Covering Your Ass

 When I joined the army, I pledged to obey all the lawful orders of the president and the officers appointed over me.  The thing is, you better be damn sure that an order is unlawful before you disobey it.  Then you immediately report the incident to the next officer above in the food chain to cover your ass.  In the event that the order turns out to be lawful after all,  having reported the incident will make it look like you acted in good faith.  If the order turns out to be indeed unlawful, reporting the incident makes sure that no one can say it was your fault if someone else comes along and carries out the order.  This procedure only applies to an order that would cause death or bodily harm to an innocent person or persons. There is a different procedure for orders that would only result in property damage.  In this case, you would say "I am obeying this order under protest and will report it to your boss afterwards." Then do it. If the officer knows that he's in the wrong, he will likely rescind the order and tell you to forget it.  If he believes that he is right he may put you up on charges, and you will be glad that you covered your ass. More often than not, if your boss suspects he is on shaky ground, he will phrase his command more like a suggestion than a direct order.  If you are in doubt, you ask him if this is a direct order.  This covers your ass if you get caught and he tries to say that he never told you to do that.  Of course, it will help your case if there are one or more witnesses to the conversation. 

On nice early spring days, hibernating animals like skunks, possums, and ground hogs may venture out of their dens and wander sleepily about for a while.  When the weather conditions deteriorate, as they most surely will in these parts, the creature will return to his den and go back to sleep until another nice day.  This is probably the origin of the Ground Hog Day myth, although February 2 is at least a month too early for this to happen in our neck of the woods. If we only had six more weeks of winter to look forward to on Ground Hog Day, it would be an early spring for us.  

sticking by their guns

 

This was taken about a week ago.  If it happened on the equinox the sun would be equidistant between the IBM building and the London House.  Unfortunately on that day the view was wrapped up behind clouds.  I kind of like the photo though, I think it has that misty morning vibe which I have to admit is probably because my windows are coated with winter dirt.

Us early risers are no fans of daylight savings time.  As the days grew longer the sun came earlier so that I could see a little glow after a shower and a coffee and a brief scan of the news.  But daylight time shut the door and now it is another cup of coffee and the Sun-Times before the glow arrives.  Kind of lonely those long dark hours when the city is asleep, though there are always cars crossing the Lake Shore Drive bridge.  Who are these people?  Where are they going?

Though I wish it was shorter, I do like the two changes every year.  A little cheap thrill I think.  I think spring forward, fall back, but then if I think about it too long I always get a little confused.  But it's probably a good thing, that little queasy feeling when you are secure in space, but a little adrift in time.

Way back in the dawn of the blog Beagles and I were discussing being in the army and I said one of the things besides shining my shoes and polishing my brass that I didn't like was the fact that your superior could order you to do anything.  And Beagles said that if you think your superior is asking you to do something wrong or illegal you can refuse to carry out the order.

That stopped me in my tracks.  Apparently there is a procedure or something, something like a hearing I think, and if you adjudged to have properly disobeyed the order you can leave free as a bird.  I have to admit that I am a little unsure how that would work in the real world, but the fact that such a thing exists and that they tell the recruits about it, that makes me think more highly of the army.

And I thought still more of the army during Trump 1 when they stuck by their guns, so to speak, and didn't break down like shotguns for Orangey.  But now that their ranks are riddled by Trumpy scalawags can they still stand tall?  When Trump decides to toss Joe Biden or John Roberts into jail just because and the orders go down from the men in suits to the men in uniforms to the men in lesser uniforms what will happen?

Marching along

Egads!  The Vernal Equinox has come and gone without me paying any attention to it.  I did see that lunar eclipse, though, with just a little hint of red.  That other celestial event with all those planets lining up was another thing I missed; too overcast as I recall.

But now we're back to Daylight Saving Time, a pointless exercise if you ask me.  There is no reason for it except for some nonsense about it being too dark for kids in school.  Think of the children!  How about changing the school hours instead?  I prefer the old meaning of noon when the sun is at its highest point in the sky.  The notion of "High Noon" being nearly 1:00 pm is stupid.

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And speaking of stupid, how is the "news" looking to you guys?  I never thought I'd ever see anyone like a real-life James Bond villain but now we have Elon Musk, a singular character, to be sure.  The richest guy in the world (allegedly) prancing around the White House with his chainsaw, doing god knows what, really.  Shouldn't he be worrying about his exploding rockets and crappy cars?  And the less said about the other guy, the better.

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The Cheboygan Tribune said something about it being skunk mating season.  Anything to report, Mr. Beagles?

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The only other thing worth mentioning is Happy Birthday, Uncle Ken!

