We MUST Cut US Military Defense Spending

Seriously, America, Americans, we must, must cut defense spending. It is huge, it is bloated, it is wasteful and it actually ends up weakening the nation.

Contact your members of Congress. Tell them.

End Perpetual War

On our nation's getting out of Afghanistan--if you as a nation have been there 20 years and not achieved your goals, it's time to get out. End perpetual War. And while we're at it, cut the so bloated, very wasteful defense budget. It will actually and honestly make the nation stronger. As it is, we, the US, are the world's warmonger.

Great, Even Important Question About Our Defense Budget

President Biden proposed increasing, yet again, our nation's annual defense budget--but then followed that up by saying we're getting out of Afghanistan. Representative Ro Khanna asks an excellent question today out in social media.

“The Pentagon increases make no sense. If you’re ending the forever war in Afghanistan … then why are we increasing, at the same time, the defense budget?” --Rep. Ro Khanna @RoKhanna

The World's Warmonger

We, the US, the United States are, hands down, the world's warmonger, ladies and gentlemen. No one, no other nation comes even remotely close to spending what we do on what we call "defense." And we don't even do it well.

See the fighter jet above? It's the Air Force's F35.Nice, huh? And it only cost us 400 billion dollars. The Pentagon's most expensive program. Ever. Literally. Google: "The US Air Force Just Admitted the F-35 Stealth Fighter Has Failed." It's at Forbes Magazine. $400 billion dollars. And it doesn't work. Aren't we terrific? Exceptional, don't you think? But hey, let's keep shoveling more and yet more money to the Defense Department. That'll keep us all safe. Right?

Republican Party President Donald Trump and Our US Military and Veterans?

Here is just a short, abbreviated, partial list of just how much this Republican Party President Donald J "Jenius" Trum has done for---and not infrequently, to--the military and/or to currently serving members of our forces and/or Veterans who served. Ladies and gentlemen of the United States, fellow citizens, I give you the President of the United States. With sincerest apologies.

