Watch On The R hine. . .

(Watch On The Rhine. . .)

Or AUTUMN MIST. On December 16th. 1944, the Germans launched their last offensive of the War. It started a series of engagements that became known as the Battle of the Bulge, so named because the German attack pressed a salient, "bulge," into the Allied line. It took almost to the end of January before the Germans were pushed back to what had been the original start line.

As the dust settled, and an objective assessment was made over the Battle, the question was invariably posed as to how the original assembly and deployment of German forces occurred without Allied intelligence at SHAEF, Supreme Headquarters, Allied Expeditionary Forces. However, any failure of intelligence that might have taken place proved incidental to the crisis in Command. That chain went from Supreme Commander Eisenhower to his component, aka Army Group heads. One of those commanders was Sir Bernard Law Montgomery, who being British, believed he should be appointed to a position that would all but be Eisenhower's equal. Naturally, the American commanders, General Omar Bradly and John Devers, objected and the entire structure was in danger of collapse, until Eisenhower, as Supreme Allied Commander, put Montgomery in his place. At that point in the War, with Victory all but assured, Montgomery finished V-E Day under a cloud of resentment.

There seems to be a lot of that going around. Elon Musk just "de-platformed" several news organizations and a few of their journalists. The reason is that these individuals and organizations had covered the Tesla chairman in the past. It has been the usual suspects, all that are colloquially known as the main-stream media, and the ones who made their own contributions to the Russia collusion myths.

Among other considerations is the collapse of Senate Republicans to any opposition to the newest Democrat omnibus spending bill, additional trillions in a continuing resolution that, with GOP acquiescence from the usual suspects, McConnell, Shelby and so on, looking to restore ear marks. Such a deal invariably compromises Republicans in the House. There, the intent is to actually attempt to control spending, made all the more difficult of a lack of Senate GOP cooperation.

Is McConnell the Montgomery ?  Wanting his own role independent of the rest of the Party ? As has been discussed Senator McConnell shares responsibility for the current Senate composition. At some point, however, he will need to recognize he does have a leadership role that he needs to engage on. Senator McConnell will be standing for re-election in a few years and, if he wants to keep his job, he had better begin to look the part.