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Welcome to Let Kids Be Kids, Inc., advocacy blog "We All Deserve Better." Our goal is to post relevant information that will spark action,discussion and interaction, creating a catalyst for solutions and ideas to impact the challenges we face in our society. We welcome comments, suggestions and submissions in support of those seeking a voice. "...Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgement that something else is more important than fear..."
Wednesday, November 27, 2024
A Long Ago Memory
The Rocking Chair
Thump, thump, thump echoes the rocking chair.
She gazes out the window knitting.
Click, click, click.
Thump, thump, thump.
Her favorite chair.
Red and white and small enough to embrace her in peace.
Click, click, click.
Thump, thump, thump.
Born in 1903 she lived a swath of history.
The Wright Brothers flight in Kitty Hawk.
Surviving the 1906 earthquake.
Being a frightened teen during World War One.
Thump, thump, thump.
Click, click, click.
Becoming a flower in flapper days.
The Great Crash.
Married - moving into her parents home.
No jobs, little money - stress and worry.
Click, click, click.
Thump, thump. Thump.
Out of her parents and into their own flat.
Full of hope.
Brother Garrett dies.
Four children when World War Two broke out.
Her husband Joseph in the Coast Guard - worry and panic.
Her brother John in the Pacific - worry and panic.
Her brother in law Russell in the Pacific - worry and panic.
The fifth surviving child arrived six months before the war ended.
Losing her parents.
Thump, thump, thump.
Click, click, click.
Peace.
A sixth child is born.
Korean War.
The Norman Rockwell forget about it - Fifties.
Kids in school.
The Sixties and upheaval.
Direct challenges to her beliefs.
Will her sons get drafted to fight in Vietnam?
Worry and fear.
Click, click, click.
Thump, thump, thump.
Kids getting married.
Grandchildren.
The love of her life dies.
Emptiness.
Alone.
Click, click, click.
Thump, thump, thump.
Family birthdays.
Thanksgiving and Christmas visits.
Her brother John dies.
Her sister Gertrude dies.
Worry about her kids living so far away.
Worry, worry.
Click, click, click.
Thump, thump, thump.
Time passes.
Sickness arrives in various forms.
Memory is cloudy through the veil.
Is that so and so - yes, it is.
Deep sigh.
The needles fall from her hand.
Click - click.
Thump - thump.
Silence.
Thursday, November 7, 2024
"A Trump Victory? If So, Break Glass In Case of Emergency" Malcolm Nance
Authors Note: Sometimes I astonish myself. Before I wrote my last substack about Washington’s Crossing called Kneel. Pray. Win. I had written another one just in case things went South. That moment has come. The United States has voted for a dictatorship … and decisively. The Supreme Court will be lost for most of the century. Women will lose most of their reproductive rights and lives. And white people happily voted to impose tyranny over all other races and creeds. So what can you do that doesn’t involve the good Bourbon?
Let’s face it: America has fundamentally changed from what it was founded to be. It is now an autocracy ruled by the white tribe. Here is what I wrote a few weeks ago for that break-glass moment. Read it and Weep. Then get busy. We have work to do.
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Imagine that it is Christmas morning in 1776. You are with George Washington’s army. Midway through the crossing, the Marblehead sailors who are rowing hear something. Before they can say a word, cannons sound all along the New Jersey side of the river. Washington’s daring move is defeated before the boats touch dry land. Imagine British cannon fire raining down on them as surprise British troops had moved from Princeton in the night, and the Hessians were waiting to the south and raking them with gunfire. Now, picture the American experiment slowly drifting as a drowned failure under the ice of the Delaware River … and George Washington’s corpse is being paraded by German mercenaries.
My dear readers, if you are reading this, then the worst has happened. Donald Trump has been elected the 47th President of the United States.
You are likely filled with two feelings. Some will be the same as you felt in 2016. You feel shame and grief. But now add a complete collapse of understanding of how the Trump train hit you into the mix. Your wits are torn asunder. Your heart aches and is in deep throbbing pain. You likely feel as if a close loved one has died, and you will be correct.
