Nov 13, 2022·edited Nov 13, 2022Liked by Bill Astore
The most important point in Your article, Bill, is contained in its second-to-last paragraph: "And it’s not just veterans who pay the price of endless war. Young people turning 21 today have never known a time when America hasn’t been at war with somebody somewhere. They’ve never known a time when massive military budgets were considered abnormal. They’ve never known, in a word, peace."
1. It’s not just people turning 21 today who have never known a time when America hasn’t been off waging war someplace.
America has been at war since the 80s: Bankrolling Saddam against Iran and ObL against Russia in Afghanistan while unleashing terror and tyranny in Central America. And that was followed by the “liberation” of Kuwait and all its "Incubator Babies," and then the onslaught against the former Yugoslavia in the 90s. And then came 9/11 and the 21 years of lies, hoax, scam, sham, and carnage that has followed that.
So it’s not just folks turning 21 who have never known anything but America at War someplace. Anybody born in the 70s and later is in the same situation. Just like anybody born in the 60s, 50s, 40s, or before.
2. The reason this is the most important point is ~ as You said ~ because America At War someplace against somebody or something is the long-standing NORMAL for this nation; as are the national “security and defense” budgets that go along with that "Normal."
And that is exactly why there are no “peace” candidates running for elective office: Because the very concept of “peace” ~ of America not being at war ~ is totally and completely alien to the American systems of government and governance, and to the way the “leaders” of those systems are put into office and kept there.
3. And on top of Endless War, any American Child old enough to have been directly impacted by The COVID Event ~ with its school closures, lockdowns, social isolation, family economic distress, etc ~ will have a completely different set of issues to deal with as they approach their Teen and Young Adult years.
If the Future of a nation is in its Youth, we have done a totally shitty job of preparing our Youth for that Future.
What do You find "curious" about the fact that Condi Rice's Errand Boy Zelikow was put in charge of the 9/11 Commission? Can You think of a better way to control it, the work that it would be permitted to do, and what its results were?
Do You find it equally curious that ~ 59 years later ~ the American People and the Planet STILL do not know EVERYTHING that the US government knows about the assassination of President Kennedy?
Or: Do You think there might be any linkage and relationship between 9/11 and 11/22 as the standard way for this government to do business?
That's another question American's are not allowed to ask of anybody in Swampland.
Sort of like who was ever held accountable for the Lie that Saddam had WMDs? Anybody?
Or Clapper's lie under oath to Congress that the US was not conducing warrantless surveillance of private American citizens? Anybody?
Or any of the other Bullshit this government and its owners and operators have pulled over these past 21+ years since 9/11? Anybody?
Given the State of Georgia’s history of relations between Black and White Americans [from Slavery, to Reconstruction, to Jim Crow, to Segregation, to Desegregation and Civil Rights, to what it is today], there is an almost delicious ~ if not supreme ~ irony in the fact that control of the next US Senate could very well depend entirely upon the Runoff next month of the Senate race in Georgia between two African-Americans, Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock and Republican challenger Herschel Walker: “Republicans redirect hopes for Senate majority on Georgia runoff “
That the future control of the Senate may be decided by folks living in the state that gave the world Lester Maddox, on the one hand, and Martin Luther King, Jr, on the other, is almost too much to fully grasp without some serious review of history, and subsequent thought, and reflection.
And then of course, there’s The Money. 'START ADDING ZEROES': BIG MONEY EXPECTED TO POUR INTO GEORGIA by Nathan Layne:
Nov 11 (Reuters) - Even before the contest in Georgia between Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock and his Republican challenger Herschel Walker headed for a Dec. 6 runoff, A STAGGERING $262 MILLION HAD ALREADY BEEN SPENT ON THE RACE.
Now, with control of the U.S. Senate possibly hinging on the match-up, political analysts expect the campaigns to unleash an advertising blitz and boost spending to levels approaching the historic runoffs in Georgia two years ago.
"Just start adding zeroes and stop when you feel like it," said Chuck Clay, a former state Republican chair and former state senator. "Money is going to be no object on either side."
While Republicans are edging towards a majority in the House of Representatives, the Senate remains up for grabs, with large numbers of votes still being counted in Arizona and Nevada. If the parties split those seats, the runoff in Georgia will determine control of the upper chamber.
