SOMETHING YOU SHOULDN'T POST THINGS JUST BECAUSE THEY POP IN YOUR MIND AT 2 AM

the Ol'Buzzard

WAR IS IMPERSONAL IF YOU AREN’T THERE

 

 

The people who are sending us to war don’t have any skin in the game.  To them, it is a game.

 

We destroyed their missile sights – we destroyed their navy – we are winning – we are invincible – we have casualties?  It happens.-  We’ll force regime change – take their oil – destroy their drone capability – destroy their nuclear capability – I’m the greatest President – It’s over when I think it’s over in my bones…  they say, Yes Sir Mr. President…

I would be willing to bet that Trump can not remember the name of one of the 13  military personnel who have so far died as a result of his war.

Remember suckers and losers? 

Neil deGrasse Tyson has written two books that further explore war and civilization:  Starry Messenger: Cosmic Perspectives on Civilization and Accessory to War.

 

We are now at war in the Middle East: at war, not because Iran is a threat to the homeland; not to protect Israel; not because of weapons of mass destruction; not to force regime change; not to free the Iranian people.

 

Those are the excuses.  We are at war in the Middle East because that is who we are.  We are homo sapiens.

 

Look at the history of the world.  Humans make war because it is in our DNA (see The Accidental Homo Sapiens by Tattersall and Desalle.)

 

When Australopithecus Lucy walked across the African plains, the father of her child was probably smashed in the head by his best friend, to acquire his food and his female.

 

The first battles were likely fought over food and females.   Since that time, we have expanded our reasons for killing.   

Though it is likely World War 4 will be fought over food and females. 

This war began as a vanity move by Trump - it seems to have backfired.  

the Ol'Buzzard

Let's quit calling this the Iran War.

Trump likes his name on everything

Let's call it: 

The Donald J Trump Israeli War

 

 

 

MORE THOUGHTS ON THE END OF THE WORLD AS WE KNOW IT

 

    

The pandemic has wiped out most of the human race. Survival is not a problem.   Stores and facilities exist with adequate food and supplies, free for the taking, to accommodate the remaining population for a hundred years.

 

IF you are alone, the most dangerous entity on earth is another human.

 

So you look to find and join up with a group of humans who will not rape or kill you, as protection from other groups or individuals that might rape or kill you.

 

Then your group can kill and rape those humans they see as a threat, because that is who we are.

   

And it starts all over again.

HOMO-SAPIENS. 

 

THE END OF THE WORLD AS WE KNOW IT

 

I recently bought THE END OF THE WORLD AS WE KNOW IT; A book written by various authors that takes place during the aftermath of the world pandemic in Stephen King’s THE STAND.

 After the first couple of short stories, I decided to go back and reread THE STAND before completing THE END OF THE WORLD…

It has been years since I first read THE STAND, and I am so much older.  The story is still graphic, and grabs you from the start, but the under story, the story not written, the story that comes to my mind is how beautiful and natural this world would be without humans. 

In Alaska they kill the wolves to protect the moose so people can kill the moose. 

 

When I arrived in Maine in 1962 the state was not a major tourist attraction.   There was a Maine culture that was unique.   One third of the state was unpopulated – wilderness.   I ran the Allagash River, and for ten days never saw another human being. 

The population of Maine is growing.  Today, Maine is a popular tourist attraction and a cheap and safe place for retirement.   The old ‘Maine culture’ is pretty much gone. 

There are fifteen-hundred miles of snowmobile trails crisscrossing the most remote and once pristine regions of the state. 

 

The days are gone when you would walk silently through the newly fallen snow on wooden snowshoes, hear the chickadees in the trees, see a porcupine eating tree bark, and surprise deer out of its bed.

 

Now people, wearing crash helmets, ride snowmobiles at breakneck speed, screaming through the wilderness trails like Hell’s Angels on a cross-country run, seeing nothing on their way to the next lodge with steaks and a hot tub and a bar.   

