Regime Change: The Art of the Deal Meets The Art of War

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I am sure somewhere in the annals of military history there are wars that were just “quick excursion.” The Franco/Prussian War of 1870 was quick and decisive as a European war can be but it lasted almost a year. A quick excursion sounds more like a raid, capturing Osama Bin Laden: In and out before anybody knows you were in. 

It is hard to believe that an air campaign bombing Iran with missiles, drones and smart bombs is a quick excursion. It is also hard to  argue with the Trump Administration’s reasons for bombing Iran. Most people can agree that Iran’s religious leaders, for almost 50 years, have exhibited a national religious psychosis that has kept the country in an 8th Century frame of mind. Instead of bombing them back into the Stone Age are we trying to push them into the A/I age?

It also would be delusional to believe that if the current Iranian regime was to have nukes they would behave rational with them; or any other weapon of mass destruction, considering they don’t play nice with the weapons that they already have. 

In many ways it makes sense that a regime change is in order. But we tried that already in Iran after World War II. The group we overthrew in the 1950s over threw our group in the late 1970s and now we are trying to overthrow them–again. Are we locked in some sort of irrational Twilight Zone circular reality that comes around like Haley’s Comet.

There is one point I would say is completely off the rails. This is the idea that it will be a short war. History indicates that we might be in for a longer haul, depending on objectives. And as crazy as it sounds it maybe over based sooner if we go by one man’s feelings. The rational for bombing, or going to war with Iran may seem logical. Practical? What is not rational or logical is to think a war can be won in two or three weeks simply by dropping bombs from above–or one man’s feelings.

Most wars have been irrational in terms of means or ends or both together. This is because choices for war are influenced by emotions, ideologies, domestic politics, and the tyranny of history, as well as by the more rational pursuit of material and strategic interests. Decisions for war have been almost invariably made by a handful of rulers and their advisors and entourages, and this is as true of democracies as authoritarian regimes.–Michael Mann, a Distinguished Research Professor of Sociology Emeritus at the University of California, Los Angeles, writes in  Yale University Press 

The Israelis have had a series of short duration wars with their Arab neighbors. In 1948 they dispatched their Arab foes in less than a year. Then in 1967 they fought a Seven Days War and then a twenty-day Yom Kippur War in 1973. In all of those wars Israel came out on top. I am not a historian by trade or a military history by practice; but, those engagements were called “wars.” I would call them battles in a continuous war starting with the UN carving out a hunk of Palestine and thus creating the state of Israel in 1947. 

On a side note, when Western Powers have gotten involved militarily in the Mideast, it has not turned out well. The French and British found out during the Suez Crisis in 1956. Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser had nationalized the Suez Canal and closed the Straight of Tiran and the Gulf of Aqaba. The Anglo/Franco force, along with the Israelis tried to regain control the Suez Canal, and at the same time topple Nasser. They left within a year. According to Britannica “Nasser emerged from the Suez Crisis a victor and a hero for the cause of Arab and Egyptian nationalism….(and) Britain and France, less fortunate, lost most of their influence in the Middle East as a result of the episode.”

In 1982 President Ronald Reagan had the bright idea of sending the Marines into the region. His thinking was they could stabilize the fighting that always seems to be going on in Lebanon. Lebanon is not a Central American “banana republic” or Grenada. American troops in the Mideast tend to attract more attention, particularly those with bombs and guns. We left after terrorist blew up the Marine’s barracks killing 241.

I am not going to argue the logic one way or the other on the UN decision to create Israel. It seemed like a good one after WWII and still is a good one. The geopolitical/ religious change in Palestine just hasn’t worked out like the 1940s planners thought.

So if we look at the Mideast starting in1947 there has been some sort of conflict going on for nearly 80 years. We have to look back to Europe circa 1330 to The Hundred Year’s War to find that kind of stamina (or blunt trauma stupidity) to sustain a war of that length. England and France fought a for a century in war that resulted in France chucking the Brits out of Continental Europe. (* see link below for a more comprehensive list of long-lasting wars)

“There is no instance of a nation benefitting from prolonged warfare.”
― Sun Tzu, The Art of War

In 1568 there was an Eighty Year’s War or the Dutch Revolt. And some how in the same time frame Europe managed to roll in a Thirty Year’s, both ending in 1648. I am not sure what those wars settled but knowing just a tad of European history I would say it didn’t settle anything. 

A student who paid attention in their middle school US History class might recall the French and Indian War being fought in North America in 1756. In Europe it was known the Seven Year’s War. 

And, in April of 1861 President Lincoln called for 75,000 volunteers to serve three month enlistments after Confederate forces bombed Fort Sumter. That three month enlistment was a pipe dream.  Before long Lincoln was calling for 300,000 volunteers to serve three-year enlistments. Eventually Lincoln initiated a draft; and that still did not cover the entire war effort. 

But those wars were fought without strategic air bombardment. Let’s jump to World War II, the ultimate regime change war. It was a war that looked like it would be over within a year. In fact there was an eight month period in Europe called the “Phony War” where Germany, France and Britain just sat there looking at each other–I dare you. No. I double dare you.

Finally, Hitler took up the dare and blitzed France. In a month they went through France as if it was a wedge of Brie cheese. They chased the British once again off the continent leaving the Wehrmacht to sit at the English Channel looking across at the White Cliffs of Dover. Hitler turned the war over to the Luftwaffe. Its commander Hermann Goering, thought he could bomb his way into England. The German army continued to lookacross the channel. They had no way of getting “boots on the ground” in England. 

When the Luftwaffe gave up the British just kept calm and carried on. Hitler, however, turned his attention to the East. Before long he got snowed-in in Russia where his lightening warfare froze up and lost its thunder against the Red Army and the Russian winter.  

Meanwhile, the US Army Air Corps was batting around a theory with British Bomber Command that the war could be won by simply bombing Germany around the clock, and hence into submission. By destroying the military industrial complex Germany could be brought to its knees—and possibly a regime change could be had. An arial theory that appears to still be a work in progress and may never be proven.

Without a doubt the the British and American air forces’s Combined Bomber Offensive played a significant role in Germany’s defeat, but it was two ground offensives Overlord (D-Day) on the Western Front and Russia’s Operation Bagration in Byelorussian (Belorussia) on the Eastern Front in June and August of 1944 that brought Germany to its knees. From there it was a race to Berlin and a regime change. 

In the Pacific the Japanese Empire rolled up the Dutch the British and the Americans like a wet blanket in the early weeks of 1942. Within months they upended the control of just about the entire Pacific Ocean from the shores of Australia to India and the Himalayas and north to parts of the Aleutian Islands in the Bering Sea. Only after four bloody years of ground troops “island hopping” across the Pacific and two atomic bombs was there a regime change in Japan.

And did we not learn anything in Vietnam. After nine years, despite virtual air superiority over most of Vietnam, and some nifty named air campaigns like Rolling Thunder and Linebacker, and the belief that a country could be pushed back into the Stone Age with strategic areal bombardment, the US Air Force, Naval Aviation and more than 500,000 ground troops could not secure victory or a regime change. The best deal hoped for was hollowed out “Peace with Honor.”

A significant lesson concerned the ethical and political challenges associated with bombing campaigns, especially their impact on civilian populations and infrastructure. These issues prompted a reassessment of air campaign strategies to balance military objectives with humanitarian considerations. The war also demonstrated that air operations alone could not achieve decisive victory without effective integration with ground and naval forces.–armistia.com

I am not saying the Trump administration will not be successful in bombing Iran. At this point most of us have an only a vague idea of what success would be–in the short term or long term. We also need to be leery about first round successes. If military history bears us out it is a good chance this war will not end in few weeks or months. Which leads me to ask: What are 2,500 Marines going to do? If there is any consistency in military history, we might as well settle in for the long haul; and wait for a negotiated deal: “Peace with honor” has already been taken.” 

* https://247wallst.com/special-report/2023/04/30/these-are-20-longest-wars-in-history/

When Real Estate Moguls goes to War

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One of the key concepts about Hitler’s Nazi philosophy was Lebensraum–living space.

Lebensraum was a geopolitical concept the Nazis used “to justify military domination of Central and Eastern Europe and then the USSR.” According to World History Encyclopedia, by taking lands in Eastern Europe, Germany “would gain vast new space and resources and ensure economic prosperity and autonomy for Germanic peoples.” Hitler simply annexed Austria, he took over Czechoslovakia and then invaded Poland before rolling onto Russia.

