Update no.1080

 Update from the Sunland

No.1080

19.9.22 – 25.9.22

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

 

To all,

 

We passed the Autumnal Equinox at 18:03 [T] MST on Thursday, 22.September.2022—the biannual astronomical moment when days and nights are equal over the earth. It also means we are headed into winter, so do not forget to receive your influenza and COVID-19 booster shots soon.

 

The follow-up news items:

-- The Space Launch System (SLS) Artemis I [1076] cryogenic fueling demonstration test was successfully completed on Wednesday, 21.September.2022. The vehicle was fully fueled and maintained in launch readiness. The test team resolved several glitches during the test and took most of the day to successfully complete the fueling demonstration test. The engineers will review the collected test data to decide whether they are ready for launch. As of the release of this edition of the Update, the launch has been scheduled for Tuesday, 27.September.2022. I will be watching.

Then, by Saturday morning, with Tropical Storm Ian strengthening in the Caribbean Sea and forecast to strike Florida as a Category Four hurricane, the launch team decided to scrub next Tuesday’s launch attempt. NASA has begun preparing the rocket and the supporting crawler to roll back to the protection of the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) in advance of the storm. The storm’s forecast track and progress indicate Cape Canaveral is not likely to feel the outer bands until Wednesday or Thursday. However, the risk is simply too great . . . another opportunity lost, this time due to weather. My guess is they will probably use the VAB time to recertify the Flight Termination System (FTS) to avoid the need for another waiver extension. The next launch window opens in early October, assuming there is no storm damage to the vehicle or launch facilities that must be repaired.

During the Artemis test, NASA switched to detailed coverage of the Soyuz MS-22 launch just after sunset at Baikonur, Kazakhstan. One American and two Russians launched to the International Space Station (ISS)—a replacement crew. It was a flawless launch with no signs whatsoever of the tensions that currently divide the two countries.

-- On Monday, 26.September.2022 at 23:14 UTC {16:14 [R] MST}, NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) [1037] is expected to impact Dimorphos, AKA Didymos B and Didymoon, the small asteroid satellite of the larger asteroid Didymos. The impact will not dislodge the satellite, but the test is intended to demonstrate momentum transfer from the 610-kilogram DART impactor that is expected to decrease the orbital period of Dimorphos, currently 11.92 hours, by roughly 10 minutes (0.17 hours) [-1.4%]. At impact, DART will be traveling at 6.6 kilometers per second (14,800 mph). The astrophysics experiment should give us a good test of whether a distant small kinetic impact can alter the track of an inbound asteroid sufficiently to avoid an earth impact.

-- A three-judge panel of the 11^th Circuit Court of Appeals issued their ruling in the case of DONALD J. TRUMP v. United States of America [11CCA Case: 22-13005 (2022)], the government’s appeal of Judge Cannon’s order in DONALD J. TRUMP v. United States of America [USDC FL SD Case 9:22-cv-81294-AMC (2022)] [1078]. This is the FBI search & seizure action at Mar-a-Lago. The circuit panel concluded “that the district court [Cannon] abused its discretion in exercising jurisdiction over Plaintiff’s motion as it concerns the classified documents.” They granted the government’s request for a stay of Judge Cannon’s order as it applies to the marked classified documents. The court-appointed Special Master is charged by Judge Cannon to segregate personal (non-presidential records) and privileged documents of which there are certainly many from those documents that by law belong to the government. The internal FBI Privilege Review Team has already segregated many of those affected documents. Just so we do not forget, [the person who shall no longer be named] appears to have absconded with numerous (nearly 12,000) unclassified presidential records covered by the Presidential Records Act of 1978 [PL 93-591; 88 Stat. 2523; 4.11.1978] [1039]. The man was given multiple opportunities to comply with the law. He freely chose to ignore the law.

Once the 11^th Circuit released their ruling, [the person who shall no longer be named] immediately went on the Hannity Show on FoxNews to claim he could declassify documents simply by thinking they are declassified. His appearance on FoxNews was rather shocking, and I must say, he looked very distraught and worried . . . and rightly so. I suspect [the person who shall no longer be named] is well on his way to receiving a very harsh lesson in life—he is not as great as he thinks he is and has been telling all of us he is. 

-- After a three-year investigation [1041], Attorney General of New York Letitia Ann ‘Tish’ James filed a civil suit against [the person who shall no longer be named], his children (except Tiffany and Baron), two of his helper/enablers, and the fellow’s organization in its many variations. [A case number has not yet been assigned.] It is a civil suit to seek US$250M in fraudulent gains and to banish the whole crowd from doing any business in New York State. James also referred her findings to various agencies of the U.S. Government (USG) for criminal prosecution. Given the civil suit, many legal minds believe criminal charges are coming, but there was no indication from the attorney general. I suspect AG James may have made a very wise move. Nothing precluded a criminal action by the State of New York, but I also suspect James realizes the federales have a much deeper criminal bite. We shall see how this plays out.

-- After Putin announced his intention to mobilize and draft 300,000 men for his unilateral war in Ukraine [1050], hundreds of thousands of Russians are fleeing the country to any country that will take them. Putin’s level of desperation grows substantially. Protests against Putin’s war are also increasing in Russia. The Ukrainians have made substantial gains recently toward reclaiming their sovereign territory from the Russian invaders.

Putin has ordered a shameless referendum in very much the Stalin-esque model to annex the eastern two provinces of Ukraine—Donbas. He presumably wants to claim the Donbas as sovereign Russian territory, so he can quickly up the ante if the Ukrainians make further advances toward reclaiming their land.

 

President Biden spoke to the United Nations (UN) General Assembly on Wednesday, 21.September.2022. He declared Putin and Russia “shamelessly violated” the UN Charter by their unilateral attack on Ukraine, and he is spot-on correct. Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov re-iterated Putin’s claim before the UN Security Council that the Russians are combating neo-Nazis in Ukraine. The only problem with the Russian claim is they have no standing, as they say in the judicial world. Heck, during the Second World War, the Germans formed the 14. Waffen-Grenadier-Division der SS[galizische Nr. 1] with ethnic Ukrainian volunteers, who chose to join the German occupiers against the advancing Russian previous occupiers. There are very strong reasons for that fact. Thus, Lavrov’s parroting Putin’s claim has a ring of truth given the history. We had more than a few instances during the Cold War [1945-1991] where the Soviet Union violated the UN Charter, but none of those instances were as grievously blatant as the Ukraine invasion [24.2.2022].

