A Rememberance for Rememberance Day 2025

 "Nevermore shall I see the Sun, for I fell to a German's gun. "  -- Joseph Kilna Mackenzie, "Sgt Mackenzie." (2000.) 

(it was a lament written to honor his great-grandfather, who was killed in WW1.)

On the Eleventh Hour of the Eleventh Day of the Eleventh Month of 1918 all fighting on the European Western Front ceased, bringing a final halt to a war which had been fought on battlefields around the world since 1914. 

 Halloween, spooky season, existential dread and House of Dynamite. 

                    Every year around the end of September and on through the first days of November we here in the United States have our fall into winter transition, and with it comes what I'm going to call Spooky Season. Mostly centered around the Catholic feast of all saints or "all hallows day" the night before it is known as all hallows eve, or Hallow'een. or Halloween. The holiday actually is the catholic replacement for the Celtic Irish holiday Samhain or Lunar New Year. It is also known as "the ending" or "the dying times" when all green deciduous plants lose their leaves, weather turns cold, frosts come, winds blow from the Northwest, and the autumnal storms hit. These times of the year are so often associated with death, decay and gloom that there should be little wonder that people see ways to lighten the mood, often by "whistling past the graveyard" and telling spooky stories so everyone gets a good shiver and a good laugh out of it. Or by making or watching scary movies -- things that engage the startle reflex and then you laugh when you realize it's not serious, just a fellow in a rubber mask with a cardboard knife. We also joke about ghosts and ghouls, and go to haunted house entertainment venues that pop up this time of year. People get scared and it's all in good fun. There are sound psychological reasons for this behavior. You see, we humans are relatively fragile. Compared to sea turtles or parrots, we live a measly 85 years or so, with some dying out after a crummy 56 years. Our psychological refuges from this are religion and outright denial. Religion teaches that we are superior to other animals, and that we have some form of afterlife or next life to look forward to after our corporeal existence comes to an end. The problem with this is it's hubris to assume we are anything special. Religionists will then demand "but if we are not special, we are just worms on a pebble in the giant chaos that is the universe. " To which I reply: Yes, that is so. we are nothing more than mites on a mudball. So ? acknowledge and move on, fam. We exist because we exist, and no further reason need be given. But  still there exists the problem of mortality. I hate the idea of dying. I hate it entirely. I intend to keep living just as long as I can. Many religious people also claim to be always in favor of the living, yet seem to have no problem with holy wars and the death penalty. But those are side issues, which, while worthy of discussion, should be dealt with another time. The thing is, death has always been just a blink away from us throughout our existence. Modern technology and comfortable, clean living conditions have allowed us to disassociate from this fact, most of the time. However, death reminds us of itself, in major when a friend or loved one dies. A parent, sibling, friend, treasured pet. They die and there is usually nothing we can do about it. We mourn the loss, but we carry on, even when we don't want to. Believe me, I know. When my mother died I was shattered. I wanted the world to stop but it did not. Well, everyone experiences loss. It haunts us all. So, once a year we poke fun at death with scary stories, scary events and scary movies. But then we turn around and attempt to increase our happiness with trick or treats, candy, and parties. There is nothing wrong with this. On the contrary, I argue that it is necessary to any intelligent species to find reasons to poke fun at death, a bit. reasons to whistle past the graveyard. Reasons to indulge in gallows humor. We all know we're going to one day shake hands with the man with the scythe, and for a few days we can laugh and scare ourselves and it helps us on a bit. So don't be afraid to enjoy a little spooky fun this time of year. 

Now on to the other topic: The movie "A house of dynamite."      

                 The main themes of the film are technology can't save us from technology, command and intelligence systems fail, and nukes are bad, dontchanknow. The premise is that an unknown but probably North Korea nation state launches a suborbital "low deflection" shot at the continental USA. Target: Uh, somewhere in a parallel-piped with corners at Chicago, St Louis, Columbus Ohio and Cleveland Ohio. The missile was launched during a magic blind spot in our surveilled satellite coverage, when all of our and our allies means of launch detection somehow didn't function until the missile was well on it's way. The alert finally given, an officer in Alaska orders the launch of two, and only two ballistic ground based missiles at the incoming vampire, because "We only have 55 weapons and we might need the rest against subsequent attacks." The movie later states that each weapon has only a 61% chance of an impact kill. with these odds, four missiles would be almost a guaranteed hit. However, the movie also makes the assumption that GMD is our only weapon useful in this scenario. Go look up THAAD, Standard MK3 BLK 2, Patriot. PAC 2/3. These systems also have anti-missile capability, and there are almost always 3 or more Aegis/SM3-BLK2 equipped ships somewhere along the coast. The odds of a single missile hitting are a lot smaller than the movie makes out. 