That concept of “living space” gets swept up under the rug when discussing Hitler’s attempt at a Thousand Year Reich. To sit back and call World War II one man’s redevelopment dream would be making light of the War and its subsequent atrocities. But I would say that if we looked back in time a large percentage of wars were fought over land; or were just out right land grabs, like Russia’s “special military operation” in Ukraine. Sure Russia does have some ancient civil claims to the land–but those claims would probably not stand up in court.

Modern day current events are never as simple as political pundits make them out to be. Take Trump’s reasons for bombing Iran. Prima facie the bombing of Iran and the killing of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei looks like justifiable homicide to Israel and the West. Iran, since the Islamic Revolution has been sticking it to the West, particularly “The Great Satin,” America. Starting in 1979 when Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini’s Islamic revolutionaries captured the US embassy in Tehran, which eventually led the toppling of the Carter Administration. Since then Iran has been funding terrorism and developing long range missiles with nuclear capabilities which makes sense for a regime change. It would be an understatement to say that diplomatic relations between the two countries have not been good. In fact some would say that some sort of quasi war has been going on for the better part of 46 years.

Iran, or as history once knew them as Persia, has tangled with some mighty empires in its past. They were one of the original players in the Middle East that included Egyptians, Summaries, Assyrians and Babylonians. They took on the Greeks, Alexander the Great, and the Romans in their day. And now a 250 year old upstart–the United States. However, the United States is not ruled by your ancient or even modern run-of-the-day leader.

Enter the real estate mogul and golf course developer Donald J. Trump. If Donald Trump knows one thing, it is a land deal when he sees one. And the number one rule in real estate is location, location, location. Location trumps all other needs. In some case in order to redevelop land it needs to be condemned. According to US Law Explained, “Condemnation is the legal process used by the government to either take private property for public use under eminent domain or to declare a property unsafe and uninhabitable due to severe code violations.” Gaza falls into all of those parameters. Those living in the condemned area do have Constitutional rights. But since Gaza is not under US jurisdiction Palestinians will have to file their complaints elsewhere.

The first phases of redevelopment have already taken place. Israel has already condemned Gaza, they have already demolition a good portion of the buildings and they have relocated the people. Trump enters into the deal and manages to get the first phase of peace agreement in place, his Board of Peace–a de facto planning council. But any good redevelopment needs money, investors and as long as Hamas and Hezbollah are in the area nobody wants to put any money into the pot.

But before any real redevelopment and any major investing can take place, Iran and its proxies need to be knocked out of the equation. Hence, the bombing of Iran and Israeli bombing of Gaza and Lebanon–the forceful eviction of squatters and other undesirables is a prerequisite.

What makes the whole bombing war contraversial is the Trump administration has not given us a real definative reason for its intentions. Sure Iran needs to be punched around–a good thrashing is in order. However, all the of the reason the Trump Administration is giving for kicking Iran’s ass are excellent reasons that nobody can really argue with. But those reasons are side show reasons. Trump’s real interest are he wants to redevelop Gaza. That area: Gaza, Lebanon and Iran are sitting on the new Silk Road. The Interchange that links Europe to the Far East.

Various routes of the Silk Road (PublicDomain)

At the New Delhi G20 Summit in 2023 the India, Middle East European Corridor (IMEC) was created. According to the Indian Express the IMEC was created “to stimulate economic development through enhanced connectivity and economic integration between Asia, the Arabian Gulf, and Europe.” This would be a modern day Silk Road.

According to Ancient Origins Unraveling the Mysteries of the Past, “The Silk Road is arguably the most famous long-distance trade route in the ancient world. This trade route connected Europe in the West with China in the East, and allowed the exchange of goods, technology, and ideas between the two civilizations.”

Depending on the route taken a variety of factors had to be dealt with along the Silk Road. The 4,000 mile route from China to Europe was a monumental task in itself. Merchants had to deal with environmental conditions, disease, political instability and bandits. As Ancient Origins states: “Although merchants could make huge profits if they succeeded in bringing their goods to their destination, it was not without risks, as certain stretches of this route were extremely dangerous.”

The re-invention of a modern day Silk Road requires that certain bandits are removed and political stability along the IMEC are dealt with before and redevelopment takes place. This global trade route requires some geopolitical redevelopment.

GOP wants TSA style voter PreCheck

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Booze was proof of citizenship in Caleb Bingham, “The County Election,” 1854, Reynolda House Museum of American Art.

When I was in college many years ago I took a class on State and Local Government. One thing that I clearly remember was what the professor said about voting rights. He said that when it came to expanding suffrage it was the federal government that took the lead. Today, I am not so sure.

The House of Representatives just passed the SAVE America Act or its official moniker: The Safeguard America Voter Eligibility Act. USA Today writes that “The legislation would require people to provide proof of citizenship “in person” when registering to vote in federal elections, and adds an additional requirement that voters show an approved form of photo identification to cast their ballot. It also places new rules on mail-in voting, requiring Americans to send in a copy of their ID when both requesting and submitting their ballot.”

Before long we will be carrying some sort of portmanteau with all of our various IDs, Usernames and Passwords. But I suspect voting will turn out much like applying for, and being approved, for a TSA PreCheck Pass. For less than $90 you can skip the lines and renew every five years for just under $60. Is this where we are heading with voting?

It is all about manipulating the vote. I would not be surprised if the SAVE Act were to morph into a law that “allows” Americans access to the polling place but in order to actually cast a ballot the voter will be charged a fee for individual ballots for federal, state and local elections; much like how Medicare drug plans categorize medications into tiers, with lower tiers generally having lower copayments. To vote in local elections would cost X dollars and in State X2 dollars and Federal elections would be the top tier. It would be The FEAR Act: Funding Elections Against Reprobates. Those not paying can wait in the back of the line with the riffraff and vote at the DMV.

By making voting a user fee and a funding mechanism it would take it out of the realm of the Twenty-fourth Amendment “The right of a citizen of United States to vote…shall not be denied or abridged by the United States by reason of failure to pay any poll tax or other tax.” It is now a funding mechanism for those who can afford to vote.

Let’s face it, there have always been some sort of voting restrictions or requirements going all the way back to Colonial times. Even after the Revolutionary War, which was basically fought over the lack of representation in Parliament over who gets to tax Americans, had requirements. Even the newly independent Americans were faced with voter requirements. The most obvious requirement was being a property owning white male. This requirement hit the propertyless poor, white men, women and anybody of color–even the propertyless veteran of Valley Forge who fought to found this country could be disenfranchised.

The republican logic of the times believed that in order for a citizen to vote he, and I use the word “he,” had to have an economic interest in the community at large. Those lacking economic independence, even if they fought for independence, were believed to be easily manipulated and could not be trusted to vote–for whatever reason.

There is some truth to manipulating the weak-minded voter on Election Day. George Washington lost his first run at the Virginia House of Burgesses because his liquor wagon ran dry. Washington was swamped losing the election by 231 votes. He garnered only 40 votes. According to classiccitynews.com “Washington avoided the same mistake during his second run, spending nearly the entire campaign budget on 28 gallons of rum, 50 gallons of rum punch, 34 gallons of wine, 46 gallons of beer, and two gallons of cider royal served to 391 voters — nearly a half-gallon per voter.” A good time in the old town was had by all as Washington floated his way into the House of Burgesses.

The GOP backed SAVE bill incorporates some of the same logic Washington used but with a twist of lemon–the mail-in ballot. Trump believes he lost the 2020 election due to mail-in ballots. There is a lot of truth in this. According to MIT’s Election Lab study on How We Voted in 2020: A Topical Look at the Survey of the Performance of American Elections states that “Looking at 2020 (election), the partisan difference in voting by mail increased substantially. The proportion of Democrats voting by mail more than doubled, while the proportion of Republicans using vote-by-mail increased by “only” 50 percent compared to 2016. In total, 60 percent of Democrats cast their ballots by mail in 2020, compared to only 32 percent of Republicans.”

This does not explain Trump’s 2024 victory but here is the bitter lemon in the cocktail. MIT’s Election Lab study says that voting by mail, which includes dropping votes off at drop boxes had steadily increased since 1996. Standing in line and expecting a gill of rum for doing your civic duty has dropped from 89 percent to 60 percent in 2016. “The fraction of voters casting ballots by mail more than doubled from 2016 to 46 percent. “Meanwhile, the share of voters casting ballots on Election Day declined by half, from 60 percent to 28 percent.” Granted, the Covid pandemic had states scrambling to set up safe voting procedures. Drop-off and mail-in ballots provided voters with safe access to voting without the crowds. However, it appears that voters like the idea of early voting using drop-off boxes and mail-in ballots.

