There IS Something About A War!

From the cocoon of craziness, a Presidential butterfly has emerged.  It took just one look at “those beautiful babies” for Donald Trump to extol his virtue of “flexibility,” and do what he condemned his predecessor for even contemplating, a direct strike in Syria without Congressional approval.  It was the perfect confluence of opportunity, being able to engage in a low risk strike to deliver a long overdue message to Assad, throwing raw meat to the public thereby looking Presidential to prop up his approval ratings, while burying the Russian election tamping (and Trump’s possible connection) to the back pages of the Internet. A trifecta of fortuity!

Yes, there is nothing like a war.  Even Brian Williams was waxing poetically on MSNBC “we see these beautiful pictures at night from the decks of these two U.S. Navy vessels in the eastern Mediterranean, “I am tempted to quote the great Leonard Cohen: ‘I am guided by the beauty of our weapons.’” 

Oh, the thrill of launched Tomahawks, beautiful to behold!  Stephen Sondheim’s priceless pasquinade “There’s Something about a War” (from A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum) says it all. The complete lyrics can be heard in this YouTube link but here is just a small excerpt to make the point. 

….

There’s something about a war.

Something about a war

Something about a war

That makes this little old world all right.

…

A warrior’s work is never done.

He never can get a rest.

There always are lands to overrun

And people to be oppressed.

There’s always a town to pillage

A city to be laid waste.

There’s always a little village

Entirely to be erased.

And citadels to sack, of course,

And temples to attack, of course.

Children to annihilate,

Priestesses to violate…..

Or maybe some of the Village People’s Macho Man lyrics are appropriate in this instance:

You can best believe that he's a macho man

He's the special god son in anybody's land

hey, hey, hey, hey, hey

Macho, macho man

I gotta be a macho man

Macho macho man

Yes let’s all get into the spirit of it.  Not that the Pentagon’s decision (with Trump’s approval) to send the message was the wrong one; something finally had to be done in response to the reported use of chemical weapons, but to get caught up in this one action without having an end game or more importantly a compassionate plan for Syrian refugees, is typical of this chaotic administration. 

Obama tried to involve Congress in the decision to intervene in Syria but the very people now sagely approving the recent attack would not give Obama authority.  Obama, in retrospect, should have just made a preemptive strike without bothering with the Constitution.  He was damned either way.  Trump was already tweeting back in 2013 “The President must get Congressional approval before attacking Syria-big mistake if he does not!”  Or the one which is even more telling is from 2012: “Now that Obama’s poll numbers are in tailspin – watch for him to launch a strike in Libya or Iran. He is desperate.” 

Who’s desperate now? But as we have been conditioned, no real push back on any of this.  He’s flexible! It’s okay!  There is nothing like a war!

Maybe if Trump is constantly exposed to pictures of Syrian children he will reverse his anti-refugee policy, so antithetical to what this nation stands for.  As one Syrian refugee put it:  Who gets to pick their country?

While hiding behind the shield of being a humanitarian, Trump has flexed his “strong man” muscle, even to the delight of some of his naysayers who have been calling him crazy.  One can only hope that he continues to listen to the professionals in the National Security Council.  Give him credit for removing Bannon from the NSC.  One has to be grateful for morsels of sanity.

Play the Game

Watching some of the outstanding games from the World Baseball Classic it suddenly hit me.  Here is a metaphor for the real world, not the fake one we are being dragged into, kicking and screaming.  Make America Great again?  If the WBC doesn’t demonstrate what the REAL world is like because of this country’s greatness (well, up until now), then nothing will.  Here is THE AMERICAN PASTIME which has been adopted throughout the world and not on a half-hearted basis, but with the commitment and zeal that some would have you believe is a uniquely American trait.  Just look at the nations represented in addition to the United States: Australia, Canada, China, Chinese Taipei, Colombia, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Israel, Italy, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Netherlands, Puerto Rico, and Venezuela.  Yes, most of the players are those already in the US Major or Minor leagues, but it shows the diversity of what baseball has become, with implications for world economics as well.  The nationalistic agenda of the present administration not only denies this reality, it also unrealistically seeks a time that has long passed.  We will never see that world again.  Life progresses.  One needs to adapt and not seek refuge in a past before Jackie Robinson stepped up to the plate at Ebbets Field.