Like Washington, we risked a bold and daring campaign and since you are reading this, we have failed. Benjamin Franklin’s words now ring true. We were a Republic if we could’ve kept it. We did not and it died today, so Welcome to America, the Tyranny!
The End of 248 Years of Experimenting
What is now dying is the American experiment itself. And as our Russian enemies learned long ago (and passed on to their right-wing extremist toadies) was that the fastest way to kill Democracy was to use Democracy as the very knife to slit its throat. We do not have a president; we now have a King with all the powers George III had at the time of the American Revolution.
In the Star Wars movie Revenge of the Sith, Queen Amidala summed it up neatly when she said, “So this is how Liberty Dies, to thunderous applause.” Our problem is there is no Jedi order full of mystical space wizards to save us. We did this to ourselves by popular demand.
A Trump presidency means the United States is about to get the government his sycophants voted for. You likely feel adrift as a voter of progress, goodwill, and true of heart. We are on a boat alone in a vast ocean filled with terrible storms. But as all mariners know, there is a way for a sinking ship to save its crew and, in some instances, get back aboard and salvage it. But you can’t do it when crying, even if it’s a crying shame.
I feared for America these last few weeks; I believed we would win, but I kept a reserve of 5% caution that this could end in tragedy. (Author’s note: My prediction was 100% correct, and Trump won in a landslide.)
You are most likely feeling fear, trepidation, anxiety, and a burning pain in the middle of your gut that says things are going to get nasty. You are correct in those emotions as well. So, I will give you till the end of this article to feel all of those things and then get with the program.
At the end, I want you to have a deep, sobbing cry. Then I want you to stand up, get a hot beverage, and commit yourself to not surrendering all that you presently feel hold in your heart.
Trust me, I'm a widower, and your psychological well-being demands it. Your family will look to you, and your friends will want to lean on you for the stalwartness you need to develop pronto.
You must Hold Fast! That’s a nautical term to ‘grip the rope more tightly, or disaster will strike a worse blow than the first.’ Hold Fast. To what you know is right and true, and that is not MAGA. So no matter what they send at you, Hold Fast.
But Malcolm, why not just give in?
It is easy to surrender in a storm, to pass under the waves, and slowly die inside. It is easier not to engage, go into isolation, or try comprehending the crisis that befell us. I understand it.
You may want to do what I do when the politics are at their worst. I turn on MTV and watch the vapid video show Ridiculousness, or I dial upMidsomer Murders or Poirot and binge for hours to cleanse my mind. But while I watch, I am also writing and formulating new ideas to help me with the predicament. I am constantly crafting new plans, whether for my house repairs, Christmas decorations, or memorial garden. Strategizing and adopting major projects is the highest form of grief management. Obsessively getting your affairs in order is something those of us who have lost immediate loved ones well understand.
However, one cannot – nay, must not surrender to the sweet, cold admission that it is hard to fight. It is hard to stand against outrages, insults, and arrogance. But those are your only choices on this day of days. You can surrender to an America that is dictatorial and fascistic and will grind into the day-to-day affairs of your life without any input from you, your friends, or your family. You can let other people dictate what your life will be. That’s why it’s called a dictatorship. Information will now be sent to you in any form of “truth” they want you to see.
Or you can commit to taking some time off between now and inauguration day and prepare yourself for the upcoming political battle. It will not be wedged with weapons of war, as many on the extreme right-wing lustfully imagine. In this struggle, you must become the ultimate ally of the true promise of the Constitution of the United States. And, like the oath, we swear in the Armed Forces that we will uphold, protect, and defend that sacred document. The time has come for you to do the same.
I don’t want you to do it in the cheesy Q-Anon, Mike Flynn way of standing in front of a video camera and taking a fake oath for TikTok. I want you to take the moment that hurts you the most, which will likely be high noon on January 20, 2025, and hold it in your heart. Swear to yourself that you will not let this abomination abide without your voice of opposition. Be it in op-ed commentary, Twitter responses, or calling into local radio shows, Facebook, whatever – Swear to make your voice heard because suppressing your voice is next up after suppressing your vote. In fact, they want you to suppress yourself.
