tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-91953809635243104552024-03-23T21:11:24.599-10:00Navy ReadsAn unofficial blog in support of the Navy Professional Reading Program and related books.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger547125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9195380963524310455.post-60025877812290448262024-01-12T08:23:00.000-10:002024-01-12T08:23:00.031-10:00a short story<p><b style="color: #e6000e; font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: large;">Red Scarf</span></b></p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 9px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">By Bill Doughty</p>
<p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">July 9, 1979</span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I get the idea just as we are about to go into the ghost tunnel: Scare the shit out of the kids sitting in the back seat. </p>
<p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">They’re strapped into new seatbelts, like us. Mika made me put them in this junker used Datsun. Also new brakes, tires, wipers.</p>
<p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">The kids are arguing about some toy. As usual.</p>
<p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I try to push away a half smile as I picture exactly how I’ll prank them in the ghost tunnel.</p>
<p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">That’s what we call it. One of a half dozen tunnels near Yokosuka. Carved out of prehistoric rock through hills and mountains. We through them on your way home from the Navy base.</p>
<p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Ghost tunnel is a long one. How many workers killed? How many bloody accidents? Suicides? And I don’t even want to think about ghosts of the Kanto war dead near here. Just a generation ago.</p>
<p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Mika will get mad. But the trick is worth it. Give the kids a thrill. Without turning my head I glance down to my left at the window crank handle on the door.</p>
<p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Three months stationed back in Japan, I’m used to driving on the left again; motorcycles have the right of way in the non-lane next on the left; take turns when merging; dim headlights when you come to a red light. Courtesy counts. </p>
<p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I wonder what the guy behind me will think. Will he see me do the prank for Junior and his big sister? In front of us is a truck carrying a couple of tons of rebar –– the recycled steel bars are too long for the truck bed but there’s some kind of rag tied to the end. Courtesy. And the law. Behind us, an old couple. Gray-white heads barely visible above the dash. The old dude’s gripping his steering wheel at 11 and 1. Maybe he won’t see the prank after all.</p>
<p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Two more lights after this one.</p>
<p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">We should reach the ghost tunnel in a couple of minutes.</p>
<p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: "Arial Narrow"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /><span style="text-decoration: underline;"></span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Arial Narrow"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">July 9, 1969</span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Arial Narrow"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: "Arial Narrow"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Ohayo.</p>
<p style="font-family: "Arial Narrow"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Morning coffee needed.</p>
<p style="font-family: "Arial Narrow"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Yesterday after work at steel factory flowers bought.</p>
<p style="font-family: "Arial Narrow"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Old lilies.</p>
<p style="font-family: "Arial Narrow"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Half price sale.</p>
<p style="font-family: "Arial Narrow"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Stink of benjo gone now.</p>
<p style="font-family: "Arial Narrow"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: "Arial Narrow"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Sleeping is Mother.</p>
<p style="font-family: "Arial Narrow"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Not home: Stupid Bastard.</p>
<p style="font-family: "Arial Narrow"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Three nights ago home-shrine knocked over again.</p>
<p style="font-family: "Arial Narrow"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Drunk Stupid Bastard.</p>
<p style="font-family: "Arial Narrow"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">From Monday still no Bastard.</p>
<p style="font-family: "Arial Narrow"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Good.</p>
<p style="font-family: "Arial Narrow"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Go away.</p>
<p style="font-family: "Arial Narrow"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: "Arial Narrow"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Always Father remembered by Jiro and Mother.</p>
<p style="font-family: "Arial Narrow"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Imperial war: no forgiveness.</p>
<p style="font-family: "Arial Narrow"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Father picture smile never, guarding incense ash.</p>
<p style="font-family: "Arial Narrow"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: "Arial Narrow"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Stupid Bastard: Junichi</p>
<p style="font-family: "Arial Narrow"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Name: Jiro –– second son.</p>
<p style="font-family: "Arial Narrow"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Name is hated.</p>
<p style="font-family: "Arial Narrow"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">New name chosen: “Kanji.”</p>
<p style="font-family: "Arial Narrow"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Everyone knows.</p>
<p style="font-family: "Arial Narrow"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Not JIro.</p>
<p style="font-family: "Arial Narrow"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Kanji.</p>
<p style="font-family: "Arial Narrow"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: "Arial Narrow"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Name from hero: Inoki Kanji.</p>
<p style="font-family: "Arial Narrow"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Hero’s borrowed name: “Antonio Inoki.”</p>
<p style="font-family: "Arial Narrow"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Back in Japan from Bekoku.</p>
<p style="font-family: "Arial Narrow"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">World wrestling champion.</p>
<p style="font-family: "Arial Narrow"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Strong chin, like Gibralter.</p>
<p style="font-family: "Arial Narrow"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Strong martial arts.</p>
<p style="font-family: "Arial Narrow"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Stronger than Giant Bubba even.</p>
<p style="font-family: "Arial Narrow"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Antonio Inoki power.</p>
<p style="font-family: "Arial Narrow"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: "Arial Narrow"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Red scarf trademark.</p>
<p style="font-family: "Arial Narrow"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Inoki always red scarf.</p>
<p style="font-family: "Arial Narrow"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: "Arial Narrow"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Jiro-Kanji always white scarf.</p>
<p style="font-family: "Arial Narrow"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Even on motorcycle ride.</p>
<p style="font-family: "Arial Narrow"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Red and White.</p>
<p style="font-family: "Arial Narrow"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Nippon.</p>
<p style="font-family: "Arial Narrow"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: "Arial Narrow"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">No helmet, no care.</p>
<p style="font-family: "Arial Narrow"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Strong wind in face.</p>
<p style="font-family: "Arial Narrow"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Cars, trucks dodged.</p>
<p style="font-family: "Arial Narrow"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Respect large bikes only.</p>
<p style="font-family: "Arial Narrow"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">More wind.</p>
<p style="font-family: "Arial Narrow"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Smell of diesel: city bus.</p>
<p style="font-family: "Arial Narrow"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: "Arial Narrow"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">On road faster.</p>
<p style="font-family: "Arial Narrow"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">In-and-out, back-and-forth.</p>
<p style="font-family: "Arial Narrow"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: "Arial Narrow"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">More speed.</p>
<p style="font-family: "Arial Narrow"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Road narrows.</p>
<p style="font-family: "Arial Narrow"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Tunnel ahead.</p>
<p style="font-family: "Arial Narrow"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: "Arial Narrow"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Big truck –– around truck go.</p>
<p style="font-family: "Arial Narrow"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Truck swerving.</p>
<p style="font-family: "Arial Narrow"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">More power need.</p>
<p style="font-family: "Arial Narrow"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Inoki Power.</p>
<p style="font-family: "Arial Narrow"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Now.</p>
<p style="font-family: "Arial Narrow"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">More speed.</p>
<p style="font-family: "Arial Narrow"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Chin forward.</p>
<p style="font-family: "Arial Narrow"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: "Arial Narrow"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Truck big swerve left.</p>
<p style="font-family: "Arial Narrow"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Kanji pinned.</p>
<p style="font-family: "Arial Narrow"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Rock.</p>
<p style="font-family: "Arial Narrow"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Truck.</p>
<p style="font-family: "Arial Narrow"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Rock.</p>
<p style="font-family: "Arial Narrow"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: "Arial Narrow"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Bike stops here.</p>
<p style="font-family: "Arial Narrow"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Truck drives on, Kanji stuck.</p>
<p style="font-family: "Arial Narrow"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Against rock-wall –– dragged.</p>
<p style="font-family: "Arial Narrow"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">And dragged.</p>
<p style="font-family: "Arial Narrow"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: "Arial Narrow"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Spinning.</p>
<p style="font-family: "Arial Narrow"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Crushing sound.</p>
<p style="font-family: "Arial Narrow"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Flashes.</p>
<p style="font-family: "Arial Narrow"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Lights white.</p>
<p style="font-family: "Arial Narrow"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Brightest white lights.</p>
<p style="font-family: "Arial Narrow"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Smell of smoke and … something else.</p>
<p style="font-family: "Arial Narrow"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: "Arial Narrow"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Burning.</p>
<p style="font-family: "Arial Narrow"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Numbing.</p>
<p style="font-family: "Arial Narrow"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Wet.</p>
<p style="font-family: "Arial Narrow"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Wet.</p>
<p style="font-family: "Arial Narrow"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: "Arial Narrow"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Wet.</p>
<p style="font-family: "Arial Narrow"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: "Arial Narrow"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">July 9, 1979</span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I tell the story. Set up the prank.</p>
<p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I remember it vaguely but with one key detail. Mika translated the story for me from Japanese TV news the first time I was stationed in Japan. Another ship. Another time. Nam. We were dating. Getting serious.</p>
<p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Man, is she going to be pissed if I can make this prank work!</p>
<p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">She’ll get over it.</p>
<p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I get the kids’ attention.</p>
<p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">“Oh my god! I remember exactly what happened in this tunnel!”</p>
<p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Mika arches an eyebrow.</p>
<p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Slowly, so she wouldn’t notice, and without looking, I reach down, find the handle, and crank open the window.</p>
<p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Slowly. Nonchalantly. I hang my arm out.</p>
<p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">The rebar truck is still in front of me. Through the last light. We’re moving now. Old folks behind us, pretty far away. Keeping his distance from the gaijin with his arm hanging out the window.</p>
<p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">“Kids, you won’t believe it. Do you know why they call the big tunnel the ‘ghost tunnel’?”</p>
<p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">In the rear view Junior is looking at me through the same Mika frown. His sister, Tami, victorious, holds some gacha toy. Listening, her eyes wide. At seven, still so gullible. Gotcha.</p>
<p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">We enter the tunnel. A steady 30 klicks.</p>
<p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">“They say dozens of workers were killed while building the tunnel many many many years ago,” I tell he kids. “There are tales of terrible car crashes. And, then … there was the boy riding his motorcycle who was crushed inside the ghost tunnel. He was wearing his white scarf, a white scarf that turned red from all the blood. They say his ghost still haunts the tunnel. He cannot rest or return home…”</p>
<p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Next to me, Mika shakes her head. Folds her arms. Looks out her window. In the reflection, she half-closes her eyes. Hopeless.</p>
<p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">The tunnel is poorly lit. Strings of lights along the sides. Perfect.</p>
<p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">“They say…”. I draw it out for suspense. “They say … the ghost of the dead motorcycle boy lives on the ceiling of the tunnel.”</p>
<p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Big sister Tami strains to look out and up toward the dark tunnel ceiling. She puts her hand on her brother’s arm. Carved rock shadows on the sides of the tunnel now hide something menacing. Junior wants to look out and up, but tries to cover his face with his small perfect hands.</p>
<p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Time for more drama.</p>
<p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">“And.</p>
<p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">They say.</p>
<p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Sometimes.</p>
<p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">The ghost body falls…</p>
<p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">… ON TOP OF PEOPLE’S CARS.”</p>
<p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">At that moment I raise my left arm and SLAM the side of the car door. </p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><b><br /></b></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><b>WHAM!</b> </p>
<p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Gasps and whimpers in the back seat. Hilarious.</p>
<p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I twist my torso and look into the back seat.</p>
<p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Ha ha h…</p>
<p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">The rebar truck stops suddenly. About ten meters in front of us. Mika screams my name. Tami points at the windshield –– something flashes in the wet reflection of her eye. Junior covers his eyes again, mouth wide.</p>
<p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I turn around. But my legs are already reacting. Left leg mashes the clutch. Right slams down on the brake pedal. Mika, so smart, grabs the emergency brake between us and pulls up the handle. Hard. </p>
<p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">They would say we are lucky no one was killed. All of us are sore from the seatbelts.</p>
<p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">There’s an eyelash of distance between our windshield and the bundle of rebar. The end tied with … A red scarf.</p>
<p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">The truck drives on.</p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; white-space: pre;"> <span> </span><span> </span><span> </span></span><span style="font-family: arial;">© WBD January 2024</span></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9195380963524310455.post-32251536263003589572023-12-02T09:13:00.001-10:002023-12-02T09:13:26.339-10:00 Best Friend, Worst Enemy: WWJD?<p><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-small;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi60O6NHQZxSCsFkoUxz_sJUjTSItl1qjAdkLQSKbqGjTjenzKSOsh3CmVreplDCVv8J7rCD0f-C-rGzHbq8QTq6OseJCrbu4ncF4MNz2jb2Xey4iYz-tHl_1yLeYv2d8LdxoW-Lbt2FST9Jkm-DW2mW0rsIeZm2mvCBhEVyqHrFPO8LpOYGs_qpKEZwRrv" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="668" data-original-width="1000" height="437" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi60O6NHQZxSCsFkoUxz_sJUjTSItl1qjAdkLQSKbqGjTjenzKSOsh3CmVreplDCVv8J7rCD0f-C-rGzHbq8QTq6OseJCrbu4ncF4MNz2jb2Xey4iYz-tHl_1yLeYv2d8LdxoW-Lbt2FST9Jkm-DW2mW0rsIeZm2mvCBhEVyqHrFPO8LpOYGs_qpKEZwRrv=w653-h437" width="653" /></a></span></span></div><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-small;">Review by Bill Doughty––</span></span><p></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">A Marine with a warrior heart must also have a trained mind, according to General James Mattis –– one of the key U.S. military leaders of this century. Among his many assignments, Mattis commanded the U.S. Joint Forces Command and U.S. Central Command. He led Marines in combat in Operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom in the Middle East. And he served as the first Secretary of Defense in the Trump administration.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg2jFL2fiQAyO9Q4FcHloqcQ2snpIghXJTVydrMgozJRlpsPqwA5781my-H-oEsGwvivNTzepLB0YHHIRGjCRK9BzAi4ktpa0d7UqTpfzIe8gG9Rj0XAxDYClAl0aMlz5d3sskoGoUS29bZ89fCqa2JxMzz-Ko24l6FfFGo8iQQzYB91uH_7cDVVLBeR5Q6" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="916" data-original-width="666" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg2jFL2fiQAyO9Q4FcHloqcQ2snpIghXJTVydrMgozJRlpsPqwA5781my-H-oEsGwvivNTzepLB0YHHIRGjCRK9BzAi4ktpa0d7UqTpfzIe8gG9Rj0XAxDYClAl0aMlz5d3sskoGoUS29bZ89fCqa2JxMzz-Ko24l6FfFGo8iQQzYB91uH_7cDVVLBeR5Q6" width="174" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: arial;">In his combat operations, Mattis faced jihadist enemies who ignored the rules and laws of war and put innocent civilians at risk, hiding behind women and children.</span><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span><p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">So, WWJD? What would Jim Mattis do –– if able –– about the situation now in Israel and Gaza? In <i>“No Better Friend, No Worse Enemy: The Life of General James Mattis”</i> (HarperCollins, 2018) author Jim Proser gives us a clue.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Mattis learned valuable lifelong lessons in Vietnam and its aftermath, as Marines and Sailors rescued refugees fleeing on small boats from Laos, Cambodia, and South Vietnam.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><blockquote><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="color: #0b5394; font-size: medium;">“The human aftermath of US political defeat in Vietnam and the ensuing political instability crowds every available inch of deck space around Mattis. They fill the seats hold of the ship, clutching their children and meager possessions, often shaking with fear and trauma. This is Mattis’s first real-world experience of war as a Marine. As soldiers of the navy, the first in and often the last out of smaller, third-world conflicts, Marines frequently end up with the responsibility for evacuation of war victims.”</span></span></blockquote><p></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Proser traces the arc of Mattis’s life, one dedicated to service, philosophy, and his fellow Marines and other service members. <i>“No Better Friend”</i> was published just months before Mattis resigned as SECDEF over differences with Trump (who later falsely claimed he fired Mattis).</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br />The book concentrates on Mattis’s role in military operations, where we see his ethical leadership and humanism. The “Warrior Monk” –– callsign Chaos –– is against wholesale and indiscriminate warfare that ignores the effect on noncombatants. For example, after the Islamist attack of Sept. 11, 2001, Mattis recognized the danger of the Bush Administration’s race to invade Iraq under the pretense that Saddam Hussein was producing weapons of mass destruction.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><blockquote><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="color: #0b5394; font-size: medium;">“This rushed strategy by the Pentagon planners lacked deep thinking about the needs of the Iraqi people beyond their basic survival and provided few details on what Iraq’s tribes, communities, and cities would need after their country was invaded and their government overtaken. Mattis’s lifelong devotion to the study of philosophy and experience in occupied territories gave him a much keener sense of human needs, particularly in times of war. He could no more overlook the humanity of the Iraqis he would become responsible for under the rules of war than he could that of his own troops. In Mattis’s educated view, Iraqis and his occupying troops would have to form a community with specific physical, emotional, and spiritual needs.”</span></span></blockquote><p></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">For Mattis, innocent families caught in the middle of war must have access to water, food, medicine, trash removal, and –– importantly –– education.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">To some, "Peace through strength" means more violence and lethality; to Mattis and other thinking leaders, true strength rests in restraint, diplomacy, and ethical behavior and a clear warning to enemies against escalation.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhiDMcyvEYq60z2-zMep5cTon68XkJUyV0bOOvdTVrvxeuVmhSWrX81S3nZMubGbEbK1XO-Pw5n3KSBD7US_EjqtG2mg385z5kQy9ltk0jIBZeE3CQlUQJKiVYxGxL-DfQGC586eVkzelBE8vE9IacJP_f15mfAMcoqwEiweRKdoo93-L7nUfS6rU-0zthY" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="714" data-original-width="1000" height="456" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhiDMcyvEYq60z2-zMep5cTon68XkJUyV0bOOvdTVrvxeuVmhSWrX81S3nZMubGbEbK1XO-Pw5n3KSBD7US_EjqtG2mg385z5kQy9ltk0jIBZeE3CQlUQJKiVYxGxL-DfQGC586eVkzelBE8vE9IacJP_f15mfAMcoqwEiweRKdoo93-L7nUfS6rU-0zthY=w640-h456" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #800180; font-family: times; font-size: x-small;">Outside a medical clinic at Joint Security Station <span style="caret-color: rgb(128, 1, 128);">Douro, Iraq, Aug. 28, 2008. (PO2 Joan Kretschmer)</span></span></td></tr></tbody></table>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">In the face of distrust and mistrust by local citizens in Iraq, Mattis instructed his Marines to show compassion and a helping hand, “first do no harm.” Proser says the general gave his Marines an extensive reading assignment leading up to engagement with the enemy. Mattis insisted “his Marines engage their minds before they engage their weapons.”</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">In a PBS interview in 2003, then-Major General Mattis said, “In other words, if the enemy tried to provoke us into a fight and that fight would cause innocent people to die, then we would forgo the fight. We would try to find a way to get them another day.”</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">In his “commander’s intent” instruction to troops on the eve of battle in Afghanistan, Mattis echoed lessons learned in Beirut and Baghdad: “We will be compassionate to all the innocent and deadly only to those who insist on violence, taking no ‘sides’ other than to destroy the enemy.”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">“Show the people respect,” Mattis told his Marines.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjYt0amwHIDdqF_v6Fp1t5oLasLa65Y2Ban5WZ9wZ7V1VJ7M9v9R_U4BEqdmbB_bSFzwzwVGuIXgpC5BgVvwQZ7kCYSPSL3nVX5virchVqGgxFoCujShsSnZqBk7yJ2r5k0irBWimL-kToeEWFU7tqwzRVkqdkdviInH6dMYdCqcf6RRP5YfE3tPqkI_P79" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="667" data-original-width="1000" height="433" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjYt0amwHIDdqF_v6Fp1t5oLasLa65Y2Ban5WZ9wZ7V1VJ7M9v9R_U4BEqdmbB_bSFzwzwVGuIXgpC5BgVvwQZ7kCYSPSL3nVX5virchVqGgxFoCujShsSnZqBk7yJ2r5k0irBWimL-kToeEWFU7tqwzRVkqdkdviInH6dMYdCqcf6RRP5YfE3tPqkI_P79=w651-h433" width="651" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #800180; font-family: times; font-size: x-small;">At a school in Kandahar, Afghanistan, April 16, 2014 (Spc. Sara <span style="caret-color: rgb(128, 1, 128);">Wakai)</span></span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: arial;">The least desirable outcome of war against an enemy is causing more animosity, hatred, and radicalization of the populace –– what Proser calls “a full-blown blood vendetta.”</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The common enemy in the war on terrorism is Islamist extremism, which goes by many names: ISIS, ISIL, al-Qaeda, Hamas, and Hezbollah (literally, “the party of God”). A common denominator in the support of violent extremism is Iran. In an interview with MIHS Islander in 2017, Mattis said:</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><blockquote><p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">“Until the Iranian people can get rid of this theocracy, these guys who think they can tell the people even which candidates they get a choice of, it’s going to be very, very difficult. This is a regime that employs surrogates, like Lebanese Hezbollah to threaten Israel…</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">“The Iranian people are not the problem. The Iranian people are definitely not the problem; it’s the regime that sends agents around to murder ambassadors in Pakistan or in Washington DC. It’s the regime that provides missiles to Lebanese Hezbollah or the Houthi in Yemen…</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">“So, somehow, you don’t want to unite the Iranian people with that unpopular regime because if you pressure them both then they will grow together. We’ve got to make certain that the Iranian people know that we don’t have any conflict with them.”</span></p></blockquote><p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Mattis says that if the people have economic and political alternatives and “a stake in the future” they will be less likely to pick up a gun and lash out.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhqUEVAULh96t-TkuxRZCOJ8jutgqZVZyfNcbI2bv_xsWiQZfKEaXLVnGgvOtZoTN_AbkWLs5sHdMxAYmhN1MG3rQHXdQGWS9QwmGVFCp9bwY9FcHE0XTr3veXdwt7R9ccfKG3BVBdrR8NTvpcacbZjS5Vb13ZGkBD94jtgt4HuZk7Z68KuQvJU4wQ5PKYh" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="707" data-original-width="936" height="492" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhqUEVAULh96t-TkuxRZCOJ8jutgqZVZyfNcbI2bv_xsWiQZfKEaXLVnGgvOtZoTN_AbkWLs5sHdMxAYmhN1MG3rQHXdQGWS9QwmGVFCp9bwY9FcHE0XTr3veXdwt7R9ccfKG3BVBdrR8NTvpcacbZjS5Vb13ZGkBD94jtgt4HuZk7Z68KuQvJU4wQ5PKYh=w652-h492" width="652" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #800180; font-family: times; font-size: xx-small;">Staff Sgt. James Altman hands out book bags filled with school supplies to Iraqi children in Sahl, Al <span style="caret-color: rgb(128, 1, 128);">Assad, Iraq (Cpl. George Papastrat)</span></span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: arial;">I finished this book in the midst of a pause in Israel’s war in Gaza against Hamas and heightened calls by President Biden for more restraint by Israel in its bombing campaign, which has been killing hundreds of civilians in Gaza. Unfortunately, as I write this, Israel has apparently ended the truce and ceasefire, and is bombing military and civilian targets again. Hostage negotiators in Qatar are suspending talks for now. Hamas seems to be succeeding in its efforts to create more violence and division in the region and beyond.</span><p></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: arial;">This week, the New York Times published a devastating report that Prime Minister Netanyahu’s government knew details about Hamas’s plan for an attack more than a year ago. Israel named the 40-page plan “Jericho Wall.” [It's a fraught name. Leading up to the attempted coup of at the U.S. Capitol of January 6, 2001, white Christian nationalists participated in <a href="https://navyreads.blogspot.com/search?q=Jericho+marches">Jericho Marches</a>.]</span></span></p><p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Pre-MAGA conspiracist Proser is a gifted writer. </span><span style="font-family: arial;">His descriptions of the heat, stink, and noise of combat in Iraq and Afghanistan are gripping and powerful. Intentionally or not, readers get a nuanced view of what General Jim Mattis would do to achieve actual "peace through strength."</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Proser, by the way, avidly promotes the Big Lie about elections, vaccination misinformation, and gender indoctrination conspiracies. His writings and repostings downplay the January 6, 2001, insurrection of the Capitol by white Christian nationalists and Trump supporters.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span face=""Open Sans", sans-serif" style="background-color: #f8f8f8; font-size: 16px;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span face=""Open Sans", sans-serif" style="background-color: #f8f8f8; font-size: 16px;"></span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh-Os3DREGTqOucAhpvNyQkSUID61Q-ESYGnFQUCnrV2tTfFLSXNYG43ag1vlPR78NCePDHbVJTVpF_w8En5mfaiOgt_2qvNV4aFT8fTkreAUlMS-OFviFRZOeYO9JRxibEJSKOG04nJ6BIpPZIs_DkGWvibOWDIGxrDvIENAlQtnWuSiRJJABgHcJunhHN" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="527" data-original-width="742" height="462" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh-Os3DREGTqOucAhpvNyQkSUID61Q-ESYGnFQUCnrV2tTfFLSXNYG43ag1vlPR78NCePDHbVJTVpF_w8En5mfaiOgt_2qvNV4aFT8fTkreAUlMS-OFviFRZOeYO9JRxibEJSKOG04nJ6BIpPZIs_DkGWvibOWDIGxrDvIENAlQtnWuSiRJJABgHcJunhHN=w651-h462" width="651" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #800180; font-family: times; font-size: xx-small;">Trump, Mattis, and then-CJCS Joseph Dunford host a ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery, Virginia, for Memorial Day, May 28, 2018. (Sgt. Amber I. Smith)</span></td></tr></tbody></table><p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: 16px;">In contrast, Mattis and retired General Joseph Dunford, former CJCS, each spoke out against the Big Lie and the J6 coup attempt on the same day of the insurrection.</span></p><p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span face=""Open Sans", sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: 16px;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span face=""Open Sans", sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: 16px;">Here's how CNN reported Mattis's and Dunford's position on J6:</span></p><p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span face=""Open Sans", sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: 16px;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span face=""Open Sans", sans-serif" style="background-color: #d9ead3; font-size: 16px;"><span style="color: #274e13; font-family: arial;">"Trump's first secretary of defense, James Mattis, charged that Wednesday's 'violent assault on our Capitol, an effort to subjugate American democracy by mob rule, was fomented by Mr. Trump,' while Retired Gen. Joseph Dunford, the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told CNN that he believes 'our leaders who have continued to undermine a peaceful transition in accordance with our Constitution have set the conditions for today's violence.'"</span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Overall, Proser’s biography of Mattis is a rewarding read, although it unsurprisingly lacks the political analysis of the Mattis versus Trump relationship and Mattis’s unambiguous warning that Trump and Trumpism are a real and growing threat to the U.S. Constitution and the nation.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #800180; font-family: times; font-size: x-small;"><span>Top photo: </span>Afghan civilians and Cpl. William C. Kaylor, 3rd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, watch an MV-22 Osprey land at Forward Operating Base Geronimo, Helmand province, Afghanistan, July 14, 2010. (Sgt. Mark Fayloga)</span></p></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9195380963524310455.post-17873390381478382832023-11-21T08:34:00.003-10:002023-11-21T08:35:26.021-10:00 Military Role in Fascism ‘Prequel’ <p><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-small;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiXG744a7dSuXA1-VP-AwBBiMr6P69dqVYPa0rnalILHq8w1N6bB4kMPYW643vOAisNdxpVGdf3ocDYEFQxEMqHi_Syirrrl6CHcs29vCnCmynXs8L_nyJrCfU2B1hnZcGoTWrfu_fpdJjheRl9HS970kuSoO6h-VE2t5hrtevOr2q6CZOfpCjxVXyNqGLT" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="494" data-original-width="1277" height="253" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiXG744a7dSuXA1-VP-AwBBiMr6P69dqVYPa0rnalILHq8w1N6bB4kMPYW643vOAisNdxpVGdf3ocDYEFQxEMqHi_Syirrrl6CHcs29vCnCmynXs8L_nyJrCfU2B1hnZcGoTWrfu_fpdJjheRl9HS970kuSoO6h-VE2t5hrtevOr2q6CZOfpCjxVXyNqGLT=w652-h253" width="652" /></a></span></span></div><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-small;">Review by Bill Doughty––</span></span><p></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">It wasn’t until Imperial Japan attacked Pearl Harbor and Germany declared war on the United States in December 1945, that the burning embers of fascism dimmed and hot coals of active antisemitism, Christian nationalism, and Nazi support –– even in the U.S. Congress –– lost their glow.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">But the fire never completely went cold.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgPyhkeramoBYSgd6k8WKme0NcfVrK1adeR1WZ8S7jYFrKqXMg-mPPCY091KC2hKjxB6GKK9rVT3yKwZ-NIy5slpWNqIk0fvMQOqvxSa8QXCWw6JPn5kWTwjHGS7N5TXw_6pzCItROgG3Mng579qfJjvU1vsmwvQf3O76gEPwk9D9uzRZBxJfH969gvmMG3" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1944" data-original-width="1708" height="192" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgPyhkeramoBYSgd6k8WKme0NcfVrK1adeR1WZ8S7jYFrKqXMg-mPPCY091KC2hKjxB6GKK9rVT3yKwZ-NIy5slpWNqIk0fvMQOqvxSa8QXCWw6JPn5kWTwjHGS7N5TXw_6pzCItROgG3Mng579qfJjvU1vsmwvQf3O76gEPwk9D9uzRZBxJfH969gvmMG3=w169-h192" width="169" /></a></div><span style="font-family: arial;">Prior to World War II and even after, brave Americans sought to root out the supporters of fascism who went so far as to try to recruit members of the military as well as military veterans to their cause. One fighter of domestic fascism was a WWI veteran named Leon Lewis. </span><p></p><p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Lewis sought to uncover a conspiracy of violent extremism targeting Jewish Americans and institutions. It’s one of the stories recounted in </span><i style="font-family: arial;">“Prequel: An American Fight Against Fascism”</i><span style="font-family: arial;"> by Rachel Maddow (Crow, Penguin Random House, 2023).</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">“What Leon Lewis decided to do was something incredible. And incredibly dangerous. He went out and recruited a small group of men, picked from the exact same pool the Nazis were after –– disgruntled non-Jewish American veterans of the recent war [World War I],” Maddow writes.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"></span></p><blockquote><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">“But the Lewis operation did more than simply investigate and report. Before long, Lewis and his team scuttled a plot by U.S. Marines to sell guns and ammunition to the American fascists. Lewis and his underground team could not be credited in public for their part in this operation, but it did earn them the enduring and crucial admiration of high-ranking naval intelligence officers. They also exposed an elaborate inside-job scheme to take control of U.S. military armories on the West Coast. That plan was run by Dietrich Gefken, a German national who had been one of the early organizers of Hitler’s Brownshirts in Munich. After joining the California National Guard and inventorying the cache of rifles, machine guns, and coastal artillery pieces on hand at the San Francisco armory, Gefken had drawn up ‘the Armory plans, floor plans, location of ammunition and lockers and rifles, the list of addresses of the officers and all that was needed to take over the Armory on a given notice.’ Lewis’s spies handed over their evidence of Gefken’s plot to military intelligence officials, who shut it down.”</span></blockquote><p></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">How Naval intelligence officers at the Navy base in San Diego helped bring the wider plot to light is almost an aside, but the story should be of great interest to military readers.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="background-color: white;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="background-color: white;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj3-X4fAY7TFAd8AiD9Pula0Uv2gM8EQ0Ser6LUDtGAu60ccPsnZdcnZC7PlqzC1YASFb_Ce0DIaZ3Vt5hmisIcfkUvWesH5QDJFVWSrj3tTFtK6KaYYtE0dzdmJrLS2SE9SX1_htK3CgPmd_tAUgHhtR2uTcjVFLdI4jf5mIhCEFyC-qVAbXiQqe1FBGth" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="675" data-original-width="1200" height="367" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj3-X4fAY7TFAd8AiD9Pula0Uv2gM8EQ0Ser6LUDtGAu60ccPsnZdcnZC7PlqzC1YASFb_Ce0DIaZ3Vt5hmisIcfkUvWesH5QDJFVWSrj3tTFtK6KaYYtE0dzdmJrLS2SE9SX1_htK3CgPmd_tAUgHhtR2uTcjVFLdI4jf5mIhCEFyC-qVAbXiQqe1FBGth=w652-h367" width="652" /></a></span></span></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="background-color: white;">On the East Coast, more than 20,000 people attended an antisemitic pro-Nazi rally at Madison Square Garden in 1939. One of the banners visible in the above photo reads, "Stop Jewish Domination of Christian America." The rally was dubbed a patriotic pro-American event tied, without irony, to George Washington’s birthday. [General/President Washington rejected calls from supporters to become dictator of the young United States.]</span></span><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="background-color: white;">How could the rising flames of fascism in the United States in the 1930s be forgotten in time? In interviews promoting <i>“Prequel,”</i> Maddow notes how the bigger story of the war in Europe (and the Pacific) eclipsed the story of homegrown fascism and Nazism and the quiet patriots who battled the threat to democracy here.</span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">Brave and truly patriotic men such as Lewis, O. John Rogge, Dillard Stokes, Henry Hoke, Eric Sevareid, Drew Pearson, and William Power Maloney stood up and spoke out against antisemitism and against indifference and obstruction by the Truman Administration, as demonstrated by Attorney General Francis Biddle and FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover.</span><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjn9FmiTiDQNeWytp8vu2TeOpB5L-_A0mrvmAYIiU00StydnBWaBtOg450H3sYCiBmcK96F6UWfO68e4ayBzvuW-y0ehZPKnyLLtpj1lXevmEu9HLJCvbFBbZxlD-yTyg-HdTsYlVVutZ9EgZ1WlXCcs1g_HAcZ5UFB0DnkFmQFUTerARNaz80ujjp0qMfe" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="2442" data-original-width="1890" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjn9FmiTiDQNeWytp8vu2TeOpB5L-_A0mrvmAYIiU00StydnBWaBtOg450H3sYCiBmcK96F6UWfO68e4ayBzvuW-y0ehZPKnyLLtpj1lXevmEu9HLJCvbFBbZxlD-yTyg-HdTsYlVVutZ9EgZ1WlXCcs1g_HAcZ5UFB0DnkFmQFUTerARNaz80ujjp0qMfe=w206-h266" width="206" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #800180; font-family: times; font-size: x-small;">Federal prosecutor Rogge</span></td></tr></tbody></table><p></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">“The plain truth is that the FBI was missing in action as fascism and Nazism took root and grew in the United States in the mid-1930s,” Maddow notes.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Despite having the rug pulled out from under them in their prosecution of the fascists, both Maloney and Rogge continued with honor, courage, and commitment to uncover and report domestic enemies and violent extremists.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">“Maloney and his investigators had discovered the double helix of the violent, Nazi-supporting, and Nazi-supported threat in the United States; it was part foreign and part domestic, part propaganda and part armed paramilitary movement.” He had led the investigation into Nazi propagandists using frank privileges at taxpayers’ expense. After federal service, he continued a career as a colorful and successful prosecutor.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><blockquote><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="color: #0b5394; font-size: medium;">“Rogge’s new charging document, like Maloney’s, alleged violations of the Smith Act –– an effort to demoralize America’s armed forces. But Rogge had sharpened the case, alleging targeted effort by the defendants to recruit National Guardsmen, reservists, and even active-duty U.S. troops into these ultra-right groups, where they could use their military skills, connections, and access to weapons to help arm and train paramilitary fascists for the overthrow of the U.S. government.”</span></span></blockquote><span style="font-family: arial;">Rogge uncovered evidence against American fascists and Nazi-supporters when he provided support to the Nuremberg trials after the war.</span><p></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Men of character like Lewis, Rogge, Stokes, Hoke and others were seemingly outnumbered by questionable characters –– men (and some women) who placed greed, power, and religion above the Constitution, people like:</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-family: arial;">George Deatherage: “He saw himself a red-blooded, real-American patriot, a dedicated Christian, a fierce protector of (white) Western civilization.”</span></li><li><span style="font-family: arial;">Huey Long: This Louisiana politician was an early version of the charismatic narcissistic populist and would-be dictator who formed his own militia and embraced violence against his detractors.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: arial;">Father Charles Coughlin: The Rush Limbaugh or Alex Jones of his generation, he was a Catholic priest with a wildly popular radio show who called for violence against “tyrants” after naming FDR and jews as tyrants.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: arial;">John Cassidy: He was a self-described "Christian martyr" who wanted to become the "American Fuhrer."</span></li><li><span style="font-family: arial;">Senator Ernest Lundeen (R) of Minnesota: Was as corrupt as they come, even taking payroll kickbacks from his own staff, instrumental in promoting support for Hitler in America. Maddow’s description of his death in a suspicious plane crash is as graphic and horrible as can be imagined. Readers may want to look away.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: arial;">George Sylvester Viereck: The Nazi agent. He was convicted in June 1943 for violating the Foreign Agents Registration Act. While he was in jail, Viereck's eldest son and namesake, a corporal in the U.S. Army, fought and died for the Allies in Italy.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: arial;">Major General George Van Horn Moseley: He was pro-gun but against FDR and anti-redistribution of wealth; he called for the sterilization of any jews who immigrated to the United States.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: arial;">Senator Robert Rice Reynolds (D) of North Carolina: He wanted to build a wall around the entire United States, in part to keep out Jews.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: arial;">Representative Hamilton Fish (R) of New York: He supported Hitler’s Germany and “was hopeful that tensions over Germany’s designs on Poland could be resolved peacefully, and that Germany’s claims were ‘just.’” His calls: “AWAKE CHRISTIAN AMERICA” and “LET’S SAVE U.S. FOR US.”</span></li><li><span style="font-family: arial;">Senator William “Wild Bill” Langer (R) of North Dakota: As governor he was charged, convicted, and sentenced to 18 months in prison, but who declared martial law and tried to declare North Dakota’s independence from the United States. As senator, he sabotaged the investigation of rising fascism.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: arial;">Senator Burton K. Wheeler (D) of Montana: an isolationist and propagandist for Germany who was eventually accused of treason. He attempted to use his position in Congress to influence the military, especially the Lend-Lease Act, and prevent America’s support to Britain in WWII.