6/10/24

 Monday, June 10, 2024

1898, Marine land in Cuba during the Spanish-American War

1942, the Lidice Massacre

 In bed around 10 or 10:30, up at 4, and used my walker again to move to the TV room where Lilly was sound asleep next to her mattress and didn't wake up despite my movements and walker noises.  I had a dream featuring Mike and Janine and, as usual, I remember next to nothing of its 'plot.'  Lilly finally woke up at 4:20 and disappeared.  I finally let her out at about 7:30.

Prednisone, day 29, 20 mg. day 7.  I took my pill at 5:30 with oatmeal & berries.    

New iPhone 15 quandary: how many gigs are left in me?  I bought a 256 gig 15 phone to replace my 128.  Should I have gotten the 512?  Will I live long enough to use that much storage?  Not likely.

3 Projects completed today.   (1) I bought (easy) and had activated (hard) my new phone.  (2) I replaced the plastic legs on my new walker with tennis balls to protect our hardwood floors.  (3) I reloaded my two weekly pill holders,   Dealing with the iPhone purchase and activation required 2 trips to the Bayshore Apple store because we were expecting Ellis while Sharon was busy, but that plan got changed.  After Phase One activation at the Apple store, I went to the Spectrum store on Capitol Drive and spent 20 minutes or so while a rep tried to switch my phone number over to the new phone only to be told at the end of the process that the phone could not be activated at a store and I had to either call Spectrum Mobile or do the activation online.  I did it over the phone.

Anniversaries.  First, the Marines landing in Cuba reminds me of our nation's imperialism and militarism and of Maj. Gen. Smedley Bulter's remarkable 1935 book War is a Racket, in which he wrote:

War is a racket. It always has been. It is possibly the oldest, easily the most profitable, surely the most vicious. It is the only one international in scope. It is the only one in which the profits are reckoned in dollars and the losses in lives. A racket is best described, I believe, as something that is not what it seems to the majority of the people. Only a small 'inside' group knows what it is about. It is conducted for the benefit of the very few, at the expense of the very many. Out of war a few people make huge fortunes.

I helped make Mexico, especially Tampico, safe for American oil interests in 1914. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City Bank boys to collect revenues in. I helped in the raping of half a dozen Central American republics for the benefits of Wall Street. The record of racketeering is long. I helped purify Nicaragua for the international banking house of Brown Brothers in 1909-1912 (where have I heard that name before?). I brought light to the Dominican Republic for American sugar interests in 1916. In China I helped see to it that Standard Oil went its way unmolested.

Second,  I wrote about the Lidice Massacre by the Germans in this journal on May 27th of this year.  I reflected on the Principle of Proportionality in the law of war, dealing with civilian cay casualties.  I did the forbidden, comparing the civilian slaughter by Israel in the current war in/on Gaza with the Lidice Massacre.  And now, within the last couple of days, we have the news of the 4 Israeli hostages rescued by the IDF with reportedly 274 Palestinians killed, mostly civilians, and about 700 wounded or injured, which is to say, almost 1,000 mostly civilian casualties to rescue the 4 hostages, and one IDF soldier killed.  Again we have the photos of so many children covered in blood.  Again we have the acknowledgment that the U.S. assisted Israel with intelligence and of course, American-manufactured and supplied armaments were used in the operation. 

THE MOST AMERICAN CITY: Searching for the nation’s future in Phoenix, Arizona by George Packer in the current The Atlantic online.    I was only able to read a portion of this article but it gave me the willies.  I will read, think about, and write about this, hopefully tonight and tomorrow.