Taking it easy

 

Do you want advice...?

Nothing specific, perhaps some insight of yours that you consider unique, some idea that you haven't seen anyone else express.  At this point in time I think I can find the answer to almost anything, except the reason why people are so stupid these days.  If I go any further on this topic I'll just make myself goofy so I'm stopping and will continue to ponder the view from the sidelines.

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But you never know what you'll find while you're looking for something else, like this quote from John Adams, one of those Founding Fathers folks are always talking about.

"Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide."

Eerily prescient, no?

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A while back there was a story about a fat snapping turtle in the Chicago River and lately there's news about a fat beaver, also in the Chicago River.  I'm not saying there is something about living in Chicago that enhances bodily girth but I recently saw a bathroom scale in my local CVS that had a maximum weight of 660 pounds.  Yikes!

Thoughts on longevity and big house diversions

I will be reaching my big 8 oh one March 22.  Do you want advice like my workout and diet regimen or do you want to hear that I begin the day with a bloody Mary for breakfast, inhale cigars all day and only get off my Lazy Boy to use the john and get a beer out of the fridge, or how much time I devote to reading scripture to get myself an in with the Big Guy up in the sky?

You know it is nice to be born into wealth, and be good looking, and strong, and wise, but the best thing of all is to be lucky, and I guess that is a biggest factor on reaching the 8 oh.

Kind of on two minds on that prisoner thing.  I may be wrong but I think those guys are fighting fires voluntarily and are maybe glad to break up the tedium of prison, and those few bucks will buy plenty of cigs at the commissary.  But I'm guessing they are not allowed to smoke cigs.  I wonder what that is like for a three pack a day man.  10, 15 years of making license plates and no cig at getting off work.  Do they dream of the day when they get their clothes back and there is that pack of cigs, stale and all but likely smokeable and what a thrill as they step into the sunshine and that crumby little book of paper matches still works just fine.  Oh happy day.

Remember how when they built the soon to be reclaimed Panama Canal and they used prisoners as guinea pigs for yellow fever research?  If they survived they were given their freedom or years off their sentence and many of them took the deal.  I think I would have.  Seems like not the source of thing my fellow libs would approve of but I think it was alright.

Loopholes Debunked

The "subject to the jurisdiction thereof" clause does not apply here because anybody in the U.S., or any country for that matter, is subject to the law of the land.  If a non-citizen is accused of a crime, he can be arrested and prosecuted just like anybody else.  Okay, foreign diplomats cannot be prosecuted, but they can be expelled from the country, which means they are still under the jurisdiction thereof.  

The "Indians not taxed" exception was originally applied to members of tribes that used to be considered sovereign nations under the law.  The sovereign nation thing has been modified a few times in history and, while the tribes that have been re-recognized under the Indian Reorganization Act of 1932 are commonly referred to as sovereign nations, I believe that "autonomous" would be a more accurate description.  Be that as it may, all Indians in the U.S. currently pay some kind of taxes, so the term "Indians not taxed" is moot anyway.

We get some wildfires here in Michigan, but nothing like they get out west.  There have certainly been some disastrous fires in the state's history, but not lately.  I can remember one fire in the Upper Peninsula that burned all summer some years ago, but that was in a big swamp, and I don't believe any areas of human habitation were impacted.  Our fire season is early spring, after the snow has melted but before "green-up".  I believe that you can indeed be conscripted into fire-fighting duty because that happened to one of my paper mill colleagues many years ago.  He did get paid for it, but not enough to cover the money he lost by not going to his regular job that day.  

I credit my long life to tenacity.  Tenacity is like stubbornness, except that tenacity is a virtue while stubbornness is a fault.  Other people may be stubborn, but I am tenacious. 

The wheel turns

 

If I'm not mistaken, both of you gents will be attaining the status of octogenarian this year.  Any tips, tricks, or warnings for the youngster of the group?

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Wildfires have been in the news lately, both in the Los Angeles area and North Carolina, and I was wondering if Beaglesonia could ever be in danger.  Lots of trees up there but I don't know how dry it gets or if wildfires are a threat to the reasonable prepared homeowner.  Do you have a plan, Mr. Beagles?

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There's an interesting aspect of the citizenship dilemma, hiding right under our noses.

All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.

Please note the highlighted loophole, "and subject to the jurisdiction thereof..."

Now check out this link:
https://www.yahoo.com/news/excluding-indians-trump-admin-questions-164312466.html and see how Native Americans can be denied citizenship.

I would never imply that the United States government is corrupt (and always has been) but here's another bit of Constitutional sleight of hand regarding slavery.  It's illegal, right?  Not so fast, Citizen!  Let me quote the relevant amendment:

    Section 1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.

