Update no.805

Update from the Heartland

No.805

29.5.17 – 4.6.17

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

            To all,

            For those who may be following or interested in such things, I finished the first draft of To So Few – Deflection (Book VI).  Milestones like this are singularly satisfying and fulfilling.  It feels good . . . really good, like birthing a healthy baby.  However, I must do some significant surgery, since the first four chapters had to be moved to To So Few – The Verdict (Book V).  That task does not sound like much, so you will have to trust me – it is!  As a historical fiction series novel, the characters have to be carefully re-introduced to the reader, without becoming burdensome.  Draft 2 must be stabilized before I can get on to the really hard work of editing the text before the manuscript is reviewable.  Draft 3 and subsequent (for however many drafts there may be) must be completed to make the manuscript as good as it can be, before going to the publisher.  So, now you know . . . the simple, reclusive, hermitic life of an enthusiastic author.

            Confession: I wanted to ignore Kathy Griffin’s “joke” faux pas.  Yet, as this Update edition is about to close, the urge to comment exceeded my resistance.  I watched her Tuesday mea culpa, which was actually the first I became aware of her foolish attempt at a joke.  Her apology for her mistake was heartfelt, sincere and unqualified; she truly regretted what she had done.  She chose a bizarre and grotesque method to parody Trump’s own, publicly proclaimed words: “You could see there was blood coming out of her eyes, blood coming out of her wherever.” [7.August.2015]

            First, foremost and above all else, I must add my voice to the condemnation of Griffin’s grossly insensitive joke / parody.  I understand and share her revulsion at Trump’s public statement then, and the myriad subsequent ridiculous statements he has and continues to make.  However, her profound insensitivity to the contemporary significance of her chosen imagery was shocking.  The parody might actually have worked, if she had chosen any other means to physically represent her intended parody.  Yet, what compels me to comment on this regrettable incident is the direct, pervasive and encouraged assault on Griffin’s constitutional right to free speech.  An enormous cost has been extra-judicially imposed upon her life and well-being.  I trust the Secret Service will properly investigate this incident and produce the correct conclusion.  I suggest we accept her apology prima facie and support the same right to speak we all want to enjoy.  She made no threat against the president and made no attempt to defend her mistake; she made a terrible and failed attempt to visualize Trump’s campaign words.

            I listened intently to the Ugly American-in-Chief’s extraordinary speech in the Rose Garden on Thursday, announcing his intention to withdraw the United States from the 195-nation Paris Climate Accord – a process that will take several years to accomplish.  The agreement is not enforceable, except from within, as each nation’s sovereignty remains intact.  He would have served the U.S. standing in the world community far better to have simply taken a passive enforcement position rather than such a public ‘spit in their face’ rejection of the world agreement.

            My opinion, for whatever that is worth, has not changed in many years.  It does not matter whether we agree with or deny the physical evidence of Earth’s warming, or mankind’s contribution to that warming.  We absolutely, categorically and emphatically must wean ourselves off of fossil fuels.  Continuing to pollute the atmosphere with toxic substances is no different from dumping cyanide in our rivers; the damage just takes longer to manifest.  The sooner we get serious about that effort the easier it will be.  The longer we wait, the more difficult and painful the process will be.

            Bottom line: withdrawal from the Paris Accord was a foolish, petulant and counter-productive action.  His purely political move was solely a direct effort to placate that element within the U.S. electorate that simply hates and rejects everything President Obama did, just because he did it.  Obama signed the Paris Climate Accord, therefore it must be bad, so good on you the Donald.  Disengagement and isolation of the United States will NOT and NEVER will “Make America Great Again.”  I would urge the Donald to spend just a little of his precious Twitter time to study history, namely the period of human history from 260 to 476 AD when the Roman Empire crumbled by its own introspection and withdrawal into an insular core state.

            Then, we have a more articulate opinion and perspective.

“America First Doesn’t Mean America Alone – We are asking a lot of our allies and partners.  But in return the U.S. will once again be a true friend.”

by H.R. McMaster and Gary D. Cohn

Wall Street Journal

Published: May 30, 2017 7:37 p.m. ET

https://www.wsj.com/articles/america-first-doesnt-mean-america-alone-1496187426?mod=djemMER

