Hi Neil-
With all our brave military heros [sic] now serving in Iran and all over the world for our freedom; I was disappointed to read your page 2 Top News Article. It appears to divide the country; and/or, support the division of our country for political reasons.
Greg V.There's no point in answering something like that. But the day was young, and sometimes I can't help myself:
Downers Grove, Illinois
Greg:Another reader complimented Monday's column and ended his email, "Dulce Et Decorum Est," which I recognized as the title of the Wilfred Owen poem about a gas attack in World War I, and dimly remembered writing a blog post about it.
Our soldiers aren't in Iran, yet — in case facts still matter. Though I imagine that's coming. As for dividing the country, it's already divided — actually, not even. Only a quarter of Americans support Trump's war. What disappoints you is to see the division reported. Don't worry, if your tyrant has his way, with the help of people such as yourself, that won't happen anymore. Thanks for writing.
NS
I called up the 2013 post, after a far different president, Barack Obama, was considering approaching Congress to ask for permission to attack Syria after Bashar al-Assad gassed his own people — the red line Obama said they mustn't cross. Our president ended up dithering; he didn't order those air strikes, at least not in 2013. He did, a year later, for all the good it did. Not much — over half a million Syrians died between 2011 and 2021. I wonder how many Iranians will die in this adventure.
It troubled me, a little, to see some of the same thoughts in Monday's column as were expressed in 2013 — apparently, when America charges into war, I automatically think of World War I, that monument to pointless slaughter.
There are worse go-to moves, and 13 years is a long time. Few readers, I imagine, rattle their newspapers and think, "Heyyy, I read this metaphor in 2013!" Actually, few readers have physical newspapers to rattle. But still. You don't want to be a one-trick pony. "That Steinberg, he's really good at comparing whatever's happening now to World War I. That's his speciality of the house."
There are worse go-to moves, and 13 years is a long time. Few readers, I imagine, rattle their newspapers and think, "Heyyy, I read this metaphor in 2013!" Actually, few readers have physical newspapers to rattle. But still. You don't want to be a one-trick pony. "That Steinberg, he's really good at comparing whatever's happening now to World War I. That's his speciality of the house."
Oh well, there will be plenty of opportunities to develop fresh approaches to this war. It doesn't seem to be going away anytime soon. World War I lasted four years.
I like when you share emails and wish you did more of that.
ReplyDeleteI read your blog every day, yesterday's too. However, with all that 47 dishes out, sometimes you just cannot write, you shake your head.. "Where have you gone, Joe DiMaggio."...
ReplyDeleteIn regard to the top photo, calling it "The Old Post Office" really annoys me, because growing up in the 1950s & 60s, we always called it "The New Post Office", because it replaced the post office that was part of the magnificent federal courthouse downtown, which the people of Chicago actually paid for, not the federal government in the late 1880s & then the stupid feds destroyed to become an empty lot for a long time before they built the current Klucinski Building & the small separate post office next to it.
ReplyDeleteIt should really be called "The Old New Post Office", with the newer & smaller "New, New Post Office just south of it.
I believe when it was built, it was the largest building by square footage in the world & then the Merchandise Mart was even bigger & then the Pentagon even bigger than that.
It was actually built with the hole in it for the expressway to go through it, but they had to enlarge it because the actual Congress Expressway as built was wider than the original as planned.
It’s probably the old post office because it’s isn’t a post office but it’s still standing in some form. Thanks for the history to look up.
DeleteBingo. You nailed it, Clark. When I was very young, not even out of my teens, I still had a childhood friend whose father was a postmaster at that enormous edifice. It was like a city in itself. My father's friend had literally legions of black veterans and women working for him, and they loved Ben. Sadly, he had health problems and died while still in his middle years.
DeleteAnd, yes, they did leave a hole for the expressway, which was on the drawing boards long before the Main Post Office (as everyone called it) was built. The facility was originally completed in 1921 but underwent a monumental expansion in 1932. The mail-order industry, spearheaded by the Montgomery Ward and Sears catalogs, transformed the city into the distribution center of the nation.
At its postal peak, the property was the largest of its kind in the world, more than 60 acres, or 2.5 million square feet of floorspace. It was capable of handling an astonishing 19 million pieces of mail daily.
My father worked there sorting mail after he got back from the Pacific.
ReplyDeleteWhere did you father serve in the Pacific? My mother lived through WWII on Saipan and my father met her there when he served in the Navy in the 1950s.
DeleteTo Greg V.
ReplyDeleteWe are at war, led by a Commander-in -Chief who said this of a true American hero, "He's a war hero because he was captured. I like people that weren't captured".
I suppose he likes people who weren’t killed even more!
ReplyDeleteFor better or worse, I've been watching a lot of videos on youtube of "debates" between the left and the right.
