Wednesday, September 22, 2021

September 22, 2021

 

Remember the John Hughes movie Weird Science?

It was a simpler time back then and Gary and Wyatt, a couple of socially awkward outcast dorks, decide to cook up the girl of their dreams in a manner similar to Doctor Frankenstein building his monster instead of gearing up and murdering a school like if the movie was made today. 

They program their idea of a perfect woman into a 1985 personal computer (which might be the only really unbelievable part of the movie), hack into a government mainframe (as every teenager in 1985 totally knew how to do), strap bras to their heads (possibly the pinnacle of Michael Anthony Hall's entire acting career), and hook up electrodes to a plastic doll (thankfully instead of raiding the local cemetery for various body parts). 

Instead of a lightning storm, their rig is hit by a power surge and then both Kelly LeBrock and hilarity ensues in typical John Hughes movie fashion. Also, there's an appearance by a really young Ironman, just starting his career of playing rich douches. 

Remember that? 

Now imagine that instead of a doll, they hooked up a corn dog and it came to life. 

Corndogus Walkus Erectus


The movie even had an older brother who was literally a living pile of shit. 

Not to mention a mutant biker Nazi with a disturbing resemblance to Stephen Miller...


But, I digress. 


Trump's PAC is sending out text messages to "Trump Patriots." 

Not "American" patriots. "Trump Patriots." 

Like the worst video game you've ever played. 500% Match Unlocked! Exclusive offer to only true patriots! You're a true patriot, right? Can we count on you to make Trump proud? 


Oh no! If you don't send us money right now, right this "minite," Nancy Pelosi will eat a baby on live TV! There's not even time for spellcheck! You love the babies, right? True patriot that you are! Send us money! Save the babies!

This is literally the entire GOP platform. Right here. Booga booga! Be afraid! Give us money. 

That's it, that's the whole thing. 

They have no leadership. No solutions. No plan. 

Nothing but gibbering fear and naked greed. 

It's all a scam and they're not even trying to hide it and why should they? Their base is so damn stupid, so easily manipulated, that they keep throwing down dollar bills like a mark absolutely positive he's figured out the pattern in Three Card Monte and is going to take the street hustler for the entire pot. Double or nothing.


Republican ideology has become nothing but a grift.


Speaking of mutant biker Nazis, everyone's favorite crazy general is this morning explaining how the "Deep State" is going to be putting COVID vaccines in your salad dressing. 

I'll just pause for a moment so you can take that in: they're putting vaccines in salad dressing. 

Not really sure why he's upset. I mean, it's not like any of these drooling meatheads eat salad anyway.

Micheal Flynn, disgraced former director of the Defense Intelligence Agency until he was shitcanned by Obama for cause and forced to retire, former National Security Advisor to Donald Trump until he was outed as literally a foreign agent and fired by Trump after 22 days, QAnon, unrepentant insurrectionist, and pardoned criminal who barely managed to avoid prison, I mean, if anyone is an expert on Deep State salad dressing, it's this guy, right? Let's listen to him.  

"Somebody sent me a thing this morning where they're talking about putting the vaccine in salad dressing. Have you seen this? I mean it's, uh, and I'm thinking to myself, this is the Bizarro World, right? This is definitely the Bizarro World. These people are seriously thinking about how to impose their will on us in our society and it has to stop."

Well, we certainly agree Mike Flynn is living in Bizarro World. 

Somebody sent me a thing...

Yeah, likely it was a puff science piece from UC Riverside News about how some scientists are thinking about how maybe possibly you could maybe get plants to grow selected mRNA vaccines and then everybody would just eat salads and be vaccinated against various diseases. 

There might be a few hurdles between the idea and the implementation, however. 

It's an interesting idea. Sure. Probably make for some good window dressing in a science fiction story (hell, maybe I'll put it in this goddamn novel David Gerrold and I are supposed to be writing if only I could ever get him the outline I've been promising for a year. Anyway), but the article is on par with the kind of speculative ideas you read about in Popular Mechanics. 

I mean, it's a vegan's wet dream and all, but for now you'll still need to go get the flu shot, Farmer Ted. 

And it's hardly, "OMG! They're tryin' to vaccinate my salad!" 

Which is something Flynn might have had opportunity to say if he hadn't been first pardoned by Trump. 

But, again, I digress. 

