May He Trek Among The Stars

 Among the multitude of things I have done to make money or to gain knowledge, I am an actor (and I sing a bit sometimes).  I have also been involved in live music performances in non-performance roles.  Because of those things and my generally gregarious nature, I have met and spoken with and otherwise interacted with some pretty damn famous folk.

In my experience, those famous folk were folk.  Not one of them was to the best of my observation, perfect. (although some were really nice)  Mostly, they were just folk.  They were famous for doing what they were paid to do.

So I don't kneejerk to any attitude towards them.  It is as true of actors and musicians whose skills I don't especially appreciate as it is of those that I have gone out of my way to enjoy their skills.  

I don't lie to myself and pretend that they are family or close friends whether I like their performance skills or not.  I would not say that I don't care at all about them but, unless they truly are known to me as friends, such care as I feel is pretty muted.

All of that that to say that hearing of the demise of Sir Patrick Stewart hit me a little differently than the death of most famous folk I don't actually know.

Fair Winds & Following Seas Sir Patrick.  I think the world was a little better with you in it.

The Bullet Goes Where It Is Pointed.

 The kid was One. Year. Old.

In this paragraph, I will lay out all of the things a one year old can do to justify or excuse or rationalize said one year old being shot to death.             And I’m done.

Listen, I have said this before and I am sad to repeat it here.  The difference between the good guys and the bad guys is that the good guys care where their bullets go after being fired.

Jim Wright (Stonekettle) has pointed out all sorts of stuff that I also pointed out (to a much smaller audience for my efforts). And you should definitely go and read all of his essays on the subject.  (https://www.stonekettle.com/p/stonekettle-stations-greatest-hits.html) Scroll down to “The Gun Posts” .

Essentially Jim agrees with me that there are no accidents with guns.  Remember that my rule for accidents is that they cannot be predicted or prevented.  If they can, it is an incident rather than an accident.  It may well be an unintentional incident but, it was preventable and predictable.  I am a gun owner and a shooter.  These are the standards that I hold myself to and you are horribly confused if you think I am going to cut you more slack that I am going to cut me.

Law enforcement officials especially should be held to those standards. (but really, any gun owner/user)  I think it was comedian Chris Rock who said there were some jobs where you can’t have an occasional off day.  LEOs should never pull the trigger if they are not sure beyond doubt about where the bullet will go even if it ricochets, misses, or goes through the intended target.  

The mere fact that the murder of the toddler was not intentional in no way, shape, form, or  fashion ameliorates the fact that it was infact a murder - an unjustified and inexcusable taking of a life.  Either the LEO was negligent or the murder was intentional.  There are no other options.  I would accept a sudden and unexpected earthquake as a reason to excuse the murder but there was not one. None of the things that would justify such an outcome to an honest shooter were present.

Regardless of whether you agree with me so far, I need you to be honest with yourself for a minute.  Imagine that child was white, a billionaire’s offspring and sitting on his nanniy’s lap in a Bentley.  Can you state with a straight face that you believe the outcome would be the same?  (Why yes, wealthy folks have been documented shoplifting and committing other crimes that would be of minimal benefit to them.)  

The manner of expression may have changed but the reality of racism has not changed, it is still being seen every day.  Pair that with the nearly as common economic discrimination and we see what the corrupt AG considered justification for her declaration.

“When your only tool is a hammer, all your problems look like nails.”  It is well past time to train LEOs to consider different tools as their primary and secondary choices in situations that have not devolved into violence.

 

DEATH

I do not wish to die.  Perhaps in the future that will change but right now I have no desire to be dead.  

I'm probably underselling it.  I have a huge desire to continue to enjoy being alive.  There are plenty of changes I would like to see but if nothing changes significantly I still don't wish to be dead.

All of that is to establish that I have no secret desires or intentions that mental health professionals might want to talk to me about.

As a culture, we seem to be really confused about death.  We know academically that the overwhelming majority of everything that has ever been alive (on this planet) has experienced death and we can extrapolate that eventually, everything that is currently alive will experience death.  That includes humans.  Me, you, them - we will all experience death.

So this is the part that makes no sense.  Would you hand a thief a plate of food to punish them?   Healthcare professionals are not, to the best of my knowledge, known to only provide breathing assistance to the truly evil.  What about a glass of water, would you give one to a person that assaulted you?  Everybody has to eat and drink and breathe so yea, giving food and water as punishment seems illogical and ineffective.  

Everybody dies.  Sooner, later, painfully, peacefully, comfortably or anguished or however but, history strongly suggests that die we will.  

Sooooooooo, death penalty, amirite?  Hypothetically, a guy rapes, tortures and kills a few folks.  I would not be shocked by any number of family members of the unlucky few demanding that the perp be punished by being put to death.  Why not sentence them to consuming a peppermint-tuna-garlic-vinegar milkshake?  Everybody eats and (in theory) no one likes that dish.  Everybody dies and most of us don't want to.  Peppermint tunafish milkshakes all round.

Or is it all about the timing?  Do we just fear/abhor/get-wierded out by death that comes at a time other than what we consider to be appropriate?  Okay, I suppose we could give our murderous rapist his peppermint tunafish milkshake in the middle of the night.

I'm at the age where I can expect news of the passing of someone I know to come fast and frequently. As noted by a good friend who is no longer with us, the Universe is clumpy.  Things happen where and when things happen.  Lately that clumpiness seems to have manifested as a spate of deaths that were unexpected by me.  There is a whole lot of lamentation going on.  The death that happens to the young or the healthy or the good really gets our attention and the majority of the deaths that are inspiring this piece fell into one or more of those categories - delineations that I readily admit are relative and subjective.  So I am thinking about death.