                    Now, I'm not saying it's a bad movie. The acting is okay. the writing is, aside from the things I brought up, good. The cinematography is, to be honest, a bit lacking. Oh okay, I would have done it differently. But it wasn't mine to do. One final consideration is that I'm not sure the film makes it plain enough that the probability of a first use of nuclear weapons is based upon the least stable national leader that controls them. If Kim Jong Un thinks he's losing control of his country, would he order a first strike ? I don't know. I'm not sure the writers of House full of dynamite know either. Several potential scenarios are presented. But at bottom the film is a treatise on existential dread. The terror of nuclear annihilation. Personally I think Fail Safe (1964, Henry Fonda) did it better.    

HAPPY HALLOWEEN! 

   

The death of Charlie Kirk, and a few things about violence in general, and rights in general.

 First and foremost : I want to offer my sincere condolences to Charlie Kirk's family and friends. 

Charlie Kirk was, in his public persona at least, a vile, unpleasant man. 

On the one hand, Charlie Kirk was a man very worthy of whatever scorn and derision he would have gotten from me, had we ever met. But he had the right to be what he was. The penalty for being a jerk is not summary execution. While I offer my condolences to his family and friends, I do not grieve for hiss loss. To say I did would make me a hypocrite. What I do grieve for is the horrific damage being done to our democratic republic. The Tangerine Tyrant and his crew of crooks and liars have much to answer for and the tally grows every day. Of the many tasks we must keep in mind, one of the most important ones is to never forget those who have betrayed what this country is supposed to stand for. Equality under the law, freedom within the limits of public safety, a level playing field where everyone can improve their lot in life by hard work, smart work, or just dumb luck. I have a few more things I'd add to those things, but they're the basics. 

Finally, in closing, I want to repeat : I offer my sincere condolences to the family and friends of Charlie Kirk. 

That is all.  

The Irony of the Young Okoberists from Pskov.

 In 1987 Tom Clancy published 

his techno-thriller masterwork "Red Storm Rising." (which he co-authored with Larry Bond). 

        Clancy wrote what was then, in 1987, a chilling scenario in which the Russians, as prime mover in the Warsaw Pact, suffer a drastic casualty in it's oil production facilities due to poor planning and a group of Muslim fanatics. This causes the fictional Russian leader to decide that the only way to get out of the jam is to seize the Persian Gulf oil states. (with the possible exception of Iran.) If the Soviet controls the Arabian Peninsula not only is their immediate oil need satisfied, but their control would place a stranglehold on US and other economies. And so, the decision is taken. Warsaw Pact will launch a "defensive" battle against NATO, and split West Germany and Austria off, thus fracturing the alliance. 

        No doubt most of you are wondering by now why I'm spoiling a good read and what Clancy's fictional scenario has to do with the current very real war in Ukraine. I'm getting to that, but bear with me as I  construct a scenario: Putin wants to wreck that portion of Ukraine not under his control so as to put an end to their threats of taking back the portions of the Donbas that his operatives have encouraged to separate from the main Ukraine country. It goes without saying that he also wants to keep them out of the Crimea he so badly wanted to re-integrate into Russia. Ukraine with it's leadership in prison (in Russia) and leaders installed by Putin would not be able or willing to drive Russians out of those territories. So now we come to the attempt at provocation. Putin has for years been manipulating events in Crimea and Donbas so that when the time came all three areas would break off from Ukraine and either request Russian "protection" or outright cede themselves to Russia to run by fiat. (both ends would be sufficient for Putin.) So, he cooks up this fiction about De-Nazifying Ukraine and protecting Ethnic Russians in the Donbas and Crimea. It is of course complete fabrication. The Ethnic Russians in Eastern Ukraine would have been content to remain there had not the mysterious "little green men" been there to "help" them separate from the rest of the country, in exactly the same way that "little green men" and "volunteers" helped Crimea secede from the nation. Well now let's turn to the Tom Clancy fiction again. 

