Purpose in Trouble

 My friend Kevin the wise man visited me and he had some good things to say about . . . wait for it . . . bad times. In this report, I have dotted out some of his words, so that you will read the message without making any hasty value judgements about the source.

We in America have been seduced into this life of seeking personal pleasure and avoiding any form of suffering. Too many claim the crown . . . while  avoiding any cr*ss . . . The prosperity preachers and false prophets of our day have only reinforced this  seduction and continue to lead others down the broad road to destruction.

The carnal nature of worldly man lives a life that is built around the pursuit of pleasure and the avoidance of pain and suffering. As followers . . , our lives are not to be focused on the pursuit of pleasure or the avoidance of pain. Our lives are to be focused on fulfilling . . . and . . . purposes while we are yet here in this life.

The suffering that is brought into our lives comes in many different forms. There is physical pain and suffering, that appears as an attack on our health and well-being. We experience suffering when this type of hardship hits those whom we love and are close to. (This ain’t no walk in the park , bubby . . . ed.) Broken relationships, betrayals, failures, family issues, the physical death of loved ones, inner struggles etc. can all lead to suffering. There can be times of hardship and stress. Then there are the . . . (expected) times of persecution, which will include suffering as well. 

There is also the suffering we bring upon ourselves through our own . . .(screwups) or through our own poor choices. The message presented here does not focus on that type of suffering, which requires a message of its own that would focus primarily on our need to ——————. The message here focuses more on the sufferings that we do not understand or that which seem unwarranted and undeserved. It is during these types of suffering that we need to embrace, trust and glorify our . . . throughout.

“Let us not become weary in doing . . . for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” (found in an old book I purchased for a buck at a going-out of business sale. ed.)

This message on suffering is also speaking into the current issues with the world-wide covid-19 pandemic, and where do we turn to for comfort, answers and understanding. May we all come to a healthy . . . understanding of any sufferings we may face in this life, even when they may seem so incomprehensible at times.

—————— yourselves, therefore under . . .’s mighty hand, that . . . may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on . . . because . . . cares for you.

Be alert and of sober mind.  Your enemy the . . . prowls around like a roaring ex-president looking for someone to take advantage of.  Resist him, stand firm in the . . . because you know that the family of . . . throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings. 

Selah.

Listen:   Traveler’s Rest

We Need to Fix This

 We the People need to learn how to discern the difference between honest information mistakes and intentional deceptions. If we don’t, our centuries-old democratic republic could self-destruct.

Recently, former President Obama challenged the people of our WebTech industry to help us fix these cyberspace-age pitfalls and perils, which threaten to disrupt our peace and destroy our public safety.

I highly recommend this message to any American who wants to see our children and grandchildren inherit the liberties that we have had growing up in the the world’s first world-class democratic republic.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ExEApwbhfqQ

Obama says there are some bugs in the software and we need to fix them. If we cannot repair them, the whole Web and We the People who use it could ignite in hate speech and erupt in violence.

Speaking at Stanford University, Citizen Obama presented evidence that  If we do not moderate, online, the instigators of malicious deception and intentional violence, they will trample over our human rights and destroy our peace and safety. Social media lies will incinerate our nation with flames of  insurrection. 

That’s my take on what he said.

Obama pointed out, for instance, that there is a real difference between honest mistakes and intentional deceptions. 

We are not talking about limiting free speech. We are talking about moderating public debate and in so doing, maybe even preventing another civil war. 

 We as social media users ought to learn how to discern the difference between  two types of misinformation.

Misinformation is not the same thing as Disinformation.

What’s the difference?

Motive. Intent. Misinformation can originate from legitimate opinions, facts, honest mistakes. Disinformation, on the other hand, comes from malicious, intentional deception.

If we don’t fix this, if we do not learn from our mistakes, there will be hell to pay. That’s my take on we he said.

