and our allies in Europe fail to act quickly these vessels will soon be out of our reach,” Gooden said in a statement to The Hill.
The bill, which would allow Americans to seize property on behalf of the U.S. government, would be a return to a common practice during the War of 1812, but it has not been used since.
These are very strange days indeed. President Putin has openly stated that a "No-Fly" zone over Ukraine enforced by the West would result in a State of War. I wonder what one of his Oligarch friends might think seeing a Privateer bearing down on them under the flag of the United States?