I understand and appreciate the risks associated with removal of Russia as a permanent member of the UN Security Council. However, there is no greater example of Russia’s unworthiness to hold unilateral veto power than Putin’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, and the mounting war crimes and crimes against humanity being carried out by the Russian military. The Russians have violated virtually every rule of contemporary warfare and terrorized the Ukrainian people. Removing Russia as a permanent member of the Security Council would not be easy, but it can be done. It deserves to be done. It needs to be done.

At the bottom line, Russia must be totally isolated and condemned as a pariah state until such time as they remove Putin and the conservatives in the Duma, and establish an orderly government committed to abiding international law. If that day ever comes, we can consider reinstating their permanent membership on the UN Security Council that they originally earned the hard way during the Second World War.

 

Comments and contributions from Update no.1079:

Comment to the Blog:

“We know Pence is a more committed ideologue than most prominent people. I’d like virtually all medical decisions to occur between a patient and a doctor.

“I’ve been wondering if/when King Baby will die or become severely disabled. He’s old, unhealthy, and under severe stress, as the law finally closes in from several directions. What happens then?

“I have another very literate friend who has read enough of Ulysses to have an opinion, and it’s very like yours. It’s not on my reading list.

“The Popular Information column includes photos of false information provided to the refugees who were dumped in Martha’s Vineyard. For Governor DeSantis and his agent, the mysterious ‘Perla,’ criminal charges could follow. (I sent the column separately.)”

My response to the Blog:

Indeed, he is! I am with you emphatically. The bodily functions of every citizen are beyond the reach of the State. There is a very real and distinct reason the HIPAA protections were codified in law. {Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) [PL 104-191; 110 Stat. 1936; 21.8.1996]} I am constantly reminded of the prophetic writing of Aaron Sorkin in the series The West Wing. In a staff debate, the character Sam Seaborn declared, 

“It’s not about abortion.  It’s about the next 20 years.  In the 20’s and 30’s, it was the role of government; 50’s and 60’s, it was civil rights. The next two decades are going to be privacy. I'm talkin’ about the Internet, talkin’ about cell phones, talkin’ about medical records, and who's gay and who's not. Moreover, in a country born on the will to be free, what could be more fundamental than this?” [S1, Ep9; 24.11.1999]

I say, spot on! That is exactly the issue at hand today. It is not about abortion. It is entirely about every citizen’s fundamental right to privacy, full stop!

Good question. Not soon enough, I must say. Yet, despite my revulsion of that despicable con artist of a ‘man,’ I want him to live. I want him to face justice in the dock. I want history to officially record his crimes, and more importantly, I want the Judicial record to be permanently imprinted with his culpability, malfeasance, and total disregard of the law. If we are to learn and improve from this MAGA tragedy, we need a very hard statement in the historical record . . . or his crimes can be repeated. If he dies, judicial action ceases as moot, which might be more injurious to our future, e.g., Ford’s pardon of Nixon.

I suppose if a person is an afficionado of abstract or impressionist artwork, you might find connection or relevance in Joyce’s Ulysses. If you are not one of those folks, I would say that it is NOT worth the effort. Others have told me what the book is about, but my little pea-brain was apparently incapable of seeing even a sliver of a story—any story. Yet, all that said, I condemn the social conservatives who sought to prohibit the book a century ago, and those contemporary conservatives who seek to ban or burn the book today. I prefer knowledge over ignorance in every topic I can think of, which is precisely why I chose to expend the effort to read the book—to understand.

DeSantis used state funds (presumably) to charter two jets, sent them to Texas to pick up potential immigrants, and flew them unilaterally to Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts. He has professed the intention to do it again. It is my understanding that he is now under criminal investigation in Texas for that action. I have not yet read the Popular Information article, but I will do so.

 . . . Round two:

“I’d love to see the Chump convicted and sentenced. I just don’t know how long his body will hold up.

“The irony of Ulysses is that if people hadn’t made a fuss about it, it would have vanished due to being unreadable.

“DeSantis used the document pictured in the Popular Information article to deceive the immigrants so that they would board the planes. That’s fraud to add to the other charges.”

 . . . my response to round two:

Quite true, but I do not care. My concern at this point is, I want and advocate for a clear, definitive, unequivocal statement in the historical record that behavior such as his is absolutely unacceptable. That man has exploited assumptions of goodness. We need a trial, conviction and confirmatory appeals up to the Supreme Court to achieve a clear definition in the law. That is not an easy goal to achieve. I do not want to imagine what might become of our once grand republic if he is not charged, acquitted by a jury, or pardoned as Nixon was. As we can see all around us and in Comment section of this humble forum, there is a substantial chunk of our citizenry who truly believe he has done no wrong. That segment may never accept conviction like they do not accept the 2020 election results, but that is another bridge to cross.

You may well be correct. I wish I could see what others apparently see, but my limited cerebral capacity is incapable.

There are a number of aspects that trouble me about the brochure. It looks like an informal, unofficial, informational brochure. What is more important is they reportedly signed a consent form. If so, the content and presentation of that consent form is crucial. Were they fraudulently misled?

 . . . Round three:

“I agree with your statement about King Baby, but we don’t control whether he has a heart attack, stroke, etc.

“The brochure is a copy of the information in a UN handout for other refugees in a different situation. Ordinary people have been deceived by poorer counterfeits. It’s unknown whether we’ll see the consent forms.”

 . . . my response to round three:

Nope, none of us controls that potential. Simply, we shall have to deal with whatever comes. In this question, I fear for history and future generations; we cannot leave it as we left Nixon.

As the investigators dig deeper, we learn of mounting indications of fraudulent transport. What has not been mentioned so far is fraudulent relocation across state lines make the action a federal matter. So far the investigations have been state matters; I have not heard of any federal action, as yet. If the investigations lead to prosecutions in a court of law, we will eventually see the evidence.

 . . . Round four:

“It only makes it more interesting that other investigations of King Baby continue. Even with his ego, the stress has to be adding up.”

 . . . my response to round five:

Oh my, yes, quite so. Further, all his stress is self-induced. He freely chose the path of a conman, demagogue, and wannabe tyrant. He has gotten away with far too much already, and it is long past due for him to face the consequences of his actions.