Is it a punishment?  Is it?!?!?!?  I participate in some groups on social media that are dedicated to the Singularity and to Transhumanism.  Y'all look them up if you need to but suffice to say that folks that are opposed to death and in favor of social media will eventually find their way there.  Death is anathema to a lot of us - the living.  It could be our ignorance of what, if anything, is on the "other side" that vexes us so.  (Or there could be others like me that have procrastinated sufficiently to justify an additional thousand years of life - so far.)

I was raised a Methodist.  Heaven, Hell, virgin birth, etc etc.  Dad was an AME minister.  Because of that and my propensity for talking to most anyone most anytime, I have been to a lot of funerals.   I have never been to a funeral where the loved ones left behind were happy about the demise of the focus of the homegoing.  Why?  Don't we want our loved ones in Heaven?  Will a few days or months or years make a difference to those facing an eternity in Hell?  Of all of the people I have known or been around is there no one that just enjoys the time they had with the deceased and celebrate their release?  Even if we are a bit raw for that, shouldn't we be able to not see that death as a punishment?   Why do we act as though we think a process all living things for untold eons have gone through and which all living things will go through is a punishment?

Unfortunately, I have only questions.  I know that there are cultures that take a different approach to death but it is still more of a matter of degree.  Babies are still being born.  We could fill the place up pretty damn quick if death stopped but births continued so, we understand the need for physical death.  So we know it is going to happen.  We know it needs to happen.  We know it is not just humans but everything that lives that will experience death.  Yet, death remains a last resort, a punishment for the truly evil, a reason for sadness and sorrow,. 

Ironically enough, simply dying is unlikely to be enough to give me the answers to my questions.  It's a funny world, doncha think?

A calm and quiet drifting off to a permanent sleep hardly seems a sufficient penalty for mass murderers and worse.  I'm certainly not suggesting that they should be allowed to walk among us.  I am though, suggesting that we need to call things what they are.  Putting Ted Bundy to death did not actually bring any of his victims back to life.  His publicized demise did not dry the tears or assuage the guilt of any parent or loved one.  What it did do was ensure that no future innocents would be subjected to Bundy's particular style of terror.  So my suggestion is simply that we call it what it is.  We could still sentence those who deserve it to "death ensurance".  It won't make anyone cry less.  It won't reduce anyone's guilt.  All it could do it is to stop the citizenry at large from belief in the fiction that we have done anything but prevent future insults from that particular individual.  That's all.

Every tear I have seen shed due to death has been shed by the living.  If the so-called “death penalty” truly is punishment, think about who is being punished.  To the best of my awareness, none of those given the penalty have had anything negative to say about it.

Unequivocal

 RUSSIA CANNOT PREVAIL IN ITS WAR AGAINST UKRAINE!!

Not Russia should not, not Russia may not.  They cannot win.

Unfortunately, they do have the ability to prolong the war.  They have the ability to terrorize the Ukrainian civilian population.  They have the ability to increase suffering around the world by denying the truth and continuing the atrocities.

Throughout history nations that are fighting for their land and freedoms against an allegedly superior authoritarian force have prevailed.  That is the history of the USA but it is not exclusive to us.  Plenty of authoritarians have been denied. The attacking forces know that a victory will not substantially change their lives.  The defenders OTOH, absolutely understand that their lives will be degraded if not ended should the attackers win.  The defenders have the motivational advantage.

Logistics almost always favors those fighting closest to home.  The greater the distance supplies have to travel to get to the fighters, the more opportunity for attacks or bad luck to interfere with the delivery.  Russia well knows that the problem is exacerbated by inclement weather.

Ukraine has developed weapon systems that are of significant interest to many others including developed nations.  They are acknowledged by the EU to be a critical buffer between them and the psychotic asswipe that Felon47 worships.  As such, Ukraine has the physical and emotional support of the overwhelming majority of the EU.  

Ukraine has limited its targeting to legitimate military targets.  You should understand that is a choice. It is a choice that can be unmade.  If the expressed wishes of the unholy alliance of Felon47 and his owner were to come to fruition and Zelensky was replaced, it seems quite unlikely that the next leader would show similar restraint.  It is very easy for me to imagine a less moral leader having no difficulty convincing the Ukrainian military to do to Russia what Russia routinely does to Ukraine.  Felon47 and his Vladdy Daddy are among the few that would complain about something like that.

Ukraine will win the war.  Russia has the power to make that victory excessively expensive but the simply do not have the ability to overcome the advantages Ukraine has or the problems Russia has.  “We” have openly chosen the immoral and losing side in a war started by said losing side.  “We have done so to our inescapable detriment.  It will not take years to fix what Felon47 is doing to our nation’s reputation.  It cannot be fixed anymore than Russia can win the war.  The world will have a new reality and historians will spend years and millions of words explaining what went wrong.  It should not take that many words.  Two words should do nicely.  The fault for whatever negative repercussions the USA experiences can be explained with just two words.  Trump.  MAGA.

So let me state this again with no equivocation.  Russia will lose the war and will drag the reputation and standing of the USA down with it.  That degradation can be laid fully at the feet of the feckless and spineless members of Congress who traitorously enable Felon47’s licking of Putin’s boots.  

Is that clear enough for you?

