8/17/2025

 Sunday, August 17, 2025

D+282/210/-1252

1946 George Orwell published "Animal Farm" in the United Kingdom

1998 Bill Clinton admitted he had an "improper physical relationship" with Monica Lewinsky and that he "misled people" about the relationship

2005 The first forced evacuation of settlers from Gaza began as part of Israel's unilateral disengagement plan

2023 US 30-year fixed mortgage rate rose above 7% for the first time in 21 years

In bed at 10:30, awake at 5, up at 5:15.  68°, high of 75°,  Partly cloudy.   

Meds, etc.  Morning meds at 11:15 a.m. 

Disorderly thoughts from a disorderly mind: 

(1) The Civil War Never Ended.  The history books say it ended 160 years ago, but in truth, it has never ended.  This morning's New York Times has an article by Audra B. H. Burch, titled "North Carolina Confederate Monument Goes Too Far, Lawsuit Says."  The monument in question stands next to the courthouse in Tyrrell County, North Carolina, and bears the engraved words "IN APPRECIATION OF OUR FAITHFUL SLAVES."  After the "Jews will not replace us" rally in Charlottesville in 2017, there has been a movement in the United States to remove public monuments celebrating the Confederacy, the "Lost Cause," and Confederate generals and soldiers who fought against Union soldiers.   In his second term, Donald Trump has done all he could to reverse the progress of that movement, even re-renaming Army bases in the South after Confederate generals who betrayed their oaths to defend the Constitution of the U.S.  One example is Fort Lee in SE Virginia which was named after the Wet Point graduate and betrayer of his commissioning oath, Robert E. Lee, shown astride his battle steed in the pictured monument that used to be in Richmond, VA.  Its name was changed in the Biden administration and changed back to 'Fort Lee', by Trump, although pretextually after a different Lee.  As Heather Cox Richardson has well documented, the South lost the war, but it won the peace.  The war has never ended and the South is still on a roll.

(2) Monarchs.  I watered Geri's tomato plant and the flowers and ferns in other pots on the patio this afternoon.  To my chagrin, I saw that the drain pipe has become disconnected from the downspout in the middle of our gutter on the west side of the house.  I was afraid to try to reconnect it myself because the connection point is so near to the ground.  If I lost my balance and toppled, I would have a hard time getting up, though I had my phone with me and could have called 911.  I thought it prudent to let Geri do it when she returns.  Alas, useless.  While watering, however, I saw two monarch butterflies feeding on Geri's zinnias and thought what a literally marvelous sight it was, seeing these tiny, delicate, vulnerable creatures on their way to Mexico.  They weigh less than a gram, between 0.25 gram for the small ones to 0.75 gram for the large ones.  The ones feeding on the zinnias looked small to me.  They didn't seem interested in Geri's marigolds, but nectared on the zinnias and then continued southward.  Just one of Nature's astonishing wonders, marvels, awesome impossible but true stunners.

(3) Trump at Anchorage.  How ashamed we Americans ought to be by our president: how he embraced an indicted war criminal, a known murderer of political opponents, a kidnapper of children, and a warmonger.  Who is the more wicked human being: Donald Trump or Vladimir Putin.  We have to give the nod to Putin as the one who has much more blood on his hands, but what does it say of Trump that he admires him, and wants to emulate him?  What has he been credibly charged with?  (a) Forced deportation of thousands of Ukrainian children to Russia; (b) Mass killings and torture and civilian killings in Ukraine; (c) Corruption, including his billion dollar dacha; (d) Murder of poltical opponents; (e) Warmongering, including the invasion of Chechnya and destruction of Grozny, the invasion of Georgia, the invasion of Ukraine, and (f) the intervention in the Syrian civil war on the side of Bashar al-Assad, and the killing of thousands of Syrians.  For this international murderous criminal, Trump literally rolled out the red carpet, applauded him as he strode down it, warmly welcomed him onto American soil, and shared laughs with him.  In the 154 countries that recognize the International Criminal Court, he would have been arrested for his war crimes.  In Trump's America, he was embraced.  Shame, shame.

(4) Monday's meeting at the White House.  What can come of this meeting?  I recognize that I am a pessimist and have a tendency to catastrophize, but the only good I can see from tomorrow's meeting between Trump on the one hand and Zelenskii and European leaders on the other would be if the Europeans can persuade Trump not to simply throw Ukraine under the bus, i.e, not to withdraw American support from Ukraine.  If Trump doesn't see his Ukraine initiative leading to something good for him, like the Nobel Peace Prize, his inclination will be to simply wash his hands of the whole messy situation.  Support of Ukraine has been costly for the U.S., both in terms of financial support and in terms of depletion of our own war materials.  If, at the end of the day, Putin gets his way either by conquering all of Ukraine or by dividing and neutralizing it, what will America - and Trump - have to show for year of support to the losing side in the war?  There's little Trump hates more than being "a loser" which is what he may become if he continues to support Ukraine.  What did Putin tell Trump in Anchorage (or before Anchorage)?  The meeting lasted only half as long as it had been scheduled, there was no one-on-one private meeting between the two presidents, and the luncheon meeting was cancelled.  One thing was clear: Russia was going to continue killing Ukrainians, destroying their vital infrastructure, and moving westward toward Kiev as Ukraine runs out of manpower.  Is it conceivable that Zelenskii and his European supporters will agree to enough of Putin's preconditions for a peace conference to make the conference happen?  I doubt it.  I think the big question tomorrow is not what Zelenskii will do, but rather what Trump will do.

And, by the way, no one should be fooled by the assertion that "It was determined by all that the best way to end the horrific war between Russia and Ukraine is to go directly to a Peace Agreement, which would end the war, and not a mere Ceasefire Agreement, which often times do not hold up."  First, that was simply Trump crying "uncle" to Putin on the ceasefire.  Second, there is no such thing as 'go[ing] directly to a Peace Agreement.'  The United States and Vietnam started peace negations in Paris in May, 1968.  They couldn't even agree on a ceasefire until 1972 with the Peace Accords not signed until January, 1973.  The whole process took about 5 years.  The fighting with Japan ended in August, 1945, but the Peace Treaty with the U.S. wasn't signed until September, 1951.  The Armistice ending the fighting in World War I was on November 11, 1918.  The Peace Treaty between the U.S. and Germany wasn't signed until August 25, 1921.  The Paris Peace Treaties ending World War II were signed until February, 1947, though the fighting with Germany stopped with Germany's surrender on May 7, 1945.  The treaties with Germany and Japan ending WWII were with countries that had surrendered unconditionally and were occupied by their conquerors.  They were devasted and on thier knees.  The fighting had long since ended.  Compare that with the peace process over Vietnam.  Yet all of these agreements tooks years to negotiate.  Putin and Trump propose to go through that process while Russia is still inflicting devastation on Ukraine.  I won't mention the history of the many "peace processes" between Israel and the Palestinians.  So we should consider what it is that Trump and Putin will be asking of Zelenskii and the Europeans tomorrow and what the chances are of some meaningful agreement.  The last time Zelenskii was in the Oval Office he was berated and shown the door, not even given a promised lunch.  Let's hope something better happens tomorrow, but I'm not counting on it.