Sometimes it's better not to allow one's inner skeptic to run wild.

 I have long been a fan of the song "The Highwayman" by Loreena McKennitt, which is based on the poem of the same name by Alfred Noyes. But, my inner skeptic just *had* to examine the poem. The problem : If the redcoats tied Bess "at attention" and jammed a musket under her breast, assuming a standard long pattern "Brown Bess" musket common in the 18th century, the trigger would have been only about 16 inches off the ground. Were Bess the typical height for someone of those days -- about 5ft 2" for women, if I remember right -- I don't think Bess could have reached the trigger with her hand. Drat. another myth busted. 

Poem: The Highwayman, by Alfred Noyes 

Song : The Highwayman, Loreena McKennitt. 

Could it really be the twilight's last gleaming ?

In the near future, Donald J. Trump (whom I gave the mafia nickname "Donnie the Cheeto" )

May very well be facing impeachment and removal from office, in the first such case since the Republicans attempted to do so with Bill Clinton over alleged perjury.
I remember the sense of disillusionment many people had after Richard Nixon resigned hours ahead of being impeached and removed from office. Many of those who supported Trump fit the same demographic as those who supported Nixon. But how are they going to react to Trump's being impeached and removed from office ? (will Trump save face by resigning first, or has he no shame?) Many Nixon supporters were shocked and dismayed to find that their man had lied in furtherance of a criminal conspiracy. Will the current generation feel similar, or will they simply deny the truth and demand that Trump be allowed to continue in office regardless of criminal offenses ? Will Trump actually have the blatant effrontery to pardon himself and demand to be allowed to remain in office ? What does the reality-based community do if he does ? Will Trump actually foment a constitutional crisis ? Will he have to be forcibly ousted ? Will we actually have descended into the gutter of the banana republic ? Will the United States become the failed state Steve Bannon wants ? This could be the most trying test of The United States since the Civil War. 
Yet, I remain hopeful. I suppose I have become a "glass is half full" guy. But look -- Trump must go. and anyone else who was in on the con must also go. We also need to revamp our elections systems so that no future tampering attempts can breach their security. 

Remember, you may be pledging allegiance to the flag, but more importantly you're pledging to the Republic for which it stands, and to the ideals which this republic was founded on. If we forget or dismiss these ideals, then the flag means nothing. After all, without the principles and ideals the founding fathers believed in, the flag is just an empty symbol. If we allow ourselves to forget those ideals, then all the men and women who fought and died for them will have done so in vain. They didn't fight and die for "let's steal the Iraqi oil" or "let's make the Muslims lick our boots", they stood up when someone had to stand up, and they fought for the things Washington, Jefferson, Franklin, Adams and others conceived, the things in the preamble to the Constitution of the United States, which I had to memorize as a schoolboy. "We the people, in order to form a more perfect union, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America. "

Dog Whistle Part II, Liars Boogaloo

Dog Whistle Part II, Liars Boogaloo : 

The current occupant of the White House, the fellow I call Donnie the Cheeto (it's his mob name.),
has no sense of shame whatever. He does not care if he is caught in a lie. He defends himself from such charges by hurling grade-school insults at his accusers and repeating the lie once more, perhaps embellished somewhat. Well, this time Donnie the Cheeto has told a lie, lied about it again, and used behind-the-scenes pressure to make it work. The lie this time was another dog whistle. This time, he lies that certain NFL football players are "unpatriotic" "against our troops" and "disrespecting the flag" by kneeling during the national anthem. But let's look at who he's casting aspersions at : They are mostly of the non-white variety of human being. This is why Trump is disparaging football players. 70% of them are African-American and a further 5% are of various other non-white skin tones.  Donnie the Cheeto himself is no friend of the National Football League, both because of his failed USFL and because of his failed attempt to buy the Buffalo Bills in 2014. Mr Trump has also, it's been said, been burning up the phone lines trying to pressure, cajole or otherwise convince NFL officials and team owners to back up his demand that players stand at attention during the playing of the National Anthem. To date, Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones has bowed to Trump's pressure and ordered that his players will stand for the anthem or be benched.
Perhaps NFL players should emulate Tommie Smith and John Carlos of the 1968 Olympics, who stood for the National Anthem, giving the clenched fist salute.
(image courtesy of Wikipedia)

These, in the day when heaven was falling . . .

