You Are Here

One aspect of WWII that is often overlooked, is how, before one Allied soldier put a toe on the European continent, men would squeeze themselves into heavy insulated flying suits, clamber into the tight spaces of two- and four-engine bombers, loaded with tons of high explosive, and fly unescorted over enemy-held territory, to drop that ordinance on factories, bridge, railroad yards, ball bearing plants, oil refineries, etc. They would travel at altitudes above 28,000 feet, in cold so bitter, taking off a glove would mean almost instant frostbite. They would do this, knowing full well that the Germans knew they were coming, and would fly through walls of flak bursts and waves of German fighters, being killed wholesale or wounded grievously, to accomplish the mission. Then would return home in those same planes, sometimes badly shot up... then would do it again. And again. And again.

The most interesting part is, most of those men didn't sign up for this. They were drafted, conscripted into a fight that most of them were not gung-ho to sign up for, Pearl Harbor be damned. That had families and homes and jobs, and they were pulled from their comfortable lives, to be shot through the air and into the teeth of cannon fire, to try and cripple the enemy's war machine. Their accomplishments do not have the shine of Patton's drive across France; the Eighth Air Force was not high on anyone's publicity charts, because the losses were so fearsome. Flying high altitude bombing raids over France, Germany, and Italy, and later, Japan, during the war was not glamorous, and these men paid dearly. If not physically, then mentally. They did their jobs. They paid the price. And we were able to remain a free country.

This preamble is by way of saying that, right now, we face a war, and a foe, as menacing and destructive as they faced, but the worst part is they're here, in our country. They have taken over our government, they have begun instituting policies reminiscent of mid-1930s Germany, and the rhetoric they use is straight out of any White Christian Fascist tract you care to name. After sixty years, the Republican Party has what it wants: domination of Federal government and the means to wreck it utterly. The glee that they have tucked into it with is unrepentant and savage.

I would like to believe that there will be ways to derail this freight train of malevolence, but I can't say for certain. The ground for this rampage was well paved beforehand, mainly through the generation of apathy on the hearts of tens of millions of Americans, who couldn't rise from their recliners to vote for honest and decent government and condemned their vulnerable neighbors to pain and suffering at the hands of barbaric louts.

The only way, however, I see for us to send this nightmare train off the tracks is for everyone of good conscience to get involved and get organized. Barring that, I don't know how we mass the force capable of repelling these invaders in the sanctum of our democracy. We're here, now, and this isn't going to change of its own accord. We cannot wait for aid from abroad, we cannot expect help from within, we can only rely on ourselves.

We're going to have slip into our flying suits, now. We're going have to fly into the face of raging winds, bitter cold, and determined opposition, in order to turn back the tide. It is going to take every one of us. And right now, among you, are people, like those men in WWII, not keen to fight the war, but called upon to do it anyway, knowing the chance of survival is small. There's nothing for it. We either stand as one or fall as many. The engines are turning. What will it be?

The Day America Changed

I posted to Spoutible on January 20th, 2025, shortly after noon, that the American experiment was over and that the nation that had stood for over 200 years was no more.

I think a bit of explanation is in order, because I see people going on and acting as if the act of fighting back or resisting can be wholly accomplished through the means we have always had at our disposal. I'm afraid it's not that simple anymore.

By outward appearances, the Federal government is the same. The same buildings, the same logos, the same mission statements. To look at it, at a glance, is to see nothing different. It's the same way with a large oak that has been in your yard for decades, shading you and projecting durability, is still standing day by day, apparently unchanging, until the storm comes, knocks it down, and realize how hollowed out it had become over time, subject to parasites and rot.

Currently, this is how our Federal government is: the appearance of strength, shot through with rot.

A criminal sits in the Oval Office. He is surrounded by other criminals and "Yes!" men who covet the power and money that they could never gather on their own, leeches attached to malevolent coattails. Already, their path is clear: destroy everything that stands as a symbol of our collective society, liquify it, and pour it into their personal coffers, doing so as they use its assembled power to meet out vengeance and injustice upon those who have "wronged" them or refuse to bow before them.

