Every time, I think you’ve said it all, and beautifully. It’s not the same as Blowing in the Wind: you can’t sing it. But they both move the spirit and keep us hoping to see things change for the better. Keep up the good work!
"As one reader of my blog Bracing Views so aptly put it: “The diversity the war parties [Democrats and Republicans] will not tolerate is diversity of thought.” That is pure eloquence! (wink, wink, nod, nod).
I was trying to refer to the pushback the woman's national soccer time was getting from certain folks for not mouthing and saluting during the playing of national anthem pre game.
YUP; Exceptional health care system too. Exceptionally expensive, but RESULTS? Not so much.
It really saddens m to see what this country has become. Government BY corporations; FOR corporations and OF corporations. Sometimes I think we should change our flag to a BIG DOLLAR SIGN over the word GREED in the background.
Congressional bribery has been legitimized and accepted. Congressmen (& women) routinely flip to become lobbyists when their terms expire further fattening their wallets at the expense on our security and well-being. I see continuing escalation to the point where we are very likely to IMPLODE from our own excesses.
TV says to contribute only $19 a month to help poor displaced people around the world. What TV doesn't say is most problems are a direct result of America' INSANE foreign Policies. I really wonder who the hell is running this country; it certainly isn't Biden.
No Rachael, YOUR very interesting piece on Ukrainian History is what is SPOT ON! A real eye-opener. Let us hope it gets a chance to open more eyes than our complicit / corrupt (take your pick) American Media. https://justrachel.substack.com/p/real-ukrainian-history
What a wonderfully written article. My only question: Is anyone listening? Peter Paula & Mary had a really great song to illustrate just what Bill has said. "Blowing in the Wind"
Peter, Paul, and Mary did a wonderful rendition of “Blowin’ in the Wind “, but I am compelled to point out that the words came from Mr. Dylan. 😎 Peace.
Wow. What a mouth full. You're preaching to the choir but boy. What a great read. Thanks and ypu: be read snout the nowback our American soccer time is getting for not saluting and singing along during pregame national anthem slot.
I was watching a Discovery channel show where they compared an F-16 with an F-35. The F-16 outperformed the F-35. Apparently the only thing the F-35 has in its favor is "stealth". Why would they need stealth? So they don't see you coming over the border?
Your article is the lead "Viewpoints" on today's antiwar.com, Bill. A Great place for it to be.
Do You know if any MSMers have published it? Or if it has been posted by any other non-MSMer news and views outlets?
As far as i am concerned, this is easily the most important and significant piece that i have read that You have written, and needs and deserves the widest possible distribution. Thank You.
About a decade ago, a few of my articles got posted by CBS, Jeff. It really didn't matter.
Usually, I get progressive sites and loosely libertarian ones. Naked Capitalism, for example. But the mainstream just isn't interested -- why should they be, when they're owned by the same people who own major defense contractors and who profit from our state of permanent war?
Have any of those progressive and loosely libertarian folks posted this article? And what about fully libertarian ones? Like Lew Rockwell, The Future of Freedom Foundation, and the Brownstone Institute? They would publish Your piece in a heartbeat.
And Roger why the mainstream isn't interested. Have You done any articles on that? If so, i'd love to read them.
Thank You again for that piece, Bill. It has made these past few days for me a time of deep thought and reflection. As i am sure it has others. And Thanks for referring me to Naked Capitalism. Just scanning it, it looks like a very interesting place. ~ jeff
ps: Heh. It would be interesting to see how such outfits as Defense One Today, The D Brief, and Task & Purpose Today would react and respond to it.
Like i said yesterday, Bill: "Be careful: That puts You well on the way to being a 'viable' candidate" to be the next POTUS.
Or at least a speechwriter for a viable candidate.
Permit me to suggest that this be sent ~ by You and every BV subscriber ~ to every Senator and Representative in DC with the request that it be read into the Congressional Record. i also recommend that You send it to RFK Jr to see if he has any reaction and response to it.
That would certainly be one way for the MSM to no longer pretend that it doesn't exist.
It's so frustrating that most Americans are unaware of foreign policy. They think it doesn't concern them. But I don't blame Americans for this- I blame mainstream media's gibberish.
When I subscribed to the Times and Wapo, I could not understand articles about foreign policy. I literally could not understand articles. I realize now that was the point. It's impossible to justify American military action abroad, so these stenographers produce word salad. The articles make no sense because there is no sense to our policy. These writers produce gibberish that make them appear educated to the uninformed.
Same goes with economics. The people in power use big words to talk nonsense so Americans think they can't understand this stuff.
Here's hoping this fiery fight isn't just a hopeless cause. The Top Brass sure could use a Dressing down with all their meritless Merit Badges starting to look like North Korea Mil. Officers, and how I always had to have all Army personnel remove their Dress Jackets before coming through our Metal Detector Machines overseas as a Mil. Police Customs Inspector back in the Seventies. Its a shame keen intellect can't be used as a weapon against these Gadflies...
Not sure if it counts as exceptional, because I don't know about conditions elsewhere, but the sexual assault stats for the U.S. military are certainly noteworthy....
