Jabba

 Dietrich Bonhoeffer famously wrote,  "Stupidity is a more dangerous enemy of the good than malice." 

Donald Trump is malicious and also stupid, and he can't manage to end his illegal war against Iran. 

The president cannot cope with complexity. Ordering the American military to attack Iran was, for him, a simple matter. After issuing the order, he likely ate four cheeseburgers and went to play golf, where he cheated and set a new course record.

After a week or two, the Iran war seemed to became complex. In that situation, Trump attempts to frame things simply so that he can make quick  yes or no decisions. 

He does not want real allies, who complicate matters; he wants obedient ass-kissers.  

Trump could not put together a genuine alliance with his own icy wife.  

If he really must deal with something complicated, he revises the problem until it's simple,  small and false. 

He doesn't care for the Pope, he claimed recently, because the Pope wants Iran to have nuclear weapons. 

After three weeks Trump lost interest in the Iran war. He turned to building himself a gigantic ballroom, patterned after his grandfather's Seattle house of the rising sun. Every delightful ballroom decision would be Trump's to make alone, down to the brand of toothpaste in the hidden presidential bunker.

Meanwhile the loony Iran war has turned static. Just a few people killed each day. Trump's attention seems to be drifting toward religion. Now he's pretending, like J. D. Vance, to be a Christian!

DNA DOES NOT LIE

White skin and blue eyes developed between 10,000 to 40,000 years ago in Northern Europe

The white race as a human category was invented, as I understand it, about 300 years ago. The science of the time categorized plants and animals by lumping together things that looked similar. And that worked pretty well. 

Science after World War II divided humans into three to five races (I learned that while studying anthropology at UCLA in the 1950s). 

About 30 years ago the Human Diversity Genome Project began to sort humans by DNA, not by appearance.  It turned out that the continent with the most diverse DNA was Africa, the continent of human origin. That makes sense; Africans had the most time to diverge from one another.  

Scientists realized that when an African tribe set off to explore a new continent, they could take with them only a small part of the greatly varied DNA in Africa. Today, the farther you get from Africa, the less the DNA diversity.  

Today a black tribal woman in Africa may share more DNA with the King of Sweden than she does with another black woman in another tribe who lives on the opposite bank of her river. 

Our constructed racial categories are contradicted by DNA. 

According to biology, human races, as we use the term, do not exist. Racism still exists (for example, on the Supreme Court).

There is no DNA justification for distributing power and wealth on the basis of colors--but you know that. 

86

I first encountered the term "86" in the early 1960s.  I once went to Barney's Beanery, a famous low-rent joint in Hollywood. This dump had a sign behind the bar--I won't repeat the wording--that crudely informed customers that gay customers would not be served. About that time a known character actor saw the sign and told the server off. I did not witness this, but I heard later that the actor had been 86-ed. 

86-ing someone or something has several meanings, but the main meaning is that you are refusing service to somebody. You are banning somebody. 

None of the meanings imply violence. 

That 86 implies assassination is outrageous bullshit made up by Crybaby Trump. 

 "86" commonly means to discard, cancel, or refuse service to something or someone. Origins and uses:

• Restaurant/bar slang: to mark an item as sold out or to refuse service to a customer.
• General slang: to get rid of, remove, or cancel something (e.g., "86 the plan").
• Verb and noun: can be used as "to 86" (verb) or "an 86" (noun, meaning the person/item removed).

Possible origins (uncertain, several theories): shortened bartender jargon, rhyming slang, military codes, or menu numbering; no single proven source.

Penalty

The recent attempt to kill Trump (or his  ludicrous cabinet) is the third try, one more than Gerald Ford got. Future attempts are likely. 

Trump might be the most hated president ever. His campaigns against health care and immigrants have destroyed many American families. If he outlasts his second term, Trump might have to hide from those searching for him, including Interpol. 

Trump hopes to rebuild Alcatraz and restore the firing squad. I oppose the death penalty. That's a principle.  And no more assassinations. Remember Martin, Robert and John.

 

Face

Why are Americans in the Strait of Hormuz? 

The answer is that President Trump, who lost interest in Iran after two weeks, needs to save face. 

Saving face was one reason Americans died in Vietnam for ten years. Today saving Trump's demented face might take until his second term ends. Many Iranians and Americans may die.

