I listened to the testimony of Dominick
Black, the friend of Kyle Rittenhouse who purchased the weapon
Rittenhouse carried that night. It's long but it gives some
background and insight into Rittenhouse's actions.
There are no easy answers to what
happened, no easy blame to place. The whole situation was a long
time in the making. I look at the people who found themselves in the
streets on that night and see not just their anger, but the inability
to see each other; their story, their emotion, their need to be
heard. Kyle Rittenhouse was a boy inserted into a volatile situation
he did not have the maturity to handle. With a deadly weapon. A
deadly weapon purchased by a friend with the approval of that
friend's step-father.
Kyle Rittenhouse may have been
acquitted but his life will never be the same. And two people are
dead. Here is a small remembrance of one of those people.
We are all struggling to get back to a
little more normal existence. Here on Halloween 2021 our doors are
again opened to the little, or not so little, ghosts, goblins and
witches, or perhaps Squid Game guards, who knock on our doors. In a
break from politics, pandemics and riotous school board meetings I am
going to do a Halloween music post. So on this Halloween sit back
and relax with a little ghostly, creepy music.
I know you've heard the term. It has
been bandied about by Trump and his followers for some time now. Fake news. But
have you ever actually looked at it? We just recently dodged a
bullet, created by Mitch McConnell & Co., with regard to the debt
ceiling. After initiating the crisis by not rubber stamping the
raising of the debt ceiling, as has been done multiple times in the
past by both Democrats and Republicans, McConnell voted to kick the
can down the road to December. This was his solution to his
manufactured crisis.
Basically Mitch McConnell and the
Republicans were using the debt ceiling as a political tool to use
against the Democrats because they are in the process of negotiating
a couple of rather large infrastructure bills. Raising the debt
ceiling allows our government to pay its bills. Bills that have
accrued under both Democratic and Republican administrations. It
will also allow our government to pay the benefits that so many
Social Security recipients and our military rely on. It has
absolutely nothing to do with bills that may or may not even become
law. Yet Republicans and their supporters, such as the TV
personality I have a video of, are determined to risk tanking the
American, and indeed the world, economy with their bullying tactics.
So here is a video of Sean Hannity
excoriating Mitch McConnell for “caving” and voting to
temporarily raise the debt ceiling. He professes to be a
conservative. Sorry, I don't see it. Conservatives pay their bills.
No, all I see is someone who is twisting news for propaganda
purposes.
Hannity has one thing right, Joe Biden
has been in office 9 months. Hardly long enough to create the
inflation Hannity talks about. No, the problems we are facing were
made before Biden came to office. I would take everything Hannity
says with a large grain of salt. Fake news, indeed.
No, not the book. Although I could
understand if you might think that, since I do like to read. No, I
am talking about what happened on September 11, 2001. On that day
the world was witness to both great evil and greater good.
Hijackers at the behest of Osama bin
Laden took over four American planes with the intent of killing as
many people and destroying as many symbols of United States existence
as they could. Two planes were flown into the World Trade Center
towers in New York, both north and south. A third plane was flown
into the Pentagon in Washington D.C. The fourth plane was flown into
the ground in a field in Pennsylvania. That fourth plane was retaken
by a group of brave, steadfast, loyal Americans. Due to the amazing
technology of cell phones they knew about the earlier planes crashing
into buildings and killing innocent civilians. They were determined
that they would not be used as a weapon, they were determined that
they would do what they could to protect and defend our people and our country.
Because of them that plane never reached its goal.
If Osama bin Laden's minions were the
epitome of evil those who responded to their actions were the epitome
of good, from those passengers of Flight 93, to the first responders
who ran up the stairs of the World Trade Center towers to help those
in need and to those on the ground who gave of themselves to help in
some way shape or form. Too many to count.
As I sit here and listen to some of the
speakers in Pennsylvania I was struck by the remarks made by Gordon
Felt, whose brother was a passenger on Flight 93. His words embody my thoughts and I cannot see where I could
improve upon them. I assume they will eventually show up on YouTube,
everything does. I will watch and add that to this post if I run
across a video of his remarks. Because they are important.
Meanwhile, here is a written version of some of his thoughts:
I too wish for a September 12th
moment, when we were all unified, intent on standing together as one.
I too wonder, as I watch the pitiful behavior of some who would not
even consider putting the well being of others before their “rights”
as Americans, are we worthy of the sacrifice made by all of those on
9/11?
