Once more, the missing man formation.

The missing man formation, notorious for it's employment at the funerals of famous airmen, needs to be out once more. I have just learned that Astronaut John Young has died at age 87.
He was a naval aviator, test pilot and selected for Astronaut Group 2. He was also command pilot of STS-1 and STS-9.
His full bio can be found at wikipedia here.

My condolences to Captain Young's family and friends.

Well, it's here. Happy New Year 2018!
With any luck it'll be better than the previous.

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.