Thursday, June 19, 2025
Saturday, June 14, 2025
An interesting day.
Donald Trump, who hasn't served a day in the military, will preside over the largest military parade in the United States since the end of the First Gulf War.
Friday, June 13, 2025
Thursday, June 12, 2025
Lex Anteinternet: Cliffnotes of the Zeitgeist, 88th Edition Postscript. Adding to what we already noted in a predictive issue and other ramblings. Order coming on women in combat roles.
So we posted:
Lex Anteinternet: Cliffnotes of the Zeitgeist, 88th Edition. A pred...: Pretty effective 1970s vintage Army recruiting poster seeking female recruits. There's been some interesting signs of things to come rec...
And then there was this speech:
HEGSETH: We're not interested in your woke garbage and your political correctness
FORT BRAGG TROOPS: *Yeahhhh!*
I'm pretty sure that my predictions are coming rapidly.
Last edition:
Cliffnotes of the Zeitgeist, 88th Edition. A predictive issue and other ramblings. Order coming on women in combat roles. Trump's bolt shot.
Monday, June 9, 2025
Cliffnotes of the Zeitgeist, 88th Edition. A predictive issue and other ramblings. Order coming on women in combat roles. Trump's bolt shot.
There's been some interesting signs of things to come recently, including where Hegseth is headed on women in the military, and where Trump's close acolytes are headed in regard to his increasing mental decline.
Interesting times.
We'll start with Hegseth.
As anyone who stops in here is well aware, I'm not a Trump fan. I'm conservative, actually conservative, but I'm not lockstep in line with anyone. Frankly, anyone who is, just isn't thinking. Anyhow, The Trump regime is not conservative but populist, and populist in the same way that gave rise to fascism in various European nations in the 30s, or to Communism to others in the teens and twenties. But I can see how we got here and indeed I'd been warning about this for some time before it happened. As readers here know, once Obergefell was decided by the U.S. Supreme Court I feared a political breakdown was inevitable.1 I also thought that claims made at the time that Obergefell wouldn't lead to a more radical development in the category of gender norms were badly misguided, and I was proved correct about that. The country was headed toward acceptance of homosexual unions as marriages, irrespective of what social conservatives may think of that, but Justice Kennedy and his fellow travelers hijacking the trend line without any real legal weight behind it jump started the country right into the transgender movement which helped radicalize an already radicalizing populist base in the right wing of the GOP.2
Women in combat roles in the US came the following year, 2016, and was controversial at the time and remains so in social conservative I recently posted on it, and I remain very much opposed to it. While I'm not a fan of Hegseth, he's on record as opposing it as well.
Some time ago Hegseth ordered that the service review its physical fitness standards on a gender neutral basis.3 This isn't really the first time that this has been done and the results can probably be predicted.
Indeed, they can be predicted in part due to the experiences of women in sports competing with men who are surgically and chemically altered to female morphologies, but more on that in a moment.
At the time, I thought that was probably step one towards removing women from combat roles.
Then Hegseth came out with a tweet (I wish government officials would stay off Twitter) endorsing a story in the Telegraph, a British newspaper. The article was this one:
Hegseth, in his comment, noted the problems of women in combat roles, although only briefly and vaguely.
Like a lot of things repeated on Twitter, the Tweet falls sort of teh full story:
IDF chief halts mobility unit pilot program for female combat troops
The IDF is just suspending the study and will get back to a new one.
Before all of this, Hegseth ordered that "transgendered" troops leave the service. That was probably the least controversial thing he could do, and it makes perfect sense. Gender Dysphoria may exist, but transgenderism does not. Moreover, if you have to take medication just to keep your morphology, you really aren't ready for the rigors of military life.
Transgenderism in general, which will also get to below, is really a manifestation of, in my view, a mental illness. It's a trendy one, however, and is part of the culture wars which gave rise to a radicalized far right, and then to Trump.
Ordering that "transgendered" troops get out of the service is one thing, but then there's this:
Cliffnotes of the Zeitgeist 85th Edition: Hegseth directs Navy to rename USNS Harvey Milk days into Pride Month.