So, you may wish to sit and think that the nation we have lived in our whole lives still exists, but it does not. It has been subverted. It is being carved up. Every dollar you have put toward the maintenance of freedom and liberty will wind up in the pockets of crooks, liars, and thieves with titles and suits.

If this makes you angry, even irrationally, good. Anger is the first step to burning away the complacency that will keep you from taking the steps that need to be taken to wrest control of the nation back from the criminals. It will not be easy. The end result will not look like freedom and democracy, because, in order to get them back, we are going to have to write them off in their current form. We cannot trust that the systems, the departments, and the bureaucratic machinery of our government will be restorable to working order.

We're going to have to say goodbye to the democracy we know. It will be time to build a new one, one that cannot be so easily subverted or manipulated. To do so, it can't look like the current one. We've seen how easily sixty years of slow Republican corruption destroyed it. Our democracy will have to be rebuilt with all threats in mind, slow and quick. It will have to be built so that every voice is heard. It will have to be built from scratch, on the bedrock of the idea that all Americans are created equal from their first breath, and it can be no other way.

So, take your time, but do not tarry. The forces ravaging our country are hard at work. We will have to be prepared to meet them when the moment comes. It will look a lot more like Lexington and Concord than D-Day. We have to be prepared for moments that will pale in comparison to anything we've known since The Civil War. It seems harsh to say it, but it's true nonetheless. America has changed, and now we must also.

The No-Win Scenario

The United States was Admiral James T. Kirk in "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan," right before the near-fatal encounter with Khan aboard the Reliant. Spock makes the following observation: "There are two possibilities. They are unable to respond. They are unwilling to respond." At that point, he has given Kirk a clear warning: this is accidental or on purpose.

We all learn shortly thereafter which it is.

We are now James T. Kirk after the attack on the Enterprise. the turbolift doors have opened, and there is Chief Engineer Scott, holding the plasma-burned body of his nephew, Midshipman Preston. The shock envelopes the bridge leading to audible gasps and a pained expression on Spock's face.

You might wonder why I would talk of the country in these terms. Not everyone may be familiar with the movie, and while "Star Trek" is a global phenomenon, many people would not think to imbue it with more than entertainment value. But the many series and movies have always been about telling the story of the human species (and other species) from a distant perspective, to highlight the issues we face in the current centuries.

Right now, is our Wrath of Khan moment.

We seem to be dealing with the No-Win Scenario, mentioned as part of reminiscence about Kirk's days in the academy, taking a character test called "The Kobayashi Maru," in which cadets are faced with a situation which has no practical solution. Kirk, deciding the conditions of the test were unwarranted, reprograms the simulation to "win" the no-win scenario. Rather than being expelled, he gets a commendation for "original thinking." Even in the 23rd Century, a white man can fail upward.

Our no-win scenario is this: we cannot trust the Democratic Party to fight for us with all the necessary vigor and fortitude, despite their best of intentions. We cannot get the Republican Party to care about us at all. Given the outcome of the 2024 Presidential Election, it does not appear we have anywhere to turn. All the signs and portents indicate that we have stepped off a cliff, to plunge into a chasm of Fascism, from which we cannot recover. We are enveloped in a miasma of hopelessness that has rocked so many of us progressive stalwarts to the core.

As we know from the movie, Kirk eventually defeats Khan, with guile, trickery, and the use of knowledge and skills Khan, despite his intellect, does not possess. He harnesses everything in his power to bring about a successful conclusion to the adventure... but at a heavy cost, that of the life of his friend and first officer, Mr. Spock.

This is what we face. In order to turn back the tide of White Christian Fascism that threatens to overwhelm and undermine our Constitutional republic, we are going to have to tap the deep veins of knowledge, experience, and original thinking that we possess, to beat our opponents at their own game. They have had the advantage of time, time to plan, time to be outraged, time to plot their vengeance, and we are left with very little. But those of us not subsumed by the darkness of our situation have energy, determination, knowledge, and healthy dose of cunning to use in order to rescue ourselves from the situation. To do this, we're going to have to set aside the preconceptions of what the election represents, and focus on the future, and what steps we will need to take.