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: arial;">Henry Ford and Charles Lindbergh: Both were champions of Adolf Hitler and vice versa. Lindbergh </span><i style="font-family: arial;">zeig heiled </i><span style="font-family: arial;">at an America First rally with Wheeler. Ford was lauded by Adolf Hitler, who kept a photo of the white Christian nationalist CEO in his office.</span></li></ul><p></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhpi3fXni7p1Tupm_2l2pm7XiU9iSWJ30xASoAeYEBeeRA2USJvjymNnYzxHE_feObgr3cu4VmYiHVMhXvyTFSOzLBqP5kIGlaGzc6NCaT80xcnSqn9AcPypTTHSCM3S3rC--veVlYdnm8OxXCp6GUOuX_tRK9_yQ_pREROzjMrRyYfrbsqEi7AQyDMSyJu" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="776" data-original-width="999" height="255" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhpi3fXni7p1Tupm_2l2pm7XiU9iSWJ30xASoAeYEBeeRA2USJvjymNnYzxHE_feObgr3cu4VmYiHVMhXvyTFSOzLBqP5kIGlaGzc6NCaT80xcnSqn9AcPypTTHSCM3S3rC--veVlYdnm8OxXCp6GUOuX_tRK9_yQ_pREROzjMrRyYfrbsqEi7AQyDMSyJu=w328-h255" width="328" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #800180; font-family: times; font-size: x-small;">America Firsters Wheeler and Lindbergh</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: arial;">There were many more who sought to weaken the Constitution and democracy in favor of autocracy and theocracy.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">Expressions of outright antisemitism and fascism by elected officials led to plots of violence on the home front.</span></div><div><p></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Groups such as the “Christian Front” and “Country Gentlemen” planned an armed insurrection, including bombings of Jewish and Leftist establishments as well as newspaper offices. Their hope was similar to </span><a href="https://navyreads.blogspot.com/search?q=Timothy+McVeigh" style="font-family: arial;" target="_blank">Timothy McVeigh</a><span style="font-family: arial;">’s goal –– to start a race war that would bring down the federal government.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(11, 83, 148); font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(11, 83, 148); font-family: arial;">“It was what we’d call today an ‘accelerationist’ strategy,” Maddow explains.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: arial;"></span></p><blockquote><p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">“Much as white supremacists hope terroristic, spectacular, cruel acts toward racial minorities will provoke retaliation and reprisal to touch off a wholesale race war that they are sure they will win, the Christian Fronters believed American could easily be tipped into a war against Jews and communists in which they themselves not only would end up on the winning side, but would be hailed as a heroic vanguard.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">“George Van Horn Moseley’s name kept coming up in planning meetings for the attack, because they were still counting on the general to take the reins as America’s new military dictator after the coup was complete.”</span></p></blockquote><p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">There are numerous parallels from the 1930s and ‘40s that continue to smolder: the coup attempt of January 6, other acts of violent extremism in the name of the former President (who calls opponents “vermin” that poison the “blood” of America), and Trump’s desire to call for the Insurrection Act in order to use the military against U.S. citizens in violation of <i>posse comitatus</i>.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhn6OiTLLMW4XNYhR4iox2dWV7i6cSDg-i1bZoBSnTpRehZRozWH8oR49oPZ9wIp1sJIZn67rXpENNbzpa55E-xGGyKx-thT762Zj6IAQrqXHZW5pmHVRiH5_57iVtJk_qqfrb-lZbiEFeK5maDjWoNeyoJgoOTqR43noGHROEGwje_H-4qSA-OBS3JVTQf" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="405" data-original-width="313" height="250" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhn6OiTLLMW4XNYhR4iox2dWV7i6cSDg-i1bZoBSnTpRehZRozWH8oR49oPZ9wIp1sJIZn67rXpENNbzpa55E-xGGyKx-thT762Zj6IAQrqXHZW5pmHVRiH5_57iVtJk_qqfrb-lZbiEFeK5maDjWoNeyoJgoOTqR43noGHROEGwje_H-4qSA-OBS3JVTQf=w193-h250" width="193" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: arial;">Germany justified war in Europe based on grievances and a Big Lie about Jews. Putin did the same thing. And Trump builds his power and funding on perceived grievances and the Big Lie of a stolen election. It is no accident that Trump launched his current presidential campaign at Waco, Texas, on the 30th anniversary of the Branch Davidian tragedy, which was the basis for Timothy McVeigh's grievances.</span><p></p><p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">There are other parallels and similarities linking past and present. Accusers and their two dozen or more sympathizers in Congress chose to investigate the investigators. They called for President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s impeachment based on conspiracies and conjecture without evidence. They used various tactics to disrupt and delay justice in the courts. And they attacked the free press.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The propagandists supported Germany’s efforts to divide American citizens: “A partisan, bickering, demoralized America, the Nazis believed, would be incapable of mounting a successful war effort in Europe.”</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span>Fascists and fundamentalists –– past and present –– tried to recruit military service members and veterans. </span></span><span style="font-family: arial;">Eighty and ninety years ago a disproportionate number of law enforcement (“law and ORDER”) personnel supported fascists. Meanwhile, Hollywood –– led by MGM –– and the mainstream media –– led by the Washington Post –– shined a light on the lawbreakers and seditionists. When caught up in the scandal, perpetrators tried to burn evidence, (albeit not in a White House fireplace).</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">In 1942, federal prosecutors indicted 28 people and charged them (almost RICO-style) with sedition with “intent to interfere with, impair, and influence the loyalty, morale, and discipline of the military and naval forces of the United States.” Prosecutors received hate mail and death threats.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Greedy and self-serving politicians stoked conspiracies and fears to hold on to power, especially fear of immigrants, communists, socialists, and Jewish people. Father Coughlin and others attempted to form a third party of Christian nationalists to compete against President Roosevelt, claiming FDR was a Jew.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">But there could be signs of hope: The election of Nov. 7, 1944 proved the strength of democracy over the glowing coals of fascism, when FDR won a landslide victory. “The president who had been leading the country in the war against the Nazis, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, won an unprecedented fourth term, with 432 electoral votes to Thomas E. Dewey’s 99,” Maddow writes. “Roosevelt’s Democrats gained twenty-two seats in the House and protected their whopping nineteen-vote cushion in the Senate.”</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-style: normal;"></span></span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgTJA283Eu1oUn8o1-92HBKuHhnPscivNgIpleNjNMXJB7u79IQQHnVHHgOcHfCh8gcR8IXnCddjFuu1sJAsF7ARmybRit_KGVWMrQkhZXetOGKCQNSjOu5sVa7U2q36buoCLdq_elAlB7ZPivvq1iOs9XbyhPB-vNoSV-YTPOTVC9mBnwT2LUhrRZXQI1a" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="546" data-original-width="826" height="431" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgTJA283Eu1oUn8o1-92HBKuHhnPscivNgIpleNjNMXJB7u79IQQHnVHHgOcHfCh8gcR8IXnCddjFuu1sJAsF7ARmybRit_KGVWMrQkhZXetOGKCQNSjOu5sVa7U2q36buoCLdq_elAlB7ZPivvq1iOs9XbyhPB-vNoSV-YTPOTVC9mBnwT2LUhrRZXQI1a=w651-h431" width="651" /></a><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #800180; font-family: times; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Rachel Maddow speaks with Lt. Col. Andy Gerlach of the South Dakota Army National Guard in Afghanistan in July 2010. (Sgt. Rebecca Linder)</span></span></td></tr></tbody></table><p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-style: normal;">Maddow is also author of </span><i>“Bagman” </i>and<i> “Drift.”</i> She is a big supporter of military service members, veterans, and the Constitution. She bemoans the gap between civilians and their military, and she calls for accountability, transparency, and maximal diplomacy before American men and women are sent into war.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEixIBub2mnSp9F15_9GQbiwW7tOB6hCNi83I8D0GKkyhpuDTLFrfWqveBwhRsy5e3Pzh9-AgQU8ZSig04BloJ3au9pEEpqvfhpKq10v_el5TG7jNDAnH48TckueVH4cJrG3R8pvfR_uUWHp4x0aIVMtrH3vs9zKdpdyRSH5Fht2WwqstTDkr25TOjNPgAFx" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="500" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEixIBub2mnSp9F15_9GQbiwW7tOB6hCNi83I8D0GKkyhpuDTLFrfWqveBwhRsy5e3Pzh9-AgQU8ZSig04BloJ3au9pEEpqvfhpKq10v_el5TG7jNDAnH48TckueVH4cJrG3R8pvfR_uUWHp4x0aIVMtrH3vs9zKdpdyRSH5Fht2WwqstTDkr25TOjNPgAFx=w200-h200" width="200" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: arial;">Both the Prequel book and preceding Ultra podcast feature Maddow’s storytelling at its best, but the book may better. While the serialized Prequel podcast broke ground on the compelling story of the threat to democracy from within, the book really fleshes out the story as only a book can, complete with extensive notes, a helpful index, compelling photos, and detail we can read and will want to re-read. This is a book that can help every American understand the threat of the fires of antisemitism, fascism, and authoritarianism.</span><p></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">In 2023 and 2024 the embers are glowing brighter.</span></p></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9195380963524310455.post-66676216907367410952023-11-09T09:38:00.001-10:002023-11-09T09:38:48.343-10:00 ‘The Root’: In Tribute to Veterans<p><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-small;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjVrWs4qM4soX9CHVRSrd19bZeWWnVRXHb_DUTKXNbikwcBWbjad5j-BGg6a7dSxRZGCNidIWYhdI64w-vG5Xaud6SD-o5nS_i-K6aHqwldd4hi9D8phPBP0cGsK4KiQ6iFAyg7AIIaO_TT_dBja6ct0DXQ7eYJGOm6ZSfCgv1xR1xfSdAbM3GOkBkg6Jg-" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="413" data-original-width="991" height="270" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjVrWs4qM4soX9CHVRSrd19bZeWWnVRXHb_DUTKXNbikwcBWbjad5j-BGg6a7dSxRZGCNidIWYhdI64w-vG5Xaud6SD-o5nS_i-K6aHqwldd4hi9D8phPBP0cGsK4KiQ6iFAyg7AIIaO_TT_dBja6ct0DXQ7eYJGOm6ZSfCgv1xR1xfSdAbM3GOkBkg6Jg-=w651-h270" width="651" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-small;">Review by Bill Doughty––</span><p></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The bombing was accurately described by Marine historian, journalist, and author Eric Hammel and his publisher as a “disaster”:</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: arial;"></span></p><blockquote><p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">“At 6:22 a.m. on October 23, 1983, a yellow Mercedes truck raced across the parking lot of the Beirut International Airport in Lebanon. Crashing through a chain-link gate into the 24th Marine Amphibious Unit’s headquarters compound, it raced on, careening through a shack and into the open atrium lobby of a terminal building where the men were housed, many still asleep.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">“The truck lurched to a stop. Seconds later, 12,000 pounds of high explosives piled in the bed of the truck exploded. The four-story steel and concrete building shuddered, then collapsed. Two hundred forty-one Americans were killed and many more injured in the disaster.”</span></p></blockquote><p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg92V1KeV-5EYJs054gqEQKz90v_tvQD7UhZqOsDPuEqvtGr5m2vL42ALxITPGK8WPvINTq-N4VpN6Zykj11R-2ZhVqVmoPc8oO9P9wz81E-JHsRtWF39soFtFrWw34O4P0ZOnQiyLiFkNbbmzKa0j6ZuWwsIidZw-JytBhPZeQPza44EK6FHCvCRkOs_UZ" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="3738" data-original-width="2478" height="316" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg92V1KeV-5EYJs054gqEQKz90v_tvQD7UhZqOsDPuEqvtGr5m2vL42ALxITPGK8WPvINTq-N4VpN6Zykj11R-2ZhVqVmoPc8oO9P9wz81E-JHsRtWF39soFtFrWw34O4P0ZOnQiyLiFkNbbmzKa0j6ZuWwsIidZw-JytBhPZeQPza44EK6FHCvCRkOs_UZ=w209-h316" width="209" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: arial;">The book’s cover sets the stage for <i>“The Root: The Marines in Beirut, August 1982 - February 1984”</i> by Eric Hammel (Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1985). Hammel arrived in Beirut Lebanon 40 years ago this month. He interviewed nearly 200 enlisted personnel and officers and reported on the who, what, when, where, and why of the devastating terrorist bombing of the barracks in a city the Marines nicknamed The Root. United States Marines and Navy and Army support personnel had been sent to Lebanon by then-President Ronald Reagan as part of a peacekeeping mission.</span><p></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">I was drawn to this book after reading and reviewing another contemporaneous account of the bombing, </span><i style="font-family: arial;">“Peacekeepers at War”</i><span style="font-family: arial;"> by Col. Timothy J. Geraghty, USMC (ret.). Like Geraghty, Hammel brings forth fresh-at-the time details and rich context while focusing on the courage and sacrifice of service members involved. Hammel says upfront he is focused primarily on the Marines themselves:</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: arial;"></span></p><blockquote><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: medium;">“This is <i>not</i> a book about Beirut or Lebanon in the wake of the June 1982 Israeli invasion, nor is it about the Lebanese people, the Lebanese religious and political factions, Lebanon’s problems with its Syrian and Israeli neighbors, nor even the goals and aspirations articulated by the Reagan administration with respect to its hastily conceived and cosmetic solutions for the ongoing Lebanese tragedy. All those factors are part of this book only insofar as they impact upon Marines who were in Beirut.”</span></span></blockquote><p></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhvmcvPLmzgk9A_lGr1fVIdxKqlztO06MUdfPU5lIX-_RbXGGCcK9IAA8oNNWeOsyku9GviJ5CoQmttZ0uBHeafsShOA-HkuyUv4LOeJgSW9PUHjnWiiclqpZ4LgTjoGESNdqgEYX7VZuPkHlGTp4enYF5g4Yiueo-n8Jyli_By8NUrwZF85YKeLFpJ4f0t" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1499" data-original-width="1000" height="488" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhvmcvPLmzgk9A_lGr1fVIdxKqlztO06MUdfPU5lIX-_RbXGGCcK9IAA8oNNWeOsyku9GviJ5CoQmttZ0uBHeafsShOA-HkuyUv4LOeJgSW9PUHjnWiiclqpZ4LgTjoGESNdqgEYX7VZuPkHlGTp4enYF5g4Yiueo-n8Jyli_By8NUrwZF85YKeLFpJ4f0t=w326-h488" width="326" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #800180; font-family: times; font-size: xx-small;">Beirut Memorial Run Oct. 20, Lejeune Memorial Gardens (LCpl. Ramsammy)</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: arial;">The relevance and parallels of what happened in Beirut 40 years ago to what is now happening in the Middle East are striking. </span><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">Then, in 1983, the Israeli Defense Force invaded Lebanon after Islamist extremists in the Palestine Liberation Organization attacked villagers in northern Israel and established a “state within a state” within Lebanon, supported by the Palestine Liberation Army and Syria. Today, Israel is invading the southern sector of Gaza, after extremist Islamists in Hamas barbarically attacked innocent civilians in southern Israel with support from Iran and its agents.</span><p></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">In both cases, innocent civilians were and are caught in the crossfire of massive air and artillery bombardments. </span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">In both cases Islamist terrorists use civilians as human shields out of religious extremist beliefs justifying sacrifice for a greater good. </span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">And in both cases, the U.S. military assets respond in support of Israel in an attempt to deter an expansion of the war.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">[Yesterday a U.S. MQ-9drone was reported to have been downed by attackers off the coast Yemen. Commenting in response, Neil Cavuto of FOX News said, “The war nobody wants to widen keeps stubbornly trying to widen.” Last night, most Republican candidates for president said in a televised NBC debate that the United States should attack Iran directly. Whether there will be further escalation, especially with Iran, is yet to be determined in that volatile region.]</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Hammel describes a yawning “chasm that separates perception from reality in the Middle East.”</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">While the title of the book <i>“The Root” </i>refers to the city occupied by the Marines and other military personnel, there is also a possible double entendre. The root of the problem of the yawning “chasm that separates perception from reality” is religion –– A conflict between Moslems, Jews and Christians; a deadly feud between Shiite and Sunni sects; and a theocratic forever war by Islamist Jihadists against freedom, democracy, and diversity.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Clear-eyed reasoning can confront other root causes of world conflict and potential war: past imperialism, current overpopulation, and future climate change resulting in more mass migrations.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Hammel’s carefully researched and reported accounting of the Beirut tragedy is presented in <b>who</b> (including the names of U.S. service members killed in Lebanon September 1982 through February 1984), <b>what</b> (excellent descriptive writing), <b>when</b> (a chronological narrative), <b>where</b> (helpful maps and diagrams), and <b>why</b> (a scathing conclusion in the book’s epilogue).</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiTP3IPn-MCqQo69e32Eo7uKGgBS8xfdUHL0g_byj2KheJq4l2ZFy1kkGALPoC2_Ik90-YIF4mu2-N5N1hmnVV1XVBK8aHfMmtIb46HlYVF2maR6VPcUDeL4Neex31EeGudGthCmGZTmA2Wqq-wyv1jBI72FTWOczAQ4NJ9i3zRFK4RmpxyqwrujoHhFqm-" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="2955" data-original-width="3799" height="505" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiTP3IPn-MCqQo69e32Eo7uKGgBS8xfdUHL0g_byj2KheJq4l2ZFy1kkGALPoC2_Ik90-YIF4mu2-N5N1hmnVV1XVBK8aHfMmtIb46HlYVF2maR6VPcUDeL4Neex31EeGudGthCmGZTmA2Wqq-wyv1jBI72FTWOczAQ4NJ9i3zRFK4RmpxyqwrujoHhFqm-=w650-h505" width="650" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br />He recounts the heroism of the Marines and Navy personnel who doggedly tried to make their mission a success despite growing attacks and other incidents of violence, including sniper fire in the months leading up to the bombing. “As nearly as any of the American servicemen who were directly involved could tell, the August 28 fighting in and around Beirut was precipitated by the desecration of a Maronite Christian church with posters depicting the Ayatollah Khomeini.”</span><p></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Hammel describes the suicide bombing of the barracks with attention to detail and through the eyes and voices of the service members who experienced the horror. His matter-of-fact style brings forth the true heroism of the service members who responded, rescued and recovered their shipmates as well as the aftermath of dealing with the tragedy on the home front.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The epigraph of the book reads: “For the Marines, Sailors, and Soldiers Who Died in Beirut –– and for their families.”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">This book is a good read as we approach Veterans Day and the Marine Corps Birthday, both occurring this weekend. Forty years ago the Marine Corps Birthday Ball, which is held anywhere in the world in which there are Marines, was a solemn event worldwide. There are moments of solemnity and remembrance at all Marine Corps birthday commemorations, where a table is set aside with empty chairs to remember the Marines who had made the ultimate sacrifice.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Leaders who send service members in harms way must always consider the <b>why</b>.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>“The Root”</i> hits home the truism that those who do not learn the lessons, mistakes, and disasters of history are condemned to repeat them.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgwjiexPh7eih9Bs9JKm8F1fKG8MwjtLWQd509PIk3TgnHv-N4deD4-W_6cJYahVbfBPN_R-yZDWQ-Xq0EPwfh7bhsOXEFz7NA0ELDaWirWJq8w_rX0uUp0qV7kXy9-2nLiONgCyR44gbpVve1BLWIxNde1n9Qi8s48AoelXUp7dBlp5YPyGVz9obqvFOgo" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="512" data-original-width="768" height="141" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgwjiexPh7eih9Bs9JKm8F1fKG8MwjtLWQd509PIk3TgnHv-N4deD4-W_6cJYahVbfBPN_R-yZDWQ-Xq0EPwfh7bhsOXEFz7NA0ELDaWirWJq8w_rX0uUp0qV7kXy9-2nLiONgCyR44gbpVve1BLWIxNde1n9Qi8s48AoelXUp7dBlp5YPyGVz9obqvFOgo=w213-h141" width="213" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: arial;">Hammel died three years ago. He is remembered and honored by the Beirut Veterans Association as a “final muster,” publishing a note from Hammel’s son Daniel at the time of Eric’s death: “My dad wrote a lot of books about a lot of people, but there was no group that he was more in touch with than yours. I know that he touched many of your lives and many of you touched his. He saw you all as brothers, even though he didn't serve, he loved you all."</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span><p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 15px;"><span style="color: #800180; font-family: times; font-size: x-small;">Top photo: U.S. Marines with the 2d Marine Aircraft Wing Band and U.S. Marine Corps Forces Europe and Africa prepare to enter a memorial service during a Beirut bombing commemoration in Lyon, France, Oct. 21, 2023. The Beirut bombing memorial commemorates the 40th anniversary of the attacks conducted against the French and Americans. (LCpl. Mary Linniman)</span></p><div><br /></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9195380963524310455.post-84266230994435768642023-10-31T10:09:00.001-10:002023-10-31T10:11:09.505-10:00Capt. Brett Crozier’s Book: Scary Good<p><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue";"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhViyodCAHjvfR9zJ2RfLRoYBPXksr8RHDLRAnsmI1lvJd-zyr3rozv9h9X7u4HyjMvxAjjFE6AWr1M6-__diUQsaOpdmltxSwrOaqXT4DMUEF3AhqDHyBGP6NVTEMv5sWcvndLsQhYXZeehag2U6VtTRF3ZTgURy7I3ve_2fNNxKHQ2iYzXy-y9dwYWimv" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="648" data-original-width="1271" height="328" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhViyodCAHjvfR9zJ2RfLRoYBPXksr8RHDLRAnsmI1lvJd-zyr3rozv9h9X7u4HyjMvxAjjFE6AWr1M6-__diUQsaOpdmltxSwrOaqXT4DMUEF3AhqDHyBGP6NVTEMv5sWcvndLsQhYXZeehag2U6VtTRF3ZTgURy7I3ve_2fNNxKHQ2iYzXy-y9dwYWimv=w644-h328" width="644" /></a></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-small;">Review by Bill Doughty––</span></div><div>It’s almost frightening how good and relevant this book is.</div></span><p></p><p></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="clear: right; float: right; font-family: arial; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="2159" data-original-width="1400" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhccmOFmp6NGI1UFb1jUClnYvnLcdCvQKv2Kh1XaHnvQ8l8iJgimphgrNOdHp8S6HGKYc8TPe8mmPBibcB7zsCFihbeaKfKdMKJ4hraAKbrIfyvq-U-I-2_RWvAWUJap2iFr95J1_V7ruN3SY67cMrokLh8-Uor7CedL6bYu_unWgs8_tUAxoIRDicSpe46=w130-h200" width="130" /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>“Surf When You Can: Lessons in Life, Loyalty, and Leadership from a Maverick Navy Captain” </i>by Captain Brett Crozier with Michael Vlessides (Atria Books, Simon & Schuster, 2023).</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><br /></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">This book about lessons of leadership would make a great gift for anyone who loves the Navy and the sea. Here’s an excerpt to show why.</p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #0b5394; font-size: medium;"></span></p><blockquote><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #0b5394; font-size: medium;">“If my wife, Mary, is my one true love, then the ocean is my mistress. Ever since I was a kid, I’ve been fascinated with its power, its beauty, and its possibilities.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #0b5394; font-size: medium;">As a Navy captain, I had the privilege of experiencing the ocean in all her moods. At times it was so calm we could carve slow circles in the water with the carrier and eventually catch up with the white and blue mosaic of the ship’s wake before it faded into the depths below. At other times, the sea was an unforgiving bedfellow, with waves so massive they crashed over the flight deck, sixty feet above the surface. (In some cases, fighter jets have actually been damaged by water crashing over the flight deck.)</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #0b5394; font-size: medium;">Yet no matter what the sea threw at me over the course of those thirty years, I never stopped appreciating the perspective she offered: from my place on the bridge, with the horizon stretching forever before me, I realized just how small I was in the world.</span></p></blockquote><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #0b5394; font-size: medium;"></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">The excerpt is reminiscent of some of the works of Adm. James Stavridis (ret.), who speaks about Crozier in one of his own books. Also like some of our favorites such as Stavridis and Adm. William McRaven (ret.), Crozier offers terrific life lessons and superb leadership advice.</p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhccmOFmp6NGI1UFb1jUClnYvnLcdCvQKv2Kh1XaHnvQ8l8iJgimphgrNOdHp8S6HGKYc8TPe8mmPBibcB7zsCFihbeaKfKdMKJ4hraAKbrIfyvq-U-I-2_RWvAWUJap2iFr95J1_V7ruN3SY67cMrokLh8-Uor7CedL6bYu_unWgs8_tUAxoIRDicSpe46" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a></div><span style="font-family: arial;">Stavridis blurbs: <i>“Surf When You Can”</i> is utterly compelling, authentic, and relatable –– simply superb advice in life and leadership!” Here on Navy Reads we have featured <a href="https://navyreads.blogspot.com/search?q=brett+crozier" target="_blank">several posts related to Crozier</a> and the challenges he faced.</span><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh-Ky3bD5j30F9M6J8wpmZgHayET1SRnxOb8nfPQ8VTFvFn5iI4_ABLRiIZJuuZr1DQYcZGbGjM743CG_nzenwI7eC9JrVsjFjZoad_Emk1NmqoZt6FksXp3EFHpvHTXH1HKHpkfvR7LAXQht_kGlqPUGnBJdaxcmePtnNPm8K_YjUzF7nZJ7spwyuB-VEj" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="999" data-original-width="1000" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh-Ky3bD5j30F9M6J8wpmZgHayET1SRnxOb8nfPQ8VTFvFn5iI4_ABLRiIZJuuZr1DQYcZGbGjM743CG_nzenwI7eC9JrVsjFjZoad_Emk1NmqoZt6FksXp3EFHpvHTXH1HKHpkfvR7LAXQht_kGlqPUGnBJdaxcmePtnNPm8K_YjUzF7nZJ7spwyuB-VEj=w320-h320" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #800180; font-family: times; font-size: xx-small;">Saluting TR's new CO Capt. Crozier, Nov. 1, 2019. (MC3 Sean Lynch)</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: arial;">Crozier, who was inspired to attend the U.S. Naval Academy after watching the original <i>Top Gun</i> movie, reflects on lessons learned as a junior officer, a helicopter pilot, a jet pilot, the executive officer of USS Ronald Reagan (CVN-76), the commanding officer of USS Blue Ridge (LCC-19) and the CO of USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71). He became CO of TR exactly four years ago from tomorrow, Nov. 1, 2019.</span><p></p><p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">What shines through in this book are the s</span><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue";">ometimes eye-watering sea stories that help Crozier make his points about what it takes to be a good leader and, in fact, a good person of character.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><br /></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Unintentionally relevant to what’s happening now between Netanyahu’s Israel Defense Force and Islamist Hamas in Gaza, Crozier shares a story about going out of his way to prevent civilian casualties while flying his jet in combat over Iraq during Operation Iraqi Freedom. Using creative and flexible tactics, he and his wingman came to the aid of Marines while preventing collateral damage to innocent people who had no where else to go.</p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><br /></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">In <i>“Surf,”</i> Crozier teaches about humility, being willing to apologize, and the need to praise in public and reprimand in private. One key story is about his role as XO aboard USS Ronald Reagan, showing the importance of empathy and kindness in a recounting of a “pot-positive” captain’s mast. He tells humane stories about authorizing Sailor parents to attend their sons’ and daughters’ high school graduation in Yokosuka, Japan, ensuring his ship’s softball teams received the support they needed, and supporting a junior Sailor who took the initiative of immediately reporting what he thought was a “man overboard.”</p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><br /></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Far from being angry because a young Sailor took initiative to do the right thing, Crozier showed compassion and appreciation for the young man’s courage to stand up and speak out. In another sea story he shows how a wingman’s failure to inform him of something he observed almost cost Crozier his life. Though angry over the incident, Crozier framed it as a teaching moment and one he kept for the rest of his career: If a thing is “not quite right,” see something, say something. His creative way of making this point, learning about “NKR,” is worth a read.</p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><br /></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhg6TGn0-T965dOWrt0lCgePal1lOPfO091k-5ouu2rsHhV51RGPip5Qu4PI6bcBzFg4yIV_-K-D7PTGZyMaW5Ja9SnJWPo0klw4d8t3FA2esi6HxBNJrhhsv30gMGDAD6lJg3U6OJerPbXIT6b_b39hty9shw5K1RW4qJAqKUyCZO8WbNEvDVCe-Dw9CPT" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="667" data-original-width="1000" height="430" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhg6TGn0-T965dOWrt0lCgePal1lOPfO091k-5ouu2rsHhV51RGPip5Qu4PI6bcBzFg4yIV_-K-D7PTGZyMaW5Ja9SnJWPo0klw4d8t3FA2esi6HxBNJrhhsv30gMGDAD6lJg3U6OJerPbXIT6b_b39hty9shw5K1RW4qJAqKUyCZO8WbNEvDVCe-Dw9CPT=w647-h430" width="647" /></a><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #800180; font-family: times; font-size: xx-small; text-align: left;">Capt. Brett Crozier, then-CO of USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71), addresses the crew at an all hands call in the Eastern Pacific Ocean. (MCSN Kaylianna Genier)</span></td></tr></tbody></table><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">But his key leadership point is this: Take care of your Sailors and they will take care of the rest.</p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I started this book at the last few chapters (before reading and re-reading from the beginning) because I wanted Crozier’s take on what happened to him: being fired at the direction of then-President Trump, Secretary of Defense Esper, and acting Secretary of the Navy Modly for actions Crozier took to minimize the spread of Covid aboard his ship. Trump even ridiculed Crozier in public.</p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">At the time, during the early days of the pandemic, the Trump administration did not take the outbreak seriously and was offended when a Navy captain in the forward-deployed naval forces did. The vindictive response that followed was and is a warning.</p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><br /></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">When Captain Crozier saw something not quite right and spoke out to get help for his Sailors, he was removed from his position and ultimately forced to retire. What a tragedy. What a loss.</p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><br /></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Not surprisingly, Crozier does not hold a grudge against the Navy he loves. He expresses no animosity to the feckless chain of command that facilitated his removal and then failed to reinstate him.</p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br />Here are just a few of the thoughts of this good and great leader:</p>
<ul>
<li style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #0b5394; font-size: medium;">“Rank isn’t as important as being true to yourself and the people you’ve sworn to take care of.”</span></li>
<li style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #0b5394; font-size: medium;">“Perfection is an elusive goal, and part of being a good leader is recognizing your mistakes and owning them.”</span></li>
<li style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #0b5394; font-size: medium;">“I have always operated on the fundamental belief that most people want to do good in the world.”</span></li>
<li style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #0b5394; font-size: medium;">“We are stronger when we pull together.”</span></li>
<li style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #0b5394; font-size: medium;">“I think we’re better people when we open our hearts and minds to others.</span></li>
<li style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #0b5394; font-size: medium;">“If you’re willing to take a risk and operate outside your comfort zone, you’re going to learn and grow … (and) achieve things you may not have imagined possible.”</span></li></ul>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">There are many more words of wisdom and inspiration.</p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><br /></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEirJXm0u-bSfZajlDxJrziGe-2wbqJdaiJLzDIjFd1IdY_dKtGcczURsWSP_u0jEQOEJ5dAURPeNQhflfKnMHFcGnArglShgzpnlkfG4BrAqYhNajK68b5ykVQE6U2bs0HLuqhkCYWxJ5R6ESfYgyNgWTWDNwHXhaDbqBoEuXZbhybn51Q78t6YwOzIckss" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="622" data-original-width="847" height="248" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEirJXm0u-bSfZajlDxJrziGe-2wbqJdaiJLzDIjFd1IdY_dKtGcczURsWSP_u0jEQOEJ5dAURPeNQhflfKnMHFcGnArglShgzpnlkfG4BrAqYhNajK68b5ykVQE6U2bs0HLuqhkCYWxJ5R6ESfYgyNgWTWDNwHXhaDbqBoEuXZbhybn51Q78t6YwOzIckss=w338-h248" width="338" /></a></div><span style="font-family: arial;">For Crozier, it’s most important for himself and his Sailors to find balance in life: Job, family, and self. It’s no accident that <i>“Surf When You Can” </i>is the title of the book. He says people can and should take time for themselves to recharge, whether it be through sports, gardening, or reading!</span><p></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;">I found special resonance in this book. My kids also attended school in Yokosuka. I was a military brat, as were Crozier’s kids and his resilient wife, Mary. </p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I see how much Crozier valued PAOs (public affairs officers) –– and vice versa. He obviously respected the role of a free media, of Navy mass communication specialists, and of the lasting impact of photo ops. The same can be said of books. Books such as “Surf When You Can.”</p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><br /></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">There is also a personal connection for me in how Crozier talked about his time in Hawaii (my chosen home) earlier in his career. From his connection with Barber’s Point, Russ “Rusty” Keaulana, and surfing at White Plains Beach he learned about <i>pono</i>, the Hawaiian concept of righteousness, kindness, and respect for others.</p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><br /></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Crozier praises Sailors. Big time. He respects petty officers and chief petty officers as well as junior enlisted and junior officer personnel. The three most important values as a Navy leader, which he learned from a Navy chief in Hawaii are: Take care of your Sailors. Take care of your Sailors. Take care of your Sailors.</p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><br /></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">That’s what Capt. Brett Crozier did.</p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Fearlessly.</p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg-QIlVYipWEkQI4Q09JsjYIMBpt9zJOgfMeJsbcz94y1Y5XgQc6zkW6_uu6WcbslgaW-t6fP_HFGhXDbLaIMicEYI0gauIWOwordO9obtVeSrPSRShh6mwEem_jqva5qn4ctjv9lqDRiye6XJqy5D72U0oCmPH5wSialFMBWZX1i9t-HSZ43DeaIDDDphv" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="853" data-original-width="1280" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg-QIlVYipWEkQI4Q09JsjYIMBpt9zJOgfMeJsbcz94y1Y5XgQc6zkW6_uu6WcbslgaW-t6fP_HFGhXDbLaIMicEYI0gauIWOwordO9obtVeSrPSRShh6mwEem_jqva5qn4ctjv9lqDRiye6XJqy5D72U0oCmPH5wSialFMBWZX1i9t-HSZ43DeaIDDDphv=w640-h426" width="640" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: georgia;">According to the book, a portion of the profits from "Surf When You Can" will go to "nonprofit organizations focused on supporting our nation's service members and veterans. To learn more about these and several other outstanding charitable organizations please visit <a href="http://www.surfwhenyoucan.com" target="_blank">www.surfwhenyoucan.com</a>."</span><p></p></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9195380963524310455.post-21247808913683830932023-10-23T17:39:00.002-10:002023-10-24T07:26:14.045-10:0040 Years Ago: Peacekeepers’ Sacrifice in Beirut<p><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi3EU226T13nXu_2F-QofEYBYiIYheSm7iorApeim7j5a24ho8Xqgp-Oii_BY5NAV-vKQw-uc14crlrqqwW4VW6QOsyJqxBFgvHvTE75V1xesJdabFTzqC9TLfCg0MNs7YoLcjBEybh2jHEyNgcj9HDWXkbJlcWiM6eYRdx-Ptg0vwpC8QMOBmbY8EmD1PA" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="498" data-original-width="973" height="335" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi3EU226T13nXu_2F-QofEYBYiIYheSm7iorApeim7j5a24ho8Xqgp-Oii_BY5NAV-vKQw-uc14crlrqqwW4VW6QOsyJqxBFgvHvTE75V1xesJdabFTzqC9TLfCg0MNs7YoLcjBEybh2jHEyNgcj9HDWXkbJlcWiM6eYRdx-Ptg0vwpC8QMOBmbY8EmD1PA=w654-h335" width="654" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-small;">By Bill Doughty––</span><p></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Religious war in the Middle East seems never-ending, with non-democratic Islamist extremists targeting Jews and other non-Muslims as infidels deserving of death. Hamas terrorists from Gaza inflicted a brutal attack on innocent Israelis and other civilians on October 7. Israel is retaliating and pledges to destroy Hamas. As a result of Hamas’s attack, innocent people living in Gaza, who terrorists use as human shields, are being killed in the crossfire.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Meanwhile, Iran fuels the flames of terrorism and destruction –– supporting not only Russia in its war in Ukraine but also Hamas in Gaza on Israel’s southern border and Hizbollah in Lebanon on Israel’s northern border. Iran also supports Islamic Jihad terrorists such as those whose misfired rocket killed hundreds at a Baptist hospital in Gaza.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiwZkdBY1m0c19k0EF1zqXdCL_dLt5In2ALQ0BX58iPPI7Q-QFIGKqMwdHKpfzthA9Xeo58zFnuJt_F97jGxW81Zsitn1oCmrXtF6J6VUCfoTAU9GkresqhrLb57Y6bMZsnAX9IvIJRkfcDGt84Z0ymPe0LzCoK4zeXuojGpbMyCkFtmE4h2RjYphCzGXvY" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="330" data-original-width="400" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiwZkdBY1m0c19k0EF1zqXdCL_dLt5In2ALQ0BX58iPPI7Q-QFIGKqMwdHKpfzthA9Xeo58zFnuJt_F97jGxW81Zsitn1oCmrXtF6J6VUCfoTAU9GkresqhrLb57Y6bMZsnAX9IvIJRkfcDGt84Z0ymPe0LzCoK4zeXuojGpbMyCkFtmE4h2RjYphCzGXvY" width="291" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: arial;">Forty years ago today, Islamic Jihad bombers supported by Hizbollah and elements in Iran and Syria, attacked a multinational peacekeeping force in Beirut, Lebanon, killing 241 U.S. military personnel, 58 French military personnel, and six civilians at the Marine barracks. Of the U.S casualties, 220 were Marines; 18 were Sailors, including 15 Navy corpsmen and one medical officer; and three were Army Soldiers.</span><p></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Then-President Ronald Reagan sent the U.S. military to Lebanon to provide security, stability, and deterrence in the wake of Israel’s 1981 invasion of Lebanon, where Muslims and Christians were at war.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Instead, the presence of Western peacekeepers provoked the jihadists. According to Col. Timothy J. Geraghty, USMC (ret.), who commanded the U.S. Multinational Peacekeeping force, “The Beirut experience has an overarching lesson: force-building and peacekeeping do not mix, particularly in the Middle East.”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj2ON1HFl1byg63uQ3lbHlWK8JUlsX9j4hgW9dTxpCI9zMuFy6KxQpAtJthowIzjNb-MuLCna7g6Vw5pg1-3tykGRPavRw12iMiSnbcWp1XZZ4zcrEtM-5jjBBG3i-kr8zq-c5VKQz13esFRLRRFb3-5ZBuhrdN66FNNb0M44aQsp9DvH2NzV7jKudAY6sP" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="487" data-original-width="329" height="207" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj2ON1HFl1byg63uQ3lbHlWK8JUlsX9j4hgW9dTxpCI9zMuFy6KxQpAtJthowIzjNb-MuLCna7g6Vw5pg1-3tykGRPavRw12iMiSnbcWp1XZZ4zcrEtM-5jjBBG3i-kr8zq-c5VKQz13esFRLRRFb3-5ZBuhrdN66FNNb0M44aQsp9DvH2NzV7jKudAY6sP=w140-h207" width="140" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: arial;">Geraghty is author of the definitive accounting of the Beirut MNF Bombing, <i>“Peacekeepers at War: Beirut 1983 –– The Marine Commander Tells His Story”</i> (Potomac Books, 2009). He contends, “The seeds of modern-day terrorism and suicide bombings were sown in Lebanon in 1983. The evolution of this insidious movement began with the suicide bombings of the U.S. embassy and the Marines’ Battalion Landing Team Headquarters and continued with the kidnappings, murder, torture, and intimidation of Americans and fellow Westerners.”</span><p></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Geraghty says frankly, “The peacekeeping experience in Lebanon demands that we carefully review these events and learn how we can better prepare ourselves to preclude any recurrence of this tragedy.”</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">One lesson he calls for is appropriate retaliation, which did not happen after the Marine barracks bombing.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Pulitzer Prize-winning author Patrick J. Sloyan praises Geraghty in <i>“When Reagan Sent in the Marines: The Invasion of Lebanon” </i>(Thomas Dunne Books, St. Martin’s, 2019) and agrees with him that not retaliating at the time was a big mistake.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Sloyan writes:</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><blockquote><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="color: #0b5394; font-size: medium;">“Reagan refused to strike Iran despite solid evidence of its role in the embassy and Marine barracks bombing sin 1983. Rather than prolong the conflict and threaten his reelection in 1984, Reagan resorted to his political skills to manipulate perceptions and divert attention from the Beirut debacle. In the process, he gave a cold shoulder to the battered Marines there. Instead of accepting his share of responsibility for the tragedy, he blamed it all on the Marine commander in Beirut. It was his worst moment as commander in chief. In leaving Iran unpunished, he encouraged the Tehran regime and other enemies to continue their back-alley war against the United States without fear of reprisal.”</span></span></blockquote><p></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhjkIHxz5qzgYumd4etQXfSFEUpLGxVtjl_357QWLBojcYzV9st2AzYYod2DFP0hj1xMdTd74EXBCiMSCIMfCNOAVqen4MhZi-6hXQyjyoVQ8P4CEx-wXoVCxUwyDLo6WxwXcFFtSeahumWrqbaQfQiicaZM1NEc--6Z4R-PehSF-e9uh8p395dOat_XeXw" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="277" data-original-width="182" height="199" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhjkIHxz5qzgYumd4etQXfSFEUpLGxVtjl_357QWLBojcYzV9st2AzYYod2DFP0hj1xMdTd74EXBCiMSCIMfCNOAVqen4MhZi-6hXQyjyoVQ8P4CEx-wXoVCxUwyDLo6WxwXcFFtSeahumWrqbaQfQiicaZM1NEc--6Z4R-PehSF-e9uh8p395dOat_XeXw=w131-h199" width="131" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: arial;">In his book, Sloyan presents a devastating account of the Iran-Contra scandal, in which Reagan and members of his team –– principally Robert McFarlane and Col. Oliver North –– orchestrated an arms for hostage deal with Iran, involving shipping hundreds of missiles and other arms to the Shia-led government.</span><p></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">“It was North who provided the highlights of the trip,” writes Sloyan. “He delivered an Israeli-baked chocolate cake in the shape of a key, to symbolize the unlocking of US-Iranian relations, and a bible Reagan signed and inscribed from Galatians 3:8. ‘All the nations shall be blessed in you.’” The goal was to free hostages held by Iran-backed Hizbollah militants.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">As part of the arms-for-hostages deal, North received $15 million that was later funneled to the right-wing Contras who were in armed conflict with the communist Sandinista government in Nicaragua. At first, Reagan lied to the American people about his involvement in the Iran-Contra scandal, but a week later admitted and expressed regret for the affair.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjqEE_LIa0jttluoMzG4iVymg4JzlGcgmNcHEmXsVBpSMO3incsxCpbJZ_Rc6zMSezYjHopr-A38k_8iN45Aldc6W2u8AotCnt81AeeWAA-nuCDtSMcLCboBeDCSv_rgX3vIElUw5bue4GsWgT1E6DRSMVvFdf6-Cgs-5cqby9PdhDsMCy4KSe17RAWCYez" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="666" data-original-width="820" height="532" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjqEE_LIa0jttluoMzG4iVymg4JzlGcgmNcHEmXsVBpSMO3incsxCpbJZ_Rc6zMSezYjHopr-A38k_8iN45Aldc6W2u8AotCnt81AeeWAA-nuCDtSMcLCboBeDCSv_rgX3vIElUw5bue4GsWgT1E6DRSMVvFdf6-Cgs-5cqby9PdhDsMCy4KSe17RAWCYez=w653-h532" width="653" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #800180; font-family: times; font-size: xx-small;">Retired Col. Timothy J. Geraghty signs copies of his book <i>"Peacekeepers at War" </i>after his professional miliitary education class at the Command Museum aboard Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego, April 29, 2011. Geraghty commanded the 24th Marine Amphibious Unit during the Beirut bombing in 1983. (LCpl Eric Quintanilla)</span></p></td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></div><span style="font-family: arial;">Both Sloyan’s and Geraghty’s books are informative, revelatory, and prescient.