        Why it is surprisingly similar. . . Why it should be familiar :

Oh Twitter Bots. Oh Twitter Bots. How stupid.

 Late last night, I tabbed back into Firefox and looked at my twitter page. When I did so, I found that my twitter account, @tzed928 had been locked, because of a post I made which the Twitter bots decided was a suggestion to self-harm or suicide. My twitter handle is a name I made up as something short and relatively anonymous back when I was playing World of Warcraft to allow me to tweet images and text out of the game. From there, my participation grew until I was tweeting regularly out of that account. Well, that is now coming to a close. Earlier that night, someone with the handle @jtrebach posted a tweet of a then-unknown root and then asked if anyone would eat it if they were hungry. the captioned tweet below is the reply I made. A relatively sensible suggestion slice off a small piece of the root and rub it on the web between your finger and thumb. If you fee a burning or tingling sensation, discard the root and do not eat. read the survival guide. According to the almighty Twitter Bots, this is a suggestion to self-harm or suicide. In Fact, it is entirely the opposite. The picture was, as I later found out, that of a mandrake root. Mandrake  root is dangerous and can be harmful or fatal if swallowed. It contains datura. The procedure that I suggested would have saved unknown numbers of people from a fairly horrible death by poison. The irony is not lost on me.

Notes:

 Twitter is a registered trademark of Twitter inc and used under the fair use exception, to wit: "purpose of research, private study, criticism, review, news reporting, education, satire or parody"

World of Warcraft is trademark Activision Blizzard and used without permission under the fair use exception, for : "purpose of research, private study, criticism, review, news reporting, education, satire or parody 

Note: As if it needed saying : I do not condone, endorse or recommend self harm of any kind.  

Note: I will not relent on this. I was not and am not wrong. My tweet violated no terms of service. It's intent is crystal clear to anyone who is not a moron or a robot. 

Note: The irony is not lost on me that you can demand the head of the President of the United States on a platter, cheer on the nazi party, use whatever racist slurs you want, but mention "take your knife and slice . . . " and you get banned. I'm lookin at you, Jack Dorsey.  

My Statement Regarding Our Exit From Afghanistan.

 We, the United States of America, are currently in the progress of leaving Afghanistan after some two decades of being the country's police force and army. 

We initially went in there in 2001 after the origin of the 9/11 terrorist attacks was traced back to Al Qaeda, and the origin of the attackers was traced to Al Qaeda bases in Afghanistan. In this cause we were right to go in. Let that be known. We were attacked, and we responded, as a nation must so respond. 

It is now some twenty years later, and the USA is now removing itself from Afghanistan. As I knew we would do. We've cut and run, as we did before in Vietnam. People whom we promised to stand by have and are as we speak being left to the not-so tender mercies of the Taliban. My Statement : This is a black day for America. But I don't blame Joe Biden. The mechanics that led up to this day were born by "W" Bush, carried on by Barack Obama (who did try to fix things, but it really wasn't going to happen.) and the last knives were driven in by TFG. He set things up so this would happen on Biden's watch. He hosted the Taliban leaders here at Camp David, and basically gave them everything they asked for. The people at the top of the Afghani government were (and are) crooks and liars who own the lion's share of the blame for this. Had they been honest, and dealt fairly with their troops, and seen to it they got paid, supplied and occasional leave to see their families, perhaps then the ASG wouldn't have collapsed under the Taliban attacks. I also want to mention the Taliban, and the situation there in the region. The Taliban were never, ever going to deal honestly with the USA. They are religious zealots with a power addiction who need to be lording it over someone else, and nothing short of a total control of the country was ever going to satisfy them. There is no bargaining with people who believe that it is okay to break their word when that word is given to a nonbeliever or infidel. We should have expected this, and taken steps to protect those whom we need to help leave the country. Now, dozens of them have died, and thousands are in immediate peril of their lives. We are not doing enough to help them. We will wear the blood stains of this for a long time, and we should. My final comment: We MUST never make war unless we are willing to go the full distance, fight to the last, kill the enemy until he surrenders unconditionally or we wipe them off the face of the earth. No safe spaces. No havens. Even if it means pissing off the Russians, Chinese or whoever. IF WE DO NOT HAVE THE STONES FOR IT WE SHOULD NOT BE DOING IT. No half measures. No more wars of containment. No more Police Actions. We're either ALL IN or we STAY HOME.

