Was “Flip Flop” Once A Four Letter Word? Distract, Diffuse, Demoralize, Delay, Deny And Defy (September 29, 2025)

Posted in Trump on September 29, 2025 by e-commentary.org

. . .

J          “He knows who owns him.  He is dancing accordingly.  When he is told to ‘flip,’ he flips; when he is told to ‘flop,’ he flops.”

K          “Should he really be seen as a marionette who is only responding to strings.”

. . . 

K          “Despite the smoke screens, he is committed to continuing the war in the Ukraine, to expanding the war in the Middle East and to starting a war in Venezuela over oil.”

J          “The confusion is calculated and overwhelms and enervates the opposition.”

. . .

J          “Distract, diffuse, demoralize, delay, deny and defy.”

. . .

Bumper sticker of the week:

Distract, diffuse, demoralize, delay, deny and defy

Fall Falls Today.  Oh, And Happy Autumnal Equinox! (September 22, 2025)

Posted in Equinox on September 22, 2025 by e-commentary.org

. . .

K          “The colors are the clue.  The lime leaves are transitioning into lemon leaves to give us one more clue that change is coming.”

J          “The leaves are leaving us.  Out here, some are turning tea- and tannin-colored before dropping and departing.  It is coming quickly. ”

. . .

K          “Evergreen trees are such an enduring and enriching inspiration.  Always the same.  Always there.  Always standing resolute.  The Great Arborist came up with a diverse palette.”

J           “Cutting one down for Christmas is always trying.  Burning a dead one is a funeral pyre for the tree.  Yet that is the cycle.”

. . .

K          “The four cardinal dates in a year are somewhat akin to the four cardinal points on the compass.  Markers that demarcate.  Each date pushes me to make a quarterly review of the past activities and the next quarter’s possibilities.  Four more chances to make and break New Year’s Resolves.”

J          “I hope the next quarter does not also pass in a few weeks.  Everything is moving and changing too quickly.”

. . .

[See “10 Classic Autumn Poems Everyone Should Read” by Dr Oliver Tearle with Loughborough University in www.interestingliterature.com.]

[See the e-commentary at The Economic Equinox:  Half Light; Half Dark? (September 25, 2023).]

Bumper sticker of the week:

“Now the leaves are falling fast” “Autumn Song” by W. H. Auden

Charlie Kirk:  Assassination As A Public Policy Tool (September 15, 2025)

Posted in Culture, Politics, Society on September 15, 2025 by e-commentary.org

. . .

K          “When you distill the chatter, he was either the messiah or the monster.  A legend or a loser.  That is the choice in America today.”

J          “A monster and a loser.  This is America today.” 

. . .

K          “Reminds me of the obstreperous shouting match between those who pilloried Julian Assange, Bradley Manning and Ed Snowden as ‘traitors’ and those who praised them as ‘patriots’ some disputes ago.”

J          “Traitors.  However, some of the information should have been made public.”

. . .

K          “A lot of Democrats openly cheered and smirked.”

J          “Everyone is on edge.  Everyone is edgy.”

. . .

K          “The clear and central message of the profoundly public statement that is an assassination is that no one is above the Owners.  Amid the dross and dregs he spouted, Kirk was challenging some powerful interests who are not amused.”

J          “I would not completely deny that Kirk was pushing some issues that brought him up on radar and placed him in the cross hairs.  Yet his overall messaging was repellant and repugnant.”

. . .

K          “Those in power are keen to get the folks with the pitch forks to turn on the folks with the burning torches.  That clever strategy is frighteningly effective.”

J          “We are strategically cleaved by the big players.”

. . .

J          “The chasm is unbridgeable.”

K          “The chasm is a gorge, but it is not gorgeous.”

. . .

J          “Stay tuned.”

. . .

[See the e-commentary at Assassination As A Public Policy Tool.  Oh, And Hope You Had A Happy Bastille Day! (July 15, 2024), November 23, 1963; Three Score Years Later (November 27, 2023), ?There Is No Peaceful Resolution?  Oh, And Happy Bastille Day! (July 10, 2023), The Shot Heard Round The U.S. Of A.  Oh, And Happy Saint Nicholas Day! (December 9, 2024) and Hero or Traitor? (June 10, 2013).]

Bumper sticker of the week:

“The tragedy of modern war is that the young men [and women] die fighting each other – instead of their real enemies back home in their capitals.”  Edward Abbey

The War President Forfeits Nobel Peace Prize During Nobel Season.  Oh, And Happy Patriot Day! (September 8, 2025)

Posted in Nobel Prize, Peace Prize Nobel, Trump, War on September 8, 2025 by e-commentary.org

. . .

K          “I have been so reluctantly tolerant of and conditionally apologetic for him in a desperate move to believe that someone can do something.  The Department of War.  He could not possibly come up with a more bone-headed and regressive name and notion.”

J          “He could and will come up with more bone-headed and regressive names and notions.  That is what he does. That is all he can do.”

. . .

K          “I hope the Swedes are not sycophantic.”

J          “Why would they not be?  They too want access to power.”

. . .

[See the e-commentary at Department Of War . . . Or Defense . . . Or Offense?  Oh, And Happy Peace Day! (September 16, 2019) and Joint Base State-War (JBS-W) (April 25, 2022).]

