What Hegseth misses

I have no doubt that I would make a better President than Donald Trump.  After today I also realize I’d make a better Secretary of Defense than Hegseth.  (Yes, I would change the name back.)

Right now China is amassing missiles across the strait from Taiwan.  Are we ready for that?

Warfare is changing.  Our Abrams tanks are the equivalent of Poland’s cavalry before the World War II.  Our aircraft carriers are sitting ducks.  Our Stryker troop carrier is so bad that troops in Iraq joked that it was a great fighting vehicle as long as the weather was dry, the roads were paved, and it didn’t need to fight.

According to an article in the latest Harper’s, the U.S. is developing the M7 rifle to replace the M4 which replaced the M16.  The M7 is “bigger, heavier, more complicated, less reliable, and costlier than its predecessor.”

The war in Ukraine shows the vulnerability of the old ways of combat.  The Russians and Ukrainians are actually putting screens and a type of shed around their tanks to intercept drones.  Drones are cheap and effective, but they don’t make much money for the military contractors, so we don’t build many.

And what is Hegseth worried about?  Overweight generals.  And what is Trump worried about?  Internal enemies.  We are in trouble.  I think our generals know that.  Tonight they are shaking their heads in disbelief.

Trump's judges

 Many of us hope that after Trump the country will return to some sort of sanity.  The problem is that some things will be so broken by the end of his term that they may never be fixed.  One of those areas of irreparable harm could well be the courts.

Let’s say there was an effort to put an initiative on the ballot in the state of Missouri to make abortion legal.  Let’s say I believed this was a good cause.  May I travel to Missouri and circulate the petition?

Of course I may.  There have been at least 18 court cases that affirmed the right to use out-of-state campaign workers along with the right of campaigns to pay out-of-state signature gatherers.  Nonetheless, on September 9 the 11th Circuit Court ruled that Florida COULD ban out-of-state circulators.  

The vote was 2-1.  The two judges talked about “fraud,” but there were no examples of fraud.

The two judges were appointed by Trump.  The dissenter was appointed by Biden.  Are those two judges like Trump’s other appointees–Homan, Noem, RFK Jr., Hegseth, Bondi, Patel?  No doubt.  And unlike those other clowns, judges are appointed for life.  

Overthrowing dictators

My daughter said she read that the overthrow of Nicolae Ceausescu began with one cartoon posted on a wall in Bucharest.  I have no idea if this is true, but I do know that dictators really hate when someone makes fun of them.  They can’t stand to be mocked or ridiculed.  Remember Charlie Chaplin’s “The Great Dictator.”  Hitler hated–hated–that film.

Do you know the real reason the escalator stopped in the U.N. building?  The load was over the weight limit.  

We need more of that.  Laugh at the guy.  Laugh at his minions.  Do you know why Steven Miller got into politics?  His arms were too weak to strangle prostitutes.

There is a reason Trump hates Steven Colbert and Jimmy Kimmel.  He can’t stand to be mocked.  The British are better at this than we are, but I think we can catch up.  

Just today I opened a fortune cookie at a Chinese restaurant that read: “Release the Epstein files.”  I’m not kidding.

"Lansford Alive" Festival

Lansford is a small town in Carbon County, PA.  It is located in the anthracite coal fields, and it has seen better days.  A community group called “Lansford Alive” is doing its best to improve Lansford by promoting tourism and building a spirit of community.  The organization sponsors a festival in the fall.  Two blocks on Ridge Street are blocked off, bands play, and vendors set up booths.

One of those booths belonged to the Carbon County Democrats, staffed by volunteers, including me.  We gave away pocket Constitutions and free chances for $25 gift certificates for three local restaurants.

This is the third community-type festival I’ve worked in the last two months.  In previous years we got all kinds of grief from MAGAs, including occasional insults, even cursing.  

Those days are over.  So many people came up and thanked us for being there.  People told us how worried they were, and how they couldn’t stand Trump.  Lansford voted for Trump in 2024 and probably would again, but I’ll bet if they voted today, Trump would not do nearly as well.  

Could things be turning around?  I certainly hope so.