We may very well face hard sacrifices, and there will be casualties. No fight against Fascism is ever free of them. We have an opportunity, if we play our cards right, of stopping the march toward autocracy before it gets too far down the road. There are always possibilities. Now we have to find them and exploit them to arrest the slide of democracy into the void.

31 Days

 We are in the final laps of the race. We have focused, we have concentrated, the finish line is in sight. But one small lapse, one mistake, a moment's overconfidence is all it takes to put us into the wall.

I use an auto racing metaphor, because, in essence, that's what this election, above all others, has been. Unlike a horse race, where there is a jockey and a horse and a limited amount anyone else can do during the race, an auto race of most types involves not just the driver and the car, but a pit crew, a strategy team, team principals, and support staff. A lot goes into making a race car go, even when the car is out on the track. There are people monitoring every part of the race, feeding that information to the driver, attempting to put them in the best position to win.

We're thirty-one days out from the most consequential Presidental election... since the last one. And the one before that. The fact is, we've slid into a skid that we are desperately trying to turn into and pull out of. We're trying to maintain control of the race, to bring home a win and seal the trophy for ourselves and our team, America. This race has been tight, it has seen attrition, it has seen wrecks, and it is seeing it's fair share of swapping paint.

I'd love to have political discussions about the future of the country that were not so monopolar, but it really is down to a binary choice right now, of Freedom vs. Fascism. There isn't much more to be said about either major party Presidential candidate. One is clearly deranged, the other clearly determined. One is completely self-centered, the other, completely selfless. One is a convicted criminal, the other convicted criminals. To be honest, talking about policy seems like a detour from the real issue: Who will guard freedom and democracy in America?

I think we all know the answer.

But many don't. Over a hundred million people did not vote in the 2020 Presidential election. The reasons are legion, but at the end of the day, irrelevant, because by not voting, they made their voices heard loud-and-clear: they simply don't care. They've been so beaten down by what they consider "politics," that they have benched themselves, and left the decision making up to others. They chose not to decide, and in doing so, made their choice.

It should come as no surprise that everyone who is a pundit or prognosticator seems bent on proclaiming this race close, but the fact is, not yardstick currently available can measure the true disgust many now have for the convicted criminal running as the Republican nominee. That alone should have caused the vast majority of people to vote every Republican out of office, but their hold remains firm because 100+ million people sit on the sidelines. If even a lousy 3 to 5 percent of them woke up, saw reality, and voted, there would be no doubt who would win on November 5th.

So, now we wait.

We have 31 days to do what little we can, as individuals, and as organizations, to trumpet the cause of freedom and get people to see that Kamala Harris and Tim Walz are the future we need and want. The checkered flag is in the distance. We cannot allow our concentration to fail.

Him

That's all he is now, to me.

Him.

A repetitive, self-absorbed, uncultured, insensitive, evil, invasive, ignorant, venal, third grader with delusions of competence and a desire to be unconditionally loved by everyone.

Him.

He no longer deserves a name. In a way, he is the embodiment of every negative characteristic that can be laid upon the heads of men. He believes he is owed allegiance. He believes women are his playthings. He believes that the only important pursuit in the world is wealth. He believes that only he can "right the wrongs" of a society he claims to be "failing."

If we're failing to any degree, it's in not putting him down, once and for all, but now, we have our chance. It is time to crush him, his ego, and the infrastructure of obsequiousness that feeds his delusions. It's time to end the charade. It's time to deal him the fatal blow.

On November 5th, with your vote, and mine, and the votes of family, friends, neighbors, and strangers all over this land, we will finally be rid of him as a political force, because he and his malcontented minions will be crushed at the ballot box. The repudiation will be so vibrant, so powerful, that any hope Conservatives had of claiming the nation to be their plaything will vanish in the vaporous smoke of his ego imploding at the defeat.

Do not be afraid. Do not worry. Simply do your job and VOTE.