 

Another contribution:

“Why does Trump belong in prison for the rest of his life ? You thought that about his supposed Russian collusion which was always a farce. Now you believe all the lies about January 6 and you believe the bull crap that Trump supporters are tyrannists . Sure you and Jeanne and a few others would like him in prison to get him out of the way but really Cap .. why does he deserve to be in prison even one single day ? You are childish and irrational for even saying this. The Bidens deserve to be in prison let them go first. Hope by me saying that pisses you off as much as you saying prison for Trumppisses me off.” [redaction mine]

My reply:

Simple answer: He committed multiple crimes. If I had taken just one of those classified documents, I would have been charged, tried, convicted, and in prison by now. Despite his vaunted status among some citizens, he is NOT above the law. Judge Cannon has shown inordinate deference to the man who does not deserve such deference. He is just a citizen, period.

No, that is not what I thought. I believe there was more than enough evidence beyond the ‘probable cause’ threshold to investigate thoroughly the suspicious potential for collusion. The investigation did not establish collusion. I have NOT seen sufficient evidence to cross the ‘beyond a reasonable doubt’ threshold that is necessary for trial and conviction for collusion. What I thought he did in the 2016 election was wrong in many ways, but it was not against the law . . . to my knowledge.

The BIG LIE perpetrated by [the person who shall no longer be named] and the subsequent actions he stimulated, encouraged, and advocated for were serious felonious crimes, and I still believe he will face justice in a court of law, where he will be appropriately judged. There remains to this very day no evidence of widespread or sufficient fraud to alter the outcome of the 2020 election—he lost by the exact same system that enabled him to win the 2016 election despite losing the popular vote by a substantial margin in both elections.

No, again!. I do not think his MAGA supporters are tyrannists—some are but most are followers. Most of the MAGA folks at the Capitol on 6.January.2021 did not violate the law, did not assault police, and did not trespass into the Capitol building, only a comparative few chose to violate the law. I do think MAGA folks have succumbed to the Sirens’ Song of a practiced and accomplished confidence man (conman), who sold them worthless tripe. I do not blame his supporters for that, I blame the perpetrator. To me, he is the contemporary version of Clark Stanley [1906]. What he did sucking people into his magic, snake-oil elixir was not illegal; it was sad that so many people succumbed to the promise of his worthless snake-oil.

No, I do not want him out of the way. He is and remains a citizen of this once grand republic. I do emphatically want him to face justice in a court of law where rules of evidence prevail. I have also considered the potential that despite his crimes, he may well escaped justice, as he did in TWO (2) impeachment trials in the Senate [the only man in history, so far]. I remember the O.J. Simpson murder trial in 1995; there is zero doubt in my little pea-brain that he committed those murders, but a jury refused to convict him; the same could occur in a trial of [the person who shall no longer be named]; it will only take one MAGA believer to hang the jury.

OK, I’ll bite. What crime has President Biden committed?

It is not my intention to piss you off. I am truly sorry my words induce that emotion in you or anyone else. But, if we are to remain a democracy, we must debate these issues freely, openly, and vigorously.

 . . . follow-up comment:

“Comparing conviction of OJ Simpson to Trump is ridiculous.. they won’t convict Trump because he’s done nothing wrong .. OJ did. They just continually try to get him .. and you fall for each attempt.. Russia collusion (you wanted Comey to be right so badly you had to watch him speak three times) , January 6 (you originally believed the entire crowd were tyrannists). and now the corrupt FBI raid .. yes they are trying to get him out of the way and they hate us for supporting him. What if Trump stepped aside and let’s say Ron DeSantis became the President Elect ? I support him as well .. would that make everyone happier?

“I don’t think I need to explain the Biden family crime .. you’ve heard all about it .. if Trumps kids did what Bidens did it would be all over mainstream news ..” 
[redaction mine]

 . . . my follow-up reply:

I was only referring to the potential for acquittal despite the overwhelming and convincing evidence. To my knowledge, the subject man has not murdered anyone.

Yes, you are quite correct as the portion of the tribe in the U.S. Senate gathered around ihr Anführer. That will not happen or rather is not likely to happen in a court of law, except as I noted that it will only take one (1) MAGA supporter on the jury to hang the jury’s verdict; most juries must be unanimous, 12-0, for conviction or acquittal. What will be different is, we will see hard, tested evidence and his nonsense rhetoric will not be tolerated. The Special Master he foisted on the process through a sympathetic judge has directly challenged his baseless rhetoric—basically, put up or shut-up. He will not be allowed to tout his evidence-less BIG LIE in court. Either you have evidence or you do not, period, full stop.

No, I did not so claim. The myriad videos were ample coverage that most of the insurrectionists were inside the Capitol disrupting the constitutionally mandated process. The vast majority of MAGA supporters were outside, part of the mob, but they were not violent and did not enter the Capitol Building. Most committed misdemeanor trespass, but those inside committed felonious trespass plus other crimes. Many have been convicted and imprisoned, while others await trial.

DeSantis is a practiced politician. He is far smoother and craftier than [the person who shall no longer be named] will ever be. I can find very little to agree with politically. No, DeSantis will not make everyone happier. From my perspective, he a slicker version of [the person who shall no longer be named]—Trump v2.0. While we have not seen the evidence yet, DeSantis appears to have made a dreadful mistake and may well face criminal charges himself. We shall see.

Of course, you don’t. These are the times in which we live. I will only state for the record here that I have seen no evidence or even remote hints that President Biden has violated any laws—plenty of accusations but no evidence. If Hunter Biden broke any laws, charge him, try him, convict him, and send him to prison. The president’s younger son has made more than a few terrible mistakes, but it still comes down to evidence. Accusations must be substantiated beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law. I listen to but I do not care about rhetorical accusations—only evidence. To my knowledge, having an errant adult son is not a crime.

 

A different contribution:

“Only one comment re 1079:

“I hate to hear comments that reinforce the caustic cancerous contemporary thinking that undermines our national confidence in the wisdom of our three independent branches of government. Even Justice Somtameyer (sp?) , whom I admit was considered by me to be a leftist appointee, has eloquently lamented the media-encouraged cynicism that assumes that a justice appointed by a President of one party will favor that party or President in later decisions! Let's stop weakening our country by perpetuating this scandal. Sure, it seems that way sometimes, but perhaps only seems. The important thing is to expect and see evidence of the opposite. You can do your important part by softening such commentary and, indeed, expecting justices to shed any party loyalty upon accepting lifetime appointments, at last immune from political pressures and able to fulfill their roles as impartial rulers on the law, rejecting all temptations to legislate.