The Ghost of January 6th 2021

 Some dates to remember: November 3 2020. Election Day. a Red-Letter Day if ever there was. It began early, with voting in person being mostly stronger than anticipated, but with a lot of mail-in ballots. In Arizona, if you are registered to vote and made a request for it, you got a mail-in ballot automatically. You fill your ballot out, marking the candidates and issues you want with a black or blue pen. Felt tips are permitted. It's thick paper and won't bleed through. Live in-person voting carried on all day, but slowly. Around 10 pm  Eastern time, it looked to be very close, at least in the Electoral College. (in the national popular vote, it wasn't even close, with Biden eventually pulling a 7 million vote lead. ) By midnight, Trump started declaring himself the winner in states he clearly hadn't won. By 2 AM it was clear that, if Arizona and Georgia did not go for Trump, that he would not in fact be re-elected.

Some notes about the Epidemic and our response to it.

Okay gang. quick note: Back in 2015, there was a disease scare. (Zika Virus) At that time, I tried hard to warn people that we are woefully unprepared for a large scale outbreak. My words went largely unheeded. Mostly because I have the "Reach" of a man whispering down a well at midnight. In other words, none. Not my fault -- I'm not popular. I'm not wealthy, I'm not a famous person. But I felt I had to make the effort, and so I did. Well, 5 years on, we had changed little (although Obama made a start ) and now we desperately need to change, and due to the ineptitude of our national leadership, we are not. But this isn't about the President. I've ranted quite a lot about the President, not just because he is politically opposite to me. But now it's time to talk about the elephant in the room, and I do not mean the political party.  What I am referring to here is this: We largely owe this shit-poor response to the desire long-inculcated in a large segment of our population to see "The Administrative State" dismantled. To increase chaos. Most recently you've seen this in the character of one Steve Bannon.

St Patrick's Day special.

 

Today was St Patrick's Day. A day on which my fellow Americans make up silly names for themselves and put on a green shirt and get blotto. We won't talk about how this country perpetuates negative Irish stereotypes. The Fightin' Irishman, "A couple of stout Irish girls to do the heavy work around the house." and Trooper Thorn Sean Thornton. We have heavier lifting to do. Heavier lifting like "The Kung-Flu" and the fact that Asian-Americans get treated like punching bags and nobody tries to stop it. So go on and poke fun at me and my ancestors, drink beer with green food color in it. Just stop shooting Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. Mmmk ?

Harry, Megan and Oprah.

 I've been seeing a lot of weirdly supportive photo memes being passed around regarding HRH the Duke of Sussex in the wake of this recent interview with Oprah Winfrey. 

I hold no brief regarding Mr & Mrs Windsor. I don't hate them, don't love them. I'm sure they're fine people. At the same time, I don't much care if Harry's Grandmother feels put upon by all this. The news media in The United States are saying that there is a war between Megan & Harry and the rest of the Royal family. Well, I have to say: No. there will be no war. Or well, such war as there is will be allegations in the tabloids that the Royals are this and that kind of evil and the Royals for their part will simply sit back and take it, because they have to. It's part of their responsibility, to be the target of the public's japes and jeers as well as their applause and adulation. It is, to them, merely the price of doing business. There's been a lot of Jibber-Jabber going back and forth about how Young Harry was "Forced" to join the British military (the Royal Marine Commandos.). He was not "Forced" any more than his brother was forced to join the Navy or their father. Because, serving in the military is for them part of their obligation. Maybe not officially or by legality, but it is so.  I append here my reaction post from Facebook.
 

Someone posted this photo meme in which the creator listed a bunch of things young Henry has either done or had foisted on him by the Royal family. This is my reply.

Except his family have said he is still family, Oprah interview or no. No one is calling him a traitor except fucking Piers Morgan and who gives a rat's ass what that dickhead thinks. I don't know anyone who has ignored injured war veterans, except maybe the American VA hospital system. I'm sure Duke Harry is a great fellow, probably could have played center half for his rugger team, and probably likes a beer with the lads. By the way, until this year,(and who knows, perhaps he still will.) he received a sinecure from his family. Part of the responsibility of being a member of the royal family is serving in the military, which Harry and William have both done, and done well. But don't deceive yourself. HRH The Duke of Sussex grew up in luxury that would make your head spin. You cannot tell me that The Duchess of Sussex didn't know what she was getting into by marrying the Duke. She went into it with both eyes open and if she never thought there might be rough spots then she had her eyes closed and her fingers in her ears. Understand please : I do not hold any special brief against Mr and Mrs Windsor, and I wish them every happiness in whatever life they elect to have. But that election is theirs, and it is a thing very, very few other people are permitted to make. Most of us are born poor and remain poor throughout our lives. We get through our lives as best we can. I do not bear any ill will toward Mr Windsor, but I also don't owe him anything. 