This isn't related to women in combat, but it's certainly a shot in the culture wars and a surprising one. With the constant storm surrounding the Trump Regime, it didn't generate nearly as much controversy as I thought it would, and that may have been why it was done. Running that up the flagpole may have been a test by Hegseth to see how much flak he'll get if he orders women out of combat roles.
I suspect it was.
And I suspect that its coming very soon.
Indeed, it has to be soon.
And hence our next prediction.
People have predicted that Trump is running out of steam since day one, but now it appears he really is. In the old phrase, Trump has "jumped the shark". Indeed, there's an odd maxim that once something has maximum attention in the public eye, it's probably passed its peak.
There's a lot of evidence of this around, and it makes a big difference to what Hegseth, and others in the Trump Administration, depending upon how savvy they are to trends, are behaving.
Trump is increasingly erratic and weird. He's also becoming increasingly ineffective. Having done a lot early on in a flurry of Executive Orders, the Courts, save for the Supreme Court, so far, are effectively saying "hold on Buckwheat" and stopping much of what he's done. The entire goofball DOGE effort is the same. Indeed, at least one minor agency is being reconstructed, amazingly, after Musk and his wrecking crew attacked it.4 Indeed, DOGE achieved a mess, but that's about it. Bill Clinton's effort to cut the size of the government, which lead to a surplus in its day, was much more effective.
Now the wheels are coming off. Musk is feuding with Trump. The Senate may not pass the Big Ugly Bill, at least not in the form the sycophantic House did. Questions are being razed.
Trump is being publicly mocked as "Taco".
The bloom is off the rose, Trump's authority is declining, and the looming 25th Amendment is getting warmed up.
Have you noticed that James Donald Bowman, aka J. D. Vance, whom we heard from constantly early on, is now pretty much silent. That's not an accident. Vance will take over when Trump is booted, and my guess that he doesn't want to be tainted with Trump any more than he has to be. He's gone from insulting Ukrainian Presidents for not wearing suits, to just not being there.
Which brings this back around to women in the military, and other social issues. National Conservatives and Christian Nationalist rode into power on Trump's back as they knew that they could. They also know, however, that they need time to completely overhaul the nation to look like they want it to, and 18 months, all the more time I've given Trump before he is hauled off to an assisted living wing of Mar A Lago, isn't enough. Four years isn't either, and frankly the Democrats are going to retake the House of Representatives nexts year. If Vance doesn't secure reelection after this administration is done with, much of what the National Conservatives/Christian Nationalist did during their four years will just be dust in the wind.
In order for anything to stick, it has to be done quickly, so that the electorate is acclimated to it by 2028, or there has to be a plan to stay in power in 2028. My guess that Vance's disappearing act is part of that.
I fear what else may be.5
Back to some rambling.
As is often the case, a certain element of synchronicity tends to work on these posts, with various things coming up with that cause the thread to be posted. Just as I started contemplating the women in combat topic, again, a couple of such things did which are related.
I subscribe to Mandatory Fun Day on Instagram. A buddy of mine who had been in the service sent me some of his clips and they're hilarious, if you've been in the Army. If you haven't, they're probably completely baffling.
Anyhow, as I subscribe on Instagram, they started coming up on Facebook as "reels". No problem. The fact that they did, however, meant that I'd get suggested reels by other service members following in the creator's wake. They were uniformly pretty bad.
All of a sudden, having not taken interest in those, Facebook started suggesting reels by female service members, a large number of which are service women in their t-shirts being cute in a college coed fashion, or worse. Dancing female soldiers show up, and even twerking ones. Women showing how they dress in their uniforms, starting with pretty much only skivvies on, is another. Perhaps the one most illustrative of why I regard this all a problem was one in which a female soldier photographed herself in GI trousers, and regulation brown t-shirt, showing "how I feel when I see my man in uniform", which involved clutching her breasts and and having her free hand south of her fly.
And all of this is observable just on the suggested feed, not on what shows up if you click on it.
One I did click on, as it was so oddly titled, involved a cute young woman making babyish "moo" sounds, in an item entitled "she found her moo". The voice of the filmer was also female. Apparently the moo thing is some sort internet trend.