I think, Denise, the military is unexceptional in this case, which is itself disturbing, since the military takes pride in being exceptional, in being better than the rest of us, putting integrity first and so on. Yet the military, unsurprisingly, mirrors larger society, even though the reflections may often be distorted.
What I initially meant, though, was the frequency of sexual assault in the U.S. military ("best fighting force on the planet", and so on) as compared with other countries' militaries. Is "our" percentage of assaults higher? As I have no idea about the composition of other militaries, or the monitoring and chains of command therein, I have no comparison.
But it was just a theoretical question, anyway, triggered by claims of, "the best," and being exceptional. It strikes me, though, that likely your mirroring answer would apply globally.
I have no idea. I'm guessing that studies like this exist.
Part of the problem is that many sexual assaults go unreported, so the stats we have are unreliable. The "rise" in sexual assaults could be due to more people willing to come forward and also more diversity within the military. Sexual assault is also not limited to women, though I think it's the biggest issue.
The Biden administration is actually doing some good here, I think, by removing the chain of command from pursuing these complaints/cases. Many commanders, too many, have a "sweep it under the rug" or "boys will be boys" mentality.
I think it's getting better, but progress like this is always slow, shamefully slow in some cases.
Yes, I've read about the low incidence of reporting of assaults because, as you say, chain of command issues. That situation adds a double whammy to the "fear of not being believed" scenario that civilians face. I'd tend to say that military superiors have more leeway about sweeping claims under the rug than police do, but I recently learned of a startling practice among civilian police. If a rape isn't a slam-dunk case, police detectives may choose to threaten the victim with filing a false report, betting she (or he) will withdraw the claim, just to clear the case. There's a documentary coming out about this practice, citing hundreds of cases nationwide.
Hadn't known about Biden's steps to try to right these wrongs in the military. As you say, a long time coming, but a smart and productive thing to do.
Every time, I think you’ve said it all, and beautifully. It’s not the same as Blowing in the Wind: you can’t sing it. But they both move the spirit and keep us hoping to see things change for the better. Keep up the good work!
"As one reader of my blog Bracing Views so aptly put it: “The diversity the war parties [Democrats and Republicans] will not tolerate is diversity of thought.” That is pure eloquence! (wink, wink, nod, nod).
Indeed it was -- and is!
So sorry for not editing:
I was trying to refer to the pushback the woman's national soccer time was getting from certain folks for not mouthing and saluting during the playing of national anthem pre game.
YUP; Exceptional health care system too. Exceptionally expensive, but RESULTS? Not so much.
It really saddens m to see what this country has become. Government BY corporations; FOR corporations and OF corporations. Sometimes I think we should change our flag to a BIG DOLLAR SIGN over the word GREED in the background.
Congressional bribery has been legitimized and accepted. Congressmen (& women) routinely flip to become lobbyists when their terms expire further fattening their wallets at the expense on our security and well-being. I see continuing escalation to the point where we are very likely to IMPLODE from our own excesses.
TV says to contribute only $19 a month to help poor displaced people around the world. What TV doesn't say is most problems are a direct result of America' INSANE foreign Policies. I really wonder who the hell is running this country; it certainly isn't Biden.
I love the idea of changing our flag to a big dollar sign. SPOT ON!!
No Rachael, YOUR very interesting piece on Ukrainian History is what is SPOT ON! A real eye-opener. Let us hope it gets a chance to open more eyes than our complicit / corrupt (take your pick) American Media. https://justrachel.substack.com/p/real-ukrainian-history
Here's an even better US flag: https://subscribe.adbusters.org/products/corporate-america-flag .
Hahaha sums it up! I subscribed to that magazine 20 years ago!
What a wonderfully written article. My only question: Is anyone listening? Peter Paula & Mary had a really great song to illustrate just what Bill has said. "Blowing in the Wind"
Peter, Paul, and Mary did a wonderful rendition of “Blowin’ in the Wind “, but I am compelled to point out that the words came from Mr. Dylan. 😎 Peace.
Wow. What a mouth full. You're preaching to the choir but boy. What a great read. Thanks and ypu: be read snout the nowback our American soccer time is getting for not saluting and singing along during pregame national anthem slot.
Even the choir needs to be saved, Dennis.
Thanks.
The bombs that fell on Hiroshima and Nagasaki fell on America too.
They fell on no city, no munition plants, no docks.
They erased no church, vaporized no public buildings,
reduced no man to his atomic elements.
But they fell, they fell.
They burst. They shook the land.
God have mercy on our children.
God have mercy on America.
– Hermann Hagedorn, The Bombs That Fell on America [1946]
And this just in: The piece is on Consortium News at https://consortiumnews.com/2023/08/11/the-greatest-fighting-force-in-human-history/ .
And it comes with magnificent fotos that are the perfect accompaniment.
I was watching a Discovery channel show where they compared an F-16 with an F-35. The F-16 outperformed the F-35. Apparently the only thing the F-35 has in its favor is "stealth". Why would they need stealth? So they don't see you coming over the border?
Your article is the lead "Viewpoints" on today's antiwar.com, Bill. A Great place for it to be.