• In May 2020, the White House ended National Guard deployments ONE DAY before they could claim benefits
• The Trump admin seized 5 million masks intended for VA hospitals. Kushner distributes these masks to private entities for a fee, who then sell the masks to the government
• Trump fired the captain of the USS Theodore Roosevelt after he warned superiors that COVID19 was spreading among his crew. The virus subsequently spread among the crew.
• After Iran's retaliatory strike, 109 US troops suffered brain injuries. Trump dismissed these as "headaches"
• On July 20, 2017, in room 2E924 of the Pentagon, Trump told a room full of Generals, "You’re a bunch of dopes and babies"
• Pardoned multiple war criminals, which stomped on long standing military values, discipline, and command. Trump has no military experience (May & Nov, 2019)
• Trump mocked Lt. Col. Vindman for his rank and uniform. He threatened said purple heart officer, resulting in the Army providing him protection
• Trump’s Chief of Staff worked—in secret—to deny comprehensive health coverage to Vietnam Vets who suffered from Agent Orange.
• There is a facility in Tijuana for US veterans that Trump deported. Wounded war vet, Sen Duckworth (D) marked Veterans Day 2019 by visiting this facility
• Russia took control of the main U.S. military facility in Syria abandoned on Trump’s orders. Russia now owns the airstrip we built
• On Oct 7, 2019, Trump abruptly withdrew support from America's allies in Syria after a phone call with Turkey's President Erdogan. Turkey subsequently bombed US Special Forces.
• Trump sent thousands of American troops to defend the oil assets of the country that perpetrated 9/11, Saudi Arabia
• In Sept 2019, he made an Air Force cargo crew, flying from the U.S. to Kuwait, stop in Scotland,  where there is no U.S. base, to refuel at a commercial airport, where it costs more, so they could stay overnight at a Trump property, which isn't even close to the airport. Trump’s golf courses are losing money, so he's forcing the military to pay for 5-star nights there.
• In Sept, 2019, Pentagon pulled funds for military schools, military housing funds and daycare to pay for Trump's Southern border wall. 
• In Aug, 2019, emails revealed that three of Trump's Mar-a-Lago pals, who are now running Veterans Affairs, are rampant with meddling. "They had no experience in veterans affairs--none of them even served in the military--nor underwent any kind of approval process to serve as de facto managers. Yet, with Trump’s approval, they directed actions and criticized operations without any oversight. They wasted valuable staff time in hundreds of pages of communications and meetings, emails show. Emails reveal disdainful attitudes within the department to the trio’s meddling."
• Veterans graves will be "dug up" for the border wall, after Trump instructed aides to seize private property. Trump told officials he would pardon them if they break the law by illegally seizing property
• Children of deployed US troops are no longer guaranteed citizenship. This includes US troops posted abroad for years at a time (August 28, 2019)
• On Aug 2, 2019, Trump requisitioned military retirement funds toward his Southern border wall
• On July 31, 2019, Trump ordered the Navy rescind medals to prosecutors who were prosecuted war criminals
• Trump denied a U.S. Marine of 6 years duty entry into the United States for his citizenship interview (Reported July 17, 2019)
• Trump made the U.S. Navy Blue Angels violate ethics rules by having them fly at his July 4th, 2019 political campaign event
• Trump demanded US military chiefs stand next to him at 4th of July parade (reported July 2, 2019)
• In June, 2019, Trump sent troops to the border to paint the fence for a better "aesthetic appearance"
• Trump used his D-Day interview at a cemetery commemorating fallen US soldiers to attack a Vietnam veteran (June 6, 2019)
• Trump started his D-Day commemoration speech by attacking a private citizen (Bette Midler, of all people) (reported on June 4th, 2019)
• Trump made his 2nd wife, Marla Maples, sign a prenup that would have cut off all child support if Tiffany joined the military (reported June 4th, 2019)
• On May 27, 2019, Trump turned away US military from his Memorial Day speech because they were from the destroyer USS John S. McCain
• Trump ordered the USS John McCain out of sight during his visit to Japan (May 15, 2019). The ship's name was subsequently covered. (May 27, 2019)
• Trump purged 200,000 vets' healthcare applications (due to known administrative errors within VA’s enrollment system) (reported on May 13, 2019)
• Trump deported a spouse of fallen Army soldier killed in Afghanistan, leaving their daughter parentless (April 16, 2019)
• On March 20, 2019, Trump complained that a deceased war hero didn't thank him for his funeral
• Between 12/22/2018, and 1/25/2019, Trump refused to sign his party's funding bill, which shut down the government, forcing the Coast Guard to go without pay, which made service members rely on food pantries. However, his appointees got a $10,000 pay raise