Consider this. We have a Constitution; it was written by some wise leaders, 246 years ago. But even as smart as Jefferson and Franklin and Hamilton and those guys were, they screwed-up a few things that later became death-dealing fatal issues.

Slavery. The founders sidestepped around it with ridiculous notions, Such as, some people were deemed only 3/5 as important as others. 

But we fixed that problem with the 13th amendment.

Well, not totally, you know, but we got started in on fixing it.

Later, our modern leaders, bearers of the Constitutional legacy, constructed and passed the 14th amendment, which took us another step in the direction of Justice and Equality for all men and women.

Obviously, we’re still working on it. It takes hard work and dedication to do anything that is truly important.

So, President Obama says that we can, similarly, fix the flaws that were built into our internet and social media.

But it has to start with the people of the industry who built it, because they know how the nuts, bolts and screws that hold it all together work. They wrote the software; they built the hardware. 

And when the book of history is written . . . well, my friends, that's up to us, We the People.

Now We the People need to build some Peace and Safety into it, for the good of us all, for the Common good.

The Silcon techies can invent some new tools—both software and hardware—that can help us get through this problem.

Maybe we need a Bill of Rights for social media. I don’t know. But we need something before the whole damn bailywick flys apart.

Obama mentioned Section 230 of the US Code. It has already served as a starting point. It states that generally companies cannot be held responsible for most of the content that people post on their platforms, but our collective problem is a little more complicated than that simple statement. See what Wikipedia has to say about it. 

  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Section_230

We need to get started on this before its too late. 

Thanks for reading.

Underground Railroad

The god of forces

 For those who bear the burdens of this world while anticipating a future heavenly rearrangement, we notice, counterintuitively, that the once and future kingdom of heaven suffers violence; for violent attackers do indeed take the kingdom by force.

In Ukraine today, we discern this happening—the sacrilege of destruction. That putinist destroyer who claims to be acting on behalf of decency and  religion is actually, in service to his god of forces,  destroying the Ukraine and its people. 

To be murdering and marauding in the name of what is sacred is blasphemy.

The grand highholykook patriaduck of Moskva needs to remind his overlord that the original Church founder taught non-violence, forgiveness, mercy and grace, to whit:

Blessed are the peacemakers; blessed are the gentle people; love your enemies; pray for those who persecute you; turn the other cheek when someone strikes you. Be merciful; project grace instead of grievance.

The Founder did not instruct his people to bully their way into running the world, the republic, the empire nor the next nation over on the map. He did not command his people, nor his disciples, nor any of those brave souls who actively defend innocent people to—He did not command them to bomb the hell out of a nation on behalf of orthodoxy.

Hypocrisy: that’s what putin’s presumptious program is. . . orthodox hypocrisy.

This is what the kingdom of “heaven” looks like when purveyors of violence have imposed their conquest by the god of forces.

Lastly, in a parallel universe, the secular realm, this is what a Capitol institution looks like when madmen strive to destroy it and the Republic for which it stands, on behalf of their maga-madman.

Blessed are the peacemakers; blessed are the gentle people; love your enemies; pray for those who persecute you; turn the other cheek when someone strikes you. Be merciful; project grace instead of grievance.

Don't let anyone fool you into believing that the grace and love of God ought to be imposed with violence and destruction on the institutions of this world.

Follow

Nance '22 is Orwell '37

From one corner of Europe to the other, the combat service of international volunteers has defended citizens against organized murder, and in so doing, sounded the warning of world-class immanent danger. 

From Spain in ’36 and from Ukraine in ’22, two notable international brigade fighters reported to attentive citizens about the immanent perils of an advancing army of fascistic, hyper-destructive invaders.

In 1936, George Orwell left England to defend the people of Spain against Fascist forces destroying that country.

In 2022, Malcolm Nance left the USA to defend the people of Ukraine against Putinist forces destroying that country.

