Ninth Annual “Cameo In Courage” Award For 2024 (May 20, 2024)

Posted in Cameo In Courage Award on May 20, 2024 by e-commentary.org

. . .

K          “The envelope please.  . . .  This year, the ‘Cameo In Courage’ Award is awarded to . . . David McBride who disclosed war crimes committed by Australian soldiers in Afghanistan including the killing of 39 unarmed Afghan prisoners, farmers, and civilians in 2012.  And for his courageous and commendable efforts, the Australian government is sending him to prison.”

J          “He has my vote and support.”

K          “The Australian government fails to protect some Australian citizens such as Julian Assange and persecutes and prosecutes other Australian citizens.  Emulating the United States is obscene.”

. . .

[See “The Heroism of David McBride” by John Kiriakou in “Consortium News” dated May 16, 2024.]

[See the e-commentary at  Eighth Annual “Cameo In Courage” Award For 2023 (May 22, 2023), Cameo In Courage Award Nominee: Julian Assange (January 31, 2022), Sixth Annual “Cameo In Courage” Award For 2021 (April 5, 2021), Fifth Annual “Cameo In Courage” Award For 2020 (July 6, 2020), Seeing 2020:  Profiles In Cowardice; Profiles In Courage.  Oh, And Happy Valentine’s Day! (February 10, 2020), Alex J. / J. Assange And The First Amendment (August 13, 2018), Hero or Traitor? (June 10, 2013), Fourth Annual ‘Cameo In Courage’ Award For 2019 (April 8, 2019), Third Annual ‘Cameo In Courage’ Award For 2018 (April 9, 2018), Second Annual ‘Cameo In Courage’ Award For 2017 (March 6, 2017), First Annual ‘Cameo In Courage’ Award For 2016 (May 9, 2016), Award Deadlines (Livelines?) (July 25, 2016), Profile In Cowardice Award (May 12, 2014), Profile In Courage Award, 2015 (May 11, 2015), Chelsea And Ed:  Time For ‘Con’ ‘dign’ Treatment (November 30, 2015) and On Courage and Truth (March 17, 2008).]

Bumper sticker of the week:

Dissent remains patriotic, but perilous

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Graduation Advice:  Plant A Garden (May 13, 2024)

Posted in Graduation Advice on May 13, 2024 by e-commentary.org

.  .  .

K          “Plant a garden.”

.  .  .

K          “Ladies and gentlemen of the class of ’24 . . . plant a garden. . . .  If I could offer you only one tip for the future . . . plant a garden.  You have been studying and partying and extracurricularing at a frantic and frenetic pace.  Now is the time to . . . plant a garden.”

. . .

K          “Wear sunscreen.  Wear hearing protection; listen attentively.  Wear chainsaw safety chaps; cut with care.  Eat dessert: First.  Learn to tie a bowline (and a bow tie).  Stop, pause, think.  Eschew fear.  Transcend:  Maintain FL 44; Make A Few Discrete Dives And Diversions To TPA (Traffic Pattern Altitude).  Find the First Amendment.  And plant a garden.”

. . .

J          “Go East, young person.  Go to Rome, D.C. and get in on the looting before it is too late.”

. . .

[See the original “Sunscreen Column”, the Wikipedia article “Wear Sunscreen” and listen to “Everbody’s Free (To Wear Sunscreen)”.]

[See the e-commentary at The Möbius Loop Of Stupidity, Dishonesty, Hypocrisy, Incompetence, Indifference, Arrogance, . . .  Oh, And Happy Thanksgiving! (November 25, 2019), Graduation Advice:  Find The First Amendment (May 15, 2023), Graduation Advice:  Transcend:  Maintain FL 44; Make A Few Discrete Dives And Diversions To TPA (Traffic Pattern Altitude) (May 16, 2022), Graduation Advice: Eschew Fear (May 10, 2021), Graduation Advice:  Stop, Pause, Think (May 18, 2020), Graduation Advice:  Learn To Tie a Bowline (And A Bow Tie) (May 13, 2019), Graduation Advice:  Eat Dessert.  First. (May 14, 2018), Graduation Advice:  Wear Chainsaw Safety Chaps; Cut With Care (May 15, 2017), Graduation Advice:  Wear Hearing Protection; Listen Attentively (May 16, 2016) and the advice to youth at Go East, Young Person (August 25, 2014).] 

Bumper stickers of the week:

Wear sunscreen.  Wear hearing protection; listen attentively.  Wear chainsaw safety chaps; cut with care.  Eat dessert:  First.  Learn to tie a bowline (and a bow tie).  Stop, pause, think.  Eschew fear.  Transcend:  Maintain FL 44; Make A Few Discrete Dives And Diversions To TPA (Traffic Pattern Altitude).  Find the First Amendment.  And plant a garden.