The Evolution (or Creation) Of Bad Science

 As a child I had a fascination with science fiction.  That fascination lasted well into adulthood.  I loved the stories of space travel and the colonization of other planets and star systems.  I watched Star Trek and loved it like I was being paid to.  Lo these many years (decades) later, real science and careful thought made me aware of something the stories I was reading/watching largely ignored.

There is an irony that I feel obligated to acknowledge.  One of the most well known stories - one that was certainly known to me - had that ignored issue as a central component.  Basically, we were warned.  We ignored it.

Certain well known and very wealthy (monetarily) individuals have talked about expanding humanity’s presence across the solar system and beyond.  Superficially, it is a desirable goal.  Superficially, we are but a few significant scientific advances from being able to accomplish that goal.  Hollywood is even producing movies that an uncritical analysis would lead one to reasonably believe that expansion is fairly near. I have some doubts.

According to science, humans did not always exist on this planet.  The planet itself existed as a distributed cloud of gas, dust and the detritus from the deaths of stars that preexisted our Sun.  If one accepts the truth of evolution - change over time - one should acknowledge that evolution on this planet did not start with the biological.  The distributed cloud evolved into a planet and the evolution continued.  When biology evolved, it continued to do so.  Eventually humans appeared.

Evolution as I understand it has multiple possible modes.  Small changes randomly take place as cells are dividing and multiplying.  Those changes can either be survival positive, survival negative or survival neutral.  The impact on survival can be immediate or effective on a much longer timeline.  It would not be unreasonable to suggest that some evolutionary changes are an effort of nature to address a specific problem.  I have no idea what problem or problems there might have been to instigate the evolution of humanity but, at some point, the planet evolved us to deal with something.  Nature can be a touch lazy.  She refused to do work that has already been done.  As such, humans have DNA sequences and biological traits in common with other living things on this planet, flora, fauna and fungi.

Of course, I will acknowledge that there are those who reject the evidence of evolution.  Some of them insist that the entirety of the Universe was intentionally constructed by a Divine entity generally referred to in Western culture as “God”.  Their understanding says God put us here and put other stuff here for us to use.  In reference to such things as I allege in this essay, it makes no fundamental difference whether we accept the scientific or the religious understanding.

According to your wilful understanding, humans were either evolved by this specific planet or a Divine entity intentionally placed humans on a planet that had been prepared specifically for humans.  Either way, the only reasonable conclusion is that the planet, Earth as it is known, is beyond integral to the existence of humanity as we know it.  

We know that water is necessary for human life. We can see water, we can feel humidity.  But adding water to the lunar regolith will not turn it into soil.  That requires a lot more in the way of physical and chemical processes that simply do not occur on the Moon.  Millions of years of those physical and chemical processes were necessary on Earth prior to the evolution of any sort of life and billions of years of those processes preceded humanity.  Soil has evolved, or was created, to enable the uptake of nutrients into plants and fungi that can then be used by internal human processes.  Things that we generally consider to be pests turn out to be integral to human life in any of an actual myriad of ways.

In “War Of The Worlds” by H.G. Wells, (circa 1896) the invading force is killed by microbial pathogens that evolved on Earth and as such, the alien invaders had no biological defenses against those pathogens.  The aliens were killed by the presence of those microbes.  Humans would be killed just as effectively by the absence of all of those microbes. 

Think of it like your car.  Picture the seats, windshield, steering wheel, brakes, paint, the road  and more.  Your car will start and run without those things but you cannot safely operate the vehicle without them and its continued existence gets less likely with each of those you delete.  Delete them all and your car is effectively useless.

For billions of years, microbes, plants, insects, arachnids, fungi, reptiles, fish, mammals and stuff that is extinct have been consuming and processing each other and creating the environment that allows us to flourish.  Perhaps we could terraform the Moon or Mars in a shorter time than Ma Nature took here on Earth but, I am absolutely sure we can’t do it in a human lifetime and possibly not in humanity’s lifetime.

Regardless of what Hollywood presents, we honestly need our magnetic field which helps protect us from cosmic radiation.  We honestly need our atmosphere, thin though it may appear, for the many things it does for us.  We honestly need the things that feast on dead and decaying biological mass.  We honestly need for all those things to have existed for millions of years before we show up.  

I do not know of one single scientist, engineer or reasonably serious person who espouses a belief that we can exist longterm anywhere without those things.  If we are particularly unlucky, we would get to a place that had microbes already.  We would die as Ma Nature (or God if you prefer) is unlikely to have given us immunity to microbes we were unlikely to encounter.  Either we need thousands to millions of years of terraforming or we are dead on arrival.  Those are pretty much the options.

Different Things

From the early days of AI being discussed by relatively "normal" people, I have suggested that it was misnamed.  

I have had a layman's understanding of the various permutations of AI for quite some time.  There was AGI which was Artificiial General Intelligence.  It was generally understood to be when a machine was as smart or capable of learning as most any human.  Then there was ASI which was Artificial Super Intelligence.  That one was understood as when a machine was as smart as all of humanity.

My issue with the naming early on was that if it was an actual intelligence, calling it "artificial" was not particularly informative.  I suggested that a better name/description would be Manufactured Intelligence. I still think my name is more accurate.  More importantly, my suggestion and Trump's idiocy are totally different things.

Artificial Intelligence, as we now know it, will not be changed by merely calling it Super Intelligence.  No clarity will be gained by observers or users.  The actual machine entities will not be made more powerfiul or smarter or easier to use or more intuitive or a better investment by playing stupid name games at the governmental level.  

