Update no.804

Update from the Heartland

No.804

22.5.17 – 28.5.17

Blog version:  http://heartlandupdate.blogspot.com/

            To all,

            Lest we ever forget . . . please remember all those immortal souls who gave their last full measure in the defense of freedom, as we celebrate Memorial Day.  God bless them all.

            Oh my, I leave for a couple of weeks and the world turns to . . . well, I think everyone can complete the sentence.  I spent way too much time on the travelogue [803A/D] and I am struggling to catch up.  I will not attempt to recover the news events of the first half of May, and I am way behind on this week.  So, we shall see how far this one gets before publication time.

            A solo terrorist suicide bomber struck circa 22:30 BST, Monday, 22.May.2017, after an Ariana Grande concert at Manchester Arena in Manchester, England.  The explosion killed 22 innocent, mostly young people including children plus the suicide bomber and injured 116 others, some with life-threatening injuries.  ISIL has claimed responsibility.  The British security services quickly identified and publicly disclosed the bomber was involved in a terrorist network.  Her Majesty’s Government (HMG) raised the threat level to critical, indicating they suspected other attacks were imminent.  They moved quickly to arrest individuals associated with the bomber or the network – 14 so far with more expected.  Unfortunately, someone in the U.S. Government with access to such information prematurely and without the consent of HMG publicly disclosed the name of the bomber, calling into question the security of sensitive information shared between governments.  Regrettably, this is not a new phenomenon; Prime Minister Winston Churchill and HMG of the day were seriously concerned about the notorious inability of the United States Government to protect highly sensitive information.  The classified information security controversy aside, our hearts and prayers go out to the families and friends of those who were injured and lost their lives in the incident.  May God rest their immortal souls.

            President Trump suffered yet another defeat as the Fourth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond refused to reinstate his executive order on immigration and travel ban.  The Judiciary continues to cite Trump’s inflammatory campaign rhetoric as the statement of his intentions.  The administration has yet to indicate their intention to follow-through with an appeal to the Supreme Court.  He has found no support within the Judiciary, and I suspect he will not find a sympathetic Supreme Court, either.

            Unknown gunmen opened fire with automatic weapons on a bus carrying Coptic Christians to a monastery in southern Egypt, killing at least 20 people, in the latest attack on the minority Christian community in Egypt.  The bus was headed to a monastery in the city of Minya, some 190 miles south of the capital Cairo.  There have been no claims of responsibility, as yet.  This attack follows suicide bombings at two Coptic churches on Palm Sunday in which at least 45 worshipers were killed.  This appears to be religious intolerance within Egypt, but this could easily be defined as another terrorist attack of concern to all of us.

            A friend and frequent contributor to this humble forum offered the following missive regarding events this week.
“Thank you for your thoughtful words.  The nation still reels at the horror of it all.
“We have armed police and soldiers on our streets – completely unheard of in the U/K. We suffer as you, the French, the Dutch, Belgium people and yesterday Coptic Egyptians. When will these misguided young people see the horror of what they are dispensing?  Is creating revulsion part of human nature that most of us have overcome.  Certainly human history is utterly littered with the most appalling crimes against fellow mankind.  What is the answer?  How can we eradicate this urge to kill from humanity?  Questions, questions Cap. Is there an answer, or are we, mankind, destined to eventually destroy all we have, including our blue planet.  Does anyone know the answers to these questions?”
To which, I replied:
            This too shall pass.  We will never forget.

            “When will these misguided young people see the horror of what they are dispensing?”  Short answer: When the bad guys realize they cannot win and their supply of sacrificial fodder is drying up.  We always knew or should have known this was going to be a very long war. 

            “Is creating revulsion part of human nature that most of us have overcome?”  Short answer: yes; I’m afraid it is an element of human nature that socialization and civilization has enabled the vast majority of mankind to overcome.  Unfortunately, there are bad men who have refused to learn, either by choice or happenstance.

            “Certainly human history is utterly littered with the most appalling crimes against fellow mankind.”  Regrettably, history is replete with such examples: the Inquisition, the Salem witch trials, Hitler’s Aryan genocide, ad infinitum ad nauseum.

            “What is the answer?”  Short answer: faith in freedom, persistence of purpose, and perseverance in our defense.

            “How can we eradicate this urge to kill from humanity?”  See answer above.  Civilization has overcome the majority of those urges.  The prime examples must be modern Germany and Japan.  Bad elements within their societies of the day committed unspeakable crimes against humanity, but they are far better countries today for that trauma.

            “Is there an answer, or are we, mankind, destined to eventually destroy all we have including our blue planet?”  There are always answers.  We shall ultimately prevail over the bad elements among us.  That is part of our heritage, our history.  This too shall pass.

            “Does anyone know the answers to these questions?”  The answers are within us.  We must hold on to our faith that good shall always overcome evil with persistence and perseverance.

            In the realm of ridiculous legislative initiatives, it would be difficult to find a more ludicrous bill than Texas House bill 4260.  The bill was filed and introduced on 10.March.2017, by Texas State Representative Jessica Christina Farrar of Houston.  The title of the bill as introduced is: An Act relating to the regulation of men’s health and safety; creating a civil penalty for unregulated masturbatory emissions; short title: Man’s Right to Know Act.  The bill has been referred to the State Affairs Committee with no further action, as yet.  The text of the bill includes §173.009 that requires a digital rectal exam and rectal MRI prior to prescribing “Viagra,” and §173.010 that imposes a US$100 civil fine for each and all ejaculatory “emissions outside of a woman’s vagina, or created outside of a health or medical facility” and “will be considered an act against an unborn child, and failing to preserve the sanctity of life.”