Plant a garden

Flee the Mobius Loop

“Il faut cultiver notre jardin.” Voltaire

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Ninth Annual Pushitzer Prize In Commentary For 2024 (May 6, 2024)

Posted in Pushitzer Prize In Commentary on May 6, 2024 by e-commentary.org

. . .

            “The envelope please.  . . .  This year’s Pushitzer Prize in Commentary is awarded to . . . John Day, M.D. . . . for his tireless work publishing two to three detailed posts and aggregations of articles a week for some years now with little compensation.  A self-described Army brat and Buddhist, he is a courageous physician caught in the middle of the Covid/Coronavirus nightmare who lost his job because of his convictions.  For his efforts stirring the pot, asking hard questions, demanding answers, rejecting lies, spotlighting uncomfortable truths, comforting the afflicted and afflicting the comfortable.  And being a model citizen journalist.”

J          “I cannot say that I agree with him most of the time.  I abstain but live with the decision.” 

. . .

[See the e-commentary on the ongoing international crime at The Persecution Of Assange And The Feckless MSM (September 21, 2020).]

[See the e-commentary on the Commentary Award and previous recipients at Eighth Annual Pushitzer Prize In Commentary For 2023 (May 8, 2023), Seventh Annual Pushitzer Prize In Commentary For 2022 (May 9, 2022), Sixth Annual Pushitzer Prize In Commentary For 2021 (June 7, 2021), Fifth Annual Pushitzer Prize In Commentary For 2020 (May 4, 2020), Fourth Annual Pushitzer Prize In Commentary For 2019 (April 15, 2019), Third Annual Pushitzer Prize In Commentary For 2018 (April 16, 2018), Second Annual Pushitzer Prize In Commentary For 2017 (April 10, 2017), First Annual Pushitzer Prize In Commentary For 2016 (April 18, 2016) and Pulitzers Are Pro-War?  Pressing The Pushitzers (April 22, 2013).]

[Please send your nomination for the Pushitzer Prize in Commentary for 2025 and a supporting letter by January 21, 2025 to e-ssay@gci.net and send the entry fee to your favorite charity.]

Bumper stickers of the week:

Make journalism great again

Make journalism journalism again

Knowledge is not power, but ignorance is powerless

“First they came for the journalists.  We don’t know what happened after that.”

“All tyrannies rule through fraud and force, but once the fraud is exposed they must rely exclusively on force.”  George Orwell

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Lindsey Graham:  Recipient Of The Prestigious John McCain – Madeline Albright Rancid Vermin Award!  Oh, And Happy May / Law Day! (April 29, 2024)

Posted in John McCain – Madeline Albright Rancid Vermin Award on April 29, 2024 by e-commentary.org

. . .

K          “It says something – profound and troubling – about
the America experiment that the Empire pursues war crimes as national policy and celebrates war criminals as national heroes.”

L          “That it does.  It celebrates war in all its manifestations.  You know what they say.  If you want a state funeral in America, first be a war criminal.”

. . .

J          “And he is a lawyer.”

K          “American-trained.”

. . .

K          “Any American citizen who publicly calls for the assassination of another person particularly a foreign leader violates more than a few provisions of Title 18.  Is there even one U.S. Attorney who has the courage and integrity to indict Graham after he called for the assassination of Putin?”

J          “You know that every U.S. Attorney wants to be a federal judge.  They must prove that they will avoid enforcing the law against those in power so that they can get into a position of power to . . . enforce the law.”

. . .

K         “I shared a story that I reflect on frequently.  An old experienced law professor who taught comparative law in American and European law schools for over two score years shared his settled observations about the fundamental difference in training and perspective between American-trained lawyers and European-trained lawyers.  With some exceptions, an American-trained lawyer first asks:  ‘Can we get away with it?’  With some exceptions, an European-trained lawyer first asks:  ‘Is it lawful?’.”

. . .

K          “Lindsey Graham is a doppelgänger for John McCain.”

J          “He is a doppelgänger for Madeline Albright.”

K          “He is eminently qualified for the honor.”

. . .

K          “Lindsey Graham is a vile and venal admixture of a sociopath and a psychopath who is indifferent at best whether the entire world is obliterated in a nuclear war.  He is pursuing a private agenda on the public dole.  For these and other compelling reasons and despite ferocious competition, he is most deserving of the prestigious ‘John McCain – Madeline Albright Rancid Vermin Award’ for 2024.”