Michael Flynn is a example of a veteran who cannot function outside the ordered structure of the military. 

Now, reportedly he wasn't any great shakes as a human being inside the military either, but he was at least functional enough to make it to general before getting fired. Flynn was reasonably functional and competent inside a very specialized community within the military. But outside that, without that correcting structure and oversight and daily interaction with people more sane and grounded, he's come completely unstuck from reality.

I mean, come on, right? Vaccines in salad dressing! OMG! If your wacky grandpa started talking like that, the nurses would strap him to the bed and force feed him nothing but institutional butterscotch pudding. 

Mike Flynn has spent the last couple of years with his head inside a plastic bag filled with his own farts and the lack of oxygen is really starting to become apparent. 

He's not the only one, of course. VA waiting rooms are full of broken vets like this, who've turned to drugs, booze, and violent insane conspiracy because they simply can not function in civilian society.

But how could Flynn have made it to General in the first place? 

Number of folks in my mentions asking this question. 

I'm not saying this is wrong per se, but, folks, you've heard me say many, many times that the skills and mindset that make for a decent soldier are not necessarily those that make for a decent citizen, or even a good human being.

In war, well, you know, it's about killing people. 

It's about killing people before they kill you. When you're not killing people, you're planning and training to kill people. That's war. It sucks. Maybe, as an aside, that's one of the reasons we should think about having less of them. But, again, I digress. 

Even in peacetime, the training, discipline, and structure necessary to accomplish that job reliably can lead to a certain nationalist paranoid conservatism. Not always. I mean, I think I survived a lifetime in uniform with my humanity mostly intact, but that's why there's a process for making civilians into soldiers. 

Should there be a better way to reverse the process? 

Yes. No. Maybe. I don't know. 

I'm trying to picture this reverse boot camp, bunch of guys sitting around growing long hair and smoking pot, not following orders. Sounds like fun. 

One size doesn't fit all. 

Some folks, especially career vets are really lost once they take the uniform off. It took me a while to find something to do that felt as interesting and as important as what I used to be.

For some guys, it never happens. 

Outside the structure, conformity, and support of the military community, they are mentally vulnerable.  They're alone for the first time in their lives, nothing to do all day but smell their own farts, surf the internet for confirmation bias, and listen to Fox News. 

They don't know how to cope and maintain their own identity, because for these guys they never had an identity outside the military. 

Flynn isn't alone, I saw it happen to men I once admired and deeply respected. 

But I also remember how former Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano was forced to apologize for a report her department produced suggesting extremist groups may try to attract veterans returning from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. That report also said extremists might use economic recession and the election of the nation's first African-American president to recruit veterans. 

Napolitano was crucified for that and Obama himself took it on the chin. 

But in this post-January 6th America, this land of Donald Trump and Oath Keepers and Proud Boys and Ashli Babbitt and a General who not only daily exhorts his followers to sedition and who thinks Joe Biden is putting vaccines in his salad dressing, well, you know, turns out the Obama Administration was right about those veterans after all. 

Anyway, here's how not to take a picture of a hummingbird. 








112 comments:

  1. Sadly true and horrifying at the same time. 😢

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  2. That humming bird has it wired.
    No I'm not sorry. Have a great rest of your week.

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    1. I think it's a great way to take a picture of a humming bird. Maybe not as intended, but still great.

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    2. I like the 'behind the scenes' pictures too. I'm an engineer who like to onow how things work.

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  3. Your perspective on these issues is one of the main reasons that, other than the creation of the phrase "something, something, gazpacho" to describe the inane shit that comes out of politician's mouths, I follow your posts. Well done. Intelligence and a high degree of education does not preempt someone from losing the plot. Flynn is a case in point.

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  4. "Corndogus Walkus Erectus" is brilliant! Still chuckling!

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    1. Or, as I call him, Bevis. With Junior being Butthead.

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    2. Eric the Junior really looks more like Butthead.

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  5. I've seen the good and the bad in the transition from military to civilian life. My transition went well, but that was six years, not 20+. I know people who should never be allowed to come home, let alone enter civilian life. I know others who were phenoms in the military and phenoms after. From my own experience, I don't know any out right traitors like Flynn. But, hey, I can't judge. One of my distant cousins ran for vice president alongside George Wallace.

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  6. Pretty sure Flynn didn't even read the UCR News article, just looked at the stock photo at the top.