I included a particular note, because the meme creator included a photo of then 12 year old Harry in his mourning suit, ready to walk behind his mother's hearse to the gravesite : 

Oh, and walking behind the Princess' hearse at the funeral was their duty as Royals. But it is also considered a privilege to be permitted to do so. I was so privileged as to be one of my Grandmother's Pall Bearers, and as hard as it was I wouldn't have traded places with anyone else for any sum of money. Some things are awful to do, but must be done, and done with quiet pride. The young Princes were in fact commanded to walk behind their mother's hearse, but did so because their grandfather offered to walk with them. The party consisted of Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, Prince William, Earl Spencer (Diana's Brother), Prince Harry and Prince Charles, the Prince of Wales. https://honey.nine.com.au/.../772a033d-7f9e-4b4c-a5d1...

Once more, the missing man formation.

 I'm not one to idealize people. Everyone, boyhood heroes included, puts their pants on one leg at a time. 

But because my childhood was not more special than anyone else's, I'm not going to bother you with stories from my childhood. One man I knew of from my childhood was Gen. Charles E. "Chuck" Yeager. Yeager didn't just cultivate the image of a maverick, he was one. He was of the breed of pilots who learned to fly by instinct, by the seat of the pants. He flew combat missions over Europe in WW2, flying a Lockheed P51D mustang, "Glamorous Glenn" (for Glennis, his girlfriend and later his wife.)Yeager would go on to become "An Ace in a Day" shooting down 5 enemy aircraft in one day. If there was an aircraft type in service with the United States, odds were Yeager flew it. In a now-famous incident, with a broken arm and using a sawn-off broomstick for extra leverage, Yeager climbed down into the cockpit of a Bell X-1 ("Glamorous Glennis"), levered the canopy shut and in a few minutes was released into the air from the B-29 "Mother-ship" and shot off on a rocket-powered flight that broke the sound barrier. A first in aviation. (others may or not have exceeded mach 1, but Yeager did so under controlled circumstances.) In another well-known, possibly apocryphal incidence, Yeager is said to have declined participating in the Mercury Astronaut program, believing that the astronauts would be mere passengers, which was not his bag. In 1997 then-retired General Yeager would repeat his mach 1 flight in an F-15D Eagle fighter ("Glamorous Glennis III"), escorted by longtime wing-man and friend Bob Hoover, who had been Yeager's chase pilot on the day in 1947. Yeager's wife Glennis passed away in 1990 of ovarian cancer. The General re-married in 2007, much to the consternation of his family, who believed the woman was alienating his affections in order to make off with his money. I make no judgement on that, only to say a judge in California found in Gen. Yeager's favor, ruling that his daughter Susan had misused her authority as Trustee. Charles Elwood Yeager passed away on December 8, 2020, in Los Angeles California. He was 97. 

Another hero passes into those gates which all must enter.

The Great Divide

 

 The political divide did not happen overnight, was not created by Donald Trump, and will not be made to go away by Joe Biden.

