The Johnstown Flood

For John, BLUF:  This is the rich living as they see fit and the rest absorbing the consequences, except that the law changed after this event, and future generations had a better shot at suing and winning.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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The day Lake Conemaugh destroyed Johnstown

From The Washington Examiner, by Reporter Salena Zito, 11 April 11, 2021 12:40 AM.

Here is the lede plus three:

One hundred and thirty-two years later, the truth of what happened here in May 1889 is still difficult to put into words.

Standing on the very soil where Col. Unger, the last president of the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club, had his home overlooking Lake Conemaugh, you can see from the distance where the Pittsburgh elite had their grand fishing club and elaborate cottages along the shoreline.

Look right, and you can also see the remnants of the poorly maintained dam that once held back their pristine private lake.  It gave way on May 31, 1889, after days of relentless rain, sending 20 million gallons of water raging down 14 miles toward the city of Johnstown.

With each inch and foot and mile, the force of the water gathered and carried with it trees, boulders, dirt, barns, animals, mud, people (dead and alive), and houses.  It flung them all at the unsuspecting town, killing more than 2,000 and causing millions of dollars of damage.

My Father watched the flood of 1936, which killed 25 people.  Fortunately, his Brother Bill made it out of downtown Johnstown.

Here is the Wikipedia article on the flood of 1889.

And here is a map of the Grandview Cemetary, in Westmont, with the Number 1 showing the location of the graves of the 777 unknown victims.  I remember visiting the Cemetary with my Father and viewing the graves, in their straight rows.  It made an impression.  It wasn't my first cemetary, but it was the first to imbed in my memory.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Memorial Day Meditation

For John, BLUF:  With the end of the Military Draft a smaller and smaller portion of the nation has participated in Military Service, and in War, which means fewer with understanding of what war is about.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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THE RISKS OF MEMORIAL DAY NOT BEING PERSONAL

From War on the Rocks, by Marine Scott Cooper, 31 May 2021.

Here is the lede plus two:

In 2007, I spent Memorial Day in Fallujah. Although I was on my fifth tour in Iraq, it was the first deployment when I buried friends.  I attended more than three dozen memorial services that deployment.  I remember the names and faces of the dead. Memorial Day was no longer an abstraction.

This year’s Memorial Day carries with it the anticipation that the country might be bringing the 9/11 wars to a conclusion.  America’s twenty-year war in Afghanistan is coming to an end.  The words that echo in my mind each year on this occasion are a phrase from President Abraham Lincoln:  “that these dead shall not have died in vain.”  It’s an unresolved prayer as I mourn lost comrades.

I worry that Memorial Day is personal to a smaller and smaller number of Americans.  As a national community, Americans may no longer have the ability to collectively remember and honor shared sacrifice, because the sacrifice is not shared.  The all-volunteer force created a military that is self-selecting.  The wars of 9/11 created many veterans who are self-regarding and condescending to those who haven’t served in the military.  A 2020 National Opinion Research Center survey found that a full 60 percent of post-9/11 veterans “agreed” or “strongly agreed” that the eligible Americans who did not volunteer to serve during wartime should feel guilty, compared to just 43 percent of older veterans and 22 percent of civilians.  That is dangerous for the country.

The Author, Scott Cooper is a retired Marine Corps officer and a nonresident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council.

If this intrigues you, read more of the article at the link, above.

Hat tip to my Buddy, and fellow Air Force Vet, Neal.

Regards  —  Cliff

Memorial Day 2021

For John, BLUF:  Yesterday I attended a short ceremony, in the drizzle, at the Ladd Whitney Memorial, in front of Lowell City Hall.  It was a proper Memorial Day Ceremony, with Colonel Sam Poulten playing taps on his bugle at the end.

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MEMORIAL DAY

It used to be called Decortion Day, because we were putting flowers or flags on the tombstones of those who died while on military service.  It didn't have to be in combat.  It could of been like my classmate who died in 1961 in a plane crash in Brussels, Cadet William Holmes Hickox.  He was enroute to Prague, as a member of the United States Figure Skating Team to the competition for World Championships.

All who have died while on duty were serving their nation by their presence.

