The Last Third

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The day before the 2024 Election-

Today we are on the cusp of what I believe is the most important election in the history of this country. To the doubters, yes it will be secure and fair. People that are capable of critical thought know that. Why? Because they can look at a situation and assess what they are being told based on facts, and based on the source of the information.

We have an enormous problem in this country because of the unabashed lies being told. And for those of you saying that both sides lie, that is a false equivalency. In politics there is hyperbole and exaggeration. That is in the normal course of a campaign. However, there is a difference between political rhetoric, and telling followers that someone that is opposed to you and should be shot. This is the mentality and complete lack of boundaries and decency of the Republican candidate.

Are you OK with shooting opponents? Sounds like Putin to me. Putin kills his opposition. We have a candidate advocating the same.

I have stated in previous posts that he lies about everything. Do you really believe that the 2020 Election was stolen after certification of the results by many Republican run elections, the over a BILLION dollar settlements by Fox media and News Max for knowingly lying, losing 63 of 64 election lawsuits and Rudy Giuliani being disbarred for election lies?

If you do, there is a mirror nearby that you need to look into. He has repeated the lie that the other side cheated, and he has legions of morons that believe this crap. He is doing it again, and expect bloodshed if he loses. The laws of this country and the constitution means nothing to him.

His lies have consequences. Consequences that will be paid by my sons and grandchildren should we ignore reality and elect him. "If you don't know how things work, everything's a conspiracy." 60 minutes 11/3/24".

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A Moment of Clarity

I am still in my sixties, but just barely.  Months away from my seventieth birthday, I have been aware of this milestone for some time.  Never more so, then when I went to the local hardware store to get some light bulbs.

The box said "13 year life".  I thought to myself that's pretty good, I won't have to change it for a while.  Then I did the math.  I am almost seventy.  In thirteen years I will be eighty three.  I will change it . . . if I live that long.

I have never bought I light bulb that has a reasonable chance of outliving me.  That gave me pause.  In the few days since I bought it, I have been giving more thought to what I invest my time in.

Realizing that my time on this planet may not extend beyond a light bulb, is a great way to focus on what is really important.  I came home and kissed my wife on her cheek, and said a small prayer of gratitude for the life I have.

The brand name on the box was "Reveal".  Indeed.  Tomorrow, I may even go back to the hardware store to see if they sell any cheap light bulbs.  You know, ones guaranteed to only last a year or two.

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Jan 6th Anniversary Two Years On

Our democracy was put to an extreme test two years ago today.  As shocking as it was in the moment, we know now that it was the culmination of a plot to overthrow our government.  It was led and enabled by the then president of the United States.  Once our legitimate and duly elected President was sworn in on Jan 20th, I posted something a dear friend had put in the comments of one of my angry posts.

"Nothing good exists or happens at either end of the spectrum. I think that 90% of the country (OK maybe 85%) operate much closer to the center or middle of the spectrum. Where there is room for compromise, discussion and solutions. Maybe I’m wrong but I hope not for our country’s sake and the future of capitalism and democracy."  Hector's Theorem

Having watched the drama unfold in the last two years, I am cautiously optimistic.  Why?  Because I have seen people of good conscience step up.  Some in big ways, like Pence who on this day two years ago, would not exercise powers that he knew he did not have.

Cassidy Hutchinson who later testified to the Jan 6th committee.  She rejected the advice of her Trump lawyer to "not remember" things that she did.  Others that showed up on Election Day, November 8th and voted against the election deniers.  However, there is still much work to be done. 

People that spread the Big Lie and would destroy our government for their own selfish purposes are still in positions of power.The new crop of congressmen in the house of representatives are still leaderless.  Radicals like Boebert and Gaetz are opposing a man who sold his soul a mere three weeks after the Jan 6th insurrection. Talk about irony? 

I do not believe that history will be kind in looking back at any of their exploits.  The extremes will kill us all.   If Trump and his accomplices are to be prosecuted for their "shennigans" it will likely be in 2023.  Just remember that courts require evidence and not just political posturing.

Be a person of good conscience.  They are the bricks of our democracy's foundation.  They are not solely affiliated with one party or the other.  They have a sense of right and wrong.  I know that they are out there.  I have seen it.

