A Story About Spying
My father was a B-17 bomber pilot in the European theater of WW2, who, by 1944, had flown with his 10-man crew, 29 successful missions destroying Nazi crude oil refineries. They were shot down on November 25 of that year, on the return trip from what would have been their 30th. Still over Germany, about 10 miles short of the French border and having lost three of their four engines, they had run out of luck.
Dad and his men had no option but to bail out, parachute to the ground, and hope for the best. They did, however, have a decision to make, and an important one at that. They had the choice to remain in uniform, making them a cinch to identify (and capture) as allied troops. Alternatively, they could change into civilian clothes, making it far easier for them to make their way on foot into neighboring France without being noticed by the enemy.
There was a considerable risk, however. Choosing to remain in uniform prohibited the Germans, under international law, from gunning them down on sight; if captured, they would be made POWs, treated humanely, and released unharmed at the end of the war. On the other hand, changing clothes enabled the Germans to treat them as spies and execute them by firing squad.
This tale is only partially a tribute to my father. It’s more an illustration of how common Americans who become soldiers in wartime face momentous decisions that former presidents do not. If you’re lucky enough to be Donald Trump, it appears that you can conduct yourself with immunity, and thus spying, in his case, leaking top secret military documents, doesn’t even lead to criminal prosecution, let alone an array of bullets through your heart.
It’s kind of funny that these people consider themselves “conservatives,” while there is essentially zero that they wish to conserve.
People have been talking about this subject ever since theoretical physics became a thing around the turn of the 20th Century, and, simultaneously, we had the onset of the “philosophy of science.”
Apparently, it’s news when working class America support a Democrat for U.S. president, even when the Republican candidate’s track record while in office featured lavish tax breaks ….. for corporations and billionaires.
We all know that Elon Musk is no fan of wokeism. But does what he says here make any sense?
I’d like to shake the hand of the guy who went rogue with the road sign here. But, while his message is funny, it makes an important point.
Every time I encounter an EV driver in a relaxed setting, suppose I spot someone walking to or from his vehicle in a parking lot, I ask, “Say, how do you like your car?” I have at least a few hundred of these one-question surveys under my belt at this point.
At left is just one more example of the absurd nature of the U.S. political scene as we move through the 2024 election season.
Fortunately for the state of North Carolina, most of its residents share the political sensibilities of the more productive and civilized states. The author of the meme probably doesn’t know that California, if it were a country, would be the 5th largest economy on Earth. That’s something to be emulated and respected, not ridiculed.
Poor education, little affluence, horrible healthcare, but plenty of political rancor and Fox News viewership.
Lauren Boebert is a darling among the Christian right in rural Colorado. And with this resumé, why shouldn’t she be?