And look at the enthusiasm the WBC has generated.  This is truly a world series.  I think the game between the Dominican Republic and Colombia, with Jose Bautista throwing out Oscar Mercado by a hair at home plate, is one of the best games and plays I've ever seen: https://youtu.be/ikKHwbajnbE

If he had scored, Colombia would have won the game, but the favored Dominican Republic finally won in an extra-inning game by a large score.  The DR beat the US the night before, US blowing a five run lead.  We are merely competitors at our own game.

What also struck me about the DR – Colombia game is that every one of the 37,000 seats in the Miami Marlins stadium was occupied.  Contrast that to a typical Marlin’s ML game which would have only about a little more than half of that.  It is no surprise given the large Spanish population in the area.  But that is the point.  We are a multinational country now.  We need to embrace it.  Not run from it.  And Baseball, as well as the capitalist forces of the world economy, is of our own making.  No doubt, I will root, root, root for the home team (US of A) and if they lose it will be a shame, but we have to play the game. 

And Now a Word from a Guest

There used to be a day when if I saw anything interesting in a newspaper I’d cut it out or circle it for my wife.  As the printed venue has given way to the online world, I (like everyone else) now forward the links, sometimes with my comments.  One particular piece from The New York Times, Charles Blow’s A Ticket to Hell, merited such treatment. 

Ann in turn forwarded it to friends who coincidentally we saw for dinner a couple of nights ago.  Our friend, Joyce, forwarded it to her daughter, Terri, who within a couple of hours wrote an email response to her mother.  As I drove home, Ann read me her email and I said that it was remarkable she took the time to write, off the cuff, such a cogent piece.  It’s the kind of letter you used to see in “Letters to the Editor” column (when they permitted one of such length; nowadays, they just like brief, attention-getting ones).  One of the nice things about writing this blog, is there are neither length nor subject restraints.

But, first, a few comments regarding Trump & Co.:  we have seen the enemy and they are us.  We have invited this creature into our lives, laying the groundwork with social media conspiracy theories and a culture that prizes 24 x 7 streaming of mindless reality “shows” and movies dominated by computerized special effects and violence.  In our topsy-turvy world, unreality has become reality.  Talking about impeachment is pretty serious stuff.  I think it will come down to that over a black swan event which is still to rear its head.  After all, Trump has abandoned all moral authority which comes with the office, but that in itself is not impeachable.  However, not having that authority is going to leave us vulnerable to the very things the Presidency is supposed to protect the American people from, not to mention, historically, the world. 

When will an impeachable offense take place?  Perhaps the Russian connection will be substantially proven or, worse, North Korea launches a nuclear weapon while Washington is still embroiled in Trump/Bannon crazy making.  But, then what?  We still have a Twilight Zone world of our own making and a democracy that is a shell of its former self.  No answers here; we are dependent on our Congress so we better elect the right people, and I’m not talking about Democrat vs. Republican, but about people of principle, no matter what their political party.  Please, no reality TV people need apply.

This brings me back to Terri’s impassioned email.  The foregoing does not mean to distract from its heartfelt arguments.  So as a “guest piece” I reprint it below:

Here's my take if you care to read it... (just venting!):

The big question is, will these cowards in Congress wake up and realize that they are being had, just like the people who voted this unstable, increasingly paranoid megalomaniac into the highest office in the world? Will they do what they should to stop him?

Day by day, the big picture emerges: the pathological lying to the American people, the dark, dangerous and unsettling Russia connections, the mass firings of career State Dept. diplomats (who we need now more than ever..), the "Friday Night Massacre" yesterday of 46 US attorneys, many of whom are in the middle of investigations of high level government corruption and misconduct, the dismantling of any trust in anything the FBI and CIA uncover (unless it benefits Trump), appointing a bevy of unqualified, inexperienced loyalists to head major governmental departments (don't get me started on that one...), decrying that everything is fake news (unless it benefits Trump) and the just plain making shit up! The list goes on and on....

Then there is the "Trump Whisperer" and Puppet-master, Steve Bannon - who is behind the all of the conspiracy theories that Trump has been espousing since the birther movement...who is a sick, anti-Semitic, white supremacist who is in the most dangerous and influential position he could ever wish to be in:  in the brain of the President of the United States of America!  (Can you say "Manchurian Candidate"?)

