The (Daily) Vent 2

(The End. . .) " This is the end . Beautiful friend . This is the end . My only friend , the end . Of our elaborate plans , the end . Of everything that stands , the end . No safety , no surprise , the end . I ' ll never look into your eyes . . . again . This mournful anthem that begins the Vietnam classic Apocalypse Now ! seems appropriate for this last day of 2022. Some chapters are closing while others invariably open and to make any predictions at this point could be a fools' errand. A word could be said about the passing of Pope (ret) Benedict XVI. As he had been replaced by current Pope Francis, there will be no convening of a Conclave. Famed TV journalist Barbara Walters has also moved on. People usually celebrate New Year's Eve. Some number gather in Times' Square and watch the Ball drop. The countdown of the last ten seconds of 2022 are loudly announced as the Ball hits the bottom. Then, what happens ? Is New Year's Eve the moment to look ahead ? Or...

(Insurance Policy) If there was any mandate to come from the recently passed Mid-Term, it would be that Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), in order to become Speaker of the House not follow his opposite in the Senate, Minority Leader McConnell.  McConnell's recent activity has been well described here and his shortcomings as an advocate for the Republican cause is wanting. Now, too often, once one gets into Office, more often than not a "pivot" takes place, where a defining ideology evolves into a so-called more reasoned position. If Congressman McCarthy takes these stances once he has the Gavel, then all the Conference ambition, the entire GOP agenda, could be compromised. The opposition to McCarthy becoming Speaker stems from more conservative members who are determined to see that the Republican program gets enacted. If any prospective Speaker McCarthy begins to waver in some regard, if he becomes too friendly with Republicans in the Senate, then there will be those elements withi...

( Not Feeling The LUV ?) Southwest Airlines began operating in 1975 on routes within the state of Texas. At the time, larger airdromes were being constructed in Houston (Intercontinental, now George Bush) and Dallas (Dallas-Fort Worth Regional). That left Houston's original Hobby Airport and Dallas Love Field largely vacant as the  Braniff's, the Delta's, Pan American, Trans World and United's moved to the larger facilities. So Southwest emerged as a discount carrier, literally a no frills airline that was able to operate more cheaply than the legacy airlines. Now. over time and over the next few years, Braniff, Pan Am, and TWA all went bankrupt. Southwest was able to move into the vacuum created by this shuffling of market share and now Southwest could chart routes decidedly outside the southwest. The airline has been flying to La Guardia and there is even service from San Antonio to Honolulu, with a stop in Oakland. Southwest never had its own "hub and spoke...

( Who is Making Who ?) Level 42 was one of those ubiquitous pop bands from the 1980's, like Howard Jones or Scritty Polity . Remember them ? Anyhow, Level 42 was one of those one hit wonders with a chart-topping single "Something About You." The band released one other song was released but after that, Level 42 disbanded. Title 42, on the other hand, is getting more confusing. This had been the directive that had been emplaced by the Trump Administration to keep people with covid from entering the country. As it had been an impediment to immigration, one would think that the policy's termination would allow for a whole new wave of illegal immigrants, Administration preference. That being said, the Supreme Court has just voted 5-4 to keep the policy in place, truncating what was believed to be a mad rush for the frontier. The remain in Mexico order is still in effect. Now, as ironic as it might seem, the Administration could actually see a benefit from this stay be...

(Big Chills) Baby, it was cold outside ! Merry post-Christmas. One can see the pictures of Buffalo, not to mention everywhere else, and one can see it had been quite the cold spell. What is that saying, a chill runs through the veins ? The Good News is that the "season" is almost over and what began at Halloween and proceeded to Thanksgiving and then Christmas, with all the food, drink and what was probably excessive merriment, all that is left is New Years, and after that, exactly what it is. The new year. As it always happens, however, 2023 will be looking a lot like 2022, but with added questions. Will there be a recession ? That Omnibus is about to be signed into law and all its spending will do nothing to curb inflation and indeed will make things worse. The Russo-Ukraine War will be a year old in February with tens of thousands of casualties. Elon Musk still needs to find a replacement if he is really leaving Twitter. Ostensibly, Republicans will be in charge in the Hou...