Update:
I have not been able to find a video yet of Gordon Felt. However, I do have one of President George W. Bush in Pennsylvania on 9/11. As Lee pointed out in the comments section Dubya has something to say that we should listen to.
We have watched in horror and disgust the Taliban in Afghanistan oppressing women and girls, using them as
property with very little rights of their own. The Taliban have said
they have changed, but that remains to be seen.
Now I am watching with horror and
disgust as our own version of the Taliban force their religious
beliefs on others, just like their brethren in Afghanistan. I am
referring to the new law in Texas banning abortions after 6 weeks of
pregnancy. What is unusual about this law is that it allows average
citizens to sue anyone helping a woman or girl obtain an abortion.
The prize is $10,000. Not bad for someone who may be scrimping to
live.
President Biden in remarks said it was
almost un-American. Almost? No, I will go further and say it is
un-American. It is exactly what the Taliban in Afghanistan have
forced on the female population in that country. Now we are seeing
it here. And so far our Supreme Court has allowed it to stand.
Despite the fact that the issue of abortion has been argued and
decided in Roe v Wade.
Let me be clear, no one, and I mean no
one has the right to decide for a woman what she can and cannot do
with her body. It is her right to decide.
After 20 years the United States is
removing its military forces from Afghanistan. For many in
Afghanistan a tragedy, for many in the United States a relief. As we
have seen the desperate scenes of terrified Afghans mobbing the Kabul
airport, risking their lives to find a way out, some have second
guessed our decision. Here I am just speculating on the validity of
the reasons for withdrawal, not necessarily the way it was and is
being conducted. Those are questions that will need to be addressed
after all this is done.
We entered Afghanistan on the orders of
George W, Bush, hunting terrorists. We made an agreement with the
Taliban to withdraw on the orders of Donald Trump. The actual
withdrawal is taking place during the administration of Joe Biden.
This is a war that has occupied the attention of four presidents.
My first reaction was that this was a
serious foreign policy mistake on the part of Biden. That may well
prove to be so, but perhaps cooler heads are correct in that it is
too soon to tell. As I listened to various voices expressing their
agreement or disagreement I was struck by this video of an interview
with a Taliban fighter earlier this year.
He made two points which sum up the
past and the future.
In 2020 Donald Trump made an agreement
with the Taliban to withdraw our forces. It is this that has allowed
the United States to maintain a residual force of soldiers in country
in a state of relative peace. Joe Biden had a choice, break the
agreement and resume a hot war with the Taliban, risking more lives
and treasure, or keep the agreement. He appears to have made the
choice that the United States has other pressing issues that will
take our undivided attention and large amounts of financial resources
to deal with. It is also true, as Biden pointed out, that it is for
the Afghans to make a choice as to what kind of country they want.
It is their place to fight for it. Their place to own it.
The second point made by that Taliban
fighter suggests that Afghanistan's future is still to be decided,
even after the Taliban have taken control of the country.
“Afghanistan is run by the system they (the US) built.” The
Taliban will have a challenging time running Afghanistan from a
purely practical standpoint, let alone religious. Cutting a deal
with others; the Russians, the Chinese or other regional players, may
prove to be the ultimate solution for them, but given past history or
current policies, that may prove to be problematic.
This even as climate change starts to
roll ever more steadily over the planet.
The one thing I do know for sure, we
must stand by those who stood by us. It is imperative to keep our
word. Those who wish to leave, must be evacuated as expeditiously and safely, as
possible.
We all have them. Those places we
fondly remember. For many Minnesotans it is “ Up North”. Every
summer my family would spend weekends at my Uncle & Aunt's cabin.
It was great. With my cousins there I always had someone to hang
out with. One of the iconic attractions in Minnesota is Gooseberry
Falls. I went there with my family and with friends. While it is
farther up north than the cabin it is part of those “Up North”
memories.
We can talk about climate change over
and over, but perhaps it is its effects that are up close and
personal that will finally make the reality of it sink in.
Minnesota, like so many other areas of the country, is in drought.
As I've posted about before. So, what? Can't we just wait a bit and
the rains will come back and everything will be fine? Possibly, if
it doesn't go on too long. But what happens if it doesn't turn
around? What happens if this change becomes permanent? What
happens to the plants and wildlife? What happens, ultimately, to the
people?