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Monserrat

Some blessings come in disguise. I woke up early this morning expecting to get on a plane back to the US. My flight was canceled. I was rebooked for tomorrow. That left me with one more day in Barcelona. A thoughtful Bethpage friend had recommended Montserrat while I was here. It is a Monastery a little more than an hour drive from Barcelona. It would have required some advance planning, which I did not do. However, as luck would have it, the tour company that I contacted had availability for the afternoon tour. I did not miss my unplanned opportunity. A bit of serendipity for which I was grateful. Muchas Gracias!

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Alabama v LSU

The spectacle of college football in the United States is something that binds us together.  Two titans of the game played on Saturday, November 5th.  There was the pre-game hype, the story of the two quarterbacks having been friends since pee-wee football, and two well coached and motivated teams of young men.

Then there are the fans that emotionally live and die with every play.  There is nothing unbiased or objective about the fans.  They clearly want their team to win.

At the end of the game when LSU had gone for it all and won, their fans rushed the field in jubilation.  The game was over.  Alabama fans accepted the outcome, did not attack the winning team, the officials, or claim that the game was fixed.

This is what Nick Saban said after acknowledging their loss.  “I told them that we all have a chance, we all have a legacy that we wanna uphold in terms of the pride that we have in our performance, as well as what our expectations are. And I told each player that they can develop in their stock by continuing to try to play well and improve and we can create value as a team if we continue to do the things that we need to do to get better as a team."

He did not say that Alabama won the game because [insert your own conspiracy theory here].  Please think about this as you cast your vote in the midterms.

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Grumman Hellcat

It was made right here in Bethpage on long Island! Meet the Grumman F6F Hellcat: The Best Combat Plane Of World War II

Designed to replace the earlier F4F Wildcat and counter the Japanese Mitsubishi A6M “Zero,” the Grumman F6F became the United States Navy’s dominant fighter in the second half of World War II. It proved to be powerful and pugnacious and was arguably one of the few aircraft in aviation history to be perfect from the start.

The design work began just after Pearl Harbor, and the aircraft required little testing or development follow-up before being rushed into production. The outstanding fighter was mass-produced at a rate unequaled by any other aircraft manufacturing program, and the F6F Hellcat helped turn the tide against the Japanese in the Pacific War.

Grumman F6F – Facts and FiguresThe XF6F-1 prototype made its debut flight on June 26, 1942. Just over a year later, on September 1943, when operating from the light carrier USS Independence (CVL-22), the Hellcats had their first victory – shooting down a Kawanishi H8K “Emily” flying boat. Swarms of the beefy, gloss-blue painted fighters soon wrested control of the Pacific skies from the previously-dominant Zero, and proved vital in the island-hopping campaign.

In total, 12,275 Hellcats were manufactured by Grumman between June 1942 and November 1945 at Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation in Bethpage on New York’s Long Island. It was the largest number of fighter aircraft ever produced at a single facility, and it almost didn’t happen. The plant space at Bethpage had been inadequate to meet the demands of the war effort and in the spring of 1941, Grumman bought up thousands of steel girders from New York City’s dismantled Second Avenue “El” (elevated railway) as well as from the World’s Fair pavilion to help enlarge the production facility.

Hellcats were credited with destroying a total of 5,223 enemy aircraft while in service with the U.S. Navy, U.S. Marine Corps, and Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm (FAA) – more than any other Allied naval aircraft. In addition, of the 6,477 aerial victories claimed by U.S. Navy pilots during the Second World War, 4.947 were credited to F6F Hellcat pilots.

Hellcats in EuropeThe Grumman F6F Hellcat isn’t generally remembered for the role it played in the European Theater of Operations, but the aircraft did see limited actions during the Allied landings in Southern France in 1944, and in one celebrated air engagement four Hellcats successfully brought down three German Heinkel.

The British government also purchased nearly 1,100 of the aircraft, which were redesignated the Grumman Marlets, and the aircraft were first used in combat in April 1944 – in an environment far removed from the F6F’s familiar Pacific climes. A group of Royal Navy Marlets attacked the German Kriegsmarine (Navy) battleship Tirpitz at Kaafjord, Norway. While the attack didn’t sink the battleship – it took Royal Air Force Lancaster bombers to finish the job in November 1944 – the Hellcats helped keep her out of commission.