( Us & Them. . .) Hope everybody had a Merry Christmas, or whatever tradition one observes. Hope everyone enjoyed all their gifts and all that food and one can only imagine that post-season antacid consumption is at healthy levels. Anyhow, December 26th. aside from being the day after Christmas, it is also the anniversary of the U.S. Third Army under the command of General Patton, broke through to the besieged garrison of the 101st Airborne Division at Bastogne that had been surrounded for ten days with no re-supply. At some point, the troopers were down to one round apiece. Now, some two years earlier, and about the same time of year, another garrison was also surrounded, the German Sixth Army at Stalingrad, but its relief force, namely the German Fourth Panzer Army. had been stopped before its divisions even approached Sixth Army's outer perimeter. Now, Third Army's relief of Bastogne and Fourth Panzer's failure at the gates of Stalingrad are not exactly apples...

(The Night Before (and missing the point)) What would be the greatest gift this Christmas ? On the surface, it would be a Netflix password. The platform has said it will be cracking down on the practice but, that being said, there is not much the company can do to prevent such practices. Now, maybe device tracking on smartphones might be an indicator but, if one is watching Netflix anything on a phone, that is just wrong. Netflix anything needs to be seen on a television, the bigger the better. There is a lot on television these days. A lot is depressing, not really in the Christmas Spirit. From the War in the Ukraine to the War on Christmas, A Christmas Carol goes "woke." It also happened that the most critical shopping days, where everybody is getting all their shopping at the last minute, a lot of the country is under a deep freeze. One can dream of a White Christmas but this is ridiculous ! This is the time of year for tradition. Couched in ritual with Christmas trees an...

( Temple Money Changers. . .) This would be more a story for Easter but since this is the other end of the Story, now is just as appropriate as any time. Towards the end of His Ministry, Jesus was in Jerusalem, along with thousands of other Jews, celebrating Passover, where the Israelites were delivered from Egypt. One of the things that Jesus encountered was that the Temple, the Holiest site in all Judaism, but it was also being used as a open air market. Pilgrims would need to make sacrifices and suitable animals were being offered. There was also a currency exchange where legal tender was made so that transactions could be effected. Now, a proper commemoration of Passover for Jews who believe would need to include sacrificial animals and currency exchange. The problem Jesus had was such activities would be better on a used car lot. Not the Temple itself. To show his dis-pleasure, the soon to be Risen Christ, over-turned the tables and aroused the ire of local...

(Carried Away ?) It is called over-compensation. When a sniper is setting up a shot. looking to put a round down range, if the wind is not factored, a miss will be a miss. Like buying a company only to announce a departure because of some poll. Lauding a leader where comparisons to Winston Churchill are misplaced. A four-thousand-page spending bill with more pork than most pig farms, a line item, billions for additional Ukraine aid, the most important item for certain Republican Senators. Now, as the world's richest man, Elon Musk is entitled to a little whimsey. Spending $44 billion for Twitter and then broadening its profile to expand access to alternative points of view, like conservative, and exposing FBI connections with the platform to frame Donald Trump and his Russian connections. Old news for some but still not quite public knowledge. Anyhow, Musk released a poll, on Twitter, on whether he should remain as CEO. In a word, Musk has been "voted" out. And....

( Winters' Dis-Content. . .) Made glorious summer by this son of York ? Doubtful. These are lines from Shakespear's  Richard III, the last Plantagenet monarch and whose remains were recently discovered under a parking lot in Leichester, England. They since have been re-interred in Westminster. Today is the first day of Winter and considering how cold things are getting, the timing could not be better. Between wars, an impending refugee crisis, and endemic political infighting, there is a lot of dis-content to be had. One can begin in the Ukraine. With the New Year all but here, the Russo-Ukraine War will have been persisting for eleven months, with hundreds of thousands dead, economies destroyed, whole regions devastated. How things happen in war. Russian President Vladimir thought for a short war when hostilities commenced last February. The reason the war has lasted is because material support has been provided by the West. Russian forces have suffered significant attr...

(True Enemies. . .) The story is familiar enough. On Capitol Hill, the enmity is not necessarily between Democrats and Republicans but rather between the House and the Senate. To a point, that makes sense. When the cleavage is within the same Party, however, that can be another matter entirely. People are commenting about divisions within the Democrat Party, but the Republicans seem intent on outright civil war, and it would be self-imposed. There seems to be a determination on the part of Minority Leader McConnell to not cooperate with counterparts in the House, read Congressman McCarthy. How many times over these past months has the senior Senator from Kentucky made the point that his agenda in the Senate is work at cross purposes with the House. Would sabotage be too strong a word ? Or, is the tension between the two top Republicans in Congress a reflection of such dis-function as to there will not be a Republican "majority" to speak of. Ostensibly, the GOP is sup...

