RUTHFULLY YOURS

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/17453/alfred-joyce-kilmer

National leadership is meant to reside in the White House, capable of providing America with a shared vision that allows democracy and its citizens to thrive and flourish. And yet this White House may mirror the darkness that Kilmer mourns.

Kilmer knew what he was fighting for. He insisted on leading multiple patrols that put him in harm’s way. He wore the uniform of the “Fighting 69th” because he was a patriot who embraced American exceptionalism before the world even knew that a world power founded on freedom had been born.

He was an American doughboy killed by a German sniper in the closing months of World War I, defending freedom, literally on the front lines.

Sergeant Alfred Joyce Kilmer left behind a wife and five children. He also left behind a library of poetry that still speaks to us at a time of political turmoil and deep division within a country; a nation that remains the world’s last best hope for a cause that Kilmer courageously died for.

My fellow Americans: Last night, when I spoke with you about the fall of Rome, I knew at that moment that troops of the United States and our allies were crossing the Channel in another and greater operation. It has come to pass with success thus far.

And so, in this poignant hour, I ask you to join with me in prayer:

Almighty God: Our sons, pride of our Nation, this day have set upon a mighty endeavor, a struggle to preserve our Republic, our religion, and our civilization, and to set free a suffering humanity.

Lead them straight and true; give strength to their arms, stoutness to their hearts, steadfastness in their faith.

They will need Thy blessings. Their road will be long and hard. For the enemy is strong. He may hurl back our forces. Success may not come with rushing speed, but we shall return again and again; and we know that by Thy grace, and by the righteousness of our cause, our sons will triumph.

They will be sore tried, by night and by day, without rest, until the victory is won. The darkness will be rent by noise and flame. Men’s souls will be shaken with the violences of war.

For these men are lately drawn from the ways of peace. They fight not for the lust of conquest. They fight to end conquest. They fight to liberate. They fight to let justice arise, and tolerance and good will among all Thy people. They yearn but for the end of battle, for their return to the haven of home.

Some will never return. Embrace these, Father, and receive them, Thy heroic servants, into Thy kingdom.

And for us at home — fathers, mothers, children, wives, sisters, and brothers of brave men overseas — whose thoughts and prayers are ever with them — help us, Almighty God, to rededicate ourselves in renewed faith in Thee in this hour of great sacrifice.

Many people have urged that I call the Nation into a single day of special prayer. But because the road is long and the desire is great, I ask that our people devote themselves in a continuance of prayer. As we rise to each new day, and again when each day is spent, let words of prayer be on our lips, invoking Thy help to our efforts.

Give us strength, too — strength in our daily tasks, to redouble the contributions we make in the physical and the material support of our armed forces.

And let our hearts be stout, to wait out the long travail, to bear sorrows that may come, to impart our courage unto our sons wheresoever they may be.

And, O Lord, give us Faith. Give us Faith in Thee; Faith in our sons; Faith in each other; Faith in our united crusade. Let not the keenness of our spirit ever be dulled. Let not the impacts of temporary events, of temporal matters of but fleeting moment let not these deter us in our unconquerable purpose.

With Thy blessing, we shall prevail over the unholy forces of our enemy. Help us to conquer the apostles of greed and racial arrogancies. Lead us to the saving of our country, and with our sister Nations into a world unity that will spell a sure peace, a peace invulnerable to the schemings of unworthy men. And a peace that will let all of men live in freedom, reaping the just rewards of their honest toil.

Thy will be done, Almighty God.

Amen.

https://www.nationalreview.com/2021/05/the-barbary-pirates-circa-2021/

A lesson on ransomware from the Founding Fathers.

Colonial Pipeline CEO Joseph Blount recently admitted that Colonial paid a ransom of $4.4 million to the criminal hackers who caused the company to shut down the country’s largest transporter of fuel. One news source reported that the decryption tool provided was not effective in restoring operations. Colonial managed, however, to recover by reliance on backup systems.

In the wake of the Colonial cyberattack, the Biden administration has indicated that it is looking again at the government’s “approach to ransomware actors and ransoms overall.” On the theory that the payment of ransoms encourages more attacks, the FBI has had a longstanding policy against paying ransoms.

It is the right policy and has been since the early days of the United States. The administration would do well to heed the wisdom of the Founding Fathers who found themselves in the ransomware crisis of their day — attacks by the Barbary pirates.

From the Crusades until the early 19th century, the Barbary pirates dominated nautical activity around northern Africa. They captured ships, stole cargo, and enslaved crews. Between 1530 and 1780, an estimated 1 million Europeans were enslaved in North Africa. In his best-selling book Power, Faith, and Fantasy: America in the Middle East, 1776 to the Present, acclaimed historian and former Israeli Ambassador to the United States Michael Oren wrote that from the 12th century until the early 19th century, Barbary piracy was Europe’s “nightmare.”

Piracy during the early centuries was mainly religiously motivated — Al-jihad fi’l-bahr, or holy war at sea. However, when the Moroccans gained independence from the Ottoman Empire in the late 18th century, piracy became a tool of foreign and trade policy. In many cases, pirates were given private commissions by the ruling pashas.

Rather than go to war, most of Europe mollified the Barbary states by paying “tribute” — the colonial equivalent of “ransomware.” According to Oren, this was a “cold calculation that tribute was cheaper than the cost of constantly defending the vital Mediterranean trade routes.”