Anyhow, relationships, and you can use your imagination as to what I mean by that, are a problem in college dorms where nobody is expected to kill anyone. They've been a huge problem in the service, and the Marine Corps had to take steps some time ago to order female Marines to knock off seductive filming, some of which featured female Marines nude. Young women acting like young women away from home and in college dorms isn't surprising, but it sure isn't conductive to unit cohesiveness in organizations in which death and destruction is a routine norm.
Put another way, the "man" whom the young woman touching body parts which used to be referenced in the Jody Call "The Prettiest Girl I Ever Saw" is going to be a problem in any unit, let alone one in which a soldier may be expected to leave her behind to be killed.6 7
Moo.
Anyhow, while noting all of this, I also saw a series of stories recently about women being upset by having to compete against men, who are "transgendered". Also, UW is now being investigated due to Artemis Langford being in a sorority, at the same time that sorority sisters are trying to keep him out.
That caused me to realize how often its women who lead the charge in this are. Women know they are women and they justifiably feel that in sports they shouldn't have to compete against men. And they aren't the only ones. An international body that regulates boxing has imposed genetic tests on female boxers to make sure they're female.
The reason for all of this is that even second rate male athletes turn out to be almost unstoppable competition in female sports, when they compete as transgendered. Women resent it, and rightfully.
But oddly enough society hasn't seemingly noted something that Hemingway noted many years ago.
There is no hunting like the hunting of man, and those who have hunted armed men long enough and liked it, never care for anything else thereafter.
I'm not saying that war is nice. Quite the contrary. But in some ways its the ultimate athletic endeavor, even now in the era of high tech weapons. And let us be honest Killing is part of it, but there's never been a conflict anywhere in the world where brutalization and rape haven't been part of it, nor has there ever been one in which some women took advantage of their assets in a wartime pinch.
Women don't belong in combat.
Let's go back to the plight of the UW sorority for a second.
The entire saga here shows how difficult it can be for public institutions in this bizarre era in which we live. It's obvious that a male should not be in a sorority, and Langford may dress as a female and wish to be regarded as one, but at least the last time I checked on the story, he hadn't "transitioned", which means he's full equipped. There's no reason that a young woman should be forced to live in close residential confines with a man if she doesn't wish to.
The other sad aspect of this is that this entire saga, in which they've sued, and I don't blame them, and now the Trump Administration is investigating UW, means that his entire delusion has become his identity, when had this been treated as what it was, a mental illness, it might all be past tense by now. Indeed, just looking it would suggest that it might very well have been.8
Anyhow, stuff like this puts universities in the can't win for losing situation. Charlie Kirk, a right wing populist babbler, has made comments on Langford, and a right wing populist law student just sponsored him talking on campus.
Pity poor UW.
Back to Hegseth t he White House is looking for a new chief of staff and several senior advisers to support him, but there's been no takers.
Again, this Administration has shot its bolt, and its showing.
On other things military, we have this:
A President federalizing a Guard unit ab initio like this is very unusual.
Some are declaring that this is a first step towards nationwide martial law. I doubt it. It's a bad move however. Troops, including National Guardsmen, make poor police. They really aren't trained for it, but are trained to use force.
Usually troops, including National Guardsmen, who are deployed in this role aren't given ammunition. The opposite can happen, of course, as Kent State famously and tragically indicated. This is a bad look, anyway you view it.
To circle back, how much of what we're seeing now, will stick? Trump's really on his way out, and it's doubtful the culture has been much impacted, so far.
Footnotes:
1. This thread has been getting a lot of views for some reason recently, and is often one of the most popular ones of the week.
2. Kennedy provides us with another example of the disaster of the very aged being in a position of authority.
3. The order states:
High standards are what made the United States military the greatest fighting force on the planet. The strength of our military is our unity and our shared purpose. We are made stronger and more disciplined with high, uncompromising, and clear standards.
