Tag Archives: terrorism
In Remembrance – September 11, 2001
Filed under News
Gladiating
Jacqueline Susann’s 1973 novel “Once Is Not Enough” is filled with enough drama, heartbreak, romance, intrigue and sexual indiscretions to send any family into therapy for decades. The central character, January Wayne, returns home to New York City after being hospitalized in Switzerland for nearly three years. That part alone rivals the best (or worst) any Mexican telenovela can deliver. In many ways the world she left three years earlier hasn’t changed, but in most others, it’s radically different. As is befitting a Susann story, January encounters a plethora of strange figures: one of the world’s richest women; a vile magazine editor; a hyper-masculine novelist; and a physician with salaciously ulterior motives, among other cretins. Almost sounds like one of my old family gatherings!
To some extent “Once Is Not Enough” is a commentary on the myriad social upheavals in the U.S. at the time of its publication. Right now, though, I wonder if many Americans have been suffering from subtle amnesia – or are just innately sadistic.
A generation ago we had a president who launched an unexpected war upon a Middle East nation that – along with a slew of heavy tax breaks for the wealthiest citizens – culminated in the worst economic downturn in almost a century. George W. Bush used the horrors of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks to justify an invasion of Iraq less than two years later. To date that fiasco has cost the U.S. an estimated USD 6 trillion. That’s just in hard U.S. dollars. But the cost in mental and physical health is immeasurable.
Now we’re at it again. The Trump Administration has attacked Iran – one of the U.S.’s most loathsome enemies. Until 1979, we had a cordial diplomatic relationship with Iranian leadership, including the late Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. He had risen to prominence in the immediate aftermath of World War II and guided Iran into something of a progressive new era.
But Pahlavi had also instituted a repressive dictatorship and exhibited an extravagant lifestyle for him, his family and others in the small elite class. His ardent efforts to Westernize and secularize Iran, along with depending strongly on the United States, alienated his own people and culminated in a student uprising that forced him and his family into exile. The same uprising ambushed the U.S. embassy in Tehran in November 1979 that led to holding several Americans hostage for over a year.
It was our first battle with radical Islam and it caught the U.S. completely off-guard. At the time the “Cold War” was still raging, and the Soviet Union remained the most serious foreign threat. Iran wasn’t on the radar of diplomatic instability.
Recently the Trump Administration invaded Venezuela to capture its president, Nicolás Maduro, who the world has denounced as an illegitimate leader. A global coalition of democratic states claims Maduro ascended to the Venezuelan presidency in January 2019 after a rigged election. Somehow, the 2000 and 2016 presidential elections in the U.S. come to mind whenever I hear the term “rigged election”.
Now Trump has set his sights on two more foes: Cuba and Colombia. Cuba has been on the American shit-list for over 60 years, and Colombia has a long history of political assassinations and drug trafficking. Bush had used the excuse of nuclear weaponry to invade Iraq, and even critics later admitted the country was better off without its brutal leader, Saddam Hussein. The world would be better off without many autocrats – including Trump.
But is it the duty of the U.S. to remove every such character?
We all know the adage that, when old men go to war, young men die. Right now, though, it seems when the billionaire class goes to war, the middle and lower classes die.
And here we are again. Once may not be enough in regards to love, sex and a good back rub. But one war is always one too many.
My first edition copy of “Once Is Not Enough”
Filed under Essays
Oh, Hell No!
“It’s way beyond ironic that a place called the Holy Land is the location of the fiercest, most deeply felt hatred in the world.”
The Middle East – once again – is in turmoil. Then again, the sky is blue, so tell me something I DON’T know. Early on October 7, Hamas terrorists unexpectedly decided to attack a music festival in southern Israel. The calamity resulted in the deaths of thousands of people, in what Israeli officials dub “Israel’s 9/11”. It was the latest salvo in the millennia old conflict between Arabs and Jews in the region. And the perpetually high tensions are only intensifying.
Israel severed utility services to the Gaza Strip where over two million Palestinians are crammed into a tiny area in apartheid-like conditions. Meanwhile, Hamas is holding several Jewish hostages. It’s a nasty stalemate with no viable end.
As usual, though, the United States has gotten involved by showing unmitigated support for Israel. But President Joe Biden has gone even further and ordered two Navy aircraft carrier groups into the eastern Mediterranean to assist Israel with intelligence and reconnaissance. Now comes word that Biden may actually send U.S. ground troops into the region to provide further backing in the form of advice and medical assistance. That’s how our involvement in Vietnam got started more than six decades ago. And to that I say hell no!
U.S. military involvement in the Israeli – Hamas imbroglio will only result in more animosity towards the U.S. from the Arab world. In case anyone forgot, our most recent entanglement in the Middle East resulted in the deaths of millions of people. Coming out of the tragedy of 9/11, we had a cowboy president who was aching to run out and bomb places. That conflict – the Iraq War – was launched purely to gain access to the country’s valuable natural resources. It was blood for oil.
