Lyle Northey (Silent/Boomer)

Today is Veterans Day and we celebrate the end of World War I although it was called the war to end all wars. This hardly turned out to be true as we seem to be in one conflict after another somewhere in the world.
Do these conflicts start because someone gets a wild hair up his ass and has to start a fight and it spills over? Are we led into these messes because a big mouth convinces a large enough group to take up arms against their neighbors? Is some other reason driving us to go kill our fellow man?
Sometimes it can be a combination of things, as in when the Russians put the Jews in a specific area and every time something went wrong, crop failure, lost money on the horse race, didn’t get laid on Saturday night, whatever the Russians would go raid a Jewish village and burn it down, kill people and all that because somehow they caused this bad luck.
The Crusades were fought over Religion. The Romans, the Egyptians, the Knights Templar all had religious connections and all waged wars and suffered the consequences of wars for that reason. Today we have Hamas and Israel fighting and even though land and who controls it seems to be the main issue the underlying one is religion.
Is religion the balm of mankind or the bane of mankind? If God in all his forms and names is supposed to be kind, loving, and benevolent why do we find it necessary to wage war and kill in his name?
We come in different sizes, different hair styles, different colors, and yet the same blood flows in our veins. The same organs keep us alive and the same emotions govern our lives, whether we like to admit it or not. We know that our genes are compatible because we can breed with one another, if we were as different as the most radical say that would not be possible, so why do we have to fight all the time?

Dwain Northey (Gen X)

At the eleventh hour on the eleventh day of the eleventh month – we will remember them. The Armistice, an agreement to end the fighting of the First World War as a prelude to peace negotiations, began at 11am on 11 November 1918.

WWI has since been called the Great War although there was nothing Great about it the loss of life on a global scale had never been seen at that point in our existence.

Historically the spark that started WWI was the Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand by Serbian nationalists, 28 June 1914. The circumstances that lead up to that event are far more set for a Doctoral Thesis than a blog post but leave it to say that the brutality that The Great War revealed to the world was horrific. There were 20 million deaths and 21 million wounded. The total number of deaths includes 9.7 million military personnel and about 10 million civilians.

World War I popularized the use of the machine gun—capable of bringing down row after row of soldiers from a distance on the battlefield. This weapon, along with barbed wire and mines, made movement across open land both difficult and dangerous. Thus, trench warfare was born. This barbaric weapon of war has been perfected and is still used today on warfare and even in our cities today.

The Great War gave the barbarity of humanity new weapons to eliminate soldiers and civilians without remorse. It is estimated that as many as 85% of the 91,000 gas deaths in WWI were a result of phosgene or the related agent, diphosgene (trichloromethane chloroformate). The most commonly used gas in WWI was ‘mustard gas’.

The war waged on for 4 years before the Armistice was signed and the Treaty of Versailles imposed very harsh penalties on Germany. The strict monetary punishment of the treaty was surely the impetus for the rise of a decorated German soldier to lead the Nazi party in 1921 and set off a second world war by invaliding Poland in September of 1939.

This day is currently recognized as Veterans Day a day where se solemnly honor those who served. In the first and second world wars we could say All gave Some and Some Gave All lest we never forget. Those wars touched everyone globally, we haven’t reached that level of brutality since, we have seen war and bloody conflicts but none to date that have enlisted the entirety on humanity to the level of WWI and WWII. I hope that we never have a global conflict because with the advances we have made in the amount of death that cause there won’t be another world war after the next one.

Lest We Never Forget…

Dwain Northey (Gen X)

https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/republican-party-platform-1956

https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/republican-party-platform-1968

https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/republican-party-platform-1984

https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/2000-republican-party-platform

In 1956 President Dwight D. Eisenhower gave this as his Republican Vision for the Country; For our guidance in fulfilling this responsibility, President Eisenhower has given us a statement of principles that is neither partisan nor prejudiced, but warmly American:

The individual is of supreme importance.

The spirit of our people is the strength of our nation.

America does not prosper unless all Americans prosper.

Government must have a heart as well as a head.

Courage in principle, cooperation in practice make freedom positive.

To stay free, we must stay strong.

The links included are the Republican Platforms from previous Republican Presidents, curiously Trumps edict for the country is an easy link like his predecessors I have included the copy of the PDF of that platform.

All those prior to Trump had a sound vision for the country. Eisenhower and Nixon were friendlier to Union and the environment, Reagan made the government the enemy of the people and the Bush years both GHW Bush and GW Bush both favored industry over people, but all of these honored the process and did not try to dismantle the governmental process that the founding fathers put in place.

If you take the time to read the platform that Trump had in 2016 you will soon realize that it was mostly empty words and bluster. All Trump and the GOP did in his time in office is give a massive tax cut to the wealthy and move a lot of our manufacturing out of the industrial cities in the U.S. overseas. (This was a promise that Donny would not happen with him as President)

So here is my question, who are the RINOs? Are they the current crop of Right-Wing Zealots in the House and Senate or are they the Republicans that stand for the principles of previous Republican Presidents. This group is not about smaller government, a small government does not want to control what you read, who you love, or what pronoun you decide to use. This current GOP wants business to run anything that has a monetary value and the want to control all social aspects of our lives. They don’t want to lead or govern they want to rule.