The other twist is that Trump, constitutionally, is not allowed to run again per the Twenty-second Amendment. Without Trump’s rum wagon pulling up on Election Day maybe GOP Congressional representatives feel the need to legally control the voting process. Voting by either drop-off or by mail is like the forward pass in pro football. In 1933 the NFL changed the rules that a passer had to be “five yards behind the line of scrimmage before he can pass the ball…” to allowing “the passer to pass the ball from any point behind the line of scrimmage.” In three years, 1936, the NFL had its first 1,000 yard passer when Green Bay Quarterback Arnie Herber threw for 1,239 yards.  In 1967 Joe Namath became the first QB to throw for 4,000 yards and in 1984 Dan Marino threw for 5,000 yards. Simply put, mail-in voting, like the forward pass is a game changer. Since Marino threw for 5,000 yards that number has been eclipsed ten or more times.

I am not sure where this act of saving our elections from ourselves fits into the timeline of our county’s democratic principles. Voting rights can be easily fit into historical narrative and are often associated to important events in our history. The most obvious is the Fifteenth Amendment giving freed slaves the right to vote. Then there was the Twenty-sixth Amendment ratified in 1971 which allowed 18 year-olds the right to vote. This amendment came out of the Vietnam War. If a young man or woman was old enough to die for their country they surely should be old enough to vote much like their forefather in the Continental Army. The Twenty-fourth says the right to vote shall not be denied or abridged on account of sex. I am surprised Congress has not taken up some sort of restrictions on trans gender people from voting. Maybe in the near future besides proving we are citizens we will need medical proof of our sex. Selfies do not count.

I really think the GOPers in Congress are not reading the writing on the wall–adapting to the forward pass or mail-in or drop box to voting. They need to scrap Trump’s revenge plays trying assuaging the “Big Man’s” ego and start looking downfield at the changing times. Putting more obstacles in the way of voting flew away with Jim Crow.

Trump’s Mythical Tropical Thunder and Big Stick Diplomacy

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William Allen Rogers, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Mythology or fact. In American mythology Teddy Roosevelt said to “speak softly and carry a big stick.” He never went around actually beating people over the head, but it did get him a prominent spot on Mount Rushmore. President Donald Trump seems to have taken Teddy’s myth to heart with his South American diplomacy. To paraphrase President Teddy Roosevelt Trump is more of: Threaten everybody and carry a big sledge hammer.

Most of us are familiar with Teddy Roosevelt as the mythical cowboy, the “Rough Rider” charging up San Juan Hill. His actual presidency not so much. Do we remember that he won the Noble Peace Prize in 1906 for mediating an end to the Russo-Japanese War. We probably know more about Greek Mythology thanks to Brad Pit and Percy Jackson than we do about Teddy and how he built the Panama Canal. Teddy could easily be turned into some sort of X Man or Guardian of the Galaxy super hero. We are more aware of the Mount Olympus crowd of gods and the quests of Hercules than the reality of our own mythical heroes on Mount Rushmore.

In fact, we may even know more about the Trojan War and mythical battles between Achilles and Hector than we do about the Spanish American War. How many people know who spoke those immortal words: “You may fire when ready Gridley.” Or who Gridley even was. But here are blowing up Venezuela as if it were 1898. It seems that we are teetering on some sort of tropical disturbance with the US Navy leading the way. Is it because of drugs; is it for oil? Are these realistic reasons for flooding the region with US military asset? Based on history I would say yes. After all, we didn’t hesitate to protect United Fruit Company’s banana assets in Central America from 1891 to 1934 using the US Marines as the “big stick.”

The Trojan War started with the kidnapping of the most beautiful woman in the world, Helen. Paris kidnaps Helen to Troy, this is not an elopement because Helen is a married to the King of Sparta. Before long Greeks are manning their “triremes” and rowing to Troy to bring Helen back and to bring Paris to justice. In reality it makes for a good love story: Young lover steals young girl’s heart; jilted lover seeks revenge. Or maybe a two-part episode of Law and Order Special Victims Unit.

I doubt the kidnapping Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores is going to send thousands of narco boats to Key West. However, some people claim that this whole tropical thunder campaign is revenge for Trump losing the 2020 election to Sleepy Joe Biden. After all, when all the conspiracy theories are added up how could the turtle possibly beat the hare. Did the turtle who started the race have a twin hidden along the way somewhere?

According to The Independent, “In the days after the 2020 election, Trump-connected figures floated debunked conspiracy theory that election technology firms Dominion Voting Systems and Smartmatic were designed to rig Venezuelan elections and then deployed to the United States to manipulate results to put Joe Biden in office.”

Like any good myth, or fable, a good deal of influencers promoting falsehoods are needed to keep Trump’s “bogus ‘stolen election’ narrative alive.” These hasty generalization are continually repeated to keep air moving through them. It’s the CPR that keeps these “long-dead conspiracy” alive and on some sort of political respirator.

“Hasty generalization is a logical fallacy that occurs when a conclusion is drawn based on insufficient or unrepresentative evidence. This type of reasoning often leads to stereotypes and oversimplifications, as it involves making broad claims based on a limited set of examples or experiences. It highlights the importance of adequate evidence and careful consideration in both deductive and inductive reasoning.”–fiveable.me

Archaeologist, going back to the 1880s continue today looking for ancient mythological sites like Troy, Mount Olympus or Crete to find a historical narrative. Team Trump, like archaeologists, has left no theory uncovered in search of a historical narrative that leads to him winning the 2020 election. But like ancient discoveries they can be credible but do not necessarily confirm the myth. The myth of Trump’s 2020 victory remains a poetic political history, now a sad saga in the face of all the harsh contrary legal rulings.

If the Ancient Greeks can create believable mythical narratives, can the same sort of fabrication be created today? For instance, the Trump Administration has created a myth that claims immigrants in Springfield, Ohio were eating the towns’s pets. There is probably as much truth to that claim as to the cyclops, Polyphemus, eating several of Odysseus men trapped in the cyclops’s cave on his way home to Ithaca after the Trojan War.

“Myths narrate the sacred history of the acts of supernatural beings and tell how the physical and social universe came to existence through the deeds of the supernatural. In this way myths become the exemplary models for all significant human activities. By knowing myths, one knows the origin of things and hence can control and manipulate them at will. In most cases it is not enough to know the origin of myth, but it must be recited and ceremonially recounted. It has been said that by reciting myths one re-creates primordial times and emerges from the profane time to enter the “sacred” time of original events.”–continuum.fas.harvard.edu

Americans have their share of tall tales and folk lore, like George Washington throwing a silver dollar across the Potomac River. That’s quite feat when some of the best NFL quarterbacks can only throw a football 70 yards. I have been to Mount Vernon and from George’s front door I can tell you he did not chuck a silver dollar across the Potomac . At least not there. Maybe up river some place where you can walk across. All this makes me think why would he throw a silver dollar to begin with. Why not a rock? I think the silver dollars embellishes the myth. But do we hold this exaggeration against the man who supposedly could not tell a lie; and later become the Father of our country? I am not sure if the myths about George Washington are still taught in school or not but the continual reciting gives Washington supernatural powers.

The belief, or non belief of Washington throwing a silver dollar, in my mind is just not true. I would hate to call it a lie because a lie in most cases, for whatever reason, is an assertion or an attempt to mislead and deceive somebody. The silver dollar story is more of a hyperbole to exaggerate the greatness of Washington. Today, I just don’t hear too much hyperbole. I don’t hear tall tales of a giant lumberjack wrestling with a blue ox. What I hear are, and I would hate to call anybody a liar; are bold faced falsehoods, stories intended to mislead and deceive. Some simply call them lies.

Today we have left hyperbole in the literary dust. The first thing that makes today’s falsehoods confusing, is that they are laced with a collection of “alternative facts” in an attempt to make a logical political debate misleading. To paraphrase Mary Poppins: Just a spoonful of truth makes the lie go down. The second thing that makes today’s falsehoods dangerous, is they are based on a continual flow of hasty generalizations that disrupt and confuses any sort of understanding as to what just happened. As citizens we are forced to sift through partisan unsubstantiated social media claims and influencers with suspect credentials. This kind of biased news goes beyond reporting on half the truth. It is full blown bending the facts to deceive and mislead, not to mention inflame ones sense humanity: They’re eating the dogs. Are they? Is Atlas still holding up the world?

