HENRY KISSINGER, R.I.P.

   The former Secretary of State of the United States---probably the most influential and controversial one of the 20th Century---died yesterday. Henry Kissinger had many admirers, many inveterate enemies, and sadly today, most Ameroboobs don't even know or care who he was. His passing wasn't even in the headlines and didn't make the Top 10 Trending Searches in the newsfeed this morning, although the latest Trump Scandal, Von Miller (whoever he is), The Golden Bachelor (whatever that is), Taylor Swift, Piers Morgan, and the NFL Power Rankings all managed to. 

   When Henry Kissinger turned 100 recently, he said to the press, "The sad thing about being 100 years old is that all of your friends are dead. The good thing about it is, so are all of your enemies." That sums Kissinger's personality up fairly well, it's hard not to admire that. This was a man who rose to prominence fighting for what he thought was right and never letting his enemies distract him from that purpose.

   

    Kissinger was born in Germany to a Jewish family and emigrated to New York with his parents to escape Nazi persecution as a teenager. He started out with a career in law, but left Law School to enlist in the Army during WW2. Seeing that he spoke fluent German and knew the people, they transferred Kissinger to the OSS, which was the wartime Special Operations and Intel Unit. Kissinger participated in some of the most dangerous, behind-the-lines, cloak-and-dagger operations of the war. At the end of the war, the OSS was deactivated, and the Army took Kissinger back at the rank of Major and appointed him Military Governor of his birthplace in the American Occupation Zone. 

   The war changed, or rather awakened, Kissinger's love for adventure and gave him a sense of purpose. He didn't return to law school, but found his place fighting for Right on the front lines. Kissinger was always a warrior at heart. The Eisenhower Administration saw his usefulness and appointed him to a position in the State Department where he specialized in foreign intelligence work, often in conjunction with the CIA. This was during a period of time in our history when a White male could still be promoted on ability and Kissinger rose through the ranks finally being appointed Secretary of State by Richard Nixon in 1969. It was also a time, BTW, before presidents chose department heads on the basis of their knowledge and experience instead of their support from lobbying interests. 

  Kissinger had a difficult job those years, to put it mildly. The Vietnam War, the Cold War in general, rapprochement with China, several conflicts in the Middle East, and finally the Left/Neocon attempted coup d'etat in the Watergate Scandal were among the issues that he had to contend with. Like others in Nixon's Administration, Kissinger was hated by the Left-Wing Media jackals who were then just rising to their current position of dominance in our once-free press. Like most normal men, Kissinger---then a bachelor---dated several famous celebrity women. The Incels in the Media tried to jinn up a sex scandal against him to which Kissinger replied: "Power is the ultimate aphrodisiac." In those less politically-correct and self-righteous times, the Media hyenas slunk away in shame while Kissinger was roundly applauded. 

  Kissinger carried on into the Ford Administration and the election of Jimmy Carter in 1976 finished his political career. He was a highly sought-after consultant for the rest of his days, recently visiting China at the age of 99 in connection with negotiating some trade issues. Many have commented on what a collection of pygmies our foreign policy experts have been since his time. 

   Henry Kissinger had many critics, and he certainly wasn't a saint, but always we have to bear in mind that many of his actions have been criticized by others who don't know the bigger picture which he was privy to. He's often criticized by 'Conservatives' as a sell-out; what we're learning more and more today is that his supposedly 'soft' or 'appeasing' approach averted a Third World War on more than one occasion. The Left sneers at him for supporting authoritarian governments, not realizing that many of these regimes were the best alternative to what would have replaced them given the geopolitics of the country. At that level of governance the choice between the lesser of two evils isn't always as black-and-white as it appears on the surface.

   What can be said ultimately of Henry Kissinger is that he was a tough man in a tough neighborhood; and he voluntarily stayed in that neighborhood to do what he had to do to make certain that it didn't get tougher for everybody. He lived hard, worked hard, and fought hard and that's what most men would aspire to have as an epitaph. In our Postmodern dystopia where thuggish sports figures, effete celebrities, and spineless influencers are held up as the standard of masculinity, a few more like Kissinger would change our Culture for the better.