I suppose there might well be those who are not paying close attention that could be convinced that Felon47 and his band of incompetents were actually doing something.  They aren't. What is being done is analogous to a non-swimmer flailing in deep water.  They are seriously trying to obscure the fact that they have no desire and no ability to understand anything at all about the probable longterm effects of a Machine Intelligence.  The goal is to protect themselves while they leave you playing the role of the canary in the coal mine.

Why are you alright with that??

The Steel Girder That Broke The Camel's Back

 I have seen bunches of posts on Bluesky suggesting that the other journalists in attendance should act in support of their cohorts that are verbally and unjustly attacked by POTUS or his disgusting band of incompetent suckups.

Today he has said - though as we all know, Felon47 is simply not a reliable source of information or even intent - that he is banning representatives of CNN, MS NOW and POLITICO from the WH.  Now, you should definitely NOT assume that I have any significant respect for the mealy-mouthed, weak-willed parrots that masquerade as journalists from those outlets but, one must work with what one has rather than what one wishes they had.  That said, it should be clear to anyone that serving him weak sauce serves no purpose other than to encourage his worst instincts.

Now would be a really good time for all of the journalists to band together for a cause.  Actually, they should band together for several causes.  Access. honesty, civility, respect, should all be the minimum a journalist gets.  They should walk out all together and refuse to return unless and until the Orange Scourge and his handlers publicly state their intention to change their ways and then back it up with action.  

We do NOT live in a monarchy.  Respect is not owed or guaranteed to anyone simply because they are sucking up tax dollars.  This behavior on Felon47's part should absolutely change things.  This ought to produce an audible crack in the camel's vertebrae.

Is It Really What It Is?

 As a general rule, we all like to pretend (or pretend to believe) that the Supreme Court justices are above and beyond politics.  We know that is a lie and we know that everyone else knows it is a lie but we do like pretending.

Normally, we like to assign the absence of politics to the specific rulings that they make.  I wonder though, if recently we have not seen another aspect of politicization of the Supremes.  Inside Congress, sometimes a representative that is in a seat that could be vulnerable in an upcoming election will wait to see if their vote will actually change anything before casting it.  They might even vote against the stated desire of their party once they know for sure their vote is meaningless.  In that way, they get to claim they did not support a position that is unpopular with their constituency.  

I hate that that is a thing.  I hate that the polity continues to fall for it.  It is an ongoing source of irritation for me.  I wonder if it isn't about to get worse.

Specifically, I wonder if Alito and Thomas were not simply polishing Felon47's knob once they were sure nothing would come of it.  I have not read the dissent(s) (or the decision for that matter) but, I am aware of the Felon's predilection for revenge against those who politically oppose him.  I wonder if they were just playing politics as the court continues to move away from the original intent (as I understand it).

In truth, the fact that it might be a reasonable suspicion is almost as bad for the court as would be proof that is what happened.  I doubt we will ever know for sure but, I have not observed a reason to believe it could not have happened that way.

Chains Of Command

 I am a citizen of the USA.  I was born in the USA as were my parents, grandparents and most, if not all, of my great-grandparents (I could look but I don’t want to).  I am a veteran of the USN but I did not stay long enough to earn a military retirement.  I am retired but I am not retired from anything that might be considered a government job.

As a private citizen of the USA, I am a subject of The Constitution.  I am not a subject of ANY elected official, especially POTUS. Let me make this more clear for all of you who might be reading this.  I AM NOT REQUIRED TO FOLLOW “ORDERS” HANDED DOWN FROM POTUS.

Executive orders are NOT law and I will not pretend that they are. I do not currently have what might be seen as a “Chain Of Command”.  I am NOT being paid by the military.  I am NOT employed by corporate America.  I will not be referring to the Gulf of Mexico as anything other than the Gulf of Mexico.  I will not be referring to Lake Ontario as anything other than Lake Ontario.  I could not possibly care less what the preferences of Felon47 are.  I am quite comfortable with Felon47 dealing with the consequences of his own idiocy even if that ends up with him embarrassed to the point of physical distress.

I am not going to harp on the irony of alleged “fiscal conservatives” acting as though there was no potential negative fiscal element to making the changes he has demanded.  As though maps and websites and manuals and textbooks all would update themselves with no input from us.  I am not going to harp on the irony of those who go on and on about “freedom” being willing to submit to the whims of an overweight, largely uneducated, failure of a businessman. I refuse to participate in that level of hypocrisy.  I refuse to even act as though I might have any respect for any of his ill-considered opinions.

I am not required by law or tradition to take orders from any ersatz king.  And frankly, I am more than a little embarrassed for those toadies who do consider his mental/verbal diarrhea to be orders worthy of acquiescence.  His commands hold no chains for me.

Up is Down - Wet is Dry

 I guess Melania has officially flipped the script. I mean, she is an immigrant who has hired a natural born citizen to do a job she finds disgusting.

She probably would give Natalie a raise. With Natalie around, Melanoma no longer has to touch Felon47 or even be seen with him.

OTOH, WTF do we need Melanoma for now???

LIAR

Now, given the title of this piece, you would not be considered unreasonable if you were to assume it was a piece about Felon47 and his criminal cabal.  You'd be wrong but not unreasonable.

In this case, I am talking about me.  I'm the liar.  In my defense, the lies to which I refer are not malicious.  They will not be of financial benefit to me nor will they increase my social status.