I am directing the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness (USD(P&R)) to gather the existing standards set by the Military Departments pertaining to physical fitness, body composition, and grooming, which includes but is not limited to beards. The USD(P&R) will conduct a review of these standards and how they have changed since January 1, 2015 . The review will also provide insight on why those standards changed and the impact of those changes. The USD(P&R) has the authority to task the Secretaries of the Military Departments and other DoD Component heads as necessary to provide any required information in support of this review and will provide detailed guidance to the Military Departments.
We must remain vigilant in maintaining the standards that enable the men and women of our military to protect the American people and our homeland as the world' s most lethal and effective fighting force. Our adversaries are not growing weaker, and our tasks are not growing less challenging. This review will illuminate how the Department has maintained the level of standards required over the recent past and the trajectory of any change in those standards.
4. None of which has kept the perpetually behind the curve Wyoming legislature from heading off with its own DOGE effort, just as the Federal effort is sinking.
5. Having said that, by any standard Vance will be more normal than Trump, which doesn't mean he will get reelected in 2028.
6. They must be banned now, but the Army used to have a lot of Jody Calls that were outright foul, but probably serve to illustrate the atmosphere that units of young men tend to have, for good or ill. In this call, a solder recalls drinking in a bar and touching a woman next to him in various place until she says "GI, you know the rest", resulting in his now having a bunch of children.
7. As a totally random item:
As more women head to war, IDF uniforms designed for men expose female troops to risks
The army’s one-uniform-fits-all approach means a fifth of combat soldiers are operating in clothes, vests and other gear unsuited to their physiques, harming safety and effectiveness
8. I don't know all the details, but from what little you can pick up on the net, Langford's parents seem to have gone through a bad divorce and his father obtained custody. Langford relates that he solidified his view of himself as a woman following a desperate nighttime prayer. He was a Mormon, and while many faiths recognize praying for guidance, the Mormon faith has a "burning bosom" line of thought on some things. The LDS are not, however, supportive of transgenderism, which is interesting, and Langford now identifies as an Episcopalian. Some branches of the Episcopal church have been notoriously willing to accept gender trends, which is part of the reason that the Episcopal Church is rapidly declining in membership.
Related threads:
Women and combat
Last edition:
Cliffnotes of the Zeitgeist 87th Edition. No, "Liberals" are not flocking to Musk.
Sunday, June 8, 2025
Friday, June 8, 1900. Boxers attack the racetrack.
Boxers burned the grandstand of the horse racing track at the country club for western diplomats in Beijing. It unfortunately turned lethal when British horsemen at the track rode out to investigate and one drew a pistol and killed a Boxer, causing the Chinse government to surround the foreigners at the Peking Legation Quarter.
The War Department authorized the production of telescopic sights for rifles. The rifle at the time was the Krag–Jørgensen rifle, which had proven unsatisfactory in comparison to the M93 Mauser used by Spain in the Spanish American War.
The sight consists of a telescope which is attached by means of brackets to the left side of the rifle. The front bracket is secured to the lower band by two screws, and the ring through which the telescope passes has a horizontal motion to provide for drift and windage. A ball-and-socket joint in this ring allows the telescope to be moved in any direction … The rear bracket is screwed to the side plate of the receiver, and the ring which holds the telescope has a vertical movement for changes of elevation.
Telescopes of three different powers are submitted for trial, viz. 8 diameters, 12 diameters, and 20 diameters. The medium power (12 diameters) gave the best results.
The telescope is of practically universal focus; that is, it does not require readjustment for different marksmen or for different ranges. The eye can be placed close to the eyepiece or several inches away without any apparent difference in the focus. Danger of being struck in the eye when the piece recoils can therefore be avoided.
The lenses are large and are held in place by having the metal of the tubes in which they are mounted spun over their outer edges. The telescope is light, but at the same time strong. The brackets for attaching the telescope to the rifle are strong and durable and there appears to be no tendency to jar loose.
The sight was tested by actual firings up to a range of 2,000 yards, each member of the board participating in the firings. As a result of this test, the board is of the opinion that the use of this telescopic sight appears to be of especial value in hazy or foggy weather and at long ranges. In either case the target can be seen with remarkable clearness, and the marksman can be absolutely sure that he is aiming at the proper object. This would be of especial importance to sharpshooters acting independently.