My response:

Well said and amen, my friend. However, that is a two-way street. Condemning the free Press as an “enemy of the People” is not helpful to that end.

I am a greater fan of print media because the resultant printed articles are edited and survive layers of review. Singular voices like Alex Jones are not useful in any manner I can imagine.

Yet, at the end of the day, each of us must learn to filter information like intelligence analysts must assess collected data—source accuracy, reliability, and corroboration.

 

Yet another contribution:

“Thank you Cap. Indeed BofB day. My father served in the RAF at an airfield called RAF Manston on the east Kent coast. They seemed to be involved in many activities defending the base-including manning anti-aircraft weapons both in the air and ground. I had the honour of being born there at that time. Of course that airfield was after the war manned by Uncle Sam’s air-force something I can remember. It has a massively long runway.

“I was once during my service sent there to do an engine change on a squadron aircraft. What memories. Currently plans are firmly afoot to develop the unit into a civilian airfield.

“I must confess Cap that the loss of our Queen darkened such memories.”

My reply:

Quite understandable, my friend. She was a stabilizing force in troubled times. These dark days shall pass as our grief subsides. She lived a good and worthy life. King Charles III has had plenty of time to prepare and had an able teacher. I truly hope he is up to the task.

By the way, I meant to ask earlier, has her cause of death been disclosed? We have not seen it here.

 . . . follow-up comment:

“Whether Charles will be up to the style/charm and wonderful personality of our last monarch we will have to see. But yes he is qualified and capable to do the job adequately.

“No, to my knowledge there has been no statement re cause of death. When that arrives I will of course send it on.

“Trust you both are well.”

 . . . my follow-up reply:

We wish the King well. We will be watching.

No worries. Just curious. I suspect we are not likely to hear, given the divine right of monarchs. I am suspicious when anyone passes so suddenly, even a 96yo woman.

All’s well here . . . well other than the sordid continuing drama swirling around the former fellow. Hey, that is the cards we were dealt. And so it goes.

 

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

Cheers,

Cap                  :-)

Update no.1079

 Update from the Sunland

No.1079

12.9.22 – 18.9.22

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

 

To all,

 

15^th of September – The day is remembered in perpetuity as . . . 

Battle of Britain Day.

Lest we ever forget, 82 years ago this day, with the Royal Air Force Fighter Command within days of collapse, the inexorable tide turned against the Germans and their planned cross-Channel invasion of the United Kingdom. In those dark days of summer 1940, Great Britain stood starkly alone and diminished against the Nazi German juggernaut flooding across Europe. The Miracle of Dunkirk (May/June 1940) had saved a large portion of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) in France, but they lost most of their heavy weapons. Scores of young pilots stood to the ramparts and were not found wanting. We owe an extraordinary, unpayable debt to the British, exile and volunteer pilots who took to the air multiple times every day for three months in the unrelenting aerial battle that summer to defeat the overwhelming Luftwaffe.  We all may not remember, but I do! 

 

The follow-up news items:

-- The status of the Space Launch System (SLS) Artemis I mission [1076 & sub] remains uncertain. As of this writing, the current launch date is no earlier than Tuesday, 27.September.2022, at 11:37 [R] EDT (15:37 [Z] GMT). A major cryogenic fueling demonstration test is scheduled for 07:15 [R] EDT on Wednesday, 21.September.2022, to test the repairs made to correct the hydrogen leak issue that scrubbed the last launch attempt [1077]. I could not find any resolution to the Artemis I Flight Termination System (FTS) certification that expired on the 6^th. If NASA misses the 27^th launch window, the next opening is 2.October.2022.

-- In the wake of the Dobbs ruling [1068], former vice president Mike Pence declared in a recent interview that the social conservative fight to restrict bodily autonomy for women “is profoundly more important than any short-term politics.” Pence had earlier tweeted:

Now that Roe v. Wade has been consigned to the ash heap of history, a new arena in the cause of life has emerged and it is incumbent on all who cherish the sanctity of life to resolve that we will take the defense of the unborn...
...and support for women in crisis pregnancies to every state Capitol in America. Having been given this second chance for Life, we must not rest and must not relent until the sanctity of life is restored to the center of American law in every state in the land.

7:15 AM Jun 24, 2022

Just to be clear in this discussion, elective late term abortions have never been legal in the third trimester {do not believe me; please read: Roe v. Wade [410 U.S. 113 (1973)] [319]}. According to CDC statistics for 2019, 92.7% of abortions were performed at ≤13 weeks’ gestation (first trimester); 6.2% were performed at 14–20 weeks’ gestation, and only 1.1% were performed at ≥21 weeks’ gestation, presumably to save the mother’s life. 

The propaganda distributed by right-wing fanatics and religious zealots has been and remains false. I am really tired of and aggravated by the social conservative bullshit about late term abortions. Political advertisements through this silly season claim that the Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate in Arizona supports abortions up to the moment of birth. The statement is wrong in every possible way. The social conservatives are counting on most folks not doing the necessary research and voting on emotions rather than knowledge. This is the world and times in which we live.

-- The hits just keep coming as [the person who shall no longer be named] seeks to delay the federal criminal investigation into his conduct as long as he possibly can with the direct assistance of District Judge Aileen Mercedes Cannon [1077]. The latest order came this week when the judge denied the government’s petition to exclude classified documents from her earlier special master order in DONALD J. TRUMP v. United States of America [USDC FL SD Case 9:22-cv-81294-AMC (2022)] [1078]. Judge Cannon is grotesquely wrong. No person including any president, set aside an accused criminal president, has any right to classified material outside the declassification and assigning processes . . . period . . . full stop!

Every classified document is clearly and definitively marked. Every paragraph of every classified document has an abbreviated marking to signify the classification of that individual paragraph. There is no debate or interpretation. Each document is a fact. The judge had no right whatsoever to sequester classified documents for the Special Master review because the subject of the investigation has no standing and no claim.