• He banned service members from serving based on gender identity (1/22/2019)
• He denied female troops access to birth control to limit sexual activity (on-going. Published Jan 18, 2019)
• He tried to deport a marine vet who is a U.S.-born citizen (Jan 16, 2019)
• When a man was caught swindling veterans pensions for high-interest “cash advances," Trump's Consumer Financial Protection Bureau fined him $1 (Jan 26, 2019)
• He called a retired general a 'dog' with a 'big, dumb mouth' (Jan 1, 2019)
• He increased privatization of the VA, leading to longer waits and higher taxpayer cost (2018)
• He finally visited troops 2 years after taking office, but only after 154 vacation days at his properties (Dec 26, 2018)
• He revealed a covert Seal Team 5 deployment, including names and faces, on Twitter during his visit to Iraq (Dec 26, 2018)
• Trump lied to deployed troops that he gave them a 10% raise (12/26/2018). He tried giving the military a raise that was lower than the standard living adjustment. Congress told him that idea wasn't going to work. Then after giving them the raise that Congress made him, he lied about it pretending that it was larger than Obama's. It wasn't.
• He fired service members living with HIV just before the 2018 holidays
• He tried to slash disability and unemployment benefits for Veterans to $0, and eliminate the unemployability extrascheduler rating (Dec 17, 2018)
• He called troops on Thanksgiving and told them he's most thankful for himself (Thanksgiving, 2018)
• He urged Florida to not count deployed military votes (Nov 12, 2018)
• He canceled an Arlington Cemetery visit on Veterans Day due to light rain (Nov 12, 2018)
• While in Europe commemorating the end of WWI, he didn't attend the ceremony at a US cemetery due to the rain -- other world leaders went anyway (Nov 10, 2018)
• He used troops as a political prop by sending them on a phantom mission to the border and made them miss Thanksgiving with their families (Oct-Dec, 2018)
• He stopped using troops as a political prop immediately after the election. However, the troops remained in muddy camps on the border (Nov 7, 2018)
• Trump changed the GI Bill through his Forever GI Act, causing the VA to miss veteran benefits, including housing allowances. This caused many vets to run out of food and rent. (reported October 7, 2018)
• Trump doubled the rejection rate for veterans requesting family deportation protections (July 5, 2018)
• Trump deported active-duty spouses (11,800 military families face this problem as of April 2018)
• He forgot a fallen soldier's name (below) during a call to his pregnant widow, then attacked her the next day (Oct 23-24, 2017)
• He sent commandos into an ambush due to a lack of intel and sent contractors to pick them up, resulting in a commando being left behind, tortured, and executed. Trump approved the mission because Bannon told him Obama didn't have the guts to do it. (Oct 4, 2017)
• ⁠He blocked a veteran group on Twitter (June 2017
• ⁠He ordered the discharge of active-duty immigrant troops with good records (2017-present)
• ⁠He deported veterans (2017-present)
• ⁠He said he knows more about ISIS than American generals (Oct 2016)
• ⁠On Oct 3, 2016, Trump said Veterans get PTSD because they aren't strong (note: yes, he said it's 'because they aren't strong.' He didn't say it's 'because they're weak.' This distinction is important)
• ⁠Trump accepted a Purple Heart from a fan at one of his rallies and said: “I always wanted to get the Purple Heart. This was much easier.” (Aug 2, 2016)
• ⁠Trump attacked Gold Star families: Myeshia Johnson (gold star widow), Khan family (gold star parents) etc. (2016-present)
• Trump sent funds raised from a Jan 2016 veterans benefit to the Donald J Trump Foundation instead of veterans charities (the foundation has since been ordered shut because of fraud) (Jan, 2016)
• Trump said he has "more training militarily than a lot of the guys that go into the military" because he went to a military-style academy (2015 biography)
• ⁠Trump said he doesn't consider POWs heroes because they were caught. He said he prefers people who were not caught (July 18, 2015)
• ⁠Trump said having unprotected sex was his own personal Vietnam (1998)
• ⁠For a decade, Trump sought to kick Veterans off of Fifth Avenue because he found them to be  unsightly nuisances outside of Trump Tower. 1991
• ⁠Trump dodged the draft 5 times by having a doctor diagnose him with bone spurs.
• ⁠No Trump in America has ever served in the military; this spans 5 generations, and every branch of the family tree. In fact, the reason his grandfather immigrated to America was to avoid military service."
• Finally, at least here, today, to this day, September 22, 2020, this very Republican Party President Donald J "Jenius" Trump has not even attempted to punish Russia for putting a cash bounty on our American soldiers in field, in Afghanistan.

