Steve, thank you for this. That "monster behind the tree": We know who he is. As a Veteran, I am reminded of a mantra heard every now and then among the ranks: "Yours is not to question how or why. Yours is but to do or die." My license plate frame reads, "I am a Veteran. My Oath never dies." If only the Donald Trumps and the other lowlifes who course through our lives daily would honor that: Their OATH. 400,000+ plus of our Treasure spilled their blood on foreign soil to quell the slaughterous appetite of Adolf Hitler. Today, we have our own Adolf Hitler: Donald John Trump. The monster behind the tree. It is a challenge for me to even try to understand how one man can harbor so much hate, so much deception and dishonesty; so much venom. He and his acolytes spit on the graves of those who gave all to secure a free and democratic world. The wickedness that Trump embodies disgraces those who have died, those who have served; and those who do serve. We are better than he. We must hold tight to the fight that those men and women fought and who shed their blood for the preservation of the freedom we enjoy. We cannot be naive or gullible, as our enemy walks among us. They cannot win. Otherwise, those lives lost were lost for naught.
Steve, outstanding tribute to our fallen heroes!!! We must never forget them!
We must never forget how the Republican Party has slandered our fallen heroes. How they curse them who have come home injured, crippled, and needing our support. Yet, every bill that has crossed through this House of Representatives and Senate has been voted against by every single Republican who is there representing us, their constituents who voted them in office. Yet, they spot on our fallen heroes and those disabled.
No, we shall not forget. In 162 days we must remember what these ejected officials are actually there doing. They have done NOTHING for us. NOTHING for our fallen soldiers. NOTHING except vote against everything this last two years because their ‘king’ told them to vote against it. Every bill to benefit our veterans, soldiers, their mental and physical health, all voted against and not passed because of the Republicans.
Lest we not forget Senator Tommy Tuberville. He held up the advancement of our military leaders for his own political agenda and gain.
On each Memorial Day we honor those in our family who fought for our freedoms.
My father and his older brother fought in the South Pacific in WWII. They were both in the Marine Corps. My dad returned, my uncle did not. The absence of my uncle was noted at holiday gatherings and during the routine days of life. His death left a hole in my dad’s heart that never healed.
My mother’s two brothers also served in WWII. One was in the Navy, deployed to the Pacific. The other was in the Army, deployed to Europe. Both came home.
My cousin served as a corpsman in the Vietnam war. He also returned.
All of the survivors had seen horrible things. They were all forever changed.
God bless all those who answer the call to protect us. And please God, someday very soon, may there be an end to war.
My step-grandfather, who served in the Pacific during World War 2 in the 8th Army, was part of the Occupying Force on Japan. He spent two years in Japan and taught himself the Japanese language. Near the end of his life, when dementia was setting in, he would speak Japanese to me.
He is buried at the General William C. Doyle Veteran’s Cemetery in New Jersey. It is a cemetery operated by the State of New Jersey. I give the State of New Jersey much kudos and credit — the State paid for everything for my step-grandfather. The funeral director told me that New Jersey was the only state in the nation to pay 100 percent of such costs for resident veterans.
Steve, Memorial Day is for me a definition of our uniquely sick American personality disorder. On one hand, we fly red white and blue flags and love marching bands and hold BBQs and beginning of summer (happy happy).
On the other hand we are supposed to grieve the millions of dead who, for the sake of their lying leaders, wasted their lives. (witness the tragedy of the the endless dead in art: Picasso's "Guernica," Britten's "War Requiem" and Vaugh Williams' Dona Nobis Pacem.") This country has long since whatever moral authority, if it ever had any (which it didn't, given slavery), in nonsense wars like Vietnam, Korea, Iraq and Afghanistan, chasing the Masters of War's stupid, greedy notions of "stopping communism" and promoting American exceptionalism.