So far, SPENDING BY THE WARNOCK AND WALKER CAMPAIGNS AND OUTSIDE GROUPS TOTALS $262 MILLION, according to OpenSecrets, a nonprofit that tracks money in politics. FOR A MIDTERM, THAT RANKS SECOND TO THE $372 MILLION SPENT ON THIS YEAR'S SENATE RACE IN PENNSYLVANIA.
Would anybody care to hazard a guess as to how much MORE MONEY individuals, organizations, and institutions are going to dump into Georgia in order to buy this crucial election in which ~ no doubt we will be told incessantly by both sides ~ the “future of democracy” [or “the future of freedom,” pick Your side] is at stake?
All of which should lead at least some Americans to wonder: Exactly What do all those people, groups, and enterprises giving all that money to all those candidates expect to get in return for their investment?
What they expect to get is the best government that money can buy; and the one that best facilitates and enables their own particular political, economic, social, or cultural agendas.
That’s how America’s $ 1 = 1 Vote System of government and governance works, and has worked so well for so long for those folks able to buy their way in for a spot at The Table.
And what does all this have to do with Veterans Day?
How much would even some of all that money going to politicians seeking office be of assistance to those Vets who ~ when asked, as Bill suggests “How are You doing?” ~ respond with “Not worth a shit. But Thank You for asking.”
Eventually, it gets depressing enough that the People become "Comfortably Numb" ~ as Pink Floyd once put it ~ and simply accept it as just the way things ARE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jMJYddhb2eE
I think this is why we need to avoid cynicism and despair, Jeff. The antidote is passion, commitment, truth. Don't become "comfortably numb." Don't give up. Keep fighting for what's right no matter the odds. And I know they're long.
And every time somebody tells me "Thank You for your service," i tell them that they have nothing to be thankful for about anything that i or anybody else in the American military has done since the end of World War II all over the Planet; particularly in the places i have been: Vietnam and the Middle East.
That either begins what is often a very interesting conversation on that, or an immediate change of subject. or else terminates all communications whatsoever.
Never was a Drill Instructor, Bill. But i did spend close to six years as a Senior Noncommissioned Officer privileged to be assigned to the Office of The Inspector General of the United States Army.
That's where i began to learn the task, skill, and art of Asking Questions that some folks would prefer were not asked. And Giving Answers to and about Questions that were asked.
On January 3, 1970, at a military funeral in Van Nuys, California ~ five months after Neil Armstrong's "One Small Step"; seventeen months after returning from my second year in Viet Nam; three and a half months before the first Earth Day; and four months and a day before Kent State ~ i asked a question that i have been pondering in one form or another ever since:
“Given what Humans know about the Universe, the Planet, Life, and Ourselves from our Natural and Social Sciences; and, given what Humans can do in that Universe, to that Planet, with Life, and for Ourselves thru our Hard and Soft Technologies…: WHY, then, is there still Poverty, Hunger, and Disease, Illiteracy, Injustice, and Inequity, Ecocide, Genocide, and Democide, Insecurity, Tyranny, and War?”
And 52+ years later. that question that i asked at that funeral that day has my vote as “The Most Important Question” confronting not only Americans, but the entire Human species today.
One answer to that question is because there has never been a WAR AGAINST WAR.
There have been “anti-war” and “pro-peace” movements, but never an openly declared and fought WAR AGAINST WAR, and specifically waged against those who propagate, perpetrate, perpetuate, and of course profit from War.
Among those Humans who could ~ if they chose to ~ play a critical, crucial role in reigning in and then dismantling the Global War Machine are Veterans who have been actually, personally, physically involved in any War any place in the world. But particularly as Americans.
And there have been American Veterans organizations and communities against particular Wars, starting with VIETNAM VETERANS AGAINST THE WAR back in the late 60s to early 70s. And more recently, there have been IRAQ VETERANS AGAINST THE WAR, AFGHANISTAN VETERANS AGAINST THE WAR, and VETERANS AGAINST THE [FOREVER] WAR. And since the mid-80s, there has been a VETERANS FOR PEACE.
But there has never been a VETERANS AGAINST WAR itself; and not just a particular War.
Nor has there ever been a group of Veterans who have openly declared a WAR AGAINST WAR, and then set out to wage and win that War.
