djputin

Today marks 20 years since the opening of the military-prison-for-Muslim-men on the grounds of the American naval air station at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Events to commemorate this were held all over the place; I participated at the one in New York City, masks a plenty in the omicron era. Our friend Candace has some listing of commemorations here, and a new web-site from our friends at CAGE in honor of the occasion, here. Our friend Andy, who would usually join us from London at this time of year, remains on the other side of the pond as a result of...

It’s the end of a year that began with the sitting President of the United States staging a murderous attempted coup in a half-assed means to hold power (for which he had a powerpoint and everything), as we transitioned to a new President. The new President’s agenda was immediately thwarted by his own party in a stupid attempt to impeach the last idiot. But then the new guy managed to pass his super-duper COVID relief package (only stripped of the $15 minimum wage) BECAUSE THE SENATE PARLIAMENTARIAN (as if that’s really even a thing). BTW, the stimulus check in that...

So here we are, coming to nearly two years into the COVID-45 plague (and around 22 months after it has more or less hijacked all other business here in the US of A, other than, of course, Der Ex-Fuhrer Donald J. Trump’s extra-legal efforts to hold on to the presidency despite losing an actual election). We have now reached “the omicron point;” we have no idea how to handle it (insanely virulent while– apparently– being just as nasty in generating illness). And so… we have “test to stay” policies for school children (meaning that while once an exposure meant everyone...

It seems the military jury hearing the case of Majid Khan, who pled guilty to acts of terrorism at the GTMO kangaroo kourt/military commissions, has recommended leniency for him, after hearing his version of the extent of torture he suffered at the hands of the CIA. Khan has been cooperating with the government for years, and has been awaiting sentencing… for years, after his guilty plea. He may be eligible for release no later than 2025 (although his sentence would run to 2038). It seems a lot of the pretense surrounding GTMO as some kind of thing necessary to protect...

And so we come to the end of another trip around the sun, this time making it 59 for me. Barring some kind of unlikely Biblical scale longevity, we’ve been playing the back nine of life for a few holes now, and have reached the strange time in my life where that unavoidable reality seems more comforting than terrifying. Maybe the endless four years of the You-Know-Who “presidency” (with a threat of more to come) will do that. Amazing what the loss of [what was left of] your country’s soul will do to your overall attitude. Meanwhile, stuff is happening!...

I wouldn’t have expected the first GTMO related case taken up by the U.S. Supreme Court in over a decade to involve our old friend Abu Zubaydah (a/k/a Zayn al-Abidin Muhammad Husain) and his quest to break through the state secrets fortress wall in order to get accountability for his egregious torture at the hands of the CIA at a black site in Poland… against the CIA’s contractor psychologists and torture consultants Drs. Mitchell and Jessen, but that is the case argued last week. Andy has more in a comprehensive take on the subject. [To be fair, the Ninth Circuit...

I would be remiss if I did not use this occasion to wish Mrs. TD a happy anniversary. As of today, we have been married for thirty years. I can only say that three decades’ time– literally the majority of my own life– is difficult to contemplate (even if it is the common term of, say, a home mortgage loan.) Since that autumn day in 1991 when we were married, the world, at least as I observe it, is both terrifyingly different, and terrifyingly not different. Certainly, many kith and kin present that day are no longer with us lo...

Strange as it is to believe, I have been writing on this blog for TWENTY YEARS. Somehow, you and I are both still alive! I looked it up, and the traditional gift for this one is china, the modern “theme” is platinum, the gemstone is emerald, the colors are emerald and white and the flower is the daylily. God willing, in just ten days time, Mrs. TD and I will be celebrating our thirtieth wedding anniversary. And so here we are. Well, not all of us. I lost TD Dad about six years ago, for example, and many of you...

So here we are! Several things happening at once. This is all a bit awkward for me today, for several reasons. First are the uncomfortable memories of “my own private 9-11,” which, if you don’t know, involved my going to work at my office on Church Street in lower Manhattan one city block north of the World Trade Center complex to get ready for a trial I had scheduled for that particular Tuesday morning. Thus, I bore witness to events from that vantage point– close enough to see some of the poor souls falling out of high floors of the...