I ask again, how is this man even still President?

Thanks, Mr. President.

Thanks, Republicans.  That's quite the guy you have there you foisted on us all.

86 45

BYEDON

Check Out This Trumpian Headline From Yesterday

This was on the news source The Hill yesterday. I'm sure you can still find it there today. It's the 2nd part of this headline. It should be the lead story all by itself.

Overnight Defense: Army launches command probe after slaying at Fort Hood | 

'MAGA' listed as 'covert white supremacy' in military handout

"'MAGA' listed as 'covert white supremacy' in military handout"

That is incredible.  And says it all.

Thanks, Mr. President!

Thanks, Republicans!

Still, Still Nothing From This President In Response to Russia's Bounty on American Soldiers

Still, to this day, July 2, 2020 and this Republican Party President has done nothing, nothing whatever to even come close to punishing Russia and Vladimir Putin for putting a cash bounty on our American soldiers in the field in Afghanistan.

Thanks, Mr. President.

Thanks, Republicans.

Links:

How the US could respond to Russia's support of the Taliban

3 in 4 say US 'pretty seriously' off right track: poll

The NYT Asks a Great Question Today -- Then Also Gives Great American History Lessons

Today's Sunday New York Times does just that today. That is, they ask an excellent question and then give what I hope is lots of Americans not just a great American history lesson, but in this one column, LOTS of excellent history lessons.

Why Does the U.S. Military Celebrate White Supremacy?

The information they give on Confederate General George Pickett alone is eye-opening and important, let alone all the rest they give in this one column. Here is just a snippet of what is an extremely full and very informative article:

Black recruits (in WWII) who volunteered to die for their country were mainly shut out of combat units, commanded by white Southerners who often resented being assigned to colored units. In some contexts, black servicemen were treated worse than prisoners of war. The actress and singer Lena Horne, for example, flew into a rage during World War II when she arrived at a military camp to entertain only to find that the best seats — in the “white” section of the audience — had been reserved for German P.O.W.s.

Far too many of us, far too many Americans, don't know our national history--our true, complete national history.

Please. If you can. If you will. Do yourself, and the nation, really, a favor and read it. No exaggeration.

Please.

What Most Americans Don't Know About Our National Defense Budget--But Should

There is an excellent, even important article out presently at Alternet I wish all adult, voting-age Americans would read. It is this.

How to Blow $700 Billion and Lose Wars

A Guide to America's Exploding Defense Budget and Military Failure

Step 1: Buy the most expensive weapons in history. Step 2: Don’t use them, since they mostly don’t work

And before any military patriots or just disbelievers dismiss the article, out of hand, before reading it, they should know it's written by a Veteran and who served in Iraq, on the ground. It's not from some "Left Wing" "librul" they can or should dismiss.

A bit from the article:

This year, President Trump signed the largest defense budget in our history: $700 billion. The budget includes $13.7 billion for 90 F-35 Joint Strike Fighters, which according to CNN are “in service and mission capable only 26 percent of the time.” Not a single F-35 jet has yet to see combat duty.

The budget will provide $4.5 billion for the construction of a new Ford class aircraft carrier, $450 million for three Littoral Combat Ships, $4 billion for two new guided missile destroyers, $5.5 billion for two new Virginia Class submarines, and tens of billions more for upgrades and repairs on various aircraft and naval vessels. Two of the guided missile destroyers already in service were involved in deadly collisions with cargo ships in the western Pacific last year. A Navy investigation revealed that for all of the hundreds of billions spent on defense, there was apparently not enough in the budget to provide for adequate training in standing watch and driving Navy combat ships...

He finishes the article perfectly, to me. It's something I've been saying for some time.

Fifteen years in Iraq. Seventeen years in Afghanistan. There is no end in sight.

From 2011 to today, 2018, we more than doubled our national defense budget from 354 billion dollars to 700 billion.

We have no new enemies. No new group has attacked us or is attacking. Or is going to.

We are weakening, actually weakening our nation with all this absurd, obscenely expensive and very wasteful spending.

Understand this:

Our defense budget is very huge, very bloated and very wasteful and is actually making the nation weaker.  Not stronger.

What are we going to do about this, America?

Links:

The Secret Side of Military Spending & The Wastes of War

We Are Spending a Trillion on War 

and We Need to Own Up to It

The 10 Most Blatantly Wasteful Defense Items

Note this next article is from the American Conservative magazine:

Expanding the Military Budget Is 

Wasteful and Unnecessary'

Pentagon buries evidence of $125 billion 

in bureaucratic waste

The F-35: A Weapon That Costs More 

Than Australia

For All Our Veterans, On Their Day

For Veterans Day, for all our Veterans out there, a list of all the restaurants and businesses offering free or reduced items for you across the city and metropolitan area today.