I did my service under President Eisenhower, who had already earned enough face to keep the peace. 

Strategy

Polls indicate a Democratic sweep is coming. Followed by a thousand kleptocrats pleading with judges. But will the duds who lead the Democrats find ways to help ordinary Americans? 

For California governor my first choice is Katie Porter. I do not expect her to win a nomination. She's a blunt, honest woman, not a type people favor. She gets my vote. 

Democrats are going to win big. I hope they make plans. Don't waste a win like Joe Biden.  

Age of Consent

The other night, without the kind of good information that ruins discussions, my family enjoyed a vigorous evaluation of the age of consent.  Later I put together several facts.

In California the age at which a young person can legally enjoy sex is 18; no exceptions are allowed. The rationale, I suppose, is that people under 18 lack the maturity to avoid manipulation and make wise choices. After 18, good luck. 

I live in California and the law reflects my own beliefs. But I once earned a degree in sociology and anthropology at UCLA. I learned that different cultures create different rules. 

In 25 American states the age of consent is 16. In six countries, including China and Germany, the age of consent is 14. In Japan it is 13. 

 In France, in 1776, the age of consent was 12. In Virginia it was 10.

Music

When I was in the seventh grade at Benjamin Franklin Junior High, our teacher taught a class of working-class kids how to make paper.  We visited a newspaper printing press. We studied the form of the sonata.

I've forgotten her name, the teacher.

I went on to enjoy the Weavers, Les Paul and Mary Ford, the Beatles, Joe Cocker, Leonard Cohen, Credence.  Now I am 91, and every day I watch classical music on YouTube.

See? You never know.

w

Hormuz

How suicidal is the GOP?

Our elected president, a crumbling, blaspheming oaf, incapable of learning, has lost the Iran war. Maybe he can string the losing out for the rest of his term, using a half-assed blockade or whatever else comes to him at 3 AM. He will insist that he is winning. He creates his own reality 21 hours a day and sleeps three.

Meanwhile the American military weakens. Recruitment has fallen off. Officers are not re-enlisting. Ammo is dwindling. 

The Democrats, with little to offer, are likely to flood into office in the next election. Maybe an aggressive leader with plans will emerge. At least the Democrats will attempt to modulate Trump's bloody lunacy. 

s

Trump's Best Play

Suppose, counterfactually, that Donald Trump had a brain. In that case his best move might be to block the Hormuz Strait and grip the Iranian and world economies by the throat. Instead he is trying to open the strait.

 A few hours later--I see that Trump has adopted this tactic! He is blocking the strait. Next: Why don't China and Indonesia also put up blocks? They have large navies. 

Trump's Last Move

All his life our delusional president has had only two cards to play when in trouble. He doubles down or he blames someone else. 

Having lost a war, he can't double down. Few will listen to a threat to nuke two or four civilizations, even if one of them is his own.

That leaves blaming somebody else, the designated loser, J. D. Vance, now on his way to negotiate with crackpot murderous fanatics. Vance's job is to conclude the wonderful deal Trump has negotiated with himself to mark his victory.  

Needless to say, this "wonderful deal" is a figment of Trump's madness. And J. D. will get what he deserves. 

Betts and Jaquez

I somewhat made up for being the first person in my family to graduate from college by sampling the University of Colorado, Los Angeles Harbor Junior College, UCLA, Long Beach State and SUNY Buffalo. 

My loyalty ended up with UCLA, where I met my wife and graduated, and she and I have been following the UCLA women's basketball team. This weekend the young Bruins won their first national title, defeating a powerful South Carolina team by 79-51. 

Six players on the UCLA team are projected to be first round picks in the professional league.  Among them is Lauren Betts, a skilled and overpowering center on defense and offense. The other five seem to me to be highly skilled and intelligent, but I'm no judge. My favorite has been Gabriela Jaquez, who scored 21 points in the final game, along with ten rebounds and five assists.  

I think I picked Jaquez as my favorite four years ago because her older brother had once led the UCLA men.  He is currently an excellent professional player someplace back east. 

Who knows why we decide to follow a team? As a general rule I support those who support me, which would rule out sports teams. But not quite. 

w

What Goes Around

 One two three, what are we fightin' for?

Don't ask me--I don't give a damn,

The next stop is Tehran. 