The Allagash River now has guides and trips and tourists experiencing the wilderness that is no longer there. 

Earth's human population is increasing exponentially.   Resources are becoming scarce… 

 

Picture a world without humans.  Clean water.  Clean air…

  

the Ol'Buzzard

HADACOL BOOGIE

 

I just finished reading Hadacol Boogie, the 25^th in the popular Dave Robicheaux series. 

You would have to be my age before that title means anything to you, but for me, it brought back memories of my childhood in the Mississippi Delta. 

 

Hadacol was a patented tonic invented and marketed by the famous Louisiana Cajun Senator, Dudley J. LeBlanc.  It was a magic health elixir, 14% alcohol, that was supposed to cure everything from diseases to sexual dysfunction, and build strong bones and bodies.   

I was a skinny eight-year-old, and my grandmother decided I needed to put on weight, so she bought a bottle of Hadacol and dosed me every morning before school – I don’t think she was aware of the alcohol content. 

 

To my memory, Hadacol was the nastiest thing I have ever put in my mouth, and that is saying something.

I am in my middle eight decade

so where is Hadacol now I need it?

the Ol'Buzzard

 

Daylight Saving Time

Only a white man would believe you could cut a foot off the top of a blanket, sew it to the bottom of the blanket, and have a longer blanket

the Ol'Buzzard

MORE US TROOPS WILL LIKELY DIE – SO SAYS TRUMP

 

 

The off-handed way Trump talks about military deaths enrages me.   Trump cares more about oil futures than the death of military members. 

This is the same guy who, in his first term, hid in the safe room of the white house when demonstrators were outside; the same guy who freaked out when all the lights in Air Force One were shut down on the approach into Iraq when he visited the troops; the draft dodger who avoided Vietnam service claiming bone spurs.

 

This fucking bellicose coward doesn’t know or give a fuck about the military “suckers and losers”.

 

I’m a Vietnam vet.  Fifty-eight thousand men lost their lives in Vietnam for absolutely nothing.

 

But war is not only about death.

 

I was in the Portsmouth Naval Hospital when a 19-year-old Marine was brought in.  He had taken three rounds across his stomach, and a large portion of his intestines had been removed.   He was told he would have to wear a colostomy bag for the rest of his life.   He was engaged to a young girl, and they were supposed to be married after his deployment.  I would hear him crying at night, because what young girl would want to spend her life with a man with a shit bag hanging from his stomach.  He kept saying he wished he had died.

 

I rode with a group in Florida.  One of my buddies in his early twenties, had been in the infantry.    We called him Choo Choo.   His patrol had been ambushed and all killed except him.   He was seriously wounded.  He survived by playing dead while the VC looted his body.   An army unit came in and rescued him and collected the dead.  He was placed on the fender of a tank.  At some point on the trip out, he fell off the fender and was left in a ditch.  A patrol came back and found him and transported him to the field hospital.  

Choo Choo would have seizures, usually after drinking.      During those seizures his breathing would get short, and he would make that noise: chu chu chu… with each breath.   I told him he sounded like an old steam train.  He said that sometimes he heard himself, and it scared him, because he always thought of the thump of helicopter blades. 

This is the cannon-fodder, these are the expendables, these are the “suckers and losers” of war that Donald Trump doesn’t give a fuck about.   These are the “more troops will likely die” that Trump speaks about with less passion than he does about his new ballroom. 

 

War, what is it good for?

Absolutely nothing!

the Ol'Buzzard

WAR WITH IRAN?

 

 

Why are we playing brinksmanship with Iran? 

 

Trump has escalated the chance of a war with Iran by stationing two major aircraft carriers within striking distance of Iran.

 

But it is not just ‘war as normal’ we are risking.  Let’s consider the ‘worst case scenario’.

 

Each carrier is a small city unto itself, manned by a contingent of 5000 sailors and marines.

 

These carriers are not only within striking distance to Iran, but within striking distance of Iran. 

 

Iran has an estimated 1,000 ballistic missiles and over 5000 drones.