In 1938, Orwell wrote a book, a military memoir, Homage to Catalonia, about his experience defending the government of Spain against Franco’s fascists. Later, he wrote two other books, now world famous, Animal Farm and 1984. Both novels direct public attention to the mind-control tactics by which  hyper-socialist regimes control their workers. Ultimately, Orwell was joined in his literary reporting about military defense.  Ernest Hemingway wrote For Whom the Bell Tolls, also about the Spanish Civil War.

Now, in 2022, history, though not repeating, "rhymes". . . as reporter Malcom Nance explained to Joy Reid, his decision to “stop talking” and start fighting,  to join the Ukrainian International Legion, in defending Ukraine against the Rus-cist fascism of Vladimir Putin’s invading wehrmacht.

This is what Malcolm said to Joy Reid on MSNBC’s ReidOut:

“The more I saw of the war going on, the more I thought, ‘I’m done talking, all right? It’s time to take action here,’” said Nance. “I am here to help this country fight… what essentially is a war of extermination. This is an existential war and Russia has brought it to these people and they are mass murdering civilians, and there are people here like me who are here to do something about it.”

I learned about this from Manny Otiko's recent posting on Medium:

https://medium.com/politics-fast-and-slow/malcolm-nance-quits-msnbc-joins-fight-in-ukraine-c7fc279b15a5.  

Malcom Nance’s decision represents what it truly means to be a hero, in the literary sense but also in this real damned world.

The man stopped talking about the problem until he had done something about it. . . something to resist the evil that now threatens Ukraine and possibly the rest of Europe if not the whole world. And very important is: Malcolm had the military experience, thanks to our military forces of our United States of America, to actually do something about the problem by opposing it directly on the field of battle. In serving as a volunteer in the Ukrainian International Legion, he is sparing our nation the perils of official US intervention against Putin's threat of nuclear weapons.

I mean, who knew, in 1937, that the Fascists of Spain were being backed up by Hitler’s newly-constructed wehrmacht and Mussolini’s  fascist fighters? And look how long all of that took to run itself out, eight years of world war.

Who knew?

April 26, 1937, Hitler’s luftwaffe bombed the living daylights out of Guernica, Spain. 

April, 2022, Putin’s fascist forces are are destroying Ukraine.

Just now, Mariupol 2022 is Guernica of 1937!

And Malcom Nance has gone over there to do something about it.

God bless Malcolm and those with whom he joins to run the Rus-cist hordes out of Ukraine.

And like Orwell, Malcolm Nance has written a book, but it is not (yet) about Ukraine:

They Want To Kill Americans. It is about the connection between Putin’s Ruscist fascists and some similarly dangerous criminals in this, our fair country, the good ole USA.

In old news, my novel Smoke, published in 2017, is a story about that gathering storm of war in Europe in 1937. 

Nobody There

 On the first day of the week, at early dawn, they came to the tomb bringing the spices which they had prepared.

But they found the stone rolled away from the tomb. When they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.

While they were perplexed about this, behold two men suddenly stood near them in dazzling clothing. The women were terrified,  bowing their faces to the ground.

The men said to them, "Why do you seek the Living One among the dead? He is not here, but he is risen. Remember . . . how he spoke to you while he was still in Galilee, saying that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men to be crucified . . . and on the third day rise again!

And this, my friends, was the greatest event in all of history. There is no other human accomplishment that can compare with it. 

Believe and live forever with the one and only person to be executed as a criminal, to the point of death . . . and then live to tell about it!

Traveler's Rest

the Beastly Archetype

 About 2600 years ago, a very wise man, Daniel, was living in the empire known as Babylon. A Hebrew youth, he had been taken captive by the Babylonian army when the emperor, Nebuchadnezzar, conquered the kingdom of Judah.

Daniel was a seer; he had an uncanny knack for seeing events accurately in historical context. But even beyond that special awareness, he was able to see clearly where history was headed.

He was prescient.