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  7. I'm liking the unfiltered writing!

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  8. Thank you, I'm now inspired to start renaming certain individuals as they would be identified in Road Runner cartoons.

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  9. Hope you like this one: Borrowed

    Lesson in Employer/Employee Relationships:

    Fred Gibbs was in his early 60's, retired, and had started a second career in catering. However, he just couldn't seem to get to work on time. Every day he was 2, 3, 5 minutes late. However, he was a good worker and really bright, so the owner was in a quandary about how to deal with it. Finally, one day he called Fred into the office for a talk.

    Fred, I have to tell you, I like your work ethic, you do a top class job, but being late so often is quite a worry.'

    "Yes, I realize that, sir, and I am working on it." he replied.

    "I'm pleased to hear that, you are a team player Fred but your timekeeping is concerning me. I know you're retired from the Royal Navy, what would they say if you were late there?"

    "They would say good morning Admiral."

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  10. I helped to create online courses for transitioning military members and their families. Not reverse-boot camp, but definitely useful for anyone who is interested. :)
    https://psycharmor.org/courses-for-transitioning-service-members-their-families/

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  11. Back in the '90's it seemed like all the old timers died not long after retiring, likely due to that lack of purpose. Flynn should try to be more like them.

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  12. I thought they put the vaccine in the Ivermectin. Or maybe it was Bud Light. And salad dressing.

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  13. Death Metal Viking on Twitter calls them Ranch Covidians. Then goes on to say if they really want to put the vaccine in food, it needs to be Girl Scout cookies. Thin Mints and Tagalongs, couch surfer foodstuffs par excellence.

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  14. The next GOP idea....Take LIVE tuna fish, and FEED 'em mayonnaise.

    (courtesy Bill Blazejowski - Michael Keaton / Night Shift /1984)

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  15. Forgot. Vaccinated people ooze vaccine, and it's greasy. So better stay away from them.

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  16. You may laugh, but they vaccinate coyotes for rabies in Texas with feed bait.

    If we could get the vaccine into McDonald's and Starbucks products, 95% of the country would be vaccinated inside of a week. (Technology isn't there though, sadly.)

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  17. Somehow the salad dressing reminded me of this conversation:
    https://www.comicsands.com/nolte-democrats-reverse-psychology-vaccine-2655069571.html

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  18. It's nice to read what you really are thinking away from Facebook "rules"!

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  19. The weather is cooling off up here in MO, so our hummers will be heading south soon. If "Itchy" shows up, don't let him settle in or he'll chase off every other hummingbird for a mile in any direction. Obnoxious little critter, he thinks he owns the whole side of our building. Send them back north in the spring...we'll have feeders out for them when they arrive.

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  20. It's a sad day when one of our political parties is so dysfunctional that all it can do is think of ways to tear down everything that is good about our country and replace it with an oligarchy propped up by people who cannot function out of a highly disciplined setting. Trump is just the cherry on top that enables them. It's all a con.

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  21. Unfortunately Flynn has found a new tribe. One that is full of loose cannons.

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  22. I'm not going to hold my breath for vaccine salads, if they came out with that, there'd be an outbreak of scurvy to add to our current dilemma, and we've got enough going on now, thanks very much. I do think though, that putting the vaccine AND the microchips in the horse paste was a stroke of genius! I mean...who woulda thought, right?!

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  23. my only quibble: "Republican ideology has become nothing but a grift" the words "has become" should maybe probably oughtta be "has been for at least 40 years"

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  24. My wife and I each did 20. We both had a life before the Air Force, and went back to a better life. Many of my acquaintances, who I once thought were enlightened and empathetic, drank trumps cool aide. They hate 'Socialism' but love their retirement and benefits.

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  25. Scary stuff but right on the nose as usual, Jim.

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  26. Nailed it! I have a nephew who just bought 100 acres in the sticks so he can go offgrid and unabomber like. He retired feom the corp and is lost. Sad really...

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    1. That is my husband's and my fantasy should we win the lottery.

      We are over having to tolerate neighbors not being neighborly while getting away with violating building zones and EPA regulations.

      Evenings and weekends, and especially holidays- it becomes a war zone choked with smoke from trash fires because $25/month is too much for weekly garbage pickup (for folks who live in mini-mansions!)

