Tuesday, December 2, 2024
1845 US President James K. Polk announced to Congress that the United States should aggressively expand into the West, a widely held belief termed "manifest destiny"
1942 The World’s 1st self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction occured in Chicago Pile-1 (the world's 1st nuclear reactor) at the University of Chicago, overseen by Enrico Fermi and Leó Szilárd
1954 US Senate censured Joeseph McCarthy for "conduct that tends to bring Senate into dishonor & disrepute
1968 US President Richard Nixon named Henry Kissinger as security advisor
2014 Stephen Hawking claimed that Artificial Intelligence could be a "threat to mankind" and spell the end of the human race
2018 Israeli police recommended that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife be charged with fraud and bribery
2020 US Attorney General William Barr said there is no evidence of widespread voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election, despite claims by Trump
2024 U.S. President-elect Donald Trump says there will be "all Hell to pay" if all the hostages are not released prior to the start of his second term. 9:30
In bed at 9:30, moved to LZB around 11, back to bed around 5, and up around 6. Not much rest. Some hip pain in bed. 16°, wind chill 10°, high 25°. Cloudy day ahead. 11 a.m. appointment with Kali Kisro.
Meds, etc. Morning meds at 9:30 a.m.
My FB post yesterday:
Re: Pete Hegseth, Secretary "Lethality". In the most recent (2023) edition of the DoD Law of War Manual (June 2015, updated July 2023), § 18.3.2.1 appears in Chapter XVIII – “Implementation and Enforcement of the Law of War”.
“18.3.2.1 Clearly Illegal Orders to Commit Law of War Violations.
… For example, orders to fire upon the shipwrecked would be clearly illegal. Similarly, orders to kill defenseless persons who have submitted to and are under effective physical control would also be clearly illegal.”
What our military forces are doing in the Caribbean is not combat, it's like shooting fish in a barrel. If not legally authorized, it is criminal homicide, arguably premeditated murder. Those committing the acts won't be prosecuted in the U.S., certainly not by Trump's Republican Department of Justice, which reportedly authorized the killings, but they may be indicted by the International Criminal Court and be subject to arrest, trial, and punishment in most of the countries of the world that have submitted to the jurisdiction of the ICC. This is the position that Commander-in-Chief Trump and Secretary of Lethality Hegseth have put our servicemen in.
Is the Hegseth 'second shot' scandal an 'inflection point' for the US or did that occur after 9/11 with 'renditions, Abu Ghraib, etc.? Quaere whether there is an 'inflection point' for the U.S.'s violation of the rules of war, or of any other rule when it came to defeating those who stood in the way of American expansionism, imperialism, or whatever we call America's voracious growth in territory. power, or hegemony over its history. But, if there is a most significant point at which Americans ignored the rules of war, or domestic or international law, in order to achieve some desired goal, a point where the national policy was 'the end justifies the means,' wouldn't it be the policies adopted by George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, and Don Rumsfeld under the rubric 'the War on Terror'? Hasn't the country long believed that "might makes right"? Why did the nation's leaders so readily make and break treaties with native tribes, especially when gold was involved? or settler interests (land cupidity) or business interests (the railroads)? etc.? Just askin'.
Today's FB posting: We're hearing a lot about the legality of the boat strikes on the Caribbean Sea, but I've been wondering about the morality of those "kinetic actions." I have especially been wondering this: if we were to ask everybody who self-identifies as a "Christian Nationalist", or who embraces the political views of those who so identify, whether the boat strikes in the Caribbean accord with Jesus's teachings, how would they answer? If we were to ask them, 'What would Jesus do? ', what would be their answers? Would Jesus be OK with killing all the people in the boats we have blown up? Would Jesus be OK with killing the survivors hanging on to the remains of the boat that we only partially destroyed on September 2nd of this year? Pete Hegseth, our self-titled "Secretary of War," has derided "politically correct and overbearing rules of engagement, " and "stupid rules of engagement," in favor of giving commanders and troops broader authority to “intimidate, demoralize, hunt and kill the enemies of our country,” arguing for “common sense, maximum lethality, and authority for warfighters.” "Lethality" means deadly, mortal, fatal, lethal, i.e., causing or capable of causing death. Hegseth wants our soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines in the business of "maximum lethality," which I take to mean something akin to Barry Goldwater's famous assurance in his 1964 presidential campaign that "extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice," or the end justifies the means. Do the Christian Nationalists agree with that? Do we? Those people on the Caribbean boats are being killed in our name and supposedly on our behalf. Do we suppose Jesus is OK with that? Are we OK with that? I'm not, but I note that Hegseth is a member of a Christian church near Nashville that is part of a network of the Communion of Reformed Churches, which is part of the Christian Nationalist movement. They claim to be Christian, of course, and to focus on 'the sovereignty of God', so it seems appropriate to wonder how Pete and his co-religionists answer the question, What would Jesus do to those souls on board the boats, or hanging onto the remains of one, praying.
Visit with Kali Kisro today. Irregular heartbeat, referral to Cardiology Clinic (congestive heart failure?), referral to Pulmonology for PFTs. EKG plus regular blood and urine work. I declined the COVID-19 vaccine. Wise? Footish? Zeke Emanuel. Why take daily BP meds, statin, and weekly diabetes injection?
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