The ordinary sight is useful for accurate firing at a regular target up to about 2,000 yards; but it is impossible to see a man or even a small body of men clearly at that range unless projected against the sky or under other very favorable conditions. It is for this reason that volley firing is so largely resorted to at long ranges.
With a telescopic sight a man could be distinguished easily at 2,000 yards, even with an unfavorable background.
The board is of the opinion that this sight is suitable for use in the U.S. service, and recommends a number of them be purchased for trial by troops in the field. If found to be satisfactory, a sufficient number should be purchased to supply such a number of the sharpshooters of each organization as experience in the field shall indicate to be desirable.
Only seven scoped Krags were produced. Work was already commencing on a replacement for the Krag which would soon produce the M1903 Springfield, a rifle much more suitable for a scope, but which was not equipped with one for sniping purposes until World War One.
Last edition:
Thursday, June 7, 1900. Carrie Nation's first act.
Wednesday, May 21, 2025
Pandemic Part 10. A new paradigm?
February 17, 2022
The Center for Disease Control estimates that, taking the massive spread of Omicron around the country into account and the final relatively high vaccination rate in the country, 73% of the nation is now immune from the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2, i.e. COVID 19.
Nobody is really sure exactly what that means. But it might mean that we're entering a phase where the virus doesn't disappear, but it's much less disruptive to society.
It's still the case, however, that it remains a danger for the unvaccinated.
March 1, 2022
Wyoming's public health emergency shall expire on March 14.
March 21, 2022
A new variant of Omicron has developed, which is about 30% more transmissible than the already more transmissible Omicron. It's spiking in Europe and in Hong Kong has caused an outbreak with a massive death rate, mostly concentrated in the unvaccinated elderly.
China has reported its first deaths in many months.
According to experts, the world is about 50% through the probable course of the pandemic.
April 14, 2022
Over 1,000,000 Americans have now died from the COVID 19.
July 22, 2022
President Biden has COVID 19.
At this point, two members of our four member family also have, with one having had it quite recently and finding it awful, but being grateful accordingly for having been vaccinated.
A new, more traditional type of vaccine, has now been approved.
September 20, 2022
On 60 Minutes over the weekend, President Biden stated; "The pandemic is over. We still have a problem with COVID. We're still doing a lot of work on it. But the pandemic is over." The HHS Secretary later confirmed that position.
Epidemiologically, it isn't over, but then neither is the plague's pandemic either. The statement has been criticized, with 400 people per day dying of the disease, but by and large it reflects the mood of the public which has largely gone back to a new post Covid introduction, world in which COVID 19 is part of the background.
December 15, 2022
The new defense spending authorization includes a requirement that the Secretary of Defense rescind vaccination requirements for troops because, well because that's the idiotic sort of thing that politicians like to stick into bills.
All of the troops should be vaccinated.
December 24, 2022
China, which has not accepted western vaccines, reported 37,000,000 new vaccinations in a single day.
January 2, 2023
A new variant of Omicron, XBB.1.5, now makes up 40% of the new cases in the U.S.
And Covid is still killing.
January 20, 2023
Governor Gordon Tests Positive for COVID-19
CHEYENNE, Wyo. – Governor Mark Gordon has received results of a COVID-19 test that showed he is positive for the virus. The Governor is experiencing only minor symptoms at this time and will continue working from home on behalf of Wyoming.
Why Scientists, Lawmakers & Diplomats Care Where COVID Began
January 26, 2025
The Central Intelligence Agency revised its report on the origin of COVID reporting, with low confidence, that a Chinese laboratory is to blame.
This was a report that was completed during the Biden Administration and was just now released. It's being released now is unfortunate, in that it comes during the Trump Interregnum which is packed with people who generally have a contempt for science, which this will slightly fuel if anyone notices it given all the distraction at the present time. Most Scientists think the most likely hypothesis is that it circulated in bats, like many coronaviruses, before infecting another species.
May 21, 2025
The Trump Administration is limiting vaccine updates to those over 65 or in high risk categories, and requiring extensive testing for new updates.