      I am trying to all him into something more reasonable, like maybe 20 acres with a fence.

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  27. Made me laugh. No, not the essay, that made me seethe. But the hummingbird outwitting your camera set up, now that's funny.

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  28. Jim, after seeing the hummingbird casually undo all of his meticulously planned work: "Son of a bleep. Probably follows me on Twitter"

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  29. Presuming I have a right to comment as a non-veteran, Flynn's discreditable commentary reminds me of Dr Strangelove's "precious bodily fluids" scene.

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    1. Oh... *that's* what I kept hearing echoes of. Thanks.

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    2. Purity of essence was the phrase.

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  30. Having seen the effect that boot has in dehumanizing recruits, some form of halfway house de-enlistment deprogramming is sorely needed.

    Thank you for telling it like you see it.

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  31. I only did my 4+ years but have pondered war and military life since watching the first run of "Victory at Sea" when I was 9. The balancing act that a human must do to serve while maintaining their humanity is, to me, a mystery. One of many, to be sure.

    As always, you do a masterful job of distilling the essence of things. Thanks

    Also excellent job on the h-bird. I hope it appreciates your effort.

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    1. I was married for almost 29 years to a 20 year veteran. And my 29 years of earnest effort to civilianize him had less effect than that 20 years in the military. He had a more particular problem in that his "job skills" were not transferable to civilian life. Like he said, "not much call for machine gunners, except in the Mafia". I knew he would have a low income prospect, and I acted.
      accordingly, got a government job. And I never expected a lot of material wealth. In his case the programming was too complete. " do not approach quickly, do not wake suddenly, Do not touch while asleep. He still had 3 heart attacks in 10 years, no civilian reason, it was stress related, trying to be calm when the civilians were driving him crazy!

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  32. I would get a full round of all three versions of the COVID vaccine if I was allowed to do it. So far, I've only gotten 3 of Moderna (immune compromised) So this vaccine in the salad dressing thing sounds good to me. LOL

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  33. does this mean there will be a sale on salad dressing? I am just asking in case I want to stock up and send some "close" friends some Christmas gifts.

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  34. As usual, deeply thought provoking. As always, thank you, Jim!

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  35. It's hard to think of Flynn as being functional even with the scaffolding supplied by the military. I'd wonder about CTE, if he was the guy down the block wearing tinfoil undies.

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  36. Seems I was banned from Stonekettle on fb after posting that some Secret Service agent should take it upon him or herself to arrest Trump for any of his numerous crimes while still President. A Progressive who generally agrees with JW’s criticisms I found this disconcerting. Sure it’s a stretch to think anyone would actually do that but a true act of courage and civic responsibility it would have also been.

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  37. The first scenario, is one of the funniest things I've read in a long time. Thanks Jim.

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  38. Even if someone were putting vaccines in salad dressing, or any other food, it wouldn't work. The reason vaccines, with few exceptions, are injected is because they are broken down by the digestive system. And probably the acidic nature of most salad dressing would break them down, too.

    Wait. I'm sorry. I had reasonable argument against something that is batshit crazy. I apologize.

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  39. If I eat all my salad with the yummy COVID dressing, does that mean I don’t have to take the booster?

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  40. I have heard that, at one point, Gen. Flynn was The Man in intelligence analysis -- just the sort of person you'd want as National Security Advisor.

    But something happened. My guess would be a small stroke.

    And he went totally off the rails. The first thing I heard was him getting kicked out of the Pentagon (literally, not metaphorically) for plugging his personal laptop into a "red" network. (Sysadmins assume that personal laptops are loaded with spyware, trojans, and viruses, and they're usually right.)

    I'm sure you know far more about this than I do.

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    1. My guess is that that "something" was quite likely blackmail of some kind, possibly Russian blackmail. It's one of their favorite techniques, after all.

      "Sysadmins assume that..."

      Yep, we do. We aren't paranoid, except when we are :D

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  41. You are an exceptional photographer and writer. Thank you...that is all. :)

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  42. Flynn's obviously crazy. If the Deep State was going to sneak the vaccine into something it would definitely be Ranch Dressing.

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  43. Of course, of all places to settle, Flynn picked the same county in which I live, and plans to also get involved in local politics.

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  44. Difference, I think, is you are very creative. You thew yourself into writing and photography and woodworking. Arts saves.