The lies specifically reference experiences I had during my time in the USN ('73-'83).  As a routine part of my duties, I served on several different ships.  I was assigned to the USS Mitscher DDG-35 as a PCS transfer after my first tour of duty in Rota Spain.  However, that first tour of duty and my last tour which happened to be the same place/command, involved temporary duty on a variety of vessels.  Troop carriers, aircraft carriers, cruisers, destroyers and whatever I have forgotten.  I was ferried about on helicopters, and fixed wing cargo planes.  On at least two occasions I was on a plane that "trapped" on an aircraft carrier.

While I was trained as a Cryptologic Technician - Operator, I had several ancillary duties.  I supervised the loading of a 5" gun.  I donned a purple vest and participated in vertical replenishment operations(VERTREP).  I hung onto a line while green water crashed down on me and my shipmates during underway replenishment (UNREP).  I cleaned, I drove, I trained others.  

When I lie about my USN experiences, whether I am discussing official duties or stupid stuff done on liberty, it is generally because the truth is not believable for folks that were not there.  I do not exaggerate anything, instead I tone it down.  The things I actually saw or participated in or heard about would be rejected by Hollywood for being too over the top.  

I strongly suspect that I am not the only one that lied to make things believable.  As a matter of fact, I would be amazed to find out that the conditions aboard the USS Lincoln were not significantly worse than what has been reported so far.  I served on ships that had a malfunctioning desalination unit and as such, had to go inport or pipe the water over during an UNREP.  I have seen days when every meal was hotdogs - breakfast, lunch, dinner and midrats (meal for those on an overnight shift).  I have tied ropes to my dungarees (work clothes) to wash them by towing them behind the ship because fresh water was too important to use for laundry.  I never mentioned any of that stuff to my family.  As far as I knew, no one else did either.  We just put up with it, bitched about it, and continued to perform our duties.

I'm not here to tell you that Sailors don't complain.  Complaining was as common as cussing.  The thing about complaining though, is that its effect on readiness is minimal.  OTOH, the issues being described by those aboard ships and stations in the Middle East, will absolutely affect readiness whether anyone complains or not.

If you are not there and have not been there then your best bet is to listen to those who are there or have been there.  The top of the chain of command knows what is reported to them and those who would like to be promoted (READ: everyone) are likely to at least try to soften the truth so as to minimize negative repercussions.

I believe the Sailors.  The experiences that I had or observed are the reason I believe the Sailors.  The fact that I have been places and done things in the USN that I still tone down when I tell the stories will not let me doubt those Sailors.  I can't tell you how to feel but I feel sympathy for the Sailors and disgust for Felon47 and his miserable band of incompetents.  I feel intense anger for the spineless republicans that continue to enable the worst POTUS in history. 

FW&FS

 Yesterday I heard from one of the veterans that used to post here that another one of us had shuffled off this mortal coil.  A hearty and well meant Fair Winds & Following Seas to an old Grunt.

Gordon, you are relieved.  Until my turn comes, I have the watch.

Some Of You May Die

 On several occasions, I have pointed out that if you do not look out of the mirror at Felon47, he does not give a shit about you.  The reich-wing simply dismisses such claims and those on the left that think I am being hyperbolic generally do so quietly.

Take a look at who was left on the plane that was effectively used as a decoy target when the Felon was leaving Turkey.  No amount of slurping on the Orange Shit Gibbon's ass was sufficient to guarantee a seat on the plane the Secret Service considered safe enough for POTUS to be on.

Seriously, go research who was left on the plane that was credibly threatened by a nation we are at war with and whose children we have killed.  With certain people, loyalty is a one way street.  It was true when I first started making the claim but now there is no reason for anyone to not know it.

"Some of you may die, but it's a sacrifice I am willing to make." 

Consequences Don't Care

 Okay, y'all need to watch this video from Belle Of The Ranch.  Then you need to extrapolate widely.  I'd say show it to your reich-wing family and friends but, apparently once they get a taste for Felon47's ass, that is all they are willing to get their heads around.

We are notoriously short-sighted in our thinking in this nation, especially the last 20 years or so.  At least the sane(ish) among us need to put some effort into changing that.

https://youtu.be/yFWzpamq9MU?si=XN4a4YwDtBdaarm_

It Ain't Like That pt. 2

 My friend Bill Foster (ET USN retired) published his $0.04 worth on his Substack after he published my piece there.  So I am publishing his here.  Add your own if you are so inclined.

Steve’s thoughts on military members following orders and performing collateral duties yesterday inspired me to write a few thoughts down.

It often surprises me the differences between military and civilian life. For instance, in the military, you have a clear path and a goal. Always. You’re an E-4 and you want to be an E-5. One of the most common things you are told is that you should be observing your boss and thinking “what do I need to do to get his job?” It’s powerful. There is always a goal and always things you can do to move in that direction. When I got out, I took a silly retail job while I looked for a “real” job. The attitude which I was consumed with of wanting your boss’s job didn’t work there at all. It was seen as threatening. In the military, your boss doesn’t care, partly because she wants her boss’s job but especially because she will be leaving soon. After all, everyone moves every 2-4 years. Later, when I got my “real” job, it was completely the opposite. There were 50 people and everyone was in their spot. There was no moving up without moving out except in certain specific cases. Again, quite a culture shock even though half of us were ex-military.