If the U.S. sends ground troops into Israel, it will just be lots of blood. And it won’t stop the relentless animosity that plagues the region. Something else will erupt between the warring sides in the future. That particular part of the globe has been a super-volcano of human interaction and for one primary reason – religion. The Middle East is the birth place of the world’s three largest theologies – Judaism, Christianity and Islam. In other words, it’s a crime scene.
Hamas is definitely a terrorist group – and a cowardly one at that. They hide among the innocent civilians of the Palestinian populace; people they swear to support but who are also captives. But Israel isn’t exactly innocent. Like the United States, Israel was established primarily by White Europeans seeking religious freedom who displaced many of the indigenous residents.
Ironically, though, because that area is the cradle of Judaism and Islam, people of both faiths can genuinely claim it as their homeland. Supposedly Israel has proposed a two-state solution for decades, which Palestinians have allegedly rejected.
I have to highlight that Israel is the only true democracy in the Middle East. They maintain the highest standard of living and the lowest infant mortality in the region. I mean, Israeli women can drive and vote and don’t have to dress up like beekeepers when they leave home!
Regardless, I don’t know why level heads won’t prevail amidst the anxiety and honestly I really don’t care. The hate between both groups is like space – it’s infinite and never-ending. I truly wish, though, they would stop fighting and start talking. But because the bitterness has simmered for centuries and because religion is at the crux of it all, I just don’t see that happening within our lifetime.
Either way I just don’t want the U.S. to get militarily involved. That will solve nothing! It never has.
Filed under Essays
Falling Fail
Some projects are just doomed to fail from the start. Many of those ventures are poorly-conceived and executed, while others are just plain stupid. In the case of the “Falling Man NFT”, it’s one of the worst ideas anyone could have envisioned.
I still don’t really understand what an NFT is, but the concept has become a curious part of the digital art world in recent months. The “Falling Man NFT” comes nowhere near artistic or humorous. It’s a pathetic remake of the photo of one of the 9/11 victims plummeting from a World Trade Center Tower. Many people either fell or leapt to their deaths from those massive buildings on that fateful day. Richard Drew, an Associated Press photojournalist, captured the image that has become an iconic and painful memento of the tragedy.
GameStop had placed the NFT – created by someone named Jules – with the caption “This one probably fell from the MIR space station”; perhaps a reference to the Russian structure that operated from 1986 to 2001. After the outcry, GameStop removed the NFT from its marketplace. The company had already experienced some financial setbacks as the pandemic ravaged the U.S. economy and closed a large number of stores in 2021.
This certainly won’t help them rebuild their reputation.
As a writer and blogger, I know full well that artists are always broaching unknown territory to stun people out of complacency or into some sort of awareness. Yet, some things are still too sensitive to mock, especially for profit.
Filed under Art Working
Worst Quotes of the Week – July 30, 2022
“Those who play with fire will perish by it.”
Chinese President Xi Jinping, to President Joe Biden, regarding Taiwan’s independence
The comment comes after news that Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi plans to visit Taiwan soon.
“This is why we have always fought: We are willing to mix with one another, but we do not want to become peoples of mixed race.”
Hungarian President Viktor Orbán, who is scheduled to speak in Dallas next week at the Conservative Political Action Conference, urging his fellow Europeans not to marry non-White immigrants
Orbán also appeared to make light of the Nazi Holocaust while discussing plans to reduce natural-gas demand in Europe: “I do not see how it will be enforced – although, as I understand it, the past shows us German know-how on that.”
“You degenerate pagans and atheists and non-believers went way too far with the COVID nonsense, with shutting down our churches and forcing our kids to be masked, and forcing us to get vaccinated with some mystery goop in order to keep our jobs and provide for our families. You pushed us too far, and now we’re going to take dominion of this country, of our culture, of news, of entertainment, of technology, of education, of everything for the glory of Jesus Christ, our king. It’s just that simple.”
Andrew Torba, a far-right Christian nationalist preacher, in a speech supporting fellow right-wing nationalist Doug Mastriano
“Nobody has gotten to the bottom of 09/11 unfortunately, and they should have.”
Former President Donald Trump, as his country club prepare to host several officials from Saudi Arabia for a golf tournament
Trump’s Bedminster Club is just across the Hudson River from Manhattan. Several families of 9/11 victims have expressed outrage over the event. Of the nineteen 9/11 hijackers, 15 were from Saudi Arabia.
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In Remembrance: September 11, 2001
“They are not dead who live in the hearts they leave behind.”
Native American Proverb
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Worst Quotes of the Week – January 9, 2021
Courtesy of Donald Trump:
“So look. All I want to do is this. I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have. Because we won the state.”
In a recorded phone call to the Georgia Secretary of State, Brad Raffensperger
“To all of my wonderful supporters, I know you’re disappointed, but I also want you to know that our incredible journey has only just begun.”
Filed under News
Best Quotes of the Week – January 9, 2021
“History will rightly remember today’s violence at the Capitol, incited by a sitting president who has continued to baselessly lie about the outcome of a lawful election, as a moment of great dishonor and shame for our nation.”