Take in the words carved into the Thomas Jefferson memorial as a touchstone, “for I have sworn upon the altar of god eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man.” That’s it. That’s your mission statement. Better memorize it because every form of tyranny over the mind of man is about to be imposed on you.
Remember Rockwell Too
Interestingly, the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, is one of my favorite places in the world. My greatest pleasure is walking into the hall of the Four Freedoms. It has Rockwell’s four iconic paintings facing each other, including the Thanksgiving dinner table themed Freedom from Want. Next is the chilling Freedom from Fear, with the father and mother tucking their sons into bed while reading a newspaper about men dying in the European war. Next is the beautiful Freedom of Worship with its multinational, multi-ethnic hands in prayer. However, the one that touches me the most is freedom of speech. I gasp every time I see it. You must embrace its meaning. You must stand up, even when afraid, and say what you mean and feel. Right now, you feel a miasma of grief and pain. But learn to stand up and say what you mean. Tell everyone what you think is right, honorable, and true … before it is illegal.
Tomorrow, you may feel anger and a desire for change. OK, Stand up and say it. Soon, you may have to choose if you will protest if and when America lurches into a complete dictatorship and/or civil war. But once you have stood up and said you intend to speak up, remember these immortal words at the end of the Declaration of Independence: "We mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor."
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You, the reader, must understand the stakes of what speaking up means if the nation is to be saved. You must become the most loyal and ardent defender of the founding principles at the risk of your life and fortune. If you cannot risk it for that foundational biscuit, then your voice will just become one of many that will be ignored -like drowning oarsmen in the alternate universe’s Delaware, where prideful British troops drink mulled wine and piss on your body. Nobody wants that.
Right now, your MAGA neighbors v will likely view you as a foreign enemy to be intimidated, detained, or destroyed.
Be sure that the next four years will be a time of turmoil, economic hardship, and possibly civil unrest. Before you can follow instructions on navigating through it, you must first organize. Get your lifeboats back together, tie your fortunes to each other, and move with a purpose in opposition to the storm threatening to scuttle your hopes, dreams, and families.
Today is the day to let go of the mourning and make the American Experiment work again.
Have a good cry. Spin on your heel, get a coffee, and Lets Fucking Go.
AUTHOR:
A career US Navy terrorism intelligence collector, code breaker, and interrogator with wide-ranging field and combat experience in the Middle East, South West Asia, and Africa, Mr. Nance is a counterterrorism analyst for MSNBC. He’s the author of The Terrorist Recognition Handbook, The Terrorists of Iraq: The Strategy and Tactics of the Iraq Insurgency, An End to al-Qaeda: Destroying Bin Laden’s Jihad and Restoring America’s Honor, and the New York Times best seller Defeating ISIS: Who They Are, How They Fight, What They Believe. Drawing on his experience as a thirty year veteran of the US intelligence community’s program on combating terrorism, he’s been a Middle East policy advisor to the US and international governments on special operations, homeland security, and intelligence.
Wednesday, October 30, 2024
Review of Listen Listen to My Hearts Song
BOOK REVIEW - ***** 5 STAR
Reviewed by Sheena Monnin for Readers' Favorite
Listen, Listen to My Heart’s Song by M. Barrett Miller is a touching compilation of snippets of life, love, happiness, loss, and the invaluable lessons to be learned as we navigate through life. The author tells the stories of others with wit, charisma, and with great care. Each story is conveyed with clever simplicity, allowing for the fullness of the message to shine through. The reader is encouraged to connect with each story and to reflect upon similar themes in their own lives, providing the right blend of enjoyment of others’ experiences and hearkening back to one’s own. Spanning the country and crossing the globe, we meet people from all walks of life in this book, learning and appreciating pieces of their lives as we go.