Like Steve, I wasn’t ever only responsible for my job (Electronics Technician – Calibration). At various times, I worked in the CIC, or I was a repair locker leader, a safety officer, a urinalysis coordinator (yes, that involved seeing most of the 1200 or so dicks on the ship). I was a swimmer. I ran a newspaper for two years. I played racquetball. I was public affairs officer (running the newspaper was part of that). I drove a bus to Graceland for a very short period. The point is that in the military, you are rarely supervised closely. You will have at least a couple jobs, and you will certainly hear if you mess one of them up but mostly, you just work.

Another thing that is different than most civilians expect is that the Navy was – although we didn’t call it that at the time – the most DEI, woke, socialist place I ever worked. When I was in Kosovo, someone found some Montana militia stuff and some racist songs on the computer of a dude who worked for me. He was on a plane home two days later. I am not saying there wasn’t any racism, but you are absolutely working with or for Asians, Latinos, Blacks, and Women. My first two jobs after I got out, I only worked with white men but that doesn’t happen in the Navy with its huge black population. In fact, the Army is 50% African American.

So, the composition of the military means you learn diversity and how to work with other people, but you also get taught this stuff. A LOT. Most promotions come with a 2–4-week school with units on racism and sexism. You will attend one-week schools on anger management, on drinking management, on styles of leadership that involve listening to others.

The TV stations at sea and overseas were a service called Armed Forces Radio and Television. Because the majority of the content was donated, by law they had to be commercial free. Instead, they made their own PSAs which ran instead. Don’t Drink. Exercise. Don’t hit your kids. Drive the speed limit. Do the right thing. Threse are your rights. They were incessant and annoying, but I think they were effective. I mean, they may not do much but it’s gotta be better than ten beer commercials in a row. I hated them back then but now I kinda miss them.

And I don’t want to make everything sound rosy. All this work was necessary because there were a lot of stupid people and a lot of incorrect attitudes. Misogyny was rampant. But it was much better when I retired than when I started (Look up something called Operation Tailhook for why). When I entered male homosexuality was greatly suppressed, to the degree that 20-year-old me genuinely believed there were no gays on my ship. We looked at “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” as helpful because at least after that gays could be open and they were not before. The navy was dealing with policemen who shot one another playing quick draw, marines who gave each other tattoos with coat hangers heated up on irons, marines who sexually assaulted their bulldog with radio antennas, drunk drivers killing a goat in Spain, over enthusiastic hazing etc. Those are all things I witnessed.

In the military, there are no private lives. If you get in a bar fight, your commander will know so quickly that it is better if you tell your boss before he finds out. If your wife gets three speeding tickets, you be in someone’s office getting chewed out. If your kid fails school, you’ll hear about it. People could and did get sent to another place for their family’s behavior.

Free complete health care, discounted grocery stores with no tax, free gyms, department stores tax free that could carry anything they wished, your boss knows and controls everything, educational messages on TV, mandatory behavioral training, it is truly a different lifestyle and both in good ways and bad ways, it is way more socialist than anything I experienced in America otherwise.

No Good GOPers

 If any of you were gullible enough to think that some GOPers might have grown a spine or discovered patriotism, the Blanche confirmation holdout senators have said that they find him qualified and suitable for the position.

The guy who has a financial and personal conflict of interest with the POTUS, the guy whose actions as acting AG clearly indicate he has no intention of adhering to the traditional norms of the office, the guy who refuses to act independently of the Executive Office, the guy who has ignored the law passed by Congress pertaining to the release of the Epstein files, the guy who met for hours with a pedophile enabler and abuser yet has refused to spend any time with Epstein's, Maxwell's and Trump's victims, they think that guy is qualified and suitable.

This is exactly the sort of crap that would start riots in a nation where citizens thought for themselves instead of kowtowing to state run media.

It Aint Like That

 This is primarily for those that have never served in the military.  Even if you were military adjacent, there is a solid probability that there are things you simply do not understand.  

I frequently hear or read of someone expressing some version of “All you guys can do is take orders”,  Implying that without a superior there standing over us peons, we would not know when to eat, sleep, breathe, fight or fuck.  They seem to think that everything that gets done has to have an officer’s immediate and ongoing expressed approval.

That is exactly how it was not.

I was an enlisted man in the USN for ~10 years.  I did a lot of different jobs while I was in.  Everything from the stereotypical “KP” duty which mostly involved unloading trucks and washing/peeling potatoes to training coworkers and subordinates on computer systems.  I was a Duty Driver on occasion.  I served on Shore Patrol during liberty.  I participated in UNREPs and VERTREPs (underway replenishment and vertical replenishment).  I mopped and buffed floors.  I did other relatively menial things that were not my primary job but were a duty I was assigned.  I also did do my primary job mostly while doing those other things as well. (although the KP was just in Boot Camp before I got to my primary job.)

I am unable to recall a single occasion wherein a commissioned officer ordered me to do something and then supervised me until it was done.  Hell, I cannot think of a senior NCO that did that (think Chief Petty Officer and above).  When given a new job, there MAY have been a 2nd or 1st Class Petty Officer that watched me initially but I can’t think of a specific incident and it certainly did not last past training if it happened at all.