        In 1917 A.E. Housman wrote the short poem "An epitaph on an army of mercenaries."(you can read the poem here)
He was using the word mercenaries ironically, describing the professional soldiers of the British Expeditionary Force, who were all but slaughtered by overwhelming numbers of German forces. Their existence as a unit was ended after the battle of Ypres in 1914, but they did manage to halt the German offensive. The world has used mercenary soldiers since the time of the Spartans, who, having little in the way of resources, traded in soldiers instead.

The Dog Whistle and the Scum who Hear it.

They aren't actually dogs. calling them that is an insult to decent canines the world over, but it's politically known as the "Dog Whistle" because it's a special whistle tuned to above human hearing that dogs can hear and we can't. 

The other guy's arrow.

Word has reached me today that North Korea, otherwise known (ironically) as the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, has acquired the technology necessary to construct a nuclear warhead small enough to be fitted to a long range ballistic missile. Whether this is true or not has not yet been credibly determined. President Trump, in a textbook-Trumpian show of petulance and temper, said to reporters from his vacation in New Jersey that any further threats from North Korea would result in "Fire and Fury such as the world has never known."  The DPRK just threatened to attack Guam, an American territory. Now it's on Trump. Do you take military steps, Mr Trump ? Do you?  What else is left, a blistering Tweet-Storm ? A massive Facebook Attack ? Going to get your bot-net to all applaud your insults thrown at a man who answers insults with bullets ? A leader who purged his command staff by having them shot ? Who murdered his own brother ? North Korea has an estimated 20 or so nuclear warheads. It is unknown what delivery systems they may have, but they have the warheads, and where there's a will there's a way. Well, Donnie, you have effectively painted yourself into a corner. If you back down, or even can be seen as backing down, Kim will label you a coward and continue to make provocations and demonstrations, most likely escalating them, until someone hits the wrong button or issues a vague order that is misinterpreted, and the next thing you know, Mr President, you will be a wartime president watching in helpless horror as hundreds of thousands of Koreans are slaughtered by the North's artillery, and our 28000 man force gets broken on the wheel of a million or so North Korean conscripts. How many fighters do we have to brush aside the NK air force ? How many NK SAMs are we willing to eat ? How many nukes will Kim set off, just to spite us ? The end-game here is not pretty.

The long, hot summer.

I remember it. the interval between June 17 1972 and August 9 1974 -- in between the time of the Watergate break-in and Nixon's resignation from office. The whole thing started over a relatively minor break-in at the Watergate, and spun out into conspiracies to silence people, fired Justice Department officials, congressional committees, and finally, the President who originated the phrase "It's not illegal if the President does it" resigned from office hours ahead of being impeached.
Now, 45 years later, we have another President who is working under a cloud of suspicion and derision. Suspicion because he and his campaign staff have, by all appearances, colluded with a hostile foreign power in using illegal means to gain information with which to alter the outcome of the election, and possibly even with Russian attempts to hack election boards nationwide. Further, The President has openly denied even the possibility of hacking or election tampering. Further, the President has fired the Director of the FBI in order to stonewall or stall the investigation that might show his people up as corrupt criminals. There are other, less notable things, but it is slowly becoming clear that there is a serious issue at hand here, one that might very well end the Trump presidency in an impeachment and removal from office.

The Great Crusade.

73 years ago today, American, British, Canadian and Free French forces waded ashore in Normandy, beginning what overall Commander General Dwight David Eisenhower called "The Great Crusade". 

The operation had been called off before. Weather was closing in, and summer storms were coming. Eisenhower had to make a dangerous decision. I have little doubt he didn't sleep the night before making the decision. Finally, he stepped into his briefing room and told the assembled officers: "We Go. "
The men got back on the ships they'd been on before and waited. Most were seasick. Many violently so. Yet, when the time came, they got down into those Higgins boats and set off for shore. Many of them would later say they went not because of the Great Crusade against the Nazis, or because they were ordered to, but because their buddies were going. But make no mistake, whatever reason made them go, every last damn one of them were brave men. As someone else once said -- the brave man is the fellow who is scared, knows it, yet bites back his fear and goes anyway. He is brave for maybe a few more minutes than the other guy. On one beach in particular, American soldiers got down into the boats and went. They went into the most vicious, concentrated barrage of rifle, machine-gun, artillery, and mortar fire ever. The Germans knew all about Higgins boats. They knew that you waited until the ramp dropped and then fired a burst of MG-42 fire into the opening. They knew that most of the men so treated did not live to reach the shore. The men in the boats knew all that too. And knowing it, they went anyway.
So, today, June 6th 2017, I write my little memorial to those brave men. All of the ones who waded ashore that grim morning deserve our thanks.

Memorial Day.

