Jack of Harts

In one of the more amusing conversations this week, Trump went to talk to NATO with his perennial demand that the NATO nations start paying the two percent of their national GDPs that they promised to spend on their own defense when they joined NATO. They haven’t done that for decades. They’ve been relying on us to protect them, but the last few American presidencies have proven to everybody in the world that we are not the most stable of nations to be allied with. One president may be bought by China and do everything to support their growing hegemony, another may send millions to Iran so they can fund terror and nuclear research, another may decide to BOMB Iran and their proxies back out of the nuclear age.

Well… it’s amazing how people react when Daddy’s Home and spanks the bad child a few times after the bad child has been coddled for decades.

All of a sudden the NATO nations agreed to spend FIVE percent of their GDPs on their own defense, and that is a good thing. Strong allies make strong alliances. It is never good when an alliance rests on the shoulders of one nation. That’s not an alliance. That is an empire. The American people said no to an empire a long time ago, and it is past time our own government and the governments of other nations realize we mean it.

Daddy’s Home, and he does not appreciate what has been done in his name while he wasn’t paying as much attention as he should have been…

The souk. Narrow alleys with their centuries of history pressing in on the marketplace shops. The scent of spice, of dust, and camel dung overwhelming your senses. Taste the sharp mint tea, the iced melon, the orange blossom water. Witness the dazzling, bewildering, astounding array of wares that confuse the eyes. The chant of the muezzin droning over the babble of many languages, rising and falling at all hours of the night and day in this sleepless, restless place.

In the Goblin Souk, you will find stories of genies, lamps, and wishes both granted and unfulfilled. Beware the Souk. You may leave with more than you are prepared for… or less…

War! War! What is it good for? That was an old saying back in the 60s and 70s, aimed at the Vietnam War. Which everybody knows wasn’t a real war. Congress didn’t declare it, and we didn’t win it, so it couldn’t possibly be a war. Right?

Twenty years ago, when we went to war with Iraq, there was no real debate. Americans were 60% against going to war with Iraq, but the news coverage was at least two thirds in favor of it. And the one third against was carefully managed so it couldn’t win the argument. And it worked. A constant thrum of pro war propaganda on all news channels and the newspaper shifted public opinion enough that we supported war with Iraq.

I’ve seen the same thing in the news over the last week. Even the lefty mainstream news has been parroting many of the pro war points, even as they’ve been preaching their standard Trump Evil message to the believers. Fox News has been positively rabid in their support of bombing Iran. And honestly, who DOESN’T want to bomb Iran? Yes, yes, I know that bombing a country is an act of war. But Americans have been taught for literally generations in school and news that you can bomb someone without being at war with them. It’s crazy, but it’s a bloody matter of truth in our popular culture now.

But you know what? There’s been debate over that over the last week. Debate over war. Debate over bombing AS an act of war. Across the political divides, off the main news channels and newspapers, there’s been a HUGE and LOUD debate over this whole thing. And the people have been clear.

No forever wars.

And that is making a difference. It is being heard. It is changing the narrative. In a way it wasn’t allowed to make a difference twenty years ago, when the news could simply silence dissent by not airing it. Or five years ago, when the government “asked” social media to silence it. Today dissent is heard, it’s loud, and I find that to be amazing.

Healthy. Good.