The Right FighterThe F6F Hellcat proved to be one of the rare aircraft that was right from the beginning. The powerful fighter was also one of the few combat aircraft developed after the outbreak of the war to truly find such success. It was a big, heavy machine in an age when experts lauded small, light fighters. The Hellcat was fast enough and agile enough to dominate as a dogfighter in the Pacific War, while pilots praised the F6F’s ability to take damage that would down lesser fighters. It is easy to see how much of an advantage we had to win the war.

Posted by Thomas Amato, August 25th in the Long Island History Facebook group

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So, on January 6th, 2021 after sending what he knew was an armed mob to the Capitol to stop the certification of the election that he knew was not stolen, Trump watched Fox News and understood that the armed mob had breached the Capitol with violent intent.

Instead of calling for support for the Capitol police, he called allies at the Capitol that were literally under attack from that same mob. This was to push his false narrative and stop the certification. Mike Pence’s life had been threatened by the mob. This mob came very close to succeeding. Seems suspicious to me that the secret service text messages from that day have conveniently been erased. That is a separate investigation.

It was Mike Pence that placed the calls that brought reinforcements to get the mob under control. During this time Trump made a violent and dangerous situation worse, by tweeting to his followers to get Mike Pence.The violent and armed mob failed to kill Mike Pence. They failed to stop the confirmation of the state certified election results.

IT WAS ONLY AFTER TRUMP REALIZED THAT HIS COUP HAD FAILED, HE ADDRESSED THE MOB, REITERATED HIS BIG LIE, EXPRESSED HIS LOVE FOR THE ARMED MOB, AND ASKED THEM TO LEAVE. Please read the last sentence again. Read it again.

I understand that the January 6th Committee is not a criminal trial. I understand that it is political theater. Video depositions are edited. Only one side of the story is being told. I am expecting that the DOJ will prosecute these crimes according to the law. Trump’s behavior cannot go unpunished, nor for his collaborators like Giuliani, Powell, Bannon, Meadows, etc.

As much as it pains me, I have already trimmed my Facebook friends list over this topic. These are people that I care deeply about that I will no longer engage with on Facebook. This country has many serious issues that it faces like inflation, the war in Ukraine, security at the border, and the list goes on.

One of classic responses that I see from some of my conservative friends is whataboutism. Now that the price of gas is starting to go down, what are they going to complain about to distract us from this most serious of issues, namely our democracy and the future of our country? Please DO NOT post that nonsense in response to this post. My list of Facebook friends will get smaller.

After all of this, Trump is wanting to run for President again. If he does there is a segment of our population that would vote for him. It astounds me that he still has support. Like the NRA, the Republican party has become a party filled with dangerous extremists.

It is no longer the party of Abe Lincoln, Dwight Eisenhower, or Ronald Reagan. It is now a party filled with cowards.  Once elected, far too many of them ignore the oath to the constitution that they swore to defend.

Let me be clear that being a Republican is not a bad thing in and of itself. There is a legitimate place for a conservative world view in politics. There are legitimate reasons to have firearms for sport and self defense. You are free to choose your brand of Christianity as long others can live their lives free from your beliefs.

Keep in mind that the testimony from the January 6th committee has exclusively been from Republicans that have supported the party and Trump. Republicans that put their duty to country above short-term partisan gains.

When Hitler staged the burning of the Reichstag he declared martial law. He required an oath of loyalty to the death not to Germany, but to himself. Like a mob boss, loyalty is the most important quality for anyone that is not the leader. In my view, sadly that is what the Republican party has become. It has become the party of Trump. It is a cult. This needs to change.

If Republicans were truly interested in Making American Great again, they would look for candidates with integrity and purge those that worship at the alter of Trump. The hearings have shown that there are Republicans with integrity. They are the ones testifying, not the ones ignoring the subpoenas from the committee or pleading the 5th amendment.

I believe that as the legal process comes to a just conclusion, Trump's desire to inhabit the White House again will become a moot point. He has committed treason. What this translates into in terms of prosecutable crimes is yet to be seen. If he gets away with this, we are doomed as a democracy, and as a country.

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Justice

History is always selective.  What to leave in and what to leave out.  When I saw this post I was reminded about a quote from the Nazi leader Herman Goring.  He said that “history is written by the victors”.

Those without power and standing are always ignored.  I remember learning in World History about the proud and intrepid explorers that colonized the world. Nothing from the victims point of view.  Banning books and sanitizing history just perpetuates this.