Memorial Day:

He's gone where the woodbine twineth. He's been called to higher service. He's paid the ultimate price. Given the ultimate sacrifice. Stopped a packet. Bought one. Bought a Farm. Mustered to Fiddler's Green. Sleeping with the angels. "Another Marine reporting in. They say they let 'em in, for they've already served their time in Hell. "
Euphamisms for killed in action. Died because there was a war on, and men (and increasingly women) must die in battle. This day used to be a day for somber reflection and for visiting the graves of your fallen family and friends, and for cleaning them up and polishing the brass. Now, it's mostly just Barbeques, Beer and Auto Racing. There's nothing wrong with those things, so long as we all remember those whose gruesome, horrible death made it possible. So tip one back for the boys of the Argonne, Tarawa, Mosul, Swat valley and other less familiar places. Take a moment to remember the guys who're On Eternal Patrol. Don't just remember why they went, and why they died, but How they died. Because it is only by remembering the horrors of war that we impell ourselves to limit the times we make war. Yes, war is sometimes necessary. But by the blood of those who won't ever be coming back, please only make war when you have to.

Okay. enough preaching. Go back to your sports and beer. You earned it.

The Passing of a Strategic Thinker.

I did not personally know Zbigniew Brzezinski, but I witnessed his work. 

 

 Brzezinski's name will always be tied in my mind with Henry Kissinger, who remains a public figure. In the early and mid seventies, those two names were on everyone's lips, like Damon and Pythias. I did not and do not agree with Kissinger's "Realpolitik" idea of dealing with whoever we needed to deal with in order to achieve some supposedly desirable end. However, this is not about my disagreements with Kissinger.This is about the man who was President Carter's national security advisor, and who along the way managed to have an illustrious academic career. Personally, I disagreed with many of Brzezinski's ideas, but he was a man of intellect and learning, who had grown up as a young boy seeing the rise of the Nazis. Brzezinski was a man of reason in a time where men of reason were rare. I offer my condolences to his family and friends.

Trump's warmongering.

No rational man likes war. But Trump isn't rational. 

Yesterday, April 7 2017, President Donald J Trump went around congress and ordered an act of war against the de Jure government of Syria. Trump ordered some 59 cruise missiles to be fired at an airbase in Syria, the airbase from which the deadly gas attack was allegedly launched.
The damage and casualties are not yet known, and the reaction from the factions in the region is anybody's guess now. However, the effects on the Syrian military are minimal. They will be deprived of a number of aircraft for a while, but Syria has oil revenue and can easily replace the aircraft. Have no doubt, Putin will be only too glad to sell Assad any number of fighters, perhaps with some concessions from Assad into the bargain, but the aircraft will be replaced. The only thing this deal will have done is make some Russians richer and give Putin more leverage with Assad and his military Cadre. Assad will have learned little, and will in time continue to destroy his own people, because that's all he knows.

I don't get it . . .

I don't understand this: Canada, our friends to the north. Britain, our cousins across the pond, Germany, our once-enemy now ally, Norway, the first nation to officially recognize the United States as a Nation. All these nations have adopted The Evil Socialism that is single-payer health care, but we have not declared war on them or declared them part of the AXIS OF EVIL. So, if this chunk of Socialism is So EVIL, then why haven't we ? Why haven't we used our economic leverage to get these countries to drop these unsound, unsane, Un-American practices ? Why are there no economic sanctions on Britain ? Where's the campaign to Divest from Canadian companies ?
Anybody ?

Bueller ?
 

Where next, Baby-Boomers ?

Feeling Nostalgic for the "good old days" of the 50s and early 60s? Yeah, that's probably because our higher taxes and stronger union protections made it possible for you to get a good paying job right out of high school and be able to support a family on it. But then you tossed all that in the garbage by voting for a string of men who cut taxes on the richest Americans and then told you it was your fault you weren't making enough money.

A bit of good news.

This just crossed my desk: From CNN, Yale University has decided to rename Calhoun College; which was named in 1933 to commemorate pro-slavery advocate, 7th US President and all around wanker John C. Calhoun. The University took the to me wonderful step of renaming the place after RADM (RTD) Grace Murray Hopper, one of America's first ever computer scientists.
If you are unaware of Admiral Hopper's career, see her biography here Here .
As one of my core interests has always been Computer science and engineering, I always admired Admiral Hopper. I even got the chance to meet her when I was in college. She even gave me a nano-second. (a piece of braided twisted pair wire about 10in long. ) A long delayed accolade for a brilliant mind and forerunner of Today's women. I tip my hat to Yale for taking this action.