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  45. As one who was never in the military, I greatly appreciate your insights. I don't take orders well. Dad had this crazy notion of sending me to the Air Force Academy. I literally laughed in his face. He was an aircraft mechanic in Korea.

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  46. Thank you for your posts...they keep me somewhat sane in this crazy world.

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  47. Jim, you are hilarious. And this is coming from a former journalist, who used to write for a living. You are a national treasure!

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  48. Hey! I like butterscotch pudding. Maybe not the institutional kind, though. Other than that, as a retired sailor myself, I totally agree. It can be difficult to learn to shift gears when for the past 20 years or so, you were in 'automatic'. Luckily, I had plenty of challenging things to do (like help raise 4 boys) and a great partner to do them with.

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  49. My brothers and I were between 11 and 16 years old when Weird Science came out. To this day, we'll call the other "Chet" when they're being a dick (and we all freaked out when we saw Aliens... "CHET!!!!")

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  50. Bird on a Wire indeed. Thanks for all the pictures, even when the subject isn't cooperating.

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  51. This description of ex-military who cannot function outside the structure reminds me strongly of Brooks in The Shawshank Redemption.

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  52. Isn't all butterscotch pudding institutionalized?

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  53. Exiting is a problem. At the end of WWII, the limits of technology helped. My father had been drafted in 1943 at age 37, landed at Omaha as a combat engineer at age 38, failed to get boats to the bridge at Arnhem, and was captured in the Bulge. The Soviets liberated his Dresden prison camp (yeah, slaughterhouse 5 with Vonnegut), and let him find his way back to Belgium (one month). It took another month for him to get a "berth" on a troop ship out of Antwerp, then 6 weeks across the Atlantic, another three day train ride from Grand Central to Union Station, a bus ride to Fort Sheridan, then another train back to downtown Chicago, then a 45 minute streetcar ride to Central and Madison and a five minute walk to the apartment. He had time to reintegrate (three months, give or take), with a lot of waiting. Vietnam was different. Our tour was up in 12 (later 15) months, then a bus ride to Saigon, and a 14 hour flight to Edwards, another two hours to Fort Hood, an hour in line to turn in TA-50 (mine included an Eb cornet), and a three hour flight home. Three months versus three days. I understood the incessant hyper-alertness, survivor's guilt, PTSD, and the whole "Going Postal." Different now, that's for sure.

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    1. Wow, what an adventure your father went through returning home! I imagine that possibly the biggest aid to his reintegration was six weeks on the troop ship with people who had been through similar experiences, and who could talk them out with each other before descending back into civilian life. You hardly had six hours if that. Different, indeed. Thank you for the insight.

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    2. Come to think of it, no one talked at any length on the flight. We were trying to appear as sort of normal. The plane was chartered and had civilian flight attendants. I think we were afraid of getting pegged as someone who needed extra help, which could mean a delay. The goal was to get to a DD-214, gear turn-in receipts, and a civilian plane ticket ASAP. Thanks for your insight.

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    3. A psychiatrist I follow on Twitter suggested that the sea voyage home with fellow vets helped a lot of WWII vets process the experience and avoid PTSD. Reverse boot camp is an idea that deserves study.

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  54. Llama blood. Yep, the latest potential hope for a future covid nanobody from Fifi the Llama. Only if the salad dressing doesn't work. And not for vegans, obviously.
    BBC News - Covid: Immune therapy from llamas shows promise
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-58628689


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  55. Some times the barer of bad news(the report) is the truth people can"t handle.

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  56. It's a shame the folks who are so adept at turning average citizens into soldiers in a few short weeks can't figure out a complementary system for turning those soldiers back into civilians. It's sort of like bombmakers lacking the ability to defuse the bombs they build.

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  57. Thank you for writing this. It is reminiscent of the essay I wrote as part of my application for classification as a conscientious objector back in the 1960s. I was so classified and assigned to work in a mental hospital. At one time I was so arrogant that I believed that the only people who understood war were generals and c.o.s. Now I'm not so sure about generals.

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  58. So right on. Having grown up in the military with a father who also was lost to Fox News after retiring as a Colonel in the Air Force, I understand completely. He died before Trump, but I’ll always wonder what he would’ve made of him. I like to think that his infidelity to his wives alone would have condemned him in my father’s mind. But so many people I formerly respected have surprised and disappointed me.