My experiences with orders in the military were primarily with standing and/or general orders.  Once you got your assignment(s), it was up to you to get there at the assigned time.  There were SOPs for everything (usually a three ring binder or a printed book that gave the procedures for anything and everything) but no one read it to me while I worked.  A supervisor might check my work early on in a specific assignment but once they were reasonably sure I knew what I was doing, they moved on to doing other stuff that had nothing to do with me.  -- At one point I was typing up messages on teletypes so they could be transmitted via circuits to any of several recipients up to and including the POTUS.  The standard was that one person typed it and then checked it and passed it to a supervisor for a redundant check before transmitting it.  A lot of that stuff was preliminary analysis of raw intercept and/or observed behavior of other nation’s citizens/military.  So I typed a message and handed it to my supervisor for transmission.  He asked if I had checked it already.  I told him I typed it and had no need to check it.  He checked the message very closely with a look on his face that suggested that WHEN he found a mistake, I would learn a lesson that he would make sure I didn’t forget.  He didn’t find a mistake.  He didn’t find a mistake on the next one either, or the one after that.  He quit checking my work. If I typed it, he sent it.  I even occasionally went to the originating officer to suggest to them that they had left something out or worded something differently than they intended.  After about the 3rd time I did that, they said to just make the corrections and quit bothering them.

I have told a thousand folks quite honestly that I had more freedom in the military than I have ever experienced in civilian life.  I rather doubt my experience was unique.  I would think I don’t have to explain that the concepts of freedom and constant close supervision are incompatible.  I did my primary job very well.  I did my ancillary duties competently.  I was a bit of a screwup with not oversleeping and boy did I like to party but, when I was there, my work was spot on.

An individual that has to be watched/supervised constantly will not be in the military very long - at least not in the USN.  An individual that cannot or will not do anything unless and until they receive a direct order will not be in the military very long.  We are told what the job is and trained to do it.  Then we are expected to get it done even if some improvisation is required.

Y’all need to let go of the idiotic idea that everyone in the military just stands around doing nothing until they get a direct order.  In my experience, it would be difficult to be more wrong about how the military works.

Signing Up For Death

 Every year several tens of thousands of humans die as a direct result of vehicular incidents.  This has been happening for several decades.  It looks to me as though the numbers are slowly declining as more safety is engineered into cars and trucks but it remains the cause of death of several tens of thousands of Americans.  A larger but equally disturbing number of folks are injured in those incidents.

This is not information that is kept secret.  It is promulgated in driver's ed classes.  Insurance companies use the numbers in calculating your rates.  They know what effect details like the gender, age, time as a licensed driver, miles driven, vehicle age, time of day and Gawd-only-knows what else have on the likelihood of an incident and the probable severity.

It has not been my experience that anyone seriously attempts to keep this information from the public. Yet, even with all of those horrible numbers freely available, a crazy percentage of Americans between the ages of 16-80 operate motor vehicles and an even larger percentage of the whole population rides in or on a motor vehicle sporadically or frequently.

I have held a driver's license for about 55 years.  I have driven in several different countries, states, cities and neighborhoods.  I have been involved in vehicular incidents as a driver, a passenger and a witness.  

At no point in my life has anyone said within range of my hearing that a victim in a vehicular incident knew the risks when they got in the car or on the motorcycle or walked alongside a street frequented by vehicles.  We acknowledge the necessity of vehicular transportation in our culture and in general, lament  it when things go horribly wrong.

I have though, heard or seen folks opine that members of the military knew what they were signing up for.  That is the circle I am unable to square.  Why should humans that sign up for the military be held to a higher standard of planning than those who frequently and routinely undertake behaviors that have not gone a whole day without killing a human in over a hundred years.

Young humans are notoriously short-sighted and young males especially so.  Signing up for the military doesn't fix that. If those in the military "know what they were signing up for", then so does every teenager and parent that ever gets in a car or sends their child off in a car.  If you aren't ready to hear that about your little Sorority Susie or Fraternity Fred, then you do not get to say it about any member of the military.

Sympathy For The Devil

 Personally, I have no sympathy for Satan. He created the modern GOP knowing full well that he would have to put up with them when they passed. Just wait until Felon47 gets to hell, then Satan really gets what he deserves.

I mean, hell sounded pretty unpleasant before but most of that unpleasantness appeared to derive from sensitivities and shortcomings of entities with limited physical bodies. Spending an eternity with the likes of Moscow Mitch, Ms Lindsey, Felon47 et al seems like something that a powerful, non-corporeal entity would be punished with.

It is probably just a limitation of my human existence but I have trouble visualizing a sufficiently heinous crime to justify such a punishment. A few hundred years? Perhaps but, an eternity? Satan really should not have done whatever it was that caused it.

Another Word About Words

 Look, I do not like it any better than you do.  It is shameful, pandering and potentially dangerous to the security and well being of the USA.  What it is not, is unConstitutional.

"To qualify as a U.S. Senator, a candidate must be at least 30 years old, a U.S. citizen for at least 9 years, and an inhabitant of the state they represent at the time they are elected,"

Lindsey Graham's sister appears to meet the qualifications laid out in the Constitution.  Another way of saying that is that she is qualified.  I would suggest that quite likely, the overwhelming majority of SC citizens over 30 are qualified.  I would NOT however, suggest that they were all suited for the position.

According to Wikipedia, "Lindsey Graham’s sister is Darline Graham Nordone. She earned a Bachelor of Science in sociology from the College of Charleston in 1989 and later completed a Master of Arts in rehabilitation counseling from South Carolina State University.

Professionally, she has worked in public administration and vocational rehabilitation, including roles with the South Carolina Department of Vocational Rehabilitation and later as commissioner and agency head of the South Carolina Commission for the Blind."

On paper, she might reasonably be considered more suited for the job than Lindsey.  I have no idea how she feels about the taste of of the Felon's ass but I observed Lindsey enjoying it.