The USG is appealing the judge’s erroneous order to the 2^nd Court of Appeals. I trust that independent minds will correct the error. We shall see.

 

I do not usually use this forum for my personal book reviews, but in this particular instance, I must make an exception. The reading of every word on every page took me months of struggle, frustration, and even anger, but I finally finished Ulysses by James Joyce. In literary circles, the book is considered a classic and arguably the best “modernist” novel. Before I jump into my opinion of this . . . shall we say ‘art,’ I would like to present a couple of examples of his writing style. I chose the unabridged, uncensored, digital version of the novel; thus, page numbers are at best relevant. From page 282 of 762:

“On. Know what I mean. No, change that ee. Accep my poor litt pres enclos. Ask her no answ. Hold on. Five Dig. Two about here. Penny the gulls. Elijah is com. Seven Davy Byrne’s. Is eight about. Say half a crown. My poor little pres: p. o. two and six. Write me a long. Do you despise? Jingle, have you the? So excited. Why do you call me naught? You naughty too? O, Mairy lost the string of her. Bye for today. Yes, yes, will tell you. Want to. To keep it up. Call me that other. Other world she wrote. My patience are exhaust. To keep it up. You must believe. Believe. The tank. It. Is. True.”

There are many ‘sic’s in just this one paragraph alone. ‘Sic’ is a Latin adverb that mean “thus” or “just as,” and is often used as a contraction of sic erat scriptum, "thus was it written."

A shorter example from page 285 of 762:

“Jog jig jogged stopped. Dandy tan shoe of dandy Boylan socks skyblue clocks came light to earth.”

I know what the words mean, but I had a very hard time trying to find meaning or vision in those word constructs. These are but two examples of what appears throughout the majority of the book. Then, we come to the final chapter—Penelope. The last chapter is 46 pages long; the first 21 pages of the chapter have no punctuation of any kind. In the entire chapter, only two punctuation marks appear—a period on the 21^st page and another period at the end of the chapter. The longest run-on sentence I have ever seen or even heard of—roughly 10,500 words—one sentence.

If anyone can enlighten me regarding the genius of Joyce’s style of writing, I beg you to educate me, to help me see the light. Short of that state, I am blind and deaf to this drivel.

The book was initially published in serialization form in 1920 with the first book printing in 1922. It was hailed in literary circles as the greatest work of modernist literature in the 20^th Century. The book was also declared obscene and pornographic in several Western countries. Under the Comstock Act of 1873 [PL 42-III-258; 17 Stat. 598], the U.S. Government (USG) prohibited distribution of the book in the United States. The U.S. Post Office seized and burned copies of the book, also by authority of the Comstock Act. The obscenity / pornography anchor was eventually removed in 1933/34 by U.S. District Judge John Munro Woolsey of the Southern District of New York [5 F. Supp. 182 (1933)] and affirmed by the 2^nd Circuit [72 F.2d 705 (1934)] in United States v. One Book Called Ulysses. Just so we can put things in perspective, the primary (not the only) offending paragraph was (page 370 of 762):

“And then a rocket sprang and bang shot blind blank and O! then the Roman candle burst and it was like a sigh of O! and everyone cried O! O! in raptures and it gushed out of it a stream of rain gold hair threads and they shed and ah! they were all greeny dewy stars falling with golden, O so lovely, O, soft, sweet, soft!”

Those words are supposed to represent a scene of masturbation and ejaculation on a public beach. In my first reading of those words, that image did not pop into my little pea-brain. Some folks seem to have a very colorful imagination. The legal actions against the book are an excellent example of what happens when social conservatives impose their judgments on all citizens.

The New York Times boldly declared Ulysses is "the most prominent landmark in modernist literature," which means I do not see it. From my perspective, Ulysses is disjointed and broken with far too many sentence fragments down to single words. Characters are not introduced or connected. The storyline jumps all over the place without continuity or even context. The book stimulated me to review the history of punctuation.

There is evidence of punctuation going back to the beginning of recorded history. However, the preponderance of the historical record is in what the Romans called scriptura continua (continuous script, i.e., letters with no spaces or punctuation). At least Joyce had spaces between words (I think). Punctuation symbols (marks) came into prominent usage at the dawn of the movable type, printing press era (circa 1450). Telegraph and teletype machines had no punctuation symbols until the mid-20^th Century. The introduction of commercially available typewriters (1868) included punctuation symbols. The University of Chicago Press began printing in 1891 and established guidelines for publication that included punctuation standards. Those guidelines became the 1^st edition of the Chicago Manual of Style (CMS). Today, I strive for my writing to conform to the 17^th edition (CMS17) rules. Why Joyce chose to write the way he did (see the limited examples above), and especially the 18^th chapter (Penelope), is simply beyond me; I do not understand.

Put aside the aggravation of construction and any discernible style, the imagery induced by Joyce’s words was quite like viewing abstract or impressionist artwork. The viewer sees what he wants to see. The reading left me feeling I was witnessing the stream of consciousness of a man who recently ingested a major dose of LySergic acid Diethylamide (LSD), also known colloquially as acid—a psychedelic and hallucinogenic drug. An acid trip seems to have significance to the consumer, but the rest of us have no way to connect or even perceive the trip. Needless to say, I cannot and will not place Ulysses on my list of classics or good reads. The book was far too much work with very little benefit. All that said, I am glad I finally read the book, because now I know.

 

Comments and contributions from Update no.1078:

Comment to the Blog:

“Selling weapons to Poland and others is about great profits for the military-industrial complex. Strategic objectives, if any, are secondary.

“I can’t imagine how executive privilege can apply to one who is not the executive. Let’s get on with the prosecution. Lawyers, like other contracted helpers, lose their loyalty if not paid. King Baby’s habit is not paying the help.

“‘Wars’ on concepts can’t be won. A public health approach to drugs and various other issues will pay off better. See Portugal for a good example.”

My response to the Blog:

I do not share your cynicism about the military-industrial complex. President Eisenhower used the words ‘guard against’ and the meaning of the applicable words in his farewell address was ‘beware.’ He did not say abandon or dismantle the military-industrial complex. His caution was well-founded in direct knowledge of what he saw. In the instance of Poland’s security, I do believe the need for such a sophisticated weapon system is warranted and justified given Russia’s current unprovoked aggression in a neighboring sovereign state and Russia’s activities to destabilize Eastern Europe. I will also note that Russia is already on Poland’s border—Kaliningrad Oblast. Thus, I cannot agree that this action is simply some endeavor for great profit.

