Tatars

I first read about Tatars in tales by Tolstoy set in Crimea. For many centuries Ukraine mostly consisted of Cossacks in the North and Tatars in the South. Both groups were tremendous fighters. 

Tatars are today the largest minority group in Russia. 

About 900 years ago, the Golden Horde (Mongols led by Genghis Khan) overran Russia, Ukraine, Georgia, etc. Most of the Horde eventually left, but among those who stayed were the Tatars, a mix of local people and the original Tatars, whoever they were. They converted to Islam, joined the Ottoman Empire and ruled Crimea for many centuries. At one point the Crimean Tatars sacked Moscow and burned it.

In 1944 Stalin rounded up the Crimean Tatars and shipped them east and out of sight. About 25% died during the trip and exile. Russians confiscated their land and homes. Later Gorbachev allowed the Tatars to return to Crimea, where today they are a minority. 

I'm guessing that descendants of the Tatars and Cossacks are not fond of the Kremlin. 

Diversity

White supremacists, backed by Republican billionaires and think tanks, support a well-reported campaign to turn our fact-based educational systems into propaganda outlets. 

Educated people tend to vote against Fascism. 

Part of this campaign depends on the Supreme Court ruling out diversity as a possible factor in college admissions. 

As a raw undergraduate at UCLA, my roommates included a future editorial cartoonist for a major newspaper chain, a starting Black tailback from Oakland on an undefeated football team and an older student,  a Japanese pilot who had fought for Japan in World War Two. 

Meeting these people made a difference in my life. Diversity is education.

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Combined Arms

 

"Ukraine hopes that its counteroffensive will end this stalemate. . . .  The troops have learned a technique known as combined-arms warfare, in which different parts of the military work together to take territory. Tanks punch through enemy lines by rolling over trenches, for example, and infantry then spread out to hold the area."  from The NY Times. I have read that combined arms warfare is how Grant won the Civil War, by the way, inventing modern strategy and tactics. That is why Grant (not Lee) is studied in military institutions, except in Russia, apparently.

Old Age

It's hard going through old age without my parents here to help me. 

Thinking About It

Donny Trump's claim that he could declassify a government document by "thinking about it" might be true in a dictatorship. In our rule-based system, declassification is a process with objective requirements.  One is a paper trail. Pathetically claiming, after the fact, to have a super power, will convince few adults. If Trump, a famous liar, does have this strange ability, he'll have to prove it.

37

California, where politics are controlled by the Democrats, must rebuilt Highway 37. It runs next to San Francisco Bay, and the road is going under water as our snow and ice melt. 

As far as I can tell, the road exists partly so that the men who trim hedges and women who scrub bathtubs for a living can drive from Vallejo to Marin County to clean for the wealthy. Workers often can't afford to live in Marin County. They commute from cheaper areas.

The Dems have decided to finance the repairs by turning 37 into a toll road. That will transfer much of the cost to minimum wage workers, the shrewdest form of taxation. Let the poorest among us pay for the new 37. There's nothing they can do about it, say some. 

800 Billionaires

A food critic recently ate a $600 lunch at the French Laundry and remarked that the meal was excellent but not worth the money. .Jack de Selby has said something similar about America's 800 billionaires, that some are good at what they do but not that good.

A country doesn't end up with 800 billionaires without cheating the people who trim hedges and clean bathtubs.

MAGA Thinks Ahead

At the moment America has more jobs than workers. In some states child labor laws have been altered so companies can put 14-year-olds on night shifts. Meanwhile tens of thousands of people seeking hard work are lined up at our Southern border, but we won't let them in--because many of them are not of 100% European ancestry.  

The Corporate-MAGA think tanks plan decades ahead. Part of their plan is to keep people of color out of our country and its textbooks. 

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CNN

My wife caught me watching CNN this morning, or she thought she did. Actually I was watching YouTube, which carries a few bits of CNN at times. 

Until recently I followed two commentators on CNN. The new owners fired one and shuffled the other into a closet.  Not MAGA enough, I guess. Did not fit the new business plan.