Newt Gingrich created the divide with his late night speeches in the well of the House, where he had a no cost cable TV presence. He spun the fable that there must be no compromises. That it would be his way or no way. Not many people saw him, but the right group of people did. Young, politically active republicans. They took Gingrich's message to heart, and went to war. No holds barred, stop at nothing to gain power. The first power grabs were not in the Federal legislature alone, but in state houses, governorship and other state-level offices. Thus the first of the big lies were told. "I'm against fraud, waste, and abuse! I'm a fiscal conservative! you can trust me with your money." Except they were not simple fiscal conservatives. They were die hard right wing christian conservatives, who wanted power not for what they could do for the people, but for what they could do TO the people. They Gerrymandered as much of the political map as they could. Then again in 2000. and again in 2010. The left were stupidly complacent. They had controlled the Congress off and on but more on than off since the 1970s, and saw no reason why things should change. The Supreme Court was carefully stage-managed. The lower courts were allowed to start to run empty. In fact, during Obama's time they were intentionally kept empty by McConnell. Now there are some 50 or so seats in the House which are, and will be for some time to come, absolutely safe GOP seats, and they are filled with Ideologues who, like Gingrich, insist it be their way or no way. At least the GOP are out of the Majority in the House, for now. But it's another census year, and Despite strenuous efforts by former President Obama, the political landscape won't change much.  Then comes 1987, and Reagan-appointee Dennis R Patrick's decision as FCC Chairman to undo the Fairness Doctrine. The Fairness Doctrine was an FCC rule that demanded that broadcasters, both radio and television, who use a federal license, include in their programming a certain number of hours of coverage of public affairs and of controversial issues, and that said coverage be, in the FCCs view fair, unbiased and represent both sides of an issue. This rule was in place from 1944 until it was removed. But the thing is, the Reagan argument was that rules are unnecessary in a civilized society, where the free market will see to it that the battle of ideas carries to those who wish to watch. The problem with that idea is that people will, if given the choice, avoid ideas that don't flow with our own. We self-select for information that agrees with us. Information no longer is non-partisan. Presentation of news is politically driven. People become so familiar with the news that suits their biases that things that run contrary to them are seen as alien,or other. Those who cleave to other ideas are seen as Alien. Politics goes from being the marketplace of Ideas and becomes the Battleground of Ideas. But then comes someone like Trump, who has no connection to truth. He comes and lies to us, and those whose biases are more ideologically of the same polarity as the Trump lies decide they will believe the lie, even if somewhere in their mind they know it's not true. Trump has become like a cult leader, stringing lies together, getting people hooked on the lie. This is why they chant at Trump rallies. It's a form of group affirmation. They need to know they are not the only one who buys the lie. And so it goes. The political divide has gotten wider to the point it's causing families to disintegrate. It's breaking up friendships and causing fights. Please that it not cause worse violence. I'm not a big fan of Joe Biden, but by damn we need someone to pull us back from the brink.

The Equinox

 Tonight, a small bit of my brain will be given over to the imagery of a man in a grey cloak and a stag's head helmet standing in a stone circle with a branch of holly in his hands. 

This version of me, contained wholly within my imagination, comes from my Celtic roots, and no doubt is influenced by my studies. But, tonight marks the Equinox. A day with mystic significance to many, and of only passing mathematical curiosity to the rest of us. From today, the days will grow shorter, the nights longer. The Atlantic will see the Equinoctial Gales. The cool winds will blow, and turn colder next month. Summer is on the way out, Fall is coming on, and Winter is coming up the drive. All too soon, for many in the Northern Hemisphere, the old man in blue will be among us, nipping at our noses, chilling our feet, and making us wish for Spring to come dancing in. But for now, I see a darkness. I can hear ancient words in my head that come unbidden. I'm not superstitious, but the mood is changing. 

A small part of me, the part of me in the grey robes and the stag's head, it says back to the void : "Yes! Bring it! The Darkness is my friend!" But then so is the light. And there is still light, even in the darkest night. There is still hope.  

The Time is Coming, are you ready ?

 The time is coming, are you ready ?

Okay so. . . it's roughly 47 days until the elections. On election day, the American people will go to the polls to fill out, or have already mailed in, their ballots. The results may not be apparent for some days after the election. Here in Arizona, we have free mail in balloting, anyone who is a registered voter can request with no excuse a ballot. Once completed, the ballot is then sealed in an envelope and the back of the envelope is signed by the voter. These signatures are checked against recorded signatures at the Arizona secretary of state office. Those which pass are automatically counted by electronic device, and ballots are kept in case of a recount. (BTW, Arizona still uses paper ballots. All states should, IMO) So, Arizona's rough totals will be known either on election night or shortly thereafter. Of course, the totals will change as more ballots are counted, but this is a smaller number and probably will not be enough to change the top of the ballot result. Whatever happens, I wish Biden to win. This is not because I wish ill on his opponent, the incumbent, although I despise him. This year, I backed Elizabeth Warren. I like her, she's intelligent, warm, personable and has a big binder full of plans all ready to be enacted the moment she is sworn in. But, it was not to be. Joe Biden swept the series, hitting the cycle and winding up on third. Well, okay. So now I back Joe Biden. Not because I love Joe, but because he is the opponent of the party of doom. Unwittingly or not, Joe is Antifa. Knowingly or not, Joe is a white rose. He opposes the Fascist. We need to eschew Fascism and everything it stands for. We must, in this most crucial election of my lifetime, defeat the fascist would-be tyrant.