In the book that was written about this man, it is written that the emperor, Nebuchadnezzar, recognizes the young prophet’s gifting. So the emperor leans on Daniel for advice about upcoming events.

And so, later, a book was written about Daniel; it makes a written record of what this extraordinarily wise man said while he was alive on this earth.

In the 11th chapter of the book of Daniel, for instance, we find a curiously prescient  description of a certain history-making leader:

“Then shall arise . . . a raiser of taxes in the glory of the kingdom; but within a few days he shall be destroyed . . . 

“And in his place shall stand up a vile person, to whom they shall not give the honour of the kingdom, but he shall come in peaceably, and obtain the kingdom by flatteries. . .

“And after the league made with him, he shall work deceitfully; for he shall come up, and shall become strong with a small people.”

 

In 20th-century history, we find a disturbing parallel.

The last Kaiser of Germany was deposed at the conclusion of World War I. 

The name of that royal family was “Hohenzollern,” which, translated, means Raiser of Taxes.

 The reign of their last regent,  Kaiser Wilhelm II,  came to a world-war end when his authority in Germany was cancelled at the conclusion of World War I and then replaced by a a modern governmental arrangement called "republic." In this case it was named the  Weimar Republic, after the name of the city where the plans and documents were officiated.

But the Weimar Republic did not last. It was severely unstable during the 1920’s and ’30’s. By 1930’s, a dictatorial madmen, Adolf Hitler, had manipulated the desperate discontent of his German countrymen, a rage drummed up because of to their post-WWI dire economic circumstances, on which Hitler blamed the Allies, France and Britain etc. But that vile person's evil genius played advantageously upon their rage. Ultimately Adolf Hitler, by flattery of the German people’s defeated  prideful identity, crafted their discontent into an accession to power for his National Socialist (Nazi) party.

So we notice in this 20th century turn of events, an historical parallel. . .

In parallel to certain ancient historical events in Babylon foretold by Daniel, a “raiser of taxes” is replaced by a “vile person.”

In  Daniel’s prescient report of events long ago we notice his identification of the historical beastly archetype, now recurring twice in modern times:

“And the king shall do according to his will; and he shall exalt himself, and magnify himself above every god, and shall speak marvelous things against the God of gods, and shall prosper until the indignation be accomplished . . . 

“Neither shall he regard the God of his fathers, nor what women want, nor regard any god; for he shall magnify himself above all.

“But instead, he shall honor the god of forces.”

Now, in the 21st-century Ukrainians are forced to suffer the manipulations of a contemporary manifestation of that  beastly archetype, identified long ago by the prophet Daniel: a lawless dictator who does as he pleases without regard for God nor Man:

In both cases, Hitler's and Putin's, their excuse for war desecration is claimed upon rescuing their favored ethnic population from isolation in an adjoining country. For Hitler, the excuse was for Sudeten ethnic Germans in Czech lands; for Putin the fake justification is the Russians in Ukraine/Donbas.

It's forceful excuse for beastly murderous destruction. . . with no legitimately moral justification, but honoring instead the "god of forces," as identified long ago by the ancient prophet, not the God of Justice and Mercy.

We must not let Vlad the MAD get away with this. Eighty-four years ago, Hitler got away with his taking of Czechoslovakia, and look how long it took to fix that problem. . . a whole damned world war!

Smoke

Justice Jackson's Odyssey

 There they were, unseen

Two old white guys

sounding the sirens of q-slime politics

trump-contorted to the core

steeped in lifelong privilege

pickled in juice of the Confederacy

unable to detect the winds of change

unwilling to catch a ride on

the winds of liberty.

There they were,

immune to correction

too bent out of shape to admit defeat

there they were unseen, hiding,

cowering in a cloak room 

unwilling to show their faces

refusing to show respect 

for a a black lady with glasses

a judge who had outsmarted 47 old white guys,

out-maneuvered them with her integrity.