( Paging Monte Hall) There is a Game Show Network because some people enjoy classic competitive broadcasts like Family Feud , The Newlywed Game , Hollywood Squares and so on. There is also Monte Hall's Let ' s Make A Deal . If one recalls, Emm-Cee Hall would offer the contestants this or that, or, what was behind Door Number (whatever). Of course, the fun happened when the Door held crap as opposed to Hall's original offer. Before he was President, Donald Trump was a Reality TV star on The Apprentice . And before that, he was a New York real estate developer. And, Trump is a best-selling author in his own right. Drawing on his extensive business experience, the former President/reality star/ builder wrote his own testament called The Art of the Deal , published in 1987. For now. Donald Trump is in exile of a sort, thinking he is still running for Office. While that prospect is problematic, there is some use for which he could be put. Have him summon his perhaps dormant nego...

(Economies Of Effort) Today is the First Day of Hannukah. Happy Hanukkah to all my Jewish friends. In many, if not most, Jewish households, one is likely to see a menorah , an ornamental candle holder for eight spaces, over the course of about a week, eight days, one candle is lit. One candle lights the next until the whole sequence is illuminated. Where did the tradition get started ? Sadly, some stories have to be told with a history lesson. The Empire of Alexander the Great was the Rome of the East. When the great Conqueror died pre-maturely. his domain had been split among his generals. The territory that contained Judea went to one of those generals but then, there was a revolt that had overthrown the Hellenistic authority, Jerusalem was re-taken and what became known as the Second Temple. Ritual is very important in Temple liturgy, including consecration with certain oils. As it happened, there was not enough of the precious fluid, but, by economy of effort, or maybe a miracl...

(Over That Seventh Hill) Ancient Rome, the Eternal City, was constructed on seven hills along the Tiber River in Italy, among the more famous are Vatican, current residence of the Holy See, and perhaps Palatine, from which the term "palace" gets derived. For centuries, that city rose from a simple settlement to become masters of the Known World. But, all things come to an end and Rome proved no different. Germanic migrations from the East eventually overwhelmed the overextended Roman Empire by a point in the Fifth Century and Rome itself succumbed, "barbarians streaming over that Seventh Hill. Like all the illegal immigration coming across the southern border. Literally, barbarians at the gate. Now, one can expect a fresh influx of migrants once the formality of Title 42's expiration. As there has been a massive influx of aliens already over the past almost two years, with 42 gone, what remaining restriction will have been removed and the new numbers in the aftermath...

(Watch On The Rhine. . .) Or AUTUMN MIST . On December 16th. 1944, the Germans launched their last offensive of the War. It started a series of engagements that became known as the Battle of the Bulge, so named because the German attack pressed a salient, "bulge," into the Allied line. It took almost to the end of January before the Germans were pushed back to what had been the original start line. As the dust settled, and an objective assessment was made over the Battle, the question was invariably posed as to how the original assembly and deployment of German forces occurred without Allied intelligence at SHAEF, Supreme Headquarters, Allied Expeditionary Forces. However, any failure of intelligence that might have taken place proved incidental to the crisis in Command. That chain went from Supreme Commander Eisenhower to his component, aka Army Group heads. One of those commanders was Sir Bernard Law Montgomery, who being British, believed he should be appointed to a positi...

( Patronage. . .) Before he was a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle, Michaelangelo was a Rennaissance artist. While he originally styled himself as a sculptor, he is perhaps best known for painting those themed Frescos on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. An arduous task in any context, raising the scaffolding alone took months before a single image could be crafted. Now, why would an otherwise fashioner of clay or otherwise malleable materials to compose what is perhaps the most famous example of Rennaissance art ? Michaelangelo had a patron, Pope Julius II. It was Julius' desire to have the Chapel, the traditional place where the Conclave, where the College of Cardinals convenes to Elect a new Pope, transformed with Michaelangelo's paintings, showing's Julius' influence. Throughout time, if the so-called "starving artist" preferred to not starve, he or she will engage a patron. In this day and age, a patron could be referred to as a political doner. Like Pope Jul...