To Govern is to conduct the policy, actions, and affairs of (a state, organization, or people).

To Rule is to have one of a set of explicit or understood regulations or principles governing conduct within a particular activity or sphere. To control of or dominion over an area or people.

The Trumpubicans want to rule, no different than the oppressive rulers of place like Saudi Arabia or Iran.

The Trumpubicans are the RhINO’s (Republican in Name Only)

Prove Me Wrong…

Dwain Northey (Gen X)

The Democrats won on nearly every ballot yesterday, enshrining abortion rights in Ohio and seizing the legislative bodies in Virginia. We did not take the Governors race in Mississippi which is all the republicans can talk about, “Mississippi is a warning to the Biden in 2024”. Oh my, deep red Mississippi retained their red hat republican governor but for the first time in a long time it was a race that they nearly lost.

I am not sure if the action the House GOP took today was in retaliation for the trouncing, they took yesterday but lead by Margorie Taylor Greene the House GOP votes to cut Sec. Pete Buttigieg salary to $1.00. The performance art won’t go anywhere but it is the childish antics that they continue to participate in rather than actually doing the job they were elected to. MTG’s statement, “Pete Buttigieg doesn’t do his job. It’s all about fake photo ops and taxpayer-funded private jet trip to accept LGBTQ awards for him,” Green posted on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. “I’m happy my amendment passed, but he doesn’t deserve a single penny.”

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg has worked to build a world-leading transportation system, with a focus on safety, jobs, equity, climate, innovation, and organizational excellence. He supported the development, passage, and now delivery, of President Biden’s signature Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. This does not include the fact that he continually goes on Fox, so called, news and makes them look like fools in a calm and collected manner.

The new speaker Mike Johnson doesn’t even believe that Sec. Pete and his family even have a right to exist so I am not surprised that he would support this floor vote. So, the fact the Pete is articulate and competent is a real threat to the MAGA Morons in the House. We can look forward to 12 more months of performative stunts by the GOP because they have no legislative goals other than overturn our democracy.

Lyle Northey (Silent/Boomer)

 The New York Times has reported that there is a movement among the MAGA followers that if Trump regains the White House they are going to bring an act into place that puts US Military troops on the streets. The orders will be whatever the President directs and he has already made it clear that like a petulant child he will seek revenge on all those that have caused him problems or that do not get in line. So many of us are destined to be in trouble in the sad event that happens.

   Our Constitutional Freedoms are what separates us from most of the people of the world. Many nations have struggled for decades to gain any of the freedoms that we have enjoyed for over 200 years. Yes I know there are segments of our population that have not enjoyed equal rights and I hope that we are able to correct that situation very soon. 

   Mr. Trump has shown a very great favoritism toward the dictators of our planet. He has commented more than once how he envies their power and control over those that serve them. This is not the man we want as a President, or as a Congressman or even as a Dog Catcher. His idea of leadership is control and power over whomever or whatever he is controlling and that does not work well in a Democracy. His threats of violence and constant beratement of people is the true sign of being unfit to be anything but a bully.

   He fancies himself as a genius and yet he comes across as someone that is far from a genius, more of an idiot. The difference between stupid and genius is that genius has its limits, stupid has none.

Any and All comments welcomed.

Dwain Northey (Gen X)

Our Constitutional Republic has lasted nearly 250 years which is a pretty good run, Rome lasted for 500 years but broke down into a complete SHIT SHOW by the end. Are we heading down the same path? Have we been relinquished to Bread and Circus? I hate to admit that with fast food franchises on every corner and countless television and internet viewing options many of us have our head buried so far in the ground that we don’t know which end is up.

Our previous holder of the oval office has shown many of us that it is past the time to start paying attention. We should have started in the 1980s when Reagan said that government is the problem not the solution, thus laying the groundwork for big corporations to start controlling everything in the name of profit. 40+ years later we are reaping the rewards of our collective denial that money and profit can fix everything.

The Mango Maniac wants to retake the White House and if he does the last days of Rome will look like a historical picnic. The fact that he has been a lifelong criminal would have been ignored if he hadn’t flexed his ego and ran and, by hook and crook, won the Presidency. Now that his criminality has bubbled to the surface, he is being called to account for his inflation of assets as well as other crimes. (I find it humorous that the only trial he has any interest in is about is ‘money’)

There is an article in Rolling Stone that sets what his intentions are if he were to regain the White House. He feels that he is being persecuted, just like any child that gets caught, and he will if given the chance turn the DOJ on anyone who spoke bad of him. He thinks that being called out on his lifetime of malfeasance is political and he will kangaroo court any one he believes will stand in his way. He honestly thinks that the 2017-2021 term in office doesn’t count because of the ‘Russia, Russia, Russia’ hoax and currently there are to many people in government that want to burn it down that would not stand up and let wannabe King Donald do whatever he wants.

I want to stay a Democratic Republic, I think the experiment should continue. We can look all over the globe and see democracies fall the authoritarians, Hungry and Turkey are prime examples, Hitler rose out of an elected government and anointed himself Fuhrer don’t thin Trump won’t try the same tactic.

https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/donald-trump-loyalty-demands-backfire-plea-deals-criminal-cases-1234867565/