. . .

[See the e-commentary at Victoria “Fuck the EU” Nuland:  Recipient Of The Prestigious John McCain – Madeline Albright Rancid Vermin Award!  Oh, And Happy May / Law Day! (May 1, 2023).]

Bumper stickers of the week:

“And as for him who lacks the courage to defend even his own soul:  Let him not brag of his progressive views, boast of his status as an academician or a recognized artist, a distinguished citizen or general.  Let him say to himself plainly: I am cattle, I am a coward, I seek only warmth and to eat my fill.”  Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, “Live Not by Lies” written before he was arrested on February 12, 1974.

“To the 2024 graduating class of the College On War And Violence – and the home of the “Fightin’ Fighters” – I remind you of one of the central truths of life in America.  If you want a state funeral in America, first be a war criminal.  Good luck on the Foreign Service Officer’s examination, your first step on the path to a state funeral.  And for the one or two of you who get it and get out of line, a funeral occasioned by the state.  Godspeed to you.”

We live in a country with many, many, many rules and many, many, many laws, but we do not live in a country that believes in or adheres to the rule of law.

You cannot get out of bed in the morning without violating some section of title 18 of the United States Code, the federal criminal code.  In fact, and as a matter of law, you cannot stay in bed in the morning without violating some section of title 18 of the United States Code, the federal criminal code.  In practice, the United States is a system of men not laws because men and women opt from the panoply of laws that punish all behavior and decide who is and who is not imprisoned.

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The Ninth Circuit, The Eighth Amendment And The Hopeless (April 22, 2024)

Posted in Courts, Homelessness, Housing on April 22, 2024 by e-commentary.org

. . .

K          “For two score years, I have followed the Ninth Circuit as closely as some friends follow Major League Baseball or the price of Bitcoin.  The first guiding principle is clear:  The Niners exult sexy and surreal culture war issues while disregarding the cases and concerns of ordinary citizens.”

. . .

K          “The court’s job is to review legislation to ascertain whether it is unconstitutional. A court using a Constitutional Amendment to legislate on questions of public policy is beyond the jurisdiction of the court.” 

. . .

J          “Talk to a woman in any city who is approached by increasingly aggressive homeless citizens.  The treat presented almost always by men against woman from birth is unrelenting.  For a woman or other possibly vulnerable person finding a parking spot in the winter at night near a store is often a twenty-minute search.  A second-tier of parking spaces beside the handicapped parking spaces may be necessary.” 

K          “There is a disquieting tableau of individuals wandering around aimlessly all night with an old blanket as a bed roll and no place to unroll it.”

J          “I hear you.  I see it.  Everywhere.  All the time.”

. . .

K          “They allege that a rising tide lifts all boats.  For tens and tens and twenties of millions of Americans who are boatless, a rising tide only drowns them.”

J          “If they had a houseboat, they have been foreclosed from it.  If they had a life raft, they have been evicted out of it.  This situation hits close to home.  Even living modestly requires swift and steady paddling.  I looked at the credit card statements and the bank statements for just one month and wondered how anyone can afford to stay off the streets.”

. . .     

J          “A little mental health counseling might help.”

K          “Or a lot.”

. . .

K          “I have cataloged the cases brought for persons who can be considered ‘individual homeless persons’ or ‘helpless villagers’ in our society.  The Ninth Circuit treats a case brought by an ‘individual homeless person’ with indifference or disdain.  There is no publicity or acclaim in it.”

. . .

K          “One final decision looked like some hen doodles and fundamentally confused ‘personal jurisdiction’ with ‘subject matter jurisdiction’ in a simple case.  Three judges and twelve law clerks from profitable law schools did not get it.  The explanation is simple.  They did not have any interest or incentive to get it right.  An above average first year law student at a fifth-tier law school would discern that there is some difference.”

J          “I recall that one.  Time to appoint non-lawyers to the courts.  Lawyers are not capable of handling the task.  A new team is our only salvation.”

. . .

J          “Another failed institution?”

K          “They do not fail to disappoint.  The two-tiered review is an essential element of their institutional DNA and explains decades of dubious decisions.”

. . .

K          “The Niners are all about show biz and public relations.  Smoke and mirrors.  Shuck and jive.  They should move their headquarters to Hollywood.  They really are a profound disappointment.”

J          “And then you have the current Fifth Circus Court in NOLA.  I’ll take the Niners any day.”

. . .       

[See the e-commentary at The Ninth Circuit:  Two-Tiered “Just-Us” Review (February 13, 2017) and Revisiting “Does Any Institution In America Function? Oh, And Happy Friday The 13th! (December 9, 2019)” Four Years Later (December 11, 2023).]