Do You know if any MSMers have published it? Or if it has been posted by any other non-MSMer news and views outlets?
As far as i am concerned, this is easily the most important and significant piece that i have read that You have written, and needs and deserves the widest possible distribution. Thank You.
About a decade ago, a few of my articles got posted by CBS, Jeff. It really didn't matter.
Usually, I get progressive sites and loosely libertarian ones. Naked Capitalism, for example. But the mainstream just isn't interested -- why should they be, when they're owned by the same people who own major defense contractors and who profit from our state of permanent war?
Have any of those progressive and loosely libertarian folks posted this article? And what about fully libertarian ones? Like Lew Rockwell, The Future of Freedom Foundation, and the Brownstone Institute? They would publish Your piece in a heartbeat.
And Roger why the mainstream isn't interested. Have You done any articles on that? If so, i'd love to read them.
Thank You again for that piece, Bill. It has made these past few days for me a time of deep thought and reflection. As i am sure it has others. And Thanks for referring me to Naked Capitalism. Just scanning it, it looks like a very interesting place. ~ jeff
ps: Heh. It would be interesting to see how such outfits as Defense One Today, The D Brief, and Task & Purpose Today would react and respond to it.
Bill: Have You sent this to antiwar.com? It is a natural for those folks.
I heard they would run it.
Like i said yesterday, Bill: "Be careful: That puts You well on the way to being a 'viable' candidate" to be the next POTUS.
Or at least a speechwriter for a viable candidate.
Permit me to suggest that this be sent ~ by You and every BV subscriber ~ to every Senator and Representative in DC with the request that it be read into the Congressional Record. i also recommend that You send it to RFK Jr to see if he has any reaction and response to it.
That would certainly be one way for the MSM to no longer pretend that it doesn't exist.
Thanks, Jeff. Feel free to share everywhere.
It's so frustrating that most Americans are unaware of foreign policy. They think it doesn't concern them. But I don't blame Americans for this- I blame mainstream media's gibberish.
When I subscribed to the Times and Wapo, I could not understand articles about foreign policy. I literally could not understand articles. I realize now that was the point. It's impossible to justify American military action abroad, so these stenographers produce word salad. The articles make no sense because there is no sense to our policy. These writers produce gibberish that make them appear educated to the uninformed.
Same goes with economics. The people in power use big words to talk nonsense so Americans think they can't understand this stuff.
Sorry you're absolutely correct. Cudos to Bob Dylan for a wonderfully written piece.
Sorry you are absolutely correct. Cudos to Bob Dylan.
Here's hoping this fiery fight isn't just a hopeless cause. The Top Brass sure could use a Dressing down with all their meritless Merit Badges starting to look like North Korea Mil. Officers, and how I always had to have all Army personnel remove their Dress Jackets before coming through our Metal Detector Machines overseas as a Mil. Police Customs Inspector back in the Seventies. Its a shame keen intellect can't be used as a weapon against these Gadflies...
Not sure if it counts as exceptional, because I don't know about conditions elsewhere, but the sexual assault stats for the U.S. military are certainly noteworthy....
https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/01/politics/sexual-assault-military-report/index.html
Another issue involving the military that doesn't reflect well.
I think, Denise, the military is unexceptional in this case, which is itself disturbing, since the military takes pride in being exceptional, in being better than the rest of us, putting integrity first and so on. Yet the military, unsurprisingly, mirrors larger society, even though the reflections may often be distorted.
Agree with your take about mirroring, Bill.
What I initially meant, though, was the frequency of sexual assault in the U.S. military ("best fighting force on the planet", and so on) as compared with other countries' militaries. Is "our" percentage of assaults higher? As I have no idea about the composition of other militaries, or the monitoring and chains of command therein, I have no comparison.
But it was just a theoretical question, anyway, triggered by claims of, "the best," and being exceptional. It strikes me, though, that likely your mirroring answer would apply globally.
I have no idea. I'm guessing that studies like this exist.
Part of the problem is that many sexual assaults go unreported, so the stats we have are unreliable. The "rise" in sexual assaults could be due to more people willing to come forward and also more diversity within the military. Sexual assault is also not limited to women, though I think it's the biggest issue.
The Biden administration is actually doing some good here, I think, by removing the chain of command from pursuing these complaints/cases. Many commanders, too many, have a "sweep it under the rug" or "boys will be boys" mentality.
I think it's getting better, but progress like this is always slow, shamefully slow in some cases.
Yes, I've read about the low incidence of reporting of assaults because, as you say, chain of command issues. That situation adds a double whammy to the "fear of not being believed" scenario that civilians face. I'd tend to say that military superiors have more leeway about sweeping claims under the rug than police do, but I recently learned of a startling practice among civilian police. If a rape isn't a slam-dunk case, police detectives may choose to threaten the victim with filing a false report, betting she (or he) will withdraw the claim, just to clear the case. There's a documentary coming out about this practice, citing hundreds of cases nationwide.
Hadn't known about Biden's steps to try to right these wrongs in the military. As you say, a long time coming, but a smart and productive thing to do.