No Kings Rally

We were watching some of the coverage of the No Kings rallies, and one of the shots was an aerial view of the Boston rally.  I thought there weren’t all that many people, and then the camera pulled back.  What I thought was the rally was just a small portion of the people.  Holy cow!

And the one of Minneapolis?  Did you ever see one of those ant swarms when thousands of then come pouring out.  From the air, it looked like a gigantic–and I mean gigantic–ant swarm.  And did you ever put your hand into one of those ant swarms?  Individually they aren’t very big, but those suckers can bite.

The demonstration in Jim Thorpe had approximately 250, not bad for Carbon County.  My sign, “Trump makes me nostalgic for Richard Nixon” received some approval.

My friend Bill sent me one that I will use at the next rally, however.  It will say “Flip us off if you voted for a pedophile.”  Perfect.

What's happening in Cuba...and No Kings

Finally the Times had a front page article today about people dying in Cuba because of the U.S. imposed blockade.  Why is my country doing this?  Who approved this?  What is the point?  We have gone so far down the road to authoritarianism that we are there.

Which is why I will be at the No Kings rally tomorrow, along with millions of other Americans.  We have got to turn this around.

My sign will say:  “Trump makes me nostalgic for Richard Nixon.”

Added comment:  In a meme from my friend Bill I saw the suggestion that if Trump adds his name to the dollar bill, you could take a Sharpie and cross it off.  They did that to the Epstein files.  It is called “redacting.”  

That Pete Hegseth is a fighter

Unfortunately, he is fighting the New York Times.  Last Friday a federal judge ordered the Pentagon to allow the press into Pentagon briefings.  Hegseth was angry at what he thought was critical coverage, so he had kicked out reporters from newspapers and tv stations he didn’t like.  He did admit Laura Loomer, the pillow guy, and some right-wing podcasters.  The judge told him he could not do that.  

He then decided to hold press briefings outside the main Pentagon building and all journalists seeking entrance to the Pentagon must have an escort. 

The New York Times is going back into court.  Now if only Hegseth could win the war with Iran.

Two Republican Presidents Speak

When people are dishonorable in private business, they injure only those with whom they deal or their own chances in the next world.  But when there is a lack of honor in government, the morals of the whole people are poisoned.

-Herbert Hoover

In world opinion and in world effectiveness, the United States is measured by the moral firmness of its public officials.

-Dwight D. Eisenhower

Amendments needed

Jill Lepore, a history professor at Harvard, notes that we haven’t amended the Constitution since 1971.  [OK, in 1992 we did add a clause that Congress couldn’t raise its own salaries, but that doesn’t really count since it was proposed on Sept. 25, 1789.  I am not kidding–look it up.]

Lepore says that the Constitution needs to be more flexible that it is.  Or, as Gouverneur Morris, the man who wrote the Preamble to the Constitution, said:  “Nothing human can be perfect.  Surrounded by difficulties, we did the best we could; leaving it with those who should come after us to take counsel from experience, and exercise prudently the power of amendment.”

Here are a few suggestions:

overturn the Citizens United decision

term limits on federal judges

limit the presidential pardon power

include a penalty for violating the emolument clause

allow naturalized citizens to be President

remove presidential immunity for illegal but “official” acts 

strengthen the War Powers Act

insure that 2/3rds of Congress must approve changes to national landmarks

I got more.

Who is telling the truth?

Don’t think about the question I’m about to ask.  Just give your immediate reaction.  

If Trump said the U.S. had started negotiations with Iran, and the Iranian foreign minister said no negotiations were happening, which one would you believe?

I thought so. 

Profiles in Courage

Every year the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation presents Profiles in Courage awards.  This year one award went to Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell for standing up to Trump and maintaining the independence of the Federal Reserve Bank.

The other award went to the people of the Twin Cities for their work in protecting their neighbors from the Immigration and Customs Enforcement goons.

Both awards were deserved and so much better than that silly FIFA prize that looked like it came out of a Cracker Jack box.