I receive a letter from President Trump

A few days ago my friend John asked me if I ever received a response to one of the letters I sent to Trump.  Today I did.  It thanked me for taking the time to “share my views.”  It also said (and I am not kidding):

“We are in the midst of the most extraordinary period of political reform in the history of our country.  Since I took office on January 20, we have spared no time in making good on our promises to the American people and advancing our agenda of prosperity, peace, safety and success.”  

He went on like that, talking about “dangerous illegal aliens,” “rebuilding our economy,” “purging left-wing indoctrination from our schools,” etc., etc., etc.

In the last paragraph he said, “The Golden Age of America is finally upon us–and we are only getting started.”  He then asked God to bless me and the U.S. as well.

It was signed Donald Trump.  I thought, “Where did I see that signature before?”  Then I remembered.  It was scrawled in the crotch area of a crude drawing of a woman’s torso.  Same signature exactly!

It's officially here

When the President of the United States can order the Justice Department to investigate people he considered his enemies and the Justice Department complies with the President’s wishes, it is safe to say we no longer have the rule of law.  We have entered the realm of tyranny.  That isn’t hyperbole.  That is fact.

I don’t know where this is going, and I am not sure who will stand up to this (Congress?  the Supreme Court?  the Press–do we even have a free press?  the American people?) but I am not optimistic. 

Antifa is hiding in your closet

Trump is obsessed with “Antifa,” a name given to an unorganized group of self-proclaimed anti-fascists who have no headquarters, no fundraising mechanism, no bank account, no membership rolls, no website.  Trump has declared Antifa a “domestic terrorist organization.”  

There is no such thing under U.S. law.

This order will have no practical effect whatsoever.  It may make Trump appear in his own mind as a dynamic guy taking action.  By the way, I consider myself to be anti-Fascist.  I have a feeling that every reader of this post is also anti-Fascist.  At least I hope so.

"Turning Point" at Lehighton High

According to an article in today’s Times News, the Lehighton Area School Board recently discussed forming a student organization called Turning Point, a right-wing Christian nationalist group founded by the late Charles Kirk.

I have no quarrel with this, but I was under the impression that student groups were formed by interested students, not some old farts and windbags sitting on the Lehighton School Board.

Perhaps instead of trying to indoctrinate their students, Board members should discuss introducing civics and American political theory classes into the curriculum.

On the Road

I’ve driven across the country about 40 times, and for all but the first two times, I kept trip journals.  Who I met, what national parks I visited, storms I witnessed, where my car broke down, where I found fossils.  

I am now in the process of typing up these journals.  It won’t be anything like Jack Kerouac’s adventures.  Not as much dope or drinking or carousing, although one time our daughter and I did stop in Kansas to photograph an abandoned farmhouse on Route 36 and found ourselves in a low spot covered with shoulder high marijuana plants, which I learned is called “ditch weed.”  

The journals won’t be published, and I’m not sure anyone will read the whole collection.  Maybe our grandson, who was along on at least four of them, will enjoy them.  I will say that after traveling back and fourth, I came to appreciate this country.  What a wonderful place.  What great people.  I know we have some awful jerks in the U.S., but almost every encounter I had along the way was enjoyable.  Even in Texas.

My most recent letter to the President

President Donald Trump

The White House

1600 Pennsylvania Ave.

Washington, D.C. 20500

Dear President Trump:

I realize that you might not have liked Jimmy Kimmel very much, but I don’t understand why you just didn’t change the channel.

That’s what I did when “The Apprentice” came on.

Sincerely,

Roy Christman

Charlie, you summed it up for me

“I don’t care that he’s dead.”

“He’s not a hero.”

“He’s a scumbag.”

“He shouldn’t be celebrated.”

Charlie Kirk said that about George Floyd.  That’s my feeling exactly.

Some other things to get depressed about

One bad and depressing item after another assaults us daily.  Jimmy Kimmel, stupid stuff from Kennedy, Patel, Bondi, Noem.  People caving.  Businesses caving.  Praise for sexist/racist commentators.  It gets so depressing.  

As a public service, I will give you three things that don’t relate to Trump about which to get depressed.

Here is a headline from the Sept. 10th New York Times:  “High School Seniors Test at a Record Low In Math and Reading.”  We are getting dumber and dumber.

Here’s another headline from the Sept. 16 New York Times:  “Study Finds Drop in Reading for Fun.”  People are too busy looking at their phones.