I am having exactly the same doubts and skepticism about the former fellow’s lame claims of ‘executive privilege.’ The Supreme Court has been very clear in that executive privilege and other protections for a sitting president have limited extension to a former president, and those protections cannot mask criminal conduct regardless of his status. Nixon induced those judgments, so at least they are established. The last guy found another packet of tools to carry out his confidence man activities, and the Justice Department is whittling away at those tools. I share your frustration with the perceived slowness of the Garland Justice Department, but there are signs the vice continues to ratchet closed on him however slowly. Just yesterday, the Justice Department issued 30 subpoenas to many of the man’s enablers and confederates complicit in the BIG LIE, which suggests to me that the federal prosecutors are concentrating their focus. Yes, indeed! That man has a very long history of stiffing those who do work for him—five (5) bankruptcies. And lawyers are no different; he does not respect them (or anyone other than himself), he only uses them and throws them away. “Making Attorneys Get Attorneys” indeed!

We are in absolute agreement on that observation. I would only add regulation to your public health approach. To me, public health includes regulation of consumable quality, purity, and uniformity. More fatalities have recently been reported from contamination of consumables with fentanyl—unregulated production. The Press and public blame the consumable, but it was the contamination that caused death. Fifty years of history has validated my hypothesis that prohibition cannot and never will diminish consumption, just as it did not with alcohol or tobacco. Knowledge is an infinitely more powerful tool than ignorance as the Nixon administration Controlled Substances Act took. Portugal is a shining light of hope, and they have taken a more enlightened path in dealing with psychotropic substance consumption. However, to my thinking, they have not gone far enough, but their success speaks for itself. We are very long overdue for reform and a more intelligent and respectful approach to psychotropic substance consumption. We need to grow—knowledge over ignorance.

 . . . Round two:

“I didn’t say anything about dismantling the military-industrial complex. ‘Guard against’ remains appropriate, and arms sales/proxy wars have been the major mechanism for decades. The statement that money motivates the decision makers stands. This country needs that money for many better purposes.

“Even if there were an excuse for King Baby’s conduct while in office, today’s operations can’t be covered by that. Most recently, I see reports he’s in DC on a golf course but not playing golf. He’s meeting with people out of range of surveillance devices.

“The primary public health approach to drug use in the USA is supervised consumption sites, which addresses your concern with fentanyl. I believe there are a few trial sites in action, but the authorities tend to block their creation.”

 . . . my response to round two:

And, I did not say you did say anything about dismantling, but others have. Yes, “guard against” does remain most appropriate. Money corrupts, and piles of money corrupts a lot. We can discuss history if you wish, but in the contemporary instance, I do not believe or even remotely suspect that profit is the motive for the decision/purchase the Polish government made. I truly believe there is genuine fear of Putin’s hegemonic ambitions. [I will not here, as I should have noted earlier, that current Russian aggression is supported by a large far right-wing cabal in Russia. They tried to carry out a violent coup d’état in 1991 and failed. They have been plotting ever since, and Putin is their man.] The recent Polish decision is a purchase, not a grant. All that said, I will agree that there is enormous pork-barrel funding imposed by Congress that is ripe for cutting and diversion to better purposes. Congress is the culprit, not the Defense Department.

Exactly correct. However, at least one judge, Aileen Cannon, has shown inordinate deference to the former president. If she had broadened her perspective just a little, she would have seen his unworthiness for such deference. Yes, that was also exactly my view of his “golf course” meeting. Yet, through all of that, I still hold (perhaps naïvely) onto the belief that justice will prevail. The man belongs in prison for the rest of his natural life.

Agreed again. Supervised consumption is a positive step forward, but woefully inadequate. While supervised consumption with clean, sterile paraphernalia, improves one aspect of consumption injury, it does not address perhaps the most lethal element of consumption—substance quality (purity, dosage, consistency, and uniformity). I understand and appreciate that most Americans strongly disapprove of psychotropic substance consumption, especially for recreational purposes, but that does not give us the right to impose upon every citizen’s fundamental right to privacy and our precious freedom of choice. Yet, at the end of the day, on occasions such as this, I quote the Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu—"The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.”

 . . . Round three:

“Your reference to dismantling the military-industrial complex is an example of the ‘strawman’ fallacy, setting up a new argument rather than responding to the original statement.

“I wasn’t referring to the Polish government; I know little about them. The Americans making the decisions are the problem in America.

“Judge Cannon is a King Baby appointee with little experience. The appointed level of officialdom is a major source of trouble nowadays. The ‘advise and consent’ function of the Senate fails more than it succeeds.

“Supervised consumption sites, at least the one I’m aware of here, offer to test substances. Users choose whether to test their products. Knowing addiction as I do, I assume some of the customers are in too much of a hurry to test.”

 . . . my response to round three:

Strawman fallacy . . . you say. Oh my! I shall respectfully disagree, but I must accept that may well be how you interpreted my words. That was not my intent. I also disagree with your root premise . . . selling weapons to Poland was about great profits. The implication of your words is that sale was motivated predominantly if not entirely by profit, which as I originally stated seems rather cynical to me. I reacted to your words like a conspiracy theory to the left. I also have seen no evidence whatsoever that even remotely suggests the armaments sale was for any reason other than the defense of Poland, which certainly seems justified with Russian aggression in neighboring Ukraine.

I will agree that Congress has on occasion foisted armaments purchases on the Defense Department and other countries through Foreign Military Sales (FMS), but that does not mean every such sale is pork barrel funding. Occasionally, such sales are for proper national defense purposes.

Yes, she is, and that may well be a factor. The wording of her order left me shaking my head, thus my review. You are quite correct, and perhaps even a bit understated. To my sense of history, the worst advise and consent failure in history was the Senate’s rejection of the League of Nations Treaty President Wilson had drafted and promoted; but hey, that’s just me.

OK, you have informed me. I was not aware that some consumption sites do perform testing upon request. Such testing opens a whole additional group of issues and questions, but it is monumentally better than just clean needles and alcohol swabs. Time might well be an issue especially if an individual is nearing the end of the rope. Far better to have known precise doses where testing is part of production and certification, i.e., regulation. We have made limited, very slow progress to improve our approach to psychotropic substance consumption, but we have a very long rough road ahead to a more enlightened and respectful state.

