It was pretty dreary outside, but I wasn’t deterred. After all, the marching bands and the cub scouts were out there, so why shouldn’t I be? Every year I photograph the parade and the always moving memorial at the cemetery that follows its conclusion. Though it rained on and off I think I got some good pictures and maybe even a keeper or two.
So thinking about that meaningful day and what it stands for … remembrance of all those that fought and made the ultimate sacrifice for our country, as well as the many POWs and MIAs that never made it home … I was struck about these unselfish and brave men and women who stand in stark contrast to the steaming turd currently occupying the Oval Office and all the terrible things he has done in less that a year and a half since his return.
Here are just some of the current highlights out of the many that have made a mockery of our democracy and jeopardized our national security and standing in the world.
Where to begin?
How about the illegal war with Iran?
But wait there’s so much more!
His continued fawning over Putin while making NATO weaker.
His agreement to give China some of our most sensitive technology.
The now billion dollar ballroom.
The monstrous and obnoxious arch that just got jammed through the “packed” National Capital Planning Commission.
Paving over the beautiful and historic rose garden to make a patio that resembles the one at Mar-a-Lago.
Putting El Jefe’s face everywhere possible with the latest illegal idea of creating a new $250 dollar bill that includes his likeness.
Construction of a gargantuan Ultimate Fighting Championship arena on the South Lawn for cage matches to be held on His Highness’ 80th birthday.
His demand to red states to redraw Congressional districts and his promotion of the reimposition of Jim Crow to maintain Republican control of the House of Representatives.
His actions to turn our government into a kleptocracy.
His corruption of the Department of Justice in support of his ongoing “revenge tour”. His actions to turn ICE into a paramilitary organization used to terrorize both immigrants and US citizens.
And last but not least, his attempt to create a $1.776 billion taxpayer dollar slush fund to pay off those that nearly destroyed the Capitol building on January 6th, coupled with getting the IRS to he and his family and the Trump Organization immune from any IRS enforcement actions or audits based on past filings.
There are also many pieces of good news, including this one … A federal judge has ruled this past week that Trump’s name was illegally added to the Kennedy Center and must be removed.
Which leads me to the following.
Research shows that Hitler and all autocrats were enabled by the many average citizens who buried their heads in the sand or just chose to look away while things got worse and worse. If they had only stood up, things might have been far different.
Our democracy hangs in the balance.
Don’t make the same fatal mistake others did.
Oh … and keep making pictures that matter to you.
Stay well,
Michael
Well, Michael, all you wrote is true. But the c*nt (Brit. usage) didn’t come outta nowhere. The Republican Party has been on a kind of rampage since at least since Gingrich if you believe what Dana Milbank wrote in his “The Destructionists.”
This past week in Foreign Policy I read a chilling account of the murder of eleven people on a small boat in I think the Pacific by US forces ordered by the bloke in question. No interdiction in international waters, no search, no nothing except cold blooded murder.
All the praise you heaped on those who died in “service” to the US is fine, I suppose, but at least many were forced into this service. Threatened with prison if they would not accept being drafted. I know at least one whoswvhand was shot off in VN because his local draft board finally gave him an ultimatum.
I worked on Navy ships as a civilian teacher and would estimate given all the WESTPAC cruises I made that total sea time could add up to five solid years. The men and woman on those ships would tell me that their service was ” just a job.” Albeit one that could put them in harm’s way.
But, Michael, if in honoring the dead, you omit the hard facts from what I perceive from your text that the United States has not been in the murder business for a long, long time, then I believe you are not a student of History. The good history & the not good history. And, too, from something I recently read, a fine article, you are not separating myth from historical reality, from what truly happened and what didn’t happened. But this takes being a student of history and thus a lot of digging.
Those guys and gals on those eleven ships, the enlisted, were never as I remember namby pamby.
But so much of the text in this whatever is but it’s not a blog and forgive for writing this, seems so. . As well as a wee bit undemocratic.
Merida, Mexico, June 1st
Further, I realize as I hadn’t before now that the chicken shit bully boy would in this second term turn guns on people at home and abroad who pose no true and imminent threat. But my dear departed brother/friend, a US Army vet, indeed saw that there could be REAL HELL to pay.
What else does the Evil One have but the firepower he can so illegally order to show the world what he thinks this power makes him but cannot ever. A man.
And those who fall or fell for this atrociously f”ucked up non masculinity and helped put him in his oval orifice, to my mind will perhaps rot in Hell. Sorry for that, Shipmates. But, if you cannot see from what might be your comfy and well earned staterooms that the ship is now taking on too much water, you are not taking true stock of this vessel. Maybe time to read Mark Twain & like minded writers.
As for pulling the murderous trigger, snapping the shutter is bad enough. But as Robert Adams wrote, if I’m correct, if the photography is beautiful this snapping may be justified. This is the conundrum that confronts me. To show or not. And there is the subtext, perhaps the scene of a . . .which reminds me of something recently read about Don McCullin.
And, Michael, “None but the dead are permitted to tell the truth.”
— Mark Twain