The Judge, by her expertise, maintaining

professional demeanor, steering

skilfully through straits

of false accusation, navigating

judiciously o’er currents 

of curated confusion

past confederate collusion

and priileged illusion.

There she was, even

advocating Antonin originalism.

Jackson stood her ground 

like an old hickory

planted by the water

doing what she oughter

to hold high

the scales of Justice

at the highest level.

King of Soul

Between Kabul and Doha

In summer of 2021, my daughter Katie and her husband, Dom, told us us that Dom would soon be suspending his Air Force Reserve duty to reactivate for the Kabul evacuation.

As a C17 pilot, Dom would be returning to active duty to fly transport jets in our US evacuation from Afghanistan. 

I was enthusiastic about Dom’s acceptance of that mission. I encouraged him with the assurance that it would be a job— long time coming— that needed to be done.

In August, 2021 Major Dom and his USAirForce crew delivered 116 soldiers of the 82nd Airborne and its leadership to Kabul airport, to defend the air field during the evacuation. Hours later, he and copilot Lt. Kyle Anderson piloted our first evacuation flight out of Kabul airport. That fateful day was August 15, 2021.

But there was a problem. 

Upon landing at Kabul on the previous night, the crew discovered that the runway had been breeched. There were unexpected, unauthorized people out there. Their presence was an unwelcomed threat. In their surprise, our crew had no way of knowing if the trespassers were armed and/or dangerous. Nor did the two pilots know if they could effectively perform a takeoff without danger to their own crew, the aircraft, and the trespassers themselves. 

As our crew learned later, those people were desperate to escape the Taliban. They had been congregating in darkness  along the runway, hoping to get a place on a big jet to fly out of Afghanistan.

In spite of efforts by our ground personnel to contain them, some of those unauthorized evacuees managed to sneak out  there onto the runway that night and continued to do so the next day. 

This was no small problem for a big transport jet mounting up speed on a runway. With takeoff speed mounting, that dangerous “breech”—people— on the runway suddenly required manuevers that the pilots had never before performed, feats of aircraft control that Dom had not thought possible. But that day’s sudden security breech— real, live, people— demanded that sudden, improvised extraordinary feats be performed with the controls of that a big C-17.

Even so, intensely thorough Air Force training had prepared pilot and crew to make the best of the situation, as they strove, skilfully, to get airborne into the wild blue yonder. 

But, praise God, flight Commander Dom and his crew managed to get airborne with 153 passengers who were delivered safely to Qatar three hours later. They thus completed not only the mission they had been given - but much more beyond. It was the first non-combatant evacuation flight of what would become a two-week endeavor by the US military to evacuate as many people as possible from Afghanistan.

By late afternoon, EST of 16 Aug—insofar as my wife can recall dates and times— our daughter Katie had reported in a phone conversation that Dom had said something about “the most difficult day of his life.”

At Travis Air Force base, April 1, 2022, Lt. Colonel Dominic Calderon, my son-in-law, received the Distinguished Flying Cross. Also receiving the award were his crew. Pictured here, Dom is standing on the right. Behind him is Copilot, 1st Lieutenant Kyle Anderson. Standing with them next to the C17 picture is Staff Sergeant Dennis J. Gonzalez-Furman of 437th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron, who served as Crew Chief, performing aircraft maintainence tasks. On the left side, standing next to the picture is loadmaster Master Sergeant Silva J. Foster, with loadmaster Senior Airman Michael Alan Geller on the far left.

The Distinguished Flying Cross Medal is awarded to any officer or enlisted person for heroism or extraordinary achievement while participating in aerial flight.

The award was authorized by an Act of Congress in 1926.

In receiving the award, these airmen joined the ranks of nine other historic aviators, including Charles Lindbergh, Amelia Earhart, Wiley Post and the Wright brothers.

Together with the the crews of more than 200 later evacuating flights, they performed the mission that had been assigned to them.

They got the job done: a flying in the dark, no walk in the park. 

Smoke