Bumper stickers of the week:

“Does the enforcement of generally applicable laws regulating camping on public property constitute ‘cruel and unusual punishment’ prohibited by the Eighth Amendment?”

We live in a country with many, many, many rules and many, many, many laws, but we do not live in a country that believes in or adheres to the rule of law.

There is no law.  There is only ideology.

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April 13 – 14.  Oh, And Happy Tribute Day! (April 15, 2024)

Posted in Middle East on April 15, 2024 by e-commentary.org

. . .

K          “Owning a bully is one of the most joyful and enriching and empowering experiences in life.”

J          “If you do not confront, you will be crushed.”

. . .

K          “They did confront the Hegemon in ways that few have the ken, the training, the empathy or the life experience to begin to understand.  I’ll forward my written analysis this afternoon.  Let’s pull it up and put it on the agenda for next year at tax time.”

J          “Forward away.  I still have this haunting sick sinking feeling that things are getting out of control.  With no adults in the room.”

. . .               

Bumper sticker of the week:

Think globally, act globally; think locally, act locally

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Total Solar Eclipse, Totally (April 8, 2024)

Posted in Nature on April 8, 2024 by e-commentary.org

. . .

K          “One of the universe’s inspiring and awe-inspiring phenomenon.  And it is free and untaxed and unprocessed.”

J          “And not genetically modified. Nature’s way of breaking up the daily routine.”

. . .

K          “An aurora borealis is not a static phenomenon like the Grand Canyon or an ephemeral phenomenon like lightening.  An aurora borealis develops and emerges and evolves and mutates and titillates.”

J          “Sort of like a living lava lamp.”

. . .

Bumper sticker of the week:

Nature never fails

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Trying To Flee.  Revisiting “Just visiting, thank you.” (April 1, 2019)  Oh, And Happy National Poetry Month!  Really (April 1, 2024)

Posted in Uncategorized on April 1, 2024 by e-commentary.org

. . .

K          “Five years have past; five summers, with the length Of five long winters!”

J          “One thing is for sure.  The five long winters have surely been long winters.”

K          “The five summers sure have been short summers.”

. . .

K          “Still have not finished machining the last part.  Another supply chain problem.”

. . .

[See the e-commentary at “Just visiting, thank you.” (April 1, 2019), The Möbius Loop Of Stupidity, Dishonesty, Hypocrisy, Incompetence, Indifference, Arrogance, . . .  Oh, And Happy Thanksgiving! (November 25, 2019), On Friendship Today:  Flat, Fried, Frayed, Frazzled, Frozen, Fractured, Fissured, Fatigued, Finished?  Oh, And Happy Thanksgiving! (November 20, 2023) and Graduation Advice:  Transcend:  Maintain FL 44; Make A Few Discrete Dives And Diversions To TPA (Traffic Pattern Altitude) (May 16, 2022).]

Bumper stickers of the week:

If you have nothing better to do, why not celebrate National Poetry Month?  Or just give it a week.

. . .

These beauteous forms,

Through a long absence, have not been to me

As is a landscape to a blind man’s eye:

But oft, in lonely rooms, and ‘mid the din

Of towns and cities, I have owed to them,

In hours of weariness, sensations sweet,

Felt in the blood, and felt along the heart;

And passing even into my purer mind

With tranquil restoration:—feelings too

Of unremembered pleasure: such, perhaps,

As have no slight or trivial influence

On that best portion of a good man’s life,

His little, nameless, unremembered, acts

Of kindness and of love.

. . .

Bill Wordsworth, “Lines Composed a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey”

“Many men go fishing all of their lives without knowing that it is not fish they are after.”  Henry D. Thoreau

Poem of the Century during National Poetry Month:  “Move to adjourn.”

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Airlines:  The 800 Lb. Sabre-tooth Tiger Stalks Us; The Reticulated Python Strangles Us (March 25, 2024)

Posted in Airlines, Collapse, Kleptocracy on March 25, 2024 by e-commentary.org

. . .

J          “Our gravest concern may be hoping and praying the planes stay in the air long enough to get us there.”

. . .

K          “Alaska Airlines would not refund the money directly and immediately.  They offered to refund it to some digital wallet to use for a later purchase.  A not insubstantial number of folks will not use the digital dollars . . . which rewards and benefits Alaska Airlines.  They did transfer the funds, but the funds did not transfer.  After an inquiry, I was told that I had to open the e-mail and transfer the funds myself to the wallet.  But the e-mail was written so that the spam filter would catch it and divert it.  And then when I retrieved it from spam, the time to transfer the funds had expired.  After a long telephone delay, I was able to secure another e-mail yet had to go to my spam file and transfer the digital dollars immediately to my wallet for a later purchase.  She responded that she does not make policy and . . . hopes I have a nice day.  She was sincere.  And handcuffed.  She is as much a victim.”   