The real confusion with Trump’s Tropical Thunder is that it is mixed in with so many other unrelated hasty generalizations: His search for the Northwest Passage through Greenland; trying to change the definition of who is an American citizen–and then deporting alien scum rinsed out of the system. The nation is now on a mythical quest to Caracas, Venezuela to rescue a kidnapped 2020 election. It is also the quest based on the biggest hasty generalization of our time: That Trump is Making America Great Again, probably the biggest myth Americans have ever put on a hat.

From a Purged Female Pharaoh to an Erased Font for its Wokeness

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I really had to laugh the other day when I read that Secretary of State Marco Rubio rolled back the State Department’s use of Calibri as the department’s font. First, the Biden Administration changed fonts from New Times Roman, a font with serifs, to  Calibri, a sans serif font type.

According to DW.com “The US Secretary of State says the Calibri font, introduced under Joe Biden, is wasteful, confusing and degrades the department’s correspondence. The move is part of Trump’s bid to undo Biden’s pro-diversity policies.” I think Rubio is saying in a round-about-way that the pen, with the right style of font, is greater than the sword.

Let’s take the Declaration of Independence, one of our first historical documents issued before we were even a country, as an example. Thomas Jefferson is given credit for writing the Declaration of Independence but the task of actually putting the words to parchment using quill and ink was Timothy Matlack, the assistant to the Secretary of the Second Continental Congress. According to the National Archives Matlack “transcribe(d) the document using a patrician style called English round hand or Copperplate.

“Matlack’s handwritten document lends a sense of elegance, authority, and—most important—anonymity to the Declaration of Independence. The purpose of the document is to justify American independence and raise support for an independent United States, both within the colonies and abroad.”

Standardization and formality have long been hallmarks of official documentation, such as legal or government papers. For this reason, the mastery of fine handwriting became a profession itself, and the craftsmen who expertly transcribed texts for hire were called “penman.” The mark of “good” penmanship was its artful appearance. Fine letter formation instilled trust and so carried an importance equal to what the words actually said. –prologue.blogs.archives.gov

Timothy Matlack is the scribe whose impeccable handwriting adorns the official, signed parchment on display in the National Archives Rotunda.
Charles Willson Peale, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Rubio also proves, in a round-about-way that a font like beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Or in this case what is confusing and degrading. Now, using Rubio’s reasoning, the Biden administration switched to Calibri because the State Department thought it was easier for people with vision problems to read.

But here is the real problem with the current administration’s switch back to New Times Roman. The recommendations to shift fonts came from the Office of Diversity and Inclusion. Their decision was based on studies that Calibri was a cleaner font to read than New Times Roman.

Poor Calibri, erased by guilt from association, caught in the world of woke. Somehow the Trump State Department views Calibri as a woke font because it might be easier to read. However, readability had nothing to with Rubio’s change of fonts. Herein-lies the kicker. Anything with the Office of Diversity and Inclusion label sewed onto a government study, in this case the Calibir Font, is going to be sent to the Woke Second Hand Store found in the section of nonrenewable concepts of inclusion.

The definition of legibility is this: how easily individual characters or symbols can be distinguished from one another, how easy they are to recognize. If a font is legible, you can effortlessly distinguish between similarly shaped symbols even in small text sizes…Readability refers to the ease with which a reader can understand a written text. The definition in this context focuses on how easily the reader can scan or “glide” through lines of text without distraction or difficulty (ease of reading).—typttype.com

I personally don’t care what font the State Department uses. The State Department can hand write their correspondence using crayons from the classic 64 Crayola box. (I don’t think you would find them using “Colors of World Skin Tone” 24 color box set.) What I am getting tired of, and to paraphrase Trump’s “Russia, Russia, Russia” is “Biden, Biden, Biden” with an occasional Obama thrown in there. I would have been satisfied with we want a font with serifs and be done with it.

I think it really has more to do with purging “anything” to do with Obama and Biden. Just google Obama and Biden policies reversed by Trump. It is a long list ranging from environmental climate change initiatives dealing with clean air and greenhouse gases to fuel economy standards and federal minimum wage. Oddly we have not heard anything about the Administration’s victory over Trump’s war on water pressure. Ending this war is never included in the eight or so touted wars this Administration has ended.

But wiping out a predecessor’s legacy is nothing new. If we could travel back in time on Mr. Peabody’s Way Back Machine to Hatshepsut’s rule (c. 1479–1458 BCE) in Egypt, we would find the systematic eliminations of anything to do with her rule as pharaoh.. According to worldhstoryedu.com, “The motivations for erasing Hatshepsut’s legacy are complex and likely rooted in political, religious, and cultural considerations. First, her ascent to power was unconventional, as she took on the full role of pharaoh while a male heir, Thutmose III, was available, albeit a child at the time.”

Additionally, “Some historians have also suggested that Hatshepsut’s erasure may have been part of a broader ideological movement to purify Egyptian history. The pharaohs who followed Thutmose III, particularly during the reign of Amenhotep II, took further steps to restore a strict adherence to traditional roles and practices.”

Seated statue of Hatshepsut Metropolitan Museum of Art, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

It is interesting to note that according to worldhistory.org, ‘Women in ancient Egypt were regarded as the equals of men in every aspect save that of occupation. The man was the head of the household and nation, but women ran the home and contributed to the stability of that nation as artisans, brewers, doctors, musicians, scribes, and many other jobs, sometimes even those involving authority over men.”

Hatshepsut must have really ticked off Thutmose III; her purging was done so well she was forgotten to history. Egyptians had deep beliefs about the afterlife. They believed if one’s name was removed from history this would have serious ramification in the afterlife “…it is believed that whoever removed her from public knowledge did not wish her ill after death and so preserved her name in more secluded areas.” History is out there somewhere.

It wasn’t until the 19th century that archaeologists unearthed, “in the more secluded areas” her statues, monuments and other related long lost inscriptions. It was from these discoveries that archaeologists and historians were able to determine the great impact Hatshepsut had on the development of New Kingdom’s 18th Dynasty.

History is full of purges. We can look back to October 13, 1307, a Friday when King Philip IV and Pope Clement V decided to gruesomely rid themselves, and then avail themselves of the so called fortunes of the Knights of the Templar. Ironically no fortunes were found and people have been looking for buried treasure for centuries.

As for the choice of what font the State Department uses I ask: Does anybody really care?

Don’t let a Dime hold up a Dollar

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In my younger days I worked during the summer for my Uncle Don as mason’s tender. A fancy word for a laborer. As teenager working among men I found out the different styles of foremen and bosses. Some were great yellers throwing off epitates on your job performance as fast as a dog can shake off water. A throwback to the old straw bosses overseeing a bunch of gandy dancers working on the Union Pacific Railroad.

Uncle Don was different. He was always good for the quick witty, some might say sarcastic jab aimed like a rabbit punch to the gut. He let you know right away on how well you were doing your job. At the time I didn’t particularly care for the jabs. One day I overheard him say to another laborer that he was dime holding up a dollar. Basically, whatever the laborer was doing at the time was not as important in keeping bricklayers laying bricks.

Now that we are in the midst of government shutdown, I believe we can apply the dime holding up a dollar to what is happening in our nation’s Capital. It just seems to me that we are hung up on a paltry number–$350 billion. That is not even close to the top Powerball payout of $2.04 billion in November 2022. According to Economics Insider, for 2025 the US federal “government plans to spend a total of $7 trillion.” Seven trillion in the general number scale is not a paltry number. But for the moment let’s just think about what $7 trillion does and consider all of the things that are not getting done during the shutdown anything from say cleaning toilets to training air traffic controllers.

And now let us turn our attention to what I have been able to glean out of the nonsense and obfuscation being pushed upon us from on high. The best I can determine is that the Democrats want to extend tax credits for the Affordable Care Act enacted under the Biden Administration. The GOP and Trump not so much, particularly if it has anything to do with Biden. The Congressional Budget Office says by “Permanently expand(ing) the premium tax credit structure as provided in the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 and later extended through calendar year 2025 in the 2022 reconciliation act—increasing the deficit by $350 billion from 2026 to 2035 and the number of people with health insurance by 3.8 million in 2035…” The CBO lost me somewhere back in 2022 with a reconciliation act, which is whole different bowl of Congressional gumbo. And it is here is things get sort fuzzy quickly. Watching Congress do its thing is not as simple as watching a Pickleball match or Scottie Scheffler lining up a putt. For the average person it becomes hard to mix and match years and money let alone what is going to happen in 10 years.