            To be frank, I am conflicted beyond my opening objection.  The Press is reporting that Representative Farrar’s initiative was intend to satirize Texas legislative efforts to regulate the bodily functions and private medical procedures related to a woman’s reproductive system.  I do not and cannot support either.  The bill is just as ridiculous as the myriad woman’s reproductive rights legislation.  They are all invasions of a citizen’s fundamental right to privacy.  I understand Representative Farrar’s frustration with the ridiculousness of her colleagues’ actions regarding a woman’s reproductive rights, but this is not acceptable for a host of reasons.  Even worse, I imagine there are more than a few of her colleagues who will actually support Texas House bill 4260 since they undoubtedly believe masturbatory emissions are a sin against God.  Every citizen is entitled to her / his beliefs and choices in life; no one has any right to intrude upon any citizens fundamental right to privacy.  Masturbation is a private activity; it is NOT an issue for the public domain.

            I hope this bill never makes it out of committee, and equally, I hope the Texas legislature will stop, cease and desist from their penchant to intrude into a woman’s biological functions and the medical procedures associated with those biological functions.

            I want to give President Trump credit for pressing Allies to assume greater responsibility for their defense and fulfilling their contributions to NATO.  I have long objected to the assumption that the United States and specifically the taxpayers of the United States are the world’s benefactor since the days of the Marshall Plan [1947 & sub.].  The public statements regarding peace between the Israelis and Palestinians are positive, and the belligerents appear to be responding.  If his initiatives achieve results, he should and will receive praise and support from me.

            Unfortunately, it was his public conduct during his first overseas trip as president that induces my revulsion and must draw my condemnation.  From his pushing the Montenegrin Prime Minister aside since only he deserved to be in front with chest puffed out to the ridiculous “alpha male” handshake with the French President, he is establishing himself as our Ugly-American-in-Chief.  If his conduct with other world leaders is what he means by “American First,” then I say emphatically, no thank you.  I was literally disgusted watching him and his puffed-up, narcissistic, egocentric conduct.  We do NOT need another Ugly American, and especially one as the prime representative of the United States of America.

            As a supplemental, I will strongly urge caution and considerable skepticism regarding all these “backchannel” overtures between the Trump campaign, transition and administration.  Backchannel communications, i.e., outside the normal government communications apparatus, have been common for a long time.  The most famous backchannel communications link was a very personal conduit between Prime Minister Churchill and President Roosevelt that existed before the war in Europe began until Roosevelt’s passing.  Another quasi-backchannel was the Cold War Hot Line between the President and Premier of the Soviet Union.  The question to us remains, were these overtures authorized by the President?  Timing is also a key element of these inquiries.  If they occurred prior to Trump’s inauguration and were intended to undermine President Obama and his administration, then such initiatives would be ethically, morally and legally wrong.  We still do not know enough of the content and timing of those initiatives.  That said, Trump’s public statements during the campaign raise considerable suspicions; yet, I just urge caution until we know more.

            Comments and contributions from Update no.803 & prior:

From Update no.802:

Comment to the Blog:

“I hope ‘everything stays to plan’ during your hiatus.

“That statement from the Chair and Ranking Member of the House Oversight Committee that they see no evidence that General Flynn complied with the law is remarkable. I do not remember anything like it.

“Trump freely uses an audacity that few others possess. That can be an advantage in politics, but it must have substance to support it. Trump's ‘positions’ rarely deserve even that term, much less serious consideration.  His tax ‘plan’ simply rehashes vague proposals from the long-disproved ‘trickle down’ economic notion.

“Trump has taken a shot at our best ally and major trading partner, Canada. Note that we have the longest unguarded border in the world with Canada.  We should; they're a great nation and neighbor.  At times like this, I wonder if Trump is fully conscious.

“As I write this, Congress has passed a budget resolution to get us to October 1. No money has yet been designated for the insane wall idea.

“Trump appears completely unaware of international relations. ‘America First’, were it a real idea, ought to protect the well-being of the United States. Offending every developed nation will come back to bite us as surely as mosquitoes in that swamp he said he'd drain.”

 . . . to which I responded:

            Re: “everything stays to plan.” Time shall tell the tale.  I’ll report on outcome in a couple of weeks.

            Re: “Flynn.”  Remarkable indeed.  I do not recall anything even close to comparable.

            Re: “Trump's . . .  tax ‘plan’.”  If it had been anyone other than Trump, I would have thought it was a joke . . . or at best, some thoughts about tax reductions.  It certainly is NOT a plan.

            Re: pissing off our allies.  Who knows what his intentions are?  I certainly can see nothing rational in his actions so far.

            Re: “America First.”  Agreed.  As I said, his notion of “America First” is to piss off as many allies as he can and bully everyone else.

            This is going to be a very long four years.

Note: I received numerous comments to my travelogue [803A/D].  The comments were personal and not appropriate for this humble forum.  I must acknowledge all those who offered comments and thank everyone for your interest in our travel adventure.

            My very best wishes to all.  Take care of yourselves and each other.

Cheers,

Cap                        :-)