And not to be forgotten are those who served and then returned to civilian life, and then passed on.  They too gave part of their life to their nation.

Regards  —  Cliff

Racism in the Great Outdoors

For John, BLUF:  Our past was not perfect.  Nor is the present.  I have some hope for the future.  But we all have to work at it.  by Ann Althouse at 3:38 PM Nothing to see here; just move along.

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"The Great Outdoors Was Made for White People."

Here is the sub-headline:

A great headline at The Nation...  but is it deadly serious?  Actually, yes

Posted by Ann Althouse, 29 May 2021, 3:38 PM .

Here is the lede plus one:

Through military and legislative intervention, such as the Mariposa Battalion’s violent raid of the village of Ahwahneechee in 1851, which expelled the remaining Indigenous people from Yosemite, these places were cultivated primarily for white people.  Early conservationists like Bowles, or the venerated John Muir or Madison Grant (who wrote one of the foundational texts of the American eugenics movement, The Passing of the Great Race:  Or, The Racial Basis of European History), were not shy in advocating racial exclusivity:  When they spoke of the importance of nature for our nation, they meant the white nation....

The complicated relationships that people of color in the United States have developed with the outdoors because of white violence, coupled with the fact that many local parks—and all national parks—either did not admit people of color or, in some cases, segregated them until 1964, rendered it an effectively white domain....

This is a blot on the National Park Service, but also on the Nation as a whole.  The idea whole Parks would be closed to People of Color is an affront to all.

I assume it is better today, but as COVID-19 fades I will be looking at crowds that visit our National Park here in Lowell and pondering who is there and who isn't.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Corbynization

For John, BLUF:  Anti-Semitism is a growing problem in these United States, and an ugly problem.  And, we arenot distinguishing between the casual bad choice of words and vicious actions, that physically harm people.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Rutgers University Chancellor Christopher J. Molloy Condemns the Rise in Antisemitic Violence; and then Apologizes for Doing So

Here is the sub-headline:

Molloy winds up implicitly endorsing the argument that criticizing antisemitism in the United States is anti-Palestinian.

From Reason Magazine [Volokh Conspiracy], by Professor David Bernstein, 28 May 2021, 10:14 AM.

Here is the last paragraph:

If a condemnation of antisemitism in the U.S. because of a recent upsurge in violence, threats, and vandalism, combined with a condemnation of all other forms of bigotry, triggers Students for Justice in Palestine, the chancellor's response could have taken many forms, including silence.  The one response that's completely unacceptable is to endorse SJP's view that condemning antisemitism in the United States makes you anti-Palestinian, or indeed reflects any view on the Arab-Israeli conflict at all.

The Chancellor and Provost at Rutgers University–New Brunswick condemn anti-Semitism, and then when a group, Rutgers Students for Justice in Palestine, pushes back, the Chancellor and Provost back off. 

I don't object to the Rutgers Students for Justice in Palestine raising objections.  I do object to the University caving in to those students.  Where is the intellectual integrity of higher education Administrators.  It is a good thing that Galileo Galilei lived when he did, when thinkers defended their thoughs, even against His Holiness, the Pope.  It appears today they just crumble.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Slight of Hand

For John, BLUF:  Sometimes, when talking about the US Defense Budget, advocates will compare it to the rest of the descretionary budget, rather than the whole Federal budget.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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My vote? Cut Pentagon Bloat!

From an EMail from Peace Action, by Ms Lilly Dragnev, Friday, 28 May 2021.

Here is the letter I received:

Dear Cliff,

President Biden’s FY 2022 budget is scheduled to be released today.  In it, he is requesting $753 billion for the Pentagon, a $13 billion increase over Trump’s last budget!

The real work begins in Congress, however.  Soon the Congressional debate will begin about where to actually allocate our taxpayer dollars.  We need to take this moment to collectively call for their use on sorely underfunded human needs over more Pentagon bloat.  Today, I ask you to speak out against the billions of dollars allocated to the Pentagon year after year.  We have an opportunity to reallocate funds from the Pentagon into healthcare, infrastructure, education, racial justice, sustainable energy programs, and so much more.  Help us urge Congress to seize this important opportunity.