The War Prayer

Our Secretary of War Pete Hegseth put out a call to the American people, asking them to pray for victory in battle.  He said we should pray “Every day on bended knee, with your family, in our schools, in your churches, in the name of Jesus Christ”

This reminded me of Mark Twain’s “The War Prayer.”  In a church a preacher and the congregation pray for victory in battle.  Then an old man comes to the back of the church and says that was only half the prayer.  He then prays this:

 

“O Lord our Father, our young patriots, idols of our hearts, go forth to battle — be Thou near them! With them — in spirit — we also go forth from the sweet peace of our beloved firesides to smite the foe. O Lord our God, help us to tear their soldiers to bloody shreds with our shells; help us to cover their smiling fields with the pale forms of their patriot dead; help us to drown the thunder of the guns with the shrieks of their wounded, writhing in pain; help us to lay waste their humble homes with a hurricane of fire; help us to wring the hearts of their unoffending widows with unavailing grief; help us to turn them out roofless with little children to wander unfriended the wastes of their desolated land in rags and hunger and thirst, sports of the sun flames of summer and the icy winds of winter, broken in spirit, worn with travail, imploring Thee for the refuge of the grave and denied it — for our sakes who adore Thee, Lord, blast their hopes, blight their lives, protract their bitter pilgrimage, make heavy their steps, water their way with their tears, stain the white snow with the blood of their wounded feet! We ask it, in the spirit of love, of Him Who is the Source of Love, and Who is the ever-faithful refuge and friend of all that are sore beset and seek His aid with humble and contrite hearts. Amen.

The Congregation dismisses him as a lunati

Fetterman needs to hear this

Sen. John Fetterman,

200 Chestnut St., Suite 600

Philadelphia, PA 18235

Dear Senator Fetterman:

Recently a friend sent me a copy of a talk by a lay priest in a Buddhist temple in Minneapolis.  When Japanese-Americans were rounded up during World War II, her parents were imprisoned in a “relocation camp” in Arkansas.  She compared the roundup and the imprisonment to what is occurring now.  She speaks from personal experience.

Now we have Markwayne Mullen replacing Kristi Noem.  Sen. Mullen, I understand, is a friend of yours.  I assume you care about the rules on search and seizure, believe that accused people have a right to a hearing, and think that when people are deported, it should at least be to the country they are from.  If their lives are endangered by their home government, under international law they should be granted asylum.  I assume you also believe that ICE agents should not be allowed to break down doors, should not arrest people at their citizenship hearings, and should not wear masks.

I will also assume that since you voted for your friend Sen. Mullen, you had some assurances that he believes that also, or you would not have voted to approve his appointment.

In addition, I must say that criticizing President Trump for going to war with Iran, for having no plan, for celebrating the death of civilians, and for never informing Congress is not “Trump Derangement Syndrome.”  It is criticism that is well deserved.  You, sir, are a United States Senator representing the people of Pennsylvania.  This is not a game or a popularity contest.

Sincerely,

Roy Christman

War Plans

Every now and then my friend Bill sends me a meme which I just need to share.  

So, what is the difference between Vietnam and Iran?

Answer:  Trump had a plan to get out of Vietnam. 

What is happening in Cuba

Tonight millions of Cubans will be without lights.  Food will rot in refrigerators and freezers.  Dialysis machines won't work.  X-ray machines won't show broken bones.  Surgeons will work by flashlight.  Computers won't work.  

This is a result of a U.S. blockade.  Why are we doing this?  Because we can.  Because we are run by an evil and incompetent jerk who has no compassion, no empathy, not even any commons sense.  And millions of Americans still think he is great.  And my own Congressman and one of my Democratic Senators say nothing.  

Songs for St. Patrick's Day

I signed up for a New York Times program called “The Amplifier” which occasionally sends me suggestions for songs I might like.  Today I received a list of eight songs.  I think you can get them all on You Tube.

Booker T. and the M.G’s  “Green Onions”

Lorde  “Green Light”

The George Baker Selection  “Little Green Bag”

Creedence Clearwater Revival  “Green River”

Tim Harden  “Green Rocky Road”

Roger Miller  “Little Green Apples”

Joni Mitchell  “Little Green”

Ray Charles  “It Ain’t Easy Being Green”

And I’ll add a real Irish song–“Kevin Barry."   You can hear that one on You Tube sung by Raul Robeson, Stompin’ Tom Connors, or the Clancy Brothers.

What will Ryan Mackenzie do about this?

After trashing allies, Trump wants them to help guard ships.  That is the definition of chutzpah, and it betrays a complete lack of planning for this war.

Now Trump is talking about seizing Cuba.  Cuba!

He is is threatening to cut off the HIV aid to Zambia, a program started by George W. Bush, unless the U.S. gets advantageous terms for importing certain minerals from that country.