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  59. Explains how hummingbirds are so fast. They're juiced.

    We ask (if I'm being kind) young people to endure a remarkable training regimen so they can kill other humans without hesitation. And at some point, we need to help them dismantle that attitude and skillset. How we do that: I don't know.

    But we as a society need to make it happen humanely.

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  60. Actually, Flynn, we put it in the water supply.

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  61. I have watched my Brother-in-Law go down that road. Retired full-bird Colonel, was an exemplary serviceman, a great father and husband. Now he has become bitter and angry. His daughter is dating a black man and they no longer speak. He won't even be around me because he hates me so much. My sister is sticking with him, they've been married over 30 years. She used to share a lot of his views but has been changing steadily since the Trump presidency. It's just sad.

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  62. The best part of moving to your blog is being able to write whatever the hell you want.
    Now, where can I get that salad dressing?

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  63. Anthony Michael Hall's pinnacle, by me, was playing Bill Gates in the made-for-cable docudrama The Pirates of Silicon Valley (opposite Noah Wyle as Steve Jobs.)

    I served with a US Army SPC who was absolutely unable to adapt to life outside the military. He was originally Navy, and if I remember right had made it to Petty Officer 2nd Class, and then got out.

    And then after a little while asked to go back in, and the Navy said OK. Same rank and paygrade as when he'd left.

    And then left again 6 years later.

    And then tried to re-enlist again after a year, and at that point the Navy said "No." He wrote his Congressman, and was ultimately allowed to re-enlist as Army, starting back at E-1 - and he took it.

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  64. Cannot argue with your analysis.

    Hummingbird probably just cannot see the nectar in the feeder, you ought to dye it red.

    Ducking and running.

    No you do not need to let this post, I'm having fun with you, no desire to ignite that outhouse fire again!

    I love that you are back to more long form.

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  65. You are this vets sanity and salvation I wish I had you writing abilities thank you Brother

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  66. After six years as a Sonarman in the US NAVY Submarine Service, I was ready to take my Honorable and split. Transitioning back to "civilian" wasn't always smooth or easy. It appears I somehow kept it together enough. Now that I'm retired, I'm rekindling my love of the Guitar that first began way back in High School. It's a piece of my original self I've never quite let go of... Whatever Works.

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  67. The picture in my mind: 'institutional butterscotch pudding' made with vaccinated salad dressing.

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  68. I can thank and respect a Vet for their military service and recognize if they have issues returning to civilian life.

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  69. I can relate to having trouble transitioning to civilian life. I retired from the Navy a few months ago and am grieving it. I feel alone and adrift right now.

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    1. I hope others can help if needed. I can only imagine what that is like; I don't have the experiences to relate. Still you're here at Stonekettle, with folks willing to listen :)

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  70. And while Flynn is obsessing about salad dressing, Pillow Boy went to Alabama and conducted his own personal election audit. Uninvited. And without the cooperation of any state official.

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  71. One brother of mine is a Navy vet. He left the Navy as Chief after 26 years of service. He got a bunch of degrees (Some while still in the service) and now works for NASA. Another brother served in the Army for 11-12 years and last year retired from Dept. of the Army. He took up videography about 10 years before he retired. I can see why it's so important to have something interesting to do after leaving a structured life. Thankfully they are both well adjusted.

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  72. Brilliant, as always, Jim. Thanks for the laughs and the serious things to mull over. Be well. Regards to your family.

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  73. "Yes. No. Maybe. I don't know"

    Try asking them to repeat the question.

    (I joke)

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  74. Good stuff as always, Jim. Just one teensy, minor correction: it's Anthony Michael Hall, not Michael Anthony Hall.

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  75. Nothing says "I'm here to add sex appeal" like a silver, form-fitting catsuit with heels. :-) It was kinda hard to take her seriously as a character with that getup. Fortunately, they brought in her brown and blue outfits, which (while still form-fitting) were much less distracting. (Jeri Ryan appreciated that, too; she was not too happy with that "Space Sexpot" getup. And she's probably very happy to rock that Mal Reynolds-style "frontier badass" outfit in "Star Trek: Picard.")

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  76. Thank you for this. I really value your perspective.

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  77. I don’t know about anyone else but republican men and women are a failure to humanity in my eyes. Their selfishness, narcissistic personalities and always being about the pink dick and sperm is completely useless for adults to waste their time on.