• Ameristar Casino Hotel Kansas City: Complimentary lunch at Horizons Buffet from 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Friday, Nov. 10.
• Applebee’s Neighborhood Grill & Bar: A free dish from its “Thank You Meal” menu
• Back Yard Burgers: Free Back Yard Classic Burger
• Bar Louie: Free flatbread or burger
• Barley’s Kitchen + Tap: Free entree
• Blue Moose Bar & Grill: Free entree
• Bob Evans: $5.99 breakfast from a select menu
• Bonefish Grill: Free order of Bang Bang Shrimp
• Buffalo Wild Wings: Free order of wings with a side of fries
• Carrabba’s Italian Grill: Free appetizer with the purchase of an entree and Coca-Cola product
• Chili’s Grill & Bar: Free Old Timer cheeseburger, chicken bacon ranch quesadillas, chili or soup with salad, or Cajun chicken pasta
• Chipotle Mexican Grill: Buy one/get one free
• Chuck E. Cheese’s: Free personal pizza
• Coco Bolos Wood-Fired Grill & Cantina: Free entree
• Cost Plus World Market: 20 percent off entire purchase (alcohol not included).
• Cracker Barrel: Free slice of double chocolate fudge Coca-Cola cake.
• Decadent, A Coffee and Dessert Bar: Free slice of pie
• Denny’s: Free build-your-own Grand Slam
• Dickey’s Barbecue Pit: Free meal
• Dollar General: 11 percent off purchases
• Donutology: Free glazed doughnut from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m.
• Dunkin’ Donuts: Free doughnut
• Famous Dave’s Legendary Pit Bar-B-Q: Free lunch combo
• 54th Street Grill: Free meal (up to $12). Dine-in only
• Firebirds Wood Fired Grill: One complimentary military entrée with the purchase of an entree on Nov. 10.
• Freddy’s Frozen Custard & Steakburgers: Free combo meal coupon good through Nov. 30
• Golden Corral: Free dinner from 5 to 9 p.m. Nov. 13
• Grimaldi’s Coal Brick-Oven Pizzeria: 15 percent off on Nov. 10 and 11.
• Great Clips: Free haircut on Nov. 11
• Hereford House: Free entrée (up to $20) with the purchase of a second entrée at lunch and dinner. Hours vary per location.
• Hooters: One free meal from a select menu
• Houlihan’s Restaurants: Free meal from a special menu
• Hy-Vee: Free breakfast
• HOP: Free red, white and blue pancakes
• Kansas City Zoo: Complimentary admission
• LaMar’s Donuts: Free doughnut and 12-ounce coffee.
• Little Caesars: Free lunch combo ($5 value) from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
• LongHorn Steakhouse: Free appetizer and 10 percent off the total bill from Nov. 10 to 12.
• Main Event Entertainment: Complimentary $10 FUNcard that can be used on all Main Event games, and one free entrée from the special Veterans Day menu.
• Minsky’s Pizza Cafe & Bar: Free 6-inch Philly cheesesteak, fries and a soft drink, dine-in only.
• Muscle Maker Grill: Free meal
• Museum at Prairiefire: All access for veterans and their guests
• O’Dowd’s Gastrobar: Free entree
• Olive Garden: One free entree (five to choose from) with unlimited soup or salad and breadsticks, dine-in only.
• On the Border Mexican Grill & Cantina: Free lunch combo
• Outback Steakhouse: Free Bloomin’ Onion and free Coca-Cola drink
• Pie Five Pizza Co.: Free pizza
• Pinstripes, Prairiefire: Free entree up to $20.
• Porto do Sul: Free Harvest Table, for lunch only Nov. 10 and 11.
• Price Chopper: 25 cents off per gallon (or 500 points toward food savings) on veterans’ next fill-up at QuikTrip (up to 20 gallons). Veterans need to bring their Chopper Shopper Rewards Card to one of the stores on Nov. 11 to receive the discounts.
• Red Robin Gourmet Burgers and Brews: Free Red’s Tavern double burger with bottomless steak fries
• Red Lobster: Free appetizer or dessert.
• Rock & Brews Restaurants: Free pulled pork sandwiches Nov. 10.
• Ruby Tuesday: Free appetizer
• Scooters Coffee: Free cup of coffee
• Shoney’s: Free all-you-care-to-eat breakfast bar from 6 to 11 a.m.
• Spin Neapolitan Pizza: Free Mini Mia pizza and salad or soup combo
• Sport Clips: Free haircuts
• Starbucks: Free tall coffee
• Stroud’s, Fairway and Overland Park: Free entree
• Texas Roadhouse: Free lunch from a select menu
• Topgolf: Free basic lifetime memberships if veterans sign up on Nov. 11, as well as 10 percent off gameplay and 20 percent off other memberships.
• Twin Peaks: Free menu item from a select menu on Nov. 13.
• Yard House: Free appetizer, dine-in only.
• YaYa’s Eurobistro: 20 percent off purchase and a $10 bonus card.
• Zarda Hickory Pit Bar-B-Q: Free pulled pork sandwich, side and medium drink from 11 a.m to 2 p.m.