(Rear Admiral Grace Hopper, before her retirement.)

A Blast from my Facebook Past.

I wrote this some years ago for my Facebook timeline, and I'm posting it here now because I thought it was worth keeping.

"When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things." (1 Corinthians 13:11)
As a man of adult years,adult learning and adult thought, I have come to appreciate science,to learn each new thing with the wonderment of a child, and the sober contemplation and skepticism of an adult. "keep an open mind and a hard nose" I say, and never stop learning!

Once more, we fly the missing man formation

Word has reached me that Apollo astronaut and last American to stand on the lunar surface, Eugene "Gene" Cernan, has died. The former test pilot flew in both the Gemini and Apollo programs Astronaut was the second man to "spacewalk" on a tether in orbit, and to land on the moon as commander of Apollo 17. Gene was known for his sense of humor, contributing to the celebrity roast of Comedian Don Rickles. Eugene A Cernan left this life January 16 2016. I offer my condolences to his family and friends.

Goodbye Gene.

-- DLC

MLK Day 2017

Today we celebrate the life and times of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. :

Dr. King was one of the leaders of the Civil Rights movement of the late 50s and on into the 1960s. His words were of monumental importance to the United States, and his deeds back up his words. 

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Wikipedia Entry.

While I too remember the life and death of Dr Martin Luther King Jr. , I ask please that people not turn this into "Dr King would have agreed with ___________" Day. Remember that while Dr. King was a peaceful man, he was not a coward or one to hide his light under a bushel. He also wasn't just asking for a bit of freedom please massa, he was demanding justice and equality under the law. Not the false equality of "Separate but Equal" but full integrated equality. Dr. King also wanted everyone to live together peacefully, not in a procrustean-bed sense but in the true sense of many cultures come together for common purposes. Remember these things as we go forth together into the unknown.
And take time to remember those who marched with him, Particularly Representative John Lewis, whose head was cracked by police for daring to take a stand. Remember the many people who sacrificed their lives, their bodies and their dignity in the name of Equality and Justice. Two of the big things this country is supposed to espouse.

Another story fragment.

This is a piece of fiction I started and then stopped. 

It's more or less complete unless I feel like going back and filling in all the details.

Have a read and let me know what you think in the comments -- DLC.

                 Marcie was tired. Although bruised and broken by the beating the thralls had given her, she dragged herself to her feet, nearly screaming as one broken rib jammed into a lung. She didn't care.

 The alien overlord was here, and she needed to be on her feet. For just a few minutes more. The being spoke through its favored thrall. "You are the one called Scanlon. Why do you come here to die? You cannot beat us... you cannot win" 

So, it's 2017. . .

It's 2017. Nasty, Ugly and Brutish 2016 is gone. I sat and watched it die.
So now we're in 2017. I'm about to find out what the cardiologist found. Not looking forward to it.
After that, comes the Trump inaugural. Yes, we did not wake up to find that it was all a mistake. It's really going to happen, barring any giant space object impacts.
So we will now have a President who doesn't use computers but claims he knows a lot about hacking, who won't have press conferences but tweets out attempts at policy, who claimed to be cleaning out the swamp but has indulged in the worst possible crony capitalism politics -- hiring 4 former Goldman Sachs officers for his cabinet. He will be commander in chief of the military, chief law enforcement officer of the United States, in charge of running a government with a budget of more than 1 trillion dollars annually. He will be  President of the United States and in full control of a multinational sole proprietorship with interests in nations around the world -- interests which will become tempting targets for foreign powers, who will see them as leverage against the President, and thus the United States. This is the man who creates his own reality -- oftentimes making it up as he goes along. The man whom all Vladamir Putin needs to do is flatter a bit and he melts.  The soon-to-be President hangs out with known members of the mob, with fight promoter and convicted killer Don King, and with people who love to chant Sieg Heil¹ at every opportunity.
So, this man will be occupying the Oval Office. His party, the Republican Party, have control of the House of Representatives and the Senate. They will also use their carefully hoarded vacancy in the United States Supreme Court to select a Justice to their liking. So, they will have a barely controllable, opaque demagogue who is a narcissist, injury collector with revenge fantasies, but they will also have complete control of all three branches of government, and all anyone can do is complain. They will use their control to do as much destruction as they can in the time they are given, and all we can really do is hope that the President decides he's not going to go along with parts of it and throw down some vetoes, or that we manage to overturn the majority in the House or Senate or both in 2018 -- a tall order considering that the DNC hates local politics.