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  78. Dammit chief, I don't know how you do that. Make me laugh and want to cry at the same time. Your musings about the state of our present and former government officials almost always hit the mark.

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  79. A lot to digest here. The most important part, I think, is the provoking idea of re-entry training. We do bootcamp, why not reverse bootcamp. Of course, I am speaking from bias, since someone very close to me spent 10 years in the Coast Guard, got invited not to reup and summarily discharged with no referral to the VA, nada. He ended up on the streets shortly thereafter for 14 years before getting rescued and reunited with his family. And those of us close to him can still see the "street" in him.

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  80. I used to run into a guy regularly at the gym. He was a current police officer, and it turned out that both of our dads were officers in neighboring counties around the same time frame (1960s-1990s). He said it was good that both our dads were still living (@2010 or so) given that retired police officers have a shockingly high rate of suicide after retirement. We talked about how old officers like our dads really don't trust anyone- think every salesman is scamming and the like. They have a very hard time letting go of all their training and attitudes and just being civilians. It's so much worse now-this 'thin blue line' cult crap wasn't much of a thing while my dad worked, but I hope that guy is still doing well and and hope he can be safe and 'normal' when he retires.

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  81. Once again, you have clearly defined the mess we are in. I do fear for my country. At 74, I can remember what the world was like. Imperfect for many, but we were moving in the right direction. Now?

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  82. Sad to say, but what the GOP has morphed into with the whole "Trump patriots" thing is not terribly surprising. In a dictatorship, there is no loyalty unless you swear an oath to The Leader (and we KNOW what that translates to in German). It's a turn that has been coming for a while from the GOP; the only surprise is that it was Trump they pivoted to for their figurehead.

    As for the "5 MINITES REMAINING" thing, what a bunch of morons. It would seem that Trump is writing his own copy as well. As someone who has had stuff published, trusting your own proofreading skills is the worst thing you can do. Give that work of love to someone who doesn't have the same feeling you do for it.

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  83. "Oh no! If you don't send us money right now, right this "minite," Nancy Pelosi will eat a baby on live TV!"

    I turned on C-SPAN (that would be the channel most likely to cover Pelosi doing something) and very decidedly did NOT send any money to Trump. I watched for over 3 minutes and Pelosi didn't even nibble on anything, much less a baby. FALSE ADVERTISING! I am disappoint!

    Seriously, while the Republicans are coasting on "Remember how great Trump was? He can be great again in 2024!" the Democrats aren't much better. As long as Senator Manchin (DINO-WY) does his utmost to make Mitch McConnell happy then we can't expect much out of Congress. Biden can only do so much with Executive Orders. The Voting Rights Protection Act and the Police Reform Act are both dead, thanks to Democrats not willing to annoy Moscow Mitch and His Merrie Men.

    The other problem the Democrats have is campaigning on "We're Not Trump" can only go so far. Unless COVID culls enough Trumpistas for the Democrats to prevail, I don't see Democrats holding on to the Senate and possibly not even the House in 2024.

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  84. I'm trying to picture this reverse boot camp, bunch of guys sitting around growing long hair and smoking pot, not following orders. Sounds like fun.

    Kinda sounds like USN circa 1976 🤷‍♂️

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  85. "Be afraid. Give us money." Is still a better party platform than the GQP 2020 platform "Yeah, whatever Trump says is fine."

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  86. A wee bit off topic, but about hummingbird feeders: Here in Reno, so many bears are coming in (outskirts, mainly) to find food because their grounds have been destroyed by the fires, that they have learned how to open hummingbird feeders and have a cocktail! It's been suggested to remove the feeders...

    Freckles

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  87. “Because life … living” – he [rolls dice] – “is like that. The enemy isn't always somebody you can shoot at over a gravel bag. There isn't always somebody to tell you when to shoot and when to cease fire. The women and children haven't been left conveniently behind, and because they haven’t, you’re forced to look at them and see they have their own problems, which look surprisingly like your own – a hard fact for too many ‘mature’ men to accept. The army is just too easy and too simple: fight to the death for the cause is just.” – Samuel R. Delany, *The City of a Thousand Suns*, 1965

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  88. Lets see evil vaccine in salads. I'm getting Dr. Strangelove vibes from this. No doubt Flynn will soon be talking about "precious bodily fluids" and "purity of essence".