(Potential Energy. . .) Call it a "physics," package. Anybody who has studied that topic and who perhaps dreaded the class in high school, should remember that, when it comes to energy. one starts with two kinds. The first is "potential" energy. That is what something has when it is staying still. When it starts to move, however, it then becomes what is called "kinetic" energy. Those are the basics. Energy be released in various levels. The biggest would-be nuclear explosions and nuclear reactors. These explosions and reactions run on the principle of nuclear fission, where a heavy element, like Uranium or Plutonium. Basically, a quantity of each substance goes through a chain reaction. Like a set of dominos gets toppled. As the reaction progresses. a lot of energy is released. It was this energy that destroyed Hiroshima and Nagasaki. But, there was always a look for a bigger bang for the buck. That is how the hydrogen bomb, or thermonuclear weapon, that o...

(Advantages To Locking The Back Door) A staple of any Christmas Season is the ubiquitous airing of A Christmas Story .  A few years ago, it had been It ' s A Wonderful Life that was broadcast all but 24-7. And there is the 24 hour A Christmas Story for Christmas Day itself. In any event one can recall the ending when the Parker Family was forced to go eat Chinese because the planed turkey dinner at their house on Cleveland Street was ruined when the Bumpus hounds from next door broke into the kitchen and took after the turkey and everything else that had been planned. If Old Man Parker (Darren McGavin) had locked that door, he, the mother, Ralph and Randy would have had a nice turkey dinner, instead of the Chinese prepared duck. And, if the southern border was secure, like locking the Parker's house, the Bumpus dogs, or the flood of illegal aliens as well as everything else that is crossing the frontier, namely all the fentanyl, in the current state of things, all can be att...

( THREAT CONDITION-Green) As one can guess, there are several levels of preparedness. And, as one can also guess, a Level Green would seem to indicate a relaxed status. But, the term "green" these days has a whole different connotation. Green means environmentalism. Green means new mandates. And green means woke culture. But, as the President as just mandated that the Armed Services adopt a more green-centric posture in their operations across the spectrum. Speaking of bad ideas. It was December 11th. 1941 that Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy declared war on the United States. It was in the wake of Japanese success at Pearl Harbor that motivated Hitler and Mussolini to step into the fray and through in with Tojo. It is generally considered this time in 1941, the Axis committed itself to eventual defeat. It would take another almost four years but there would be a Victory in Europe and Victory over Japan Days. So, what does Biden thinks will happen with these new restrictions. ...

(What's In A Name ?) So, Arizona Senator Kiersten Sinema (D) has just "defected" from the Democrat Party in the sense that she is a declared Independent. Meaning what, exactly ? It is not like she has become a Republican, she will still Caucus with the Democrats, Schumer will still be Senate Majority Leader and all that that entails. What has changed ? Sinema will still be a reliable vote when bills will be brought to the floor. She will still give assent to President Biden's judicial nominees. So, what is the big deal ? Senator Sinema was one of those legislators that allowed for the passage of what became known as the IRA, though it does nothing of the sort, the other hold-out had been Senator Manchin. When he caved. Sinema was all but a lock herself. Now that that portion of the President's program, she feels she can do better as an Independent ? In own Sinema's words, the term "independent" is where she had always resided ideologically. That bein...

( House Cleaning) Mel Bakersfeld was general manager of Chicago Lincoln International Airport in Authur Hailey's 1968 novel Airport and  played by Burt Lancaster in the eponymously named movie two years later. Before he ran a snow encased airdrome, however, Bakersfeld had been in line to head the FAA under the Kennedy Administration. When Kennedy was assassinated, Bakersfeld was not nominated for the role in the succeeding Johnson Presidency. So, he ended up in Chicago where, in one eventful evening, with ten inches of snow on the ground, a stowaway, a collapsing marriage, and a crippled 707 when a bomb went off "in the starboard can." As entertaining as the whole story is, a change in regime usually means a change in personnel. That is what happened when Elon Musk assumed the helm at Twitter and how he proceeded to "purge" those executives that had comprised the previous mark-up and those who were responsible for the platform's previous actions. Like the Hu...

