Yom HaShoah

Yom HaShoah :  Today we do not celebrate, but we commemorate the holocaust.

I'm not going to write a big long post about it. A short reminder. Today, we commemorate the holocaust, and vow to remember it, and those who died because of bigotry and hate. The wheels started turning in 1932. Germany, led by an Austrian demagogue, started up the laws against the Jews. In short order, homosexuals, Romani, mentally ill, mentally challenged people, communists and those labelled as "undesirables" would be added to the list later. The next milestone was 1935, the Nuremberg racial purity laws. Then, in 1938, Kristallnacht, when Jews and Jewish businesses were openly attacked. Afterward the Hitler government shut down all businesses owned by Jews. Then came the "deportations" and concentration camps. Then came the final solution. A piece of me wants to say to you "God, don't look". But another, much larger piece says "No. Go look. Go look now. Don't turn away from it. steel yourself by whatever means necessary and look. Look at the pictures. the films. go to the national archives and look. Go to the holocaust museum and look. Listen to the dozens, hundreds of taped stories from the shoah project. Look and listen and then come back and tell me in the comments that you don't believe.

https://youtu.be/xlhZe0uWYoo

Link to nazi concentration camp video, selected video from some of the camps, created for the war crimes tribunal. Note that the final signature on it is Capt. John Ford USN. 

Are you the guy who's constantly complaining that voting's no use "because they control everything?" Well, here's a couple thoughts for you: First, off, if They control everything, why did they spend upwards of 5 billion dollars in the last election cycle. (not counting all the free publicity the news outfits gave people) Think about that for a moment. Five Thousand Million Dollars. It's like 50 pallets worth of money. if it were all rigged as you say, why would they waste 5 billion dollars getting Donald Trump elected ?

Second: Democracy isn't just getting off your butt and voting once every four years. It's hard work. using email, blogs, twitter, phone calls, word of mouth and whatever else you can to get out the word about the candidates or ballot issues you support. It's getting off your butt and actually running for office yourself, if you've got the wherewithal and the stamina for it. 

(I have none of those, personally.) 

And think of this: The current President was elected with 25.5% of the vote.  In other words, about 46.9% of those who could have voted sat on their butts and didn't. They were too lazy to (in Arizona at least) go to a web site, fill out an-e-form and hit send, and then when their ballot came, all they needed to do was draw lines connecting arrows with a black pen or marker. It takes like 10 minutes of steady work that any 5 year old could manage. (Arizona allows vote-by-mail for anyone who's a registered voter and who applies for a mail-in ballot.)

Teal Deer Version:

Not enough people vote.

More people need to get involved

More people need to run for office.

Big Money is dangerous but they don't actually own it all.

 
The Numbers :
231,556,622 eligible voters.
46.9% didn't vote.
25.6% voted for Clinton.
25.5% voted for Trump.Nov 9, 2016

Some things people are missing about the recent government shutdown.

The recent government shutdown has been hailed by the right as a victory for Donald Trump.
Many progressives are angry with minority leader Schumer over the seeming "cave" by the minority leader over the issue. However, the object of the exercise was never to get the GOP to pass some form of DACA legislation. That was never on the cards, and honestly it has not ever been a realistic possibility even though many Republicans mouth words approving the concept. The reality is, there are enough people in the Republican caucus who are dead-set against any immigration of any people who have the condition of being Not-White. It has nothing to do with "The Rule of Law" as they so righteously trumpet -- these people ignore law when it suits them -- and everything to do with the fact that these people come from places where the majority of people have not-white skin. So, try as they might, the Democrats in DC could not have gotten any DACA bill passed. Not by trading a wall for it -- Trump believes he's going to get his wall over the objections of the Democrats. Not by trading DACA for an end to family unification -- what the right so venomously call "chain migration".

Mens Rea, Dreamers and Rule of Law.

I keep hearing this from certain quarters about how Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) has been coddling Lawbreakers. 

But here's the elephant in the room : These people were brought to the USA as minors, many of them what the law would define as "Children of Tender Years." Well now, consider the principle in law known as mens rea, or the ability to understand that your actions are wrong, and the principle of forming criminal intent, which go hand in hand. Now, I'm not a lawyer, so I could be wrong here, but from what I've read, there is ample case law, and even some statute law, which say that children under a certain age simply cannot form criminal intent, or have the knowledge that what they're doing is wrong, thus are generally held not guilty or not responsible for their acts. This being true, the people who came here as children of the appropriate age would not be guilty of illegally immigrating into the United States. Full Stop. Case Closed. If you're looking for lawbreakers, look elsewhere.

But what about The Rule of Law(!) ? 

Trump, Sanity and Partisan Politics

Trump, Sanity and Partisan Politics.

No doubt most readers of this blog must already be aware that I am no fan of Donald Trump. 

The reasons why are fairly simple, and largely apolitical, although I may have been misunderstood by those reading my words. If so, I will state it now, for the record : My dislike of Donald Trump has to do with his personality and his history, and has no bearing whatever on his political views or policy positions.

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.