I appreciate the desire to tell others’ stories in Listen, Listen to My Heart’s Song by M. Barrett Miller. It provides both contributor and reader the chance to connect, albeit virtually and across the distance of time and place, and to enjoy the commonalities of humanity. The way the stories are told sets the tone for the book, making way for a respectful and pleasant look at lives all at once the same and yet very different from our own. The author is clearly well-traveled and well-connected with people he has known, and, in many instances, helped in one way or another. The author’s generous heart for humankind is the driving force behind the amazing content and touching stories. Listen, Listen to My Heart’s Song is the perfect remedy to a bad day, and the ideal pick-me-up when life feels overwhelming. Well done, M. Barrett Miller.
Friday, August 16, 2024
Trump Denigrates the Military - Constantly
Mr. Trump, please join me at the Wall so I can introduce you, up close and personal, to some losers and suckers.
Trump said the Medal of Honor was a lessor award than the Medal of Freedom.
Trump referred to the more than 1,800 U.S. Marines who lost their lives at Belleau Wood as “suckers.”
He openly criticized Gold Star families.
Standing at the grave, with his Chief of Staff Kelly, of the younger Kelly, who died in Afghanistan in 2010, Trump reportedly turned to the secretary and said: “I don’t get it. What was in it for them?”
Trump ridiculed John McCain.
Trump did not want any wounded Vets to be seen around him or to parade anywhere he’d be.
He sees no honor in awarding the Silver Star, Purple Heart or any other awards for bravery and sacrifice.
Why would any Veteran consider this “man” for a second?
Wednesday, August 14, 2024
Toto, I’ve got a feeling this isn’t Trump’s show anymore
The Wizard of Oz looked frightening and powerful until Dorothy’s little dog, Toto, pulled back a curtain to reveal the silly old con man who was engineering the sham. It could be that the same thing is finally happening to the Wizard of Mar-a-Lago.
Former President Donald Trump has always been a charlatan, but he was wily enough to transform himself into the avatar for millions of disgruntled Americans who projected their anger, fears and resentments onto him. He has kept the illusion going for a remarkably long time, given that his clownish nature was always pretty obvious to those who did not fall for his act.
Just last month, he seemed to be at the top of his con game, having survived an assassination attempt and appearing more energetic (if not more coherent) than a diminished President Joe Biden. Democrats were despondent and Republicans were giddy with the sense that their wizard would once again take them to the land of Oz, or, at least, to the White House and to majorities in the House and Senate.
Now, though, facing a new, much younger, much more articulate and much more appealing opponent, Trump does not seem so all-powerful. He looks like what he truly is: a cranky, whining old rich guy who talks nonsense and has a fetish for bogus crowd-size comparisons.
The Harris/Walz campaign seems to have discovered the key to dampening the appeal of Trump’s flimflam. Instead of overworking warnings about the danger another Trump presidency poses to democracy, they are simply treating Trump as a ridiculous, pathetic figure; a buffoon, not a wizard.
See more of David Horsey’s cartoons at: st.news/davidhorsey
View other syndicated cartoonists at: st.news/cartoons
Editor’s note: Seattle Times Opinion no longer appends comment threads on David Horsey’s cartoons. Too many comments violated our community policies and reviewing the dozens that were flagged as inappropriate required too much of our limited staff time. You can comment via a Letter to the Editor. Please email us at letters@seattletimes.com and include your full name, address and telephone number for verification only. Letters are limited to 200 words.
What a mystery!! Stonehenge’s Altar Stone, an Improbably Long Ancient Journey!!!!
A six-ton megalith at the heart of the archaeological site traveled more than 450 miles to get there, a new study concludes.
NY Times Aug. 14, 2024
Near the center of the roughly 5,000-year-old circular monument known as Stonehenge is a six-ton, rectangular chunk of red sandstone. In Arthurian legend, the so-called Altar Stone was part of the ring of giant rocks that the wizard Merlin magically transported from Mount Killaurus, in Ireland, to Salisbury Plain, a chalk plateau in southern England — a journey chronicled around 1136 by a Welsh cleric, Geoffrey of Monmouth, in his “Historia Regum Britanniae.”