</span><div><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;">Geraghty sees a direct line between the horrors of 1983 and the attacks of 9/11 in 2001. Despite the virtual elimination of ISIS, we see the religious ideology of hatred continue in what happened to jews and secularists in Israel on October 7.</span><div><div><p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Garaghty has been a guest of the Marines for a number of memorial commemorations of the Beirut bombings. He concludes his landmark <i>“Peacekeepers at War”</i> with this observation:</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><blockquote><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="color: #0b5394; font-size: medium;">“The Islamist jihadists attacked us in Beirut, but they have also struck in New York, Washington, London, Madrid, Tel Aviv, Bali, Kabul, and numerous other locations around the world. Their indiscriminate targeting of civilians and brutality reflect their fear and hatred of liberty and freedom. We must pursue victory over this scourge of mankind, not only for our own security, but also to honor the valor and sacrifice of our finest and most dedicated warriors, those who go into harm’s way to protect the freedoms we all cherish.”</span></span></blockquote><p></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Still, the never-ending war in the Middle East continues. And there is now an intense risk of escalation as U.S. military forces are targeted. Some see the potential for an actual world war as Russia, Iran, and North Korea (and China) align closer.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">In a world requiring nuanced understanding and commitment to human rights and lasting peace, some would unfortunately prefer to see only bipolar options fueled by their faith, hate, and grievance –– authoritarianism and theocracy over liberty and democracy.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #800180; font-family: times; font-size: x-small;">Top photo: Distinguished guest paticipants stand at the position of attention as the wreaths are laid during the 34th Beirut Memorial Observance Ceremony at Lejeune Memorial Gardens in Jacksonville, N.C., Oct. 23, 2017. A memorial observance is held Oct. 23 of each year to remember those lives lost during the terrorist attacks at U.S. Marine Barracks, Beirut, Lebanon, in 1983. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Judith L. Harter)</span></p><div><br /></div></div></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9195380963524310455.post-87054314475402083722023-09-25T09:26:00.010-10:002023-09-28T06:36:58.421-10:00 You CAN Handle the Truth<p><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgv1wufCiO5XAmu0XVCSmxuc4rdY2-Dahe_Ns2Sto27QmZUUwU5zeQYYlc-1YkePpG7O1XCAIIverxq6ikAyZ2K_w1oSMnfKXmCyFZ8qdjX4Ax9pUEOJmaZXkez5MMzR0-gBlEzG8N0fqha6eKWMeL2bWCnVO2ltpHjS3VWHfpYf9sflTepQfO7bXnpT3oS" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1539" data-original-width="2364" height="424" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgv1wufCiO5XAmu0XVCSmxuc4rdY2-Dahe_Ns2Sto27QmZUUwU5zeQYYlc-1YkePpG7O1XCAIIverxq6ikAyZ2K_w1oSMnfKXmCyFZ8qdjX4Ax9pUEOJmaZXkez5MMzR0-gBlEzG8N0fqha6eKWMeL2bWCnVO2ltpHjS3VWHfpYf9sflTepQfO7bXnpT3oS=w652-h424" width="652" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-small;">Review by Bill Doughty––</span><p></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">You can taste the tension in the courtroom. Before the Navy lieutenant (j.g.) JAG prosecutor, played by Tom Cruise, uses verbal <i>jiu jitsu </i>and gets his witness (Jack Nicholson) to blurt out a confession, the Marine captain defense attorney (Kevin Bacon) attempts to psychologically inoculate the jury.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi9uQLnUmkksfNmEk5KAujX8UgBLhDmYPajLvdk8rgK-qWfxq9VIQMVTGHZhGHXpzZ2IrVkeZsgMB6J2-KpZbQEarJ3NaPZaKqWxh_gNUjdBIwblH8_nIIGMKqhha-Vcw8QTpdcPpeWJW6A8Md40QNbpnlJhMJ6aj28aakSWjQADqefhgRPJd0VfRex9C-l" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="367" data-original-width="248" height="352" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi9uQLnUmkksfNmEk5KAujX8UgBLhDmYPajLvdk8rgK-qWfxq9VIQMVTGHZhGHXpzZ2IrVkeZsgMB6J2-KpZbQEarJ3NaPZaKqWxh_gNUjdBIwblH8_nIIGMKqhha-Vcw8QTpdcPpeWJW6A8Md40QNbpnlJhMJ6aj28aakSWjQADqefhgRPJd0VfRex9C-l=w237-h352" width="237" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: arial;">The scene is from the gripping Rob Reiner movie <i>A Few Good Men</i>, which also stars Demi Moore and Kiefer Sutherland as well as numerous other actors portraying Marines and Sailors. The scene, written by Aaron Sorkin, is presented in the final chapter of <i>“Foolproof: Why Misinformation Infects Our Minds and How to Build Immunity”</i> by Sander van der Linden (W.W. Norton, 2023).</span><p></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">And it’s perfect.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Kevin Bacon as Capt Jack Ross primes the jury with what they will hear from the prosecution. He spins the narrative and attempts to trump the argument with “alternative facts.”</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The scene illustrates some of the science-based conclusions presented in this important book about critical thinking and the dangers of misinformation, disinformation, and manipulation. Van der Linden shows how thinking people anywhere can identify conspiracies and manipulation and inoculate themselves.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">While reading this book I thought of outgoing <a href="https://navyreads.blogspot.com/search?q=mark+milley" target="_blank">Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Milley</a>, who took seriously his oath to defend the Constitution and who also swore to tell the truth [the whole truth and nothing but the truth] many times in testimony to Congress (top photo).</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">When confronted by Republicans about Marxist “wokeness” in the military and his wanting to learn more about the risk of extremism in the ranks and the effects of conspiracy-mongers such as QAnon, Milley explained his position with rational clarity.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Milley, in effect, wanted to be inoculated by reading and understanding the issues. “I’ve read Mao Zedong. I’ve read Karl Marx. I’ve read Lenin. That doesn’t make me a communist,” he said. “So what is wrong with understanding, having some situational understanding, about the country for which we are here to defend?”</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Challenged by a Republican representative about preventing white nationalists from joining the military, Milley said it was important to be well-read and open-minded and to try to understand why people attacked the Capitol in the January 6, 2021 insurrection. “I want to understand white rage – and I’m white,” Milley told the committee.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Milley famously communicated with his military counterpart in China after the J6 attack to allay fears and reassure a near-peer competitor that the United States had no desire for war. Milley is set to retire this Friday after 43 years of service in uniform. Milley’s dad, by the way, was a Navy Corpsman in World War II, and his mom served as a nurse with the Navy’s WAVES.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi7Maf0o8KKeliSzttIhPUUI8w3YYajZEFdpq5CUB7-CwI2Ak_U2lw4YRnRsQQNjLMZl550olhGc4n3_uad6oX9P6QpDaoAy-L5VfW2a3YsJU7rO2_vE2fERFAwNOmOalcsd4gceuOgqt3Ntcay18qKjsACoL_hUHxYdKpZOvuhTRNhkrulA40pRmoVffqI" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="924" data-original-width="681" height="234" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi7Maf0o8KKeliSzttIhPUUI8w3YYajZEFdpq5CUB7-CwI2Ak_U2lw4YRnRsQQNjLMZl550olhGc4n3_uad6oX9P6QpDaoAy-L5VfW2a3YsJU7rO2_vE2fERFAwNOmOalcsd4gceuOgqt3Ntcay18qKjsACoL_hUHxYdKpZOvuhTRNhkrulA40pRmoVffqI=w173-h234" width="173" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #800180; font-size: x-small;">Trump</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: arial;">Last Friday, former President Donald Trump wrote about Milley’s retirement on his social media platform, suggesting Milley perhaps should be executed.</span><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">Regarding Milley's coming retirement, Trump wrote: “This will be a time for all citizens of the USA to celebrate! This guy turned out to be a Woke train wreck who, if the Fake News reporting is correct, was actually dealing with China to give them a heads up on the thinking of the President of the United States. This is an act so egregious that, in times gone by, the punishment would have been DEATH!” Trump wrote. At least one Republican representative, Paul Gosar of Arizona, agrees with Trump, calling Milley a "traitor," and also suggesting death by hanging.</span><p></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Since pre-internet days, the misinformation stakes have become higher and the dangers of misinformation, manipulation, and outright threats have become greater. “The perverse incentives of social media” rely on promoting fear and profiting from extremism and division within society.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">In <i>“Foolproof,”</i> van der Linden presents his findings in a convincing style. Throughout the book, he uses the metaphor of disease: viruses, contagions, and inoculation. And he presents actual experiments, examples, and incidents.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">For example, “The lawyer defending the Capitol rioter Anthony Antonio was not wrong when he suggested the people can catch misinformation much like a disease,” van der Linden writes.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">He describes his book this way in the prologue:</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: arial;"></span></p><blockquote><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: medium;">“In an era increasingly filled with half-truths, fake news and misinformation, I am not here to tell you what to believe. Regardless of where you fall on the political spectrum, perhaps you can think of this book as a humble servant in your own search for truth. Andy Norman, a philosopher at Carnegie Mellon University, refers to me as a ‘cognitive immunologist.’ I quite like this description of my field of research: I study mental defenses of the mind. I want to provide you with a guide to how your brain grapples with the onslaught of fact and fiction, a toolbox to help sniff out attempts to influence your opinion amidst the ‘dark arts of manipulation.’ A vaccine, if you will, against misinformation. Just as antigens produce an immune response in the body, <i>psychological</i> antigens can help build resistance to fake news. I offer eleven such antigens in this book to boost our immunity.”</span></span></blockquote><p></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgcFDOefCzee6RDYSZS_aMvUf2bgFyqcUUAozmHRVjcMXthi4unkscWuDiiPlLdQUX4anWcaQibu9sk8lts-PLyps1p6lEduaf2KOo7aMfCpCNzwK88FKDiynsZ_o_rhXh2VIbG9RxJq12Oyhpiex9m2r0KVzWwUNSkiAI6s_jtp6Oxx5dESP8kiNbCaJCi" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="716" data-original-width="588" height="347" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgcFDOefCzee6RDYSZS_aMvUf2bgFyqcUUAozmHRVjcMXthi4unkscWuDiiPlLdQUX4anWcaQibu9sk8lts-PLyps1p6lEduaf2KOo7aMfCpCNzwK88FKDiynsZ_o_rhXh2VIbG9RxJq12Oyhpiex9m2r0KVzWwUNSkiAI6s_jtp6Oxx5dESP8kiNbCaJCi=w285-h347" width="285" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #800180; font-family: times; font-size: x-small;">van der Linden</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: arial;">But, he admits, “There is no psychological cure (that I know of) that unravels or counteracts the fully developed conspiratorial worldview. And it’s highly contagious.” Fully one-third of the population, he says, supports conspiracies.</span><p></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">People can easily fall into “rabbit holes” that have become deeper and darker thanks to Twitter (X), WhatsApp, Facebook, and YouTube, where “millions of people can be exposed to viral misinformation in a matter of days if not minutes.”</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Examples of conspiracy theories cited in <i>“Foolproof”</i>: Covid-19 (various related to origins, spread, and cures), Princess Diana’s death, JFK’s assassination, flat-earthers, Holocaust-related, NASA’s moon landing, Osama bin Laden, Pizzagate, 5G phone masts, Sandy Hook as fake, Shakespeare’s sonnets as a code, Malaysian Airlines, reptilian conspiracy theory, governments hiding aliens, vaccinations linked to autism, Trump’s “stolen election claim,” and climate change as still debatable.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">An interesting example of the use of misinformation comes in the climate change debate, ignited by GOP analyst Frank Luntz. Eight years before <a href="https://navyreads.blogspot.com/search?q=luntz" target="_blank">Luntz performed as guest speaker</a> at the Navy’s 2010 public affairs conference in Baltimore he was a political consultant for Republican George W. Bush.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">In 2002 Luntz wrote a confidential memorandum advising Bush on how to cast doubt on the findings on climate change. Despite the fact that 97 percent of scientists believed in the link between human-produced carbon and climate change, Luntz advised focusing on the 3 percent and highlighting the wedge. Luntz wrote: “Should the public come to believe that the scientific issues are settled, their views about global warming will change accordingly Therefore, you need to continue to make the lack of scientific certainty a primary issue in the debate.”</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Van der Linden compare’s Luntz’s success on behalf of the fossil fuel industry to some of the same misinformation and science-denial techniques used by the tobacco companies decades earlier: obfuscate, confuse, cast doubt on the scientific evidence because it matters more what people feel (or want to believe) than what they think.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><i></i></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><i><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjcWbYlz5voKQWhG6vwrZ_rah9aHHUlbaWW6wJsZydoRssB6ypgCZs2j0RwZ5Os5_i0gcLv4UvM5dR6LYtewXdBzApTlpf9bsbJkzJJ3mVbli-oafzaVEbz9izxbgH3qCbFJYT4z6yajjcVff6JH4i9y4XWfgFe4xRpfZcloMAIJZmZNZpfF-VoAHCJy489" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="620" data-original-width="1275" height="317" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjcWbYlz5voKQWhG6vwrZ_rah9aHHUlbaWW6wJsZydoRssB6ypgCZs2j0RwZ5Os5_i0gcLv4UvM5dR6LYtewXdBzApTlpf9bsbJkzJJ3mVbli-oafzaVEbz9izxbgH3qCbFJYT4z6yajjcVff6JH4i9y4XWfgFe4xRpfZcloMAIJZmZNZpfF-VoAHCJy489=w650-h317" width="650" /></a></i></span></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i><br />“Foolproof”</i> also delves into communist North Korea’s “brainwashing” attempts of Korean War POWs, nearly two dozen of whom chose to remain in North Korea.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">Van der Linden explores the origins and continuation of anti vaccination conspiracy theory involving Robert F. Kennedy Jr. And he discusses how the weapons of mass destruction conspiracy led to a tragic war in Iraq under George W. Bush.</span><p></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Van der Linden offers easily understood acronyms anyone can employ to inject skepticism and critical thinking when they are confronted with a conspiracy.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><u>CONSPIRE translates to being aware of</u>:</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span> </span>Contradictory logic</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span> </span>Overriding suspicion</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span> </span>Nefarious intentions</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span> </span>“Something must be wrong”</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span> </span>Persecuted victims</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span> </span>Immune to evidence</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span> </span>RE-interpreting random events into a connected story</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><u>DEPICT shows the six degrees of manipulation</u>:</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span> </span>Discrediting (“fake news,” “fake election”)</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span> </span>Emotion (get people agitated and promote fear)</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span> </span>Polarization (false amplification to drive people apart)</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span> </span>Impersonation (fake credentials or sources)</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span> </span>Conspiracy (secret cabals or government groups)</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span> </span>Trolling (such as by the Russian Internet Research agency, a full-time round-the-clock BS machine)</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiKJtXYH4V_L67IymMWf_vqtclEC72iXHd26wenh_DirUbrRaiSrZZI9dEmOa_FVQMJM-oA-ZrTj-qUZ25g41GsXHKlFVEYBY4nOrpNxxKqb2RiN5C_Frh4MgGXLj4TRYpifUCzOHtOoTCBRpmmECafR4JvoyAX_n8ED6Fy1ssefHiRNzbLXUCXyVY3ufif" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="538" data-original-width="350" height="272" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiKJtXYH4V_L67IymMWf_vqtclEC72iXHd26wenh_DirUbrRaiSrZZI9dEmOa_FVQMJM-oA-ZrTj-qUZ25g41GsXHKlFVEYBY4nOrpNxxKqb2RiN5C_Frh4MgGXLj4TRYpifUCzOHtOoTCBRpmmECafR4JvoyAX_n8ED6Fy1ssefHiRNzbLXUCXyVY3ufif=w177-h272" width="177" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: arial;">Van der Linden and his researchers developed a free online game — <a href="http://www.getbadnews.com">www.getbadnews.com</a> ––to act as a “vaccine” to help people who wish to psychologically inoculate themselves. Reading <i>“Foolproof”</i> itself serves as a good vaccination.</span><p></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">With his diagrams and references to </span><i style="font-family: arial;">“A Few Good Men,”</i><span style="font-family: arial;"> Mark Twain, and Harry Potter, van der Linden presents an entertaining but serious argument for getting inoculated against misinformation, disinformation, and manipulation in 2023 and moving forward.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">This is an especially important book as we face more nefarious techniques ahead involving artificial intelligence, deep-fakes, conspiracies, and polarized media platforms –– designed and deployed to control our perception of what is happening now and what is yet to come</span><span style="font-family: arial;"> in government, elections, and </span><b style="font-family: arial;">courtrooms</b><span style="font-family: arial;">.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><i><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-small;">Sander van der Linden, Ph.D., is Professor of Social Psychology in Society and Director of the Cambridge Social Decision-Making Lab in the Department of Psychology at the University of Cambridge.</span></i></p></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9195380963524310455.post-91322058854715062022023-09-18T11:37:00.002-10:002023-09-18T11:37:19.919-10:00Rise and Fall and Rise of John Birchers<p><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-small;">Review by Bill Doughty––</span></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; font-family: arial; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgZ3xJ7u75ANmV7iKvTxVe6lOR7_yJHN-csY4AVKx0juIitgwdkR9stF4-ILRkGnIzlEgkh7lBZL5jxocjV0n4Rc8yhyzE99vTTFl2XQLQTWHfnk4zX4fS_7J_h5m2f9iaHynTJ2SYAbLyxzGqbSSqfif0kMK40e8D5ASF2gGDXxKmax5UdIujRhT1hdXtQ" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="712" data-original-width="534" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgZ3xJ7u75ANmV7iKvTxVe6lOR7_yJHN-csY4AVKx0juIitgwdkR9stF4-ILRkGnIzlEgkh7lBZL5jxocjV0n4Rc8yhyzE99vTTFl2XQLQTWHfnk4zX4fS_7J_h5m2f9iaHynTJ2SYAbLyxzGqbSSqfif0kMK40e8D5ASF2gGDXxKmax5UdIujRhT1hdXtQ=w300-h400" width="300" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #800180; font-family: times; font-size: x-small;">Welch with portrait of Birch</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: arial;">Robert W. Welch Jr. attended both the U.S. Naval Academy and Harvard Law School, but finished neither. He abandoned careers in the Navy and in law and became a wealthy candy manufacturer. He also started one of the most divisive groups in American history, the John Birch Society. Welch named JBS for Christian missionary and U.S. Army Air Forces Capt. John Birch, who was killed by Chinese communists in 1945 –– what the society considered the start of a “Holy War.”</span><p></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Emerging from the ashes of a long history of racist, nationalist, and populist movements, including 1950s McCarthyism, the John Birch Society dedicated itself to defeating global communism, propagating Christianity, countering civil and women’s rights, and promoting an America First agenda. The JBS latched onto the GOP like a sea lamprey and did not let go.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">“By the early 60s Birchers had settled on the course they would follow in the decades to come. They would operate on the fringe of the conservative movement and, episodically and erratically, within the Republican Party,” according to Matthew Dallek, author of <i>“Birchers: How the John Birch Society Radicalized the American Right”</i> (Hachette, 2022)</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">“Ideologically, the society flaunted its antiestablishment sensibility and pumped hot-button cultural issues –– patriotic eduction, moral library books, an end to teaching sex education in schools –– into local debates over their communities’ most valued and non-partisan institutions.” Past is prologue, as the saying goes.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">After President Eisenhower appointed Earl Warren as chief justice of the Supreme Court, the Warren Court ruled progressively in favor of integration in <i>Brown v. Board of Education.</i> SCOTUS also upheld the wall of separation between state and church in banning prayer in public schools. So the Birchers targeted and smeared Earl Warren and called for his impeachment.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">At the 1964 GOP Convention, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RCO7nOd3KeI" style="font-style: normal;" target="_blank">Michigan Governor George Romney</a> warned his colleagues and electors about the rise of populism and radicalism within the Republican Party, calling for more tolerance, inclusion, and respect for diversity in the Republican platform under Goldwater. "</span><span style="box-sizing: border-box; caret-color: rgb(16, 16, 16); color: #101010;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The strongest personality on earth cannot deal with the problems of this nation except upon the basis of correct principles. Our party was founded at a time of grave national crisis," Romney said, noting Abraham Lincoln's role in saving the Union. "The nation and its destinies were in peril, not only by the irreconcilable conflict between slavery and freedom, but also by the extremism of that time. And the extremism and lily-white Protestantism destroyed the Whig Party and brought the Republican Party into being."</span></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgEQvGlD9TzfBMH-Jc8lR2hcNA_qoEengGmbYAHSeqGEjJTN9wS-OssAaTAGVvzuU-MidsFsBQlN-y4ZcTWCPQ1ujCncbENa8v0zF5wo86mFyBbn7UdwZ0Pm_higCWcdcwGzAhzeQy9mSKeGuLrLTSxh5lVrJlVXKpmGqS5MIH12MOvQSsJfwF8eagtDu3S" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1800" data-original-width="2880" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgEQvGlD9TzfBMH-Jc8lR2hcNA_qoEengGmbYAHSeqGEjJTN9wS-OssAaTAGVvzuU-MidsFsBQlN-y4ZcTWCPQ1ujCncbENa8v0zF5wo86mFyBbn7UdwZ0Pm_higCWcdcwGzAhzeQy9mSKeGuLrLTSxh5lVrJlVXKpmGqS5MIH12MOvQSsJfwF8eagtDu3S=w640-h400" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #800180; font-family: times; font-size: x-small;">Senator George Romney at the GOP Convention, 1968</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: arial;"><br />But for most of the past six decades, according to Dallek, “Birch ideas were hardly dominant in the Republican Party.” Those ideas –– anti immigration, anti world alliances, anti feminism, anti abortion, anti gun safety, and anti integration –– were on the rise with Barry Goldwater and in reaction to the civil rights movement.</span><p></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: arial;"></span></p><blockquote><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: medium;">“In some communities, the society was very much in the ascendant. Its influence in the GOP in 1963 was also greater than at any time since its inception. But most Birchers had lost their elections, they failed to stop candidates such as (George) Romney from winning their races, and numerous Republicans from the Northeast to the Midwest to the West Coast remained vigorously opposed to their ideology and political style. Unbeknownst to the society, in the summer of 1963 the White House was preparing to launch an all-out assault that had the potential to knock the Birch movement to the ground. The society’s prospect remained uncertain and contingent. The struggle for power in the Republican Party –– and in the United States –– was heating up. Birchers warned of Armageddon, cast critics as traitors and degenerates, disrupted civic meetings, harassed teachers and principals, and hinted at physical violence. More than any other movement of the 1960s, the Birch Society ignited what they described as an end-times contest for the very soul of the United States.”</span></span></blockquote><p></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">“The ideas, activism, and style that Birchers helped pioneer has continued to drive well into the twenty-first century.” George Romney’s speech in 1964 –– really a warning –– is chillingly relevant today.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The JBS wanted to ban alcohol, according to Dallek. They were also against Hollywood, the media, school integration, fluoridation of water, and teaching of evolution instead of creationism. “They sought to use the power of government to enforce Christian identity in American culture while repudiating allegedly alien values like pluralism and tolerance.” Dallek contends they “helped launch a culture war that reverberates today.”</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhYlIvjGGfN5P9f0cr6X7jdWPcapjMqkXC7j0AleMs5LmC7iNsb3DSdyjFBuTPfzC2UOhe9mmEAnSylSeyKxhNIOBmjKcEh3Vhq_z5kuGj4jUXdi232TV62iSk9m1WgHw5laTo3qDrxEsoYaAaC2rD4gxf9VGPirqpNDtf1x6LslKe0aiVj6-4QKlh49wvU" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="898" data-original-width="1001" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhYlIvjGGfN5P9f0cr6X7jdWPcapjMqkXC7j0AleMs5LmC7iNsb3DSdyjFBuTPfzC2UOhe9mmEAnSylSeyKxhNIOBmjKcEh3Vhq_z5kuGj4jUXdi232TV62iSk9m1WgHw5laTo3qDrxEsoYaAaC2rD4gxf9VGPirqpNDtf1x6LslKe0aiVj6-4QKlh49wvU=w236-h213" width="236" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #800180; font-family: times; font-size: x-small;">Maddox and Wallace</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: arial;">One of the stars of intolerance and the culture war in the 1960s and 70s was Georgia Governor Lester Maddox, who became popular by wielding axe handles to chase black people out of his restaurant. Maddox was befriended and supported by JBS founder Robert Welch.</span><p></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Welch endorsed Alabama Governor George Wallace’s run for president in 1968. </span><span style="font-family: arial;">Wallace was an avowed segregationist and racist. He chose as his running mate retired Air Force General Curtis LeMay, who Dallek describes as “the real-life inspiration for the cigar-smoking General Jack D. Ripper” of Stanley Kubrick’s film </span><i style="font-family: arial;">Dr. Strangelove</i><span style="font-family: arial;">.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">“An architect of firebombing in World War II, LeMay had a fascination with nuclear weapons and drew howls of outrage when he endorsed their use while on the campaign trail. Although LeMay had a record of innovative military leadership, Wallace’s choosing him was a running mate was perceived as empowering Birchers and the far-right fringe.”</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Dallek writes:</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"></span></p><blockquote><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">“Haltingly, over decades, this fringe usurped the party’s center. The trajectory was alterable, not inevitable, contingent rather than certain. Many Republican leaders worked to stop it, until they didn’t. The society fostered apocalyptic thinking about the country’s direction, mistrusted elites as traitors, and raised the specter that only drastic remedies, including violence, could save the country. Its brand of mass politics fed money, energy, and ideas to conservative Republicans. And by offering a home for conspiracy theorists, racists, and antisemites, some Republican leaders emboldened the rights most noxious and violent bigots. The GOP establishment’s effort to court this fringe and keep it in the coalition allowed it to gain a foothold and eventually cannibalize the entire party, Over time, this uneasy alliance came to seem commonplace, part of the zeitgeist –– more and more alarming yet no longer shocking.”</span></blockquote><p></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">On the other hand…</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhwh2ggt2KcYCjR9KRnD5a5tOTKGcmVXawct4WsfNJpxBXfTyiejR16iiikA0O-nIAXcGwV37vX7Bv0IetMg9NwLPawIV-Hh7l8LVWc-nw35RMiBNJTJjg_Dn2hDq2JAKgrz67tYhd2dfnbODq99WMyTCGGAkTdPNljBvaGsEEz2uMgaTbEdsKSgLjbMkL7" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="371" data-original-width="590" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhwh2ggt2KcYCjR9KRnD5a5tOTKGcmVXawct4WsfNJpxBXfTyiejR16iiikA0O-nIAXcGwV37vX7Bv0IetMg9NwLPawIV-Hh7l8LVWc-nw35RMiBNJTJjg_Dn2hDq2JAKgrz67tYhd2dfnbODq99WMyTCGGAkTdPNljBvaGsEEz2uMgaTbEdsKSgLjbMkL7=w287-h180" width="287" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #800180; font-family: times; font-size: x-small;">Clinton and Carter</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: arial;">A goal of liberals and other anti-Birchers was “to build the world they wanted –– a world where pluralism trumped hate, science trounced unreason, and democracy conquered fascism.” Progressives witnessed how an “America First” fascist-friendly and non-interventionist approach, including appeasement, led to the Second World War.</span><p></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Those on the Left also saw how the Birchers’ fervent and feverish anti-Communism and white Christian nationalism led the nation into the war in Vietnam, invasion of Iraq, and a culture war at home. By the early 1990s, the us-and-them influence of the Birchers, personified by politicians Pat Buchanan and Newt Gingrich, was rejected with the election of Navy Veteran Georgia Governor Jimmy Carter in 1976 and Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton in 1992.</span></p><p></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"></span></span></p><blockquote><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">“Clinton used his bully pulpit to tie the GOP to far-right militants like <a href="https://navyreads.blogspot.com/search?q=mcveigh">Timothy McVeigh</a>, the Oklahoma City mass murderer, and Randy Weaver, the white separatist who triggered a bloody confrontation with the FBI at Ruby Ridge. After McVeigh’s powerful homemade bomb tore through the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City in 1995, Clinton attended a memorial service in Oklahoma City and urged Americans ‘to purge ourselves of the dark forces which gave rise to this evil. They are forces that threaten our common peace, our freedom, our way of life,’ and, he vowed, ‘we will stand against the forces of fear.’ Some right-wing talk show hosts and politicians, he added, had to realized that their ‘incendiary talk’ moved fanatics to action. Their ‘constant bashing of government, and relentless assumption that forces beyond our control run our government’ had spread dark views of federal employees and could trigger more bloodshed.”</span></blockquote><p></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">That warning was nearly 30 years ago!</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">In the yin-yang of the American republic’s elections under the constraints of the Electoral College, George W. Bush was elected president. Bush’s presidency was the “most consequential chapter yet in the Birchification of the American right and the GOP.” Bush, whose father appointed Clarence Thomas to the Supreme Court, chose John Ashcroft as his first attorney general. Ashcroft expressed his belief, shared by many on the far-right, that “Jesus is king,” reigning above the Constitution and civil authority.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhIf0SKextPMTC-_j2i9ru5zAuWCW_R_zBSadN1EIfhvE9xCwy0Eapk052zw_lPiwk5MIozUNTHyjSjJ5WCYZ11oG8SNqczfGL87G8DJ8_B5b_7muQf4K1YJtpWTUZVz7EkBJHrahdGwn5uuo8KUW30YAx1XDBPjClG9lpWDUpZ1LuMhbCW3EuinxOdQF8R" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1575" data-original-width="2800" height="367" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhIf0SKextPMTC-_j2i9ru5zAuWCW_R_zBSadN1EIfhvE9xCwy0Eapk052zw_lPiwk5MIozUNTHyjSjJ5WCYZ11oG8SNqczfGL87G8DJ8_B5b_7muQf4K1YJtpWTUZVz7EkBJHrahdGwn5uuo8KUW30YAx1XDBPjClG9lpWDUpZ1LuMhbCW3EuinxOdQF8R=w652-h367" width="652" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br />During Bush’s presidency, another politician, far more conservative than Bush, made a name for himself. Ron Paul (father or currently serving Senator Rand Paul) marked the time when, Dallek says, the fringe became mainstream. “Paul’s influence was substantial, opening the Republican Party to previously unthinkable views.”</span><p></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The senior Paul as countered, however, by statesman and Republican standard-bearer John McCain, a Navy veteran and former POW, who said those who engage “in the politics of division and slander” are “corrupting influences on religion and politics, and those who practice them in the name of religion or in the name of the Republican Party or in the name of America shame our faith, our party and our country.” Although McCain called out Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell as “agents of intolerance,” he would later backtrack and reconcile with Falwell, hoping to woo Christian fundamentalists.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Ultimately, according to Dalleck, “McCain saw that it was no longer possible to navigate the tension between the far right and the mainstream because by 2008, in the Republican Party, the fringe had begun to gain the upper hand. If he wanted to win, McCain had little choice but to violate his own principles.” He selected Sarah Palin as his running mate.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">With Obama’s election, gun sales rose dramatically, militia membership increased, and “the far right was now entering the mainstream of the Republican Party, bringing with it the legacy of the John Birch Society.” Along with Pat Buchanan and Rand Paul, politicians supporting or condoning extremism in the GOP included Senators Ted Cruz, Mike Lee, and Ron Johnson as well as “fringe” Representatives Jim Jordan and Michelle Bachman, according to Dallek.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhgXDAA_mja_jbcKxcfd3F56yhrG1BpSQl8-r94TsLfpSYrx64Rgn8JOQS1KudYu9jbIEf86WvPg9wHjJlFhtqBkJVSsG3VaRREgXoG1WP4jXqIZqlN3vntfAH3k5n0Odtuqyww7svHEEYxmebSt7_kajnJBhPrpGUhNODgm4DKdXZzFISstR0C7axqx6Yj" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1560" data-original-width="2633" height="389" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhgXDAA_mja_jbcKxcfd3F56yhrG1BpSQl8-r94TsLfpSYrx64Rgn8JOQS1KudYu9jbIEf86WvPg9wHjJlFhtqBkJVSsG3VaRREgXoG1WP4jXqIZqlN3vntfAH3k5n0Odtuqyww7svHEEYxmebSt7_kajnJBhPrpGUhNODgm4DKdXZzFISstR0C7axqx6Yj=w655-h389" width="655" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #800180; font-family: times; font-size: x-small;">Alex Jones</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: arial;">“Unlike in the mid-1960s, the Republican Party of the early 2010s failed to check the extreme right,” Dallek says. Instead, “social media and the ubiquitous, sophisticated right-wing amplified the far right’s most inflammatory claims.”</span><p></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Media stars arose to spread the authoritarian populism of the far right: The Drudge Report, FOX News, Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Laura Ingraham, Sean Hannity, Tucker Carlson, and “breakout media star of the far right” Alex Jones, who as a young teen was influenced by John Birch Society PR director Gary Allen’s book </span><i style="font-family: arial;">“None Dare Call It Conspiracy.” </i><span style="font-family: arial;">Jones aligned with Roger Stone, a massive influencer of the extremist fringe right, even as Jones capitalized on conspiracies. Jones spread falsehoods related to the the 9/11 attacks, the Sandy Hook massacre, and supposed cannibalization of children by Democrats, including Hillary Clinton.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><i></i><br /></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Conspiracies became part of the right’s bloodstream as it had been in the 1960s.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Just as the Birchers feared communists were in control of the civil rights movement, MAGA followers believed America’s first black president was born overseas and was not eligible to serve. While JBS followers feared adding fluoride in water as a government conspiracy, sixty years later many far right extremists feared COVID vaccinations and believed various pandemic-related conspiracies.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: arial;"></span></p><blockquote><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: medium;">“Trump drew energy, as Birchers had, from white supremacists, militias, and nativists and brought them into his coalition. His alliances with the white nationalists who rioted in Charlottesville (‘fine people’), with the far-right, all-male Proud Boys (‘stand back and stand by’), and with the deep-state-obsessed, conspiratorial QAnon (‘people that love our country’) blended racism and conspiracy theories in ways that harked back to the mix of racism, antisemitism, and conspiracy theories that drew many Birchers to their movement.”</span></span></blockquote><p></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">And Dallek contends, “Just as Birchers took a dim view of democracy, Trump questioned the integrity of elections in which millions of people of color voted.” The conspiracy theory of a stolen election, though disproven in dozens of court cases and denied by sane Republicans in many states, led to the tragedy of the insurrection of January 6.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Dallek may be right in his overall thesis, that the United States is still under the influence of the John Birch Society. He believes the Bircher years/epoch/era started in 1958 and continues through today. On the other hand, it may have been with us for for far longer –– perhaps for centuries under different names: Slavery, Manifest Destiny, Know Nothings, Lost Cause, America First, and White Christian Nationalism.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><i></i><br /></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Three events in the news coalesced over the past week or so as I finished this important book, bringing some of the book's points home:</b></span><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><u>First</u>, President Joe Biden visited a memorial in Vietnam that honors a great American, late Senator John S. McCain III; when all is said and done McCain stood up for the Constitution. McCain also stood up for democracy and against autocracy and theocracy. He conceded his election loss to President Obama in 2008. McCain even asked Obama to offer a eulogy at his funeral.</span><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjurkTRJII465kfe8ZAlRObuUBbZNTr_YE9m2WkLbRlRNDoJF2_AcNHVKvlRcJdH0EaJHLMe61ZXqYMnZ3XS92K-j7OmQWYAA3Dna05Jej1QWhdWhYfMRiIRdn4vpEd3ScrzvqzWu3puV485Wf7zZ_3swoA7M4k0r1NZNcnhFPOFLtBmU35s3Edoy5r0NzQ" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1607" data-original-width="2702" height="388" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjurkTRJII465kfe8ZAlRObuUBbZNTr_YE9m2WkLbRlRNDoJF2_AcNHVKvlRcJdH0EaJHLMe61ZXqYMnZ3XS92K-j7OmQWYAA3Dna05Jej1QWhdWhYfMRiIRdn4vpEd3ScrzvqzWu3puV485Wf7zZ_3swoA7M4k0r1NZNcnhFPOFLtBmU35s3Edoy5r0NzQ=w653-h388" width="653" /></a></span><u>Second</u>, last week I watched another Republican – American statesman Mitt Romney – announce he would not seek reelection. Romney is a former Republican nominee for the Presidency who won 47 percent of the popular vote but lost – and conceded gracefully – to President Obama in 2012. Romney acknowledges in a forthcoming biography by McKay Coppins, <i>“Romney: A Reckoning,”</i> that he does not recognize today’s GOP, where many of his Republican colleagues, he says, no longer support the Constitution.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><u>Finally</u>, I read with sadness that President Biden has called to offer his final good-bye to a dying former president with gold standard ethics and integrity: Navy veteran Jimmy Carter, despite being a victim of Birchers and their ilk more than four decades ago, conceded to President Ronald Reagan in 1980. During his naval career and presidency, Carter, a Navy submariner and commander in chief, literally protected and defended the U.S. Constitution from all enemies, foreign and domestic.</span><p></p></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9195380963524310455.post-70605818678328158832023-09-13T07:24:00.001-10:002023-09-13T07:24:34.054-10:00 McRaven’s ‘Simple’ Bullfrog Advice<p><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi3HAJ-zNHHhiRwGEwd3d2ngZu7EoQYPzJSZ8IKFNEAsrX2kem-yUM79MLfMBwM0QbFQYXO1Q6ybzScHlYVcTybGOnvId8YrTFg3mvgF--CQKXprl4OA_hqaYhKVaF8wGY5hqNGtMlAI8WQpisqED8BxJSH8_wy1DDepgMwkl_zTXWOCsnm5yF4axm49WXA" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="775" data-original-width="1274" height="396" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi3HAJ-zNHHhiRwGEwd3d2ngZu7EoQYPzJSZ8IKFNEAsrX2kem-yUM79MLfMBwM0QbFQYXO1Q6ybzScHlYVcTybGOnvId8YrTFg3mvgF--CQKXprl4OA_hqaYhKVaF8wGY5hqNGtMlAI8WQpisqED8BxJSH8_wy1DDepgMwkl_zTXWOCsnm5yF4axm49WXA=w650-h396" width="650" /></a></span></div><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Review by Bill Doughty––</span></span><p></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Seventy-three years ago, September 15, 1950, Gen. Douglas MacArthur landed at Inchon, Korea. In the following weeks, U.S. forces began to rout the communist North Korean army and push them almost to the Yalu River near China. Then, in November the Americans encountered well-armed Chinese interventionists supporting the North Koreans.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">“Hill 205 seemed an unlikely place for an Army legend to be born,” writes Admiral William H. McRaven (U.S. Navy, Ret.) at the beginning of chapter 7 of “The Wisdom of the Bullfrog: Leadership Made Simple (But Not Easy). McRaven recounts the actions of Army Ranger First Lieutenant Ralph Puckett, who in 2021 received the Medal of Honor, presented by President Joe Biden for actions in Korea. At great personal risk, Puckett helped his Rangers locate and attack camouflaged Chinese machine gun nests and mortar teams that pinned them down.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><blockquote><p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">“Puckett, who had positioned himself at the front of the advancing Rangers, knew there was only one thing he could do. With complete disregard for his own life, Ralph Puckett rose from his foxhole and dashed out into the open field, forcing the Chinese to take aim at the young lieutenant. As the machine gunners began to fire a the sprinting Puckett, the Rangers spotted their positions and engaged them. Puckett returned to his foxhole only to catch his breath, and then leaped out and ran into the open again. With each dash by Puckett into the exposed terrain, the Rangers were able to isolate and destroy more enemy machine gunners.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">“Having suppressed the small arms fire, the Rangers proceeded to take Hill 205. History would show that over the next two days, the Rangers under the command of Ralph Puckett would fight off wave after wave of Chinese assaults that took the lives of ten Rangers and left thirty-one wounded, including Puckett.”</span></p></blockquote><p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Puckett would again serve with honor in Vietnam, where he earned the Distinguished Service Cross and two Silver Stars and was personally recognized by President Lyndon B. Johnson.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEij9urgPI6bjK7H18u1NIyOB1b4ZMYmNLXTmVNCla9wKoSpoKEu8lFoGntx0M9-h6lnRCl0xBsD-8ZmhZFdH52tg2gOsQkzpskAupZp8MBmuIPHcAjioXHlXteiCiZV6L4XnUIlgcTqdmFUmZ-A1gyqUv_CUiQjJoB2ZRSizg23sA5X-8BAkN05HxAQkM-E" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="675" data-original-width="807" height="545" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEij9urgPI6bjK7H18u1NIyOB1b4ZMYmNLXTmVNCla9wKoSpoKEu8lFoGntx0M9-h6lnRCl0xBsD-8ZmhZFdH52tg2gOsQkzpskAupZp8MBmuIPHcAjioXHlXteiCiZV6L4XnUIlgcTqdmFUmZ-A1gyqUv_CUiQjJoB2ZRSizg23sA5X-8BAkN05HxAQkM-E=w652-h545" width="652" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br />McRaven uses the story of Puckett’s heroism at Hill 205 to illustrate the Ranger motto <i>“Sua Sponte” </i>(“Of Your Own Accord”). “In other words, doing what needs to be done without being told to do so,” McRaven explains.</span><p></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">“There is often the misguided belief that soldiers only follow orders, but the strength of the American military is that the great soldiers, the truly great leaders, do what is right without being told. They do what is right to protect their men and women.”</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Senior military leaders expect even young and relatively junior service members to take the initiative when necessary. Such integrated empowerment is a cornerstone of leadership, and can be effective not only in the military but also in business, sports, medicine, citizenship, and developing a healthy family.