But let’s just hold things static for one second. We are talking about a country that spends $7 trillion dollars and we are going to shut the government down for a measly $350 billion because it might increase the amount of people by 3.8 million to the 40-50 million already getting coverage from “Obamacare.” There are 330 million people living in this country and we are going to shut the government down because about 15 percent of the population is getting some sort of tax break for health care. Talk about a “dime holding up a dollar.” It seems to me that we are talking about a 10 year rounding error. Even if you compare the $350 billion to the $1.8 trillion deficit it would be like trying to calculate Mercury’s gravitational impact on the Sun.

Losing the tax credit would have an immediate impact. According to CBS News, “The cost of premiums for people who buy their insurance through the ACA marketplaces could more than double, rising from an average of $888 in 2025 to $1,904 in 2026.” Another four million people would likely drop their insurance.

It seems as if extending tax credits for healthcare to middle-to-lower income families is too high a hurdle for the government to jump. It knocks the pinions right out from under the government–the proverbial straw, the want of a nail. One really has to wonder about the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” signed into law on July 4, 2025. The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a non-profit, non-partisan think tank based in Washington, D.C said, “The predominant feature of the tax and spending bill signed into law by President Trump on July 4 is a massive tax cut for the richest 1 percent — a total $117 billion benefit to the wealthiest people in the country in 2026 alone.” I am not sure, but I think the $350 billion healthcare tax credit is spread out over 10 years is meager compared to nearly $120 billion to millionaires and billionaires in one year.

If anything can be said about our government they sure know how to make numbers crow about something. Congress is like a murder of crows, you have no real idea what all the squawking is really about. But they are squawking nonetheless. Here is where logic breaks down.They have no problem giving 3.3 million people $117 billion tax break. It is just a toss of a stone in a game of hopscotch. But giving $350 billion to 40 or 50 million people is game of Deal or No Deal.

My Uncle was full of poignant sayings. Once there was a man sitting down on the job. When my Uncle showed up and saw him sitting he told the man he had a job as long as he was sitting down. When he stood up he was fired. Of course he didn’t fire the man but my Uncle got his point across. Maybe we should address the Congress and the President in the same manner. You have a job as long as the government is shutdown. When you open it back up you are all fired.

F**ck ’em if they can’t take a joke

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There is a lot of talk about democracy going the way of the dodo bird, which went extinct in less than 100 years. Our country has been around for almost 250 years, and maybe we are on the fast track to dump democracy. But what people don’t understand is that our collective sense of humor is marching off hand-in-hand with democracy. There is something democratic about a joke, particularly one told in front of an audience to entertain. It is my belief that In order to get a joke you must be able to take a joke. It is called a sense of humor.

Freedom to Laugh–or not to

We toss around the term “protected speech.” But what the Constitution or the Declaration of Independence don’t specifically mention or protect, is the freedom to laugh–or not to. It probably falls somewhere under under the Implied Powers of Congress buried in Article I, Section 8, Clause 8: Congress has the right: To promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries. Somehow this implied power wormed its way over to quasi government agencies like the FCC. The FCC must be using an antiquated laugh meter from the 1930s to determine what is funny. It would not surprise me if we see the return of the laff box to cue us when to laugh.

Charles Douglass, a CBS engineer, developed the laff box, and according to the BBC, “When Douglass first ‘invented’ the laugh track in 1950, it was intended to help the audience watch, understand and feel comfortable with a relatively new medium. TV comedies adopted canned laughter to ease their viewers into a new kind of entertainment, even for shows that were filmed without live audiences.

British actor David Niven said, “The laugh track is the single greatest affront to public intelligence I know.” Humor is about intelligence–getting the joke sometimes takes a little knowledge of the joke.

I can only imagine what it was like to laugh in the 1600s during the Puritan rule in New England. I don’t suspect a community that would pillar its fellow citizens for social faux paus would want to induce laughter. Back then saying the wrong thing, for a laugh or not, could affect your standing in the community. For Instance, the New England Historical Society mentioned the poor fool who crossed the religious leaders of the day. It wrote, “the general court tried a man in Hartford for ‘contemptuous carriages’ against the church and minister. He had to stand upon a four-foot high block or stool on Lecture Day with a paper fixed on his breast with the words, ‘AN OPEN AND OBSTINATE CONTEMNNER OF GOD’S HOLY ORDINANCES.’ The purpose of his punishment: so others would ‘fear and be ashamed of breakinge out in like wickednesse.’” By controlling the comedian we are essentially controlling what we can laugh at.

Because of our diversity we have moved away from a Puritanical outlook on life. There was no insult comedy back then. The Puritans didn’t see anything funny about other (English) religions i.e. Quakers and surely not Catholics, encroaching on their holy ground let alone the town’s fool telling jokes. A night out back then was finding a warm pew and listening to Jonathan Edwards preaching that we are all “Sinners in the hands of angry God.” I am not sure if “The wicked deserve to be cast into Hell” or that “Divine justice does not prevent God from destroying the wicked at any moment.” It is my observation that the latter does not happen too often. In any case, there are not a whole lot of laughs there.

As a country we have learned to take a joke. In 1820 America there were no Polish or Italian jokes. Maybe the first Irish jokes showed up around the 1840s. There may not have even been “Knock Knock” jokes back then. As a nation in a depression we had the slapstick of The Three Stooges. By 1966 there was a book that dealt specifically with racial insults and slurs: Race Riots an Anthology of Ethnic Insults. (You can buy the book on EBAY for about $50.) This sort of observational insult humor is frowned upon today. No governmental organization banned the telling of ethnic jokes. It probably had more to do with the fact that people did not want to laugh at such jokes publicly.

It is all about the Idea

John Stuart Mill came up with this marketplace of ideas in his 1859 book On Liberty. The Middle Tennessee State University Speech Center writes: The importance of On Liberty resides in a series of powerful arguments defending the free flow of ideas in a marketplace of ideas, and in the belief that individuals can best make their own lifestyle choices, free from government intervention. On Liberty was thus an inspiration for future First Amendment theory.

We don’t normally look at “funny” as part of the marketplace of ideas but it is. Just look at any insurance company ad on TV. Who didn’t laugh seeing Doug chasing Emu out onto the football field and then getting pancake-tackled by a security guard. According to the Speech Center, “The marketplace of ideas refers to the belief that the test of the truth or acceptance of ideas depends on their competition with one another and not on the opinion of a censor, whether one provided by the government or by some other authority.”

What makes a joke work in the marketplace is the incongruous linkage created between misplaced elements or characters. Take insurance advertisement and their humorous sell job. Emu Limu and Doug are out there competing with Mayhem, Cavemen, geckos, ducks and celebrities for a laugh. There has to be some sort of “truth or acceptance” on the viewing audience despite what people believe about insurance companies. Insurance companies know they need to make us laugh; because in reality, their business is not really about laughing. I, for one, would find it quite funny if someone would squash the gecko. It would be hilarious to see how the insurance company would pay up.

Comic License

Here is where humor can get dicey, particularly for the comedian. The defining part of any joke is the laugh it gets. A comedian must have a good idea of the audience the joke is aimed at. As a member of the audience your individual sense of humor, and all the social and moral factors that form your sense of humor will decide how hard you laugh or what you think is funny. It is difficult to determine what an audience will laugh at on any given night. That in and of itself makes it almost impossible to regulate or license humor. So, humor, like beauty is in the eye and the ear of the beholder. It is an opinion–unsupported judgment.

According to Mill even a point of view needs a guardian. He writes, “Protection is also needed against the tyranny of prevailing opinion, which seeks to suppress dissent and enforce conformity.” The central concern of On Liberty is to find a way to draw the line between “individual independence and social control.” Censorship is not an option.

Mill argues “against censorship and in favor of the free flow of ideas. Asserting that “no one alone knows the truth, or that no one idea alone embodies either the truth or its antithesis.” Or, in this case what is funny or not funny. A crucial component of Mill’s belief is “that the free competition of ideas is the best way to separate falsehoods from fact.” (Free Speech Center Middle Tennessee State University) Again, what is funny and what is not.

Funny Money

But let us take laughter out of the realm of Constitutional theory and debate. Let us go back to 1776 and Adam Smith’s book Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations; or better known simply as the Wealth of Nations. Many of Smith’s beliefs can trickle down to any form of economic endeavor.