And what will my Congressman Ryan Mackenzie do about any of this?  Not a goddam thing.

Farmworkers needed

Of course they are.  If the Immigration and Customs Enforcement goons were going after “the worst of the worst,” we wouldn’t need to worry about the shortage of farmworkers.  That was never the plan of Stephen Miller.  It was mass deportations from the start.

Now the administration is giving in to agribusiness.  Brooke Rollins, Secretary of Agriculture, said the administration was planning to ease “regulatory burdens and lower labor costs.”  What that means is the administration is increasing the numbers of foreign workers under the H-2A visa program.  

One way to attract more workers would be to raise the wages of farmworkers, but that would make groceries cost even more than they do.  The Trump administration is caught in a dilemma resulting from its inability to think more than a day or two into the future.

Some info for this post is from Linda Qiu, “U.S. Eases Path for Hiring More Migrant Farmworkers,” New York Times, (March 15, 2026), p. 17.  The snarky comments are all mine.

Predatory Hegemony

In the March/April issue of Foreign Affairs, Stephen M. Walt, a professor of international affairs at the the Harvard Kennedy School, says the U.S.foreign policy can best be described as “predatory hegemony.”  Foreign policy is no longer treated as a “plus-sum” game in which two sides can benefit.  Instead, Trump sees it as a “zero-sum” game.  The U.S. gains will be at the expense of the losses of other countries, both former allies and opponents.

Here is how Walt sums up current policy:

A predatory hegemon is a dominant great power that tries to structure its transactions with others in a purely zero-sum fashion so that the benefits are always distributed in its favor.  A predatory hegemon’s primary goal is not to build stable and mutually beneficial relations that leave all parties better off but to ensure that it gains more from every interaction than others do.  An arrangement that leaves the hegemon better off and its partners worse off is preferable to an arrangement in which both sides gain but the partner gains more even if the latter case yields large absolute benefits for both parties.  A predatory hegemon always wants the lion’s share.

Walt points out that predatory hegemony often has short term gains but tends to ignore the long-term negative consequences.  The U.S. will become poorer, less secure, and less influential than it has been for last 100 years.  

Don't say you weren't warned

During my high school and college years I read a pile of science fiction.  That was a golden era of cheap paperback books and of really good science fiction writers like William Tenn, Isaac Asimov, Theodore Sturgeon, Judith Merril, Clifford Simak, Phillip K. Dick, and Poul Anderson.  

I got rid of most of those books years ago, but I still have a copy of Selections from Science-Fiction Thinking Machines edited by Groff Conklin.  This  paragraph is from the frontispiece of the Bantam edition of 1964:

Robots...Androids...Electronic Brains...

The mechanical men are waiting, biding their time.  Imitation flesh and blood–soulless, but not mindless–they were invented by man to do the world’s hard work.  But how long will they let us be masters?

What an A-hole

I wonder how many times I’ve uttered that phrase after hearing our President on some topic.  Must be hundreds.  

The latest was tonight when the news was showing him in front of a crowd at some political event bragging about how great the name “Epic Fury” sounded.

The fact that this war is costing billions, has killed American soldiers and about 130 Iranian school girls–not mentioned.  It’s like a game to him.  He has no idea what war is like.  

But wow, it has a neat name.  

What an A-hole.

Rep. Andy Ogles: "Muslims don't belong in American society"

 Rep. Andy Ogles

151 Cannon House Office Building

Washington D.C. 20515

Dear Rep. Ogles:

I know that you would never say that “Muslims don’t belong in American society.”  I know that someone is trolling you in order to discredit you and make you look like a bigot.  You need to come out with a firm denial that you said that.  

I think it is really nasty when people use the Internet or social media to discredit our Republican politicians.  I have friends and relatives in Tennessee, and I know that people in that great state are fine and reasonable people who would never insult millions of their fellow Americans.  Speak out and explain that you are a victim of a terrible smear.

Sincerely,

Roy Christman

Goliath's Curse

That’s a book by Luke Kemp, published last year by Alfred A. Knopf.  The subtitle is The History and Future of Societal Collapse..  I asked the Palmerton Library to order a copy, and I am almost finished with it.  (It’s 445 pages long with another 100 pages of end notes and the index.).  

If you read one book this year, read it.  On the other hand, if you want to continue whistling a happy tune, betting on football games, and thinking life is good, run from this book.  It will made you very afraid.