And for a national list:

All the Restaurants Where Veterans and U.S. Military Eat Free This Weekend

Then, additionally, there is this:

All US national parks are free on Veterans Day

Happy Veterans Day.

Veterans Day

The 1918 truce that halted fighting in World War I went into effect at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month. Today, that is commemorated in the U.S. as Veterans Day.

Let's REALLY honor Veterans.

Demand an end to perpetual war.

America. And War

Peace lovers?   Peace-loving nation?   Peace-loving people?   Really?

Who are we?  Who do we want to be?

Further Proof--Long Past Time to Cut the Defense Department Budget

I have read enough to not just have the opinion but to know, it is long, long past time to cut the Defense Department's budget.

It is huge, it is wasteful, it is unaccounted for, it is actually immoral and even makes the nation weaker, not stronger and finally, it is unsustainable.

Sixty-nine percent of every tax dollar in spending goes to defense spending. Beyond that, check this out from Sunday's New York Times:

The Pentagon's Excess Space

"For the past three years, officials at the Pentagon have asked Congress for permission to take stock of how many of the military’s vast network of installations across the country have become obsolete and ought to be shrunk or shuttered. The Defense Department, by far the nation’s largest and costliest bureaucracy, estimates that it could operate far more efficiently and save billions of dollars each year by shedding at least 20 percent of its real estate.

Yet, year after year, the nearly unanimous response from lawmakers has been: Don’t even think about it. They have barred the Pentagon from carrying out a detailed assessment of its properties, because closing useless bases would mean lost jobs and revenue in home districts."

Under pressure from lawmakers, the Air Force has spread its fleet of aircraft across the country to justify keeping the lights on at bases that outlived their use years ago. A stark example is the Air Force base in Grand Forks, N.D., a once strategically important hub for bombers during the Cold War. Currently, it’s home to 11 drones.

The Army has hundreds of buildings across the country that are only nominally open for business. In 2013, a senior Army official, testifying before Congress, said she had recently been on a base with 800 buildings, where only 300 were occupied. Last summer, when thousands of unaccompanied Central American migrant children were detained entering the country, many were temporarily housed at military bases, an odd arrangement that drew attention to how much space the Pentagon had to spare.

And when it comes to cutting the spending of the Defense Department budget, there will be those who say it will weaken the nation that, somehow, we will be "soft on defense." And of course it's nonsense. Quite the opposite is true.

Ironically, even hypocritically, there will be plenty of Republicans in Congress, in both the House and Senate, who will want to maintain this spending because, of course, they want to keep the money coming back to their districts. Forget that they are supposedly the political party of slashing budgets and screaming for "small government." "Damn the torpedoes!" they seem to say. "Full spending speed ahead!" 

Well, it's ridiculous. It's absurd. It should stop. It needs to stop. We need to cut the Defense budget, the Pentagon's budget and this is an excellent place to begin.

Now if we can just get them to listen.

And act.

Who and What's Bankrupting America?

The corporations and wealthy are bankrupting America, for one, what with all the tax deductions they buy themselves from their---our----legislators, with campaign contributions. They get to write off untold "expenses." Even "Big Oil", one of the most profitable industries in the nation and world, and then they offshore profits, on top of it.