From a Facebook Post

Riley Doland May 13 2022  · Today is the anniversary of the 1985 MOVE bombing, in which 500 Philadelphia police officers fired upon the home of the Black liberation and environmentalist group MOVE with automatic weapons and then dropped a bomb on it. They killed five adults and six children, destroyed 61 homes, and left 250 people without a home. No officials were ever prosecuted. Consider why our education system doesn't teach about the times the government has bombed its own citizens on U.S. soil: 1921 in Tulsa, 1950 in Puerto Rico, 1921 at Blair Mountain, and 1985 in Philadelphia. Notice how each has a thread of the government suppressing leftist and liberation movements. Consider why, when you read articles on the largest bombings in the U.S., none of these are typically mentioned despite them all killing more people than the Unabomber.THAT is why it is essential to invest your time and money into progressive organizing groups to continue the movement and fund historians, consultants, and speakers to keep this history alive.

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14 Months after January 6th

Well let's see, we are fourteen months away from the "violent insurrection" after a legitimate election as Mitch McConnell said.  Or, as the RNC called it, a 'legitimate political discourse."  Your view on this may be colored by where your head is currently located.  It is rare that I agree with Mitch, but he has this one right. Yet here we are, Trump continues to push the BIG LIE and praises Putin's genius.

People that enjoy drinking his kool aid cannot be persuaded with facts.  They are beyond hope.  But, my hope lies in the belief that there are enough people that have their heads in a place where they can see him for what he is.  This goes way beyond a conservative or liberal world view.

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So, I know that I have been critical in the past about misleading information on social media. Then I see a gem like this. I never knew that the Three Stooges fought for the union in the Civil War. Can't seem to find much info about it on the internet. I wonder if they fought at Gettysburg. Thank you Facebook!

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Gratitude

AncientPages.com - Kindred Spirits is a wonderful monument in Ireland built in honor of Native Americans. The story behind the creation of this structure is based on true generosity from those who had very little and yet gave a lot.

Aligned in a circle, towering twenty feet into the air, the Kindred Spirits Monument of nine eagle feather was raised in acknowledgement the Choctaw Nation and the tribe’s help to the country during the devastating Great Potato Famine that took place in Ireland 1845–49.

More than a million people perished in Ireland when a blight decimated potato crops that served as the primary food source for almost half the population, but primarily the rural poor.

During those years, 1847 was considered the worst and that year, the Choctaw Nation donated $170 to Ireland. The amount might seem like small by modern standards, but back then it was a lot of very much need money and the donation made a big difference. The sum would be close to $5,000 in today’s money.

What was special about the gift is that is the fact that the Choctaw were having major problems of their own at that time still recovering from the horrible Trail of Tears journey.

The Irish National Lacrosse Team had a place in the World Games in 2022.  The Native Americans did not.  The Irish team voted to allow the Native Americans to compete in their place.  Gratitude has a long memory.

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If the predictable verdict in the Rittenhouse case is a correct interpretation of laws, then the laws need to change. He is no hero. I understand the rage felt by some of my friends at civil unrest. Civilian violence is unacceptable. Whether this is a reaction to injustice, or just an opportunistic excuse to plunder.  Some insurrections are incited by big lies. I am opposed to the people that use injustice as an excuse to riot. I am just as opposed to using the second amendment as an excuse to go hunting. To me the solution is not arming our citizens. I am strongly opposed to the stand your ground mentality, and the unbridled right to bear arms. We need to trust our police to do their jobs without prejudice. Injustice is the issue for those that riot, those that take the law into their own hands, or those that risk their lives to protect ours. I believe that we need to seek justice across the board. The ideal of justice being blind is hampered when the scales are weighted in favor of one group or another.

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The Good Guy/Bad Guy Myth

Pop culture today is obsessed with the battle between good and evil. Traditional folktales never were. What changed?

I have long believed that there are only two things worth knowing. Physics and mythology. Having read much of Joseph Campbell had to say on the subject of mythology, and being a fan of Star Wars, etc. This is a very interesting take. Well worth the read, and well understood by politicians serving their own interests.

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Turtles all the way down . . .

