An interview with Lt. Gen. (ret.) H. R. McMaster, who was fired in 2018 from the National Security Council by Trump. McMaster is the author of several highly acclaimed books on military strategy and foreign policy, a very smart man who is worth listening to.
What I Say: I admire McMaster, but he is not the first person to suggest that Ukraine could be made into an "Afghanistan" for Russia - i.e., a long, drawn-out war of attrition which would ultimately fail. Perhaps it could, given the fierce resistance of the Ukrainian people; but to my mind this is no solution at all.
After 20 years of non-stop war, Afghanistan, so far as I understand from news reports, is now in ruins, physically and financially, ruled by murderous, fanatical theocrats, and in immediate danger of mass starvation. What the hell kind of life is left for the ordinary people there? How many millions of Afghans have died in 20 years? How many are maimed, crippled, widowed, or orphaned? To our abiding shame, the United States sat on that country for two decades and left it a living hell.
Is that the best Ukrainians can hope for? I ask you. We can't set all the world afire to save just one country from burning down - but can't somebody come up with a good plan to save both?
What would Captain Kirk do?
Today is the time for help, not tomorrow, or next week, next month, next year - but NOW, while there is still someone to save. Not 20 years from now.
Treason is afoot in the land. The New York Times sounds the alarm this morning:
Click to enlarge.
And Politico reports: "Former national security adviser H.R. McMaster said Thursday that President Donald Trump is 'aiding and abetting' Russian President Vladimir Putin’s efforts to sow doubt about the American electoral system."
McMaster expressed himself at length in this interview with MSNBC today:
But of course all this is old news - here's a front page of the New York Daily News two years ago:
You know, 55 percent of non-voters in the 2016 election were Democrats, according to the Pew Research Center. I'm praying that Democrats will turn out this year in overwhelming numbers so that the election results cannot possibly be challenged. It's all up to us, fellas - now is the time to overthrow the dictatorship that has already begun. This is the last chance to stop it - our generation's rendezvous with destiny.
I was never asked to shed my blood for this country that I love - but I will certainly give my vote. We are fortunate here in Texas that the state allows walk-in early voting during most of October, 7 days a week in our county. M.P. and I have already made our plan for when and where to vote. Have you?
An excerpt from Franklin D. Roosevelt's speech before the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia on June 27, 1936 - a masterpiece of Democratic and democratic ideals, well worth reading in full:
There is a mysterious cycle in human events. To some generations much is given. Of other generations much is expected. This generation of Americans has a rendezvous with destiny.
In this world of ours, in other lands there are some people, who, in times past, have lived and fought for freedom, and seem to have grown too weary to carry on the fight. They have sold their heritage of freedom for the illusion of a living. They have yielded their democracy.
I believe in my heart that only our success can stir their ancient hope. They begin to know that here in America we are waging a great and successful war. It is not alone a war against want and destitution and economic demoralization. It is more than that; it is a war for the survival of democracy. We are fighting to save a great and precious form of government for ourselves and for the world.
I accept the commission you have tendered me. I join with you. I am enlisted for the duration of the war.
What a coincidence. A perfect excused absence from all other debates. Which his team surely realizes would only turn off more voters.
Don't be too quick to feel sorry for him. He has LIED about everything else in the last four years, why not his own health? Such a convenient excuse to hole up in his bunker and avoid the press and public till Election Day.
Very clever. But not, I think, clever enough to fool the American people - the sane majority, that is.
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is discord, harmony; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; where there is sadness, joy. Grant that I may seek not so much to be consoled as to console; to be understood as to understand; to be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we receive; it is in pardoning that we are pardoned; and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. Amen.
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We cannot all do great things, but we can do small things with great love.
and welcome to the Blue Truck, a blog for mature gay men with news and views on gay rights, history, art, humor, and whatever comes to mind. Plus a few hot men. The truck's all washed and gassed up, so hop in buddy, let's go.
CAUTION: For mature gay men only beyond this point. Some posts and links may not be suitable for children or the unco guid. You have been warned.
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My Story
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Churches say that the expression of love in a heterosexual monogamous relationship includes the physical, the touching, embracing, kissing, the genital act - the totality of our love makes each of us grow to become increasingly godlike and compassionate. If this is so for the heterosexual, what earthly reason have we to say that it is not the case with the homosexual?
It is a perversion if you say to me that a person chooses to be homosexual. You must be crazy to choose a way of life that exposes you to a kind of hatred. It's like saying you choose to be black in a race-infected society.
If God, as they say, is homophobic, I wouldn't worship that God.
Note, 9/15/26: For the past week, Blogger has not updated most of the posts in this sidebar. I don't know what to do about it. You can still access the websites below by clicking on the titles of each one.
