HOW BADLY HAVE WE SQUANDERED THE VICTORY DIVIDEND?

One reason the Germans discounted the possibility of OVERLORD landing on the Normandie beaches, that is, besides Der Führer having several intuitions that it would be there, was that there was no port of substance nearby.  Once the beaches were safe for the follow-on forces to arrive, floating caissons and derelict freighters were towed through the Channel chop to establish two MULBERRY harbors.  The Germans apparently never expected that.  Two weeks later, another Channel storm destroyed the installation at OMAHA.  The other harbor, at Arromanches, was broken up but put back into operation, and remnants of it, proving too costly to salvage or otherwise remove, remain today.

Perhaps it is fortunate that most of the soldiers and sailors who made these ports possible have passed on, in order to be spared the sight of today's idea of a portable port being poorly placed.  "Busted Gaza Pier Has All the Markings of a Joe Biden Op."

The Gaza Pier — you know, the one where the U.S. and allied countries unloaded food, so it could be stolen off trucks before reaching its intended destination — is no longer operational, and it will be out of operation for “at least over a week.” It turns out that the pier system was not intended to be used in waters with waves higher than three feet, and three-foot waves occur in that part of the Mediterranean Sea frequently. We know that Pentagon officials can read a weather and surf report. Now the question is, did someone in the administration tell them to go ahead with the operation, knowing the risks?

That's politics as usual though, take some action so as to claim you are taking some action, then, when it goes wrong, invoke your good intentions. "If the Gaza pier proposal appears half-baked, hastily assembled, and more driven by political fears than a clear-eyed assessment of the situation on the ground . . . it’s probably because that’s exactly what it is."  Thus does a saecular order lose its legitimacy, and thus does a justice-involved individual look more attractive as president precisely because he was convicted of something.  About the only thing we can do is look on with dismay, and mock The Best and The Brightest.

At the country's Populist Newspaper of Record, it's simply another handout to buy off a favored constituency.  "At publishing time, Hamas had been seen training scuba divers to retrieve large pallets of cash from coastal waters."

Our Credentialed Elite demonstrate their skill at destroying monuments on the expediency of the moment, and leaving only wreckage.