Ich bein "Weiße Rose"

Down with the Fascists!

 

It should be noted that I am an ex-Republican, Former Conservative, who has seen at long last the moral bankruptcy of the Conservative position.  

But no matter who you think should be President, go out and vote this Tuesday, November 3, 2020.

If you are not registered, you can do this easily and in most if not all states, online. 

 

https://www.usa.gov/register-to-vote

To find out how to register in your state, follow the links at the site above.

Or if you are in Arizona, you can go here : https://servicearizona.com/VoterRegistration/register?execution=e1s1

 

 

Unhappy New Year.

Unhappy New Year.

what a crummy way to start the new year. In recent times, unless you live under a rock, you know that Iranian-proxy militia-men rocketed an American installation in Iraq, killing an American "Contractor". (odd how nobody says what he was contracting to do, but as Contractor has become a synonym for mercenary, I think it's safe to say we know what kind of man he was. )
The United States retaliated by pulling off a Tom Clancy level scheme to assassinate Iranian Major General and commander of the Quds force wing of the Iranian Republican Guards corps Suliemanei.
Iran in turn replied to this by launching some number of IRBMs loaded with conventional warheads at American installations in Iraq. No Americans were killed in the rocketing. We can thank our luck and our advanced warning systems for that.
And now, The Ball is back in Trump's court. He has as of this AM said that we do not want war, and we're  stepping back from the brink. Trump actually said the Iranians were standing down. but then, I don't trust two words out of Trump's mouth. If The Dear Leader Trump tells you it's raining out, better go look out a window. Some of my thoughts on this matter below the jump.

Some new thoughts about thanksgiving, and immigrants

 Pilgrims, Indigenous people, and progress.

The people who lived here before the Europeans began arriving were not necessarily happy hunter-gatherers content to live in peace and harmony with their neighbors. There were wars. Borders were fluid things, only established by such things as landmarks and the courses of rivers. A hunting party might easily stray into another tribe's land and possibly be attacked. this did happen, and it did oftentimes lead to battles. Europeans who came here were not necessarily welcomed. The Roanoke colony was wiped out to the last. Women and children may have been taken and adopted into families. Then comes the Plymouth colony. They're better situated than the Roanoke. and maybe they're just luckier. Maybe god shined a light on them. Whatever. The Wampanoeg took pity on them, and helped them. They showed them how to live off the land in the new world. Perhaps they shouldn't have. If they had been like some Americans are today, they might have just killed them all and taken their fire-locks, swords and armor. But they didn't. Although not Christians, they felt the impulse to charity and helped those colonists. (I have distant family tree relations who were among those colonists, btw. ) They helped them, and next fall when the colonists were still there they gave food and shelter to a Wampanoeg hunting party who had dropped by to check on them. I sincerely doubt it was any kind of grand feast as is depicted in some history books, but they gathered together and shared food and drink. We should be thankful we were allowed to stay here. We should be thankful and remember our own behavior will be judged by history. We need to remember our own impulse to charity, and welcome newcomers. They can come here legally. It should be relatively easy to do so. It should also be relatively hard to stay here illegally. But the penalty should be administrative, as it has been in times previous to this. We're wasting time, money resources and reputation by throwing people in cages inside what used to be big-box stores.We need a long, hard look at ourselves. So be thankful. But also remember your impulse to help others. There is more than enough room for all here. More Jobs are created every day, and immigrants will be needed to fill them. There just aren't enough of us right now. Be Generous. Be American. and remember that moment 400 years ago wherein a group of hunters of the Wampanoeg people were hosted in friendship by a handful of grateful Europeans. 

My Thanks.

Why the delay in Impeaching and Removing Trump ? I'll try to explain.

 Donald Trump has, in these last weeks, committed at least two Impeachable offenses, yet he is still in office. Why is this? 

I'll try to explain.