They stated at the opening, “President Trump just returned from nine days in the Middle East and Europe that demonstrated his America First approach to ensuring security and prosperity for our nation. America will not lead from behind. This administration will restore confidence in American leadership as we serve the American people.”  Odd, coming from an accomplished and intellectually accomplished Army general.  Is it leading if no one follows?  Who does General McMaster believe we are leading?  McMaster and Cohn rightly drew attention to the President’s statement in Saudi Arabia during his first international trip.  “[President Trump] challenged leaders of more than 50 Muslim-majority countries to stand together ‘against the murder of innocent Muslims, the oppression of women, the persecution of Jews, and the slaughter of Christians.’”  I emphatically agree with the President’s statement and McMaster’s utilization of that statement in his argument.  McMaster continued, “While meeting with European Union leaders in Brussels, the president reiterated his concern about our trade deficits with many European nations.”  I cannot agree with this one.  There is only one essential reason for the trade deficit with other countries – demand, period, full stop.  Americans want to buy items closer to their requirements or less expensive similar than available domestically.  The Trumpster can huff & puff all he wish, but he cannot change that reality.  McMaster added, “The president embarked on his first foreign trip with a clear-eyed outlook that the world is not a ‘global community’ but an arena where nations, nongovernmental actors and businesses engage and compete for advantage. We bring to this forum unmatched military, political, economic, cultural and moral strength. Rather than deny this elemental nature of international affairs, we embrace it.”  His statement offers a valid point of debate.  Embracing our power does not justify arrogance, belligerence and schoolyard bully conduct.  General McMaster’s conclusion is wishful, perhaps even myopic, thinking rather than grounded policy and conduct.  Just a little FYI to General McMaster, you are not and cannot lead those who reject you.

            I truly appreciate McMaster’s loyalty to his master; however, I am compelled to note that mindless loyalty is a detractor, not an admirable trait.  Despite McMaster’s defense of Trumpian performance in the international arena, I am left with the one indelible image . . . that of Trump pushing the Montenegrin prime minister aside, so he could stand in front, puff up his chest and look down his nose at everyone, who by his definition are insignificant troglodytes in his brilliant presence.  The image of his conduct at that moment will haunt him for the rest of his life.

            To understand and appreciate the imagery, I recommend readers watch and listen to the demonstrative speeches of Benito Mussolini, for example, his Bari speech of 6.September.1934, and one of his Rome speeches from the balcony of Palazzo Venezia to the enthusiastic crowd in Piazza Venezia on 10.June.1940 – watch his mannerisms, his tone of voice, the imagery he sought to display.  It is very difficult to ignore the similarities.

            Just a simple FYI for the record . . . Hillary Clinton cannot point to the Russians, to the former FBI director, incompetence at the DNC . . . nope, she has only to look in the mirror for the sole blame in her electoral loss.  I am neither a Benghazi conspiracist nor a uranium-to-the-Russians theorist.  I will confess to my desire, nay wish, to have voted for her, especially in contrast to the Republican offering, who set the threshold bar so bloody low.  But, alas, I could not bring myself to do so, and my reluctance / hesitation can be boiled down to one stark, physical reality – her decision to use a private server for her personal and governmental communications.  I could have even accepted that foolish, self-centered, arrogant action, if she had faced the consequences of her really bad decision and turned over all of her communications.  She did not; she unilaterally and unethically deleted “her personal” communications – the infamous 30,000 eMails – before she turned over her self-proclaimed governmental communications.  Hillary implicitly asked us to accept without qualification her unilateral and private deletion of her “personal” eMail messages.  Then, adding insult to injury, she tried to convince the American People that her original governmental communications were not “marked” classified, thus did not require special handling or protection.  No, she has no one else to blame but herself, and if she has any hope of a positive place in history, she would be well advised to stop whining about everyone else.

            For the third time in as many months, our British cousins suffered yet another terrorist attack on Saturday evening.  Our hearts, prayers and condolences offer a warm embrace to assuage their grief.  We grieve with you.

            Great praise must go to the swift and decisive response of the Metropolitan Police in eliminating the threat and saving lives.  I listened with keen interest to the public statements of Prime Minister May and Mayor Sadiq Aman Khan of London – well done and quite commendable.  We are with you and your efforts to calm the situation.

            Please try to ignore the disgusting pronouncements of our Ugly American-in-Chief; his callus words do not reflect the majority of American citizens.  His rampant narcissism and ignorant arrogance apparently lead him to truly believe he is infallible, infinitely wise, and the ONLY human being to have ever lived in hundreds of millennia who knows the truth.  Every other human being who has ever lived or who will ever live are immeasurably inferior and mere minions in the aura of his greatness.  He apparently has NO capacity to appreciate the grief or sensitivity of those mere minions who irritatingly waft around his tiptoes.  His fingers had to be painfully twitching for him to Tweet: “Mayor of London says there is ‘no reason to be alarmed!’” less than 24-hours after the tragic event.  General McMaster: is this leadership by any definition?  Isolationism and imposing upon our neighbors are not and never will be leadership.