ReplyDeleteThe main thing i've noticed is how quickly the any argument from the right completely falls apart the second you apply logic, fact, or remove the double standard falls completely apart. And even in the face of this the right still tries to make the argument that they are right.
Our entire society is predicated on the idea that we respect each other and engage in good faith policies; that we admit when we are wrong and strive to better society for all. Currently, republican's do not adhere to these principals.
Until we can begin to educate people we are doomed. Until the media returns to unbiased news, nothing will change. Until we hold people accountable for their actions and lies, nothing will change.
Thanks for all you do, Neil.
Double B: Do you really think you can negotiate in good faith with the likes of Khameini? And I say this as a non supporter of Trump.
DeleteI think what we trump supporters are trying to say is we are in charge. Its not about being right. Its about power and we have just about all of it.
Deleteyou libs squandered your political advantage supporting a lot of dumb shit and say we are stupid! thats rich
John. So life is nothing more than alpha animal power control by whatever means. So emasculated that only might makes right and chest-thumping dick-waving proves your worth. Sociopath much?
DeleteThanks once again, Mister S, for another fine example of the swill you have to flush away, every goddamn day: Might makes right, we are in control, we've got the power, and whadda YOU got, dumb lib?
DeleteCan't help thinking of "Cabaret"...and "Tomorrow Belongs to Me"...
Many thanks for sharing, John.
Grizz: You must have been the "Unknown" who wanted to post "Tomorrow Belongs to Me." Without content, it read as fascist support, and I didn't post it. Sorry if I made the wrong call.
DeleteYeah, that was mine. Was intended to be a sneer and a snark. Sometimes, that doesn't fly, and it crashes and burns instead. Thanks for posting the second attempt. These jamokes don't really merit replies, but sometimes it's impossible to resist.
DeleteJohn, your statement proves two things, first, that you are not in charge and second, that you know you are not right.
DeleteYou can make any argument you want about opportunities squandered by democrats, there are certainly things I wish they would have done better. But such arguments are both irrelevant and further proof that you neither understand what it means to be an American or how our republic works.
You make it clear to me, as I've said time and time again, that republicans and their supporters are anti-american and unfit for public office. You are all irredeemable bullies who try to show how strong they are by going around giving people wedgies. Everyone is laughing at you, and yet you still believe it's the joke you told that they are laughing at.
You make me disappointed to be an american, but have steeled my reserve to help educate the masses to prevent such fools from existing.
R. Green, I do not. They are the same as Republicans. Bu I may be missing your point.
DeleteI meant "Without context."
DeleteDouble B: The "we are in charge" comment actually produced an out-loud snort of derision when I read it. What "we" is he actually part of? Probably none whatsoever. Just another shmuck on the street. Just another face in the crowd.
DeleteIt would be interesting to see and hear even one example of how the Orange One has improved this dude's daily life...or what additional "power" he has obtained. But, of course, we never will
For the angry, the frustrated, and the truly powerless Magats, it's always about how they have obtained more power...even if it's only vicariously. Truly pathetic stuff.
The power that the Republican party and Trump supporters have is control of all three branches of government.
DeleteThe way that Democrats are going about it it looks like we'll carry the midterms.
Being against Trump as a strategy is not effective. If what you're promising is a return to the policies of identity politics where you're more concerned with small numbers of people in lifestyles counter to the vast majority of the country you're just going to keep losing
Hegseth: dulce et decorum est pro patria occidere.
ReplyDeleteWhen I last looked, it is unlawful to kill the head of another country's government when you are not at war. But if the current administration wishes to continue its unlawful killings of world leaders, I have a relatively short list to add to the recently deceased. I think it would solve a lot of problems.
ReplyDeleteHi Neil- With all our brave military heros [sic]
ReplyDeleteI'm willing to wager that Greg V. of Downers Grove has never been to war, or even served in the military.
And that's the problem. It used to be that everyone knew someone in the service. Then everyone knew someone who knew someone in the service. Now, no one knows anyone in the service. The military no longer represents all of America. We have no skin in the game. The quarter of America that supports the "war" have never been near the military except in a video game.
I think you're mistaken there Mr peanut. It's that rural American Christian Patriot that joins the military his family in the military knows people who died in the military
DeleteI do not view military as automatic heroes. It is not heroic to blindly follow orders to wound or destroy in the name of anyone or anything. Ours is to reason why, not to do or die.
ReplyDeleteAnon at 3:45, that's a rather dim view. We'd have still been under the Brits if everying thought that way.
DeleteIf only Baron would join the navy, wink.
DeletePrivate, it's neither dim nor reflecting toryism.
DeleteIn a country touting individualism, why are those who blindly follow an order to violence heroic?