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    1. I think he's already reached that level with his "evil vaccine in salads" theory.

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  89. “Mike Flynn has spent the last couple of years with his head inside a plastic bag filled with his own farts and the lack of oxygen is really starting to become apparent.” - Great way to exemplify Flynn’s state of mind and those of in the GOP that do not dare to speak up (not that they would…..) Love your allegory of words to describe the current situation of the political leadership of this country.

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  90. > the skills and mindset that make for a decent soldier are not necessarily those that make for a decent citizen, or even a good human being.

    Or leaders of a (supposedly) democratic free society. Why we keep electing former military folks to positions of power in the government, I will never understand. It's a tradition that needed to die a long, long time ago.

    And that is not meant as disrespect; I myself have never served, but I have the utmost respect for those who chose to do so. (Or, in some cases, didn't choose to do so.) But that doesn't automatically mean they now have the appropriate skills to lead, to govern, or to [fill in the blank]. No matter how good they were as a member of the military, that doesn't automatically confer *anything* else upon them, outside of the respect they have earned for putting their lives on the line for the nation.

    ...

    As to the platform of post-Trump Republicans, the entirety of it can be summed up in one simple statement: "we're not 'radical' Democrats".

    That's it, that's the whole thing. That's all they have to offer, and their base is lapping it up like a kitten and cream.

    Let's forget for a moment the FACT that in just about any other first-world country, US Democrats would be considered a *centrist* party... at most. And in not just one or two of those countries, they would be slightly right-leaning.

    There is nothing "radical" about Democrats... and, outside of a very small self-proclaimed faction of the party (the AOC-like ones) they're also not "socialists" or "communists".

    The government providing funds, goods, and/or services to the citizens has never, and will never, be "socialist" or "communist". Republicans and their media sycophantic enablers (including ALL of AM Hate Radio) clearly don't have a clue what the terms "socialism" or "communism" actually mean.

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  91. I never gave it much thought before, but your explanation of what happens to these military people losing their identity makes sense. I see it happen to people who spend their whole life devoted to their profession too. Nurses and doctors are infamous for dying on the job figuratively and sometimes literally because they don't know anything else.

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  92. I watch those retired military (mostly officers) take managerial positions at the DoD agency I used to work at and drive out those with real skills such as multiple world languages, mad computer skills, etc. And we trained these folks so well that private companies are headhunting them. This is why intelligence is failing: we keep the average, and dump the truly skilled.

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  93. Thank god you're finally back here. I was sitting here tonight and I figured I would take a look to see if you had posted anything in the hopes that you would. To my great surprise you have and I've thoroughly enjoyed reading all of your September postings. I can't say thank you enough. I don't do Facebook so I've really missed reading what you have to say. Again thank you so very much

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  94. Excellent. Excellent, excellent. That's all I got, bec you are the writer, and I don't need to expound here.

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  95. The Flynn bit disturbs me for what it shows about the right wing of today: Someone "sends him a thing" and not only is what this "thing" says INSTANTLY accepted as true and adopted into his view of the world, it also changes from a thing about "vaccines in lettuce" to THEY ARE TRYING TO VIOLATE US by SNEAKING this stuff into our food and THEY MUST BE STOPPED! No matter what happens in the world, it really seems like part of the integration process into the Flynn mindset includes assuming the Thing will be DECEPTIVELY used by the Vile Commies the VIOLATE OUR RIGHTS and steal our women and precious metals!! You're spot on when you call this militarized paranoia: of course, if an enemy in warfare acquires, say, a tire, you must immediately figure out how the enemy might use the tire to fuck you up, and presume they will do so if they can. That mindset makes you absolutely batshit crazy when you're functioning in civilian life, reading puff science pieces, especially when you imagine that the present adminstration is now the Enemy out to get you at every turn.

    No wonder so many of them have gone straight from "the vaccine exists" to THEY"RE TRYING TO FORCE THE VACCINE ON US TO KILL US AND RUIN OUR ABILITY TO REPRODUCE! There's less excuse, I think, for all the idiots who hear "The vaccine is available and here are the good reasons you ought to get it" and react by screaming "YOU CAN'T BULLY ME!!" As though persuasion through the presentation of facts, evidence, and reasoning somehow counts as "BULLYING" their poor, virtuous ignorance.

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