The U.S. spends more on its military than the next eleven countries combined.  Such consistently massive military budgets have been funding wars and overseas operations that disproportionately target and harm people of color around the world — all while simultaneously eating up funding for critical programs here at home, which then takes a greater toll on communities of color.

Even as we face a historic pandemic and another economic crisis, President Biden requested that nearly half of the budget be spent on the military-industrial complex.  He requested a whopping $13 billion more for the military than Trump did.  This increase alone is 33% greater than the entire Center for Disease Control budget! Clearly, our priorities, and certainly our true security, are misplaced.

Demand your members of Congress speak out and vote against ever-growing Pentagon spending by adding your name to this petition today!

With talk of life returning to normal, we need to remind those in charge that “normal” didn’t work for many communities — communities marginalized by the status quo of endless revenue streams toward the Pentagon and simultaneous cuts to the critical programs that could offer change.  Let’s make sure that the world we move toward as we rein in this pandemic is not one where few profit at the expense of many, but instead one in which Congress puts taxpayer dollars into the critical programs we need to help everyone thrive.

For peace and true security,

Lilly Dragnev
Peace Action

Budget numbers are tricky.  Here are the numbers from President Biden's Budget release.

ITEMS	MONIES (Billions)
Receipts	3,421
Outlays	6,550
Deficit	3,129
DISCRETIONARY
Defense	754
Non-Defense	913
MANDATORY
Social Security	1,186
Medicare	767
Medicade	518
Other	1,255
Net Interest	305

That is a lot of money.  And some of it may be optomistic.  Remember, we are talking billions of dollars.  Remember the late Senator Everett Dirksen, "A billion here, a billion there, and pretty soon you're talking about real money."

This is what I wrote back to Ms Dragnev:

Lilly

Divert it for what? More domestic spying?  I hope not.  More mental health? Only if we find a program that works.  Homelessness?  I think we are avoiding the hard questions.  And, we need to agree on peace.  The idea that we will support Hamas and not Israel leaves open the question of then what?  I would propose Jewish Dakota.  Where else would they go?  Baring the Second Coming, they have to be somewhere, unless folks are advocating they be eliminated as a race.  The Corbynization of the Democratic Party is an embarrassment for those of us who had supported HHH or Shirley Chisholm or Jimmy Carter.

As for the Pentagon, we need to decide what we wish to do.  Is North Korea, nuclear armed, a threat to South Korea or Japan?  Do we care about Taiwan?  Should India be left to deal with Pakistan and China on its own?  What would that look like?  What about Ambazonia, or the larger danger of Islamification of Africa?

.

You can't rationally pick a defense budget until you have decided what it is that you wish to accomplish.  Strategy, per Colonel Arthur F Lykke, Jr, is matching ends ways and means.  I had Colonel Art Lykke as a Professor at Army War College.  I adapted his view to "Strategy is matching objectives, threats and opportunities in a resource constrained environment."  Either way, you need to nail down the objectives, the "ends".

Is there anything out there worth fighting for?

Regards  —  Cliff

The FBI Changes Its Stance

For John, BLUF:  The idea that someone would travel from Belleville, IL to the Nation's Capitol for the purpose of invoking the police to shot him, seems a little off the wall.  There are plenty of police between the two locations.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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FBI admits GOP baseball shooting was domestic terrorism after previously deeming it 'suicide by cop'

From The Blaze, by Writer Breck Dumas, 14 May 2021.♠

Here is the lede plus two:

The FBI has "quietly" admitted that the 2017 shooting by a far-left radical who tried to murder several GOP members of Congress at a baseball field was, indeed, domestic terrorism, The Washington Examiner reported.

Last month, current FBI chief Christopher Wray was confronted by Republican lawmakers over the agency classifying the shooting as "suicide by cop" under a previous director.

The Examiner found in an FBI-DHS report released Friday detailing 85 "FBI-Designated Significant Domestic Terrorism Incidents in the United States from 2015 through 2019" classified the shooting at an Alexandria, Va., baseball field by a supporter of former Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) as "domestic violent extremism."

Catching up.

I am sad to say I am not shocked here.

Regards  —  Cliff

♠  One wonders if Mr Breck Dumas is descended from Writer Alexandre Dumas, or his son, Alexandre, fils?