 

Another contribution:

Cap, many thanks for your kind words to us all over the loss of our beloved Queen.

Those words will bind our friendship tightly to us all.

My reply:

As I write, I am watching the gun carriage procession transporting the Queen from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Hall for public respects. We share your grief and respect. I never cease to be impressed.

May God bless and rest Her Majesty’s immortal soul.

 

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

Cheers,

Cap                  :-)

Update no.1078

Update from the Sunland

No.1078

5.9.22 – 11.9.22

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

 

To all,

 

Our heartfelt condolences to the Royal Family and the British people on the passing of Queen Elizabeth II – Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Windsor. She lived a good and worthy life. May God bless her immortal soul. She reportedly passed peacefully at her beloved Balmoral estate on 8.September.2022. On her passing, her eldest son Charles Philip Arthur George Windsor became King Charles III, 73 years of age.

 

The British People finally have a new prime minister—Mary Elizabeth ‘Liz’ Truss. After the resignation of Boris Johnson (7.7.2022) [1069], the Conservative Party chose Ms. Truss as their leader, and thus by their ruling majority in the House of Commons, she became prime minister. Her audience with the Queen occurred at Balmoral on 6.September.2022—two days prior to the Queen’s death. The public image of the audience shows the Queen standing with a cane and a nice smile. She did not appear to be ailing. The photograph is public testament to the Queen’s dedication to public service.

 

Well, well, well! The Government of Poland announced the selection of the Boeing AH-64E Apache attack helicopter for its new attack helicopter fleet. 

 

The follow-up news items:

-- Ah, yes, the gift that keeps on giving. [The person who shall no longer be named] filed suit in Florida—Trump v. United States [USDC SDFL WPBD Case no. 22-81294-cv-AMC]. He petitioned the court for a special master and an independent review of documents and materials removed from Mar-a-Lago during the FBI warranted search [1074]. Judge Aileen Mercedes Cannon granted the petition for a special master. She also temporarily halted the use of those documents and materials for the on-going criminal investigation. She recounted some of the chronological facts.

           What the judge failed to recognize or acknowledge in her order was all of the legal wrangling could have and would have been avoided if he had simply abided the law and returned the documents and materials removed erroneously from the White House in January or then again in June. He chose not to do so. He brought all of this on himself, the judge ignored the facts and reality.

Former attorney general Bill Barr declared that Judge Cannon’s order was wrong on many aspects and encouraged the Justice Department to appeal the judge’s order. The legal to & fro began immediately. Judge Cannon’s inordinate deference to the former president has given him exactly what he wants—extension. So far, it appears Attorney General Garland has not yet decided to appeal Judge Cannon’s order. My recommendation: file an appeal of the entire order immediately. Do not waste more time negotiating with a criminal.

The single, simple, cold fact is, [the person who shall no longer be named] could have and would have avoided all of this confrontation and embarrassment if he had simply not absconded with documents, classified and unclassified, that belonged to the USG by law. And failing that milestone, if he had simply returned all of the materials to the USG. He chose not to do so, and in fact, he repeatedly defied the law and repeated attempt to enforce the law in a gentlemanly manner. [The person who shall no longer be named] chose not to do so. He even defied a grand jury subpoena and ordered his lackey attorney to falsify the certification. Judge Cannon refused to acknowledge the USG’s extraordinary deference to the former president and repeated efforts to recover the classified documents he had absolutely no right to hold and the presidential records that by law belong in the National Archive—not his office. The FBI naturally gathered up personal materials during the search since they were mixed in together. There is also an established process by law for him to recover those personal items from the FBI and USG (National Archive). But as we know by Article 99 of the Constitution, no law, procedure, process, rule, guideline, precedent, or tradition applies to that man—the rest of us, yes, but not him. He is special!

-- After two failed attempts to launch (so far) [1077] the Space Launch System (SLS) Artemis I mission, NASA announced the next launch attempt that is now scheduled for Monday, 19.September.2022. Then, after writing the previous sentence early in the week, the next launch date has bounced back to uncertainty. As of the publication of this week’s edition of the Update from the Sunland, the next launch attempt is now stated as not earlier than 23.September.2022. NASA has decided to perform a complete fueling test to validate the repairs, and then they intend to secure a waiver of a critical safety system—the Flight Termination System (FTS). The FTS is designed and intended to destroy the rocket if it veers off course during launch. NASA has already one FTS test extension for this SLS vehicle. The range criteria require the FTS to be tested every 25 days. The FTS test necessitates the rocket to be rolled back to the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB). If a waiver of the FTS test is not granted, the next launch attempt would be further delayed to October or later. We shall continue to pay attention to their progress. 

-- It seems President Biden’s Philadelphia primetime speech [1077] has touched off a far broader crisis of public debate. More than a few citizens have gotten their feathers ruffled by the president’s effort to segregate the so-called “MAGA Republicans” from regular Republicans. It further seems the “MAGA Republicans” desperately want to hold onto their mainstream status protected by ihr Anführer. He is no longer in power by a proper constitutional election. The “MAGA Republicans” refuse and apparently are incapable of recognizing that the majority of American citizens rejected ihr Anführer. Time to grow up and accept reality—“MAGA Republicans” are a waning minority. So, I say to all “MAGA Republicans,” abandon your foolish, unconstitutional, notions of power and rejoin the law-abiding citizens of the United States of America. If not, you will continue to be marginalized and banished to the periphery of American society. Either support and defend the Constitution or be relegated to the dustbin of history along with other radical fringe groups like the Ku Klux Klan, Aryan Brotherhood, Proud Boys, Oath Keepers, Neo-Nazis, Three Percenters, et al ad infinitum ad nauseum. This is a free society. Your choice.

 

The New York Times reported on a dark joke circulating among lawyers following the mounting legal, civil and criminal cases and investigations against [the person who shall no longer be named]: MAGA actually stands for “making attorneys get attorneys.” How true! How true! And yet, his believers give him their blind loyalty, which makes that devotion so sad. The selfish, narcissistic con-man does not deserve even a sliver of that devotion. However, in a free society, every citizen remains free to believe what they wish and support whomever they wish, no matter how bad—a genuine tragedy for this once grand republic.