In Smith’s book he outlines four key economic theories that determines a country’s wealth. One concept is the free market–the invisible hand that the economy uses to regulate itself–“that individuals pursuing their own self-interest would result in the best outcomes for society as a whole.” In the free market it is all about what moves off the shelves. Comedy is no different. if the joke does not get a laugh it is not in the best interest of the comedian to repeat something that hit the floor like an anvil. The comedian not only has to be funny, he or she has to be in charge of their own marketing. If it ain’t funny there will be one more starving comedian hanging on to his day job. It is not up to the government to determine if a joke “is too soon.”; or to determine what sells as humor. That is up to the audience–the market for humor.

A story with a humorous climax

And that is he real problem today. We just don’t know how to take a joke anymore. America in some way has lost its sense of humor, and hence our democracy. Political realities of the day have sapped our ability to take a joke. We are losing our ability to recognize a joke. Granted, not everything is funny to everyone. And yes some people will not get the joke. Others will get ticked off at the joke. I think our democracy depends on our ability to laugh. It is when we take things too seriously no laff box will get us on track.

As Mel Helitzer with Mark Shatz write in their book: Writing Secrets “Humor has played an important part in our lives for thousands of years, but scientist and philosophers are still working to understand what laughter means, why we tell jokes and why we do or don’t appreciate others humor.” They write “humor is subjective. And in today’s world of diverse opinions humor is more subjective than ever.”

With today’s incongruities people are more mesmerized in dealing with incompatible ideas, innuendos, facts, near facts, alternate facts and ever-changing norms and awareness, getting to a punchline of a joke goes beyond a priest, a minister and a rabbi walked into a bar…

Ancient Aliens, the Deep State and the Epstein Conspiracy

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Without a doubt Americans love a good conundrum. If it is real puzzler with crime and sex we either turn it into TV docudrama or better yet, a full blown conspiracy. 

Just look at the Kennedy assassination. After 60 years we have gone from the “lone gunman nut theory” to Cuban assassins parachuting in on the Grassy Knoll to CIA Mafia-hired hitmen looking to get revenge for John’s brother, Robert, for going after organized crime as the Attorney General. I have even read where theorists say there is evidence to suggest that somebody took a shot at Kennedy from inside a curb-side sewer at street level.

Like the Warren Commission and the Kennedy assassination, I really don’t think President Trump realized as candidate Trump the morass he got himself into when he promised to release Jeffrey Epstein’s files to the public. That was like aroma of fresh-baked pizza with extra cheese wafting out onto the street for the Deep State conspiracy minded cosmonauts of  cyberspace to start chowing down on.  Afterall, whether he likes it or not, Trump has inherited the Deep State and all its dirty ops.

The Epstein Files is more than alleged sex trafficking of underage girls. Right now the conspiracy sleuths are more interested in whose names are on some sort of list, men seeking the pleasure of younger women—and their connection to the Deep State, banking, oil and international business. This has conspiracy bloodhounds digging like terriers at a rat hole. And that is what the Deep State , or what’s left of it at this point, wants. The Deep State wants these rat terriers running down dead end alleys. 

Meanwhile a key piece of information is being over looked: Epstein’s DNA. When it comes to crime we depend on Forensic DNA Specialists. But, in this case we should be relying on Genomic Researchers. 

The Human Genome Project was a large, well-organized, and highly collaborative international effort that generated the first sequence of the human genome and that of several additional well-studied organisms. Carried out from 1990-2003, it was one of the most ambitious and important scientific endeavors in human history.—NIH National Genome Research Institute. 

The Epstein case goes well beyond criminal forensics. It is alleged that Epstein’s DNA carries a slight mutation. It is a slight mutation passed along for centuries and can be traced back to its possible origins in three river valleys on Earth: The Hung He or Yellow River, “The Cradle of Chinese Civilization,” The Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, better known as the “Fertile Crescent” and the Nile River. Some researchers believe that the same mutation can be found in Central and South Americans—home to the Aztecs, Incas and Mayans. This explains Trump’s efforts to deport as many illegal South and Central Americans as possible. This is just cover for the Deep State’s search for alien DNA in immigrants who come into this country from south of our border. It could possibly be argued that the Deep State kept Trump in the dark about this research in his first term. In his second term he unknowingly fell into the Epstein Files and the ancient alien DNA research face first. He now finds himself mired within the Deep State, something that unsettles his staunch MAGA base. 

Most middle schoolers, who stayed awake in their World History class, can take a wild stab at explaining the significance of those geographic areas. Those of us who are smarter than a 5th grader but less studious than an 8th grader may not know that all of these locations are significant in establishment of ancient civilizations and human advancement; moving from hunters and gatherers to inventing the wheel, writing, gunpowder and domesticating crops and animals. Something the Trump Administration is banking on us not knowing, now that they are aware of some of the buried Deep State secrets. This explains the dismantling of the state and national educational infrastructure and the closing down government funded national research centers.

The Deep State became obsessed with determining the human genome and may explain the push for diversity, equity, and inclusion as a way of preparing us for extraterrestrial beings in the woodshed.  According the National Genome Research Institute, “A special committee of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences outlined the original goals for the Human Genome Project in 1988, which included sequencing the entire human genome in addition to the genomes of several carefully selected non-human organisms.”

For whatever reason a handful of researchers were convinced that the Fertile Crescent held some of the mysteries of the human genome. Many people believe that President George H. W. Bush’s 1990  Gulf War was to put Saddam Hussein back in his box. Its real mission was in search of  DNA, just one of  Bush’s thousand points of light was the mapping and sequencing of the human genome. 

The main goal of this international effort was to get the entire human genome, or the genetic blueprint of the human being. By 2000 the International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium “announced that it had produced a draft human genome sequence that accounted for 90% of the human genome.” The key word here is “human” because “The draft sequence contained more than 150,000 areas where DNA sequence was unknown because it could not be determined accurately (known as gaps).” But that 8 to 10 percent needed to be filled in. 

Again, in 2003 another Gulf War, this one started by Bush II, to fill in the gaps. This time it was under the guise of looking for Weapons of Mass Destruction. In reality it was in search of that one little mutation. Hence, military house-to-house searches armed with AR-15s and cotton swabs.  Abu Ghraib Prison was known more as a CIA torture chamber than a Deep State secret genetic research facility. The dupes in this charade were the Army National Guardsmen who unbeknownst decoyed the real purpose of Abu Ghraib. The human rights abuses was a great cover for the more benign genomic research that was taking place deep within its walls. 

By 2022 those gaps had been filled. All though touted as a positive outcome, the Human Genome Project “made every part of the draft human genome sequence publicly available shortly after production.” This created a genome race giving Communist Chinese scientists access to DNA sequencing science that they previously lacked. Trump’s trade war with China goes deeper than container ships crossing the ocean. It sheds some light on the Wuhan lab leak theory. What were Chinese scientists really researching? Was the Covid pandemic just a cover for deeper, darker genetic secrets?

What we are witnessing now is the anti-Deep State’s attempt to dismantle all evidence of the Deep State through a concocted agency called DOGE. DOGE’s eradication of agencies includes many seemingly unrelated government activities. It is a shotgun approach to eliminating the Deep State, destroying more than DEI and “woke” agencies.  The Trump administration is not only slashing research efforts taking place across the nation in government but also in university labs. Hence, the legal battles to defund universities like Harvard and the closing down government research centers. But probably its biggest take down was removing the United States from the World Health Organization, thus denying scientists valuable DNA data derived from a variety of sources–and reasons.

What the anti-Deep State does not understand is that some of these labs have been researching for decades with alien remains. Alien remains that some researchers believe are related to those they believe visited this planet 10,000 to 12,000 years ago. The Deep State has meticulously compartmentalized this alien DNA research so no one agency or research lab could connect the DNA gaps on its own. With the anti-Deep State slashing funding for research facilities, it is hard now to tell what was lost to DOGE’s shotgun approach in dismantling the government for budgetary purposes. 

For instance, one research group found there was a slight difference within the mutation leading some researchers to believe that there is just enough diversity in the alien DNA to speculate that maybe as many as three different alien related-groups visited Earth. No one is sure if that research is lost or just on pause. 

It is also their belief, but purely speculative, that these aliens set up what would be “Roanoke Colonies” in the Hung He River, the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, and the Nile River valleys, much like Britain’s attempt to establish settlements off the North Carolina coast in 1685.  These attempts resulted in the first great American Mystery:  “The Lost Colony of Roanoke.” Historians today do not know what happened to the 112 to 120 settlers. They still search for clues to their disappearance. Some speculate that local native Americans savagely killed them. Others believe that they may have lived out their remaining years with peaceful natives in the unsettled wilderness. 