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">A simple, powerful concept. Which is also a good descriptor for this small but excellent book.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjNjnBjvKFqOcNjhxw6-WG6KRjAhedUY0vKa2dvYz-YyDBhWUwMKhtQScrpF7OT0JGYJ52cdAAqVYyz2PXxTmbMr0gqAnwhkJzl01OjGYPBIMkzq-j4pTWRBLWnE6UtIEsO3oaL7OT7nmOZW_amZDPtkj47PPhAY1QjrhHofD0uWLi_S665q30tZ2gWOhDM" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1500" data-original-width="1000" height="347" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjNjnBjvKFqOcNjhxw6-WG6KRjAhedUY0vKa2dvYz-YyDBhWUwMKhtQScrpF7OT0JGYJ52cdAAqVYyz2PXxTmbMr0gqAnwhkJzl01OjGYPBIMkzq-j4pTWRBLWnE6UtIEsO3oaL7OT7nmOZW_amZDPtkj47PPhAY1QjrhHofD0uWLi_S665q30tZ2gWOhDM=w231-h347" width="231" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #800180; font-family: times; font-size: xx-small;">Memorial statue of Basilone in New Jersey</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>“Sua Ponte”</i> is just one of the ideas presented here by the author of <i>“Make Your Bed,” “The Hero Code,” </i>and<i> “Sea Stories.”</i></span><p></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">McRaven opens his latest book with a discussion with the most important aspects of being a good leader: Honor and integrity, captured in legendary United States Marine hero Sgt. John Basilone’s motto: “Death before Dishonor.” Honor and integrity are the foundation of a trustworthy leader.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Another motto explored in <i>“Bullfrog” </i>is the British Special Air Service’s <i>Qui Audet adipiscitur: "</i>Who dares, wins."</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">An honorable leader who demonstrates commitment, hard work, and initiative, will earn the trust of their followers, according to McRaven. Stamina, a willingness to sacrifice, and confidence, along with humility and the ability to make hard choices, are also important leadership qualities. Commanders “must have perseverance and, above all, confidence in ourselves.”</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">All the above qualities and more were personified by Adm. Chester W. Nimitz in World War II, particularly in the Battle of Midway: The great admiral faced a difficult choice about whether to ambush the Imperial Japanese Navy at Midway. “The fate of the entire Navy, and perhaps our nation, rested on this decision,” McRaven writes. “But history would show that the Battle of Midway was the single most decisive naval battle of the war and turned the tide in the Pacific.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Other legendary leaders highlighted in this outstanding book include father of the Navy SEALs, Adm. Chuck LeMoyne; WWII British officer and father of the SAS, Col. David Stirling; U.S. Special Operations leader <a href="https://navyreads.blogspot.com/search?q=mcChrystal" target="_blank">Gen. Stanley McChrystal</a>; Air Force visionary Billy Michell; Vietnam War hero Col. Elliot “Bud” Sydney; and former president Barack Obama, who, like Nimitz and Midway, faced a difficult decision, with uncertain information, about launching the mission to capture Osama bin Laden.</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhG0zdoLEY66paRBbN1T63l7kCsZ3RNZKRf7Xn2QIOOM73xyKNzRrOtXKkZP-J8kYWGwXZ1h7icYLAa59c_GssTMOQ7U_Mp5YXag5CmJOYTtAB1SEXeqEMROffeZz0zdutQmp3USDWGJ089sseekiW_V0XwCaefEjV2djyclpLigY-rBCRejAVHx-fwDpfB" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="368" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhG0zdoLEY66paRBbN1T63l7kCsZ3RNZKRf7Xn2QIOOM73xyKNzRrOtXKkZP-J8kYWGwXZ1h7icYLAa59c_GssTMOQ7U_Mp5YXag5CmJOYTtAB1SEXeqEMROffeZz0zdutQmp3USDWGJ089sseekiW_V0XwCaefEjV2djyclpLigY-rBCRejAVHx-fwDpfB=w654-h368" width="654" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div>“It was an enormous risk, but one the president knew he had to take. I admired his guts –– Who Dares Wins –– but more importantly,” McRaven reflects about Obama, “I admired his intellect for understanding the nature of the risks he was assuming.”</span><p></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Good leaders attack problems aggressively. “Mistakes of action are far less consequential than mistakes of inaction,” he notes. Hope, luck, and desire are important, but they are not a strategy. “Be a risk-taker, but manage the risk through extensive planning, preparation, and proper execution.”</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhjICou6MO9TVSZbfudsEIp0NhzuyJvsCV8cmFLGDfQAYOCbRKMlqDX1x7b6k9DX7yy81_efV5LnywBOUmq2BBr1m2c1y5YWDm1x9UCtwVWXwzzAdbGfUBBCaTRGVjBMx1Qri57yCZbGncXQwBKpUKckol1XLPCpSGC21k_9Pk00EfFZiiXDJabLc7AcaJm" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="667" data-original-width="1000" height="435" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhjICou6MO9TVSZbfudsEIp0NhzuyJvsCV8cmFLGDfQAYOCbRKMlqDX1x7b6k9DX7yy81_efV5LnywBOUmq2BBr1m2c1y5YWDm1x9UCtwVWXwzzAdbGfUBBCaTRGVjBMx1Qri57yCZbGncXQwBKpUKckol1XLPCpSGC21k_9Pk00EfFZiiXDJabLc7AcaJm=w654-h435" width="654" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #800180; font-family: times; font-size: xx-small;">All Hands: McRaven speaks to service members at Bagram Air Field, Afghanistan, Thanksgiving Day, 2013. (Army Staff Sgt. Osvaldo Equite)</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: arial;">Each chapter features an insightful epigram quotation by well-known and sometimes surprising people: Abraham Lincoln, Marie Curie, Alvin Toffler, Oprah Winfrey, Michael Jordan, William Shakespeare, Tacitus, Booker T. Washington, Coach Mike </span><a href="https://navyreads.blogspot.com/search?q=Krzyzewski" style="font-family: arial;"><i>Krzyzewski</i></a><span style="font-family: arial;">, and Taylor Swift.</span><p></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Yes, Taylor Swift.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">In fact, her epigram quote for chapter ten, titled “No Plan Survives First Contact with the Enemy,” is a </span><a href="https://navyreads.blogspot.com/search?q=found+haiku" style="font-family: arial;"><i>found haiku</i></a><span style="font-family: arial;">:</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #a64d79; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Just because you made</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #a64d79; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">a good plan doesn’t mean that’s</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #a64d79; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">what’s gonna happen</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgL0uIEf9qh295HtKCnnwhzPxZmX4K1zK1oJbItUak0NT7RtXleFu7jj5_m1ogpddqYYm_TqMPXYLVaH_jT2mNvTwwRTj6HVJ4SYrgJntQzLp-FerlL_DdTGXqIVqUNodgACUaxb6pnTEg2R255lEifxpw0up2ZGxEAlSTy-lxtWTXQPtwb9Txf6mEoan7p" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="353" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgL0uIEf9qh295HtKCnnwhzPxZmX4K1zK1oJbItUak0NT7RtXleFu7jj5_m1ogpddqYYm_TqMPXYLVaH_jT2mNvTwwRTj6HVJ4SYrgJntQzLp-FerlL_DdTGXqIVqUNodgACUaxb6pnTEg2R255lEifxpw0up2ZGxEAlSTy-lxtWTXQPtwb9Txf6mEoan7p=w186-h265" width="186" /></a></div><span style="font-family: arial;">McRaven discusses the importance of planning, inspecting, and always having a plan B.</span><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">When one of their helicopters became damaged in the bin Laden raid, the well-trained and ready SEALs adjusted, overcame, and accomplished their mission. Training mitigates risk and saves lives.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">Importantly, McRaven notes that even the best leaders will have setbacks and seemingly insurmountable challenges. But how they deal with failures and obstacles makes all the difference.<br /></span><p></p><p></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">This is a great book for any new leader, would-be commander, and anyone interested in the importance of character, competence, and ethical behavior –– integrity –– in military and national leadership.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">There are many references in <i>“Bullfrog”</i> to Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL training, Coronado, and San Clemente. But there is an unexpected thread throughout the book leading through Hawaii, which help illustrate key leadership principles.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><i style="font-style: normal;">“The Wisdom of the Bullfrog” </i>concludes with a spotlight on Navy SEAL Lt. Michael Murphy’s favorite book, <i style="font-style: normal;"><a href="https://navyreads.blogspot.com/search?q=Pressfield">“Gates of Fire” by Steven Pressfield</a>. </i><i>"Gates of Fire" </i>is also a favorite of Gen. James <a href="https://navyreads.blogspot.com/search?q=Mattis" style="font-style: normal;"><i>Mattis</i></a> (USMC, Ret.) and is a recommendation by Adm. James <a href="http://Stavridis" style="font-style: normal;"><i>Stavridis</i></a> (USN, Ret.). The novel is or has been on the reading lists of many military leaders, including the Commandant of the Marine Corps (currently a vacant position).</span></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgkC2X_7Cy17uECcmMrECKBIzztRbjSA8aG4fqoMdZF3aVNbKsuD06fAD2EogJe0zgPvFlE25bsY88OLJOIg97aQ5JcCS0HC-sYt_DSt-uXf6OAhH7NM_UcNTD3Y1WF71g7HqXrT2oHoxRHuYLKBHD0XsqjEinw5IJDUTP19qEMSM-oalmF4Og45tEVAsyU" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="506" data-original-width="860" height="384" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgkC2X_7Cy17uECcmMrECKBIzztRbjSA8aG4fqoMdZF3aVNbKsuD06fAD2EogJe0zgPvFlE25bsY88OLJOIg97aQ5JcCS0HC-sYt_DSt-uXf6OAhH7NM_UcNTD3Y1WF71g7HqXrT2oHoxRHuYLKBHD0XsqjEinw5IJDUTP19qEMSM-oalmF4Og45tEVAsyU=w654-h384" width="654" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #800180; font-family: times; font-size: x-small;">Pressfield speaks to Marines and fellow veterans at Camp Pendleton in 2011. (Sgt. Skyler Tooker)</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>“Gates of Fire”</i> imagines the 300 Spartans who fought valiantly in the Battle of Thermopylae in 480 BCE. In the fictionalized account, Pressfield, a former Marine, channels what the last Spartan may have said about his king, King Leonidas, and what made his king such a great leader: “A king does not abide within his tent while his men bleed and die upon the field. A king does not dine while his men go hungry, nor sleep when they stand at watch upon the wall, A king does not command his men’s loyalty through fear nor purchase it with gold; he earns their love by the sweat of his own back and the pains he endures for their sake. That which comprises the harshest burden, a king lifts first and sets down last. A king does not require service of those he leads but provides it to them…”</span><p></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">While not always easy –– and often extremely hard to live by –– McRaven’s leadership principles are actually “simple” he says. He offers a list of sayings taken from his chapter headings and a QR code at the end of the book for readers to obtain a printable version of the “Wisdom of the Bullfrog.” (The term Bullfrog refers to the the longest serving Navy SEAL on active duty, which McRaven once was for nearly 40 years.)</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Sometimes advanced age has its leadership advantages.</span></p></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9195380963524310455.post-7451858616480093772023-09-08T09:39:00.000-10:002023-09-08T09:39:24.727-10:00 Joshuas ‘Preparing for (Civil) War’<p><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Review by Bill Doughty––</span></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjt3Cvr9TtwheYKknHLHm13ONVZQSdyGenl7OA8NXnAWcv7Dv3ENodIJiLiyUxM8hgmrczSsH1hu6RugDOjCJyVa3i3VFbX5FLKwqp-k_T1Fiqq4cEfRakb63ju_XP_iw6qIDKgsgMVviMarGueEj1erb6SdD-YTTuIOVXJReyyBWcw6Zu0D0MQ4hUZGxrn" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1150" data-original-width="678" height="294" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjt3Cvr9TtwheYKknHLHm13ONVZQSdyGenl7OA8NXnAWcv7Dv3ENodIJiLiyUxM8hgmrczSsH1hu6RugDOjCJyVa3i3VFbX5FLKwqp-k_T1Fiqq4cEfRakb63ju_XP_iw6qIDKgsgMVviMarGueEj1erb6SdD-YTTuIOVXJReyyBWcw6Zu0D0MQ4hUZGxrn=w173-h294" width="173" /></a></div><span style="font-family: arial;">They carried Trump banners, Gadsden and Confederate battle flags, and a sea of red-white-and-blue symbols on January 6, 2021. Some angry protesters-turned-rioters carried Bibles, crucifixion crosses, and signs that read “Jesus Is My Savior, Trump Is My President,” “Jesus Saves,” and “Gods, Guts, Guns.” Others carried Mary and Jesus statues and a picture of Nordic Jesus wearing a MAGA hat.</span><p></p><p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Also making an appearance among the icons, idols, and images: the red and white Deus Vult flag –– a symbol of the Christian Crusades. “Onward Christian soldiers…”</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">“Some of the most violent perpetrators wore vest patches with a portion of Psalm 144 that read ‘Blessed by God, My Rock Who Trains My Hands for Battle, My Fingers for War,” according to Dr. Bradley Onishi, author of <i>“Preparing for War: The Extremist History of White Christian Nationalism –– What Comes Next”</i> (Broadleaf Books, 2023).</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="color: #0b5394; font-size: medium;"></span></span></p><blockquote><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="color: #0b5394; font-size: medium;">“The Christian flags, symbols, rituals, and Bible verses gave the rioters’ actions a sense of divine permission, reassuring them that the desacralization of the Capitol was actually a sanctification of the American way. Through rituals of their White Christian nationalist faith, many insurrectionists rendered the profane act of desecrating the Capitol into a sacred act of reclamation on behalf of real Americans.”</span></span></blockquote><p></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Onishi, a scholar of religion, sees a strong likelihood for a violent future in the United States in the wake of the January 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol in which insurrectionists fought with law enforcement and threatened to assassinate the vice president and speaker of the house. But could he be wrong?</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Host of the <a href="https://www.straightwhiteamericanjesus.com"><i>Straight White American Jesus</i></a> podcast, Onishi can be considered “born-again-again.”</span></span></p><p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjUmikAJ3Ag02zvFLnsZ5eodndYuvH6VVO04_cefbLrAQZ1FqMOa5iVMhYYAGzOlZI5Q8ZjHo00JqGe0FSxojwRW1RZSZchIUAcqcuWYDI8wu8z-Ss6zy7WhN3p54uGJHZB_w9526P2EPbtZMV6fxGQFVM5lQiPTM-x7VukXHoozvAORglkzTiCxPU6B0b-" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="542" data-original-width="880" height="276" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjUmikAJ3Ag02zvFLnsZ5eodndYuvH6VVO04_cefbLrAQZ1FqMOa5iVMhYYAGzOlZI5Q8ZjHo00JqGe0FSxojwRW1RZSZchIUAcqcuWYDI8wu8z-Ss6zy7WhN3p54uGJHZB_w9526P2EPbtZMV6fxGQFVM5lQiPTM-x7VukXHoozvAORglkzTiCxPU6B0b-=w448-h276" width="448" /></a></div><span style="font-family: arial;">Like Dan Barker, Seth Andrews, Ryan Bell, Jerry DeWitt, Fred Phelps, Carter Warden, Jim Palmer, Daniel Miller, and Charles Templeton, Onishi is a former pastor or fundamentalist believer who turned away from religion and placed his faith in science, reason, and critical thinking.</span><div><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;">Onishi’s book is essential reading for anyone concerned about the intrusion of religious fundamentalism in the form of white Christian nationalism into American institutions, including the military and government itself.</span>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">“January 6, 2021, is a day of infamy, a day that marks a Before and an After in American history, similar to the bombing of Pearl Harbor or 9/11,” Onishi says. “The difference with J6 is that the attack was a mob of Americans incited by the sitting president rather than a foreign enemy.”</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">“Recent data show that over 80 percent of white evangelicals are Christian nationalists, to some degree,” Onishi writes. “Not being willing … to separate cross and flag is Christian nationalism in a nutshell.” As has been said, not all Republicans, evangelicals, and Trump supporters are white Christian nationalists, but nearly all such believers are Republican Trump supporters.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">”Americans have long conflated the kingdom of God and the nation state,” he says, citing the roles of Barry Goldwater, the John Birch Society, Reagan-era “Religious Right,” Pat Buchanon, Michael Flynn, Alex Jones, Russia’s Putin and Hungary’s Orbán, and Donald Trump, who embraces support of white Christian nationalists, calls a Ashli Babbitt a martyr, and promises to pardon J6 insurrectionists.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgiuMdCW-4inSbEHOnmJcZAe2Fe3G2jdU7ol8Aqlu4v41HVMJ9fcgi3VKkW52Oi28ONhatQundvV1c-fvv2U0Cez4APQtHcsCEc41M-l87ZbmJ9vETigv_Rh6JAp25ayp_QrcxFUjDOp7IlEDsufNgrzvaOd6MiCJs5qmWJiwpQo-xYxBrt9hWTop09oiRX" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="380" data-original-width="307" height="278" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgiuMdCW-4inSbEHOnmJcZAe2Fe3G2jdU7ol8Aqlu4v41HVMJ9fcgi3VKkW52Oi28ONhatQundvV1c-fvv2U0Cez4APQtHcsCEc41M-l87ZbmJ9vETigv_Rh6JAp25ayp_QrcxFUjDOp7IlEDsufNgrzvaOd6MiCJs5qmWJiwpQo-xYxBrt9hWTop09oiRX=w225-h278" width="225" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #800180; font-family: times; font-size: xx-small;">Tuberville with Marines at Quantico, 2021</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: arial;">In 2023 the United States military has been gut-punched by one senator who, in the name of his Christian beliefs, has held up hundreds of general and flag officers’ promotions and assignments because of abortion, adversely impacting military women’s access to reproductive health care. Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) previously refused to renounce white Christian nationalism, and he is against the DoD policy of allowing women service members to take leave and be reimbursed for abortions in a post-Roe-v-Wade world. Earlier this week, the three military service secretaries –– leaders of the Navy, Air Force, and Army –– addressed the issue in a Washington Post opinion piece, calling Tuberville’s obstruction a threat to national security. Regrettably, to date, Tuberville is refusing to back down on his impact to military readiness.</span><p></p><p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span>Tuberville is a vocal critic of what he calls a "woke" culture in the military. He and other far-right senators and representatives have called for a halt in rooting out extremists in the services' ranks. </span><span style="caret-color: rgb(42, 42, 42); color: #2a2a2a;">Last Wednesday, in an interview on FOX, Tuberville called out Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro, to "</span></span><span style="caret-color: rgb(42, 42, 42); color: #2a2a2a; font-family: arial;">get wokeness out of our Navy,”</span><span style="caret-color: rgb(42, 42, 42); color: #2a2a2a; font-family: arial;"> </span><span style="caret-color: rgb(42, 42, 42); color: #2a2a2a; font-family: arial;">adding</span><span style="caret-color: rgb(42, 42, 42); color: #2a2a2a; font-family: arial;"> “We got people doing poems on aircraft carriers over a loudspeaker.” Tuberville's condescending view of poetry notwithstanding, at least one observer noted <i>"The Star-Spangled Banner" </i>was written on a warship.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">“Preserving the holy trinity of family, god, and nation might be with the sacrifice of democracy itself,” Onishi warns. For “white Christian nationalists …the goal is domination, not dialogue or debate –– much less democracy.” In addition to an examination of the history of the movement, Onishi explores the roles of myths and conspiracies in white Christian nationalism.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg4HE_mmVtO517UZmCixX0XAxikYykYDh_Q_3sye3jnvnLb6gUruAadSgDJ2xp6R_MlAin_t0pmDddXltuBdEVnyFEDo2zEDdnUc9exdtSDU2-fWEDkWBZCRtYsQ5erm8dyisjjcSNXOHlTrk4TiHsvoM4PYljOu9twoaxAyd-m3UCmJEh5VSv9r7WJDLYx" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="882" data-original-width="1320" height="438" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg4HE_mmVtO517UZmCixX0XAxikYykYDh_Q_3sye3jnvnLb6gUruAadSgDJ2xp6R_MlAin_t0pmDddXltuBdEVnyFEDo2zEDdnUc9exdtSDU2-fWEDkWBZCRtYsQ5erm8dyisjjcSNXOHlTrk4TiHsvoM4PYljOu9twoaxAyd-m3UCmJEh5VSv9r7WJDLYx=w655-h438" width="655" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br />“Unfortunately, conspiracy is now a mainstay in American politics,” he observes. Belief in the existence of a fundamentalist biblical god/angels, satan/demons, and heaven/hell, according to Onishi, is the ultimate conspiracy.</span><p></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">There is a similarity between the Big Lie (of a stolen election), Lost Cause (of North’s persecution of the South), and post-WWI Germany (of grievance and victimization) leading to Nazism. Violence against scapegoats, whether democrats, blacks, or jews, is part of a myth/conspiracy validation for violence.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">As other examples, Shia identity is based on victimhood; Shia followers blame Sunni believers for the killing of Mohammed’s grandson Husayn in the seventh century, just one example of infighting in the Abrahamic religions based on grievance, superstition, and mythology. Even Buddhists and Muslims violently attack each other in Myanmar and Sri Lanka. And in 1923, Japanese people scapegoated and massacred thousands of people of Korean ethnicity in the wake of the Great Kantō earthquake.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Seeing other people as "Others," less than human, is at the root of biblical justification for slavery, Hutu/Tutsi violence, and countless other forms of genocide and inhumanity.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="background-color: white;"></span></span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhVfhSwH9TwncTY9XSC20i_rQls11KXmIe7l23maXlzl0BednDNbbyO8FVScUmrbeFRfqChf9w95c-0odywKLTGdslW1Nn73KJFswiHd8xYstnqCGyNrK1Am1sdMK2xkNTq_GDLsFXSQmpSoM7R6baget0lWdtU4YxNpXlE8PiAoNuRoivaRQ47iHSSjWj9" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="306" data-original-width="195" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhVfhSwH9TwncTY9XSC20i_rQls11KXmIe7l23maXlzl0BednDNbbyO8FVScUmrbeFRfqChf9w95c-0odywKLTGdslW1Nn73KJFswiHd8xYstnqCGyNrK1Am1sdMK2xkNTq_GDLsFXSQmpSoM7R6baget0lWdtU4YxNpXlE8PiAoNuRoivaRQ47iHSSjWj9" width="153" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #800180; font-family: times; font-size: x-small;">Shofar</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="background-color: white;">In recent U.S. history, w</span>hite Christian nationalists participated in Jericho Marches preceding the J6 attack. Some evangelicals who believe in myths and conspiracies, including the Big Lie, gathered –– blowing shofars (ram horns), and “marching as to war.” They praised the Bible story of Joshua. In that story, God supposedly ordered Israelites to kill Canaanites (men, women, and children) who didn’t believe in the same god, also commanding them to steal valuables for Him.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #7f6000; font-family: arial;">Joshua 6:19: “But all the silver, and gold, and vessels of brass and iron, are consecrated unto the Lord: they shall come into the treasury of the Lord.” Joshua 6:21: “And they utterly destroyed all that was in the city, both man and woman, young and old, and ox, and sheep, and ass, with the edge of the sword.” Joshua 6:27: “So the Lord was with Joshua; and his fame was noised throughout all the country.” (KJV)</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: arial;">“Any honest accounting of the January 6 insurrection –– one that takes seriously the religious symbols and language of the rioters –– must reckon with the very real sense in which many of the rioters … were reenacting key parts of the Jericho narrative,” Onishi writes. He reminds us how the Proud Boys gathered in prayer outside the Capitol and how QAnon Shaman Jacob Anthony Angeli Chansley led rioters in a Christian prayer in the Senate chamber.</span></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: arial;"></span></p><blockquote><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: medium;">“In essence, the January 6 insurrection was a religious ritual carried out by the Americans who believe they have a God-given right to rule the country. For them, a siege of the most important space in United States government was a crusade against the enemies of the United States. The framework that guided them was Christian nationalism. And the story of Jericho provides a window into the spiritual mechanics of the most traitorous attack on the country in modern history.”</span></span></blockquote><p></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Onishi takes a pessimistic view of what is yet to come.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">“We now face a stark question: What if January 6 was not the end of an era but the beginning of one.” J6, he says, “was not the last stand of a dying faction. It was the first violent battle in what they foresee as the coming civil war.”</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Parallels can be found in Hannah Arendt’s <i>“The Origins of Totalitarianism”</i> and her warnings of “the banality of evil.” Similar warnings about the rise of white Christian nationalism are found in works quoted throughout <i>“Preparing for War”</i> and in its extensive notes: <i style="font-style: normal;">“The Power Worshippers”</i> by Katherine Stewart, <i style="font-style: normal;">“Jesus and John Wayne”</i> by Kristin Kobes du Men, and <a href="https://navyreads.blogspot.com/search?q=Barbara+walter"><i>“How Civil Wars Start” </i>by Barbara Walter</a>.</span></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Onishi also sees a sociological parallel in the Great Migration of the last century, in which black Americans left the South, migrating North and westward, away from persecution and discrimination. He recommends <a href="http://info@ehawaii.gov">Isabel Wilkerson’s </a><i>“The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration.”</i> Today, many white Christians are moving to the “American Redoubt:” <a href="https://navyreads.blogspot.com/search?q=idaho">Idaho</a>, Montana, Wyoming, eastern Washington, and eastern Oregon, with Christian nationalist enclaves in Boise, Moscow, and Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. Could it be that such self-segregation will actually result in marginalization?</span></p><p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg6kepk-9x6C-lT8sZP7M38U0fSG6BzzjbAzL5l1op1ftfkI36gsmYhHz5g_9b0npnIk2dqghdMjuxa4JsRSmV7z3Z5ng9adT8dt2lyxmrVTYDofQoNiF_LXvP5tb0l4XYXzH4qTucAzKY9x0TBj6BexSgZJqL7IA11yRBuPlpxW4iiuTvuUoLmNGHMI0e7" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1280" data-original-width="1015" height="199" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg6kepk-9x6C-lT8sZP7M38U0fSG6BzzjbAzL5l1op1ftfkI36gsmYhHz5g_9b0npnIk2dqghdMjuxa4JsRSmV7z3Z5ng9adT8dt2lyxmrVTYDofQoNiF_LXvP5tb0l4XYXzH4qTucAzKY9x0TBj6BexSgZJqL7IA11yRBuPlpxW4iiuTvuUoLmNGHMI0e7=w158-h199" width="158" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #800180; font-size: x-small;">Tarrio</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: arial;">There are also some good reasons for optimism about the future and a return to reason: The changing of names of military bases and getting rid of Confederate monuments, the election of Georgia Senators Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock on January 5, 2021, and the arrests of more than one thousand J6 insurrections. Indictments have been handed down on alleged coup plot leaders, including the former president. Just this week, the leader of the so-called Proud Boys, Enrique Tarrio received a 22-year sentence for his role in the January 6 coup attempt. Grand juries, made up of U.S. citizens, have passed judgment against those who threaten democracy. There are active calls for more ethics enforcement, even within the Supreme Court and the president's family.</span><p></p><p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Yesterday, thirteen presidential libraries and foundations –– from Hoover through Reagan, Carter, both Bushes, and Obama –– made an unprecedented joint appeal on behalf of democracy, calling for more civility, respect for diversity, and protection of voting rights and representative government. The </span><a href="https://www.obama.org/discover/press-releases/the-obama-foundation-joins-other-presidential-centers-to-affirm-that-democracy-holds-us-together/" style="font-family: arial;" target="_blank">statement</a><span style="font-family: arial;"> reads, in part:</span></p><blockquote><p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: arial;"><span face=""Open Sans", Helvetica, Arial, "Arial Unicode", "Lucida Sans Unicode", sans-serif" style="font-size: medium;">"As a diverse nation of people with different backgrounds and beliefs, democracy holds us together. We are a country rooted in the rule of law, where the protection of the rights of all people is paramount. At the same time, we live among our fellow citizens, underscoring the importance of compassion, tolerance, pluralism, and respect for others...</span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><span><span face=""Open Sans", Helvetica, Arial, "Arial Unicode", "Lucida Sans Unicode", sans-serif">"</span></span><span face=""Open Sans", Helvetica, Arial, "Arial Unicode", "Lucida Sans Unicode", sans-serif">Each of us has a role to play and responsibilities to uphold. Our elected officials must lead by example and govern effectively in ways that deliver for the American people. This, in turn, will help to restore trust in public service. The rest of us must engage in civil dialogue; respect democratic institutions and rights; uphold safe, secure, and accessible elections; and contribute to local, state, or national improvement."</span></span></p></blockquote><p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Perhaps there is reason for hope that more Americans will reject patriarchal authoritarianism and embrace free-thinking democracy, rule of law, accountability, and the ideals put forth in the United States </span><a href="https://navyreads.blogspot.com/search?q=Constitution" style="font-family: arial;">Constitution</a><span style="font-family: arial;">.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: trebuchet;"><i><span style="background-color: white;">“</span>Onishi takes us on a sweeping yet personal journey through modern American religious and political history to understand the violent, extremist strains of white Christian America that led to the January 6th insurrection. With insight from hundreds of interviews, deep scholarship, and his own escape from white Christian Nationalism, Onishi’s Preparing for War is a clear account of what happened and clarion warning about what is coming. Compelling and timely.” </i><span style="color: #0c0a0f; font-style: normal;">– Andrew Seidel, Constitutional Lawyer at Americans United and author of "</span><span style="color: #0c0a0f;"><i>American Crusade: How the Supreme Court Is Weaponizing Religious Freedom."</i></span></span></p></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9195380963524310455.post-74610413784467708682023-08-26T09:58:00.003-10:002023-08-26T18:39:11.170-10:00Read Their Eyes<p><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-small;">By Bill Doughty––</span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;"></span></p><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj4bR2ysnlp0we_lUuvXceafpOEAeUu9kvPYyPIWOnNDSO_m7LJVgSe9P_7xmvmIPvBX0xo3H6g0k1aIBrupu7FVuDSIdKxZM8peHCUj_ZFtAhdpiQE2LystA1KLbC4brjMOJjf71jKPJlXsYQnb4NCHsJ3abwc5vYPtO1McqgHQvKFzkHtkHW5kujdxu5e"><img alt="" data-original-height="94" data-original-width="432" height="88" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj4bR2ysnlp0we_lUuvXceafpOEAeUu9kvPYyPIWOnNDSO_m7LJVgSe9P_7xmvmIPvBX0xo3H6g0k1aIBrupu7FVuDSIdKxZM8peHCUj_ZFtAhdpiQE2LystA1KLbC4brjMOJjf71jKPJlXsYQnb4NCHsJ3abwc5vYPtO1McqgHQvKFzkHtkHW5kujdxu5e=w400-h88" width="400" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">Former United States Marine Harrison Floyd is still in jail after being charged last week in the Fulton County case with violating Georgia’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act. He is charged with influencing a witness and conspiracy to commit solicitation of false statements, specifically against Fulton County election worker Ruby Freeman. Floyd is the only one of 19 defendants who was not granted bail; a judge ruled he was a potential flight risk.</span><p></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjqZ6RDVbK_9R_O0tuEJ_aY-TtOq-_QLBkCjzOZtWteC1FA9gRJjTrT3M9dpxVJ-JfmUIsQhABiHvSNpxTjnbZLj5DdAphoStrMk-RKBmNTrTInFS9L6jBhcLfiVMfwwTxnToxFsWjz7-zPmxQJnfYmYyl-Zekljwq3cffXZuIY7G7x4kS76afqG8JXpoh6" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="80" data-original-width="296" height="108" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjqZ6RDVbK_9R_O0tuEJ_aY-TtOq-_QLBkCjzOZtWteC1FA9gRJjTrT3M9dpxVJ-JfmUIsQhABiHvSNpxTjnbZLj5DdAphoStrMk-RKBmNTrTInFS9L6jBhcLfiVMfwwTxnToxFsWjz7-zPmxQJnfYmYyl-Zekljwq3cffXZuIY7G7x4kS76afqG8JXpoh6=w400-h108" width="400" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br />Former Commander in Chief Donald J. Trump allegedly led efforts to <a href="https://www.cnn.com/interactive/2023/08/georgia-indictment-defendants-list-dg/">overturn the 2020 presidential election</a>. Other defendants are charged with assisting the former president and/or each other in subverting the election in violation of the U.S. Constitution. All are presumed innocent until proven guilty.</span><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Over the summer, we posted several updates to criminal indictments, particularly when there was a connection with the military and/or the Constitution. We recommended the indictments as historic summer reading. The <a href="https://www.fultonclerk.org/DocumentCenter/View/2108/CRIMINAL-INDICTMENT?bidId=">Fulton County indictment </a>is back-to-school season heavy reading, but is recommended as we continue to live through historic times. We can also read the eyes of some of the defendants in the case:</span></p><p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiC0IglagwzVsom5YhpjPqXAVQ1NiHiGwCWGrei_VtvfMAMm8gFw7x6V28Tfuee961P6bSw8yvpyoRw0qNPlHqljiriFMKt9WcBMZjD3DpGmUvStLb6eFeR3rFr91iEfn7UFP2u_pqxFOWhZOKLuk9b__khMgnLLmLheICVr62OQERf3hawGXpz2AawsaKV" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="114" data-original-width="437" height="104" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiC0IglagwzVsom5YhpjPqXAVQ1NiHiGwCWGrei_VtvfMAMm8gFw7x6V28Tfuee961P6bSw8yvpyoRw0qNPlHqljiriFMKt9WcBMZjD3DpGmUvStLb6eFeR3rFr91iEfn7UFP2u_pqxFOWhZOKLuk9b__khMgnLLmLheICVr62OQERf3hawGXpz2AawsaKV=w400-h104" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #800180;">Meadows</span></td></tr></tbody></table><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh-YhumtA6IxR7_dKqEf6fp30ghEp_ku9CN-l9yi1DOwS6ls2gZ6dcec8XnYEFeH-rMGVyZ3Pyfhn1hmD-dm4K1AxTNXELUNXFJobfs7avhKEZ-6PetCI0AZbFal_MmeYRFiea-mBxX4Ep2mkc1TBcOjvLlLO3mGIOArp9CgpHXUFMJ8xq7u0b-tpdZCJBs" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="123" data-original-width="510" height="96" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh-YhumtA6IxR7_dKqEf6fp30ghEp_ku9CN-l9yi1DOwS6ls2gZ6dcec8XnYEFeH-rMGVyZ3Pyfhn1hmD-dm4K1AxTNXELUNXFJobfs7avhKEZ-6PetCI0AZbFal_MmeYRFiea-mBxX4Ep2mkc1TBcOjvLlLO3mGIOArp9CgpHXUFMJ8xq7u0b-tpdZCJBs=w400-h96" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #800180;">Eastman</span></td></tr></tbody></table><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi25gUVzRdJ4XkxXSi4wteJA-KyrwfSgsbW4eTaAQCsuZynCXaV647bvI_2r0eKCevnTUew6OUyN5PoEVq6BnzgMSCRiQv-lwacFwOsmpefS-_H7GeUdc5uOesUAGP_mXOmyQV3_EbIkra7FuNRju2mkZZUjeIUkK91HboLWX49x5XfEzIB1UtGFogR-MTt" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="202" data-original-width="716" height="113" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi25gUVzRdJ4XkxXSi4wteJA-KyrwfSgsbW4eTaAQCsuZynCXaV647bvI_2r0eKCevnTUew6OUyN5PoEVq6BnzgMSCRiQv-lwacFwOsmpefS-_H7GeUdc5uOesUAGP_mXOmyQV3_EbIkra7FuNRju2mkZZUjeIUkK91HboLWX49x5XfEzIB1UtGFogR-MTt=w400-h113" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #800180;">Giuliani</span></td></tr></tbody></table><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjFecbIeXoL0ML7BvxAFHIrRITrzyXYl4fFKa_9aShqSUrwgk2889sO6_WF3qt1_6DQZs08OUOjc1ngBE09wTL0KoKP3GG85SYhOmzqVlWL023L5BuwqBKg0qYw_-_cGeZMvwU78W1B_d_TTQRKyGBokqQjA4F4ocBA0kHOZ1VEztnRG9Jd-9glZ6Syc1cN" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="132" data-original-width="502" height="105" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjFecbIeXoL0ML7BvxAFHIrRITrzyXYl4fFKa_9aShqSUrwgk2889sO6_WF3qt1_6DQZs08OUOjc1ngBE09wTL0KoKP3GG85SYhOmzqVlWL023L5BuwqBKg0qYw_-_cGeZMvwU78W1B_d_TTQRKyGBokqQjA4F4ocBA0kHOZ1VEztnRG9Jd-9glZ6Syc1cN=w400-h105" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #800180;">Cheseboro</span></td></tr></tbody></table><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgUHaHCmdN17TSHLLq9hlBLfUNWpZVWMrtAMt4PWSqCt5y4qBtJ5DBScLurk5sCeT1-COGEs5P4B-oubmJTtKeUTj2jSGFAnmxNvzRQTKkvGxT9jE0oBlrswHUGejv4FjyuwBQb9y5q_9OBAxOLTKc4OY6VYrRPOzVPDz-MDeek-pFWCAVJlIpmo14Lchnd" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="197" data-original-width="787" height="100" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgUHaHCmdN17TSHLLq9hlBLfUNWpZVWMrtAMt4PWSqCt5y4qBtJ5DBScLurk5sCeT1-COGEs5P4B-oubmJTtKeUTj2jSGFAnmxNvzRQTKkvGxT9jE0oBlrswHUGejv4FjyuwBQb9y5q_9OBAxOLTKc4OY6VYrRPOzVPDz-MDeek-pFWCAVJlIpmo14Lchnd=w400-h100" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #800180;">Clark</span></td></tr></tbody></table><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEirokdMGyA0Eyk-5xJBKf9bP1qTafcoyNcPYiYHAD_gqsJz6OVAfciPO8tg1BASVbp6UuuLJjsBbSPQAVplZzHtY7FoPDlGtvhbYYyiaf7ix117aL9kHKNZ5GiKFJNelKb0jA8t4VX28o3Xw4lJ9rJAJsS6OyE_-Or8wjETI4S0aYSU_dkx_qcqO8pmLjjr" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="173" data-original-width="651" height="106" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEirokdMGyA0Eyk-5xJBKf9bP1qTafcoyNcPYiYHAD_gqsJz6OVAfciPO8tg1BASVbp6UuuLJjsBbSPQAVplZzHtY7FoPDlGtvhbYYyiaf7ix117aL9kHKNZ5GiKFJNelKb0jA8t4VX28o3Xw4lJ9rJAJsS6OyE_-Or8wjETI4S0aYSU_dkx_qcqO8pmLjjr=w400-h106" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #800180;">Powell</span></td></tr></tbody></table><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh6vqKMgJQehHyh4IZRAV5TZoqoOa3azT6Hut8he1UWpMnWOf1Qhs6YRtFawGMDxll3-lV1sRzxsk6BBxy09fOWtstRKNxcXTbR-Iu-szO4ocKXAeplJQvl6HaAsIcgXXj3PVqh6nRp3dDboIE9p3vnWyNDW44c1hx2GwQCVnle1SwXb-Es1HAuvHzh-fqN" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="156" data-original-width="614" height="101" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh6vqKMgJQehHyh4IZRAV5TZoqoOa3azT6Hut8he1UWpMnWOf1Qhs6YRtFawGMDxll3-lV1sRzxsk6BBxy09fOWtstRKNxcXTbR-Iu-szO4ocKXAeplJQvl6HaAsIcgXXj3PVqh6nRp3dDboIE9p3vnWyNDW44c1hx2GwQCVnle1SwXb-Es1HAuvHzh-fqN=w400-h101" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #800180;">Roman</span></td></tr></tbody></table><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiD_69ObVg1boKxelcw39yfq8iLox0AccyGN_CXHOEG4n92KWOokYDYuE7xAIDuX2ZYuwvkM7mg9YQPQNCd9ADWIRUQ7jOboWsAw2kUqhoDGKBFJFECdMRDkUiqLvPjF6hARei83SKIg9LiomlRNtN7tHxf9cZhMEIGQ9ng9wl4HzxGf7YpscD1UN_j1Til" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="138" data-original-width="497" height="111" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiD_69ObVg1boKxelcw39yfq8iLox0AccyGN_CXHOEG4n92KWOokYDYuE7xAIDuX2ZYuwvkM7mg9YQPQNCd9ADWIRUQ7jOboWsAw2kUqhoDGKBFJFECdMRDkUiqLvPjF6hARei83SKIg9LiomlRNtN7tHxf9cZhMEIGQ9ng9wl4HzxGf7YpscD1UN_j1Til=w400-h111" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #800180;">Smith</span></td></tr></tbody></table><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg_iqIX92BoLWxZvKz0Jx1qzZ5Y0qPnhWCCF1tV7pCuugsp6EmUr8VsKfZsouRLHcp5etncjGG1gEHuZeSJCB_vTRVB2IEwL5DqVMrnyqXXu3yg4_rNYaN5zVF87eMVJeFhwHRW54Lkbcad5mdOP5OYLG22r75h5fyGaU8BscttfOfNc7ctiu_mfZbY0tLY" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="101" data-original-width="403" height="100" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg_iqIX92BoLWxZvKz0Jx1qzZ5Y0qPnhWCCF1tV7pCuugsp6EmUr8VsKfZsouRLHcp5etncjGG1gEHuZeSJCB_vTRVB2IEwL5DqVMrnyqXXu3yg4_rNYaN5zVF87eMVJeFhwHRW54Lkbcad5mdOP5OYLG22r75h5fyGaU8BscttfOfNc7ctiu_mfZbY0tLY=w400-h100" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #800180;">Kutti<br /></span></td></tr></tbody></table><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi6gSPHiRmQkf_Q5eGtRj5L8u_SRL9rlad4dsfagJ31_2stM-WEFZ_N8_GnVe2eHZUmkeI1Il3LYYrhCG-SWX4cRGOr5-ZShf3JhVgyWp6alN4sXzZ0xggoM7Vtj-ik9K6ZV_eoZH2edHnZVmmbcy9pAzXSJPtmmwjouVkrgWfdpzlVMRBFXPcX8JXBMKuJ" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="138" data-original-width="575" height="96" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi6gSPHiRmQkf_Q5eGtRj5L8u_SRL9rlad4dsfagJ31_2stM-WEFZ_N8_GnVe2eHZUmkeI1Il3LYYrhCG-SWX4cRGOr5-ZShf3JhVgyWp6alN4sXzZ0xggoM7Vtj-ik9K6ZV_eoZH2edHnZVmmbcy9pAzXSJPtmmwjouVkrgWfdpzlVMRBFXPcX8JXBMKuJ=w400-h96" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #800180;">Hall</span></td></tr></tbody></table><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiuBtpMlPVW6B_hq4TS7rZV82ajRCkcvUcSe-N2Tf_6fqLtTtqtwyxpLbvxh_YIuUbP7NnXEHWkvay2Y--bFej6rTIURE3Ct_nO8oOoL1RKZHJ-99jzrs97aiLCg0n6bxQLx1b50H9_Y3EZ_U6mJ_46Jvy3zkrFeJNgUFS5pCFPbcGzU5aQhJ-vGUKOvwHF" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="183" data-original-width="650" height="113" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiuBtpMlPVW6B_hq4TS7rZV82ajRCkcvUcSe-N2Tf_6fqLtTtqtwyxpLbvxh_YIuUbP7NnXEHWkvay2Y--bFej6rTIURE3Ct_nO8oOoL1RKZHJ-99jzrs97aiLCg0n6bxQLx1b50H9_Y3EZ_U6mJ_46Jvy3zkrFeJNgUFS5pCFPbcGzU5aQhJ-vGUKOvwHF=w400-h113" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #800180;">Lee</span></td></tr></tbody></table><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEimKc2o6loLi8zPlvvxmuYs-FAhphKzNh36K0R91TBsVhNWqsvvxxgREcsuxBYIbHzU14PH9AHXGvTPgq3a1Bi6iX0i1UiDIP97qkfq-bK_AzCUV0JGRgZ9lOp8fBF-CXEz2B2sfTnHRBtGbX5fU6ZSMeglHZfX8UKtFlob-COrAHf7DKAGkqv9owl61n9P" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="86" data-original-width="379" height="91" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEimKc2o6loLi8zPlvvxmuYs-FAhphKzNh36K0R91TBsVhNWqsvvxxgREcsuxBYIbHzU14PH9AHXGvTPgq3a1Bi6iX0i1UiDIP97qkfq-bK_AzCUV0JGRgZ9lOp8fBF-CXEz2B2sfTnHRBtGbX5fU6ZSMeglHZfX8UKtFlob-COrAHf7DKAGkqv9owl61n9P=w400-h91" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #800180;">Still</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: arial;">One wonders what is going on behind the eyes of the alleged conspirators and followers –– including a former Marine and a Christian pastor –– allegedly part of a coup attempt and subversion of the Constitution.</span><p></p><p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">What are they thinking now as they face possible imprisonment? What choices will they make in the weeks and months ahead? What did they </span><b style="font-family: arial;">believe</b><span style="font-family: arial;"> that led them allegedly to commit their crimes?</span></p><p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEimM8zY9nXQCgRWOKUqqbVSAIXz0tosLIGNPDQWIxM2Phg-IQH6rwbpatgsLZQmrglGEu-xgd6AcBN7_0tIqROiYD-3DmYpjOMxDYmAAJCrIJ89DQRXuKdBI6ltD9Ws149l5rTIYmMilGBw9SLQzrhKEmeR-HR3uvYf7XMLLKN0nMKV1OFnTuEiSOF9vB7f" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1250" data-original-width="2500" height="331" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEimM8zY9nXQCgRWOKUqqbVSAIXz0tosLIGNPDQWIxM2Phg-IQH6rwbpatgsLZQmrglGEu-xgd6AcBN7_0tIqROiYD-3DmYpjOMxDYmAAJCrIJ89DQRXuKdBI6ltD9Ws149l5rTIYmMilGBw9SLQzrhKEmeR-HR3uvYf7XMLLKN0nMKV1OFnTuEiSOF9vB7f=w662-h331" width="662" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #800180; font-family: times; font-size: x-small;">Fulton County mugshots of 19 co-conspirators alleged to have tried to subvert the 2020 election.</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: arial;"></span><p></p><p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-family: arial;">And what will be the actions of their followers and <b>believers</b>, including those who support the January 6, 2021 insurrection </span><span style="font-family: arial;">and attempted coup?</span></span></p><p></p></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9195380963524310455.post-13889162729189101772023-08-11T09:00:00.003-10:002023-08-11T09:00:59.592-10:00Found Haiku in 'Believer'<p><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjbo1NAPp0WJ2GUEjowK97QQJacMW5bF1YBsqq-I9qN1_UHnDxM6_Ijv72lSXWePQO9wm086RMjtPRdZ3qTRCwHphWmYk2jNRXYzHIOYEWG8j9gwUjCqNC-VODuYsWrx-NojpSdgqpyGi0qz_hwy1QGUUob2sv_5RDCFiR07yeJMHDMPRWv1954ErT6bcO5" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="670" data-original-width="1000" height="437" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjbo1NAPp0WJ2GUEjowK97QQJacMW5bF1YBsqq-I9qN1_UHnDxM6_Ijv72lSXWePQO9wm086RMjtPRdZ3qTRCwHphWmYk2jNRXYzHIOYEWG8j9gwUjCqNC-VODuYsWrx-NojpSdgqpyGi0qz_hwy1QGUUob2sv_5RDCFiR07yeJMHDMPRWv1954ErT6bcO5=w654-h437" width="654" /></a></span></div><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Review by Bill Doughty––</span></span><p></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Did the pilot encounter a UFO before losing contact with air traffic control? What do people, including his fiancé, believe happened to Frederick Valentich on Saturday, October 21, 1978, over Bass Strait, Australia? And what did Valentich report he saw and experienced just before his transmission cut off, the pilot never to be heard from alive again?</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgnjG-wSA_JGeAeSG33NgN39p1V5HiA4fYXb11t8wrLFlerHoojRdDCRLhc9Xb3QeYMSTrqvT3qgv4sQgk5tbNlbyHfFQ807yTMTjhgvbzxiYb3g264F5q2SVdxj6tT6wRxRzylZeeOy8rusZdNEAdSSrrnhWLwRN8_Z2imXowfarkkk5_ldFtD3FO_TpWq" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="2560" data-original-width="1656" height="291" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgnjG-wSA_JGeAeSG33NgN39p1V5HiA4fYXb11t8wrLFlerHoojRdDCRLhc9Xb3QeYMSTrqvT3qgv4sQgk5tbNlbyHfFQ807yTMTjhgvbzxiYb3g264F5q2SVdxj6tT6wRxRzylZeeOy8rusZdNEAdSSrrnhWLwRN8_Z2imXowfarkkk5_ldFtD3FO_TpWq=w188-h291" width="188" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: arial;">It’s one of the true stories explored by master writer Sarah Krasnostein in <i>“The Believer: Encounters with the Beginning, the End, and Our Place in the Middle”</i> (Tin House, 2022).