The other culprit bankrupting America?

Look no further than the obscene, bloated, wasteful, nearly completely unaccounted for, utterly immoral defense budget:

This May, Finally, Be THE Meteorological Event

Last year, about this time, a "super typhoon" rather infamously hit the Philippines. It was named Haiyan and the strength and power and destruction was rather legendary.

Right this moment, just now, a second "super typhoon" is building and bearing down on the Philippines, once again:

Super Typhoon Hagupit may try for a near-repeat of deadly typhoon Haiyan

Super Typhoon Hagupit may be peaking in strength this morning, with maximum sustained winds of about 170 miles per hour. All weather agencies, from the Joint Typhoon Warning Center in the U.S. to the Philippines' own agency known as PAGASA, now forecast the storm making a slow trek across several Philippine islands starting on Saturday. However, these agencies still disagree on the storm track and intensity, and the specifics are going to matter a great deal.

If there is some good news, it is that, so far, it is not as powerful---yet---as Haiyan. Not quite.

It will not be nearly as intense as Super Typhoon Haiyan was last year when that storm made landfall near Tacloban in the central Philippines. Still, Hagupit, also known as Typhoon Ruby in the Philippines, poses a multitude of life-threatening risks, from rainfall-induced landslides to high winds and storm surge flooding.

All that said, however, though Hagupit won't be quite as strong as its predecessor, it will be strong, it will be big, widespread and it has the potential to be destructive, likely quite so, and deadly.

Haiyan opened eyes, so to speak, with its power, naturally (no pun intended). And again, naturally, people who have accepted the overall scientific and science-backed opinion of not just climate change but human made climate change mentioned then that this storm and its effects were a part of that very meteorological change and development. 

Now, with this new storm, especially on top of all the other rather historic storms and weather events, from Hurricane Katrina, now years ago, to the rather phenomenal 9 foot snow event last week in Buffalo, New York that nearly immediately changed to 60 degrees the following Monday, I believe more and more people are beginning to notice. And maybe believe.

I think they're quite possibly, quite likely beginning to accept and believe that human-influenced climate change has taken place and is. As just one example, look at this:

223 firms back EPA power plant rule: Companies Sign Letter Supporting 30% Carbon Cut

More than 200 U.S. companies came together Tuesday to support a major reduction in carbon pollution from power plants proposed by the Environmental Protection Agency.

"As businesses concerned about the immediate and long-term implications of climate change, we strongly support the principles behind the draft carbon pollution standard for existing power plants," states a letter that was sent to the EPA, the Obama administration and congressional leaders.

Major brand names and Fortune 500 companies -- including Kellogg's, Starbucks, Ikea, Levi Strauss and Nestlé -- were among the 223 companies that signed the letter.

And then there's this, with the US military supporting action on climate change:

Pentagon: We Could Soon Be Fighting Climate Wars

Even our military thinks we may well, we likely will be fighting climate change.

Perhaps we should listen to the military as well as the scientists.

If not to Mother Nature herself.

Why you don't mix the police and the military

This is what mixing the military and police gets us, along with  attacks on citizens. Oh, and deaths:

The video all Americans need to see

World Beyond War

Sign the Pledge

You know how Rep. Vicky Hartzler voted to kill the food stamp program?

Yes, she did: 
  

These Republicans Who Voted To Cut Food Stamps Personally Received Large Farm Subsidies

So she voted to cut 40 billion dollars out of food stamps that are, as we know, for the poor--oh, and the military, they get food stamps too:

Food Stamps: Military Families Redeem $100 Million A Year

But get this.  If you read that article, above, you realize good ol' government-hatin' Rep. Hartzler be lovin' herself some gubmint largesse:

Another Republican congresswoman who voted to make cuts to the food stamp program was Rep. Vicky Hartzler of Missouri. Her farm received more than $800,000 in Department of Agriculture subsidies from 1995-20102. In 2001, her farm received $135,482 in subsidies.

Check that out.