And we haven’t had any real rain for over a month.  We are watering my pepper plants every other day, but our rain barrels are almost empty.  All of my Scotch bonnets, habaneros, and jalapeños are drying up.  Not looking good.

Now, don’t you feel better? 

Antigone obeys a higher law

In what is perhaps the first recorded play, the subject is resistance to tyranny. 

Antigone wished to bury her dead brother Polinices, who had revolted against the state.  The ruler (and Antigone’s uncle) Creon was something of  tyrant, and he ordered the body to remain on the ground where dogs could eat it.  

Antigone disobeyed Creon and buried her brother, as was the Greek custom.  Creon was angered.

Creon [to Antigone]:  Now you, Answer this question.  Make your answer brief.  

You knew there was a law forbidding this?

Antigone:  Of course I knew it.  Why not?  It was public.

Creon:  And you have dared to disobey the law?

Antigone:  Yes.  For this law was not proclaimed by Zeus,

Or by the gods who rule the world below.

I do not think your edicts have such power

That they can override the laws of heaven,

Unwritten and unfailing laws whose life 

Belongs not to today or yesterday

But to time everlasting; and no man

Knows the first moment that they had their being.

Approximately 20 centuries later Jefferson said pretty much the same thing.   He didn’t mention Zeus, but he did mention that we were under the Laws of Nature and Nature’s God.  It’s in the first paragraph of the Declaration of Independence.  

Trump and Vance and that whole crowd are not the highest law.  Remember that.

My copy of Sophocles’ Antigone was translated by Theodore Howard Banks.

     

Three ABC Execs executed by firing squad

That is not true, of course.  ABC gave Trump $15 million to settle a lawsuit against remarks made by one of their reporters.  They also paid a million in legal fees.  This in a country in which the First Amendment guarantees freedom of the press.  

No CBS executives were executed when Trump complained about coverage on “60 Minutes.”  There was no threat of jail or execution or even a fine.  Nonetheless, the parent company of CBS, Paramount, gave Trump $16 million, worried about possible–possible–merger difficulties.

The Colbert Show was cancelled.  No arrests were made.  No one was jailed.  No one was even threatened with jail.

Now Jimmy Kimmel is cancelled.  No one sent to the Gulag.  No one hustled off to a concentration camp.  Just a word from the Dictator-in-Chief and these high paid executives scurry for cover like roaches when the light is turned on.  

I can see executives cowering in fear in Moscow when the KGB came knocking.  Or in Berlin when the Gestapo came knocking.  But here?  Now?  My goodness.  What a disgusting performance.  It’s called “anticipatory obedience.”  It is also called cowardice.

 

A fairly ringing defense of free speech

Yeah, it was mine.  A Palmerton High teacher posted something mildly critical of Charles Kirk on his Facebook page, and ill-informed people on the right demanded some sort of punitive action.  The room had a fairly large crowd, but only two of us spoke about this issue–me and a young woman from one of the teacher’s classes who gave him high praise.

Here’s what I said:

My name is Roy Christman.  I live in the Palmerton Area School District at 6495 Pohopoco Drive, Lehighton.  I am a graduate of Palmerton High School, Class of 60, and my mom, Ellen Christman, was the first woman ever elected to the Palmerton Area School Board.

I taught classes in American Government, including Constitutional Law and American Political Theory, at San José State University for 28 years.  I’ve also taught American government courses at other colleges, including LCCC, East Stroudsburg State University, and Penn State–Behrend Campus.

I can testify that many of my students had a hard time with the Constitution.  The language of 1787 is a bit more flowery than that of 2025.

On the other hand, the First Amendment, adopted in 1791, is crystal clear, even to a high school sophomore.

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

You may not punish someone because you don’t like his or her political views expressed on a Facebook page.  You can’t be forced to worship a certain way or be punished for the way you worship.  You have the right to criticize the highest officials in the land in a letter to the Times News.  You can stand on the street corner with a sign that says “Let’s go, Brandon” or “Publish the Epstein files.”

I brought along ten pocket constitutions if anyone needs one.  You can also download the text from the Internet.  It really is a wonderful document we can be proud of. 

Thank you.

I good a nice round of applause, and a thank you from the attorney for the School District.  Do I feel good?  You betcha.

Now I wait for the knock on the door.