</span><p></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">In </span><i style="font-family: arial;">“The Believer”</i><span style="font-family: arial;"> we meet UFOlogists, an abuse survivor who hired a hitman, members of a Mennonite choir who perform in a New York subway, a “death doula” who helps individuals and families, ghost hunters who search for evidence in haunted places, a geologist who wants to believe the earth is 6,000 years old, and others following and sharing their beliefs. Throughout, Krasnostein presents characters in ways that make us care about them. The sometimes floating, sometimes strobe-like stories are often deeply painful but always thought-provoking, poetic and profound.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Her writing unfolds the biggest of issues: life, death, hope, reality, existentialism.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">“From the absurdity of our deepest paranoias to the radical coherency of our highest art, we are compulsive converters of fact into meaning.”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgPxmxwt73T8qQSIluEobuVbss4hiTiFlk8A9HzofRgoZD3Upw7p9JSF8OmqiP-JpAj9B3mCPac6nBYNeOelpT-hK5L3mb5oO19nj-hnZoKE6Kq-pkp9vNX-y7PFNMVotMKmYCDstvKXecGzq-qKqWVh9tZs5_3__WLDnYEi2iJsJRaqKvB36d05L9kadDR" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="902" data-original-width="505" height="534" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgPxmxwt73T8qQSIluEobuVbss4hiTiFlk8A9HzofRgoZD3Upw7p9JSF8OmqiP-JpAj9B3mCPac6nBYNeOelpT-hK5L3mb5oO19nj-hnZoKE6Kq-pkp9vNX-y7PFNMVotMKmYCDstvKXecGzq-qKqWVh9tZs5_3__WLDnYEi2iJsJRaqKvB36d05L9kadDR=w298-h534" width="298" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #800180; font-size: xx-small;">UAP screen shot by a naval aviator (U.S. Navy)</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: arial;">She visits the Creation Museum in California, discusses the cantina scene in Star Wars, shares the beauty of Wynton Marsalis’s “Canon for Three Trumpets and Strings,” and considers the science of oneness and shared atoms with religious fundamentalists, noting, “…they believe I am going to Hell, and I believe they may already be living in one…”</span><p></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">This is a book of fascinating encounters and deeply personal contemplation.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">As if taking a book from a library shelf, Krasnostein quotes works by great minds such as <a href="https://navyreads.blogspot.com/search?q=arendt" target="_blank">Hanna Arendt</a> and her “warning against mistaking knowledge for thought, and truth for meaning;” Haruki Murakami who contemplates “existential reality of nonexistence;” and Martin Rees’s observation that “absence of evidence is not evidence of absence” (now pertinent to discussion of Unidentified Aerial Phenomena, including recent revelations by U.S. military pilots and former naval aviators).</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">She spotlights Alvin Toffler, author of <i>“Future Shock,”</i> who in 1970 identified “the dizzying disorientation brought on by the premature arrival of the future.”</span><span style="font-family: arial; font-style: normal;">Midway in the last century telephones were just for calling people. Computers were the size of large rooms. TVs had three channels –– all black-and-white, mostly white.</span><span style="font-family: arial; font-style: normal;"> </span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><br /></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Krasnostein writes about some of the people in their early sixties and late fifties who experienced Toffler's future shock: “Over the span of their lives to date, LP records disappeared and then cassettes. Reel-to-reel, Beta, VHS. Carbon copies, typewriter ribbons. The black tongue of film inside a camera, every frame precious.”</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Ahhh, an unexpected <a href="https://navyreads.blogspot.com/search?q=found+haiku" style="font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal;" target="_blank">“found haiku”</a> –– a five-seven-five-syllable stanza of words. Poignant. Exquisite. Unintentionally a poem:</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">…ribbons. The black tongue</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">of film inside a camera,</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">every frame precious</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Other found haiku emerge as we read Krasnostein’s investigation of religion, alien abductions, and other beliefs.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">She investigates UFO sightings, events, and conspiracies in Australia, including the Westall event of 1966. She visits with a sect of fundamentalist Christians in their homes and at their services, including in the dead of winter. She befriends a dying woman and her family, who allow her to share in the process of saying goodbye. And she follows the life of a convicted repentant murderer who helps homeless people stay alive.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Some found haiku in <i>"The Believer"</i>:</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Green-white flash moving</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">extremely quickly across</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">the sky. Metallic…</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Over long winters</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">of short days when nothing thawed</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">or melted away</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><span style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgqQlu5WAy-upJVujJIsVKRLVQL7A7Dr2IHbF-ewngnhMNvvfvjcTUk21aDy9oXUPvBsRWNI-klxWL2grf9kbRzUc2FbWOnetRa3VdH6nqwhCWPDyrezUBBU13DsBPv01jFcd0e84doFUw1QrgeAhPRavf9noSiiMxtrsh6gHTsUj-VT-QBdpfraU7-CePe" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1503" data-original-width="1000" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgqQlu5WAy-upJVujJIsVKRLVQL7A7Dr2IHbF-ewngnhMNvvfvjcTUk21aDy9oXUPvBsRWNI-klxWL2grf9kbRzUc2FbWOnetRa3VdH6nqwhCWPDyrezUBBU13DsBPv01jFcd0e84doFUw1QrgeAhPRavf9noSiiMxtrsh6gHTsUj-VT-QBdpfraU7-CePe=w213-h320" width="213" /></a></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white;">The railing is iced</span></div></span></div>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">with a thin line of fresh snow</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">as I climb the stairs</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Through which a chill wind</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">blew: grief frustration closer</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">to strangulation</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Inside, I add my</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">wet Nikes to the dozens</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">of similar pairs</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjKO3ooLYNcaCYoS6R4Jt7NRFGThEcinnd2fHeUU0CHMYiDwBjGu-NCJ02S3iO-3yNWlbFpdT-FOdlE2U5ShoqM-92wXfSQDzu9KqJ4m3qpntNZLSNkxbKJDtreOKtsIpw3ufYz_Wg3K4zELA8MOP9iA-2rZN7rBn6zGgaSl9CqWxn-1lw99IfNB6jehsie" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="957" data-original-width="870" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjKO3ooLYNcaCYoS6R4Jt7NRFGThEcinnd2fHeUU0CHMYiDwBjGu-NCJ02S3iO-3yNWlbFpdT-FOdlE2U5ShoqM-92wXfSQDzu9KqJ4m3qpntNZLSNkxbKJDtreOKtsIpw3ufYz_Wg3K4zELA8MOP9iA-2rZN7rBn6zGgaSl9CqWxn-1lw99IfNB6jehsie" width="218" /></a></span></div><p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">On the sofa where</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">they lean towards each other like</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">a pair of old boots</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Air is cold through the</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">clean pane as he looks up at </span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">the blackness he knows</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhoOj11MOcbcbAeKVwg-MZtg-maIHG0zi7jYJghEIC4VsNaSwMgF1cvBQp0hQGxXrqjzvx_zlJlX5mzsOYq9ITLYn_XhgTB4GWvWZEjfzWg3_ptU9G4EwMvD4t_ez2kyq61EbkZ4geex-vwHhWw5dZYGDRaSkq3-kTcLWp_8gktD54ItZjB8dJyDuSRlBPc" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="957" data-original-width="915" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhoOj11MOcbcbAeKVwg-MZtg-maIHG0zi7jYJghEIC4VsNaSwMgF1cvBQp0hQGxXrqjzvx_zlJlX5mzsOYq9ITLYn_XhgTB4GWvWZEjfzWg3_ptU9G4EwMvD4t_ez2kyq61EbkZ4geex-vwHhWw5dZYGDRaSkq3-kTcLWp_8gktD54ItZjB8dJyDuSRlBPc" width="229" /></a></span></div><p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Of the clock face laid</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">bare as each hour came once, and</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">vanished forever</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Salting of stars so</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">thick it reminded me we</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">are floating in space</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiJl9TMjr0mbKyeXys5dBP9fn344SvY5NYUK0OSDT53Ruxe2MIspjkek48WJp8sSI89xhXpBVPTkdW0rdDy-q1mKAyXmYOUFuGtPkdGgkHwGKL3mXn79i5qcamz6_zYi4v1RmJvG2CRTqTA4HiqW0rEJer9o36Bcrq38mwAZX8YPX6gEnKxYN8gPy5VuVgV" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="721" data-original-width="582" height="288" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiJl9TMjr0mbKyeXys5dBP9fn344SvY5NYUK0OSDT53Ruxe2MIspjkek48WJp8sSI89xhXpBVPTkdW0rdDy-q1mKAyXmYOUFuGtPkdGgkHwGKL3mXn79i5qcamz6_zYi4v1RmJvG2CRTqTA4HiqW0rEJer9o36Bcrq38mwAZX8YPX6gEnKxYN8gPy5VuVgV=w232-h288" width="232" /></a></span></div><p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">How close the remote</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">past is: we live inside it</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">the light is the same</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Self … rumination</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">carving neurological</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">tracks deep as canyons</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></div><span style="font-family: arial;">Krasnostein examines the choices we make in our noble but vain attempt to find answers to every question. She sees how some believers accept certain inevitabilities. Reaching for more books, she cites other authors and thinkers, including Elizabeth Kübler Ross, Stephen J. Gould, <a href="https://navyreads.blogspot.com/search?q=orwell" target="_blank">George Orwell</a>, <a href="https://navyreads.blogspot.com/search?q=darwin" target="_blank">Charles Darwin</a>, <a href="https://navyreads.blogspot.com/search?q=James+baldwin" target="_blank">James Baldwin</a>, <a href="https://navyreads.blogspot.com/search?q=emerson" target="_blank">Ralph Waldo Emerson</a>, and Jorge Luis Borges. Borges imagined Paradise “as a kind of library,” one that Krasnostein contemplates visiting.</span><p></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><blockquote><p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjvPRzlev1ZDcgklF8pcEXWEg5VUJcbo7zZlv5rnFNkPzr-deH7QJHDm9ph74iwONenseYIzJP6XNuuMGEwFYMlg-W_WwuO2RXlhnlT_mnyCF9qF9JlgNV7Q61voYU027nVc0Es8ev8Hxa_M3c7eTdnHBPxJ9Zw7qc6oUV87UCjdxYCmpvG5y06MIhel6-W" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="359" data-original-width="632" height="348" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjvPRzlev1ZDcgklF8pcEXWEg5VUJcbo7zZlv5rnFNkPzr-deH7QJHDm9ph74iwONenseYIzJP6XNuuMGEwFYMlg-W_WwuO2RXlhnlT_mnyCF9qF9JlgNV7Q61voYU027nVc0Es8ev8Hxa_M3c7eTdnHBPxJ9Zw7qc6oUV87UCjdxYCmpvG5y06MIhel6-W=w612-h348" width="612" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">“...I always imagined that library as an Eden where all the operating instructions are filed. Not only all the books ever written, but also each of our stories: the past meeting the future, everything indexed and logically related, a return to when the world was as seamless and whole as an apple. I suppose this reflected a belief in the world as a certain kind of text; a faith that, if I could only ask the right questions, I could finally understand.</span><p></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">“To believe in the world as this type of text is to believe that all lives –– regardless of whether they resolve happily –– make sense. To have faith in context and causation. To insist that people for the most part are intelligibly coherent in the sense of being predictably inconsistent and that they are capable, within reasonable bounds, of incredible insight and meaningful growth as they learn, painfully, to bend themselves around reality instead of expecting reality to miraculously bend itself around them.”</span></p></blockquote><p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgn-VKDTK4i0O1fpQy-fRSL-Jq-hS02ooQha2PznhaBkSwzL4mM_zYOUaq_g01Sh3cW_gXwJCcnldwlo8eTqe6bEJa3Bp2s3r7Fli7MWCAMG7l0nEo3oO-HDtGLeZH82tG0f-eEjj541RaZrTk5-kLM51u8Id-L0XS0fBJnXhuqAWHjgAn5gq2K_Ny_zTIq" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="300" data-original-width="300" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgn-VKDTK4i0O1fpQy-fRSL-Jq-hS02ooQha2PznhaBkSwzL4mM_zYOUaq_g01Sh3cW_gXwJCcnldwlo8eTqe6bEJa3Bp2s3r7Fli7MWCAMG7l0nEo3oO-HDtGLeZH82tG0f-eEjj541RaZrTk5-kLM51u8Id-L0XS0fBJnXhuqAWHjgAn5gq2K_Ny_zTIq" width="240" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br />To have such an exquisite belief about people, she says, is just wrong. But adds, “what other choice do we have?”</span><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">Hannah Arendt is a touchstone in <i>"Believer."</i> Especially Arendt's <i>"The Life of the Mind"</i> "in which she explored the powers and limitations of our cognitive function. Arendt believed that every civilization is founded on the capacity to ask unanswerable questions. Krasnostein says, "In other words, our social survival –– even our physical survival –– is bound up with our spiritual survival and it might rely, as a matter of first principles, more on the aspirations underlying our questions and our ability to tolerate uncertainty than on our proficiency at defending solutions just for the sake of having them."</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">Could it be that commonality in our very atoms and shared place in space and time here "in the middle" is more profound than superficial differences –– despite indoctrination, amygdala influence, and ego issues?<br /></span><p></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">I couldn’t help but notice that the subtitle of this wonderful book is, itself, a found haiku:</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Encounters with the</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">beginning, the end, and our</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">place in the middle</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">(We have featured Navy Reads posts with other found haiku over the years, including from <a href="https://navyreads.blogspot.com/search?q=Lincoln+found+haiku" target="_blank">President Abraham Lincoln and Senator John S. McCain</a>.)</span></p></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9195380963524310455.post-31024581959337738882023-08-03T09:02:00.002-10:002023-08-03T09:02:23.490-10:00Another Heated Indictment; What About First Amendment?<p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: small;">By Bill Doughty–</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="background-color: white;">In June we said the top summer read</span> is not a book. It is the short, free, and compelling indictment of the former president and his valet, former Navy CSCS Waltine Nauta for taking, concealing, and lying about classified documents, including military and intelligence secrets.</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">It an uncomfortable but necessary read for anyone interested in national security, protecting the rule of law, and accountability for those who violate the Constitution. The original indictment was updated with a <a href="https://www.justice.gov/storage/US-v-Trump-Nauta-De-Oliveira-23-80101.pdf">superseding indictment</a> last week that included more details and another defendant, valet Carlos De Oliveira.</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Now there is another, perhaps even more important late-summer “must-read”: the <a href="https://d3i6fh83elv35t.cloudfront.net/static/2023/08/trump-indictment.pdf">second federal indictment</a> of former President Donald J. Trump, unveiled by Special Prosecutor Jack Smith, this time for conspiracies to defraud the United States, obstruct an official proceeding, and prevent rights to vote and have votes counted; as well as the “obstruction of and attempt to obstruct an official proceeding.”</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Arguably, it is not just a right but also a duty for every citizen to read this latest indictment, which refers to Trump as the Defendant. While Trump has the expectation and right to a presumption of innocence until his guilt is proven, this indictment shows a lot of evidence of smoke. And where there is smoke…</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><b><span style="font-family: georgia;">Constitutional Duty</span></b></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Military service members, federal employees, elected lawmakers, and national leaders take an oath to uphold and protect the Constitution, so the indictment has special relevance to them.</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">It narrates the details and presents some of the evidence of the Defendant’s efforts, along with co-conspirators to change the results of the 2020 presidential election by disseminating knowingly false claims designed to “create an intense national atmosphere of mistrust and anger, and erode public faith in the administration of the election.”</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">“Shortly after election day, the Defendant also pursued unlawful means of discounting legitimate votes and subverting the election results.”</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">The indictment lists several conspiracies as well as the relevant laws Trump violated. “Each of these conspiracies –– which built on the widespread mistrust the Defendant was creating through pervasive and destabilizing lies about election fraud –– targeted a bedrock function of the United States federal government: the nation’s process of collecting, counting, and certifying the results of the presidential election (‘the federal government function’).”</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Efforts to subvert the election culminated on January 6, 2021, when Trump and some of his co-conspirators assembled, riled up, and then aimed a mob of protesters toward the U.S. Capitol. Many members of the mob violently assaulted law enforcement officers and sought to assassinate Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, Vice President Mike Pence, and others. Their ultimate goal was to stop the counting of electoral votes that would show the results of the election.</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">“This federal government function –– from the point of ascertainment to the certification –– is foundational to the United States’ democratic process and until 2021, had operated in a peaceful and orderly manner for more than 130 years,” Special Prosecutor Jack Smith writes.</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">The United States Constitution is mentioned several times in the indictment.</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><b><span style="font-family: georgia;">Where There Is Smoke…</span></b></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Lawyers and apologists for the former president have said that Trump had a First Amendment freedom-of-speech right under the Constitution to say anything he wanted to say.</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Supreme Court Justice Robert Jackson (1892-1954) called the First Amendment’s right to free speech a “fixed star in our constitutional constellation.” However, the Supreme Court has determined their are limits to speech, especially when crimes and violence are involved.</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. (1841-1935) wrote, “The most stringent protection of free speech would not protect a man in falsely shouting fire in a theatre and causing a panic.” Later, Holmes called for a “clear and present danger” test, writing, “it is only the present danger of immediate evil or an intent to bring it about that warrants Congress in setting a limit to the expression of opinion where private rights are not concerned.”</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Considering the violence of J6, in which several people were killed, lawmakers were threatened, and a coup was attempted, one could argue that the First Amendment freedom-of-speech clause does not apply. In fact, Smith addresses the issue in the third paragraph of the indictment, noting “The Defendant had a right, like every American, to speak publicly about the election…”</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">The question is not about speech, but about actions. And just because an attempted coup was not successful, it does not abrogate the crime of attempting one. In Holmes’s example of the sin of shouting fire in a crowded theatre, there doesn’t have to be an actual fire for such an act to be a crime.</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Trump is being arrested and arraigned today in the federal courthouse in Washington D.C., the same courthouse where more than one hundred J6 insurrectionists have been arraigned.</span></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9195380963524310455.post-84373233180715994722023-07-27T08:25:00.001-10:002023-07-27T08:25:14.834-10:00 Slavery & its Aftermath: Revisiting Lyceum<p><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiQ9DLzRdDMudVH6_7WoorXclIo5OYqCF4DLYj57ccZ9nVxpqtUReF8vlKaR5_IyuSKxHLut4KTe-j8PviusctojbJNvPe4Is1eOrULMZxNpXYOCwIDs-ewWcFYLVBTe9ALiaeC4azCeS95dV93EQDDrAJdt5vC7dGY0BvK8aTYzacYRYyHPso2FGDo99eZ" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="897" data-original-width="1280" height="455" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiQ9DLzRdDMudVH6_7WoorXclIo5OYqCF4DLYj57ccZ9nVxpqtUReF8vlKaR5_IyuSKxHLut4KTe-j8PviusctojbJNvPe4Is1eOrULMZxNpXYOCwIDs-ewWcFYLVBTe9ALiaeC4azCeS95dV93EQDDrAJdt5vC7dGY0BvK8aTYzacYRYyHPso2FGDo99eZ=w650-h455" width="650" /></a></span></div><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">Review by Bill Doughty––</span></span><p></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The shadow of Lincoln looms over some politicians who restrict certain books and the teaching of slavery. Learning about American history, both shiny and tarnished aspects, is key to a strong republic and successful self-government, as suggested in Diana Schaub’s <i>“His Greatest Speeches: How Lincoln Moved the Nation” </i>(St. Martin’s Press, 2021).</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhEqO__m9kkCWST61vNGpb5ySoflemFoMaGrxF_dzUDx_LSwgUC3ifpopmlKZUhDPMdkOpjOdnm1TaomqT2tprfXZUdpa3VgYkeJzBR9FDeWtUm3j-fon_UAcPV8bvvXADJyXZJnhnt8YmFBrZ0Bbl66vgSvx1zlwbnMhCdz1vMXPdIRhC1yh4UPrrfEkSa" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="647" height="342" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhEqO__m9kkCWST61vNGpb5ySoflemFoMaGrxF_dzUDx_LSwgUC3ifpopmlKZUhDPMdkOpjOdnm1TaomqT2tprfXZUdpa3VgYkeJzBR9FDeWtUm3j-fon_UAcPV8bvvXADJyXZJnhnt8YmFBrZ0Bbl66vgSvx1zlwbnMhCdz1vMXPdIRhC1yh4UPrrfEkSa=w221-h342" width="221" /></a></div><span style="font-family: arial;">Schaub examines three speeches and related dates as “punctuation points”: Lincoln’s Second Inaugural, with themes tied to 1619 and the beginning of the sin of slavery of African Americans in North America; The Gettysburg Address, echoing 1776 and the Declaration of Independence; and young <a href="https://navyreads.blogspot.com/search?q=lyceum" target="_blank">Lincoln's Lyceum speech</a>, bringing forth ideals outlined in the Constitution of 1787: “American purpose and destiny” and respect for law and order.</span><p></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Lincoln wanted to place slavery “in the course of ultimate extinction.” He wanted progressive perpetuation of the nation in the face of disintegration. He called for a continued pursuit of “a more perfect union.”</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">This book is essential to understanding the reasons for (1) the insurrection of January 6, 2021, (2) the rise of white nationalism and violent extremism, (3) threats of a potential autocracy, and (4) the need to defend the Constitution and protect the rule of law, voting rights and personal freedoms.</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">In his <a href="https://www.abrahamlincolnonline.org/lincoln/speeches/lyceum.htm" target="_blank">Lyceum address</a>, Lincoln said, “The lawless in spirit are encouraged to become lawless in practice; and having been used to no restraint, but dread punishment, they thus become absolutely restrained. Having ever regarded Government as their deadliest bane, they make a jubilee of the suspension of its operations; and pray for nothing so much as its total annihilation.”</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">He called such lawlessness “Mobocratic spirit,” in which anger makes restraint more difficult. Lincoln saw “increasing disregard for the law” and risk of despotic autocracy that “fits the very definition of arbitrary rule: unlimited, unrestrained, capricious,” Schaub writes. “By contrast, these constitutionally articulated parts divide and check power through their complex relation to one another.”</span></p><p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjoCem1Yrj3V6usntBagN_9hC4HqZ4P0kKXicOCCO4pwM1YICuc226nZnju4gtv_PGqOzgkzSGm3Bakbf8m-_01Jr28VodAKTgqepGXsxyUmQTbj92tRDNDCTZdod91bqgg7VeQ50QY0ypHXNsIi02wlvxRjDd4LTEtW2Qm3egCAMQm4q1fsGMgMX8Hlxkr" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1041" data-original-width="1000" height="652" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjoCem1Yrj3V6usntBagN_9hC4HqZ4P0kKXicOCCO4pwM1YICuc226nZnju4gtv_PGqOzgkzSGm3Bakbf8m-_01Jr28VodAKTgqepGXsxyUmQTbj92tRDNDCTZdod91bqgg7VeQ50QY0ypHXNsIi02wlvxRjDd4LTEtW2Qm3egCAMQm4q1fsGMgMX8Hlxkr=w628-h652" width="628" /></a></td></tr></tbody></table><p></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(128, 1, 128); color: #800180; font-family: times; font-size: x-small;">Master Chief Marcious Kelley and another Sailor assigned to the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72) visit the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial in Washington D.C., January 27, 2017. USS Lincoln organized a tour for 23 Sailors of the Lincoln Memorial, the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial and the African-American History Museum. (Matthew Herbst)</span></p><p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(128, 1, 128); color: #800180; font-family: times; font-size: small;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Schaub compares Martin Luther King Jr.’s nonviolence with the concept of peaceableness: “Peaceableness is a demanding standard –– more demanding than non-violence since it applies to the attitude of those gathered, not just their actions.” Schaub also analyzes Lincoln's philosophy with the thinking of Frederick Douglass and Malcolm X, more prone to condoning violence than preaching peaceableness.</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The Lyceum speech ties back to another great American,<a href="https://navyreads.blogspot.com/search?q=George+Washington" target="_blank"> President George Washington</a>, and specifically Washington’s Farewell Address and warnings, not only of threats from other nations, but also of divisions from within. Schaub writes:</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: arial;"></span></p><blockquote><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: medium;">“Washington warns against sectionalism that would ‘tend to render Alien to each other those who ought to be bound together by fraternal affection’; Lincoln worries about ‘the alienation of their affections from the Government’ –– a generalized, rather than sectional, alienation felt by ‘the American People.’ Washington announces in the strongest terms that compliance with the law and the Constitution is ‘sacredly obligatory upon all’; the lesson in democratic theory is reiterated by Lincoln and supplemented with his call for a ‘political religion’ or ‘reverence’ for the Constitution and laws. Washington inveighs against the dangerous effects of ‘the strongest passions’ and the ‘cunning, ambitious and unprincipled men’ who would ‘usurp for themselves the reins of Government’; Lincoln, too, disparages passion –– calls it ‘our enemy’ –– and puts us on guard against the unbounded ambition of the republic-destroyers.”</span></span></blockquote><p></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The Founders, including Washington and especially Hamilton and Madison, were “aware of the power latent in the love of fame” so they set up a complex system of checks and balances to protect against the rise of a narcissistic ego-driven autocrat. The checks include the legislative, judicial, and executive branches as well as the balance of national/federal and state power.</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhs2cCu3but6RhYvBjTqBRRsDRuwbVK7ygfWsj9ZdN-weCn90Wzjk9zcK2Ky9uyXFJHeF4XXNnHG0mQS3xJUmtIu1E-cWlEv7AddUYS06tjcrW5gEA3pKx_py5EOJprAq-luJa_FY00OiKQgzJ6qm7jvOCE3LI308nN7_6MmLCCP-mdN1s79nbh6nVyXsmC" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1500" data-original-width="1000" height="347" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhs2cCu3but6RhYvBjTqBRRsDRuwbVK7ygfWsj9ZdN-weCn90Wzjk9zcK2Ky9uyXFJHeF4XXNnHG0mQS3xJUmtIu1E-cWlEv7AddUYS06tjcrW5gEA3pKx_py5EOJprAq-luJa_FY00OiKQgzJ6qm7jvOCE3LI308nN7_6MmLCCP-mdN1s79nbh6nVyXsmC=w232-h347" width="232" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #800180; font-family: times; font-size: xx-small;">Navy Recruiter PO Jasmine Allen (CPO Todd Macdonald)</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: arial;">“According to Lincoln,” Schaub writes, “the only restraint upon the incipient tyrant must come from the concerted resistance of … the people.”</span><p></p><p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">In order to progress from slavery, insurrection, racism and discrimination toward </span><span style="font-family: arial;">that "more perfect union," one needs faith in reason and critical thinking, not in passion and pure emotion.</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Lincoln and Washington used the word “passion” in its original meaning, that of strong feelings of a negative nature. Think: January 6th rioters and insurrectionists.</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Lincoln said, perhaps presciently, “Passion has helped us [in the Revolutionary War], but it can do so no more. It will in future be our enemy.”</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">“Passion,” to Lincoln, meant more hate, revenge, and fear –– more divisiveness. He even eschewed <i>com</i>passion, choosing instead to approach issues with logic.</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">According to Schaub, “Lincoln sought always to lift the slavery debate to the level of principle and unimpassioned reason, avoiding the dangerous ground of compassion, anger, and blame.”</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">In Lincoln’s case, the strong passions of the mob included vigilantism and lynchings that were happening especially in the South in the aftermath of the Civil War. His description of black bodies hanging from trees like so much Spanish moss reminds people of the Billie Holiday song “Strange Fruit,” Schaub observes.</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhadMKoEldzGLp5_VT1sHf54_Vk8kV_qgxV-T24niovOf4SDXXOkUxTRVeXxwjxzanpTr8PiRWK1XWKFk7K1sHZXgTY5IevIRxc_LMRpL7lWvr5JDedPv6lk9HHFN1-y0H7GUiwE9twSVKXlAC9fv6PkIIbXqDQLP47Fcbs3ElSxURklj1mE25YXAFkzwrT" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1280" data-original-width="960" height="335" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhadMKoEldzGLp5_VT1sHf54_Vk8kV_qgxV-T24niovOf4SDXXOkUxTRVeXxwjxzanpTr8PiRWK1XWKFk7K1sHZXgTY5IevIRxc_LMRpL7lWvr5JDedPv6lk9HHFN1-y0H7GUiwE9twSVKXlAC9fv6PkIIbXqDQLP47Fcbs3ElSxURklj1mE25YXAFkzwrT=w251-h335" width="251" /></a></div><span style="font-family: arial;">While the mob’s desire was to crack down on what they saw as crimes, they in fact emboldened the criminals. “When law is disregarded for the sake of justice, that provides license for those who would disregard law for purposes of their own.”</span><p></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Lincoln believed in obeying even “bad laws” until they could be changed. That is where his and MLK’s philosophy splits. In “Letter from a Birmingham Jail,” King calls for disobeying unconscionable laws but, importantly, disobeying them openly and lovingly.</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Yet, Schaub presents an example of Lincoln disobeying a law when the standard for doing so was “too intolerable.” It occurred during the war when the widow of a white officer who died while commanding African American troops pleaded with President Lincoln. She asked for him to help “widows” of fallen black service members who hadn’t been able to marry before going off to war and so were ineligible for death benefits for themselves and their children. Lincoln stepped in “as if there had been a legal marriage” and arranged for help to the widows and orphans.</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Schaub quotes Martin Luther King Jr. again later in <i>“His Greatest Speeches”</i>: “injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” Schaub writes, “Aware of the inescapable reciprocity of rights –– Lincoln always insisted that it was imperative to restore the belief in universal equality for the sake of white citizens, as well as for the sake of the enslaved people.”</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Schaub notes that Lincoln and King are “often viewed as our nation’s greatest moral lights.” The two great men would probably agree on Lincoln’s recommendations for preventing mobocracy and resulting autocracy.</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Lincoln’s solutions, as revealed by Schaub:</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"></span></p><blockquote><p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #274e13;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">— Have “reverence for the laws,” recognizing usurpation (wrongfully seizing power) is suicide.</span> </span></p></blockquote><blockquote>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #274e13;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">— Win public sentiment: with it, everything; without it, nothing.</span> </span></p></blockquote><blockquote>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #274e13;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">— Harness personal ambition rather than try to suppress it; steer ambition to the duties of office and the public good.</span> </span></p></blockquote><blockquote>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #274e13;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">— Recognize two fundamental blessings in the United States: Nature and Government: “Both legacies must be transmitted to the next generation.”</span> </span></p></blockquote><blockquote>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #274e13;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">— Be law-abiding, not out of fear but out of reverence.</span> </span></p></blockquote><blockquote>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #274e13;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">— Engage and prove the unproven proposition of the Founders, namely “the capability of a people to govern themselves.” Vote.</span> </span></p></blockquote><blockquote>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #274e13; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #274e13; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjCavh4lJ2f7-fNsVa77A7rDH0EAYul079u-0tBN8mCxbVjBm3EEuwS7TKY6oz79BQNExPXBMFvRIw5UzQyFCyUTYmpJnMP3lGRWEiObsbsUhrVaNie0cGH7vUXpY2Lr4hOIqGFFNSS9R4LRDwtP3_ojpTD5OHHV07_NRdj5ch6lLbGpiF2ioQ7AtS_RDQi" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="218" data-original-width="232" height="175" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjCavh4lJ2f7-fNsVa77A7rDH0EAYul079u-0tBN8mCxbVjBm3EEuwS7TKY6oz79BQNExPXBMFvRIw5UzQyFCyUTYmpJnMP3lGRWEiObsbsUhrVaNie0cGH7vUXpY2Lr4hOIqGFFNSS9R4LRDwtP3_ojpTD5OHHV07_NRdj5ch6lLbGpiF2ioQ7AtS_RDQi=w186-h175" width="186" /></a></span></div><span style="color: #274e13; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">— Become an educated citizenry; more education, more books! [It was remarkable and memorable when former CNO Adm. Jon Greenert unveiled his take on the Navy’s Reading Program in 2012 by standing in front of hundreds of books –– all related to Abraham Lincoln.]</span><p></p></blockquote><p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">“In his first appearance on the political stage, announcing his candidacy for office in 1832, Lincoln endorsed public education so that citizens might, through the reading of history, ‘duly appreciate the values of our free institutions.’ He makes a similar linkage here, telling us that the system of political institutions serves ‘the ends of civil and religious liberty’ and that the whole elaborate arrangement requires ‘general intelligence’ on the part of the people.”</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Lincoln refers to a tangible “fabric of freedom.”</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjuNmn00_bDkCFHdooqZ6IwdhprBkmAMcjKzV91b8toHgYKtWkChjwubwm92aJkL-vi1kzG-WaGamO2_fC7BJsQaIF0HvTWAcI2EKRbMzt1P8nA7vbCOiPv3POjPzj0wC6aoI-LRjasM3IvsxCmbp6F3gUptOzkYf8-ch0YH747TdO_QAICqq6OME70I7WR" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="664" data-original-width="1000" height="433" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjuNmn00_bDkCFHdooqZ6IwdhprBkmAMcjKzV91b8toHgYKtWkChjwubwm92aJkL-vi1kzG-WaGamO2_fC7BJsQaIF0HvTWAcI2EKRbMzt1P8nA7vbCOiPv3POjPzj0wC6aoI-LRjasM3IvsxCmbp6F3gUptOzkYf8-ch0YH747TdO_QAICqq6OME70I7WR=w654-h433" width="654" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 15px;"><span style="color: #800180; font-family: times; font-size: xx-small;">A command ball cap from the Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser USS Gettysburg (CG 64) rests upon on a stone wall on the battlefields of Gettysburg, Pa. The ship’s crew visited and paid honor to the ship’s longstanding ties to its namesake town, July 2, 2015. (MC3 Rachel E. Rakoff)</span></p></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: arial;">In <i>“His Greatest Speeches,”</i> Schaub dissects not only the Lyceum speech, but also the most famous American speech, The Gettysburg Address, as well as The Second Inaugural Address, where Lincoln says –– relevant to today’s controversies about what is taught in schools –– achievement of “a just and lasting peace among ourselves” requires reconciliation through what Schaub calls truth-telling and an inquiry into the cause and purpose of the war.”</span><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">In other words, we must teach the truth about slavery, the original sin, and take truth out from the shadows.</span><p></p></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9195380963524310455.post-8932176816210059282023-07-15T06:44:00.003-10:002023-07-15T06:44:57.817-10:00 ‘Second’ Thoughts: ‘Race and Guns’<p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-small;">Review by Bill Doughty––</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">“This is not a pro-gun or anti-gun book,” Carol Anderson writes.</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgKB01fSn74_Fe7C6EfonWKq_uJKofqM_OVNvIu6DYFBtlSp1C7phSFRWC18l2G178w4keTf2kMdhOqHy8o7dd4tMTstF8VO30z_25TMC8FTifSFFlx1xmqPf0_cUHKyXceQBFdxHzSxiY9Y5lAM-9KkSrA-5STfZBra9dybBTRPfEydUBctYG3gVnADGFd" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="760" data-original-width="500" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgKB01fSn74_Fe7C6EfonWKq_uJKofqM_OVNvIu6DYFBtlSp1C7phSFRWC18l2G178w4keTf2kMdhOqHy8o7dd4tMTstF8VO30z_25TMC8FTifSFFlx1xmqPf0_cUHKyXceQBFdxHzSxiY9Y5lAM-9KkSrA-5STfZBra9dybBTRPfEydUBctYG3gVnADGFd" width="158" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: arial;">It’s a book about disparate treatment, discrimination, and outright racism when it comes to the application of –– and even the creation of –– the Second Amendment: <i>“The Second: Race and Guns in a Fatally Unequal America”</i> (Bloomsbury Publishing, 2021).</span><p></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">How and why is there a “right to bear arms” in the Constitution’s Bill of Rights? What is a “well-regulated militia”? How has the United States military been part of or affected by the Second Amendment and its application? How is disparity as obvious as black and white?</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Anderson explores the origins of the Second Amendment and the Constitution itself. Madison worked tirelessly to build the document that would replace the rickety Articles of Confederation and set forth the ethos and ideals of the new nation based on equality and freedom.</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><blockquote><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="color: #0b5394; font-size: medium;">“But those intentions of creating a strong, viable republic committed to its lofty ideas crashed headlong into the unspoken reality of America: ‘Slavery was the largely unmentioned monster in the basement of the new nation.’ It was so fearsome that its name, like a dreaded demon, was never to be mentioned in the Constitution lest it erupt out from its darkened and dank lair and tear the fragile nation apart. There was something else besides fear, though, that required slavery to remain like a terrifying wrath haunting the nation’s founding document: guilt. John Dickinson, a delegate from Pennsylvania who drafted the original Articles of Confederation, noted that the very omission of ‘the WORD slavery…[from the Constitution was to] conceal a principle of which we are ashamed.’”</span></span></blockquote><p></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">As many Northern states were eliminating slavery from within their borders, southern states, especially South Carolina, was doubling down on the institution, threatening no support for the Constitution if the Atlantic slave trade were curtailed by legislation. Politicians from the Deep South showed extreme hypocrisy: on one hand forbidding enslaved people from citizenship, and on the other hand demanding they be counted in a census so the South would have more representation in Congress (leading to the cursed Three-Fifths Compromise by the Supreme Court).</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjvbx65kTmO2PBZoa1UTWsN9_6YOXkNg97Qu8Hes-_cTImrjh9dhD5TyL423G_U6Rptp9pitO34U4N-ezCjDgzaToJeE3y0a9hXO2DRkOxVCV9i1QTT7BRrAmK_9nsyQz6HPkrgRRqeHv36I6YHdcCuw9gpUreBOTp1B6aXB0JdXU1Kh1WNuvVxz2iugyLj" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="471" data-original-width="800" height="376" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjvbx65kTmO2PBZoa1UTWsN9_6YOXkNg97Qu8Hes-_cTImrjh9dhD5TyL423G_U6Rptp9pitO34U4N-ezCjDgzaToJeE3y0a9hXO2DRkOxVCV9i1QTT7BRrAmK_9nsyQz6HPkrgRRqeHv36I6YHdcCuw9gpUreBOTp1B6aXB0JdXU1Kh1WNuvVxz2iugyLj=w640-h376" width="640" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br />Anderson shows how the Second Amendment was also a compromise under the shadow of States’ Rights: the resistance to pay for a standing army and the fear, not just of government tyranny, but also primarily of slave revolts.</span><p></p><p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">An armed “well-regulated militia” was a whites-only concept meant to protect landowners from their chattel slaves who might seek freedom by any means necessary.</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Wealthy landowners two hundred years ago had every right to be afraid, considering violent slave rebellions in Haiti, Richmond, and New Orleans. Anderson describes the horrors associated with the revolts and what happened to captured insurgents: torture, mutilation, heads on poles.</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">In the South in the 1800s homes of black people were routinely searched. Guns and books along with other educational material were confiscated. Anderson writes, “Gun control laws, to be clear, were everywhere in antebellum America. Indeed, ‘the South was the gun control center of the United States…’”</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The “bravado” of a well-regulated militia was revealed in the War of 1812 against Great Britain. The British captured and burned the White House and U.S. Capitol, including the Library of Congress, in 1814. The young nation, under attack, in fact needed a standing army and navy.</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">As the British did in the Revolutionary War, they promised freedom to enslaved people in the War of 1812. Nevertheless, the American military recruited African Americans who fought and helped win the war. Of the three thousand soldiers and sailors who fought in the Battle of New Orleans, for example, six hundred were black.</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgY9aTa5oduTwCqF_36cDzela46vTrJkQzqVmPj63OpJCMdtfnVyjrVxBgZUqgR3MGaCg6Cjvnw_vtS4JfjODg5dkXeyo-zYdmXsQsbx9Oe6hAkwmRPaorPzKXOSIGpnpodvKGkG-_7BuFxpM4b0wtlbgxftJVf5mph5eatI2FKq0_2Os8rp9I22hbEuyPU" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="373" data-original-width="1024" height="234" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgY9aTa5oduTwCqF_36cDzela46vTrJkQzqVmPj63OpJCMdtfnVyjrVxBgZUqgR3MGaCg6Cjvnw_vtS4JfjODg5dkXeyo-zYdmXsQsbx9Oe6hAkwmRPaorPzKXOSIGpnpodvKGkG-_7BuFxpM4b0wtlbgxftJVf5mph5eatI2FKq0_2Os8rp9I22hbEuyPU=w640-h234" width="640" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br />Immediately after the war, General Andrew Jackson ordered blacks to be “summarily dismissed.” People of color were again banned from owning guns or ammunition. If found with a firearm, they were whipped. Endemic racism prevailed and was exacerbated by the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, which “was supposed to be part of a sectional compromise that would keep the United States actually united. Instead, it was a law that was so hated that the seams in the American fabric began to visibly tear apart.”</span><p></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The Civil War, which should have been a turning point for African Americans and their freedoms –– including the right to bear arms –– was largely a met with “nearly impenetrable barriers” of racism: Jim Crow laws, disparate treatment, and bigotry. “Andrew Johnson, who ascended the presidency after Lincoln’s assassination, was instrumental in sabotaging efforts to craft a political and legal environment in which the formerly enslaved and free blacks could live fully.” Johnson pardoned many Confederacy leaders and supported States’ Rights to restrict citizenship, gun ownership, and other rights of African Americans.