The last war [FN1] this country fought ended 9/2/45 with Japan’s surrender [FN2], longer than any time in our history without war. Elected political officials have found circumvention of formal declarations of war as convenient as the use of war as metaphor for anything else.1/9

Eric Doden is a candidate for IN Governor in this iteration of the GOP. He lays claim to being an “outsider.” [FN3] That’s not true. His GOP primary loss in a 2011 run for Mayor of Ft Wayne [FN4] is not the…

After the shootings in Broad Ripple around 1:20 a.m. on 3/16, in which one person was killed and several wounded, I blogged about the absurdity of circumstances that give rise to death tolls from our gun culture. Police weren’t called to the scene, but were working near the bar. 1/8

The officers ” heard multiple shots go off inside” the bar, [FN1] a bar catering to a younger set. [FN2] Officers were steps taken in June 2023 to address gun violence. [FN3] “The wild west” is movie…

Russia still has a hand in our elections. Paul Manafort chaired the GOP presidential campaign in 2016. He later admitted he lied to investigators & under oath “about his contact with a Russian associate during the 2016 campaign.” [FN1] Manafort was pardoned by trump. 1/5

Some of the information was “internal polling data” and was shared with Konstantin Kilimnik, a “Russian and Ukrainian political consultant” and that “Russia could have exploited such inside information to target…

After my post this morning about trump’s threat, during a speech in Dayton OH 3/16/24, that if he loses on November 5, there “will be a bloodbath,” one comment was “bloodbath” was taken out of context from a speech about the auto industry. YouTube has several replays.

trump talks for a bit more than a minute. He describes jobs going to Mexico that should be here. He then says that, if he is re-elected [FN1] he will put a 100% tariff on cars from China. Then he says that if he does not…

In a speech in Dayton OH Saturday afternoon, trump said that if he loses on November 5, there “will be a bloodbath.” The word “bloodbath” is defined as “a ruthless slaughter of a great number of people; massacre.” [FN1] In Indiana, voter intimidation is illegal, specifically: 1/8

Indiana law forbids intimidating, threatening or coercing an individual to vote or attempt to vote.” [FN2] This goes to the heart of the right to vote. Neither trump nor any member of his crime family should…

Gun violence on 3/16 claimed at least 1 more person in Broad Ripple. Police “working near” a bar on Broad Ripple Ave “around 1:20 a.m.” heard multiple shots go off inside” the bar, [FN1] which caters to a younger crowd. [FN2] IMPD took measures last summer 1/9

to address violence after four people were shot, three of whom died, last summer. [FN3] In the latest shooting, police were not called to the scene. They “heard multiple shots go off inside” the bar. Close proximity of police…

“Oh What a Lovely War” [FN1] a 1969 British film, is sharp, bloody satire set to happy songs popular in WWI. The scene for each tune disintegrates to carnage on the battlefield. I saw the film at DePauw around the same time I first read Tuchman’s “Guns of August.” [FN2] 1/9

I drew several impressions. European leaders blundered into WWI, each believing others would back down. People had little grasp of the realities of modern warfare. Roughly a century had passed since the Napoleonic…

I disagree that no one could be more stupid and mean than Rep Jim Banks [FN1] and Micah Beckwith. [FN2] There are over eight billion people on Earth. [FN3] The odds alone negate such an assertion. Then these events occur. Beckwith re-tweets a Banks re-tweet: 1/10

“After the next census, illegal aliens will have more representation in the electoral college than the entire population of Indiana. That’s the point of the Biden border crisis.”

I must ask: are they ANTIFA plants or…

11/5/24: could be our last elections. At CPAC a speaker hailed “the end of democracy”adding “All glory is to God.” [FN1] [FN2] On social media, groups mesh evangelical Christianity & politics. Most operate on a misconception easily dispelled. One such group: 1/9

“My Faith Votes” (MFV) says it is “a non-partisan movement” to get “Christians in America to vote in every election.” [FN3] It mentions “90 million Christians in America” [FN4] With its claim as “non-partisan,” MFV seems…

There were highlights of past State of the Union addresses in the lead-up to tonight’s SOTU by Pres Biden. There was Pres Obama (winner of the popular vote in 2008 and 2012) saying to the justices of SCOTUS right there how they screwed up on Citizens United. Alito mumbled 1/4

“Not true.” Unfortunately, Alito doth protest too much. [FN1] That decision “ushered in massive increases” in campaign spending that further tilted political influence toward wealthy donors & corporations.…