--Country Joe

"Smart people don't like me."

 

Watched a film of Trump saying, "Smart people don't like me." He knows he is stupid. He can't grasp what advisors tell him, so he makes a virtue out of acting on impulse. But people don't dislike him because he is stupid. He openly radiates evil.  

Crying

Trump is a crybaby. He's a three-year-old crybaby with his finger on the nuclear bomb.

 Seen on No Kings Day: Eggs are expensive, because chickens were elected to congress.  

Going to the movies

The last time my mother saw her father, she was six years old, waiting in front of a movie theater in Des Moines, Iowa.  It was 1918. A neighbor had taken her to see a film. 

Joe Farley, recently divorced, was standing in line ahead of them. He ignored them until the neighbor tapped him on the shoulder.  She said, “Damn it, Joe, say hello to your daughter.”

“Hello, Margaret, ” he said. 

At six Margaret began to suspect, like Zhuangzi, that life goes better if you do not force things. But she didn’t fully grasp what this entailed until she reached the edge of old age. 

While I was in college at UCLA, Joe Farley came to California to visit relatives. I asked my mother if she  planned to look him up during his visit. 

“No,” she said.  “If the son-of-a-bitch wants to meet me, he knows where I live.”  

Begging Questions

Almost daily I hear hosts on TV incorrectly using a term from philosophy: "begs the question." I'm not sure I have mastered the correct usage, but I will try to explain.

Suppose I make the following argument. "Water seeks its own level. The Pacific and Atlantic oceans are well connected, so sea level must be the same in both places." 

As it happens, sea level is frequently measured by scientists working in the Pacific and Atlantic, and the level in the Pacific is unmistakably higher by four to eight inches. 

Water does seek its own level, but other factors matter. Gravity isn't uniform.  Some water is saltier and denser.  Currents and winds push water into piles. The Earth's rotation swings oceans around.

In my argument, I asked you to accept a flawed premise.  I begged the question. 

e

Award

A few weeks ago, my wife and I tried to watch the movie that won the Academy Award for best picture. After about 15 minutes we turned it off in order to watch anything else. So I can't critique the film, except to say that I thought the opening reeked of falsity on every level.  So why did it win  awards? 

I would like to know. I must have missed something.

How to Lose

When I was in high school 75 years ago, I was taught that Robert E. Lee had been a brilliant general, while U. S. Grant had been a bumbler who prevailed only because he had a large army. 

Today historians are apt to say that Robert E.  Lee enjoyed two or three brilliant if rash tactical victories early in the Civil War. Then he invaded the North twice (really bad strategy) and got clobbered, and then he spent the rest of the war skillfully retreating from Grant while the Army of Northern Virginia dwindled to nothing.  

With Lincoln, Sherman snd Sheridan, Grant planned to reduce his opponent to nothing at all. 

Grant used his assets: the railroads, the telegraph, a constant stream of new recruits, his ability to write clear, definite orders, etc.  

In short, Grant started with a winning strategy, employing five Union armies at once.  Something like Eisenhower in World War Two. Not like Trump's Iran war.  Trump has no strategy. 

Imagine starting a war without a strategy.  Trump is an idiot. 

1, 2, 3,

 Be the first one in your block

To come home in a box

--Country Joe

Schroedinger's War

I heard Catherine Rampell use the term "Schroedinger's War". She was talking about the way MAGAs refer to our savaging of Iran.  MAGAs call what is happening there a war and (at the same time) insist that it is not a war. 

The purpose of insisting that we are at war and we are not at war (at the same time) is to illustrate a point in quantum mechanics and, no, it isn't. 

Watching Trump stagger from one diction error to another demonstrates how much his brain has turned into fried noodles.

("Shroedinger's cat" is a famous physics word problem about a cat that is alive and dead at the same time.)

Tree Pollen

I'm allergic to tree pollen. Right now I am coughing like Hank Williams in the Tower of Song.  

Modern War

 A modern war is one in which you hope that both sides lose.

What?

El Supremo has, at last, found his calling: making Netanyahu's dreams come true. 

Also, destroying Iran distracts from El Supremo's history of pedophilia. 

But the media ignore the fact that the Saudis, Iran's hated rival for power in West Asia, gave whispering Jared Kushner two billion dollars to do what?