Since then, the accepted provenance of the Altar Stone has shifted, spanning a range of possible sites from east Wales and the Marches to northern England. On Wednesday, a study in the journal Nature reroutes the megalith’s odyssey more definitively, proposing a path much longer than scientists had thought possible.
The researchers analyzed the chemical composition and the ages of mineral grains in two microscopic fragments of the Altar Stone. This pinpointed the stone’s source to the Orcadian Basin in northeast Scotland, an area that spans Inverness, the Orkney Islands and Shetland. To reach the archaeological site in Wiltshire, the megalith would have traveled at least 465 miles by land or more than 620 miles along the present-day coastline if it came by sea.
“This is a genuinely shocking result,” said Rob Ixer, a retired mineralogist and research fellow at University College London who collaborated on the project. “The work prompts two important questions: How and why did the stone travel the length of Britain?”
Stonehenge features two kinds of rocks: larger sarsens and smaller bluestones. The sarsens are sandstone slabs found naturally in southern England. They weigh 20 tons on average and were erected in two concentric arrangements. The inner ring is a horseshoe of five trilithons (two uprights capped by a horizontal lintel), of which three complete ones still stand.
Archaeologists speculate that the Altar Stone was installed at Stonehenge during the second construction phase, around 2620 B.C. to 2480 B.C. Back in the Stone Age, during the winter solstice, the sun would have set in a narrow slot between the tallest trilithon and dropped down over the Altar Stone, which was placed across the solstice axis. The effect is no longer visible: Half of the trilithon has collapsed and today lies in a jumble atop the Altar Stone.
Last year a research team led by Richard Bevins, a geologist at Aberystwyth University in Wales and an author of the new study, published a paper demonstrating that the Altar Stone was not Welsh but most likely from the north. The researchers were intrigued by the presence of a few extremely old zircons, chemically stable minerals that are highly resistant to weathering and heat. They enlisted colleagues in Western Australia, who had access to an array of instruments used in the mining industry for research and exploration.
From shards of the Altar Stone, the Australian researchers analyzed grains of zircon, apatite and rutile. “All three minerals contained uranium, which effectively made them miniature atomic clocks,” said Anthony Clarke, a doctoral candidate in geology at Curtin University in Perth, who conducted the inquiry. “You can determine age by measuring the ratio of uranium to lead and using the known rate of uranium decay.”
This kind of radiometric dating led Mr. Clarke and his team to conclude that the sources of the zircon were largely from the Mesoproterozoic Era (1,600 million to 1,000 million years ago) and the Archaean Eon (4 billion to 2.5 billion years ago), while the apatite and rutile were mid-Ordovician (470 million to 458 million years ago). “We squished the ages together to create a fingerprint of the mineral grains’ source,” he said.
The “fingerprint” was compared to those of sedimentary deposits in thousands of sandstone outcrops in Britain, Ireland and northern Europe. “Putting the data together revealed a striking similarity to the sandstone of the Orcadian Basin,” Mr. Clarke said. “The Altar Stone has a Scottish signature statistically distinct from terrains in the south.”
Nick Pearce, a geochemist at Aberystwyth University who also helped with the new study, said that the new research scuttled the theory that the Altar Stone was a glacial erratic that reached southern England on an ice floe. “During the last two ice ages, the ice directions in northeast Scotland were toward the north,” he said. “The idea that the Altar Stone arrived by glacial transport is almost impossible.”
So how did the Altar Stone get to Salisbury Plain? “There are two options: overland or maritime,” Dr. Pearce said. “Each has merits and huge issues as well.”
Marine transport would have entailed putting a six-ton rock on a Neolithic boat, he said. The land route presented rivers to cross, mountains to go around and dense forests to thwack through. “I’ll leave that question to the archaeologists,” Mr. Clarke said.
Tim Daw, a Wiltshire farmer who once worked at Stonehenge for English Heritage, a charity organization, said the new study brought us closer to understanding our Stone Age past. “How the discovery informs us as to the societal organization of Neolithic people is the start of a great debate,” he said.
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