</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Using carefully sourced documentation, Anderson presents the history of <a href="https://navyreads.blogspot.com/search?q=anti-lynching">lynchings</a>, massacres, and other violences committed against blacks, including black soldiers in the early 1900s. “The United States was a nation locked into a prison of anti-blackness absolutely unsafe for democracy and also for African Americans.</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjio0nHN-e21UzFNVDP5wbW8XudWy1ixsiiWPUAEic1SU_SP0dsSHCxx6WcQLiKxyqKwPDGrfTH9sPrrQId-BBnKgI-6VopxH1Gme9vfEpbojekwvGurwWsM_JM5-kUI_-bvodLtY0JV-jcrh9xl1uXl9xx9HRNbD0QuSUPVO7yTLyUpWNqUaF4EeiJ227I" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="453" data-original-width="600" height="483" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjio0nHN-e21UzFNVDP5wbW8XudWy1ixsiiWPUAEic1SU_SP0dsSHCxx6WcQLiKxyqKwPDGrfTH9sPrrQId-BBnKgI-6VopxH1Gme9vfEpbojekwvGurwWsM_JM5-kUI_-bvodLtY0JV-jcrh9xl1uXl9xx9HRNbD0QuSUPVO7yTLyUpWNqUaF4EeiJ227I=w640-h483" width="640" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br />Many Americans who lived through the Civil War were still alive when the United States entered World War I. As the United States prepared to fight in Europe, the military had trouble filling its ranks so opened recruitment to black American men via the 1917 Selective Service Act, still ensuring units were segregated but led only by white officers. Even then, some politicians from former Confederate states opposed the initiative, which allowed blacks to carry, train, and use weapons.</span><p></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Imagine the tension in Houston, Texas (the last state to acknowledge in 1865 the emancipation of enslaved people) when black soldiers were ordered to be stationed there in 1917 during WWI. Troops of the Army’s Third Battalion, Twenty-Fourth Infantry Regiment –– who had fought for the United States in Cuba, the Philippines, and Mexico –– were assigned to guard duty at a Houston army base. </span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The soldiers faced intense racism and discrimination by the local population, including the police, who referred to them in derogatory terms and dehumanizing disrespect. Clashes were frequent with law enforcement and white contract workers, who refused to show I.D.s to or “obey” black soldiers.</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">After civilian police officers beat two soldiers, shooting at one, dozens of members of the Twenty-Fourth armed themselves and marched to confront the police. The resulting confrontation resulted in the deaths of four soldiers and more than a dozen whites, including some police.</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">“Military justice was swift,” Anderson writes. “Nineteen of the soldiers were executed immediately after the trial and fifty-four were sentenced to prison.”</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Anderson’s book is rich in history of the Second Amendment –– especially related to the Constitutional Convention, events in the divisive 19th century, and milestones in the turbulent early 20th century.</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><i></i></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><i><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhQND1X7GlRjy3uAUWpAAUUgpjbCeUsjMAOK1xQYpVsGE5ZCd06vcODsVqDNigqcdbjyUDwBWcBqG9ChK-R6MiYctfXidTlfq_jley4CbtsmkERrqABLawmReE54pCPlErAA14SfhHRpW9EgwfVu3A3G5ostaC2-s0IsyACZp6Lw223LYmuNFAIHE0xOAYY" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="1400" height="166" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhQND1X7GlRjy3uAUWpAAUUgpjbCeUsjMAOK1xQYpVsGE5ZCd06vcODsVqDNigqcdbjyUDwBWcBqG9ChK-R6MiYctfXidTlfq_jley4CbtsmkERrqABLawmReE54pCPlErAA14SfhHRpW9EgwfVu3A3G5ostaC2-s0IsyACZp6Lw223LYmuNFAIHE0xOAYY=w290-h166" width="290" /></a></i></span></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>“The Second”</i> loses steam, though, by the time the chronology reaches the Second World War and Civil Rights movement of the 1950s and 60s, with a comparative dearth of discussion about that era. Nevertheless, Anderson finishes strong in bringing the issue to the 21st century: no-knock warrants, stand-your-ground laws, open-carry and concealed weapon legislation –– and how they impact African Americans today.</span><p></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Readers are left to contemplate: How does freedom to own, carry, and use firearms balance with the freedom from being shot? Who is responsible for a tyranny of gun violence in the United States?</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">This may not be “a pro-gun or anti-gun book,” but it is a fascinating, disturbing, and enlightening examination of the origins of the Second Amendment and its surprising relevance to the military and American wars as well as the meaning of true freedom.</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-small;">[Anderson capitalizes “Black” but lower-cases “white” when writing about people. While I understand the rationale for that style choice, I but don’t agree with the premise and prefer lower-case for both, in the spirit of <a href="https://navyreads.blogspot.com/search?q=serwer">Adam Serwer</a> and <a href="https://navyreads.blogspot.com/search?q=wilkerson">Isabel Wilkerson</a>.]</span></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9195380963524310455.post-3808629312578177602023-07-04T08:05:00.000-10:002023-07-04T08:05:39.852-10:00McVeigh/Constitution/Jan. 6 –– Part 3<p><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgBhFnKgRTD570Z-XG9QdP-vaxF-2NlnlHVGqBa7jcwqbGj2rdkhQru3oftx6uak_f3Zceb-b9E_yrVPOlHxxGP1fOotYai7S_rtHe-BDtM-IuypYxLZWBv0GvbKuzKdsCyPEPzVInpCXDX5Y02l1fvGxUZkX1YKt8Qhcs75BzGyxoz7cgFEI9h0_1lSQ0h" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="498" data-original-width="1106" height="289" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgBhFnKgRTD570Z-XG9QdP-vaxF-2NlnlHVGqBa7jcwqbGj2rdkhQru3oftx6uak_f3Zceb-b9E_yrVPOlHxxGP1fOotYai7S_rtHe-BDtM-IuypYxLZWBv0GvbKuzKdsCyPEPzVInpCXDX5Y02l1fvGxUZkX1YKt8Qhcs75BzGyxoz7cgFEI9h0_1lSQ0h=w642-h289" width="642" /></a></span></div><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Review by Bill Doughty––</span></span><p></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Why would anyone want to read about Army veteran-turned violent anarchist Timothy McVeigh, bomber of the Oklahoma City Murrah Federal Building in 1995? The premeditated attack killed 168 people (including 19 children). McVeigh believed that his act of violence would start a revolution and bring down the federal government.</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">He believed he was on the right side of the Constitution, and he tried to proclaim, through his monstrous act, another declaration of independence.</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiithvDRMHcJB9PSv21Jjku7kTR-WXHgEm-p84nLHfhDMzii5VE9HbErlr1fmN5g-6kaqyX61ZAYYcpeFGTPrR_EY2tkPpiFSrUB-Dc3mOmMbxaqDGsIUznqCqTTKO1hYJ5X74bNL8FzFnhsNTzrpvF9UH7k-HMFiZNnQmMO5s_XopJkVkQ-RPMP4PKLaq9" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="159" data-original-width="318" height="170" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiithvDRMHcJB9PSv21Jjku7kTR-WXHgEm-p84nLHfhDMzii5VE9HbErlr1fmN5g-6kaqyX61ZAYYcpeFGTPrR_EY2tkPpiFSrUB-Dc3mOmMbxaqDGsIUznqCqTTKO1hYJ5X74bNL8FzFnhsNTzrpvF9UH7k-HMFiZNnQmMO5s_XopJkVkQ-RPMP4PKLaq9=w338-h170" width="338" /></a><span style="font-family: arial;">What McVeigh did in 1995 resonates in some of the issues of today: His stances on no gun control, states’ rights over the federal government, and deeply held white separatist and misogynist beliefs. McVeigh said he wanted to make America “great” again: “I want a country that operates like it did 150 years ago—no income taxes, no property taxes, no oppressive police, free land in the West.”</span></p><p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Toobin notes, however, “He didn’t mention slavery.” Or women not having the right to vote.</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></div><span style="font-family: arial;">Toobin’s <i>“Homegrown: Timothy McVeigh and the Rise of Right-Wing Extremism”</i> (Simon & Schuster, 2023) ties McVeigh’s beliefs to some of the followers of former President Donald Trump who beat police, threatened politicians, and illegally entered and vandalized the U.S. Capitol in an attempt to interrupt Congress and the electoral process. As we’ve noted in previous posts, many of the insurrectionists are military veterans.</span><p></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">McVeigh washed out of Green Beret training and left the Army before fulfilling his contract, so had to pay back $3,000 to the government. He believed in a host of conspiracies and held numerous grievances, much like the ultra-MAGA followers who stormed the U.S. Capitol on January 6.</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Among the characters in the first paragraph of the prologue to <i>“Homegrown” </i>is Alex Jones, the host of Info Wars and conspiracy theorist who posited that the Sandy Hook massacre of children was a hoax. Jones stoked the flames of grievance on the eve of the insurrection, saying, “We declare 1776 against the New World Order. We need to understand we’re under attack, and we need to understand this is 21st century warfare and get on a war-footing.”</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Alex Jones wasn’t the only one to encourage violence. Trump’s attorney Rudy Giuliani called for “trial by combat” on January 6. Trump himself told the crowd that morning, “And we’re going to the Capitol. And we fight. We fight like hell. And if you don’t fight like hell, you’re not going to have a country anymore.” Trump, who has been impeached twice and indicted twice for separate alleged crimes, might be indicted again, perhaps in more than one jurisdiction, for his role in subverting the Constitution and interfering in the 2020 election.</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiBCo6ZqlyaqnCFc2NtZLGI1YFnG260OAc6b0Zz_PN1oyuXJYoV3yvbFkjUGEzlcMCo7x4CKW-5KpldKA34DmkSpJalnvs1dOEvS0okvqj7f-KBgJUIfSxOSviunDY-T5IQz5gWadIjLQ6xBf5jUk4TBdgcHyGe8wLP1gnoyspSV50fHt2p5WnjuiPNkT9k" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="169" data-original-width="299" height="176" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiBCo6ZqlyaqnCFc2NtZLGI1YFnG260OAc6b0Zz_PN1oyuXJYoV3yvbFkjUGEzlcMCo7x4CKW-5KpldKA34DmkSpJalnvs1dOEvS0okvqj7f-KBgJUIfSxOSviunDY-T5IQz5gWadIjLQ6xBf5jUk4TBdgcHyGe8wLP1gnoyspSV50fHt2p5WnjuiPNkT9k=w312-h176" width="312" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #800180; font-family: times; font-size: x-small;">Murrah Building, Oklahoma City (FBI)</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: arial;">A quarter of a century earlier, in 1994, Timothy McVeigh wrote a letter to the American Legion and expressed his anger: “We members of the citizen’s militias do not bear our arms to overthrow the Constitution, but to overthrow those who PERVERT the Constitution. If and when they once again draw first blood, Citizen’s militias will hopefully ensure that violations of the Constitution by these power-hungry stormtroopers of the federal government will not succeed again.”</span><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhomgGCyyTjxvrQa01dv24lehSSA7B36GRh_J0uUrjOL2zvFUOGMf-4xNiY_4zoiMiYua1XC5MtpYre7H3tDAYf-TCN7RKzwiElVgM2aiYrxY4xz6mYSQLnukD9yT68Vzt6h235DoV056e4yf9z4vtime-2Tm6CrT4_2LCbUXKnFVTWoxJqsy03DiA0RjKG" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1503" data-original-width="1024" height="270" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhomgGCyyTjxvrQa01dv24lehSSA7B36GRh_J0uUrjOL2zvFUOGMf-4xNiY_4zoiMiYua1XC5MtpYre7H3tDAYf-TCN7RKzwiElVgM2aiYrxY4xz6mYSQLnukD9yT68Vzt6h235DoV056e4yf9z4vtime-2Tm6CrT4_2LCbUXKnFVTWoxJqsy03DiA0RjKG=w185-h270" width="185" /></a><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></div><span style="font-family: arial;">A year later, McVeigh carried out his bombing with direct assistance from fellow Army veteran Terry Nichols, who was ultimately convicted and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.</span><p></p><p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Another Army pal, Michael Fortier, knew about the plan in advance and even went with McVeigh to Oklahoma City to case the Murrah building.</span></p><p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Fortier and his wife, Lori, who had a role in assisting the bomber, eventually testified for the prosecution and were provided with new identities and relocated under the federal witness protection program.</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Nichols and Fortier, like McVeigh, believed they were on the right side of the Constitution. "They regarded the right to 'bear arms' as a license for citizens to fight back against the government."</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Toobin recounts a chilling interview with Fortier.</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">When interviewed by the FBI’s Danny Coulson, special agent in charge, Fortier tried to hide behind the Constitution:</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><blockquote><p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">“‘We’re at war,’ Fortier told Coulson. ‘You don’t understand.’</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Coulson was having none of it. ‘No we’re not,’ he said. ‘If we were at war, I would have killed McVeigh, and I would have killed you, because I have the capability. You may be at war with your country, but your country is not at war with you.’</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">‘Well,’ Fortier answered. ‘It’s about the Constitution.’</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">‘Oh, you’re right,’ the agent responded. ‘It is about the Constitution, and we’re going to investigate you under the Constitution, and the Attorney General has said this is a death penalty case. And I can put every agent in the FBI on you, and we’re going to indict you under the Constitution.’</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Coulson leaned in to the tiny table where they were sitting, their knees nearly touching. ‘And then we’re going to convict you under the Constitution, and we’ll handle your appeal under the Constitution,’ Coulson went on, his voice lowering to nearly a whisper. ‘And one day we’re going to stick a needle in you, and kill you under the Constitution.’</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Fortier’s eyes widened, and he didn’t have much to say in response.”</span></p></blockquote><p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The initial Justice Department lead supervisor investigating the bombing was then-Principal Deputy Attorney General Merrick Garland, who was called away to investigate the Unabomber’s terrorism campaign. Toobin notes Garland’s role then and now as Attorney General after Garland appointed Special Counsel Jack Smith to investigate Trump’s mishandling of classified information as well as his role instigating the J6 insurrection.</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg-yEBmvRJLPRci7PaoxCMKAv6lHDkdL4lFADblXLEmjwTCbZv058KFxJ8Vn65loa2t8cZ-w5cW5GWfXe8VhG079lRYfWwG6avgWy2uoRFm5nWD7H_DiQXjZecwZB3QM8rFU-KUjwitHuD2Bhlsh-IQMQslnM-ZP_JzpWhKVm3wkjUsVqjpVmbWalAo9DMH" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="344" data-original-width="248" height="241" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg-yEBmvRJLPRci7PaoxCMKAv6lHDkdL4lFADblXLEmjwTCbZv058KFxJ8Vn65loa2t8cZ-w5cW5GWfXe8VhG079lRYfWwG6avgWy2uoRFm5nWD7H_DiQXjZecwZB3QM8rFU-KUjwitHuD2Bhlsh-IQMQslnM-ZP_JzpWhKVm3wkjUsVqjpVmbWalAo9DMH=w174-h241" width="174" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #800180; font-family: times; font-size: x-small;">Toobin</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: arial;">Toobin writes how Trump, after his presidency, “abandoned any pretense of detachment from right-wing extremist groups. He openly embraced QAnon, a quasi-mystical political cult that spreads the false theory that the Democratic Party runs pedophile rings.”</span><p></p><p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Trump praised <a href="https://navyreads.blogspot.com/search?q=Ashlii" target="_blank">Ashlii Babbitt</a> as a martyr and condemned the federal officer who shot her as a “thug” and a “murderer.” He recorded the national anthem with imprisoned J6 insurrectionists. He predicted violence if indicted for various crimes he allegedly committed. And, amazingly, “He called for the ‘termination’ of the Constitution, pledged support for the January 6 rioters [saying several times he would offer pardons if re-elected], and dined with notorious white supremacists.”</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Trump expressed a demand to change the Constitution in order to keep him in power, claiming as part of a Big Lie, that the 2020 election was stolen from him: “A Massive Fraud of this type and magnitude allows for the termination of all rules, regulations, and articles, even those found in the Constitution,” Trump wrote in a post on his social network Truth Social. The former commander in chief announced his 2024 campaign for re-election in Waco during the 30th anniversary of the seige that inspired McVeigh to bomb the Murrah Building.</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Toobin concludes, “In the nearly 30 years since the Oklahoma City bombing, the country took an extraordinary journey –– from nearly universal horror at the action of a right-wing extremist to wide embrace of a former president (also possibly a future president) who reflected the bomber’s values.”</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">“As we have seen, too, the rioters and their allies in the January 6 insurrection dressed up their arguments with invocations of the American Revolution. They chanted ‘1776’ as their attempt to overthrow a democracy were comparable to the Founders’ effort to create one.” The yellow Gadsden flag (Don’t Tread on Me), which flew during the American Revolution, was almost as popular as QAnon flags on January 6.</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">In 2021, the Big Lie was the phantom conspiracy that resulted in an actual conspiracy: to create fake electors, pressure the vice president to overturn the election, and storm the Capitol in a coup attempt by Trump supporters.</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><blockquote><p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">“The events of January 6, 2021, saw the full flowering of McVeigh’s legacy in contemporary politics. McVeigh was obsessed with gun rights; he saw the bombing as akin to the revolutionary struggle of the Founding Fathers; and he believed that violence was justified to achieve his goals. So did the rioters on January 6.</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">“Among those at the Capitol, there was, to an unappreciated degree, a substantial focus on gun rights and the Second Amendment. The Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers, the two most prominent extremist groups involved in the January 6 assault, embraced gun rights above all other issues, just as McVeigh did. Joe Biggs of the Proud Boys was prominently featured at National Rifle Association events, and much of the group’s merchandise features guns and slogans like 'From my cold dead hands' –– a reference to NRA leader Charlton Heston’s famous boast. The Oath Keepers are descended even more directly from the Oklahoma City conspirators, with their shared obsession with gun rights.”</span></p></blockquote><p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Not surprisingly, The Oklahoma City bombing prompted conspiracies, especially in right-wing circles, with some saying the bombing was done by left-wing groups, Filipino insurrectionists, Islamist terrorists, or the U.S. government itself.</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">During President George W. Bush’s administration, the Department of Homeland Security was commissioned to assess and report on terrorism, including within the borders of the country. The report was issued in April 2009 shortly after President Barack Obama became president. Many conservatives, including right-wing media and politicians, took exception to the findings of the threat of far-right extremism on the homefront.</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEggZ34L3JXMIQfM3f1nXZJxwM5zAIo5PWIxn7bvt8zxlPVbKzpP0w5O6oJm7wvhuPA2-CrIVSII__LWlBJzuBpCo4WY16N-lUSwZI9zTwMrfDshL6i-vMU7VosjP2Uey3LGyg8fk259JxFTekM5HhMmtZ7ImDOKJ9rzdJ1eeTqkwzxhqeMbK-KOoRpRIW0O" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1013" data-original-width="1800" height="359" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEggZ34L3JXMIQfM3f1nXZJxwM5zAIo5PWIxn7bvt8zxlPVbKzpP0w5O6oJm7wvhuPA2-CrIVSII__LWlBJzuBpCo4WY16N-lUSwZI9zTwMrfDshL6i-vMU7VosjP2Uey3LGyg8fk259JxFTekM5HhMmtZ7ImDOKJ9rzdJ1eeTqkwzxhqeMbK-KOoRpRIW0O=w638-h359" width="638" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br />U.S. Representative Lamar Smith of Texas blasted the Obama administration for being “awfully willing to paint law-abiding Americans, including war veterans, as ‘extremists.’” According to Toobin, “Representative Steve Buyer [of Indiana] the top Republican on the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee, said it was ‘inconceivable’ that veterans could pose a threat.</span><p></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Today, Republicans have caused a halt in stand-downs by the Department of Defense to evaluate how much anti-government violent extremists are serving in uniform. Though coming from a party purporting to back law and order, some MAGA extremists have targeted the FBI and other federal law enforcement, some even calling for disbanding the agency.</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Why would anyone want to read about Army veteran-turned violent anarchist Timothy McVeigh, bomber of the Oklahoma City Murrah Federal Building in 1995? Perhaps to understand extremism, learn how people can believe in such violence, and see the links to a potential constitutional crisis. And maybe as a warning about what might happen after the 2024 election if believers in the Big Lie don’t get their way –– or if they do.</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The best antidote to ignorance is education and being open to new information. In the words of Jeffrey Toobin, “Extremism is defined, at least in part, by aversion to accepted wisdom.”</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiflSLBuje43PCBnLjRQGS1QsC7SvR5UPDBmV4vn7XqNnqBc1Bo42qemsfVbCTdtdcz7tpJtppvuZYWRsiOi0gdPD-GbdPnmaZwtZAakWp7xoHwxk4pVG331Eoqx-Ko9RI49GBfU11no8exRyfM9IcY0Zm_zzkJ_ejLVDb6azjqlBtA3Pa4pV0_EjJbBUSU" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="813" data-original-width="1320" height="402" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiflSLBuje43PCBnLjRQGS1QsC7SvR5UPDBmV4vn7XqNnqBc1Bo42qemsfVbCTdtdcz7tpJtppvuZYWRsiOi0gdPD-GbdPnmaZwtZAakWp7xoHwxk4pVG331Eoqx-Ko9RI49GBfU11no8exRyfM9IcY0Zm_zzkJ_ejLVDb6azjqlBtA3Pa4pV0_EjJbBUSU=w653-h402" width="653" /></a></div><p></p><p style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #800180; font-family: times; font-size: xx-small;">McVeigh's lead lawyer, Stephen Jones (right) and second-in-command Rob Nigh with Timothy McVeigh in Oklahoma's El Reno prison. They wanted another picture of their client for media use besides the sinister-looking image at the perp walk.<span style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;"> (</span>AP Photo/Kathy Roberts, Courtesy of Simon & Schuster)</span></p><div><span style="color: #535353;"><b><br /></b></span></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9195380963524310455.post-37555987644948686182023-06-30T16:54:00.001-10:002023-07-04T06:23:21.451-10:00 McVeigh/Constitution/Jan. 6 –– Part 2<p><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Review by Bill Doughty––</span></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj1V3qD2DIAiBafxD5eckCXGKelZOLGoIiaE84vxZ6cYzftMPQz12u65N12bPhrRiN-DDMvnIxvJ9hMlK9P9N5HUvvYwu0kIErzag6gk0iBHx6q8wsQUeChq-ThwNQCzRHZft9w8uJLdHGFCRXlmvWkkeJF-jDGSQvVrY2B6X7QluP6iQWeaWCMePcNkReR" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="2125" data-original-width="1400" height="442" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj1V3qD2DIAiBafxD5eckCXGKelZOLGoIiaE84vxZ6cYzftMPQz12u65N12bPhrRiN-DDMvnIxvJ9hMlK9P9N5HUvvYwu0kIErzag6gk0iBHx6q8wsQUeChq-ThwNQCzRHZft9w8uJLdHGFCRXlmvWkkeJF-jDGSQvVrY2B6X7QluP6iQWeaWCMePcNkReR=w291-h442" width="291" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: arial;">Author Jeffrey Toobin has written the best biography so far of the Oklahoma City bomber in “Homegrown: Timothy McVeigh and the Rise of Right-Wing Extremism” (Simon & Schuster, 2023). He ties together both the beliefs and actions of McVeigh with the motivations of other extremists and insurrectionists.</span><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">This is an important book for anyone committed to preventing white supremacists, anarchists, and other violent extremists from serving in the military. Throughout the book, Toobin also ties McVeigh to those who believe it’s OK to overturn an election and attack the nation’s Capitol.</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">McVeigh was convicted after an Army buddy, Tim Fortier (and wife Lori), flipped and testified for the prosecution. McVeigh’s direct partner in crime, another Army veteran named Terry Nichols, helped prepare the fertilizer-fuel bombs and plan the bombing. Nichols was also convicted for his role in the crime.</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">McVeigh began basic training at Fort Benning, Georgia, May 24, 1988 –– just over 35 years ago. On his first day he met Nichols, a 33-year-old recruit.</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"></span></p><blockquote><p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">“Their friendship, which curdled into a conspiracy, was born in the military. The two men were among the earliest, and certainly the most prominent, examples of the link between modern right-wing extremism and the armed forces. This connection carried forward to the January 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol. About 7 percent of the adult population are either veterans or active-duty service members, but approximately 15 percent of those arrested belonged to those groups. Those charged with more serious crimes, like sedition, consisted overwhelmingly of veterans. The Proud Boys and Oath Keepers, two extremist groups whose members were leaders of the insurrection, were dominated by veterans. The prevalence of veterans among the extremists raised the question of whether the military attracted those predisposed to violent political action or whether service in the armed forces radicalized those who might not otherwise turn to terror.</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">“As for McVeigh, he was included toward extremism when he enlisted. He joined the military principally because it would allow him to indulge his passion for weaponry –– not an unusual reason –– but he already had a distinct right-wing political profile as well. He was angry at Blacks, whom he regarded as parasites, and a government which he thought was going to take away his guns.”</span></p></blockquote><p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Toobin writes, “McVeigh had the anger and the energy, but he didn’t have any real justification for how he felt.” That’s where Terry Nichols, a man who failed at everything he did, came in. Nichols blamed his failures on international conspiracies and an evil U.S. government that wanted to confiscate all guns. Like McVeigh, Nichols believed the intent of the Second Amendment was to arm all Americans in order to “fight tyranny.”</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">In actuality, it was McVeigh, Nichols, and the Fortiers who formed an actual conspiracy –– to try to bring down a democratic government and bring about their own tyranny of terrorism.</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">They acted out of a twisted justification: Angry because of the passage of the gun control Brady Bill in 1993 and the assault weapons ban of 1994, signed by President Bill Clinton.</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgjnKsiqf6MpHZBZN3Vo1VuGnyQE5XjqBZoq3v7ikc1dBMtZK4D7wSnMn4pHdTzCqGPrts-ukj3Xxq6rXBBRumkGIhbvTw_gDJBwRhfLWGAZ9lmc9T2y_UdT_2rnQ0IgSodyjqBDeWn78N4NlORiLtsGna6BaT3l1uHlTiDMSvtD88EECTQpxYqJkMcHvYJ" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="542" data-original-width="720" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgjnKsiqf6MpHZBZN3Vo1VuGnyQE5XjqBZoq3v7ikc1dBMtZK4D7wSnMn4pHdTzCqGPrts-ukj3Xxq6rXBBRumkGIhbvTw_gDJBwRhfLWGAZ9lmc9T2y_UdT_2rnQ0IgSodyjqBDeWn78N4NlORiLtsGna6BaT3l1uHlTiDMSvtD88EECTQpxYqJkMcHvYJ" width="319" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #800180; font-family: times; font-size: x-small;">McVeigh at Waco</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: arial;">They also wanted to avenge the deaths at Ruby Ridge in 1992 and Waco in 1993 at the hands of Federal officers. They were enraged at the FBI. McVeigh had visited Waco during the siege, attempting to sell anti-government and pro-guns stickers from his car. McVeigh’s goal was to start a civil war to prevent the government from confiscating weapons, even though such a confiscation wasn’t planned.</span><p></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Toobin shows how McVeigh tried to find success selling guns, accessories, and his bumper stickers at gun shows. At the shows he was further influenced to hate and have grievance toward the government. “The causes promoted at gun shows only began with the Second Amendment, and they included closing the borders, avoiding taxes, and defending the rights of Christians. Confederate flags and memorabilia abounded. So did right-wing literature.”</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">At one gun show McVeigh traded some clothing items with the head of security of a Christian Identity white separatist group at Elohim City. McVeigh traded for a Navy combat knife and sheath, according to Toobin.</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Despite his penchant for pistols, long-guns, and knives, McVeigh chose to murder from afar. His ultimate choice of weapon was a massive bomb in a Ryder truck parked outside the Murrah Federal Building.</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">There’s an ironic “postscript” to McVeigh’s arrest after an Oklahoma trooper pulled McVeigh’s car over for a missing license plate but then discovered he was carrying a handgun without a permit, which at the time was illegal. But “In 2019, the state changed its laws to allow individuals twenty-one and older to carry guns without permits.” If the trooper had stopped McVeigh under the new law, he would not have arrested him –– just issued him a ticket.</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Toobin’s book explores the influential role of the book The Turner Diaries, radio talk-show hosts Rush Limbaugh and G. Gordon Liddy, politician Pat Buchanan, the National Rifle Association, and shortwave radio ideologue William Cooper in shaping McVeigh’s hatred of the federal government. Toobin presents a graphic description of the bombing, as well as McVeigh’s trial, incarceration, and twisted relationship with his defense counsel, Stephen Jones, who strictly controlled reporters’ communication with his client. </span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhKhg7oeLX-T60wP_mLmjgtab8Em2Yu4e2v12e0-O1yUyivmeIaqo1ncFE-kUL-tpJnV5Q9E7LxktltCKmjf4iWIeKUkfYcibqBDcR0XQHHzWgg23tqcqIupuPyrNkZNhvR-OSIr3D0gyBBBcpqf9poi4_VPStu509X-XFtjB4XjN9-V2bFosj-XtSpg9hl" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="439" data-original-width="496" height="181" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhKhg7oeLX-T60wP_mLmjgtab8Em2Yu4e2v12e0-O1yUyivmeIaqo1ncFE-kUL-tpJnV5Q9E7LxktltCKmjf4iWIeKUkfYcibqBDcR0XQHHzWgg23tqcqIupuPyrNkZNhvR-OSIr3D0gyBBBcpqf9poi4_VPStu509X-XFtjB4XjN9-V2bFosj-XtSpg9hl=w204-h181" width="204" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #800180; font-family: times; font-size: x-small;">McVeigh under arrest</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: arial;">Jones, however, arranged for an interview with one journalist who was permitted to report on his meeting with McVeigh, according to Toobin. “David Hackworth, who wrote for Newsweek, was a decorated soldier who had turned into a prominent and opinionated writer about war.”</span><p></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Toobin writes, “McVeigh told Hackworth the Army ‘teaches you to discover yourself. It teaches you who you are. Hackworth explained, ‘To warriors, the military is like a religious order. It’s not a job. It’s a calling. Not too many people understand that calling or have what it takes.”</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Hackworth reported, “Looking into McVeigh’s eyes in the El Reno prison, I realized that my gut feeling was right. He has what a lot of soldiers, good and bad, have: fire in the belly.”</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>“Homegrown”</i> opens like this: “The spirit of rebellion was in the air on January 6, 2021.” The first seditionist mentioned by Toobin is head of the Oath Keepers, Stewart Rhodes, Army veteran (who would eventually be sentenced to 18 years in prison for his role on J6). The next named insurrectionist is “Chris Hill, a Marine veteran who led an extremist group from Georgia” and “called the attack on the Capitol a ‘shot heard round the world,’ echoing the world used to describe the Battle of Lexington on April 19, 1775.”</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">On June 29, a January 6 rioter named Taylor Taranto, a Navy veteran, was arrested near former President Barack Obama’s home. Taranto had worked for the Republican Party in Washington state and volunteered for the GOP, according to the Associated Press. Taranto was armed with explosive materials and weapons. He was wanted for his role in the violent insurrection at the Capitol.</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Last April, FBI agents arrested Air Force active duty Airman Jack Teixeira for unauthorized retention and transmission of national defense information in violation of the Espionage Act of 1917 as well as unauthorized removal and retention of classified documents or material. Texeira, a proclaimed white supremacist, was indicted June 15.</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj6XcIfmSMU64EcFKfeexzjeAQi2mYlBrIgXl8XODAlUF5WrEj8UByjBxCdSVYaUThj1-eG25iiEDMC0--CclT3rG-vGf6_QnikJFEd0IVayeQKFowmiS9oEt2nDGO3HQArWeCGd7H3JKFe_D72oIu9pdoleHxn6QYCgOZd2Tk0SXJyoo7Da2TuH09nBvI5" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="199" data-original-width="200" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj6XcIfmSMU64EcFKfeexzjeAQi2mYlBrIgXl8XODAlUF5WrEj8UByjBxCdSVYaUThj1-eG25iiEDMC0--CclT3rG-vGf6_QnikJFEd0IVayeQKFowmiS9oEt2nDGO3HQArWeCGd7H3JKFe_D72oIu9pdoleHxn6QYCgOZd2Tk0SXJyoo7Da2TuH09nBvI5" width="241" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #800180; font-family: times; font-size: x-small;">Beth Wilkinson</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: arial;">In stark contrast to McVeigh, Nichols, and Fortier, were a host of former soldiers who sought justice and accountability: United States District Judge (and retired Brigadier General) Wayne Alley, Judge Richard Matsch (who kept a portrait of General George S. Patton on his desk), private investigator (and World War II veteran) Marty Reed, and prosecutor Beth Wilkinson (a former Army captain). Wilkinson argued for the death penalty for McVeigh.</span><p></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">During McVeigh’s trial, the Murrah victims’ family members in the courtroom "seethed at McVeigh’s deadpan expression in response to even the most heartrending testimony; but McVeigh told his lawyers that he wanted to maintain military discipline. He refused to show any emotion at all.” To the end, “McVeigh continued to see the bombing as a soldier’s duty…”</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">McVeigh was put to death by lethal injection after a rather interesting last meal. What happened to his cremated remains, as described by Toobin, is a chilling metaphor and a power-punch at the end of the book.</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Thankfully, good military veterans far outweigh the bad. Regarding extremism in the ranks, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin testified to Congress that “99.9% of our troops are focused on the right things each and every day.”</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Thousands of military service members and federal workers were involved in rescue, recovery, counseling, and clean-up after the bombing of the Murrah Building. Today, the U.S. military tries to enforce regulations against violent extremists in its ranks (though efforts are hampered by some politicians in Congress).</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Toobin presents compelling revelations in this timely account of senseless violence, helping readers understand how such extremism can develop and metastasize.</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">In part 3 of this review, we explore what happened to McVeigh’s partner, Terry Nichols. We examine McVeigh’s and Nichols’s crime as it relates to the U.S. Constitution. And we see how McVeigh may have actually succeeded in recruiting others to support his radical right-wing extremism.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; color: #42474b; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiuvrMQt_dj0ivRWG2sGEncnr5VMYnb-UStgnyFIRDcWx36nrO1RVM7gAIRJ8yBkRcYK6LyyiYEUB9ER6wYOrJBPBdiKm4ep7FaTD6J3HMLKCHQ8Q66JaZFaGhG4xWx5MoKTkkqU5XnUwyAkVQob1SVRQ73hpfk4C-P_jhD2yVxCQzz2y_2XzJDuU1G68eO" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1681" data-original-width="2560" height="430" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiuvrMQt_dj0ivRWG2sGEncnr5VMYnb-UStgnyFIRDcWx36nrO1RVM7gAIRJ8yBkRcYK6LyyiYEUB9ER6wYOrJBPBdiKm4ep7FaTD6J3HMLKCHQ8Q66JaZFaGhG4xWx5MoKTkkqU5XnUwyAkVQob1SVRQ73hpfk4C-P_jhD2yVxCQzz2y_2XzJDuU1G68eO=w655-h430" width="655" /></a></span></div><p></p><p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #800180; font-family: times; font-size: x-small;">U.S. Air Force personnel from Tinker Air Force Base work alongside civilian firefighters to remove rubble from the explosion site of the Federal Building in Oklahoma City. The U.S. Air Force provided around-the-clock support of personnel, equipment, and supplies during rescue and relief efforts. (SSgt Mark A. More)</span></p></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9195380963524310455.post-18369987802644948212023-06-29T09:35:00.002-10:002023-07-04T06:23:46.897-10:00McVeigh/Constitution/Jan. 6 –– Part 1<p><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgdj1McoxxCtKOE1aV-y3sOUbijssiJqo6uXdxr0HJnkoiNL1mGuI8mG5plWQB1uZ1iDZl3HtDP_4tuVkvWIhGk_lvMhd9wKQ5jB33ZD7V6Hkr8h0l3hP4kElV69jlVvN69Y3ZjdI_iL6wMOwTTBN1PjbzpblROexgasAOlRr1FGEXiwzmFI0w6qAFe-OAl" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="905" data-original-width="1280" height="463" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgdj1McoxxCtKOE1aV-y3sOUbijssiJqo6uXdxr0HJnkoiNL1mGuI8mG5plWQB1uZ1iDZl3HtDP_4tuVkvWIhGk_lvMhd9wKQ5jB33ZD7V6Hkr8h0l3hP4kElV69jlVvN69Y3ZjdI_iL6wMOwTTBN1PjbzpblROexgasAOlRr1FGEXiwzmFI0w6qAFe-OAl=w655-h463" width="655" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-small;">Review by Bill Doughty––</span><p></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>“Homegrown: Timothy McVeigh and the Rise of Right-Wing Extremism”</i> by Jeffrey Toobin (Simon & Schuster, 2023) is a relevant and necessary account of the bombing of the Murrah federal building in Oklahoma City in 1995 during President Bill Clinton's administration. </span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The bombing was sparked by anger and hatred in the wake of “woke,” even before that term became popular. Timothy McVeigh, the Army-veteran-turned-right-wing-extremist was an avid supporter of states’ rights, white separatism, and unobstructed Second Amendment access to military-style assault weapons.</span></p><p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhCYHmZP5UtzcfjgIko6CIvimt6CeW92egzboMxE-NvvyWVzOtSGD1LPP6qkaSGXd1Qx2xJyNEvqjTS3_pZl-PtStc2tWBG4jso-KcEBTMXtWEs8FjHLf7fKXwrVZhm9Lgct5AHcUOPTLoj4mqWxN0knVYaRcXIySOA1ocSWvWbg40u3bmrBDukEHLbcF31" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="168" data-original-width="299" height="191" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhCYHmZP5UtzcfjgIko6CIvimt6CeW92egzboMxE-NvvyWVzOtSGD1LPP6qkaSGXd1Qx2xJyNEvqjTS3_pZl-PtStc2tWBG4jso-KcEBTMXtWEs8FjHLf7fKXwrVZhm9Lgct5AHcUOPTLoj4mqWxN0knVYaRcXIySOA1ocSWvWbg40u3bmrBDukEHLbcF31=w338-h191" width="338" /></a></div><span style="font-family: arial;">He wanted to spawn a militia army to start a civil war against the federal government. He hoped his bomb –– which killed or maimed hundreds of men, women, and children –– would inspire others.</span><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">And McVeigh may have been right about his expectation about gaining support for the causes he espoused.</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">White supremacist Dylann Roof left a McVeigh-like manifesto trying to justify his murder of nine parishioners in Charleston, South Carolina. Brandon Russell, the leader of a neo-Nazi group was arrested in Tampa, Florida, in possession of explosives; “there was a framed photo of McVeigh on his nightstand.” Richard Tobin, of Brooklawn, New Jersey, wanted to see bombings of synagogues around the country quoting the method used by McVeigh. Timothy Wilson planned to blow up non-Christian worship centers and an elementary school in the Kansas City area; he quoted Timothy McVeigh in a text to an associate.</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Toobin presents dozens of other examples of homegrown terrorism by white supremacists, vigilante militia members, Christian nationalists and anti-abortionists. He says the “Unite the Right” rally in Charleston, Virginia, in August 2017 showed that “the ‘army’ that McVeigh told his lawyers he was seeking had finally assembled.” Neo-Nazis, militia members, and other extremists gathered there and violently clashed with left-wing protesters who were demanding the removal of a statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee.</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Toobin also notes how “terrorism associated with radical Islam and left-wing extremists never disappeared from the United States.” He cites the 2009 shooting of 13 unarmed soldiers by a psychiatrist at Fort Hood, Texas; the 2015 mass shooting by an Islamist couple in San Bernardino, California; the 2017 shooting by a leftist political activist at a congressional baseball game; and the stalking and threatening by a mentally ill protester of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh.</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">“Still, the record is clear that there were far fewer of these attacks than those by right-wing extremists,” Toobin writes. Indeed, according to one study, right-wing extremism was responsible for 76 percent of all extremist murders in the United States from 2009 to 2019.”</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Toobin shows how white nationalism increased after the election of President Barack Obama. “Days after the 2008 election, a Marine corporal at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina was arrested and charged with planning to kill Obama as a ‘domestic enemy’ in ‘Operation Patriot.’”</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhZIlwZyq5cmSN6EX48R-L7Rv8ZUtAFVqlDfLNv4g5U2CdUgkTsc3qIb4SpIvodcW6stZV0qNAhdfivrwgciiM3MYndlEU5LMHf96s4TPQorpyh5LX-KR5pURxz3lI8y5f69VN6y8PesPNad3uqrv2KP-Tql_NzL-CjXsvZ5OqC2525m_qbhntJdbGduPHV" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="568" data-original-width="858" height="430" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhZIlwZyq5cmSN6EX48R-L7Rv8ZUtAFVqlDfLNv4g5U2CdUgkTsc3qIb4SpIvodcW6stZV0qNAhdfivrwgciiM3MYndlEU5LMHf96s4TPQorpyh5LX-KR5pURxz3lI8y5f69VN6y8PesPNad3uqrv2KP-Tql_NzL-CjXsvZ5OqC2525m_qbhntJdbGduPHV=w649-h430" width="649" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: arial;">The question of patriotism and issues such as the First and Second Amendment were addressed head-on in the aftermath of the Oklahoma City bombing when then-President Bill Clinton gave a memorable commencement <a href="https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/PPP-1995-book1/html/PPP-1995-book1-doc-pg641.htm" target="_blank">address at Michigan State University</a>, May 5, 1995, in East Lansing. (McVeigh’s accomplice, Terry Nichols, was associated with the Michigan Militia.) Toobin excerpts a big chunk of Clinton's speech, and it’s worth reading in its entirety for its thoughtful and nuanced message.</span><p></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal;">Here is the part of that speech that Toobin included in </span><i style="font-family: arial; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal;">“Homegrown.” </i><span style="font-family: arial;">Clinton offers comments not only to the graduates, but also to right-wing militia members:</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #990000; font-family: arial;"></span></p><blockquote><p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #990000; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">“I want to say this to the militias … I am well aware that most of you have never violated the law of the land. I welcome the comments that some of you have made recently condemning the bombing in Oklahoma City. I believe you have every right, indeed you have the responsibility, to question our government when you disagree with its policies. And I will do everything in my power to protect your right to do so. But I also know there have been lawbreakers among those who espouse your philosophy. I know from painful personal experience as a governor of a state who lived through the coldblooded killing of a young sheriff and a young African American state trooper who were friends of mine by people who espoused the view that the government was the biggest problem in America and that people had a right to take violence into their own hands.