  

We are dealing with a country of sexually repressed religious fanatics that sees martyrdom as a direct route to heaven, and grows dewy-eyed at the mere mention of paradise.

 

These carrier strike forces have excellent electronic countermeasures, but an all-out strike of thousands of missiles and drones could penetrate the carriers' defenses with catastrophic results. 

 

Then it would be up to a malignant narcissistic President with immediate access to the nuclear missiles strike code to determine a response.

 

What could possibly go wrong?

the Ol’Buzzard

NANCY GUTHRIE MISSING PERSON

 

The kidnapping of Nancy Guthrie, the mother of Savanah Guthrie who hosts the Today Show, is tragic; and the all-out effort to find her is in no way to be criticized just because of her wealth and public standing.

 

But there is a two-tier system of social justice.  

 

In 2022, the National Crime Information Center reported 4,487 cases of missing Native American women and girls.  A large number of the missing are girls under 17 years of age. 

 

Where is the National publicity?   Where is the massive joint police and FBI turnout, similar to the effort to find Nancy Guthrie?

 

It doesn’t exist. 

 My wife is Native American.  We spent eleven years teaching school in the Athabaskan, Inuit, and Yupik Native villages of Alaska.     The villages are a different cultural world from mainstream America.   What happens in the villages often stays in the villages, and this seems to be fine with the government and white law enforcement. 

the Ol'Buzzard

THE SKY IS FALLING! THE SKY IS FALLING!

 

It sounds like Chicken Little, 

But what if the sky is falling?

What we don't know about Artificial Intelligence unleashed is concerning.    Real Time asks some of the questions. 

the Ol'Buzzard

SPRINGSTEEN MINNEAPOLIS

 

Donald Trump's private army assaults Minneapolis  

in 1926.   History will remember.

Who can say it better

the Ol'Buzzard

IT WAS THE BEST OF TIMES, IT WAS THE WORST OF TIMES...

 

It was the best of times it was the worst of times

the Ol'Buzzard

ICE HIRES ONLY THE BRIGHTEST AND THE BEST

 

I can't help but wonder:

How many ICE agents were actively involved in the January 6 insurrection?

How many ICE agents identify as white supremacists?

How many ICE agents were previously members of a militia group?

How many ICE agents are hardcore MAGA?

Were prospective ICE agents given a psych test and a lie detector test, which is standard in police recruitment?

ICE is operating as a private police force answerable only to the President.   Do you see any parallels in history?

It was the worst of times...

the Ol'Buzzard

STANFORD UNIVERSITY PRISON EXPERIMENT

 

 

 

 

In 1971, the Psychology Department of Stanford University conducted a prison experiment.

 

Twenty-four students volunteered to participate in the experiment.  The students were divided randomly as prisoners or guards.  The experiment was supposed to last for two weeks, but had to be curtailed after six days, because the student guards became too aggressive.

 

Without the proper training and oversight, this aggressive behavior would occur in both the police and the military.

 

This is exactly what we are seeing in ICE. 

The hiring standards for ICE agents were set at a low bar. 

The training was incomplete and inefficient.

The organization's oversight is lax and in the hands of unqualified individuals.

The goal of the organization is to intimidate into conformity and submission the population of politically blue states.

ICE is not about immigration; it is about suppressing the vote in the 2026 midterm election.

 the Ol'Buzzard

COLD WEATHER IN MAINE - GO PATRIOTS FOOTBALL PLAYOFFS

 

1-25-26

Today, the temperature in the western Maine mountains and foothills is -5 (f) with a 20 mph wind.   

No big deal; we have been here before.

But it's damn cold. 

the Ol'Buzzard

WE DON'T NEED NO FUCKING LAW

 

The Gestapo was a private police force, operating above the law, and answerable only to the Dear Leader

the Ol'Buzzard

THE BOARD OF PEACE

 

 

In order to stay relevant after his term in office, Donald Trump has organized what he calls the Board of Peace.   This is not an organization ratified by the U.S. Congress, but strictly a group of third-world sycophants looking to acquire worldwide power by consolidating.