I do not know her politics or personal views or how closely she pays attention to politics and I could not pick her out of a police lineup.  The information I have seen so far suggest that she is Constitutionally qualified for the job and I am uncomfortable with choosing a different standard.  I simply cannot at this time discuss her suitability for the position from an informed position.

I do not trust the GOP at all.  I will be totally unshocked if she turns out to be the same sort of irredeemable piece of shit that her brother became.  She can be both totally qualified and totally unsuited.

  

The words just have to mean something.

The Enemy Of Better

 Imagine if you will, Graham Platner had an established history of liberally using the “n” word.  As a Black man, I would not be happy with him being elected.  I am however, also a human who routinely accepts things which are less than perfect rather than waiting indefinitely for perfection, 

In engineering, we are known to say that “Perfect is the enemy of good enough.”  I would suggest that it is reasonable to extend that to perfect is the enemy of better.  It is also true that perfection is not guaranteed.  You could choose to wait for perfection and find that the lifespan of the universe is not a long enough time for perfection to arrive.

Felon47 is an adjudicated rapist, a pedophile and a pedophile’s best friend.  He is also a cowardly draft dodger, an inveterate liar, a racist and is as ignorant of actual history as anyone I have ever met or observed.  He is also the person that Susan Collins has decided is worthy of her absolute support even when she (allegedly) disagrees with what he is doing or how he is doing it.

If Graham Platner had an established history of liberally using the “n” word, his opposition to Felon47 and his policies make me believe that he is better than Susan Collins.  If perfection was on the way and he was the only thing blocking it, I would have no trouble abandoning him.  If he was elected to the Senate, I would have no issue with voting in a better human in six years.

I get it.  I understand why women are uncomfortable with Platner.  We want to show up on election day and then not have to think about it for the next several years.  We want the election process to result in perfection but, that aint how it works.  I think Graham Platner is better - better than Susan Collins.  I think the things that she has enabled Felon47 to do are worse for women and minorities than anything Platner has done.

Some folks value their honor over their rights.  My guess is that works out better as a thought experiment than it does when applied to real life.  What Felon47 has been adjudicated to have done is worse than what Platner is alleged to have done.  I see no benefit to enabling the worse individual.

Alternative(explosive) Economic Indicators

 I live in an area of roughly half a million residents.  There are quite a bit of rural and semi-rural citizens.  We are in the general vicinity of the Southern Appalachian mountains.

We really like fireworks.

When I got out of the USN in 1983, the 4th of July, along with other holidays, were sufficient justification for anyone who had two nickels to rub together to buy and set off fireworks.  As a general rule, the celebrations started early and finished well after the holiday.  Independence Day was, If you judged it by the fireworks, a week long event at a minimum.

I just got off of my bicycle after riding ~5miles to have a beer (or three) with friends and then riding 5miles back.  Now, since I hate pain and expense, I usually stick to lesser traveled roads.  Essentially I stay in residential areas as much as possible.  Today, I went out of my way to look for the detritus typically left in the streets and such after civilians set off fireworks.

I did not see any.  TBF, I had not heard anything that sounded like fireworks for the previous several days.  That is not “normal”.  In the old days of say, 10-20 years ago, the fireworks were audible and visible for a solid week.

Regardless of what the government uses or says, I am telling you that the economy has folks nervous.   Getting your average hillbilly redneck to forgo fireworks on the 4th (and by “on” I mean anywhere near) is pert near impossible.  As a matter of fact, about the only way is to make sure they have no money to buy the fireworks.

I have never seen a pundit or a governmental operative mention fireworks as an economic indicator.  They probably should.  If you feel good about the economy, going out and spending a few hundred dollars on stuff you are going to light on fire might seem reasonable.  If you lack that good feeling, you might want to hold that cash in reserve for whatever comes next.

Regardless of what lies magats and the GOP are trying to spread, the truth is in the trash - or more specifically in this case, the lack of trash - fireworks trash that is.  Even the hardcore trumpers of East Tn do not have faith in his economy.  Under normal conditions, I would be leading the call to ignore them.  But this might just be a good time to pay attention to them.

Stuff You Ought To Know Already

 I take a fair amount of crap for my pedantry.  I seriously think that words ought to have specific meanings.  If you must know the exact context to understand a general statement, you are being lied to.

I grew up understanding that it was possible to purchase consumable alcohol that had not been subject to regulatory process and also had not been taxed.  The product was widely known as “moonshine”.  I also heard it referred to as “splo” and “white lightning”.

Eventually, those with a faulty(read: immoral) understanding of capitalism come for most everything.  This time, they came for words.  They started making and selling a product that adhered to regulations and that they paid taxes on.  They called the product “moonshine”.

Now, I understand marketing concepts reasonably well.  I understand that without some level of marketing, even the most ingenious and useful products can fail to have an impact because so few folks know it exists.  That said, it does not bode well for a product or a company if the only way they can be successful is to create a lie.

Unfortunately, we have become inured to such societal level insults.  I have no idea how many hundreds or thousands of times I have seen advertising “Coldest Beer In The …”.  I would bet tomorrow’s lunch money that none of the businesses where I saw those signs had done any research at all.  I doubt they think of themselves as liars but, actions speak louder than self image.

Politics is rife with lies.  Half-truths, partial-truths or, what Robert Heinlein said was the best way to lie which is to tell the truth so unconvincingly that no one believes you.  If we could start by getting in the habit of using words specifically, we could stand the chance of reducing the amount of overt lies we are subjected to.

It Wasn't Me

 Y'all may want to put on some protective equipment. There are some facts being thrown here and the pitcher is bringing the heat.

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