Last prior installment:
Pandemic Part 9. Omicron becomes dominant
Tuesday, May 20, 2025
Tuesday, May 20, 1975. Seas of blood.
The Khmer Rouge began to purge Cambodians associated with the former government, a move that would feature mass execution.
This is commonly viewed as the beginning of the Cambodian Genocide.
The House of Representatives voted 303-96 to admit women to the previously all-male service academies. The move was quite controversial at the time.
The Senate would follow suit, with the first women entering the academies in the summer of 1976.
The final episode of the police series Adam-12 was broadcast.
Last episode.
Monday, May 19, 1975. Executive Order 11860—Establishing the President's Advisory Committee on Refugees.
Thursday, May 15, 2025
Another US light tank bites the dust.
For some reason, the US just can't seem to develop a light tank that it likes.
Thursday, May 8, 2025
Wednesday, May 7, 2025
Wednesday, May 7, 1975. End of the Vietnam War Era.
The US government declared the Vietnam War era at an end for purposes of veterans benefits.
9,087,000 military personnel served on active duty during the official Vietnam Era, but of course not all of them went to Vietnam. 3.4 million U.S. servicemen were deployed to Southeast Asia. Approximately 2.7 million served in the Republic of Vietnam. Most US servicemen in Vietnam were not combat troops, although because of the nature of the war, any of them could be exposed to combat.
There has never been a U.S. President who served in Vietnam, although one Vice President, Al Gore, did. George W. Bush was in the Texas Air National Guard as a fighter pilot during the war. Bill Clinton had a student deferment. Joe Biden had a deferment for asthma. Trump had one for shin splints.
None of my immediate family (parents, aunts, uncles, cousins) served in Vietnam or would qualify as a Vietnam Era veteran, even though a lot of them had been in the service. The husband of one of my cousins had served in Vietnam as an officer in the Navy, and a Canadian cousin of my mother's who was living in Florida was drafted and served in Vietnam, so there is some family connection. In the neighborhood, the son of the man who lived across the street was a paratrooper in the war.
In junior high, one of the more colorful social studies teachers had been in the Marine Recon, a unit much like the Rangers, during the war, and occasionally wore a green beret, which was never officially adopted by the Marines, to school. In high school, a legendary swimming teacher from the South Pacific had been a Navy SEAL and bore the scars of having been shot in the war and also from having been straffed as a child by a Japanese airplane. The ROTC teacher also had been, but I didn't take ROTC.
In university, a geology professor who also held a job with the State of Wyoming had served in Vietnam, and according to those who knew him well, suffered pretty markedly from PTSD. I never noticed that myself, and he was a good professor.
When I joined the National Guard right after high school I found it packed with Vietnam Veterans. One of my good friends in the Guard was the mechanics section chief but had the Combat Infantryman's Badge awarded for two tours in the country. Another friend of mine also had the CIB from the 1st Cavalry Division, with his uniquely being stitched in dark blue for the subdued patch. A fellow I was friendly with had been a Ranger in Vietnam and when he first joined and was still relying on service period uniforms he'd wear a black beret, another unofficial item. A good friend of mine who was his brother in law was in the Wyoming Air National Guard and had flown medical missions to the country, a deployment you rarely hear about. One of our members had been a Navy pilot. What with the CIBs, combat patches, pilot's wings, etc., we must have been an odd looking bunch to the young soldiers in the Regular Army.
There were a lot of them.
Cartoonist George Baker, the creator of the World War Two era Sad Sack cartoon, died at age 59.
Last edition:
Tuesday, May 6, 1975. Authoritarian victims.
Tuesday, May 6, 2025
Reduction in Flag Officers.
Of course, that's not the full story. The National Guard is a more significant established force now than it was prior to World War Two. Interesting that Hegseth doesn't mention the Reserves, which are also more of a significant force post World War Two.
All in all, there likely is merit to a reduction in flag officers.
Thursday, May 1, 2025
Cliffnotes of the Zeitgeist 83d Edition. The law and refusal to depart, departing in the worst way, echoes of service.
The old lawyers.