         First, consider the Republicans in the Senate who are Afraid of Trump's "base,"A group of angry white conservatives whom Trump keeps angry by feeding them big lies disguised as slabs of red meat. Many GOP congressmen are afraid of what will happen to their re-election chances if Trump turns against them and directs that someone "primary" them. (being Primaried from the right has been a GOP leadership scare tactic since before McConnell was in the Senate) They do not want to risk losing their cushy jobs. Next, consider the possibility of a Republican caucus in the Senate who believe it's worth keeping Trump so long as they're getting the conservative judges they want. Many Republicans in the Senate are what I call "Movement Conservatives" -- they believe wholeheartedly in the hard right idea of a government which only runs the military and grants cash to corporations. No other functions should exist. Finally, we come to  GOP leadership that includes McConnell, whose state got a promise of a 100 million dollar aluminum factory in Kentucky out of Oleg Deripaska's Rusal. Make no mistakes, the Russians have studied long and hard how to wage next-generation warfare (1) and they are currently winning. Their mission was to knock the USA down, and they're succeeding. They have found a political party in the USA who will stop at nothing to remain in power, and they're using them all they can and more. As I've said elsewhere, Trump is working hard to destroy the US government from within. As I said elsewhere, the Russians first tried this in Ukraine in 2012-14. THe Ukrainians got up on their hind legs and threw out the Putinistas. I'm worried we haven't got the spine for it. The 2020 elections will be the final test. We'll either pass and oust Trump and the Republicans or we'll fail and go down the drain as a Democratic Republic.

Sound the Trump ets, Tell Joshua to bring his horn.

Okay, so I had to do this post sooner or later. This has been bugging me like a pesky fly that won't leave off. Donald "I'm a raving loon" Trump's wall is a waste of money, time and effort. We all know this, don't we ? Don't we ? You do realize that walls are a 4th century solution that are easily breached, overcome, tunneled under, knocked down or simply gone around. Yes, I know, various nations have tried walls : Rome with Hadrian's Wall, China with the Great Wall, France with the Maginot Line, and now Trump with Trump's Folly.

The Ghost of Emmett Till

The Ghost of Emmett Till 

Recently, I was listening to NPR on my drive home from doing some errands. A news story came on

A news story came on about the murder of Emmett Till. For those of you who do not know, Emmett Till was a 14 year old boy who was visiting Mississippi in 1955. He was abducted, beaten, tortured and then shot. His remains were then desecrated. His body was then chained to an industrial fan blade stolen from a local cotton gin, and dumped into the Tallahatchie river. Later recovered, his mother insisted on there being an open casket funeral. She wanted people to see the horror of murder. All these years later, NPR interviewed a man who had been a prosecutor back when Till's murderers were tried and acquitted by an all-white jury. They later confessed in an interview for Look magazine. The man, even now, all these years later, still stuck to the Official White Version of the events, saying Till got what he had coming to him, for being uppity and flirting with a white girl. The recipient of the alleged unwanted advances later retracted the story, but by then it was too late. Till had been abducted, tortured and killed. The four men to grabbed a 14 year old boy off the street, carried him off and killed him, for the crime of talking to a white woman. Furthermore, the man interviewed said, plaintively, why do they keep playin The Race Card ? Why keep raking it up ? it makes a stink.
I'll tell you why, after the break.

Decoration Day

Historically on this day 

We would gather our families together in whatever convenient groups were available, put on our good "going out" clothes, pack up baskets with picnic supplies, flowers, cleaning equipment and perhaps a hymnal, song book or a bible and we would all go together to clean, maintain and decorate the graves and memorials of our deceased relations who died in service to the country. The practice began sometime around the end of the Civil War, and continued on until sometime when the day's name was changed to Memorial day and people started visiting various war memorials instead. Gradually the visiting of war memorials faded and the day became just another day off from work. I don't say any of this with the intention of guilt-tripping anyone, or being accusatory, it's just a fact. Today, people have the day off, and they deserve it. But please, my friends, take a few minutes to sit back and remember the people who gave of themselves for the United States. We are not always right, and not always wrong. The state of being is much more complex than anyone can put into words in a short blog post. So just remember for a few minutes that friends and relatives of yours paid the ultimate price. Then relax, have a beer, grill some burgers and watch the racing or football or whatever.

Here's some music to remember the day by.
Johnny's Gone for a Soldier.


Hymn to the Fallen, John Williams

DLC