Category Archives: history

Bombing Iran

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It has become routine. Every two- or three-days Donald Trump does something more atrocious than before and it interrupts whatever I was doing and prompts a cycle of disgust, fear, and rage and often provokes one of these blogs, forcing me to put side something I thought was more interesting. I have come to hate the fact that he sucks all the oxygen out of the room.

But despite that, I find myself unable to get upset about Trump’s recent decision to bomb Iran‘s nuclear facilities. In fact, my initial thought was simply, why did it take so long?

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From the Halls of Montezuma

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Take a good look at the picture above. We have never seen anything like it.

It comes from the web site of the British news service Reuters. It is a still image taken from about a minute of video. The video and the accompanying reporting should set off warning alarms across the United States. Read the Reuters article and see the full video here. I’m ready to nominate the Reuters’ team for a Pulitzer Prize.

Reuters says the video shows U.S. Marines deployed to Los Angeles detaining an American citizen. This, it is believed, has never happened before.

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He don’t know

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On Meet the Press NBC’s Kristine Welker asked Donald Trump, “don’t you need to uphold the Constitution of the United States as president?”

“I don’t know,” Trump replied.

Excuse me while I reach for my bottle of Excedrin.

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Hip hip for Harvard

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Whether it was a high school football game on a Friday night or a college matchup you have probably all participated in a roaring cheer at one time or another. Anyone who has been following these posts for a while knows that I earned a bachelor’s degree from Princeton many years ago where I cheered on many a Princeton team. The college cheer was in fact heard for the first time at the famous first ever college football game between Princeton and Rutgers in 1869.

I write that preamble so that you get the significance of my rousing cheer for Harvard, Princeton’s rival among rivals in the league of elite universities. It is special when a Princeton tiger is moved to compliment people who wear crimson robes. Harvard does have a mascot I am told. But it appears to be an inanimate statue of the school’s founder, which must look strange along the sidelines. I digress.

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John Adams Nightmare

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“We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Avarice, ambition, revenge, or gallantry, would break the strongest cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”

John Adams, letter to the Massachusetts Militia, October 11, 1798

Our second president predicted that our republic, if it were to fail, would fall as a result of corruption from within. He was remarkably prescient. Many of his writings emphasized the idea that the government’s success relies on the moral integrity of its citizens.

“Liberty cannot be preserved, if the manners of the people are corrupted, and if they are not virtuous.”

John Adams, “Thoughts on Government”, 1776.

We are living John Adams’ nightmare.

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Poor John Roberts

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John Roberts is annoyed. I had picked a stronger word, but Merriam-Webster says my word is considered vulgar in both Britian and the United States, so I chickened out.

Please take note. When the Chief Justice of the United States is annoyed he clearly expects us all to pay heed. I spent all of three seconds taking heed. And then began laughing uncontrollably.

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Pardonnez-moi

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Yes, he’s a liar. Yes, he’s a hypocrite. Let’s drive him out of office. Let’s forget that he brought us through the Covid crisis, stabilized the economy, passed laws designed to fund future growth and development, expanded healthcare and restored America’s standing among its allies. Let’s call him an old fool, a disgrace, and never vote for him again.

Wait a minute.

Excuse me if I don’t get on the bandwagon in the media and on both sides of the political divide in condemning President Joe Biden for pardoning his son Hunter. To steal a phrase (“Gone with the Wind”), frankly my dear, I don’t give a damn.

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