 

President Volodymyr Oleksandrovych Zelenskyy of Ukraine accused the Russians of using the six-reactor Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Station as a nuclear weapon by their staging weapons and supplies at the site and conducting offensive operations from the plant (artillery). He is spot on correct. Any compromise of the six-reactor cooling and control systems would likely result in radiation release similar to Chernobyl [1986]. Radiation release by any means is essentially a dirty bomb with a large-scale effect, i.e., a nuclear weapon. To me, what Putin is doing is a crime against humanity . . . beyond a war crime.

 

One of the numerous digital history sources I routinely visit or subscribe to is History Today. An item in this week’s newsletter caught my attention.

“Has a War on Drugs Ever Been Won? – Society’s battle against what Richard Nixon called ‘public enemy number one’ is an ancient one. Is there any sense in fighting?”

History Today

Published in History Today Volume 72 Issue 9 September 2022

https://www.historytoday.com/archive/head-head/has-war-drugs-ever-been-won?utm_source=Weekly+Newsletter&utm_campaign=2b2cee88b2-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2017_09_20_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_fceec0de95-2b2cee88b2-806350&mc_cid=2b2cee88b2&mc_eid=f01add7266

Interesting observations. My answer to the subtitle query is NO! 

I have long confessed my initial support for President Nixon’s “war on drugs.” I simply did not know any better. Somewhere roughly a decade later, I began a protracted process of questioning the cost-benefit assessment. My conclusion: the cost vastly exceeds any potential benefit.

We can have freedom or moral projection prohibition. We cannot have both. Prohibition requires all of us giving up too much freedom. As for me, I say no, not worth the sacrifice. Rather than prohibition, I believe we should make consumption as safe as possible. Let the consumers do what they wish. Just do not involve the rest of us. If you do not like the effects of psychotropic substance consumption, do not take any of them.

I attempted to define a different societal approach to deal with psychotropic substance consumption AND respect every citizen’s fundamental right to privacy and freedom of choice. If anyone has even a sliver of curiosity about what might be a better method of dealing with drug consumption other than prohibition, I encourage you to read Indulgence[1027].

http://www.parlier.com/indulgence.html

If anyone has a better idea, I am all ears! We simply cannot continue to do what we have always done (at least for the last 50+ years) and expect a different result. Let us grow up, evolve, and move on.

 

Fox News commentator Geraldo Rivera, a long-time Republican and supporter of [the person who shall no longer be named] finally reached his threshold of tolerance. He tweeted:

Election Deniers depress me. I blame President Trump for his shameful campaign to slander and undermine American faith in our elections.

For all his positive accomplishments, and there are many, I could never support him again. 

Without fealty to the Constitution, we’re 2d rate.

1:40 PM · Sep 7, 2022

I suspect he just got “unfriended” for that one. 

 

Former secretaries of defense and chairmen of the joint chiefs of staff wrote a precise and cogent open letter to the United States of America. Every citizen, or even citizens of other countries who cherish freedom, should read the letter carefully. While the military offices must be and remain apolitical, the secretaries are both Republican and Democrat, and several served presidents of the opposite party from their own. There is a lesson in that simple fact alone. Here is the title and URL for the letter:

“TO SUPPORT AND DEFEND: PRINCIPLES OF CIVILIAN CONTROL AND BEST PRACTICES OF CIVIL-MILITARY RELATIONS”

Published: September 6, 2022

https://warontherocks.com/2022/09/to-support-and-defend-principles-of-civilian-control-and-best-practices-of-civil-military-relations/

The letter was signed by:

Signatories:

Former Secretaries of Defense:

Dr. Ashton Baldwin Carter, PhD (Theoretical Physics)
William Sebastian Cohen
Dr. Mark Thomas Esper, PhD (Public Policy)
Dr. Robert Michael Gates, PhD (Russian and Soviet History)
Charles Timothy Hagel
General James Norman Mattis, USMC (Ret.)
Leon Edward Panetta, JD
Dr. William James Perry, PhD (Mathematics)

Former Chairmen of the Joint Chiefs of Staff:

General Martin Edward Dempsey, USA (Ret.) [USMA 1974]
General Joseph Francis Dunford Jr., USMC (Ret.)
Admiral Michael Glenn Mullen, USN (Ret.) [USNA 1968]
General Richard Bowman Myers, USAF (Ret.)
General Peter Pace, USMC (Ret.) [USNA 1967]

They noted, “Many of the factors that shape civil-military relations have undergone extreme strain in recent years.” Extreme strain . . . indeed. There is only one flawed man who shoulders the entire blame and culpability for that extreme strain. We must learn and improve from this jarring tragedy in our glorious history. Most of us who have served in uniform under arms know these principles by heart and soul. Yet, in these troubled times, I laud the initiative of these men to clearly and precisely denote these foundational principles of our nation.

 

Comments and contributions from Update no.1077:

Comment to the Blog:

“I applaud NASA for the diligence they show in the process. They’re an example to more earthbound engineers.

“I excuse your sarcasm today because it expresses so precisely the attitude of King Baby and his more delusional followers. In a rational world, he’d be in custody to prevent him from doing anything more with classified documents and his associates would suffer close surveillance. Also, there could be connections to Jeffrey Epstein’s operation. Ghislaine Maxwell’s father worked with Mossad. Who can say what happened with all of those powerful men?”

My response to the Blog:

Yes, indeed, they are practicing the aviator’s old adage—better safe than sorry. It is an ambitious mission with many firsts. They will take flight when they are ready. We should have the DART impact later this month.

Yes, agreed; I thought so as well. Other citizens have gone to prison for many years for doing far less. Good query, but no evidence I can think of. Epstein nurtured many prominent friends. Chump could easily be one of those; it was his modus operandi, but we do not need another conspiracy theory. We need facts.

 . . . follow-up comment:

“We may never have many facts about Epstein's operations. Indeed, I'm surprised that Ghislaine Maxwell lives on. (I wish her well.) I just wonder how long the echoes of that will affect national affairs.”

 . . . my follow-up response:

Yeah, not likely. The collateral reverberations from that episode may well bounce around for years or a generation. But, we do not see proper digging because most folks want it to go away.

 

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

Cheers,

Cap                  :-)