Trump and Co. are systematically destroying and decimating this country from the inside out, as well as the outside in. As C. Blow laid out, many helpless and sick people who depend on the subsidies of the ACA won't be able to get help with this new bill and many will literally die. No, ObamaCare isn't perfect, but it gave millions coverage who wouldn't have any, which is a big deal.  Our country's stability and our diplomatic efforts (for the most part) is what have kept the world safe and in check since WWI - and in 50 days, yes, 50 days (!) it is coming apart at the seams. Our allies are freaking out just as we are! Our security and alliances are theirs, too. Secretary of State Tillerson didn't even know that the President of Mexico was in town meeting with Trump last week! - he is keeping everyone but his inner circle involved and no one is able to watch or report on him as he goes about his complete takeover of our government. How are we allowing this to happen?

Forget about Isis! The real and imminent threat is not Isis - It is Trump, and I am not being hyperbolic. Statistically speaking, the chances are much greater that Trump will do excessively more profound damage to our country and even the world order than Isis. Both inside and outside. We need him removed and impeached.

I can't believe I am saying this, but  - the answer is that more republicans like John McCain and Lindsey Graham who have broken with the party to speak out, pretty surprisingly need to have some courage and actually stand up to this bully - for the sake of our republic.  Where are all the others? Are they really thinking he will give them what they want if they go along with him? Cowards!

 Only the republicans can do this - they have to eat their own! They have the total majority for the moment and dems don't have much of a say, so the country will have to depend on these guys to do the right thing for ALL of us!

Let's just hope they do it, and do it soon. We will see who the real heroes are!

Syrian Refugee: ‘Who Picks Their Country?’

Courtesy of WestportNow.Com

The headline struck me.  Indeed, who gets to pick their country?  For most of us it is an accident of birth.  I keep in touch with my old home town, Westport, Ct. through WestportNow.com.  A Syrian refugee, Mohamed al Maassri, spoke to the Westport Sunrise Rotary Club about his experience of settling his family in Norwalk, Ct, fleeing the carnage in Syria. Although his tale is anecdotal, the typical rigorous background checking already in place is not.  Here is a refugee who would be denied the opportunity to pursue life, liberty, and happiness in a nation that has welcomed so many fleeing their countries for political or economic reasons – all because of the accident of his birth. What kind of a callous country are we becoming?  This is the face of the "new nationalism"?   It is an ugly one.  Mohamed al Maassri’s experience of US officials knowing “more about me than I did” is already the standard.  Surely, vigorous vetting is a better solution to protecting our nation than Trump's dictum of excluding ALL refugees from specific countries.  

From WestportNow.com… 

Mohamed al Maassri today put a face to the national debate over refugees, telling the Westport Sunrise Rotary Club what it’s like to flee a war in Syria, leaving him stateless, homeless, and destitute.

“Who picks their country?” he said, explaining that it was happenstance that he got caught up in the war in his homeland and ended up in Connecticut eight months ago with his wife and two children.

Maassri’s tale was not that of a typical refugee. He owned a construction material importing exporting business in Dubai at the outset of the war in Syria. He then returned home and saw how the “Assad (government) and Iranian and Hezbolah militias” destroyed his town.

He lamented: “1,500 people were dead in the street, and I don’t know why.”

Because he was a Syrian, he said he was then blocked by Dubai immigration officials from returning to his company and was told his business had been closed. He said he lost everything.

After months of interrogation, Maassri arrived with his family in the United States. “They knew more about me than I did,” he said of the U.S. officials who vetted him.

He and his family finally settled in Norwalk, aided by the Westport Interfaith Resettlement Committee, a group of six churches and synagogues. Members found them a place to live, provided language education, and a got him a job at Whole Foods.

“My goal is to improve myself, so I can do more here,” he said. While he likes his job, he said the pay is not enough to sustain his family.

When asked what he’d like to do, he responded, “I’d like to get back into import export, but I have nothing to start it with.”

A singer, he said we would like to find “a Muslim, a Jew and a Christian, and sing about peace.”

Helen Garten, Sunrise Rotary president, said, “When you do, you’ll come back and sing for us.”