 

Supposedly, the organization is formed to oversee the rebuilding and peace in Gaza, but its charter is vague and includes conducting oversight of the entire world.

 

The members include:

• 
  

• Nasser Bourita, minister of foreign affairs, Morocco
• Javier Milei, president, Argentina
• Nikol Pashinyan, prime minister, Armenia
• Ilham Aliyev, President, Azerbaijan
• Rosen Zhelyazkov, prime minister, Bulgaria
• Viktor Orban, prime minister, Hungary 
• Prabowo Subianto, president, Indonesia
• Ayman Al Safadi, minister of foreign affairs, Jordan
• Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, president, Kazakhstan
• Vjosa Osmani-Sadriu, president, Kosovo
• Mian Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif, prime minister, Pakistan
• Santiago Peña, president, Paraguay
• Mohammed Bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, prime minister, Qatar
• Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud, minister of foreign affairs, Saudi Arabia
• Hakan Fidan, minister of foreign affairs, Turkey
• Khaldoon Khalifa Al Mubarak, special envoy to the U.S. for the UAE
• Shavkat Mirziyoyev, president, Uzbekistan
• Gombojavyn Zandanshatar, prime minister, Mongolia

 

 China and Russia have also been invited.

 

Trump has appointed himself the permanent chairman for life.  The term of membership is three years, but for one billion dollars, you can buy yourself a permanent membership.

 

The Ministry of Peace concerns itself with war.

George Orwell

1984

Is Trump forming his own version of NATO?

Will there be an Army of Peace under Donald Trump’s control?

Are we looking at a World Oligarchy – a consolidation of the rich to run the world? 

the Ol’Buzzard

 

 

 

 

 

 

A QUESTION ABOUT BLOGGER: A LITTLE HELP PLEASE

 

 

I got spammed by a commenter named Nancy.  Dozens of the same comment.  It seemed that as I deleted the spam, more reappeared.  Can you designate a commenter as spam so it doesn’t show again?  

The Ol’Buzzard

WHAT POLITICAL POLES DON’T TELL YOU

 

 

At best, polling is only an educated guess.   The next thing to remember is that any fool can post a poll.

The only polls you should give any credence to are reputable news outlets and polling organizations, and these polls should concur within a small percentage.  Even then, the results can present a false impression. 

 

As far as elections are concerned, this country is pretty much evenly split between Republicans and Democrats: at least as far as the Electoral College is concerned.

CNN, Gallup, and The Economist all have Trump at 41%.   You would think an approval rating of 41% would be a reason for Republicans to abandon Trump.   But polling is an average of the population as a whole, counting Democrats and Republicans equally.  41% of the general population equates to 82% of Republicans.    Donald Trump is still a powerful influencer in the Republican Party, and as a politician, if you want to keep your job and not be primaried, you must kowtow to Donald Trump. 

If you consider 82% of Republicans' absolute loyalty to Donald Trump, and Trump’s obvious intention to interfere with the mid-term election, you should not count on Democrats taking either the House or the Senate.

So read the polls

the Ol’Buzzard

 

THE MADNESS OF KING GEORGE

 

At some point, we have to address the gorilla in the room.

 

Mental illness is not new to kings or presidents.   During Ronald Regan’s last year in office, the White House and Nancy Regan covered up the President’s onset of Alzheimer's dementia.

 

Joe Biden was showing mental deterioration that comes with advancing age.

 

But there are more and varying mental illnesses than just Alzheimer’s and the cognitive decline of aging.

 

Just because President Trump can recognize a giraffe and a rhinoceros, and pass a dementia test (A+++++), does not explain his total obsession with winning a Nobel Prize, his constant need for admiration and adoration, his erratic dealings with American allies, and his unreasonable demand to acquire Greenland.   