We are now nine months removed from the insurrection of January 6th.  Some of our citizens tried to prevent the peaceful and legitimate transfer of power.  They are facing charges and some have received sentences.  Many have not received any consequences.  It is troublesome to me that the ring leader’s consequences have been minimal.  So far.

This weekend I saw an article posted from a friend about a public figure that was an instigator in the insurrection.  It was a negative opinion that I agreed with.  However, I had only seen the publisher’s name once before.  So I looked up that publisher and found out that they were not a reliable news source.  I agreed with what they said, but I was simply confirming my own biases.  This is an easy trap to fall into, and I did.

This is a significant issue for me.  I believe that misinformation is an incredible threat to our democracy.  Facebook and other information outlets are not in my opinion fair actors.  They have not show the ability to self-regulate.  I am becoming more sensitive to this.  This reminded me of an old philosophical dilemma that I learned about in college.

"Turtles all the way down" is an expression of the problem of infinite regress.  The saying alludes to the mythological idea of a World Turtle that supports a flat Earth on its back.  It suggests that this turtle rests on the back of an even larger turtle, which itself is part of a column of increasingly large turtles that continues indefinitely. (Wikipedia)

How do you know who to trust?  It is a bit like turtles all the way down.  Is the turtle that you rely on to gauge reliability, reliable themselves?  The good news is that there are techniques that can be applied.  Science uses peer reviews.

Consensus of fair actors is a good indication.  Fair actors have standards to judge whether something can be confirmed with evidence.  However, there is no single source that is unequivocally unbiased.  I am going to edit out some of the sources that I am used to seeing.  I am going to pay more attention to this going forward.

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Groucho Marx on Long Island...

"The home at 21 Lincoln Road was built in 1923 in Great Neck Villa, a colony in the hills southeast of the railroad station developed by the Shields Brothers. Julius Henry “Groucho” Marx moved into the house in June 1926 and remained there until 1931 when he relocated to Hollywood. That year the Village of Thomaston was incorporated, and before his departure Julius Henry Marx signed the register of residents.

The purchase price of the house was $27,000.

Groucho’s parents, Sam and Minnie Marx, lived at 34 Jayson Avenue from 1929 to 1931. Neighborhood children would park themselves in front of the house on Jayson Avenue because on Sundays when the Marx brothers visited their parents, they would dash around the house, entering and exiting from windows, jumping and leaping, and putting on a show for any kid lucky enough to have shown up. His brother, Chico, was at 11 Myrtle Drive in the Great Neck Estates section. In the summer of 1930, his brother, Harpo, rented a house in Great Neck.

Groucho had lived in large cities before moving to Great Neck so suburban life was a big change. In an article in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, published two weeks after Groucho became a homeowner, the comedian was quoted as saying: “I am now a regular resident of Great Neck, 200 by 150 feet of Long Island now belongs to me, body and soul, except for a few slight mortgages and assessments which are not very important until the time comes to pay them.” He provided details of his new lifestyle: “I am becoming well-versed in the four topics of conversation, which are of paramount importance in a small community (i.e., domestic help, golf, bridge, and the trapping of mice). If these were listed in the order of their interest, mice would be leading the suburban league with domestic help as a snappy second.”

He went on to describe his “War Against the Rodents” which ended in failure to catch any of them. He concluded: “I am seriously thinking of abandoning the whole thing. Plus this, I am getting suspicious. I think the neighbors, knowing I was a city chap, were kidding me. I should have known better; how could a place as fair as Great Neck be infested with mice? The more I think of it, the more I realize how ridiculous it was.” Article in "The Island Now" by Carol Frank on 1/11/19.

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Lessons in the Decline of Democracy From the Ruined Roman Republic

Historian Edward Watts argues that violent rhetoric and disregard for political norms was the beginning of Rome’s end.

We are now at the seven month anniversary of the Jan 6th insurrection.  The Big Lie continues.  There are already Republican deniers that the "peaceful visitors" were not really a big problem.  The also do not want any bi-partisan investigations done.Perpetrators are receiving sentences.  Cheerleaders like Rudy Giuliani have had their ability to practice law curtailed.  All this while the ringleader whiles away the days at Mar-A-Lago.I am still haunted by this day.  The attached article is long read, and there is one frightening parallel with ancient Rome.  When "gaslighting" and creating a false reality becomes commonplace, the moorings that hold our democracy together are at risk.