Some researchers believe that these ancient aliens, stranded  in a hostile environment, suffered the same fate as Lost Colony of Roanoke inhabitants, were waiting for an interstellar supply ship that never arrived. Some go on to speculate that like the Lost Colony, war kept these Earth colonies from getting supplies they  needed. Although there is no proof of this some believe that an interstellar war may have kept colonizing aliens from a timely return.This leads some to believe that those stranded aliens, much like the Roanoke settlers, intermarried with the natives, humans, creating this out-worldly “nonhuman” mutant piece of DNA floating around in the genetic pool of humans.

In fact, some researchers feel strongly that the Chinese may be on to something big with their exploration on the Dark Side of the Moon– 2001: A Space Odyssey moment. There maybe proof of an ancient alien space battle that took place in our own Solar System. Evidence of this battle could possibly be found on the Moon. It may even give clues to the possible end of life on Mars. Although not taken seriously among astronomers and astrophysicists, it is a belief that this ancient alien space battle destroyed several planets explaining the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter and the Kuiper Belt. 

The Deep State has been secretly working with the remains of extraterrestrials since the end of World War II. The government has tightly controlled information on UFOs or “unidentified anomalous phenomena”  UAPs. (see blog Congress and Aliens, January 2024). We have been looking to space for proof of extraterrestrial life while the proof may be right here walking around on Earth in our own DNA. There is more hiding in the Epstein Files and fantasy island. The Trump Administration overt activities to defund large portions of the government, its suspicious turn around on the Epstein Files indicates that like past administration, it has been consumed by the Deep State. 

Float Like a Bubble, Implode like a Star

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Since the late 1990s the world has witnessed the implosion of two of the worst economic bubbles in history. Some economist believe that pending economic bubbles can go unnoticed for five to ten years before they implode like a dying star. In fact, some economist believe we sitting on the next economic stellar black hole. But I think there is another bubble brewing up, a different kind of bubble: The Ego Bubble.

The Ego Bubble, however, differs from an Economic Bubble. First off, economic bubbles are simply a time when investors go bonkers for something. Investopedia says bubbles “occurs when the price of a financial asset or a commodity rises to levels well above historical norms, above its actual value, or both.”

A healthy ego is a good thing. It projects self awareness, self esteem and props up a positive self-image. However, when an ego’s awareness becomes inflated and reality becomes distorted, or “rises to levels well above historical norms, “the inflated ego, unchecked, can become a black hole of self-centered superiority pulling in misconceptions and false beliefs.

One essential element in the growth of any bubble, egoic or economic, is groupthink. According to Psychology Today, “Groupthink is a phenomenon that occurs when a group of well-intentioned people make irrational or non-optimal decisions spurred by the urge to conform or the belief that dissent is impossible.” For an economic bubble to grow it needs large amounts of money chasing a belief in the perception that an asset or a commodity will keep growing exponentially. That means a lot of people have to believe in the pot of gold theory.

No one in this world, so far as I know—and I have searched the records for years, and employed agents to help me—has ever lost money by underestimating the intelligence of the great masses of the plain people.–H L Mencken

History is full of both bubbles. When economic bubbles implode they can leave irate investors, homeless and without two nickels to rub together. With pitchforks in hand they are ready to chase down Frankenstein’s monster.

We can go back to 1637 and Tulip Mania; The South Sea Bubble in 1720 that pulled in King George and Sir Isaac Newton into its economic Tsunami wave. Parliament created the monster, The South Sea Company. According to History UK “It was a public and private partnership that was designed as a way of consolidating, controlling and reducing the national debt and to help Britain increase its trade and profits in the Americas.” That old “national debt” is a spectre that’s been around forever in some sort of big beautiful way, driving countries numb and dumb. Even Sir Isaac Newton, who could figure out why an apple falls off a tree was unable to explain why investor losses dropped from tons to pounds. Maybe it was because the whole thing was based on an immoral concept: slavery. The South Sea Company thought it had a monopoly on providing Spain with the needed labor, slave labor, for her New World colonies.

“The slave trade had proved immensely profitable in the previous two centuries and there was huge public confidence in (The South Sea Company) scheme, as many expected slave profits to increase dramatically…–History UK

Since the 1990s we have seen two of the worst economic bubbles collapse. The the Dot com Bubble of the late 1990s; then there was the 2008 Real Estate Bubble, along with Bernie Madoff’s 20 year Ponzi scheme collapsing the same year. With economic bubbles people cheerfully hop on the bandwagon. They then ride the fallacy: The majority’s opinion, in this case the investor’s belief in a sure thing, until it is not.

The South Sea Bubble has been called: the world’s first financial crash, the world’s first Ponzi scheme, speculation mania and a disastrous example of what can happen when people fall prey to ‘group think’. That it was a catastrophic financial crash is in no doubt and that some of the greatest thinkers at the time succumbed to it, including Isaac Newton himself, is also irrefutable. Estimates vary but Newton reportedly lost as much as £40 million (pounds) of today’s money in the scheme.–Historic Uk.

Ego bubble works on a similar concept. The first thing needed is an individual who uses an inflated ego to gather control of an idea or concept–a sure thing. One of history’s best examples is Adolf Hitler. It did not take Hitler long to suck like-minded people into his scapegoating illusions of political and economic reality. Once the groupthink expands with these like-minded people a small cohesive secondary autocratic group of leaders*, like Himmler, Goering and Goebbels forms to bolstered Hitler’s power. These leaders sell their souls to a fallacious concept. They are the ones who keep the faithful in line. Critical thinking is one of the first things that goes out the door. Because what is needed, is conformity and consensus. The fallacy of the bandwagon needs to keep moving forward.

  • Himmler, Goering and Goebbels all committed suicide when Hitler’s ego bubble disintegrated.

(James) Janis and other researchers have found that in a situation that can be characterized as groupthink, individuals tend to refrain from expressing doubts and judgments or disagreeing with the consensus. In the interest of making a decision that furthers their group cause, members may also ignore ethical or moral consequences.–Psychology Today

Once critical thinking is kicked to the curb, dissention in the ranks also disappears. It becomes easy to stereotype those outside the bubble as being dumb, or a threat to the greater well being. There is no counter debate or diversity. The access to additional information is locked out. Poor decisions are sure to follow without the inflow disparate information to fuel constructive debate.

In biology, for example, for a cell to exist it must be able to transport necessary nutrients into the cell and wastes out of the cell. According to biologyinsights.com, for proper cell function “Cell transport mechanisms are essential processes that maintain homeostasis” and allows “cells to interact with their surroundings and adapt to changes.” A mechanism lacking in the ego bubble to allow new ideas in and dead beliefs out.

In the 1930s the world witnessed the growth of three gigantic ego bubbles. Two of these bubbles were in Europe: Adolf Hitler and his Nationalist Socialist German Workers’ Party, and Benito Mussolini and his Partito Nazionale Fascista or the National Fascist Party. In the Pacific, General Hideki Tojo was a militerist from the Imperial Rule Assistance Association Party of Japan. It is safe to say that there were no opposition parties. Their individual ego bubbles were secure with no opposing ideas moving in. Together these bubbles formed the Axis Powers, a black hole that sucked almost every contintnet they came in contact with into a world war.

Today’s astrological alignment of ego bubbles are being filled in the East by China’s Xi Jinping’s lust for the “golden age” of the Tang Dynasty; in the North by Russia’s Vladimir Putin visions of Peter the Great; and here at home with Donald Trump’s belief that only he can Make America Great Again. We have seen how these bubbles bounce into each other. America and China engaged in trade war. Putin trying to engulf Ukraine into the Russian sphere. All the while ,Trump and Putin are on the disco dance floor doing The Hustle one minute and then grooving into The Electric Slide next. All three bubbles are trying to avoid The Bump.

There are several other smaller bubbles floating around causing trouble: Israel’s Benjamin “Bibi” Netanyahu and North Korea’s Kim Jong Un. Both Netanyahu and Kim are double bubbles that attach and develop onto an existing bigger bubble. It is hard to tell which bubble dominates at time. I would not classify Iran has having an ego bubble per se. Religious fanaticism is a whole different form of groupthink, just as dangerous and not as easily popped. Religious fanaticism is like Dandelion seeds spreading from one yard to another: One terrorist group spawns another.