And it needs to be understood from the outset that VETERANS AGAINST WAR is a concept about an extended ad-hoc hyper-community comprised of every Child, Woman, and Man on this Planet who has ever been directly or indirectly affected by War ~ anywhere, anytime, in any way whatsoever ~ and who is prepared to do whatever is possible and necessary to ensure that something like that never, ever happens again to themselves, to their loved ones, friends, colleagues, cohorts, and compeers. Or to anybody else, anywhere else on the Planet. Anybody. Anywhere. Ever.
I assume the NOTC voters were repelled by all candidates. If the NOTC option wasn't available, I suppose they may have written in a name, or left it blank, or picked a mainstream candidate while holding their nose at the stench of it all.
Look at the numbers, Mr Merwood; You claim to be an Engineer. What's the difference between Masto's and Laxalt's total votes? And how many did NOTC get?
Is that clue enough, or do You need further hints?
The most important point in Your article, Bill, is contained in its second-to-last paragraph: "And it’s not just veterans who pay the price of endless war. Young people turning 21 today have never known a time when America hasn’t been at war with somebody somewhere. They’ve never known a time when massive military budgets were considered abnormal. They’ve never known, in a word, peace."
1. It’s not just people turning 21 today who have never known a time when America hasn’t been off waging war someplace.
America has been at war since the 80s: Bankrolling Saddam against Iran and ObL against Russia in Afghanistan while unleashing terror and tyranny in Central America. And that was followed by the “liberation” of Kuwait and all its "Incubator Babies," and then the onslaught against the former Yugoslavia in the 90s. And then came 9/11 and the 21 years of lies, hoax, scam, sham, and carnage that has followed that.
So it’s not just folks turning 21 who have never known anything but America at War someplace. Anybody born in the 70s and later is in the same situation. Just like anybody born in the 60s, 50s, 40s, or before.
2. The reason this is the most important point is ~ as You said ~ because America At War someplace against somebody or something is the long-standing NORMAL for this nation; as are the national “security and defense” budgets that go along with that "Normal."
And that is exactly why there are no “peace” candidates running for elective office: Because the very concept of “peace” ~ of America not being at war ~ is totally and completely alien to the American systems of government and governance, and to the way the “leaders” of those systems are put into office and kept there.
3. And on top of Endless War, any American Child old enough to have been directly impacted by The COVID Event ~ with its school closures, lockdowns, social isolation, family economic distress, etc ~ will have a completely different set of issues to deal with as they approach their Teen and Young Adult years.
If the Future of a nation is in its Youth, we have done a totally shitty job of preparing our Youth for that Future.
Yes, thank you. I meant it to be my most important point, and I'm so glad you highlighted it as well.
What do You find "curious" about the fact that Condi Rice's Errand Boy Zelikow was put in charge of the 9/11 Commission? Can You think of a better way to control it, the work that it would be permitted to do, and what its results were?
Do You find it equally curious that ~ 59 years later ~ the American People and the Planet STILL do not know EVERYTHING that the US government knows about the assassination of President Kennedy?
Or: Do You think there might be any linkage and relationship between 9/11 and 11/22 as the standard way for this government to do business?
That's another question American's are not allowed to ask of anybody in Swampland.
Sort of like who was ever held accountable for the Lie that Saddam had WMDs? Anybody?
Or Clapper's lie under oath to Congress that the US was not conducing warrantless surveillance of private American citizens? Anybody?
Or any of the other Bullshit this government and its owners and operators have pulled over these past 21+ years since 9/11? Anybody?
Because if he didn't, he knew ~ because he was told directly ~ that he would be replaced by somebody who would follow instructions.
Or maybe the dumb shit was smart enough to figure that out himself without being told.
Even better than asking them how they are doing is this: Support Our Veterans by Ending the Wars
https://original.antiwar.com/jonathan_grotefendt/2022/11/10/support-our-veterans-by-ending-the-wars/
How true. Stop the killing. Stop the wars.
Totally Off-Topic yet Totally On-… :
Given the State of Georgia’s history of relations between Black and White Americans [from Slavery, to Reconstruction, to Jim Crow, to Segregation, to Desegregation and Civil Rights, to what it is today], there is an almost delicious ~ if not supreme ~ irony in the fact that control of the next US Senate could very well depend entirely upon the Runoff next month of the Senate race in Georgia between two African-Americans, Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock and Republican challenger Herschel Walker: “Republicans redirect hopes for Senate majority on Georgia runoff “
[ https://www.politico.com/news/2022/11/11/republicans-redirect-hopes-for-senate-majority-on-georgia-runoff-00066517 ].
