September 2024
Closure
18/09/24 21:12
September 18, 2024 (Vol. 18 No. 41) - I went to my high school reunion this past weekend, the first one I have attended since my graduation in 1970. It is not as if I didn’t want to attend earlier reunions. It was simply a case of living half a country away, being unaware of the reunions and/or having scheduling conflicts. I didn’t know what to expect - I hadn’t seen most of these people in half-a-century. The lasting image I had of my former classmates was of them as high school seniors. Remember when you were a high school senior? If you do, you probably remember those you liked, those you disliked, those who were friendly and those who were unfriendly. I hear it is not unusual for people to carry high school scars - real and imagined - for the rest of their lives. So, as I walked through the doors of the VFW Hall in Easton, Maryland, last Saturday night, I had some trepidation. However, those fears were quickly eased. As it turned out, these people were no longer the high school kids I remembered. They had a lifetime of living behind them. These silver-haired folks had matured into friendly, outgoing people who had either forgotten or forgiven all of the traumas associated with high school. I even had an opportunity to talk to a woman who, 54 years ago, was the center of my universe until she no longer was. Neither of us held any bitterness and we both reconnected at the level that had made us friends in the first place. The most touching part of the night was looking a board that displayed the names of my fellow classmates who are no longer with us. I was aware of the passing of some, but surprised and saddened to see the others. After three hours of reminiscing, it was time to go. The VFW wanted their hall back. After we said our goodbyes and scattered into the Eastern Shore night, I was left with a feeling of closure. All of the high school wounds and traumas no longer mattered. After all, I realized that we all had two things in common: We were all proud Easton Warriors and we were all survivors. And that’s not a bad lifetime. That’s it for now. Fear the Turtle.Trump Beat Up by a Girl
10/09/24 22:05
September 10, 2024 (Vol. 18 No. 40) - From the moment she walked across the stage and extended her hand to her startled opponent, Kamala Harris owned Donald Trump tonight during their first - and likely their last - presidential debate. While she presented a vision for a future devoid of the rancor of the past eight years, Vice President Harris successfully goaded the Defeated Former President into his familiar quagmire of grievance politics. Frankly, at times, Harris made Trump look silly. Illegal immigrants eating family pets in Ohio? Abortions after birth? Convicted January 6th rioters as innocent victims? And those represent just the icing on the crap cake that Trump has baked. She even distracted him from his potentially strongest argument, the border crisis, by making him passionately defend the one issue that is most important to him, crowd size. Yes, size does matter. And in so many ways, Failure 45 is deficient. It is inevitable that within the heat of a political debate, politicians either deliberately or accidentally misspeak. CNN reported that Harris once misrepresented Trump's economic record. However, the cable network said that Trump "lied" at least 35 times. (And those are just the big lies. There were too many small ones to count.) I was impressed that Harris resisted calling Trump a racist or sexist. She just laid out the facts that could lead no reasonable person to any other conclusion. Harris has already challenged Trump to another debate. And why shouldn't she? To use a phrase Humpty Trumpty used repeatedly this evening, "everyone" knows she won. And Donald, the misogynistic, adulterous, sexual assaulter, must now live with the knowledge that the whole world tonight watched him get beat up by a girl. And all the wannabe king's horses and wannabe king's men could not put Humpty Trumpty back together again. That's it for now. Fear the Turtle. In the Hands of Children?
06/09/24 07:20
September 6, 2024 (Vol. 18 No. 39) - You can't help but wonder what the hell Colin Gray was thinking when he gave his 14-year-old son Colt an assault rifle as a Christmas present. And what is he thinking now that he has been arrested for "knowingly allowing" his son to have the weapon, the one Colt used to kill four people and injured nine others at Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia, this week? According to CNN, this was the 45th school shooting this calendar year. That's the lowest number for this time of year in the past five years. But that's nothing to brag about. The failure of Republicans in Congress to enact reasonable gun restrictions has perpetuated this national disgrace. However, as I have noted in my book Thirteen Minutes: Death of an American High School, Americans have become desensitized to these sorry statistics. At the time of this writing, we don't know Colt Gray's motivation behind killing two of his fellow students and two of his teachers. As I cite in my book, there are several factors that motivate mass murderers: A desire to be famous, isolation, rejection, bullying and mental illness. However, it is virtually impossible to create a profile of a "typical" mass-casualty shooter. Each case is different. But there is one thing we know for certain: Don't give weapons of mass destruction to children. Period. End of Discussion. I was surprised - and pleased - that authorities in gun-crazy Georgia arrested the boy's father. This follows the precedent set in Michigan last April, when a teenage shooter's parents were sentenced to 10 years in prison following another school shooting that left four people dead. While Colin Gray may be legally innocent until proven guilty, he is certainly guilty of incredibly stupid judgment. After all, who in their right mind puts assault rifles in the hand of children? There should be a law against it. Come to think of it, there is, but in only 20 states. How much more blood will be shed before Republicans in Congress come to their senses, do the right thing, and enact reasonable gun control regulation that protects both our children and the Second Amendment? That's it for now. Fear the Turtle. Photo courtesy Associated Press.