War, Respect for Service, Greed, Communications– And Other Cheerful Topics
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The Iran War
I was going to title this section the war IN Iran, but it certainly has spread much wider than that, hasn’t it? A few points to focus on in the coming days:
- The evidence is now overwhelming that the planning and analysis for this adventure was, and is, poor at best. People look to Trump’s midnight social media posts like some sort of Weegee board, trying to figure out what might be coming.
- With alternating threats and denials about ground troops being put into the fight, the 82nd Airborne Division has been put on alert, and a large force of Marines are moving into the area. There is talk of trying to seize a major airport and city, a major port, and/or a major Iranian island in the Straits of Hormuz. This one feels personal to me- I served in the 82nd for several years and know how those alerts that come at 2 am play out. The standing mission of the 82nd is to deploy 1/3 of the Division anywhere in the world in 18 hours, with the rest of the Division to follow shortly.
If anyone could pull off this type of mission, it would be the 82nd, but in this scenario, it would almost surely be a doomed mission with horrific casualties. Lucian Truscott has two excellent and sobering posts on what this would be like. I commend both articles for your reading.
- When we have more time and space, we will talk a bit about the revolutionary role of drones in modern warfare (something we have talked about before, but now importantly updated with the Iran conflict). It is as significant as the introduction of air power, armor, and artillery in earlier periods of history. Remember the term Asymmetrical Warfare – we will talk about it soon. It is a concept as old as history, but now has impact and potential almost beyond imagination.190900
Respect For Service?
There may be a handful of people who still believe, remarkably, that Trump and his team respect military service. The lie in that concept got two clear denials this past week.
One, Trumps campaign put out a fund raising publication, featuring pictures of the coffins of dead American military personnel being brought back to US soil, with Trump in the background wearing his campaign baseball hat. Disgusting.
Two, the Trump team stole another senior military housing unit, putting the so-called Attorney General into a senior residence on a military base, citing threats against her. This is certainly not the first time inappropriate personnel have taken military housing. No information if they are even paying rent. Theft, pure and simple.
Greed and Corruption Writ Large
The evidence is beginning to seep out everywhere that this is by far the most corrupt administration in US history. These folks make Warren G. Harding look like a boy scout. Once Congress changes hands, some genuine investigations and public hearings will ensue, which will also help inform voters for the election in 2028. It will take a change in the White House occupancy to get criminal indictments underway, but any number of leaders have made it clear that those days will come. These people who so abuse our system and our culture will not get a free pass.
I ran across an interesting statistic last week that connects to this mind set of greed. Best estimates are that 300 billionaires and their immediate family members donated 19% of all political contributions in federal elections, either directly or through political action committees or PACs in recent years. Even that amount does not account for money that might have gone through dark channels. Money groups that don’t have to disclose their donors, so we do not know how much more is flowing, but the known amount still amounts to more than $3 billion, or an average of $10 million per family.
Why might they do that? Maybe because over the last few decades 40% of America’s economic growth went to 1% of its population. The rich think the system is just fine and they intend to keep it that way.
Communications Consolidation
Pay attention to the continuing consolidation of public media into a handful of right wing owners that are deeply into the propaganda mode. One shining example is the ownership of Sinclair Media of local stations. If their next acquisition round is approved, which it surely will be by this Administration, almost 80% of US local media markets will be controlled by one company. And this company dictates local editorials. We need serious legislation to ensure no one, left or right, has that much media control.
The TSA Shutdown
This shutdown is rapidly approaching a system breakdown, one not improved by using ICE agents (ICE, for Pete’s sake!) at airports, even if it is not clear exactly what they will do. The Democrats need to ensure everyone knows, they have offered legisltation to fund TSA separate from the rest of Homeland Security. The Republicans have refused to even consider such legislation, demanding a blank check for Homeland Security (ICE included), hoping people will ignorantly blame the Democrats for the TSA shutdown.
A Bit of Good News
Baseball season is here! The first game is this week, between the San Francisco Giants and the New York Yankees. Hope springs eternal – everyone is a potential World Series champion at this point.
If you are not interested in baseball, stick with me just a bit longer. Next week, unless the news overwhelms planning, I am reprinting a blog I did years ago showing the similarities between baseball and Japanese tea ceremonies. Doubt that? Read it next week and I bet you will see the connections, and what makes both activities so special.
See you next week.
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thank you so, so much ofr th einfo about the 82nd.
I think/hope? I clicked to go to substack, but not sure….