I was on a phone hearing recently and one of the lawyers, whom I used to run into a fair amount but have not for years, sounded really rough. In a subsequent phone call he sounded the same way, and I looked up his firm photo and realized he is now 76 years old.
76.
What the crap?
In his photo, he looked haggard and ancient.
I was at something else not too long ago and saw another lawyer I used to run into a fair amount, who always had a youthful appearance even though I knew he was at least decade. I was shocked by his appearance.
He's now 83. He might just be practicing part time, I'd note.
I spoke to a lawyer friend of mine who is now up over 70, I think. He doesn't appear worn or drawn down, but he told me that he's afraid of retiring as he enjoys the social interaction of the lawyers. We discussed another lawyer who is a friend of his whom I figure is now in his mid 70s.
There's something deeply wrong with all of this.
This reflects, I'll note, in our society at large, of course. Our last qualified President, Joe Biden was in his 80s, and clearly suffering from mental decline, when he left office in defeat. A recent book regarding the 2024 election reports, in hte opinion of hte authors, that Biden believes he's smarkter than everyone else which formed the basis of his disaterous decision. Our current chief executive is also, in my view, suffering from dementia at an increasing rate that can't be ignored, but which is largely being ignored, even as he destroys the economy, foreign relations, and American democracy. He also seems to suffer from "only I can do it" delusion, and on at least one occasion in the 2024 campaign said as much.
Biden was a lawyer, eons ago. Trump is a real estate developer, so that's a bit off point. But there's something really pathetic about lawyers who practice past their 60s. I'm in my early 60s, I'd note. They've lost something of their soul, if not their souls in general, and have nothing left but their work.*
There's also something societally wrong with a society that allows this to occur. I'll avoid the political discussion, but mental decline is inevitable in almost everyone who lives past their 50s. People don't want to believe it, but it's absolutely true.
And beyond that, society should not encourage the elderly to occupy positions such as this past their mid 60s. It takes up space that should be filled by younger people. By that point a peson should be ready to retire, and if they're not, they're never going to be ready, economically. Talent wise, they should apply their talents and time to something else.
Read a book, train a dog, go fishing. Discovery the person you were when you started out, and the one you apparently lost.
Mehr Mensch sein.
Service.
This will be an odd one, and it'll sound difficult not to make it should like I'm being unduly critical.
We've been running a lot of posts recently about the collapse of South Vietnam in 1975. Nearly daily, as we're in the cycle in which things were becoming a disaster for the Republic of Vietnam, and a war which we entered in the early 1960s, and left in 1973, was about to be lost by the country we supported.
I note this as it's struck me for a long time how many professionals I know, including lawyers, who are of the Vietnam War generation and have no military service.
Not all, I'll note. One former Federal District Court judge here was an artillery observer in Vietnam, and a lawyer in our capital city was an artilleryman. Two state district court judges I know served in Vietnam. And a few other lawyers I know did.
But by and large, most didn't.
It's interesting in a number of ways, one being that it's likely their father's all had served in World War Two.
Now, the Second World War was a huge war, to be sure. But as a member of Generation Jones, when I was growing up, it was the case that if our fathers hadn't served in World War Two, they had in the Korean War, or on either side of it. Growing up, this was so routine you simply assumed it. I recall always being surprised if a kid I knew had a father who had never served in the Armed Forces, and this included professionals. All the doctors and dentists that my father was friends with had served in World War Two or in the Armed Forces after that. I didn't know but one lawyer then, but he'd served in the Post War Army and later on the older lawyers I knew who were of World War Two vintage had served, often quite heroically, in the war.
Baby Boom generation male lawyers? Not so much.
I don't think that's a good thing, frankly. War is awful but most American servicemen who served in the 60s nad early 70s didn't see a day of fighting. The Service is full of men who aren't like you, who didn't grow up like you, and don't have any of your per service shared experiences. That's valuable.
Lots of those guys would have been better men had they served.** Donald Trump would have been.
And American society would be. We really started dividing the country back into the haves, and have nots, but allowing so many who could afford an education to avoid serving. It helped split hte country into the mess it is now.***
"Biased, Misguided WY Judges and Lawyers."