</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #990000; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">“So I say this to the militias and all others who believe that the greatest threat to freedom comes from the government instead of from those who would take away our freedom: If you say violence is an acceptable way to make change, you are wrong. If you say that government is in a conspiracy to take your freedom away, you are just plain wrong. If you treat law enforcement officers who put their lives on the line for your safety every day like some kind of enemy army to be suspected, derided, and if they should enforce the law against you, to be shot, you are wrong. If you appropriate our sacred symbols for paranoid purposes and compare yourselves to colonial militias who fought for the democracy you now rail against, you are wrong. How dare you suggest that we in the freest nation on Earth live in tyranny! How dare you call yourselves patriots and heroes! I say to you, all of you, the members of the Class of 1995, there is nothing patriotic about hating your country or pretending that you can love your country but despise your government.”</span></p></blockquote><p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #990000; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj5c13Tlmazn6euOhx2-9nohpepjrd-C-xonuu6H-8yK0_t3WLUCw1NkSt4RfoPpQ0DesaRHHpwmngF37gG8LoyMVQge-As9WBwQaLdXYMPEJB-5jaQ89ywTHUGDU4ufu-QBoV5l3AwHmpR24WkLU-P799Ubrhaayl1LCeEwnX3JZMi8yT8aDWNuBfpTRFn" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="2282" data-original-width="3400" height="263" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj5c13Tlmazn6euOhx2-9nohpepjrd-C-xonuu6H-8yK0_t3WLUCw1NkSt4RfoPpQ0DesaRHHpwmngF37gG8LoyMVQge-As9WBwQaLdXYMPEJB-5jaQ89ywTHUGDU4ufu-QBoV5l3AwHmpR24WkLU-P799Ubrhaayl1LCeEwnX3JZMi8yT8aDWNuBfpTRFn=w392-h263" width="392" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #800180; font-family: times; font-size: xx-small;">Victims' families attend a memorial service as President Clinton gives remarks, April 23, 1995. </span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: arial;">Clinton, who also spoke at the memorial service in Oklahoma City in April 1995, took the opportunity in at Michigan State University to condemn violence by both the Left and Right. He noted, “Freedom of political speech will never justify violence--never. Our Founding Fathers created a system of laws in which reason could prevail over fear. Without respect for this law, there is no freedom.”</span><p></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Prosecutors in the McVeigh trial used the bomber’s own words against him: how he wanted to start a new revolution in order to protect the Second Amendment, states’ rights, and a white male hierarchy. He hoped to provoke another civil war.</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">“The McVeigh prosecutors put the ‘civil war’ issue in front of the jury to show how extreme and exotic the defendant’s views were," Toobin writes. "But a quarter century later, McVeigh’s view was close to the conservative movement norm. This view –– about the possibility of civil war –– became mainstream as the passions underlying the January 6 insurrection roiled conservatives during the Biden presidency.”</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">According to Toobin, “The events of January 6, 2021, saw the full flowering of McVeigh’s legacy in contemporary politics. McVeigh was obsessed with gun rights; he saw the bombing as akin to the revolutionary struggle of the Founding Fathers; and he believed that violence was justified to achieve his goals. So did the rioters on January 6.”</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">(In Part 2, we examine the Oklahoma City bombing and rise of right-wing extremism through the lens of the U.S. military.)</span></p></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9195380963524310455.post-64202506310186499102023-06-17T06:57:00.000-10:002023-06-17T06:57:17.971-10:00 Navy Good, Future Unraveling<p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhJ5N0QKtI6RCHxCa760t4pqcBSub5c-HJYC4pEmya0s3_T7JqJ0ihn-kfnqu5LdKQiLIZB9TX68xN7zqGLimFlN0g8YSc4feEd1sbXe2owMD0yYhCwTHX2cosM_Dfxu32Js8uh52oq651VNmhTW4_swCEEoLafqlKcbCBQQcB3JGixhS4FrEoeeRNw9A" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="667" data-original-width="1000" height="429" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhJ5N0QKtI6RCHxCa760t4pqcBSub5c-HJYC4pEmya0s3_T7JqJ0ihn-kfnqu5LdKQiLIZB9TX68xN7zqGLimFlN0g8YSc4feEd1sbXe2owMD0yYhCwTHX2cosM_Dfxu32Js8uh52oq651VNmhTW4_swCEEoLafqlKcbCBQQcB3JGixhS4FrEoeeRNw9A=w644-h429" width="644" /></a></div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-small;">Review by Bill Doughty––</span><p></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Geopolitical strategist Peter Zeihan expresses high regard for the United States Navy as a global force for good. He says the U.S. is “primarily a naval power,” and it is America’s Navy that has protected sea lanes and global commons, allowing what could be the greatest period of peace and prosperity in the history of the world.</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">That peace was guaranteed after the Second World War and the defeat of Japanese and German imperialism and fascism, when the Americans “offered their wartime allies a deal.”</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: arial;"></span></p><blockquote><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: medium;">“The Americans would use their navy –– the only navy of size to survive the war –– to patrol the global ocean and protect the commerce of all. The Americans would open their market –– the only market of size to survive the war –– to allied experts so that all could export their way back to wealth. The Americans would extend a strategic blanket over all, so that no friend of America need ever fear invasion again.”</span></span></blockquote><p></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiIdNeFG4m6F-uy0Z0pDF7p2q41kBdbj1HGZn5PJeVqPeR7Im4foD5W6ytalq2EYoF2R1C5zXNW5YedMKBR6dE6JO8wP76C1CP184MhvCzkVHOkM2g2O4Zi5poYZn2KeCjeW0-MqIoNJHtRE2kSpstA7cgnGPeyPPojOZrjsEDhizDgn40rsSADB_SjYw" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="163" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiIdNeFG4m6F-uy0Z0pDF7p2q41kBdbj1HGZn5PJeVqPeR7Im4foD5W6ytalq2EYoF2R1C5zXNW5YedMKBR6dE6JO8wP76C1CP184MhvCzkVHOkM2g2O4Zi5poYZn2KeCjeW0-MqIoNJHtRE2kSpstA7cgnGPeyPPojOZrjsEDhizDgn40rsSADB_SjYw=w289-h163" width="289" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: arial;">But in Zeihan’s now-dystopian view of the future, that era of peace and prosperity is over.</span><p></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">In “The End of the World Is Just the Beginning: Mapping the Collapse of Globalization” (HarperCollins, 2022) Zeihan presents extensive data, charts, and demographic analysis showing evidence of de-globalization, less world trade, and aging populations in many countries:</span></p><p></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="color: #990000;">This is the “best it will ever be in our lifetime.”</span></span></li><li><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="color: #990000;">“The world –– our world –– is breaking apart.”</span></span></li><li><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="color: #990000;">China is aging “into demographic obsolescence.”</span></span></li><li><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="color: #990000;">“We are entering a period of extreme transformation, with our strategic, political, economic, technological, demographic, and critical norms all in flux at the same time.”</span></span></li><li><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="color: #990000;">“Everything is going to change” and “the process will be the definition of traumatic.”</span></span></li><li><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="color: #990000;">“Living through history is messy.”</span></span></li></ul><p></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">“De-globalization,” Zeihan writes, “doesn’t simply mean a darker, poorer world; it means something far worse. An unraveling.”</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">If he’s right, the United States will be able to weather the storm that will overcome other nations and territories, especially in Asia and Europe. Unlike those countries, America has the resources, relatively younger population, protective geography (including rivers and protected deep-water ports), and friendly next-door neighbors.</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi1cBMYVX62aeA4kVH5-kjd5cLiSj_ozjvFA-VCryBVxXnG28M8RpvN4anbkVEmBiIaE-in8pXbtDvKOckmfsrUUaQkkFvDm3RIDxXkUJo7JegAwXQORQI4pm_B1672QNH-MAm0qXgIXi3ZOquU8Axp4oZHeTGC6yyqOZvq4u53RkwFZTtQDJglx62Avg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="665" data-original-width="999" height="433" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi1cBMYVX62aeA4kVH5-kjd5cLiSj_ozjvFA-VCryBVxXnG28M8RpvN4anbkVEmBiIaE-in8pXbtDvKOckmfsrUUaQkkFvDm3RIDxXkUJo7JegAwXQORQI4pm_B1672QNH-MAm0qXgIXi3ZOquU8Axp4oZHeTGC6yyqOZvq4u53RkwFZTtQDJglx62Avg=w650-h433" width="650" /></a></td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 15px;"><span style="color: #800180; font-family: times; font-size: xx-small;">Justin Taschek, the Senior Maritime Projects Administrator for the Port of Oakland, California, gives a tour of the port to Chief of Navy Air Training Rear Adm. Daniel Dwyer, Feb. 12, 2020. Dwyer visited Oakland as part of a Navy Executive Engagement Visit designed to help educate the American public about the capability, importance and value of today's Navy to national security, global communication and trade. Oakland is a deep-water port. (MC1 Aaron Chase)</span></p><p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">In “The End of the World…” Zeihan predicts countries are “likely to brawl over the shattered remnants of a collapsed economic system.” Just months after he wrote those lines and after the final manuscript of his book went to the publisher, Putin’s Russia launched a full invasion of Ukraine. Zeihan and HarperCollins added a one-page note at the end of a chapter about the invasion. Perhaps his predictions –– although imperfect –– are already coming true.</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">He examines transportation, finance and currencies, energy, industrial materials, manufacturing, and agriculture, showing how each pillar of civilization has evolved over time and predicting the future based on current trends.</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">For example, he shows how Admiral (Commodore) Matthew C. Perry ignited the start of a global capital financial system when he opened Japan to trade, redefining the role of debt and unleashing “the Asian Financial Model.” In a section called “A Credit Compendium,” Zeihan gives diverse examples of “extravagances and exaggerations” and “excesses and eruptions” comparing Greece, Germany, UK, Hungary, Australia, Colombia, Indonesia, Brazil, Saudi Arabia, India, Turkey, Russia, and China.</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">In the final, and one of the longest sections in the book, he examines agriculture and “the geopolitics of vulnerability,” including the challenges of feeding the world amid climate change, water shortages, and his prediction of reduced global trade. The thing that keeps him up at night the most, he says, is the threat of coming famine in the wo</span><span style="font-family: arial;">rld.</span></p><p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjJaJpiZBbfOIZ74oyQveidnn0Z7YcjewV-IuvXrBV1np8R_lsgATPy2tL6bt_1M_A5VDevuB_ri9KxXtF4EZMLfZqlEqFwx6HQONMtMUpJLxYygz1C_dEZQY108sGVw15jlbBYLB9jeWd_unAZDq8bk6CfmHDx2Z-v_RXBRmq3P8c3ysxy_YCZcpQZ5Q" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="674" data-original-width="1000" height="440" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjJaJpiZBbfOIZ74oyQveidnn0Z7YcjewV-IuvXrBV1np8R_lsgATPy2tL6bt_1M_A5VDevuB_ri9KxXtF4EZMLfZqlEqFwx6HQONMtMUpJLxYygz1C_dEZQY108sGVw15jlbBYLB9jeWd_unAZDq8bk6CfmHDx2Z-v_RXBRmq3P8c3ysxy_YCZcpQZ5Q=w652-h440" width="652" /></a></td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 15px;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(128, 1, 128); color: #800180; font-family: times; font-size: xx-small;">Service members hold the national flags of participating nations during the opening ceremony for Exercise Saber Strike at the Pabrade Training Area, Lithuania, June 8, 2015. The exercise provides an opportunity for a multilateral force to conduct operations side by side. (USMC Sgt. Paul Peterson)</span></p><p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 15px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">As the world changes and globalization ends, what is the role of the military, especially the Navy, with its power projection capabilities?</span></p><p></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><blockquote><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="color: #0b5394; font-size: medium;">“Expect the Navy and Marines both to be assigned a set of secondary tasks that include aggressive sanctions enforcement. Perhaps the most jarring issue <i>all</i> countries and companies must adapt to is the Americans not simply giving up their role as the global guarantor of <i>order,</i> but transforming into active agents of <i>dis</i>order.”</span></span></blockquote><p></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Zeihen predicts more future disorder on the seas, including the return of piracy and militarized merchant marines.</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Will the nations of the world be forced to become inward looking turtles? Head-in-the-sand ostriches? Will self-interest, self-aggrandizement, greed and authoritarianism win the day? Whether he is completely correct or not, Zeihan deserves to be read and heard in what could be an unraveling world. Perhaps the U.S. Navy, “forged by the sea,” will be even more relevant and necessary as a global force for good.</span></p><p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgce9mzyWPV-4cY7TAJ9yFUYrHpAAXSJXPISelScgliHNwKAUnlifeqLq-Gvg31eMqhukQW3zF5u2H5j2UwU3rrn19v4dTYVQb5OAKtZYN1xoym7u--X4TmjbJDMMZVaCvEt52Q5YVySaOlN_2i85dh0W1s6ogp1i3SDkkO3yRzlQ2zBubNeKmbOAXz4g" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="714" data-original-width="1000" height="456" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgce9mzyWPV-4cY7TAJ9yFUYrHpAAXSJXPISelScgliHNwKAUnlifeqLq-Gvg31eMqhukQW3zF5u2H5j2UwU3rrn19v4dTYVQb5OAKtZYN1xoym7u--X4TmjbJDMMZVaCvEt52Q5YVySaOlN_2i85dh0W1s6ogp1i3SDkkO3yRzlQ2zBubNeKmbOAXz4g=w640-h456" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #800180; font-family: times; font-size: x-small; text-align: left;"><br /></span></div><p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #800180; font-family: times; font-size: xx-small;">Above: Quartermaster 2nd Class Brandon Sassone, from Plainview, N.Y., plots ship position in the pilot house aboard the San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock ship USS Anchorage (LPD 23) during a scheduled deployment of the Essex Amphibious Ready Group (ARG) and the 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU), Sept. 2, 2018. They were deployed to the 5th Fleet area of operations in support of naval operations to ensure maritime stability and security in the Central Region, connecting the Mediterranean and the Pacific through the western Indian Ocean and three strategic choke points. (MC3 Ryan M. Breeden)</span></p><p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #800180; font-family: times; font-size: xx-small;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #800180; font-family: times; font-size: xx-small;">Top photo: The Arleigh-Burke class guided-missile destroyer USS Michael Murphy (DDG 112) participated in Australia’s Kakadu exercise in August 2018 in Darwin to enhance maritime security skills with participating nations, which highlighted information sharing and multilateral coordination. (MC3 Morgan K. Nall)</span></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9195380963524310455.post-37578512892399583462023-06-14T08:57:00.002-10:002023-06-14T08:57:45.046-10:00Growing Rift or Arc of Justice: The Indictment<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-small;">By Bill Doughty––</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">This summer’s “must-read” is not a book. It’s a legal document. It’s brief. It has a compelling plot. It’s freely available. It’s illustrated. And it evokes strong emotions.</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">It is the indictment of former President Donald J. Trump and his Navy culinary specialist veteran valet, former Senior Chief Petty Officer Waltine Nauta.</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Among the emotions likely to be brought forth are alarm, anger and profound sadness. Anyone interested in having an informed opinion about the issue as well as anyone interested in the Constitution and rule of law will want to read the allegations.</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The indictment alleges that Trump and Nauta conspired to take, conceal, and lie about classified documents, including military and intelligence secrets. According to the indictment:</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><blockquote><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="color: #0b5394; font-size: medium;">“The classified documents Trump stored in his boxes included information regarding defense and weapons capabilities of both the United States and foreign countries; United States nuclear programs; potential vulnerabilities of the United States and its allies to military attack; and plans for possible retaliation in response to a foreign attack. The unauthorized disclosure of these classified documents could put at risk the national security of the United States, foreign relations, the safety of the United States military, and human sources and the continued viability of sensitive intelligence collection methods.”</span></span></blockquote><p></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Sources of evidence in the indictment are Trump and Nauta, themselves, often in their own words. Nauta unintentionally provided the photos, text messages, and other information which contradicted his sworn statements to investigators. Among Nauta's photos are images of dozens of boxes stacked in a store room, on an open stage, and in a bathroom. Trump’s own words, caught on tape or by his attorney, are also part of the evidence.</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Of the 37 counts of crimes, 31 pertain to the willful retention of national defense information; the remaining six relate to alleged conspiracy, obstruction and false statements by Trump and Nauta.</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The indictment was <a href="https://www.justice.gov/storage/US_v_Trump-Nauta_23-80101.pdf">unsealed and published</a> by the Department of Justice.</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">In announcing the indictment, DOJ Special Counsel Jack Smith said:</span></p><p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">“The men and women of the United States intelligence community and our Armed Forces dedicate their lives to protecting our nation and its people.</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">"Our laws that protect national defense information are critical to the safety and security of the United States and they must be enforced.</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">"Violations of those laws put our country at risk.</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">"Adherence to the rule of law is a bedrock principle of the Department of Justice, and our nation's commitment to the rule of law sets an example for the world.</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">"We have one set of laws in this country, and they apply to everyone. Applying those laws, collecting facts, that's what determines the outcome of an investigation. Nothing more, nothing less.”</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Smith noted, </span><span style="font-family: arial;">"It's very important for me to note that the defendants in this case must be presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.”</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">This year’s top summer read is not a book, though there are many great books out there. This summer’s must-read is this historic and Constitutionally important indictment that, depending on the reader’s perspective, will either widen a growing rift or bring us back to justice, principled ethos, and accountability.</span></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9195380963524310455.post-63245484662277213362023-05-31T08:55:00.000-10:002023-05-31T08:55:03.604-10:00Abraham Lincoln & January 6th<p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj0HoMFeOimEpv9ge81wzIDW-PVpM9JQk1Of2c_rcP9iM2iinE6g9ZvCce8aYpGRvso0rM4Kz30kqUihc6xoRi4D3kS_ZFUlEpNI42so0oZ7IU7wEfrbeKZkPqgiWdUnCahbBDGlGW30oeOPe2xNPC5Dp1Hq_x1cGpM1YOu8yX5E_ixw0kf8bmznsLIWA" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="849" data-original-width="1280" height="433" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj0HoMFeOimEpv9ge81wzIDW-PVpM9JQk1Of2c_rcP9iM2iinE6g9ZvCce8aYpGRvso0rM4Kz30kqUihc6xoRi4D3kS_ZFUlEpNI42so0oZ7IU7wEfrbeKZkPqgiWdUnCahbBDGlGW30oeOPe2xNPC5Dp1Hq_x1cGpM1YOu8yX5E_ixw0kf8bmznsLIWA=w653-h433" width="653" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Review by Bill Doughty––</span></span><p></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">This “found haiku” comes from Abraham Lincoln’s Lyceum Address in <span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(77, 81, 86);">Springfield, Illinois on January 27, 1838:</span></span></p><p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Reason must furnish</span></p><p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">all the materials for</span></p><p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">our future support</span></p><p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The speech is quoted in one of the four forewords in the massive <i>“The January 6th Report: Findings from the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol”</i> (December 2022, U.S. Government Publishing Office).</span></p><p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"></p><span style="font-family: arial;">In fact, Lincoln appears on the very first page of the report.</span><p></p><p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhMu2146ArSb6atCFds3LSPORTQu7F9srFLxoQGFVEXufErcHk0Yl3DMHsmAgElZFnDOpKT8KoXLA3TVAc41mmnvIt1Hsomh-itS0F8M-RUY90Iu1mBpIyU-WGAAYNih84yJA5w6eZGRV3eDUFlxZb0CsldPd75qNtu1aKlN6w4wkfe6ZIKHN6m5_gcVA" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="569" data-original-width="440" height="278" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhMu2146ArSb6atCFds3LSPORTQu7F9srFLxoQGFVEXufErcHk0Yl3DMHsmAgElZFnDOpKT8KoXLA3TVAc41mmnvIt1Hsomh-itS0F8M-RUY90Iu1mBpIyU-WGAAYNih84yJA5w6eZGRV3eDUFlxZb0CsldPd75qNtu1aKlN6w4wkfe6ZIKHN6m5_gcVA=w216-h278" width="216" /></a></div><span style="font-family: arial;">Representative Adam Schiff, author and finisher of the J6 Report, recounts how Lincoln –– then a state legislator in Illinois –– addressed young men about a rebellious time of mob violence, including lynchings, general crimes, and disregard for the rule of law. Lincoln chose to speak about "The Perpetuation of Our Political Institutions.”</span><p></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">In Schiff’s words, Lincoln spoke about internal threats “not the threat of foreign invasion, even though the War of 1812 was only two decades past. It was the danger from within that a young Lincoln identified as our gravest threat.”</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Lincoln is also quoted in the second foreword to the book by former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi: “Let us always honor our oath to, as Abraham Lincoln said, ‘nobly save or meanly lose, the last best hope of earth.’ So help us God.”</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">In the third foreword to the book, chairman of the committee Rep. Bernie Thompson says he was advised to remove his lapel pin so he wouldn’t be identified and targeted by attackers who threatened to kill legislators and the vice president. He chose not to remove his pin and thereby showed support for the defenders of the Capitol and against the attackers.</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">“We can never surrender to democracy’s enemies,” Thompson writes. “We can never allow America to be defined by forces of division and hatred. We can never go backward in the progress we have made through the sacrifice and dedication of true patriots. We can never and will never relent in our pursuit of a more perfect union, with liberty and justice for all Americans.”</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiJN00aJ_F7zbKoBVUjAwaibb4aEQukQuF2RY71AaR_PegOi0wy9p55kcDtWMQEtKPSYCQxisoEST7zPEKuwiTkzulTOXr3QwTVZt2WgfnHinVFSpdsfwjeJJxmf93IBFA5a-FHBiQnST9Q6OYE-jOQeErlZ86ew0h4Ic3B96KOt7FMjKYWu-6zmXmDPQ" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="193" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiJN00aJ_F7zbKoBVUjAwaibb4aEQukQuF2RY71AaR_PegOi0wy9p55kcDtWMQEtKPSYCQxisoEST7zPEKuwiTkzulTOXr3QwTVZt2WgfnHinVFSpdsfwjeJJxmf93IBFA5a-FHBiQnST9Q6OYE-jOQeErlZ86ew0h4Ic3B96KOt7FMjKYWu-6zmXmDPQ=w343-h193" width="343" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: arial;">Former Representative Liz Cheney, vice chair of the committee, opens the report’s fourth and final foreword with a story about Abraham Lincoln issuing the first call for volunteers for the Union Army in April 1861 and how her great-great grandfather, Samuel Fletcher Cheney signed up for the 21st Ohio Volunteer Infantry.</span><p></p><p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Cheney, a Republican like Lincoln, writes: “I have found myself thinking often, especially since January 6th, of my great-great grandfather, and all those in every generation who have sacrificed so much for (quoting OVI’s regimental historian Silas Canfield) “the unity of our Nation and the perpetuity of our institutions.”</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Cheney says, “At the heart of our republic is the guarantee of the peaceful transfer of power.”</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg6m7quG6ajJp6aJ_35bYMtLj-4TLXsxWRDsSFnqiZ-ST2XF5Jeh73b55X8-pl0t2ZXMN8JU_n-uJ1q1NlvsRCeYxBxMGMMaiqp7QLNIxXbcGNgMGIYPlovkAaLmYoKfYXi4ZlVhfvQ6jSF4diPJdoxI30KKEuSKSMJ9t7JSTSNkoOcBPHsqjyL7IznFw" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="670" data-original-width="1024" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg6m7quG6ajJp6aJ_35bYMtLj-4TLXsxWRDsSFnqiZ-ST2XF5Jeh73b55X8-pl0t2ZXMN8JU_n-uJ1q1NlvsRCeYxBxMGMMaiqp7QLNIxXbcGNgMGIYPlovkAaLmYoKfYXi4ZlVhfvQ6jSF4diPJdoxI30KKEuSKSMJ9t7JSTSNkoOcBPHsqjyL7IznFw=w653-h426" width="653" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: arial;">Cheney notes how General George Washington resigned his commission and handed control of the Continental Army back to Congress. (When Washington’s term as president ended, he rejected calls by some to remain in office as dictator.)</span><p></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">This bipartisan report features a comprehensive Executive Summary that encapsulates the main thrust of the investigation and its findings in the report. Within the summary is a list of witnesses, nearly five dozen of whom are registered Republicans. Only one witness, the Secretary of State of Michigan, is identified as a Democrat.</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgYYinZAeFw1mbYZEqBw-7umcW_6hkVEPMbvtFeFnteS9As7Kpo6LNx3zGfpfuMLlDZF37OK5hUlLg6RaIG5chXL3VslGSLp-9v-7Wxt5gE_k6wisxpdmZANQHHqzgkl8BbQRcdj90BK9eJsWRZwxUdn95WWjy34VJ_y3Z2q4Wj-BaCt5fMDwB4KBMVLw" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="450" data-original-width="298" height="303" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgYYinZAeFw1mbYZEqBw-7umcW_6hkVEPMbvtFeFnteS9As7Kpo6LNx3zGfpfuMLlDZF37OK5hUlLg6RaIG5chXL3VslGSLp-9v-7Wxt5gE_k6wisxpdmZANQHHqzgkl8BbQRcdj90BK9eJsWRZwxUdn95WWjy34VJ_y3Z2q4Wj-BaCt5fMDwB4KBMVLw=w201-h303" width="201" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: arial;">Most of the report, itself, is a “Narrative” in 8 chapters that explores: the Big Lie of a stolen election, the scheme of fake electors, the plan to block certification of the election by the vice president, the invitation of then-President Trump to come to D.C. and march to the Capitol to “fight like hell,” an examination of the role of far right extremists in the insurrection, and “187 minutes of dereliction” in which the commander in chief chose not to call off the rioters nor order DOD to send the national guard to defend the Senate and House of Representatives.</span><p></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The long “narrative” is excellent writing: True historical storytelling in the tradition of David McCullough; careful citing of facts and sources in the vein of Craig Symonds; and drama and suspense –– especially during the actual lead-up and breaching of the Capitol –– in the style of Tom Clancy. As with the Executive Summary, there are extensive endnotes throughout.</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Military readers will be interested in reading two of the appendices: Government Agency Preparation for and Response to January 6th, and DC National Guard Preparation for and Response to January 6th.</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The report cites what one witness called “decision paralysis” and “decision avoidance.” Army leaders were “sensitive to the sight of troops near the site of the congressional certification of electoral votes.” The report examines “fears of politicizing the military in an anti-democratic manner” in the wake of the heavy handed National Guard confrontation with protesters in the summer of 2020, which included low-flying military helicopters. The Guard was deployed and used chemical agents to clear Lafayette Square for Trump’s photo-op holding up a Bible at St. John’s Church.</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">While the report has been criticized by some progressives for not examining the motivation and role of Christian Nationalism specifically, the report does mention QAnon Shaman Jacob “Angeli” Chansley’s leading of a “conspiracy-laden prayer session” at the Senate dais after shouting “Mike Pence is a f—ing traitor” at the spot where Pence had been presiding. Chansley left a note that read: “It’s only a matter of time. Justice is coming.”</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg6dd2nHMAAu9o5U_5TeqNwPfYmXO3HYvbiOkh7aXjRkZ1Sp2aky-c9ZRIx03JFSSGdWM3p1yezBYW49FPQt70na6MY2PrPg7NwJ8z8DifCUr_T-I_Ab_ChHoQ9JpiisIa01jqG_vxejN7O4DZ4cv3JNmSZ4QKQ3bwXwFg6akBjqha9pyb79YOjQiTyww" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="576" data-original-width="768" height="487" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg6dd2nHMAAu9o5U_5TeqNwPfYmXO3HYvbiOkh7aXjRkZ1Sp2aky-c9ZRIx03JFSSGdWM3p1yezBYW49FPQt70na6MY2PrPg7NwJ8z8DifCUr_T-I_Ab_ChHoQ9JpiisIa01jqG_vxejN7O4DZ4cv3JNmSZ4QKQ3bwXwFg6akBjqha9pyb79YOjQiTyww=w650-h487" width="650" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: arial;">The committee thoroughly investigated the actions of other QAnon conspiracy believers and white nationalists. Chapter 6, “Be There, Will Be Wild,” examines extremist militia groups such as The Proud Boys, The Oath Keepers, and The Three Percenters.”</span><p></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">More than 1,000 rioters have been indicted since the insurrection. Many remain in jail and many more have been stained with a criminal record. While some have had their lives ruined, others, like Chansley, who has already been released from prison, are cashing in on their fame and hardening their support with the far right. Some key leaders and planners of the attack are facing much longer prison terms.</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Since publication of <i>The January 6th Report</i>, the most serious convictions have occurred among military veterans who in many ways led the attack. On May 4, five members of the Proud Boys were convicted of various charges, including four members convicted of seditious conspiracy.</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj63ZBfD_cHEhQE2CM3TZU1J3nc5p5YRPnQ3ZMPZ999-00KiW5YKveO9A0ZxwQSGy2n5RqYQRcSyE9fpjtYwZddNU6tpil4CRVX0dN7X8U5txyI2FNhsh_VqmLL8nSDH1sM5InnLf6YYyWJxu3A4RUQoO_N7KhVTjzv_s8m1Ca37lRb2IWwobI2ikiqFQ" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="612" data-original-width="820" height="161" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj63ZBfD_cHEhQE2CM3TZU1J3nc5p5YRPnQ3ZMPZ999-00KiW5YKveO9A0ZxwQSGy2n5RqYQRcSyE9fpjtYwZddNU6tpil4CRVX0dN7X8U5txyI2FNhsh_VqmLL8nSDH1sM5InnLf6YYyWJxu3A4RUQoO_N7KhVTjzv_s8m1Ca37lRb2IWwobI2ikiqFQ=w215-h161" width="215" /></a>Last week, on May 25, the Department of Justice announced: “Elmer Stewart Rhodes III, the founder and leader of the Oath Keepers, and Kelly Meggs, the leader of the Florida chapter of the organization, were sentenced today for seditious conspiracy and other charges related to the breach of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.”</span><p></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Rhodes, an Army veteran from Texas, was sentenced to 18 years in prison, “the longest sentence, to date, related to the January 6 attack on the Capitol.” Fellow militia leader Meggs received a sentence of 12 years. “This is the first time a court has found that a defendant’s conduct related to the January 6 attack was tantamount to terrorism warranting an upward departure under the sentencing guidelines,” according to DOJ.</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">“Today’s sentences reflect the grave threat the actions of these defendants posed to our democratic institutions,” said Attorney General Merrick B. Garland. “The United States proved at trial that the Oath Keepers plotted for months to violently disrupt the peaceful transfer of power from one administration to the next. The Justice Department will continue to do everything in our power to hold accountable those criminally responsible for the January 6th attack on our democracy.” </span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">It’s becoming clear that there is a litmus test for who will be elected as the next President and commander in chief of the military next year: Voters will choose between those who believe in accountability for those who stormed the Capitol and those who promise pardons for the seditionists and rioters such as the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers.</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhBdD56vgpL5mTDvMiix5oE2LWdeSnkFBEMuWK4uqxSV-XWYh0tl2PDzOrOi3Wg86JDBvpep71ri86rb-6vCu22wux_J-ImM94wOxBho-enuEc8KCQ3nbnmL9ztU7V9omRZJlL0L98GspTaKAdC6z_obb44lVEMdzNfXrbZbDkEdzUZujy7u8G30YIH4Q" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="168" data-original-width="300" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhBdD56vgpL5mTDvMiix5oE2LWdeSnkFBEMuWK4uqxSV-XWYh0tl2PDzOrOi3Wg86JDBvpep71ri86rb-6vCu22wux_J-ImM94wOxBho-enuEc8KCQ3nbnmL9ztU7V9omRZJlL0L98GspTaKAdC6z_obb44lVEMdzNfXrbZbDkEdzUZujy7u8G30YIH4Q=w358-h200" width="358" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #800180; font-size: x-small;">Rep. Adam Schiff</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: arial;">The “Oath Keepers” name seems Orwellian when one considers the actual oath all military service members take to support and defend the Constitution –– and a similar oath civilian leaders take to support the Constitution –– the foundational document that outlines the peaceful transfer of power.</span><p></p><p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Representative Schiff said this about the Constitution and the oath:</span></p><p></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><blockquote><p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">“Even the most brilliant Constitution cannot protect us if the people sworn to uphold it do not give meaning to their oath of office, if that oath is not informed by ideas of right and wrong, and if people are unwilling to accept the basic truth of things. None of it will be enough.</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">But if we allow ourselves to be guided by facts –– not faction –– if we choose our representatives based on their allegiance to the law and the Constitution, then we should have every confidence that our proud legacy of self-government will go on.”</span></p></blockquote><p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">That’s the accountability, respect for truth and justice, and faith in the rule of law Lincoln spoke about in the Lyceum Address, “The Perpetuation of Our Political Institutions.”</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Lincoln believed in an informed electorate, honest leaders, and support for the Constitution and rule of law, which he called “the political religion of our nation.”</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">with other pillars,</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">hewn from the solid quarry</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">of sober reason</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Pillars of logic and reason found in the Constitution support our democracy.</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">There's m</span><span style="font-family: arial;">ore </span><a href="https://navyreads.blogspot.com/search?q=Lincoln+found+haiku" style="font-family: arial;" target="_blank">“found haiku” from Abe Lincoln</a><span style="font-family: arial;"> and others on Navy Reads.</span></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9195380963524310455.post-30782555328083958322023-05-28T08:58:00.002-10:002023-05-29T07:08:04.593-10:00Memorial Day Sacrifice: True Patriotism<p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-small;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEio7Rckf-1lxGCIOXJYZ_jYvBNJqTc1focSK_SduOqU4qCl-_InnRQL2PRb7hp4gF1FO614bQJMQwbiDacJ-2UKsgCkp48IEjJnAHENzZLHPx-BHbLhAjPQwndcvrxjOOTSniRHTm-a-rfI_6xMBTNp-VBeg3GzDlrHgxZybSN-ehrvLdr3YC-DN8LGoA" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="853" data-original-width="1280" height="433" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEio7Rckf-1lxGCIOXJYZ_jYvBNJqTc1focSK_SduOqU4qCl-_InnRQL2PRb7hp4gF1FO614bQJMQwbiDacJ-2UKsgCkp48IEjJnAHENzZLHPx-BHbLhAjPQwndcvrxjOOTSniRHTm-a-rfI_6xMBTNp-VBeg3GzDlrHgxZybSN-ehrvLdr3YC-DN8LGoA=w650-h433" width="650" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-small;">By Bill Doughty––</span><p></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">After reading the comprehensive January 6th Report by the Ninetieth Congress House of Representatives select committee, I keep reflecting on a line in one of the report’s forewords. Committee chairman, Bernie Thompson, wrote this: We can never go backward in the progress we have made through the sacrifice and dedication of true patriots. We can never and will never relent in our pursuit of a more perfect union, with liberty and justice for all Americans.”</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Memorial Day, is an opportunity for all Americans to reflect on the sacrifices of individuals and families who paid the ultimate price for freedom and upholding of the Constitution and rule of law as true patriots.</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">On Friday, May 26, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin served as keynote speaker at Annapolis and delivered the commencement address to the 2023 graduating class at the U.S. Naval Academy.</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Austin told the new Navy ensigns and Marine Corps second lieutenants they can be justifiably proud of their achievements, commitment to serve, and willingness to defend the Constitution and uphold an honorable ethos. </span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">“You seek wisdom. You practice discipline. You treat others with dignity and respect. And you will defend our democracy with honor, courage, and commitment. You know, those values aren’t just words that you recite. Those values are who you are. And that’s how I know that you are ready for the challenges ahead,” Austin said.</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">“As one of your predecessors once said, ‘We must adjust to changing times and still hold to unchanging principles.’That was President Jimmy Carter, Class of 1947,” Austin said, to applause. “And I’m proud that one of this school’s most distinguished alumni—a man of deep faith and a champion of human rights—is now honored on the Yard with the naming of Carter Hall.”</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Austin also cited other distinguished graduates of the Academy, including Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro, Adm. Michelle Howard, Adm. Mike Mullen, and John McCain.</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Austin invoked the memory of sacrifices of military service members in past wars. “Ladies and gentlemen, look around you,” he said. “This stadium reminds us of the great battles in which those who came before you fought to defend democracy. Belleau Wood. Guadalcanal. Iwo Jima. Inchon. But what you don’t see here is all the battles that never occurred, all the wars that never erupted—because American Sailors and Marines showed up. They deterred conflict. They kept the watch. And they reminded the world of what America stands for.”</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Austin added, “Class of 2023, wherever your career takes you, remind the world of what you stand for—and what America stands for: Honor, Courage, and Commitment. Democracy, Liberty, and the rule of law.” As true patriots.</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The next day, Vice President Kamala Harris delivered a commencement address to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point’s 2023 graduating class. She said, “Each and every day, America's service members demonstrate extraordinary skill, dedication, and discipline. They are willing to sacrifice everything to protect the lives and liberty of people they may never meet. And I believe there is no more noble work that a person can do than to serve our nation in uniform. And today, then, to the Class of 2023: You join the greatest fighting force the world has ever seen … Our military is a force that underwrites global stability and our national security.”</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Harris, who is the first woman to give a commencement address in West Point’s history, told graduates they are “leaders of character” will be tasked with essential leadership roles in defending the nation’s highest ideals.</span></p><p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">She advised them to be guided by their oath to the U.S. Constitution “in all that you do.”</span></p><p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">"You will take an oath to ‘support and defend the Constitution of the United States of America’ and, by extension, to support and defend our most sacred ideals: freedom, democracy, and rule of law.”</span></p><p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #800180; font-family: arial; font-size: x-small;">(American flag watercolor image courtesy of Francine Sreca, Pixabay.)</span></p><div><br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9195380963524310455.post-73533315770178041452023-05-14T16:21:00.005-10:002023-05-14T16:21:57.402-10:00The Nimitz We Need Now<p><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Review by Bill Doughty––</span></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Historian Ian Toll calls Clyde Symonds’s new book “The greatest biography yet written about the greatest admiral in American history.” The book is <i>“Nimitz at War: Command Leadership from Pearl Harbor to Tokyo Bay”</i> (Oxford University Press, 2022).</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg24jGeB9hanMHtZWqsjx3cWz54aT-XE0QXO1Xq_JP7p4_p6_b2RNRS90WftmPKMyUTdNlHXcepPDZ6ImNHBCMNS5Xv2XeL6nivzdbli4knBZ2i6wKsf2seILyX5ELNgaAnbyWmzsgURru8-c8VDaB6wlUy5nGy0UCRSWTr0s_w2TUgTYI-OsFobR3NeA" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="272" data-original-width="180" height="344" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg24jGeB9hanMHtZWqsjx3cWz54aT-XE0QXO1Xq_JP7p4_p6_b2RNRS90WftmPKMyUTdNlHXcepPDZ6ImNHBCMNS5Xv2XeL6nivzdbli4knBZ2i6wKsf2seILyX5ELNgaAnbyWmzsgURru8-c8VDaB6wlUy5nGy0UCRSWTr0s_w2TUgTYI-OsFobR3NeA=w228-h344" width="228" /></a></div><span style="font-family: arial;">This book compiles well-known Nimitz information during the war in the Pacific and spices the narrative with new flavors: what Nimitz was saying to colleagues, writing in letters to family, and doing in his limited spare time with friends in Hawaii during the war. Symonds seems to get into the mind of the great admiral “behind those cool blue eyes, impassive expression, and enigmatic demeanor.”</span><p></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Nimitz was serious but did not take himself too seriously. He was known for storytelling, and he enjoyed </span></p><p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">a good ribald joke, which Symonds relays in <i>“Nimitz at War.”</i> Readers will smile at Nimitz’s hotel joke, what he said to his daughter about praying in church, how he joked about his missing half ring finger, and how he labeled his toilet paper at his Makalapa home.</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">This biography is bracketed almost entirely to the war years, starting with Nimitz’s arrival to a devastated Pearl Harbor. It’s divided into four parts: Taking Command, The South Pacific, The Central Pacific Drive, and Dénouement. Using excellent sources, including contemporaneous correspondence and messages, oral histories, and especially the Nimitz Graybook, Symonds takes readers to Nimitz’s side during battles and campaigns in the Marshall Islands, Coral Sea, Midway, Guadalcanal, Aleutians, Philippine Sea, Saipan, Leyte Gulf, Okinawa, and more.</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgpoRvDtv57Tk29s4E9Ymx1Qflad3AYZJTA05IWjQR4KVPJxoBSEM-Uv3nQ3pVa1y8Bdl-wNHJ-hns0rBnGmnanqaP7kmLXiNsFLYhA4YHkBava3ayEsNRIcfE4fx6sRNt4I5XQ4rpaiOsJwk2CklgIKVMA4A8ACHQs4FbJETFpUix9hRbPZ3YypZSkZw" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="274" data-original-width="400" height="242" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgpoRvDtv57Tk29s4E9Ymx1Qflad3AYZJTA05IWjQR4KVPJxoBSEM-Uv3nQ3pVa1y8Bdl-wNHJ-hns0rBnGmnanqaP7kmLXiNsFLYhA4YHkBava3ayEsNRIcfE4fx6sRNt4I5XQ4rpaiOsJwk2CklgIKVMA4A8ACHQs4FbJETFpUix9hRbPZ3YypZSkZw=w354-h242" width="354" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #800180; font-family: times; font-size: x-small;">Marines at Betio during Battle of Tarawa</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: arial;">We get a gripping recounting of the intelligence preparations, training challenges, command tensions, and communications frustrations in the early 1940s. We read about Nimitz’s quiet “anxiety” in the lead-up to the Battle of Midway, for example, where Nimitz decided to trust Rochefort’s intelligence and ambush the then-powerful Imperial Japanese Navy. “It is difficult in hindsight to appreciation the boldness of that decision,” Symonds writes.