In his 2nd inaugural address, Pres Abraham Lincoln saw reconstruction of our country after The Civil War and said: “With malice toward none, with charity for all.” [FN1] Lincoln sought to “unify a broken nation.” [FN2] The Civil War was not sparked overnight. 1/8

Preservation of the institution of slavery ripped this country apart, and not because abolition was an overarching goal of the North, but because southern States seceded from the Union over the issue of slavery. [FN3] Abraham…

This is a test.
Is the following phrase consistent with the Republican Party?
“With malice toward none, with charity for all.”
If your answer is “no” (too wimpish?) please realize Pres Lincoln said this in
his 2nd Inaugural Address.
Today’s GOP, jacked by trump, is NOT the party of Lincoln.

The 2024 elections should frighten Hoosiers. [FN1] Indiana’s GOP is a not-for-profit corporation that acts like a closely-held, for-profit corporation. Insiders run Indiana’s GOP. The candidacy of one person running for Lt Governor, reflects an attempt to build distance from voters. 1/8

Micah Beckwith [FN2] wants to be GOP’s nominee for IN Lt Gov. He’s never won an election, general or primary, but on 9/8/22 w/o fanfare & w/a few minutes’ public notice he was appointed to HEPL’s…

Pres Biden was wrong. On 2/29 in Brownsville, Texas, he was right: trump [FN1] ordered GOP members of Congress to “tank” a bipartisan immigration bill. [FN2] trump needs that issue. Pres Biden wants ppl to understand "clearly" that the border deal, a bipartisan agreement, 1/9

was tossed by partisan politics. Pres Biden could have used a stronger anatomical metaphor to describe GOP members of Congress ("show a little spine"). [FN3] Pres Biden was wrong when he said: "Let’s remember ..…

In the last 2 blogs I wrote how (1) the murder of Putin enemy Aleksei Navalnov & (2) statements by trump, foretell what can be as trump tries to retake the Oval Office that Putin stole for trump in 2016, or if the effort succeeds. Some comments I received ignore Hoosier hospitality. 1/7

After WWI, D.C. Stephenson arrived in Indiana to recruit for, and build up, the KKK. Power was from numbers of Hoosiers who joined up to be “Kluxers.” [FN1] He also took healthy cuts from $10…

The most votes usually wins an election. [FN1] “Most” is easier if voters for the other side lose the right to vote. “Jim Crow” laws [FN2] were copied & the USA regarded as “the innovative world leader in the creation of racist law.” [FN3] USA laws showed Nazis how to strip 1/8

non-Aryans and “opponents of the regime and all those who silently themselves from it by their lack of enthusiasm for its policies.” [FN4]

We should be scared by trump’s statements that echo the…

Alexei Navalny, opponent of Russia’s President,Vladimir Putin, was arrested, tried, convicted and sentenced on charges of “extremism” by Putin’s regime. Navalny was in custody of Putin’s dictatorship. On 2/16 Navalny “felt unwell after a walk” & lost consciousness. [FN1] 1/11

In a video hearing the previous day, Navalny smiled behind the bars of a cell and made jokes. [FN2] There are several points in Mr Navalny’s case relevant to us in the USA.

1: trump takes marching orders…

MOSCOW. Tuesday, Febr 13, 2024. Pres V. Putin granted me an interview. After the transcript was edited to remove graphic descriptions, obscene language & bare-faced lies, nothing was left. What follows is an accurate work of fiction, just like OAN or The New York Post. 1/8

VP: Take off the hood now.

CDN: Where am I?

VP: Good morning.

CDN: Where the ...

VP: Why are you looking around?

CDN: Making sure there aren’t any windows.

VP: That is hackneyed joke.…

I’m relieved that, in the very early 1980s, we did not have kids. I would have been worried sick about their future. Stephen Miller, who was trump’s person on immigration, spelled it out in comments last fall that I only read the past few days. 1/6

“[I]n terms of personnel, you go to the red state governors and you say, give us your National Guard. We will deputize them as immigration enforcement officers. ... And if you’re going an unfriendly state like Maryland, well, there would…

Indiana’s National Guard is sent to help other States in emergencies. (e.g., hurricanes) Statutes provide the Governor “shall order on state duty all or part of the national guard ” in times of war, invasion, insurrection or at any time the governor considers necessary. [FN1] 1/10

An email fr his campaign address [FN2] dated 02/10/24 says Gov Eric Holcomb is deploying our Nat’l Guard to assist w/the ongoing situation at the border” due to “Federal negligence enforcing immigration law”…