Again, notice the highlighted loophole.  There are a lot of firefighters working for a few dollars a day on the West Coast and they may not have had a choice.  There is a scandalously large business of employing inmates in the private sector, places and businesses we are all familiar with.

Maybe this is all part of a grand scheme to  replace the deported illegal aliens with prison inmates that will cost employers even less.  Such a deal!  And no worries about immigration, all perfectly legal.

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It's going to be quite a ride as the former "policeman to the world" evolves into the "bully to the world."  Sure, let's screw the economy with tariffs, seize the Panama Canal and grab Greenland while we're at it.  It has been said that we get the government we deserve but I wonder what we did to end up in such a place, but here we are.  The chickens are coming home to roost, if the price of eggs is any indication.

Tell it Like it Is

 I don't know if my immigrant grandparents ever became citizens, but I'm pretty sure that they were not in the country illegally.  Immigration laws have changed over the years, and I'm not sure exactly what they were when my grandparents came over, but I'm pretty sure they were in compliance.  My mother told me that, at the time, each immigrant had to have a sponsor who was responsible for helping them find a job and a place to live.  She also told me that there was no government assistance available to immigrants.  Come to think of it, I don't think there was a whole lot of government assistance available to anybody in those times, except maybe the railroad tycoons.  Ah, those were the good old days.  

I have never made it a practice to tell people either what they wanted to hear or what I wanted them to hear, unless I believed it to be true myself.  I have known lots of people who did that however, and they were not all politicians.  If I caught them in a lie and asked them why they said it, they would say something like, "I didn't want you to think......."  I have often wondered if they even made a distinction between truth and falsehood in their own minds.  I am reminded of the first time I looked up the definition of "propaganda" and learned that it is information, whether true or not, which is published for the purpose of persuading people to either support or oppose a cause.  I have come to believe over the years that much of what we hear or read, even from friends and family, is nothing but propaganda.  The intent is to get us to do or not do something, whether it's true or not is irrelevant.  (Present company excepted of course.)   

arguing

 Trump's lawyers aren't trying to pass a new constitutional amendment, they are trying to figure out a weaselly new interpretation of it, something about one or both parents have to be American citizens.  Which almost surely will not come to pass.  But if it does, if you read my last post you will know that chances are that you might be joining me at whatever passes as Ellis Island these days for the next boat to the old country.  I am assuming that you don't have any kind of evidence that your ancestors who came here later became citizens.

That elitist thing is you are just making a circular definition.  What is an elitist?  A person who tells us what they want us to hear. What is a person who tells us what they want us to hear?  An elitist.

And really don't we all tell people what we want them to hear?  If we have good information don't we want to spread it around, the way your doctor wants you to know that it is a good thing to get a vaccine?

Anyway the term elitist, a person who has gone to school and studied hard, has come acropper in the current political climate where what Trump sez trumps any learned opinion.

But it's good to see the blog coming back to life.  When we first started it was mostly about politics and I think we should go back to doing that.  I was arguing Vietnam with a buddy over beers a few nights ago.  And it got pretty strong, but not heated, certainly no insults or calling of names.  

At some point my buddy kind of apologized for arguing but I was all like no problem.  I love arguing so long as it doesn't descend into personal crap.  I think you do too.

Couple of Comments

Although the "comments" section would be a more appropriate venue, I'm posting this here because nobody reads the "comments" section.

I agree with Trump that children born to parents that are in the country illegally should not become citizens, but it would require a constitutional amendment to make that happen.  He can't do it by executive order, neither can Congress do it by regular legislation.  

Some time ago, we discussed the meaning of the term "populist".  It has since occurred to me that the opposite of a populist could be called an "elitist".  A populist tells us what we want to hear, while an elitist tells us what they want us to hear.  Neither one of them has any regard for objective truth.  Their remarks are solely intended to motivate us to either do or not do something.  

Is you is or is you isn't a citizen?

Fourteenth Amendment  Section 1

All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. 

 I am a citizen of the USA, became one when I was born of my parents who became citizens when they were born of my grandparents, who became citizens when they were born of my great grandparents, who became citizens when, well I don't know.  

They came over on the boat, you know, from the Old Country, maybe they strode into that flag adorned courtroom, took some kind of test, and then an oath, or maybe they didn't.  I have no idea.

But wait a minute, it doesn't matter whether they did or not because I was born right here in Chicago USA.  Doesn't matter if my great grandparents were citizens, or my grandparents, or my parents.