Bumper sticker of the week:

Give war a chance

Laboring Day.  Plumbers and Electricians Day?  Oh, And Happy Labor Day! (September 1, 2025)

Posted in Labor Day on September 1, 2025 by e-commentary.org

. . .

J          “Will there be anyone actually laboring in the next decade?”

K          “AI cannot fix a leaky pipe.”

. . .

J          “Plumbers and Electricians Day?”

K          “It is not likely to evolve into Lawyers and Accountants Day.”

. . .

[See the e-commentary over the years around Labor Day at Oh, And Happy Labor Day! (September 2, 2024), Workers And Builders Day.  Oh, And Happy Labor Day! (September 4, 2023), Labor Day (September 5, 2022), Covid-19 PanICdemic/Plague: What Is A [Labor Day] Weekend? (September 7, 2020), Laboring Day (September 2, 2019), Labor Day.  Oh, And Happy Labor Day! (September 3, 2018)  and Doctorin’ And Lawyerin’ And Laborin’ (September 5, 2011).]

Bumper sticker of the week:

Labor on happily

Noise Over Signal (August 25, 2025)

Posted in Politics, Society on August 25, 2025 by e-commentary.org

. . .

K          “We are all being fooled.  Again.  Everything is deliberate noise and distorted signal.  Nothing is real.”

J          “The Three-Card Monte show has metastasized into Twenty-Three-Card Monte shows.  No one is playing 5D chess.  Everyone is playing 5D distortion and deception.”

. . .

K          “We are not 5 by 5.  We are 5 by 0.  We are Loud.  We are Unclear.”

J          “We are under duress and in distress.  We need to raise 2-flags to signal our plight.”

. . .

J          “But no one cares.”

K          “No one is capable of caring.”

. . .

[See the e-commentary on noise and signal at Covid-19 PanICdemic/Plague:  Rioters / Protestors:  Too Much Noise / Too Little Signal (June 8, 2020) and The Donny And Elon Show.  Oh, And Happy Friday The 13th! (June 9, 2025) and on who we have become at On Friendship Today:  Flat, Fried, Frayed, Frazzled, Frozen, Fractured, Fissured, Fatigued, Finished?  Oh, And Happy Thanksgiving! (November 20, 2023), Edward Hopper:  The Mirror For Our Age (January 22, 2024) and “Everything Is A Fight Today.” Please répondez s’il vous plaît. Oh, And Happy Solstice! (June 17, 2024) and many, many, many other pieces.]

Bumper stickers of the week:

Soldier on?

Who cares?

The Thrilla In Alaska (August 18, 2025)

Posted in Russia, World War III on August 18, 2025 by e-commentary.org

. . .

K          “So what happened?”

J          “Not sure.  Not sure that we are intended to know what happened. If anything happened.”

. . .

K          “The last person he sees has the most impact on his latest whim.  That is considered by some to be a bit disconcerting.”

J          “Looks like he meets with the Europeans and Zelensky today.”

K          “Then who does he talk to next before spouting some incoherent drivel?”

. . .

J          “Stay tuned.”

. . .

Hiroshima And Nagasaki At 80 (August 11, 2025)

Posted in Nuclear, Presidency, War on August 11, 2025 by e-commentary.org

. . .

K          “We don’t learn.”

J          “We just don’t.  Something insignificant will be the trigger.”

. . .

[See the e-commentary at Hiroshima And Nagasaki At 75 (August 10, 2020).]

Bumper sticker of the week:

“Restraint?  Why are you so concerned with saving their lives?  The whole idea is to kill the bastards.  At the end of the war if there are two Americans and one Russian left alive, we win.”  General Thomas Power, U.S. Air Force, 1960

Everything Is Still A Fight Today.  Oh, And Happy Civic Holiday (Canada)! (August 4, 2025)

Posted in Culture, Internet, Society on August 4, 2025 by e-commentary.org

. . .

K          “Everything is still a fight today.”

J          “Everything.”

. . .

J          “Not available.”

K          “Not in stock.”

. . .

J          “Please hold.  For a long time.”

K          “Forever.”

. . .

K          “For your convenience.”

J          “For your inconvenience.”

. . .

K          “The country is broke.”

J          “The populace is broken.”

. . .

K          “The anger is percolating.  The rage is raging.  The undigested anger is festering.”

J           “Something insignificant will be the trigger.”

. . .       

[See the e-commentary at “Everything Is A Fight Today.” Please répondez s’il vous plaît. Oh, And Happy Solstice! (June 17, 2024), Weaponizing Turn Signals (September 19, 2022), Edward Hopper:  The Mirror For Our Age (January 22, 2024), The Other Sabot To Drop (April 18, 2022) and The Residue of Unrelenting Fear: PTSD Afflicts The Populace (August 28, 2006).]

“As I see it, the only pleasure of living is that every joke should be made, every thought expressed, every line of investigation, irrespective of its direction, pursued to the uttermost limits that human ingenuity, courage and understanding can take it.  The moment that limits are set … then the flavor is gone.”  Malcolm Muggeridge

Camping is cheaper than therapy, and you don’t have to talk to anyone.

The Calm Before The Storm? (July 28, 2025)

Posted in Society on July 28, 2025 by e-commentary.org

. . .

K          “So many things are percolating.”

J          “A strange brew is brewing.”

. . .

J          “Reading the tea leaves is trying.”

K          “Everything is floating between a mirage and a miasma.”

. . .