. . .

J          “American Airlines requires one to pay a fee up front that is not refunded to preserve the right later to seek a refund to the original form of payment.  But at least the refund is made to the original form of payment.  For a substantial payment.  Two-hundred and twenty dollars, US ($220.00), for a local flight.”

. . .

K          “A year ago, Alaska airlines began charging for the exit row seats.  That is the norm in the industry.  For many decades, Alaska Airlines has otherwise treated me quite well and may be the best airline of the flock today.  And Alaska Airlines still believes that a mile is a mile is a mile is a mile in their frequent flier plan.”

J          “They need to treat their employees far better than they have recently.”

. . . 

J          “And what about Delta . . . .”

. . .

K          “And what about United . . . .”

J          “The President of United Airlines should be banned from riding in the United Airlines corporate jet and should instead should be required to fly the friendly skies of United.”

. . .

J          “And what about Frontier . . . .”

. . .

K          “And what about Southwest . . . .”

. . .

J          “Remember during Covid when the government gave tens of billions of dollars to the airlines to survive.  One airline executive defiantly stated to Congress that he would not let the government take an economic interest in the airline.  As long as the airline owns Congress, the airline can keep the government from obtaining an ownership interest in the airline.”

K          “And the money was used largely for stock buy backs that benefited the cabal.  And were once illegal.”

. . .

J          “And what about . . . .”

K          “They all behave criminally and abhorrently.”

. . .

J         “When an airline charges for access to the bathroom on the plane, take note.  That may be a bridge too far.”

K         “Katie bar the door, as they say.  You know that possible revenue source is regularly discussed in the airline C-suite.”

J          “Before discussing stock buy backs.”

[See the e-commentary at “Recurring Revenue”:  Inserting A Tentacle Into Every Pocket (August 29, 2022), Stalking The Stalking Saber-toothed Tiger (June 12, 2023), Go Away Go Daddy (December 18, 2023), Volkswagen (VW).  The Bottom Half Of The German Engineering Class Must Go Somewhere.  Boeing? (July 1, 2019), Fraudulent Frequent Flying Fiascos.  Oh, And Happy Canada Day and Independence Day! (July 2, 2018), Going The Extra Mile: Today’s Airline Mileage Programs (August 19, 2013), China Invaded . . . And Won!  Oh Well. (January 29, 2024) and over nineteen years ago at An Airline (Partial) Survival Guide (January 24, 2005).]

Bumper stickers of the week:

Full refund to original form of payment:  $220.

All of our representatives are assisting other callers.

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Murthy v. Missouri:  AMA v. AAPS; Flaccid Amendment v. First Amendment.  The Speakers’ Corner And The Public Square. (March 18, 2024)

Posted in Censorship, First Amendment, Journalism, Supreme Court on March 18, 2024 by e-commentary.org

. . .

J          “The American Medical Association (AMA) provides the soundest diagnosis and prescription.”

K          “The Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS) provides the soundest diagnosis and prescription.”

. . .

J          “In brief, the AMA encourages the dissemination of accurate information and enforces the censorship of misinformation and disinformation.”

K          “In brief, the AAPS promotes the First Amendment and protects free speech.”

. . .

[See the discussion “AMA? BITFD!” by Ben Hunt in “Epsilon Theory” dated November 24, 2020.  (“I thought I was immune to being shocked by corporate mendacity and greed.  Then I started digging into the AMA.”)  See “Technocensorship: When Corporations Serve As a Front for Government Censors” by John Whitehead, the recipient of the Second Annual Noble Prize In Jurisprudence (October 16, 2017), and Nisha Whitehead at The Rutherford Institute dated February 27, 2024.  Their amicus brief is more poetry than prosaic turgid legal prose.  (“The facts of this case are positively Orwellian.”)]

[See the e-commentary at Graduation Advice:  Find The First Amendment (May 15, 2023).]

Bumper stickers of the week:

The Supreme Court hears oral argument in Murthy v. Missouri this morning.

Questions presented: (1) Whether respondents have Article III standing; (2) Whether the government’s challenged conduct transformed private social-media companies’ content-moderation decisions into state action and violated respondents’ First Amendment rights; and (3) Whether the terms and breadth of the preliminary injunction are proper.

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