But wait a minute, what if Trump gets his way and being born here is not enough?  Sure it's a long shot and it employs convoluted crazy arguments, but you know he has appointed a lot of judges who are clearly committed to him, and he holds the supreme court in his pocket.  You never know.

So maybe they will decide that being born in the USA doesn't make you a citizen in which case if there is no proof that my great grandparents took the oath then my grandparents were not citizens, and neither were my parents, and thus neither am I and likely I shall have to make that trek to whatever passes as Ellis Island these days.  And you may be joining me. 

The pardons

 Well we knew they were coming despite those slow-witted or just plain liars apologists who would come on the TV.  Oh that's just Trump being Trump, just a joking affable fellow who likes to tease the libs, all in good fun, tut tut.  

These are people who beat up cops on their way to hang Mike Pence.

And all that rubbing of hands, the uplift of chins and holding of noses by my people alarmed by Biden pardoning his family.  Oh this is unseemly, is this going by the Marquess of Queensbury rules, dare we risk public opinion, oh my goodness.

And meanwhile Trump is kicking us and the country in the balls all over the ring. 

Day One, I am prepared.

 I know it is only one day.  Only one day to dishonor an honest and honorable man so we can spend it watching the emperor prance about in his new clothes and listen to him whine and wheedle and and threaten and brag and lie and shit on the eagle.  Only one day you say.

I have a friend, a retired doctor, who lives down in Salem Illinois, and has had the  temerity to run for the office of coroner as a democrat and to lose of course to some half baked preacher guy who would not know a scapula from an alpaca.  Not only did he lose, he got a few threats. He is inactivating his facebook account.  

But I am snug in the heart of true blue Chicago and I am not looking for a job and will stand proudly on my balcony glaring at the ICE men who will cometh and haul away folks who were willing to take shit jobs to share the American dream like our forefathers and foremothers.

I have to go now to fill some empty Old Style cans with boiling oil and soak some perfectly good hot dogs in ketchup to stockpile on my balcony, my rampart, for the incoming enemy.

If you have been on the internet for awhile you will be familiar with the phenomenon of buxom young women commenting on how they would like to, ahem, get to know you better, but it turns out that what they really want to do is involve you in some crackpot crypto scheme.  They used to be Nigerians I think, but the new crop is likely to be the royal family peddling $Trump's and $Melenia's.

A model for a new letter to the editor but needs some work because it is too long and too complicated and I just know the grammar police are NOT going to like those apostrophes.

But I have time, a full four years if that long awaited heart attack does not take place.  And if it does, I'm perfectly willing to give him the full unbroken 30 days.  Because it is about the presidency, mortality, and the people.

Half baked

Oh, and look at this from the Jan 16 Chicago Sun-Times.

Be careful, Uncle Ken.  Our current reality isn't conducive to certain expressions of opinion, not with all the A.I. bots scouring the interwebs.  The latest I've read is that the flags will be flown at full staff for the inauguration and then go back to half staff for the remainder of the mourning period.

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These are such strange times; I don't know what to think of all those billionaires lining up at Mar-A-Lago to kiss the Orange Keister unless there's a secret plot to lull the dummies into a false sense of security, and then, and then, I don't know.  The crystal ball has been cloudy lately.

But has there ever been a more frightening inauguration portrait?

 

half mast 2

 Just saw Trump at, Arlington I think, laying a wreath or something.  Corporal Bone Spurs, who is interrupting the homage to Carter who did serve and did so well for the Navy, who called McCain, who spent all that time in a Vietnamese prison, a loser.  Who called fallen service men suckers and losers.

I'm not big on waving flags and twenty one gun salutes, but the lowering of the flag is a simple solemn ceremony that shows respect without the beating of drums and blaring of bugles.  

But Trump can't bear to see that half mast on his Special Day honoring a man who truly was honorable and served his country.

Oh, and look at this from the Jan 16 Chicago Sun-Times.

half mast

 There are plenty worse things that Trump has done and will do and who needs yet another rant about him?  But.

But this thing about him whining about the flag flying at half mast on his Big Day of Triumph (and his minions, Abbot of Texas and Mike Johnson of the House, actually raising it for him) is an unspeakable act of slinging shit on our traditions.  

I am not big on pomp and drums and marching and all that symbolic folderol.  But.

But we have been lowering our flags since George Washington died.  Some of our presidents have been good and some not so good but they have all had the flag lowered when they died but it is the office that we are honoring.  We are the United States and the presidency is the hallmark of our democracy.  It is who we are.  

And death, it comes for us all and since we have been humans we have been giving the deceased a little measure of solemnity, a little honor, before we resume our messy lives.

Seems like a small thing to ask for.  But not anymore apparently.