So claimed Wyoming's Congressional delegation about a letter signed by over 100 Wyoming lawyers.
I'm not a signatory to it as, frankly, I was too busy to notice its circulation when it was going around. The letter is 100% correct, however. I know a lot of the lawyers who did sign it, and more of a few of them are actual conservatives, and a few of them were once very significant figures in the Wyoming Republican Party, including those who were elected to office.
Moreover, at least two of the three of the Congressional delegation itself are not anywhere near as populist as they now assert they are. All three of these figures would have supported this letter under different circumstances, and two out of the three undoubtedly still hold the view that the lawyers are right, but are taking their positions as they do not wish to anger Trump supporters. If the wind turns, they'll turn with it so rapidly that it will toss MAGA right off the decks.
All of which is profoundly sad. That people hold one view and then express another one publicly is no doubt common, but it's not admirable, and is far from admirable in a situation like this. It’s one of the things that’s really wrong with American politics today.
It is interesting t have even with the taking of extreme positions like this, at least one refused to publicly adopt the extreme Executive Power doctrine that’s being exercised now, while at the same time, not disavowing it. John Barrasso, when asked if the President really had the power to levy tariffs the way he is (he doesn’t) just twice said that Congress had delegated a lot of power to the President. It has. It’s not a good thing, and he wouldn’t say that it is.
It does make sitting back and letting things happen easier. The entire country is going to suffer massively due to Trump, and Wyoming is going to take a bruising. It’d be far better to stand up and say so now, and take the lumps if they come, then to excuse your conduct later.
Footnotes
*Coincidentally, I saw this in our local newspaper in an advice column.
Dear Eric: I was an attorney when I started having memory problems at age 65. I retired and subsequently learned that I had a devastating rare dementia with a very short lifespan. Instead of providing me support, my friends disappeared from my life, at the time I needed them most. Friends may rally around you when you have cancer, driving you to chemo treatments, dropping off food and other things to support you; when you have dementia, everyone just disappears.
I’ve always been a sociable person and I’m missing that so much, but I have no idea how or where to start. Any ideas?
Students navigate campus atmosphere, social changes to find connection
– Left By Friends
Dear Friends: People sometimes don’t know what to do or say when confronted with illness, but that’s no excuse for your friends’ behavior and I’m sorry. The Alzheimer’s Association (alz.org) has a wealth of resources for people with dementia, including support groups, both online and in-person. Being able to talk with others about what you’re experiencing and feeling will help with isolation.
This also might be a time for you to explore new volunteer opportunities or social groups that have nothing to do with dementia, depending on your care plan and abilities. You are a person who is worthy of connection, with a wealth of experiences and knowledge from which others can benefit. Your company would be welcomed at a senior center, a local outing group or an organization that aligns with your interests and values. If you have anxiety about navigating these spaces with dementia, or need accommodation in order to feel safe, please don’t hesitate to reach out in advance and talk to a group leader about how you can participate most comfortably.
Eric is surprised that his fellow lawyers quit associating with him.
He likely ought not to be.
I don't think it's that people don't know what to say or do. I think that people fail to appreciate that workplace social contacts are, to a very high degree, extremely casual or even business contacts, and that once the professional is not employed, at least in teh law, the value of that person to others in the law is gone.
In other words, this doesn't surprise me a bit.
**I'd note that I feel the same way about men who weren't in the service, but who worked a blue collar or agricultural job. Those employments are levelling in a way, and I've noticed that men of the same generation who were never in the Armed Forces, but worked as roughnecks or came from ranches and farms, are much more accepting generally of other people.
***And, ironically, it also started the country off on the hyper glorification of those who have been in the service.
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Cliffnotes of the Zeitgeist 82nd Edition. The This Is Your Economy On Dementia Edition.
Thursday, April 24, 2025
Sunday, April 13, 2025
M198 155 Howitzer. National Museum of Military Vehicles.
This is a current US howitzer mode, which makes seeing one in a museum a bit of a surprise.
This is also the last in this series of photographs, which I hope the viewers have enjoyed.
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