(At Dawn They Slept. . .) Today is the 81st Anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. The most thorough account of that event has been Gordon Prange's superlative At Dawn We Slept , The Untold Story of Pearl Harbor. In this lengthy volume. Prange was able to merge American failures and indeed, Japanese successes, into a seamless whole, blending diplomatic history, military history, political history, and a fair dose of cryptography into a narrative that described the development of Japan's plan to send a carrier strike force to attack the American Pacific Fleet riding anchor at Oahu. There had been signs that such an eventually was possible, but there had been a failure of imagination at all levels of American policy making, from FDR to the Navy and Army commanders in Hawaii. And there had been bureaucratic infighting. Between the War Department and Navy Departments. Turf wars as to who would control the dissemination of intelligence, War or Navy ? Each had its own ag...

(Runnin' With The Devil. . .) People should recognize this Van Halen anthem, released in its 1978 eponymously named debut. It was a song where Eddie's skill at guitar was first evidenced. It was a song about life on the edge, "moving at a pace that kills." But the "Devil" in this case is also the facts of life, how aspects of reality get incorporated into day existence. One aspect of reality, a devil in other words, is China. As Eric Cartman has put it, a "China probrem." That is not going away. At a billion five, China is the world's largest market and it must be catered to. The Peoples' Republic is experiencing some civil unrest at the moment and there is even discussion that Apple could re-locate its significant iPhone manufacturing sector out of China to places like Vietnam or India. However, labor might be more expensive in those other countries so such a transition might not take place. Does China steal intellectual property ? Does i...

(The Truth Is Out There. . .)  How long has it been since The X - Files was on the air ? The adventures of Mulder and Scully and their exploration of the paranormal, and their confrontation with the government conspiracy, code named Purity Control , where alien DNA was incorporated into a virus in order to create an alien-human hybrid. Slightly more contemporarily, Danial Elsberg. He is the author of the infamous Pentagon Papers, that described the quagmire of the Vietnam War. In both Purity Control and the Papers, both would be instances where the government had rather preferred that the details had been kept a secret. So, where does Elon Musk stand as the new owner of Twitter ? In the announcement that the platform will be transparent and open to all and will describe in detail exactly what the "conspiracy" had been, combining the elements of media and law enforcement into a seamless operation in cooperation with Democrat operatives to turn the 2020 Election. Musk has nam...

( From The Government/Here To Help) There are times when something should be allowed to take its course. That an intervention at some time or another interrupts a process that it would otherwise have been better if it had been completed. The best case of this is perhaps the inability to prevent a Second World War in the aftermath of the First. Everything that sent armies marching in 1914 were still present in 1939 and in than again 1941. Now, it is happening again as Uncle Sam is seeing fit to intervene in the railway strike with its own issues still outstanding. No resolving these contentions now just delayed the inevitable, namely that, without a final resolution, the same complaints or rail workers will manifest at some future date. That being said, a railroad strike is not the average labor dispute as broader consequences can have an impact. But these special circumstances notwithstanding, any negotiations for a new railroad contract would still be best when the discussions are lim...

(Why The Devil Went Down To Georgia) If one remembers the Charlie Daniles' song, "he was looking for a soul to steal." But, he lost a fiddling contest to "the best who's ever been." One is not just playing Dixie. The Georgia Senate run-off is reaching its terminal phase and the results can be safely predicted. Democrat incumbent Rafael Warnock is looking to be re-elected, now some four points ahead of GOP challenger Hershal Walker. At less than a week to go, there do not seem to be sufficient outstanding votes that would allow the former football star to close the gap. What is it that Senator Warnock has that is deemed superior to Walker ? From what one thought the ideological composition of the Peach State must be re-considered as Warnock's radical positions, like police defunding and so on. Does such a policy meet with Georgian approval ? Atlanta, like any other Democrat-controlled municipality has its own high crime issues so why the approval of Warno...

( Republicans Take House (Democrats get furniture) Al Bundy, of Married With Children fame, had a sad ritual when he had to pay bills. Remember, he sold women's shoes so his income was not that impressive to begin with. and the bills, such as they were, were often gimmicks that wife Peg got invested in. In any case, when Al Bundy had to cut a check, he had a bottle of antacids that he consumed by the mouthful. Like the finances of the Bundy household, so it appears on how the government gets funded, chaotic and without any regular order. There are so-called Appropriations' Committees, one in the House and one in the Senate. Technically, the process goes like this: A Budget Committee decides on a budget for each department, the funding gets determined and goes to a vote on the Appropriations' Committee. Once the measure is passed, to the House or Senate Floors, the broader Chambers either approve or reject the legislation. At least, that is how things are supposed to work. ...