That the future control of the Senate may be decided by folks living in the state that gave the world Lester Maddox, on the one hand, and Martin Luther King, Jr, on the other, is almost too much to fully grasp without some serious review of history, and subsequent thought, and reflection.
And then of course, there’s The Money. 'START ADDING ZEROES': BIG MONEY EXPECTED TO POUR INTO GEORGIA by Nathan Layne:
Nov 11 (Reuters) - Even before the contest in Georgia between Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock and his Republican challenger Herschel Walker headed for a Dec. 6 runoff, A STAGGERING $262 MILLION HAD ALREADY BEEN SPENT ON THE RACE.
Now, with control of the U.S. Senate possibly hinging on the match-up, political analysts expect the campaigns to unleash an advertising blitz and boost spending to levels approaching the historic runoffs in Georgia two years ago.
"Just start adding zeroes and stop when you feel like it," said Chuck Clay, a former state Republican chair and former state senator. "Money is going to be no object on either side."
While Republicans are edging towards a majority in the House of Representatives, the Senate remains up for grabs, with large numbers of votes still being counted in Arizona and Nevada. If the parties split those seats, the runoff in Georgia will determine control of the upper chamber.
So far, SPENDING BY THE WARNOCK AND WALKER CAMPAIGNS AND OUTSIDE GROUPS TOTALS $262 MILLION, according to OpenSecrets, a nonprofit that tracks money in politics. FOR A MIDTERM, THAT RANKS SECOND TO THE $372 MILLION SPENT ON THIS YEAR'S SENATE RACE IN PENNSYLVANIA.
Continued at https://www.reuters.com/world/us/start-adding-zeroes-big-money-expected-pour-into-georgia-midterm-runoff-2022-11-11/ [EMPHASES added.]
***
Would anybody care to hazard a guess as to how much MORE MONEY individuals, organizations, and institutions are going to dump into Georgia in order to buy this crucial election in which ~ no doubt we will be told incessantly by both sides ~ the “future of democracy” [or “the future of freedom,” pick Your side] is at stake?
Of course, the $262 Million already spent on the Georgia election is chump change compared to the $16.7 BILLION already spent on State and Federal elections in 2022 as of a week ago [https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2022/11/total-cost-of-2022-state-and-federal-elections-projected-to-exceed-16-7-billion/].
All of which should lead at least some Americans to wonder: Exactly What do all those people, groups, and enterprises giving all that money to all those candidates expect to get in return for their investment?
What they expect to get is the best government that money can buy; and the one that best facilitates and enables their own particular political, economic, social, or cultural agendas.
That’s how America’s $ 1 = 1 Vote System of government and governance works, and has worked so well for so long for those folks able to buy their way in for a spot at The Table.
And what does all this have to do with Veterans Day?
How much would even some of all that money going to politicians seeking office be of assistance to those Vets who ~ when asked, as Bill suggests “How are You doing?” ~ respond with “Not worth a shit. But Thank You for asking.”
Depressing, isn't it?
That's exactly why it is so effective, Bill.
Eventually, it gets depressing enough that the People become "Comfortably Numb" ~ as Pink Floyd once put it ~ and simply accept it as just the way things ARE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jMJYddhb2eE
Yes, you're right. A great, great song.
I think this is why we need to avoid cynicism and despair, Jeff. The antidote is passion, commitment, truth. Don't become "comfortably numb." Don't give up. Keep fighting for what's right no matter the odds. And I know they're long.
On November 11 – Remember Who Profits From War:
https://theanalysis.news/on-november-11-remember-who-profits-from-war/
And every time somebody tells me "Thank You for your service," i tell them that they have nothing to be thankful for about anything that i or anybody else in the American military has done since the end of World War II all over the Planet; particularly in the places i have been: Vietnam and the Middle East.
That either begins what is often a very interesting conversation on that, or an immediate change of subject. or else terminates all communications whatsoever.
Are you sure you weren't a drill instructor, MSG? :-). Tough love indeed.
Never was a Drill Instructor, Bill. But i did spend close to six years as a Senior Noncommissioned Officer privileged to be assigned to the Office of The Inspector General of the United States Army.