</span><p></p><p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Nimitz had high regard for the Sailors and Marines he sent in harm’s way, including the heroic Marines who assaulted Betio and the fearless Marines who stormed Iwo Jima. Nimitz famously reported, “Among the Americans who served on Iwo Island, uncommon valor was a common virtue.”</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The lives of Sailors, Marines, and Soldiers lost in combat weighed heavily on him, yet he was able to “compartmentalize” thanks to words of wisdom from his grandfather: “never to worry about things that were beyond his control.”</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi7JVLIq-KInCJyZ9q7NJrnOrgmCpWUI9b-rZeKpvuWflTlv2KJjSOQiEiZIkbYwUQouqvJxYqEh9VqzV6ldOkzfYLkFWuG3dbHC5dkwD4-rYtTp8JtDnZBypAYS3BBRo9cTsRZHCYSpWN1rpoxQAPLhwu3cWSqeCPTvEOvT2L8taaan2rmSAWD1q-26w" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="2216" data-original-width="2492" height="578" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi7JVLIq-KInCJyZ9q7NJrnOrgmCpWUI9b-rZeKpvuWflTlv2KJjSOQiEiZIkbYwUQouqvJxYqEh9VqzV6ldOkzfYLkFWuG3dbHC5dkwD4-rYtTp8JtDnZBypAYS3BBRo9cTsRZHCYSpWN1rpoxQAPLhwu3cWSqeCPTvEOvT2L8taaan2rmSAWD1q-26w=w650-h578" width="650" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br />We read about Nimitz’s love for hiking and long walks, swimming in the ocean, playing horseshoes, and shooting at a pistol range at Makalapa.</span><p></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Toll may be right that this is the best Nimitz biography considering the depth of the analysis, the plethora of photos, and the 15 fantastic maps and charts by Jeffrey L. Ward. What makes this book extra special is the way Symonds weaves relationships between Nimitz and other contemporary leaders: How E.J. King underestimated Nimitz, how Spruance and Halsey could be as different as ice and fire yet still be friends, and how MacArthur could be so obstinate and belligerent but still fail to steamroll Nimitz and the Navy despite continual efforts to challenge command authority.</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Nimitz was in firm control of strategy during the U.S. Navy’s advancement across the Pacific. We see how he trusted and was supported by Spruance, Lockwood, Layton, Mitscher and others –– and how he met the challenges of dealing with Towers, Holland “Mad” Smith, Halsey, and especially MacArthur.</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgilCQpUenMWBCZ1lgOir9tBlXuqVxDGyejMtiedCIE7R5-DC9xvEbw_3r3lHfKMYUxVshH8lMp_JmnyZ6HMiWIXSIZXvvZoNUz05DXqiNg9iFLy-hIit5YFBztoROpmAZ_TVIx4vkrlrUcgsuqdZzSrCg714ZAD9wC-mTwI-i122eR8IYPVL3BEWuOVA" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1280" data-original-width="957" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgilCQpUenMWBCZ1lgOir9tBlXuqVxDGyejMtiedCIE7R5-DC9xvEbw_3r3lHfKMYUxVshH8lMp_JmnyZ6HMiWIXSIZXvvZoNUz05DXqiNg9iFLy-hIit5YFBztoROpmAZ_TVIx4vkrlrUcgsuqdZzSrCg714ZAD9wC-mTwI-i122eR8IYPVL3BEWuOVA=w477-h640" width="477" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br />When Nimitz received his fifth star as Fleet Admiral he wanted Spruance to also receive a fifth star, but Washington instead awarded it to Halsey, whose brash and bombastic style caught the media’s attention much more so than Spruance’s quiet, diplomatic, and cerebral way. Symonds makes the case that Spruance deserves his more respected place in history.</span><p></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Of course, like all humans, Nimitz was not a perfect person. Symonds calls the Texas hill country admiral “a product of his time and his culture” in that he avoided African American service members (with the notable exception of Messman Doris “Dorie” Miller, to whom Nimitz presented the Navy Cross for December 7 heroism). In 1943 there were no black officers in the Navy. And Nimitz also wanted no part in having women service members on his staff, disallowing WAVES from serving in the Pacific.</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj-1Tr5SZzIAsZHkbjg98yccVJRnUlHLB-axW8Trad3n1qbdukdcCiBCakX8RC5GMQxagoxJkYsROu5qUPsRtRrn3IP6L8ElJvshjboXMQlTBd8sfbF5FoUghqbkYOSkeXzOaAPwX4dvcIAqIC0txR_ZtwAoRXYPvrHso5gvUkKZMBaqn2yaar016WXlg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1108" data-original-width="1395" height="366" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj-1Tr5SZzIAsZHkbjg98yccVJRnUlHLB-axW8Trad3n1qbdukdcCiBCakX8RC5GMQxagoxJkYsROu5qUPsRtRrn3IP6L8ElJvshjboXMQlTBd8sfbF5FoUghqbkYOSkeXzOaAPwX4dvcIAqIC0txR_ZtwAoRXYPvrHso5gvUkKZMBaqn2yaar016WXlg=w460-h366" width="460" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #800180; font-family: times; font-size: x-small;">Relocating Americans of Japanese Ancestry (AJAs) to concentration camps.</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: arial;">Still, Nimitz resisted persecution of Americans of Japanese ancestry (AJAs).</span><p></p><p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">At the outset of the war, Secretary of War Henry Stimson and Army General John DeWitt pushed for relocation of AJAs.</span></p><p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">DeWitt “instituted a program that eventually relocated some 120,000 Japanese Americans from California and other western states, miles inland.</span></p><p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">In March of 1942 FDR approved a recommendation to remove 158,000 AJAs from Hawaii as well.</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Although some relocation camps were set up in Hawaii, Nimitz thought the idea of removing AJAs from Hawaii was “neither necessary nor desirable.” Symonds writes: “It was not out of an enlightened concern for the civil rights of Japanese Americans; he simply recognized the practical limitations of such a policy.” Nimitz realized AJAs played a critical role in the local Hawaii economy.</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Symonds shows how Nimitz dealt with many respected high-profile visitors, first in Hawaii and later in Guam. One of the guests who visited Pearl Harbor was first-lady Eleanor Roosevelt, who also toured Bora Bora, Aitutaki, Tutuila, and even Guadalcanal, helping raise the morale of fighting men there.</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiTA3Qmlkt6k9L4DYYlpi50iWewWfkHRxkSnc4aXLYYh97gD-7o1JbD9WUtwQjFW1X2Fn0Ss1f-jcanVuHaacTbc13NE4PHxZ1x7nAl-Yo_w9Od2G9aPPvbJQAiKCWx5hfT-RuCetSP7-hGW3Ozt3cys7A_m85VIDMwNNDJY0BahLF-1y6zNIbrCL2SQA" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1371" data-original-width="1500" height="584" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiTA3Qmlkt6k9L4DYYlpi50iWewWfkHRxkSnc4aXLYYh97gD-7o1JbD9WUtwQjFW1X2Fn0Ss1f-jcanVuHaacTbc13NE4PHxZ1x7nAl-Yo_w9Od2G9aPPvbJQAiKCWx5hfT-RuCetSP7-hGW3Ozt3cys7A_m85VIDMwNNDJY0BahLF-1y6zNIbrCL2SQA=w640-h584" width="640" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br />At the end of the war, Nimitz took a statesmanlike stance in ordering his officers enlisted Sailors and Marines to utter no more insults or epithets and to treat the defeated people of Japan with dignity: “Neither familiarity and open forgiveness nor abuse and vituperation should be permitted,” he ordered. </span><p></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Nimitz ended his career as Chief of Naval Operations, working for prickly Secretary of the Navy James Forrestal. As CNO, Nimitz successfully fought for Navy independence during efforts to downsize and consolidate the military services after the war. “As strong a champion as he was of joint service and joint command, he fought hard to prevent the Navy from being subsumed altogether … His calm, non-confrontational manner acted as a balm to the fierce and sometimes better inter-service rivalries concerning unification, budgets, and national policy.”</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjAJAnzFGCCT77YLjM3FtcygTxtM7S7kQdlnF2nLw_BzFMC4TFE8U-9Kn4xRlZkqv5pr_RbjK5mGYfksu6CuUdJbyjFiF0oiRW5341BTfVHpYeQ2l4zyxB6ZaYoEtO39g_7KiGXj09aVio3Dn9aY9TBtMbiBFWRDMbYwrDRn6v4zb9-LVR4_FS4OG-Q4A" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="578" data-original-width="485" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjAJAnzFGCCT77YLjM3FtcygTxtM7S7kQdlnF2nLw_BzFMC4TFE8U-9Kn4xRlZkqv5pr_RbjK5mGYfksu6CuUdJbyjFiF0oiRW5341BTfVHpYeQ2l4zyxB6ZaYoEtO39g_7KiGXj09aVio3Dn9aY9TBtMbiBFWRDMbYwrDRn6v4zb9-LVR4_FS4OG-Q4A=w335-h400" width="335" /></a></div><span style="font-family: arial;">Nimitz’s priorities, plans, and abilities –– especially his skill in dealing with challenging colleagues, subordinates, and senior leaders –– were the mark of brilliance. Though Ian Toll calls <i>“Nimitz at War” </i>a biography, Symonds claims it’s not:</span><p></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><blockquote><p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">“This is not a biography of Chester Nimitz. It is, instead, a close examination of his leadership during his three and a half years directing World War II in the Pacific Theater when his actions and decisions guided the course of the war and helped determine its outcome, the legacy of which we still live with today. In many ways, it is remarkable that he assumed such a role. National trauma –– social, political, economic, and military –– produces a cultural tension that can challenge democratic norms. In such circumstances, the loudest, most aggressive voices often assume leadership roles. During World War II, military and naval leaders such as Admiral Ernest J. King, General Douglas MacArthur, Admiral “Bull” Halsey, and General George Patton all rose to prominence. All were talented and competent. All were also larger-than-life figures whose temperament, stubbornness, self-assurance, and impatience characterized their leadership. They were, and are, polarizing figures.</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">“Nimitz, like Generals George Marshall and Dwight Eisenhower, exemplified another leadership style, a quieter one that depended on intelligent listening, humility, and patience. Nimitz did not shrink from hard decisions –– he was, at critical moments, as bold as any commander in the war. Yet he believed that ultimate success depended on accommodation as well as determination, on humility as well as aggressiveness, on nurturing available human resources as well as asserting his authority. Rather than impose orders, he elicited solutions; he sought achievement, not attention. He unified. His was a quiet, calm, yet firm hand on the tiller during an existential crisis, and his leadership style reinforced rather than challenged democratic norms. It is a leadership template more relevant than ever.”</span></p></blockquote><p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Symonds says his “focus and purpose” is to “re-create and evaluate” what Nimitz experienced and achieved in the 1,341 days of the war in the Pacific as he “commanded, directed, and supervised the largest naval force ever assembled in the largest naval war ever fought.”</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">As a result of his excellent presentation, Symonds also succeeds in profiling the type of leader we need not only in the Navy, but also for the United States itself: indeed, “a leadership template more relevant than ever.”</span></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9195380963524310455.post-82897403804854141542023-04-29T09:06:00.000-10:002023-04-29T09:06:04.781-10:00 Three Navy-blue Green Presidents<p><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgSM5rUoLNSahBf-6zaex_8TiNXXV14il0RKMTf2Ysnq3cKRlRJWSAyU3AvKMC2VvJzjyU2EE8eJ991zl_RO8Yyisqcl6r-B1ZAY2cjolbg0m_kVKK3SR0Se3dS03IUY7t6E5Tx0SmWd53sN9pIkRp-83og4J4trCQBfLeTP_bJuy1LHxognXlHvdKNTA" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1280" height="367" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgSM5rUoLNSahBf-6zaex_8TiNXXV14il0RKMTf2Ysnq3cKRlRJWSAyU3AvKMC2VvJzjyU2EE8eJ991zl_RO8Yyisqcl6r-B1ZAY2cjolbg0m_kVKK3SR0Se3dS03IUY7t6E5Tx0SmWd53sN9pIkRp-83og4J4trCQBfLeTP_bJuy1LHxognXlHvdKNTA=w653-h367" width="653" /></a></div><span style="font-size: x-small;">Review by Bill Doughty––</span><p></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Six United States presidents in my lifetime were Navy veterans: John Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, and George H.W. Bush. Each in his own way and to varying degrees was an optimistic champion of the environment.</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Efforts of the first three –– JFK, LBJ and RMN –– led to the first Earth Day in 1970, now Earth Month in April.</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The environmental movement is sometimes overshadowed by the other tectonic shifts during that era: The Cold War, Civil Rights, and the Vietnam War. But Douglas Brinkley takes the history of the green movement out of the shadows by centering on the three presidents of the era, as well as highlighting the life and work of ecologist-writer Rachel Carson, in <i>“Silent Spring Revolution: John F. Kennedy, Rachel Carson, Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, and the Great Environmental Awakening”</i> (HarperCollins, 2022).</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjRUUzlwaY3ctlxeTe_hLwAsGh6X8bqeuR5Mamf9MMnEureAsyxKuGm4Zoy10WVnxoOoWMuIDUFbJX-kkZ4DkTkOA3uvwYCixjtu8ieTc2eAj-U5wGVDump52rJ4iiiEUpJQE1D3i3VGc-m6m4YHRN_NFpWXDmS9ApqNBGBidD7A0S7PHiIKLNwXNmSVg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="745" height="307" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjRUUzlwaY3ctlxeTe_hLwAsGh6X8bqeuR5Mamf9MMnEureAsyxKuGm4Zoy10WVnxoOoWMuIDUFbJX-kkZ4DkTkOA3uvwYCixjtu8ieTc2eAj-U5wGVDump52rJ4iiiEUpJQE1D3i3VGc-m6m4YHRN_NFpWXDmS9ApqNBGBidD7A0S7PHiIKLNwXNmSVg=w224-h307" width="224" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #800180; font-family: times; font-size: x-small;">Sailor JFK</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: arial;">The Navy had a large part in shaping the vision of the presidents who defended pristine wilderness, clean air and water, and preservation of the environment.</span><p></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">For Kennedy of Massachusetts, it began with a deep love of the sea and shoreline, according to Brinkley, who opens the book with this:</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: arial;"></span></p><blockquote><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: medium;">“Beguiled by the way sea and sky played together, almost always unpredictably, John F. Kennedy was enthralled by the complexity of the Atlantic Ocean: the moody sky, the invisible might of the tides, shifting clouds, and the yaw and pitch of movement. To be on the water in a sailboat, even in a cruel wind, provided him with a profound connection with nature.”</span></span></blockquote><p></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Kennedy saw, in his own words, the human “biological fact that all of us have, in our veins, the same percentage of salt in our blood that exists in the ocean, and, therefore, we have salt in our blood, in our sweat, in our tears. We are tied to the ocean,” he said.</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Johnson of Texas, was saddled with fighting the Vietnam War, poverty, segregation, and voter suppression. Environmentalism took somewhat of a back seat to other priorities. Brinkley writes:</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><blockquote><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="color: #0b5394; font-size: medium;">“On the conservation front, Johnson probably should have been aware of of the importance of intelligent land stewardship. His favorite novel –– John Steinbeck’s <i>‘The Grapes of Wrath’</i> (1939) –– was based on a man-made ecological catastrophe during the Great Depression that destroyed ranches and farms in Texas, New Mexico, and Oklahoma. It was soil depletion that led to the Dust Bowl. Johnson, however, was left wanting to help the rural poor, without setting an equal priority on nurturing the natural world around them. Johnson liked Bureau of Reclamation dams, because he knew first-hand how electricity lit up forgotten regions, literally and figuratively.”</span></span></blockquote><p></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><span style="font-family: arial;">LBJ’s penchant for dam-building, both at home and abroad, as well as his escalation of the Vietnam war, caused consternation for environmentalists.</span><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjGqS8ot7LLiBLelJmA1hKNbYZhcdLAj7xs_dgpQiwhg1kTxcqeXGndrkvxEBbmxby5KHmBKirIBKWnDLDmXHGL2_ZrrtNYUkNWXEfHwW3tUKfBmKInFgSfPND2Yej8t4O2zCVoU0XIgGqDNIY9eWXK0CjWHGyF8NVUe5a1u1eh_ElIIjzpx6pt9FPnbw" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="264" data-original-width="191" height="273" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjGqS8ot7LLiBLelJmA1hKNbYZhcdLAj7xs_dgpQiwhg1kTxcqeXGndrkvxEBbmxby5KHmBKirIBKWnDLDmXHGL2_ZrrtNYUkNWXEfHwW3tUKfBmKInFgSfPND2Yej8t4O2zCVoU0XIgGqDNIY9eWXK0CjWHGyF8NVUe5a1u1eh_ElIIjzpx6pt9FPnbw=w198-h273" width="198" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #800180;">LBJ</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: arial;">Yet, in 1968, Johnson signed the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act. “Rivers, Johnson believed, from the far-flung waterways of Alaska, Idaho, and Wyoming to those coursing through the rural countryside of Vermont and Maine were the lifeblood of America,” Brinkley observes.</span><p></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Johnson “forged ahead on conservation legislation to protect wild places because it was part of America’s frontier heritage.” LBJ is responsible for bringing about the Wilderness Act, Highway Beautification Act, and a commitment to “a green legacy for tomorrow.” According to Brinkley, Johnson should be given more credit for his advocacy to conservation, particularly of America’s rivers (just as President Eisenhower is recognized for the national highway system). As regards LBJ, “His Wild and Scenic Rivers Act was a visionary law passed purely on behalf of the aesthetics of rivers.”</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Nixon of California, was captivated by the Pacific Ocean, as a child in Orange County. In 1969 he would make his home, as Kennedy did, next to the ocean. In Nixon’s case, it was in San Clemente, where he enjoyed whale watching. Though facing his own corruption issues that would eventually lead to his expulsion from office, Nixon still managed to achieve positive global initiatives such as rapprochement with China and arms control talks with Russia. And he not only supported the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, and National Environmental Policy Act, but he also created the Environmental Protection Agency.</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><blockquote><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="color: #0b5394; font-size: medium;">“If Nixon’s signing of NEPA and his Everglades protection were the first big time indications of the administration’s serious commitment to environmental protection, the State of the Union address on January 22, with its plea that ‘Restoring nature to its natural state is a cause beyond party and beyond factions,’ was seen by surprised Democrats as the Great Reconfirmation that Nixon indeed harbored a genuine TR streak … When Nixon delivered a Special Message to the Congress on Environmental Quality on February 10 (1970), he listed fourteen executive orders and twenty-three legislative proposals to combat pollution and provide parkland. ‘The time has come when we can wait no longer to repair the damage already done,’ he told Congress.”</span></span></blockquote><p></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Brinkley notes several times that Nixon was “suspicious” of liberal traps, so he did not appear on TV for the first Earth Day. He even asked FBI director J. Edgar Hoover, to spy on high-profile Earth Day events on college campuses, fearful of their ties with the anti-Vietnam War movement.</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Yet, Nixon’s support of conservation, preservation, and a clean environment persisted.</span></p><p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgdruDNkShAyJlfB8VTgz9SvIUU9E9OHdOqRo7IHIQrVY9rLhxKp0o_7HbDz9C689fDFJ5zJjTr5OXbbtDmPMZ8ToxC7HRoocz7JzgnErZ_cCXx-PTDiE-oGfNh5ooFTn9viINEq428fYtHGOSguVZ81pf9lpXy0_n_iVH6r3ApqIu5lhZG8ljTMmAb7g" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="797" data-original-width="1200" height="193" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgdruDNkShAyJlfB8VTgz9SvIUU9E9OHdOqRo7IHIQrVY9rLhxKp0o_7HbDz9C689fDFJ5zJjTr5OXbbtDmPMZ8ToxC7HRoocz7JzgnErZ_cCXx-PTDiE-oGfNh5ooFTn9viINEq428fYtHGOSguVZ81pf9lpXy0_n_iVH6r3ApqIu5lhZG8ljTMmAb7g=w291-h193" width="291" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #800180; font-family: times; font-size: x-small;">Nixon</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: arial;">In 1970 he created the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) and NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association, and he signed the Clean Air Act.</span><p></p><p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">On October 21, 1972, Nixon signed the Federal Environmental Pesticide Control Act of 1972, an achievement to the legacy of Rachel Carson. He signed the Marine Mammal Protection Act in 1972 and the Endangered Species Act of 1973.</span></p><p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">And he signed the Emergency Highway Energy Conservation Act (limiting nationwide speed limits to 55) and the Federal Energy Administration Act in 1974 (the same year he was forced to resign because of Watergate).</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Brinkley briefly shows how the Navy stopped pumping sewage into San Francisco Bay while in port. He also discusses how, during the Nixon administration, Marines at Camp Pendleton helped protect endangered wildlife. </span><span style="font-family: arial;">In coordination with the Department of Interior and NASA, the Navy sponsored the first all-women team of aquanauts in Tektite II to study the ecosystem at the bottom of the sea.</span></p><p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">All three Navy-veteran presidents –– two Democrats and one Republican –– were following the lead of conservationist Republican President Theodore Roosevelt of another generation, and who had his own strong ties to the Navy and who championed nature and national parks. </span></p><p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">In two appendices Brinkley lists scores of national wildlife refuges and national parks created or authorized by Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon.</span></p><p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj5KrmE3-nluXiYkWiDIOJATQygyD3dGmkvGGvT5tR0f2hyTWdWzGSaaS6tXmpdHPAoiRUSNMjn8pocyVrMqldjTNxk1hCDvVH3j1aXbw3Fj9NJcc1edyJbtA2X0DOuM2IYorId4jWOfJt4T5jTdk0cLVPpnVCBAblyXuSIsA-TeWJHpLAh0SEuNpH8Cw" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1280" data-original-width="1920" height="438" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj5KrmE3-nluXiYkWiDIOJATQygyD3dGmkvGGvT5tR0f2hyTWdWzGSaaS6tXmpdHPAoiRUSNMjn8pocyVrMqldjTNxk1hCDvVH3j1aXbw3Fj9NJcc1edyJbtA2X0DOuM2IYorId4jWOfJt4T5jTdk0cLVPpnVCBAblyXuSIsA-TeWJHpLAh0SEuNpH8Cw=w658-h438" width="658" /></a></div><p></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">One of President Nixon’s many environmental preservation initiatives included establishing a federally designated Wilderness area, the Cumberland Island National Seashore. “Because Cumberland National Seashore encompassed twenty-three different ecological communities, Nixon agreed that only three hundred tourists at a time be allowed on Cumberland Island. Georgia Governor Jimmy Carter, a moderate Democrat, played a major conservation role regarding the saving of Cumberland…"</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjoE5zNz3Pyyg-kZZYFOEYHkCgm_293iOx0Tp2bzS1uZchVTUZUGamrDIkJQkqZxlxNKAxc7IpnjraNPm1NFRD7a6qu2ID68_FbEE0paIMO6d1I8PvxxKA2SGg6vJpLNy68tgTADLIe-zp1Eew-sq2Eh9DLQWes-K8hDNH0n8Gt0i_PMpN27VoyInwxSA" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1413" data-original-width="1096" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjoE5zNz3Pyyg-kZZYFOEYHkCgm_293iOx0Tp2bzS1uZchVTUZUGamrDIkJQkqZxlxNKAxc7IpnjraNPm1NFRD7a6qu2ID68_FbEE0paIMO6d1I8PvxxKA2SGg6vJpLNy68tgTADLIe-zp1Eew-sq2Eh9DLQWes-K8hDNH0n8Gt0i_PMpN27VoyInwxSA=w310-h400" width="310" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #800180; font-family: times; font-size: x-small;">Rachel Carson talks about <i>"Silent Spring"</i> in April 1963</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: arial;">This massive book (857 pages!) includes dozens of evocative photos, memorable stories, and captivating personalities of the people who created the environmental enlightenment and “awakening” in the 1950s, 60s, and early 70s.</span><p></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Rachel Carson provided much of the inspiration for the environmental movement leading up to the first Earth Day and the public’s demand for clean water, air, and land. She wisely connected the long-lasting danger of atmospheric tests of nuclear weapons with the hazards related to DDT, a pernicious pesticide that altered ecosystems. We have referenced or featured Carson’s works several times </span><a href="https://navyreads.blogspot.com/search?q=Rachel+carson" style="font-family: arial;" target="_blank">here on Navy Reads</a><span style="font-family: arial;">.</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Carson’s “Silent Spring” and her Sea Trilogy inspired John F. Kennedy. Family matriarch Rose Kennedy gave a copy of <i>“Under the Sea-Wind,”</i> published in 1941, to JFK in the mid-1950s.</span></p><p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">“Although ‘<i>Under the Sea-Wind’</i> sold in low numbers, perhaps because Pearl Harbor occurred right after it debuted, it became celebrated by marine biologists and other lovers of the animal kingdom,” Brinkley writes.</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Carson was, in turn, inspired by Albert Schweitzer. And it seems everyone was inspired by Henry David Thoreau. </span></p><p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Brinkley also follows the influence and positive impact of artists, writers, scientists, and politicians: Ansel Adams, John Muir, Carl Sandburg, Marjorie Stoneman Douglas, William O. Douglas, Linus Pauling, Harold Ickes, Wallace Stegner, Robert Frost, Ted Sorensen, Robert F. Kennedy, Cesar Chavez, Jacques Cousteau, Sylvia Earle, Barry Commoner, David Brower, Lady Bird Johnson, Howard Zahniser, Ralph Nader, Robert Boyle, John Saylor, Katherine Ordway, Chief Luther Standing Bear, Laurance Rockefeller, Russell Train, Stewart Udall, Ronald Dellums, Daniel Patrick Moynihan, Henry “Scoop” Jackson, Frank Church, Philip Hart, Gaylord Nelson, Edmund Muskie, William Ruckelshaus, Walter Hickel, Al Gore, and John Ehrlichman.</span></p><p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgIiIYnjBlIRugLreFSQ-TzScbQugHHP48XhvvqgXNYIHiC4Hmkm6qnTcAhuSPsR8q9NlZ3M4L3Yij8UtsKTErG88DUSb7DhPSYDhGB81_eBnaya085eKUWmjMK9sTU_uch_CKHC7b7Dkhn1TfjFYfox6vfFmP94dKdze9sFSOuCZCpcsMNecBfVssf5A" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="467" data-original-width="607" height="286" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgIiIYnjBlIRugLreFSQ-TzScbQugHHP48XhvvqgXNYIHiC4Hmkm6qnTcAhuSPsR8q9NlZ3M4L3Yij8UtsKTErG88DUSb7DhPSYDhGB81_eBnaya085eKUWmjMK9sTU_uch_CKHC7b7Dkhn1TfjFYfox6vfFmP94dKdze9sFSOuCZCpcsMNecBfVssf5A=w372-h286" width="372" /></a></div><span style="font-family: arial;">In the book’s preface, Brinkley praises those “serving a cause bigger than oneself” and warns against the ostrich syndrome of ignoring ongoing threats to the environment, including climate chaos. </span><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">He writes: “The poisonous climate cocktail of ravaging wildfires, mega floods, and monstrous blizzards costs American taxpayers billions of dollars every year (soon to climb to trillions), disrupts lives, causes vast displacement, ruins communities, and kills countless citizens.”</span><p></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Brinkley says, “In some small way, I hope this book illuminates how an engaged citizenry can bring America’s natural beauty back from the brink.” He writes, “Optimism must remain in our oxygen.”</span></p><p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">I remember the feeling of optimism, hope, and activism of the first Earth Day in 1970, the first recognition that something needed to be done to confront pollution, overpopulation, and other ecological threats.</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Among more than a dozen books, Brinkley is the author of <i>“The Wilderness Warrior: Theodore Roosevelt and the Crusade for America”</i> (2009) and <i>“The Unfinished Presidency: Jimmy Carter’s Journey Beyond the White House”</i> (1998).</span></p></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9195380963524310455.post-48726975472706212642023-04-19T09:01:00.003-10:002023-04-26T07:48:51.015-10:00 Jimmy Carter Paradox Part 3: Fundamentalism<p><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiiGryr2_cPGcjoCqcW9agYOBS9bPqzhud9iakO2uwP2l9ANIor6m1IKfTgTp1zdE6XhFZjSzFnGzxpIAMkg6nc51VKYdwTP4EzYI0oTWowxEuKdDGDdOVeGJRQJdX0FJVWBNHdquRQpVz2VLaf0ABecCczBNY2kYn6Lv8JKk_p8C0bepB69MEykfkgmQ" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="886" data-original-width="2000" height="290" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiiGryr2_cPGcjoCqcW9agYOBS9bPqzhud9iakO2uwP2l9ANIor6m1IKfTgTp1zdE6XhFZjSzFnGzxpIAMkg6nc51VKYdwTP4EzYI0oTWowxEuKdDGDdOVeGJRQJdX0FJVWBNHdquRQpVz2VLaf0ABecCczBNY2kYn6Lv8JKk_p8C0bepB69MEykfkgmQ=w654-h290" width="654" /></a></span></div><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Review by Bill Doughty––</span></span><p></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjLBIIpRC7sj1Zv2RSGc6zUa7jgJdg181PFEASVBN9wbuAu0y-QkVZbCv_o9kosulfqQIibFGHroI524M6LrQhAzImr3Vc-39qG34wmrtKctrOrSLHC-NHTZiuthdeRNRBCT27SHAmA_D9tY1UbmbbwGZGOOlb8f0DcgAutQGM0rze1D0D90Okj70aJBg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="995" data-original-width="747" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjLBIIpRC7sj1Zv2RSGc6zUa7jgJdg181PFEASVBN9wbuAu0y-QkVZbCv_o9kosulfqQIibFGHroI524M6LrQhAzImr3Vc-39qG34wmrtKctrOrSLHC-NHTZiuthdeRNRBCT27SHAmA_D9tY1UbmbbwGZGOOlb8f0DcgAutQGM0rze1D0D90Okj70aJBg" width="180" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: arial;">In a bipolar and increasingly monochrome America, Jimmy Carter paints colorful bridges to attempt to bring people together, including people of different religious beliefs.</span><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span><p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Carter is the most devout life-long religious person elected to the presidency in modern U.S. history. His father was a deacon at his Plains Baptist Church in Georgia, and Carter has attended or led weekly Sunday school Bible lessons his whole life.</span></p><p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">He led Bible study at Annapolis, for example, while he was a midshipman at the U.S. Naval Academy during World War II.</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Paradoxically…</span></p>
<ul>
<li style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Carter studies both the Old and New Testaments as a former missionary and self-described “evangelical Christian and a Baptist.” Yet, he decries the rise of religious fundamentalism and is strongly in favor of the wall of separation between State and Church.</span></li>
<li style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Despite his reliance on the comfort of his faith and daily prayer, he is <b>not</b> in favor of mandatory prayer in school, government displays of the Ten Commandments, or legislative decisions based on interpretations of the Bible over the Constitution.</span></li></ul><p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">This is the third in a series of reviews of <i>“Our Endangered Values: America’s Moral Crisis”</i> (Simon & Schuster, 2005).</span></p><p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Carter sat down to write the book several years after fundamentalist Islamist extremists attacked the United States on September 11, 2001. It was published in the aftermath of the U.S. invasion of Iraq ordered by President George W. Bush twenty years ago. This book is still relevant and timely –– explaining why the</span><span style="font-family: arial;"> United States has become so fractured and why fundamentalism is so dangerous.</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><blockquote><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="color: #0b5394; font-size: medium;">“The most important factor is that fundamentalists have become increasingly influential in both religion and government, and have managed to change the nuances and subtleties of history debate into black-and-white rigidities and the personal derogation of those who dare to disagree. At the same time, these religious and political conservatives have melded their efforts, bridging the formerly respected separation of church and state. This has empowered a group of influential ‘neoconservatives,’ who have been able to implement their long-frustrated philosophy in both domestic and foreign policy.”</span></span></blockquote><p></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi1Pf0vSJEWBRrp30ZkjrOZcnpFpR-YKmi2Vvvn1xp0wGZrOHTAj9-dEQMmA5bUo2ED6v26kvoNGwiUCKss_d7y0X-PClGvVgFAIzIgQd6z_eu0nyFepc-MdY-WBDo3tgqFFZ88ay0vBe4GMt9uIAfyJ9wu8iYykY3AGuQ2mXaauvIZu65O2YuVo7Fhzg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1272" data-original-width="1396" height="250" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi1Pf0vSJEWBRrp30ZkjrOZcnpFpR-YKmi2Vvvn1xp0wGZrOHTAj9-dEQMmA5bUo2ED6v26kvoNGwiUCKss_d7y0X-PClGvVgFAIzIgQd6z_eu0nyFepc-MdY-WBDo3tgqFFZ88ay0vBe4GMt9uIAfyJ9wu8iYykY3AGuQ2mXaauvIZu65O2YuVo7Fhzg=w275-h250" width="275" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: arial;">Carter notes, “Narrowly defined theological beliefs have been adopted as the rigid agenda of a political party.” He adds,”The irresolvable differences of opinion on abortion, homosexuality, and other sensitive social issues have been exacerbated by the insistence of intensely committed hardliners on imposing their minority views on a more moderate majority.”</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Compared to his time in the White House in the mid-to-late 70s, Carter concludes, “Stronger and sharper partisan differences have evolved among Americans in recent years.”</span></p><p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">As president, he was able to work with both Republicans and Democrats who put country and people above party and personal interests. What </span><span style="font-family: arial;">was still growing in 2005, when this book was published, </span><span style="font-family: arial;">has metastasized in 2023. Here's how Carter saw it nearly twenty years ago:</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"></span></p><blockquote><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">“Nowadays, the Washington scene is completely different, with almost every issue decided on a strictly partisan basis. Probing public debate on key legislative decision is almost a thing of the past. Basic agreements are made between lobbyists and legislative leaders, often within closed party caucuses where rigid discipline is paramount. Even personal courtesies, which had been especially cherished in the U.S. Senate, are no longer considered to be sacrosanct. This deterioration in harmony, cooperation, and collegiality in the Congress is, at least in part, a result of the rise of fundamentalist tendencies and their religious and political impact.”</span></blockquote><p></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal;">Carter blames not only the rise of fundamentalism but also the impact of dark money in politics thanks to some large corporations and billionaires. One could argue that the differences have only grown even sharper and stronger in 2023</span><span style="font-family: arial;">, with help from social media algorithms, right wing media caught telling lies, and a more partisan judiciary</span><span style="font-family: arial; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal;">.</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Early in <i>“Our Endangered Values”</i> Carter identifies “prevailing characteristics” of intense fundamentalism. These characteristics can apply to Middle East ayatollahs or to homegrown “prophets” like Waco’s David Koresh:</span></p>
<ol>
<li style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Almost always, they are groups led by authoritarian males who want to subjugate women.</span></li>
<li style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">They believe the past is better than the present. [And they try to whitewash history.]</span></li>
<li style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Self-righteousness: “Fundamentalists draw clear distinctions between themselves, as true believers, and others, convinced that they are right and that anyone who contradicts them is ignorant and possibly evil."</span></li>
<li style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Anger: They are quick to threaten or even initiate physical attacks on others who don’t share their beliefs.</span></li>
<li style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Fundamentalists define themselves in an “increasingly narrow and restricted” way.</span></li></ol>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjmz8dAQbKs-AS7LZq4d36CiCc4-yv6haRPjLni7HAOj-MFhUfcQnFzspb2ga6SH5qCtVVYj1M_A35KkFEJAXKOhxhejsykfcbOj4AZl2oLRm3tpnt3Zekgv93rrTngPPpZkm26l-MxhD3H78eql1W7xS4ggmAf7CjjWNIoNMY0ObKY7JVxCD0hNk7rLQ" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="592" height="307" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjmz8dAQbKs-AS7LZq4d36CiCc4-yv6haRPjLni7HAOj-MFhUfcQnFzspb2ga6SH5qCtVVYj1M_A35KkFEJAXKOhxhejsykfcbOj4AZl2oLRm3tpnt3Zekgv93rrTngPPpZkm26l-MxhD3H78eql1W7xS4ggmAf7CjjWNIoNMY0ObKY7JVxCD0hNk7rLQ=w202-h307" width="202" /></a></div><span style="font-family: arial;">The bottom line, according to Carter, is that fundamentalists [including Islamists, Christian nationalists, white supremacists, Opus Dei, etc.] believe in an ideology that is based on rigidity, domination, and exclusion. They abandon the rule of order, social justice, and environmental stewardship in favor of selfishness, greed, power, and control of others.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">While reading and ruminating about <i>“Our Endangered Values”</i> over the past several weeks I also finished reading Daniel Byman’s <i>“Spreading Hate: The Global Rise of White Supremacist Terrorism”</i> (Oxford University Press, 2022). It’s a terrific companion that overlaps nicely with Carter’s observations.</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Byman presents a history of extremism, militancy, and terrorism by white supremacists, antigovernment activists, Christian nationalists, and authoritarian anarchists. Like other authors and historians, such as Michelle Goldberg and Kathleen Belew (who is cited several times), Byman shows how often military veterans –– such as Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh, who was also associated with the Christian Identity movement –– have been involved in anti-government violence.</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">More than ten percent of the people arrested for participating in the insurrection of the Capitol on January 6, 2001, are military veterans. It’s no wonder DOD is trying to root out domestic extremists in its ranks.</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">But it's not all doom and gloom.</span></p><p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">In <i>“Spreading Hate” </i>Byman gives a hopeful view of curbing White Power power. The FBI demolished the Ku Klux Klan. Informants regularly turn on violence-prone militia extremists. The federal government learned lessons from Waco (thirty years ago today) and Ruby Ridge, so does not respond with overwhelming violence when provoked. Perhaps most importantly, public sentiment turns against mass shooters and other terrorists who try to bring about anarchy and civil war.</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi-_ONI8fwjxfaF5hWSV9LTpuXVdAkgHfMEfNdtoaAp53JHhJP1eAYEDCCUTuzQEvQTo3Iy8c-QoJ5rYTeR4qGgys3vqeMSzHbs2mrt5oqalAXE5kFQqBoLB20vVxCxb7O-p6KjMILhLSFw0h3mjuuCxvqlNhT_ND6E0-BwQgSplqoJOsnNTRVhsYG74w" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="350" data-original-width="610" height="377" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi-_ONI8fwjxfaF5hWSV9LTpuXVdAkgHfMEfNdtoaAp53JHhJP1eAYEDCCUTuzQEvQTo3Iy8c-QoJ5rYTeR4qGgys3vqeMSzHbs2mrt5oqalAXE5kFQqBoLB20vVxCxb7O-p6KjMILhLSFw0h3mjuuCxvqlNhT_ND6E0-BwQgSplqoJOsnNTRVhsYG74w=w656-h377" width="656" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #800180; font-size: x-small;">Charlottesville rally, August 2017.</span></td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></div><span style="font-family: arial;">I doubt even Jimmy Carter back in 2005 could have imagined the white supremacy rally in Charlottesville in 2017, the J6 Capitol insurrection in 2021, or the continuing rise of influential Republican representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, from his own state of Georgia.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Speaking of civil war –– Antithetical to Carter, Greene calls for a “national divorce” of red and blue states. Greene has also come out against support for the defense of Ukraine against the Russian invasion, which is supported by the Russian Orthodox Church.</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Greene recently expressed support for the Air Force national guardsman who leaked top secret Pentagon documents. (The documents came to light because of their appearance on a pro-Russian site helmed by former Navy petty officer Sarah Bils, according to <a href="https://news.usni.org/2023/04/17/feds-investigating-former-sailor-behind-pro-russian-donbass-devushka-accounts">USNI News</a>.)</span></p><p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Greene tweeted: "Jake Teixeira is white, male, christian, and antiwar. That makes him an enemy to the Biden regime.”</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhfOiV71_0hQXEv5Y5-VtvAgfgvt2baAKphyp4eiLH0T-KIzQX75Tqcg_W0iGB_0nErBnwv0sl_dkalnfgQPGdX6Oz_Kje6Ni9DaaW91sZWOpI1DLBuph5wG8Q2t6kQwonDy6NxDuJDNtbkqoksgKosEcBURnTr3v7kFnYevRfByybPGiy8B-ZU56xYrw" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="468" data-original-width="600" height="511" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhfOiV71_0hQXEv5Y5-VtvAgfgvt2baAKphyp4eiLH0T-KIzQX75Tqcg_W0iGB_0nErBnwv0sl_dkalnfgQPGdX6Oz_Kje6Ni9DaaW91sZWOpI1DLBuph5wG8Q2t6kQwonDy6NxDuJDNtbkqoksgKosEcBURnTr3v7kFnYevRfByybPGiy8B-ZU56xYrw=w656-h511" width="656" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br />Paradoxically, Biden, like Jimmy Carter, is a deeply religious president who sees the world through moderate, and some would now say progressive, eyes. In 1976 Biden was the first senator to endorse Carter for the presidency.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">As for Carter, he is genuinely and deeply religious, and his interpretation of Christian values is based on caring for and about others, not alienating them. As a farmer, teacher, and builder, he tries to create bridges between people and away from blind fundamentalism.</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgAhnkOWpc0TGawrbr28xqJb2JUyTr9oJRD2amR11uWIWZGNRFzcFhbwmny9p8ZgY5QTjPYpqj1DTOx2prhFuUTashbj-Q9ZebC1PtuqzARuzYKyLLshg9FCa0L2oCo7M9DZDkHYH2Yu82zKtSdpkrK1ukhZ8gnc_zAjJB7fXwMWlO4iI_GuJtKXZIamw" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1350" data-original-width="1080" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgAhnkOWpc0TGawrbr28xqJb2JUyTr9oJRD2amR11uWIWZGNRFzcFhbwmny9p8ZgY5QTjPYpqj1DTOx2prhFuUTashbj-Q9ZebC1PtuqzARuzYKyLLshg9FCa0L2oCo7M9DZDkHYH2Yu82zKtSdpkrK1ukhZ8gnc_zAjJB7fXwMWlO4iI_GuJtKXZIamw=w320-h400" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #800180; font-family: times; font-size: x-small;">Carters and Reagans at the Carter Center opening in 1986.</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: arial;">“There is obviously a widespread, carefully planned, and unapologetic crusade under way from both sides to merge fundamentalist Christians with the right wing of the Republican Party,” Carter writes. “Although considered to be desirable by some Americans, this melding of church and state is of deep concern to those who have always relished their separation as one of our moral values.”</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Carter reflects, “Despite what I consider to be a constitutional and biblical requirement for the separation of church and state, I must acknowledge that my own religious beliefs have been inextricably entwined with the political principles I have adopted.” Much is left up to interpretation and selective understanding of religious texts, he says.</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Carter’s nuanced views in <i>“Our Endangered Values”</i> includes further discussion of the treatment of women, the rights of homosexuals, and stewardship of the environment, among other controversial issues.</span></p><p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">He also explores issues of gun control and abortion –– parts 1 and 2 of this series.</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">His commitment to compassion and his consideration of the views of others is welcome and especially relevant in a divided America in 2023. Today, his Carter Presidential Center in Atlanta, which includes the Carter Presidential Library and Museum, welcomes people from all over the world who want to learn, live in peace, and work together in support of human rights.</span></p><p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhiDR_2tVRCPs22DlRC99S5lqDgH_RR4rqm4EjNkloG2_YxIbZx34vDyHwM2yLLmNfFC5KJlRrGlCPbQ6ehuXTzHVYDm2t5SoNZoR62oWhLgOn2bBDBFSjP0dOwaOQhW3SISVOk4sFVTCIZ-nYKrk9gkFENHaUsvL7MYHgjn3yCqzz0fO5D2JYCoIhOXg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="1600" height="247" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhiDR_2tVRCPs22DlRC99S5lqDgH_RR4rqm4EjNkloG2_YxIbZx34vDyHwM2yLLmNfFC5KJlRrGlCPbQ6ehuXTzHVYDm2t5SoNZoR62oWhLgOn2bBDBFSjP0dOwaOQhW3SISVOk4sFVTCIZ-nYKrk9gkFENHaUsvL7MYHgjn3yCqzz0fO5D2JYCoIhOXg=w657-h247" width="657" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #800180; font-family: times; font-size: x-small;">The Carter Presidential Library and Museum</span></td></tr></tbody></table><p></p></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0