– Barack Obama, in response to Wednesday’s riots in Washington, D.C.
“Well, the deaths are real deaths. I mean, all you need to do is to go out into the trenches, go to the hospitals, see what the health care workers are dealing with. They are under very stressed situations in many areas of the country. The hospital beds are stretched. People are running out of beds, running out of trained personnel who are exhausted right now. That’s real. That’s not fake. That’s real.”
– Dr. Anthony Fauci, on ABC’s “This Week”, in response to guest host Martha Raddatz asking about a tweet by President Trump calling the coronavirus case and death toll “fake news” and blaming it on Centers for Disease Control and Prevention methodology
Filed under News
Blood Sporting
Tom Freeman’s painting of the August 24, 1814 burning of the White House by British troops during the War of 1812. (White House Historical Association)
In the fall of 1989, the world watched the Soviet Union begin to crumble, as its various satellites in Eastern Europe started breaking free from the decades-long grip of the terrorist state. The seminal moment came in November when the Berlin Wall was torn down, and the democratic west joined with the communist east to form the New Germany. That edifice had been both literal and ideological; a true line between freedom and tyranny.
A month later came another equally stunning and even more sanguineous event; one that gained plenty of international attention, but seems to have faded into history. Shortly before Christmas gangs of angry Romanians stormed the central palace and captured President Nicolae Ceausescu and his wife, Elena. The duo was subjected to a trial and sentenced to death; afterwards they were garroted. Their demise was similar to that of Italian dictator Benito Mussolini and his mistress, as World War II came to an end. Bands of anti-fascist citizens captured them after ambushing their convoy and rushed them through a trial, before stringing them up like wild animals.
I imagine the mobs who invaded the U.S. Capitol building this past Wednesday felt equally aggrieved and outraged by what they perceived to be an unfair presidential election. Spurred on by the vitriolic rhetoric of their dear leader, Donald Trump, they amassed in Washington from all over the country and launched their angry assault. In behavior similar to that of developing countries, these renegades overwhelmed Capitol Hill police and managed to enter the arena where lawmakers had convened just moments earlier.
That January 6 was a critical day. That’s when elected officials gathered to certify that Joe Biden had won the U.S. presidency two months ago and would be sworn into office as the nation’s 46th president on January 20. The gangs of right-wing ideologues who disrupted that stately process demanded otherwise.
This is the first time since 1814 that the U.S. Capitol had been invaded. And that was in the midst of the War of 1812; during the early days of the American republic. Great Britain was still trying to regain control of its former colony and succeeded in burning down the capitol. That was over 200 years ago. Last Wednesday came during a war of ideology and political differences.
I have never seen anything like it in my life. Indeed, it is something more emblematic of nations around the world struggling through the growing pains of a new democracy or any new regime change. It’s similar to what happened in Cuba on New Year’s Day 1959, when Fidel Castro led a ragtag band of rebels into the presidential palace in Havana to overthrow the brutal dictator Fulgencio Batista. Like Ceausescu and Mussolini, Batista had held onto power for many years through bloodshed and terrorism. He suppressed free speech and sought to annihilate anyone who dared to disagree with him. Unlike Ceausescu and Mussolini, however, Batista was able to leave Cuba and live out his life in peaceful exile – and wealth – in Spain.
The people who stormed into the U.S. Capitol building on Wednesday aren’t freedom-loving patriots. They’re domestic terrorists; redneck hooligans supported and agitated by a psychopathic narcissist who didn’t fairly win the U.S. presidency in 2016. They weren’t the least bit upset over the blatantly fraudulent elections of that year and 2000.
For decades conservatives have lobbed conspiracy theories about mobs of left-wing anarchists swarming into American homes to seize firearms and bibles and force everyone to love Muslims and queer people. That has never happened. It didn’t happen after the raucous turmoil of the 2000 presidential elections and it didn’t happen four years ago. As upset as liberals were then, groups of enraged tree-loving abortionists and pot-smokers didn’t invade Washington and trash lawmakers’ offices. The biggest threat came from within the bastions of conservatism.
I hope devout Trumpists are happy with themselves.
One Capitol Hill police officer, Brian D. Sicknick, has now succumbed to his injuries. Four protesters also died; one of them shot to death. I’m saddened by Sicknick’s death, but I don’t give a damn about the others. Like people who drink alcohol heavily their entire lives and develop cirrhosis, they brought this upon themselves. The Capitol Hill police chief has resigned, and – as of this writing – nearly 20 people have been arrested in connection with Wednesday’s mayhem. Insurrection is a federal offense, and treason is technically punishable by death. The legal machinations over this debacle will play out for years.
And Donald Trump will go down in history as a president who fomented a riot and placated the rioters.
The nation will move forward, as time does – whether anyone on the far left or far right like it or not. The spirit of a truly democratic society can’t be quashed. It never has and it never will.
Filed under Essays