Ol' Vicky be hatin' on gubmint but not so much she can't take more than three-quarters of a million dollars from 'em.

I mean, from you and me.

Go get 'em, Vicky.

 

Three quarters of one trillion dollars, at least, for weapons and killing and attacking other nations--far beyond what any other nation spends, in fact, far beyond what virtually all other nations spend--but we don't take care of the people.

How does anyone think this is sustainable for the nation?

Memorial Day, 2013

Metal Memorials

“Hey, man, just so you know, I’m going to set this thing off.” I don’t have a metal plate in my head or shrapnel in my legs, but I carry with me something that might as well be lodged deep under my skin. After Vietnam, soldiers and civilians alike would wear bracelets etched with the names of prisoners of war so their memory would live on even if they never came home. Veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan continued the practice, but with a twist.

The same bracelets are adorned with the names of friends killed in action. The date and place are also included as a testament to where they took their last steps. One of the first things my platoon did after coming home was order memorial bracelets from the Web sites that specialize in military memorabilia. You don’t even have to type in the name or the date; their system uses the D.O.D. casualty list. All you have to do is filter by name and a software-aided laser will burn the selection onto an aluminum or steel bracelet. What emerges out of this casual and disinterested practice is jewelry teeming with the amount of love and commitment found in 10 wedding rings.

Every trip to the airport has the same outcome: additional security checks and a pat down from a TSA agent. I tell them it’s the bracelet that the metal detector shrieks at. “Can you take it off?” is always the question. “I don’t want to take it off” is always the answer. To some screeners my answer is a poke in the eye of their authority. Others recognize the bracelet and give me a gentle nod and a quick pat down. I suspect they have encountered other veterans like me and realize the futility of asking to have it removed. In a glass booth at the security gate is where I most often get the question, “Who’s on the bracelet?” Those who realize the significance of it usually want to know the name. I stare down and rub my fingers over the lettering. “Brian Chevalier, but we called him Chevy.”

At times the memorial bracelets seem almost redundant. The names of the fallen are written on steel and skin, but are they not also carved into the hearts of men? Are the faces of the valiant not emblazoned in the memories of those who called them brothers? No amount of ink or steel can be used to represent what those days signify.

My bracelet says “14 March 2007,” but it does not describe the blazing heat that day, or the smell of open sewers trampled underfoot or the sight of a Stryker, overturned and smoke-filled as the school adjacent exploded under tremendous fire. It was as if God chose to end the world within one city block. When Chevy was lovingly placed into a body bag under exploding grenades and machine gun tracers, worlds ended. Others began. The concept of Memorial Day nearly approaches superfluous ritual to some veterans. It's absurd to ask a combat veteran to take out a single day to remember those fell in battle, as if the other 364 days were not marked by their memories in one way or another.

I try to look at pictures of my friends, both alive and dead, at least once a day to remember their smiles or the way they wore their kits. I talk to them online and send emails and texts and on rare occasions, visit them in person. We drink and laugh and recall the old days and tell the same war stories everyone has heard a thousand times but still manage to produce streams of furious laughter. I get the same feeling with them; Memorial Day does not begin or end on a single day. It ebbs and flows in torrents of memory, sometimes to a crippling degree. Most of us have become talented at hiding our service, and safeguard the moments when we become awash in memories like March 14. The bracelet is the only physical reminder of the tide we find ourselves in.

Not just soldiers are touched by war. Chevy was a father and a son, and his loss not only rippled through the platoon and company but a small town in Georgia. The day serves as a reminder that there are men and women who have only come back as memories. Maybe the reflection on those who did not return is a key to helping civilians bridge the gap with veterans. Occasionally my bracelet spurs conversations with friends and coworkers who did not know I was in the Army or deployed to Iraq. I still don't feel completely comfortable answering their questions but I'm always happy to talk about the name on my wrist. His name was Brian Chevalier, but we called him Chevy.

--Alex Horton, a Georgetown University junior, started a blog called Army of Dude while serving in Iraq in 2006. In this post he remembers a fallen friend.

From  Warrior voices - The New York Times, this past February.