I am not suggesting that these three bubbles would combine to form an Axis-like Super Bubble. In fact, I am not really suggesting anything. Right now they are there just floating around. But, since I brought up religion I must say it is not in my nature to proselytize. I am not suggesting any sort of divine intervention in popping ego bubbles. Because for some reason when it comes to gods, God always seems to be on everybody’s side. German soldiers going back to Prussia in the 1700s all the way up to the Nazi in WWII went into battle with Gott mit uns or God is with us on their belt buckle. Nor I am not going to propose any sort of Freudian psychology or psychoanalyst theories to explain the comings and goings or the inner wounded child theory in any of the oversized ego. However, I prefer to use Proverbs 6: 16-19 as an ego bubble checklist.

If by simple observation the following criteria can be checked off in evaluating an egoic, groupthink bubble, we could be in for trouble. For instance if it can be determined that the bubble exhibits “a lying tongue,” and has “a false witnesses who pours out lies;” and is a bubble that “stirs up conflict in the community,” we may be witnessing the forming of an ego bubble. If we see a bubble “that devises wicked schemes and has feet that are quick to rush into evil,” the devil may already be on the loose. If “that (bubble) has hands that shed innocent blood,” we, as Tom Waits sings, may have failed to “keep the devil way down in the hole, he’s got the fire and fury at his command…” We just might be in for some serious Old Testament fire and brimstone on the level of Sodom and Gomorrah.

“Oh with your fussin’ and your fightin’,” Trump’s Tonkin Gulf Moment

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It would be hard to find a time when we as a nation were blessed without all “your fussin’ and your fightin’.” I think the key word in this is “your.” How easy it is to get dragged into someone else’s fussin and fightin’ that then has you hip deep into their feud. If you are one with a limited amount of common sense, to often you gladly jump into the melee feet first; if you are lacking common sense, you dive in head first. This the way I see the immigration nonsense taking place in LA.

I will admit that this country’s immigration policy is out-of-whack, but hardly a Mars Attacks assault. This so-called immigration invasion in Los Angeles has stirred up a lot “fussin’ and fightin’.” Immigration Customs and Enforcement agents are rounding up day laborers at Home Depot–the low hanging fruit of snatch and grab–has gotten a lot people excited, particularly those at The White House. In fact, they got so excited they decided, not only to call out the California National Guard, but the Marines. Who better to call out then the Marines. Marines have a history of dealing with Central American insurrections that goes back to the early 1900s, the National Guard not so much. And who better to guard our streets against an immigrant insurrection of landscapers, dishwashers and a hodgepodge of day laborers then those who cleared the streets of Fallujah in 2004. This is Trump’s domestic surge to push back alien invaders from our streets. It may literally become overkill.

Listen to the radio, talkin’ ’bout the last show
Someone got excited, had to call the state militia–Creedence Clearwater Revival: Travelin’ Band

I am not condoning violence and the burning of driverless cars or surrounding federal buildings. But if there were a Richter Scale for measuring riots what is happening in LA is a 1.0: A microriot not felt, but recorded by main street news (and other bloviators). Take Detroit in 1967, that was a riot. That five-day riot was a magnitude 8.0 Riot: More than 40 people were killed, 1,100 injured (figures for injured vary), 7,200 people arrested and 2,000 buildings damaged or destroyed, its tremors were felt across the nation. Ironically, this riot started with similar early morning police raid on an after hours-bar that went amiss. A side note, the 1992 LA Riot was a 9.0 Riot.

The 1967 Detroit Riots were among the most violent and destructive riots in U.S. history. By the time the bloodshed, burning and looting ended after five days, 43 people were dead, 342 injured, nearly 1,400 buildings had been burned and some 7,000 National Guard and U.S. Army troops had been called into service.–History.com

The Paramount Riot seems like Trump’s Tonkin Gulf Resolution to escalate his deportation war. The big difference is there is no Congressional authorization, which today is a wink and a nod and a hardy “go for it!” It is a hyped up reason to bring out Title 10 U.S.C. 12406 and the military, which says “the president may call into federal service members and units of the National Guard of any State in such numbers as he considers necessary to repel the invasion, suppress the rebellion, or execute those laws.” In other words, the Administration just put a hiring freeze in Home Depot parking lots across the nation. Some poor drywaller is going have a hard time finding locals to carry in sheetrock up to the second floor addition. Boards that can weigh from anywhere from 30 to 100 pounds depending on the size, and usually bundled in twos.

Our immigrant problem began when the first European immigrants in 1617 brought in African immigrants to pick tobacco. (Native Americans’ immigration problems started in the early 1500s.) On a more positive note, in the late 1600s William Penn actively sought out Europeans to settle in Pennsylvania. According to The Historical Society of Pennsylvania, “William Penn had proselytize among Rhine Valley dissenters and invited them to settle in his colony…Between 1727 and 1775, approximately 65,000 Germans landed in Philadelphia.” And they had to travel hundreds of miles just to get to a ship to cross the Atlantic Ocean. Benjamin Franklin wrote “that at least one-third of Pennsylvania’s white population was German.”

Immigration is a part of our natural history as a country. We cannot deport our way out of 400 years of immigration. It runs as deep in our veins as tax avoidance; both have been necessary to sustain the growth and expansion of our country. It is interesting, however, to note, that the current Administration is trying to tackle both issues at the same time with The One Big Beautiful (tax cut) Bill and rounding up 3,000 immigrants a day–but not to carry drywall. It will be interesting to see if this administration can walk and blow bubble gum at the same time.

If our country is a melting pot of culture, our immigration policies have been a recipe created over time reflecting the singular view of White Anglo Saxon beliefs of race, religion and economics at various points along our history. According to heinonline.org, “The Naturalization Act of 1790 established that foreign-born residents of the United States could apply for citizenship provided they had lived in the U.S. for two years, had remained in their current residence for one year, and were free, white, and of “good moral character.” If we went by “good moral character” for being a citizen today, we might easily lose half the currently elected and appointed members of our government, to include Supreme Court justices–they could easily be DOGE(d).

Since then we have had a twisting immigration policy that has encouraging Chinese laborers to work on the railroads to then outright excluding them in 1882 from not only becoming citizens but denying those that were here the path to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. The Exclusion Act was renewed every 10 years until it was finally repealed in 1952. In 1980 immigrants could now claim refugee status and could enter the immigration maze. And, In 1986 the Reagan Administration basically outsourced the control of immigration to business.

Prior to Reagan, Congress had created a niche out for businesses. According to The Congressional Quarterly Almanac, “it was illegal to enter or work in the country without proper papers, did not make it illegal for employers to hire undocumented workers.” It seems the government closed the front door but left the back door wide open to hiring immigrants no matter what their status was. In reality it is an economic problem of supply and demand in getting the cheapest labor possible.

That changed with the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986. It was now illegal to hire illegals “knowing that such person is unauthorized to work…without verifying his or her work status.” Employers could now be subjected to fines and jail. The new law also allowed a pathway for amnesty and legal status for undocumented aliens. Since then we have had Dream Acts that set requirements and conditions for illegal immigrants to apply for residential and permanent status. And of course there has been wall building and border openings and closings along with barbed wire across the Rio Grande. But that has not stopped businesses from hiring illegal immigrants.

A major problem with immigration is that we have had a Congresses that is too cheap to buy new underwear. But not so for foreign owned 747s. Our policies in dealing with immigration has a time-worn elastic band, it is ragged, and it is full of holes. You dare not put it in the dryer and you damn sure don’t want to hang it out on the line to dry after washing it in the sink.

“If you have a problem you can solve by throwing money at it, you don’t have a very interesting problem.”— American novelist and nonfiction writer Anne Lamott.

For the better part of 40 years Congress and various Presidents have created a very interesting political/economical problem” out of immigration. Businesses like agriculture, meat packing and construction run on cheap labor immigration provides. Employment for immigrants for decades was wide open. As a nation we have not invested the necessary money to control and accommodate business needs nor screen immigrants at the border. If we did, why are we deporting so many now? Instead, We have allowed our country to become a Walmart on Black Friday every day.

What I am sick and tired of is the political extremes on both ends of the spectrum creating all the insane fussin’ and fightin’. Without a doubt we have had a long running challenges with immigration. But now we have a president that has decided that things are out of hand. Have things drastically changed from 1980 to the present? If so, it is because immigration is part of our historical DNA. The problem today, is that this administration’s policy on immigration could be compared to a doctor using a guillotine to treat patients suffering from migraines. It is a bit radical and obvious not the best solution for the patient or his family.

Meanwhile, those of us that are in the middle looking for real solutions to immigration watch the ends never meet.