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9/11 Reaches the Age of Majority

The turn of the calendar is relentless; it has now been 21 years since 9/11. I suppose it can drink now, and gamble in Vegas and whatever else you have to be 21 to do. In four years, it can rent a car. In a week’s time, this blog will also turn 21, and if you ask me, that’s a more momentous event (or at least, an infinitely less damaging one). Most of you are probably aware that I spent the original 9/11 (actually, the original 9/11 was in 1973 when a junta backed by the CIA and Henry Kissinger...

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Happy birthday

In this case, happy 94th to TD father in law, whose recovery from two major medical incidents has dominated his year, and ours here at Stately Dog Manor [and explains the paucity of posting in this here space]. But we are all still going strong, for which we are all grateful. Happy birthday!

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Happy Father’s Day

Regular readers (and thanks for staying with us) are aware that we lost TD Dad back in late 2015. Mrs. TD’s Dad is still going strong at 93; happy Father’s Day to him, and to TD Brother, TD Brother-in-Law, and to all the rest of you fathers out there. Cryptocurrencies and assorted other Ponzi schemes (like, perhaps, the stock market?) seem to be collapsing, and inflation is exploding, and so, the Federal Reserve is jacking up interest rates. Donald Trump seems to still be the right-wing kingmaker, even as the January 6th hearings roll on. This is a bit overdue:...

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Justice delayed… is at least something

I am pleased to report that Candace’s still-detained-at-GTMO client… has finally… FINALLY… been cleared for transfer. He’s been detained there for just about TWENTY YEARS. A yuuuge thanks to Andy for breaking this great news. It is not an understatement for me to say that I have been following the case of Said Bakush (one of many spellings for the Alegerian detainee known on base as ISN 685) as long as I have known Candace, to wit, since I interviewed her in 2007. I have followed her travails both with respect to Mr. Bakush (including traveling to Washington both for...

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Axis of Stupid

I would usually be the last person on Earth (particularly given my twitter handle) to suggest that Russian President Vladimir Putin was doing something incredibly stupid (as opposed to, you know, evil or otherwise Macchiavellian). But with the brazen seemingly all-out military assault on Ukraine in the last 48 hours, Mr. Putin has effectively flushed virtually any and all moral authority he had. He had some good “moral authority” arguments to respond to what the West would claim as his prior aggression, to wit, that the people of Crimea wanted to leave Ukraine and join Russia (and overwhelmingly voted so...

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Guantanamo Anniversary of the plague year

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...

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Just Another New Year’s Eve of the Plague Year

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...

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Zeitgeist of the plague year

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...

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Trick or Treat

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...

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