That's where i began to learn the task, skill, and art of Asking Questions that some folks would prefer were not asked. And Giving Answers to and about Questions that were asked.
A MUSING ON VETERANS DAY 2022
On January 3, 1970, at a military funeral in Van Nuys, California ~ five months after Neil Armstrong's "One Small Step"; seventeen months after returning from my second year in Viet Nam; three and a half months before the first Earth Day; and four months and a day before Kent State ~ i asked a question that i have been pondering in one form or another ever since:
“Given what Humans know about the Universe, the Planet, Life, and Ourselves from our Natural and Social Sciences; and, given what Humans can do in that Universe, to that Planet, with Life, and for Ourselves thru our Hard and Soft Technologies…: WHY, then, is there still Poverty, Hunger, and Disease, Illiteracy, Injustice, and Inequity, Ecocide, Genocide, and Democide, Insecurity, Tyranny, and War?”
And 52+ years later. that question that i asked at that funeral that day has my vote as “The Most Important Question” confronting not only Americans, but the entire Human species today.
One answer to that question is because there has never been a WAR AGAINST WAR.
There have been “anti-war” and “pro-peace” movements, but never an openly declared and fought WAR AGAINST WAR, and specifically waged against those who propagate, perpetrate, perpetuate, and of course profit from War.
Among those Humans who could ~ if they chose to ~ play a critical, crucial role in reigning in and then dismantling the Global War Machine are Veterans who have been actually, personally, physically involved in any War any place in the world. But particularly as Americans.
And there have been American Veterans organizations and communities against particular Wars, starting with VIETNAM VETERANS AGAINST THE WAR back in the late 60s to early 70s. And more recently, there have been IRAQ VETERANS AGAINST THE WAR, AFGHANISTAN VETERANS AGAINST THE WAR, and VETERANS AGAINST THE [FOREVER] WAR. And since the mid-80s, there has been a VETERANS FOR PEACE.
But there has never been a VETERANS AGAINST WAR itself; and not just a particular War.
Nor has there ever been a group of Veterans who have openly declared a WAR AGAINST WAR, and then set out to wage and win that War.
And it needs to be understood from the outset that VETERANS AGAINST WAR is a concept about an extended ad-hoc hyper-community comprised of every Child, Woman, and Man on this Planet who has ever been directly or indirectly affected by War ~ anywhere, anytime, in any way whatsoever ~ and who is prepared to do whatever is possible and necessary to ensure that something like that never, ever happens again to themselves, to their loved ones, friends, colleagues, cohorts, and compeers. Or to anybody else, anywhere else on the Planet. Anybody. Anywhere. Ever.
###
Keep the good news coming! :-)
The whole student debt loan forgiveness program may have been a sham, as predicted by Brianna Joy Gray a month ago:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r2Bu3Uccphg
Sham or not, it no doubt got the Democrats more than a few votes. Which was, after all, its ultimate intent and purpose.
Gee Dennis. i'm surprised You didn't ask the same question about "None Of These Candidates."
Those who voted NOTC seem to have had quite a bit to say about how this election will turn out, wouldn't You say?
Catherine Cortez Masto…… 487,829 48.77 %
Adam Laxalt……………….......... 481,273 48.11 %
None of these candidates….. 12,070 1.21 %
I assume the NOTC voters were repelled by all candidates. If the NOTC option wasn't available, I suppose they may have written in a name, or left it blank, or picked a mainstream candidate while holding their nose at the stench of it all.
Or, they would have joined Nevada’s other 857,411 [or 46.09 percent of] Registered Nevadan Voters who did not vote at all:
2022 GENERAL ELECTION TOTAL
Active Registered Voters…1,860,408
Total Turnout…….......………..1,002,997 (53.91%)
Election Day Turnout…..….209,739 (20.91%)
Early Turnout…………...……..281,358 (28.05%)
Absentee Turnout……...........………………0 (0%)
Mail Turnout……………...……511,900 (51.04%)
Source: Nevada Secretary of State, https://silverstateelection.nv.gov/vote-turnout/
So the question remains: WHO sent the loudest message? THose who voted NOTC, or those who stayed home and didn't vote?
Look at the numbers, Mr Merwood; You claim to be an Engineer. What's the difference between Masto's and Laxalt's total votes? And how many did NOTC get?
Is that clue enough, or do You need further hints?
Read my last email to You, Dennis, and have a Great day.