That day, twenty five years ago, the America I grew up in changed forever.

It was September 11, I'll never forget it. I turned on the TV that morning before work to catch some news, CNN I think, the first tower was on fire, smoke billowing against the background. The announcer said a plane had hit it. I was wondering about the poor people that were in the building, especially the ones above the fire. I watched longer than I should and I needed to go to work. I reached to shut off the TV and then the second plane hit the second tower. I pulled my hand from the knob. I knew immediately that this wasn't coincidence, and I also knew, almost immediately, that it was a terrorist event. I stayed home from work, and like many across the country that fateful day, I was glued to the TV.

I was as cynical then, as I am now. I knew something was off from the beginning. The 60s had taught me a deeply ingrained distrust of the government, and even though I had no idea what really was going on, the surreal event I was witnessing sent my mind reeling into a cloud of doubt, and fear. Are we under attack? Was this a coup?

Then the towers fell, straight down, into their own footsteps.

War is nothing new, humans have used violent conflict to settle differences since the advent of bludgeons made from rocks and sticks. War, it's what we are, it's what we do. How much more evidence needs to be provided to prove that point? Stating mankind as civilized has been proven, time and time again, to be empty rhetoric. Are we really that far removed from the animal kingdom? Evidently not.

Has there ever been peace without first fighting a war? The concept of peace would be an abstract without the concept of war.

Peace works until cooperation breaks down and a tribe covets something that a neighboring tribe possesses. For early man it was arable land, now it's mostly for resources. That is the essence of empire and conquest.

It's a sad testament to our species, but there it is.

...but I heard this interview with an economist discussing the basic incompetence of the administration. The administration has made huge policy choices with absolutely no idea of their costs or alleged benefits. I'll post it below. It reminded me of my encounter with at a relatively young age with Lawrence Korb. Basically, an economist who had been an assistant Defense Secretary or something like that. He was the guest speaker in a classroom setting.

This was my escape from the war narrative. Working on it on and off in between chores entirely for entertainment purposes.

1.

Middle East Wrestlemania!

Blinking my pretty damned cynical eyes at the brazen bull shit coming out of the Federal Government with contradictions galore and absurdity for dessert. It is as if it just never occurs to them that the obvious question from anybody hearing the bragging about how we are stomping the crap put of Iran is, "Then why ain't it over?"

I begin this lamentation by pointing out that America has given its populace and the world at large many positive things. Relations between the various ethnicities and between the genders have been reformed dramatically over the last 70 years, giving many the false impression that reform is the natural order of human progress.

I've written before about how Israel's genocidal war will destroy their economy. While it hasn't happened yet, the trend is indeed happening.

Ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah has begun

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Updated 7:43 PM PST, November 26, 2024

A ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah militants has begun as a region on edge wonders whether it will hold.