Land of our fathers

 

Lots of great signs but this one got to me.  My dad, who also fought fascism, would now be 103.  He sailed on merchant ships carrying food, munitions and other cargo to Murmansk.  He joked that they wore parachutes at sea because one torpedo would blow them a mile into the sky.  The crew didn't understand why the Russians who unloaded the ships were forbidden to talk to them, or why they once ate a drum of lubricant because they thought it was shortening.  They were that hungry.  Some war.

Saturday's disgraceful salute to the military-industrial complex that Eisenhower warned about was shunned by most people, a painful (I hope) echo of Trump's first inauguration.  It was described as a celebration of the US Army's 250th anniversary but correctly understood as a birthday party for one vainglorious oaf who passed up his chance to serve (five times) and has often described those who did as "suckers" and "losers."  Even most Republicans stayed away, one or two saying that the sight of tanks in the capital unnerved them.

The parade and the coast-to-coast protests by millions were both upstaged by that most American of institutions, a multiple shooting.  Minnesota state representative Melissa Hortman and her husband Mark were killed in their home, and state senator John Hoffman and his wife Yvette were wounded in theirs.  The alleged shooter, who impersonated a police officer, checks all the boxes.  Vance Boelter runs a security company as well as an evangelical ministry.  He gave anti-LGBTQ sermons.  He left behind a manifesto and a list of abortion providers, reproductive choice advocates and politicians (including Ilhan Omar and Tim Walz) when he abandoned his fake police car.  His wife Jenny was arrested with a gun, ammunition, cash and passports in the trunk of her car.  

Boelter wasn't alone in wanting to give his favorite president a special birthday present.  In Salt Lake City a man fired at this enormous NO KINGS event, seriously wounding one person...  

...while the Texas Department of Public Safety reported one arrest after "credible threats" to Democratic legislators.

Still desperate to be let out of the doghouse, Elon Musk insisted that the "murderously violent" far left is somehow to blame for the Minnesota shootings.  Probably the ketamine talking.  He's one hit away from squawking "False flag!" like Alex Jones.

Is this the first time Donald and Melania have slept together since the Stormy Daniels episode?

Dementia watch:  Michael Scherer of the Atlantic says he asked Trump what "America First" means.  "Well, considering that I'm the one that developed 'America First,' and considering that the term wasn't used until I came along, I think I'm the one that decides that."  "To be ignorant of what happened before you were born is to remain always a child," said Cicero.  Time for someone's nap.  Also America First Committee, 1940-1941.

There's a saying in the theater -- when there are more people onstage than in the seats, give back the money and send everybody home.

Dementia watch:  Asked by Rachel Scott of ABC News about the Israeli attacks on Iran, Trump said, "We're not involved in it.  It's possible we could get involved.  But we are not at this time involved."  Apart from being the arsenal of Israel, of course.  But with MAGA warning against further involvement (Tucker Carlson) or cheerleading for it (Lindsey Graham), Trump can't decide who he likes better.  What he wants most is to be given credit for negotiating a deal which would nail down that Nobel Prize he covets so desperately.  Any deal.  

The DoD posted this on Saturday.  Many people are saying those are Russian flags flanking the three gold stars.  What do you think?