            Comments and contributions from Update no.804:

Comment to the Blog:

“My sympathies go to the wounded, their families, and the families of those killed in the Manchester bombing. They did nothing to earn that.

“Arresting everyone associated with the bomber is pretty much SOP in these things. The ‘notorious inability of the United States Government to protect highly sensitive information’ may finally come home to roost.  Oh, well. The current occupant of the Oval Office has no clue about such things.  The EU will do well to cease reliance on others for its defense as Angela Merkel suggests, especially with the situation here.  Our ‘leader’ appears to be both corrupt and mentally unstable.  Counting on him is silly.

“I wonder if ISIL is taking credit for events in which they had little or no involvement. Your picture of ISIL and others as ‘bad men’ whose “supply of sacrificial fodder is drying up” has nothing to do with the audience that ISIL and their fellow killers reach. They play out the same simple victim/villain psychology you use, but, obviously, with the roles reversed. So long as young men have family and friends, especially innocent ‘collateral damage’ people, dying of U.S, or U.S.-supported actions, the supply of ‘sacrificial fodder’ will remain abundant. That same view, mirrored and amplified, keeps the people and materiel flowing on this side of the conflict.  Incidentally, ‘creating revulsion’ is precisely the object of the so-called War on Terrorism, as it is of the terrorists themselves.

“Trump will always encounter opposition from the judiciary.  The entire mission of the court system is the rule of law, and Trump makes clear that he has no interest in or respect for that.

“The attack on Coptic Christians in Egypt is every bit as reprehensible as attacks on Muslims or any other group.  What I find interesting is the lack of responses to that from usually-loud ‘Christian’ factions in the U.S., who might reasonably protest the killing of fellow Christians.  Maybe that’s about race or denomination.”

My response to the Blog:

            Re: “They did nothing to earn that.”  Strange word choice.  I presume you meant ‘deserve’ rather than ‘earn.’  If so, I agree.

            The situation between the United States and Europe can be improved.  However, given the President’s apparent direction and conduct, I fear relations will get much worse, and will only improve with an inevitable regime change in this Grand Republic.

            The public information suggests far more direct ISIL involvement than on many other previous terrorist attacks . . . not that it really matters.  “They play out the same simple victim/villain psychology you use”; again, another interesting choice of words.  Perhaps I am not aware of the meaning you derive from my words.  If you are implying, we have induced, stimulated or precipitated these terrorist attacks, I will respectfully and strongly disagree.  I am not justifying American foreign policy actions in the past with respect to the Muslim world, but we are NOT the Great Satan as the IRI has dubbed us.  There is NO justification for the taking of innocent lives.  And, the Muslim world must mature out of their tribal mentality.  When the Islamo-fascists out there attack innocent people with suicide bombers, punishment of the perpetrators becomes infinitely more difficult, if not impossible.  The British successfully dealt with a nearly identical terrorist threat from the IRA; I trust they will deal with the aQ & ISIL threat equally as well.

            I am afraid I must agree with your assessment of Trump and the rule of law.  He has consistently, publicly, praised dictators with unbridled admirations and he appears to be incapable of understanding or respect the function of the Judiciary.

            Interesting observations regarding the Christian response to the continuing attacks on Coptic Christians.  Perhaps the paucity of outcry is a sectarian response, hard to say.

 . . . Round two:

“I find it ironic that you say, ‘There is NO justification for the taking of innocent lives.’  That is precisely what Middle Easterners say with reference to the innocent lives taken by Western drones, bombs, and soldiers in pursuit of alleged ‘terrorists.’  Bombing wedding parties and other social occasions is pretty well guaranteed to kill the innocent.”

 . . . my response to round two:

            The loss of one innocent life at the hands of anyone is wrong and regrettable.  There is no perfect method.  The United States expends inordinate resources is every engagement.  Our enemies choose to employ human (innocent) shields.  Our targets are elusive.  I truly believe the rules of engagement stress looking for opportunities to minimize collateral damage.  We are not always successful and we will never be perfect.  So, irony it is.

 . . . Round three:

“The point is that you, as with many others, dismiss the entire conflict as the work of ‘bad men.’ ‘War’ (or any international violence) has never been and will never be that simple.”

 . . . my response to round three:

            I have never claimed war, any war, and certainly not this war, is simple.  We are not without culpability in this war.  However, they seek to kill as many innocent people as they can devise techniques to do so, while we do everything to avoid injuring innocent people as we strive to stop those killers.  No, this war is not simple, but I am comfortable with the correctness of our efforts, and I condemn the actions of the terrorists.

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

Cheers,

Cap                        :-)