 

We have three more years of a Donald Trump presidency, and we can only hope that what we are seeing are character flaws, and not the delusional actions of a mad king.

o

If you have an hour to burn you can listen to the 

RAMBLILNGS OF A MAD KING

the Ol’Buzzard

I'M BACK, MAYBE

 

Because I am too fast approaching the end (I am well past my cell-by date), up to this point, I have chosen to refrain from obsessing over Donald Trump and what I feel is the end of American democracy.

 

I used to enjoy blogging, but it seems that Trump and the Republicans have taken the joy out of the world, leaving very little to blog about other than the insanity of the inmates running the asylum.

 

What we are living through now is the wet dream of the Republican Party.  They have always been the wizard behind the curtain, punking their followers, not just to gain power, but to achieve absolute power.

 

It began with the Regan administration trying to advance the Unitary Executive Theory: an all-powerful president in total control of every facet of the executive branch; but it was held in check by a Supreme Court pushback

 

With the Republican Party, it has never been about what’s good for the people, but about seizing power: absolute power.

 

This was displayed when Obama was first elected, and Harry Reed said the goal of the Republican Senate was to make Obama a one-term President.

 

We are here because an Alpha Republican Party rolled over a compliant Democratic party.

Republicans: I’m going to fuck you in the ass.

Democrats: We need to work with our friends on the other side of the aisle.

I’m too old to sugarcoat it.

the Ol’Buzzard

 

WAG THE DOG - AGAIN

 

ATTACKING VENZUELA!   ATTACK CUBA! ATTACK GREENLAND!

EPSTEIN WHO?

the Ol'Buzzard

LIVES FOR OIL?

 

 

I fought in Vietnam where fifty-eight thousand young men lost their lives, and hundreds of thousands were wounded - for absolutely nothing. 

 

Today, military personnel must be asking themselves; Do I want to die for oil?  Am I putting my life on the line so billionaire oil executives can become richer?

 

I thought it was about defending the Constitution of the United States and protecting this country from adversaries!

 

I was so naive.

the Ol’Buzzard

WAG THE DOG. EPSTEIN WHO? JANUARY 6 WHAT?

 

 

Isn’t it convenient that just as the Jack Smith report was released on New Year's night, showing that Donald Trump was responsible for the insurrection of January 6, and as more and more of the Epstein files are released, showing a close relationship between Trump and Epstein, we suddenly find ourselves attacking Venezuela, turning the attention of the American public to war news?

 

the Ol’Buzzard

REPUBLICANS DON'T WIN, DEMOCRATS LOSE

 

 

 

I’ll make this short and simple: If the Democrats shut down the government again to protest healthcare cuts, then we will have fumbled the ball on the one-yard line. 

People are hurt during a government shutdown.  A portion of people will not be able to pay rent, put food on their table, or pay the fuel cost to heat their homes during the height of winter; and they, their friends, and their families will not forget come election time in November. 

 

the Ol’Buzzard 

I

THE GOVERNMENT'S CREATIVE BOOK KEEPING

 

There is something I don’t understand about government finance.  Republicans go on and on about paying down the national debt while at the same time exploding it with their tax cuts.

 

Who the fuck, what country, is lending the United States trillions of dollars that we are obligated to pay back? 

 

To my understanding, we are the richest country in the world, so what country has such a financial excess to the extent they can lend us trillions of dollars, or is this some kind of creative accounting where we spend more than we earn from taxes and then just write it off as an IOU to ourselves?

 

We keep hearing about paying the interest on the debt; but to whom?

There was a time when I was young that I paid only the interest on a loan for several months because I couldn't afford the monthly payment.  That certainly wasn’t a sustainable solution to debt.

 

The answer to me is clear: everyone making over one hundred thousand dollars a year pays five percent income tax – no deductions – no tax shelters.  Businesses valued over a million dollars pay ten percent of gross.  In return, a cap is placed on government spending, and we receive universal healthcare at 100%.

 

We know who is making the money under the present system: and it ain't us.

 

the Ol’Buzzard