I say: A plague on the warmongers' houses. A plague on Raytheon and and the rest of the corporate "Masters of War, who our tax dollars pay to "build the big planes, who build the big bombs/Who hide behind walls, and who hide behind desks" and whose government puppets are only committed to power and greed and killing while seducing the rest of us with their sick propaganda.
Was America ever good? Certainly it is a citadel of ultra-capitalism. Maybe for a moment, for pushing back Hitler, too late but helpful.
Leaving Ukraine in the lurch for His Heinous's sake? For Putin's sake?
There is an American Dream, but right now it's just a hallucination.
Honor all the dead young men, and the only way is to cease wars. There is only one way to do that, and Albert Schweitzer told us how:
“We must fight against the spirit of unconscious cruelty with which we treat the animals. Animals suffer as much as we do. True humanity does not allow us to impose such sufferings on them. It is our duty to make the whole world recognize it. Until we extend our circle of compassion to all living things, humanity will not find peace.”
― Albert Schweitzer
Steve! Cease your own hunting and fishing for sport.
When I lived in New Jersey, I was not far from The Beverly National Cemetery. It is one of 164 U.S. National Cemeteries created after the Civil War. Although listed as being in Edgewater Park, New Jersey, the Village of Beverly is there as a little hamlet.
Occasionally I would visit and pay my respects. Below is a link to the history of this National Cemetery. It is one of two National Cemeteries in New Jersey.
So well said Steve!!! This is passionate and heartfelt from you, and one can tell it. Isn’t it ironic that given this day of remembrance and your message that we a candidate for our presidency that evaded our military draft and considers our fallen American heroes “suckers and losers”? It is sickening that Americans would even consider such a coward to be president.
It would benefit the USA if US Military veterans would coordinate their voices, from Memorial Day until Election Day, to remind EVERYONE that one potential nominee for US President, Donald Trump, considers ANYONE who had decided or does decide to risk their lives to serve in the
Military…”suckers and losers.”
It is incredulous that are US Military veterans who would EVER consider to vote for him, and, of course, more incredulously, have already done so.
It is all well and good to vote for your specific political beliefs (Rep. or Dem., or otherwise), but it is irresponsible, unforgivable and willingly ignorant to vote for an individual who has no specific political beliefs and who is hellbent on becoming the first US dictator.
Veterans: isn’t that what you’re sworn to defend the US against?
Remind your brothers and sisters who’ve seem to have forgotten their sworn allegiance to protect the US and not serve the whims and wants, and narcissistic needs, of a single, and insane, individual.
Thank you for such a beautiful tribute to our fallen heroes.
Steve, thank you for this. That "monster behind the tree": We know who he is. As a Veteran, I am reminded of a mantra heard every now and then among the ranks: "Yours is not to question how or why. Yours is but to do or die." My license plate frame reads, "I am a Veteran. My Oath never dies." If only the Donald Trumps and the other lowlifes who course through our lives daily would honor that: Their OATH. 400,000+ plus of our Treasure spilled their blood on foreign soil to quell the slaughterous appetite of Adolf Hitler. Today, we have our own Adolf Hitler: Donald John Trump. The monster behind the tree. It is a challenge for me to even try to understand how one man can harbor so much hate, so much deception and dishonesty; so much venom. He and his acolytes spit on the graves of those who gave all to secure a free and democratic world. The wickedness that Trump embodies disgraces those who have died, those who have served; and those who do serve. We are better than he. We must hold tight to the fight that those men and women fought and who shed their blood for the preservation of the freedom we enjoy. We cannot be naive or gullible, as our enemy walks among us. They cannot win. Otherwise, those lives lost were lost for naught.
Steve, outstanding tribute to our fallen heroes!!! We must never forget them!
We must never forget how the Republican Party has slandered our fallen heroes. How they curse them who have come home injured, crippled, and needing our support. Yet, every bill that has crossed through this House of Representatives and Senate has been voted against by every single Republican who is there representing us, their constituents who voted them in office. Yet, they spot on our fallen heroes and those disabled.
No, we shall not forget. In 162 days we must remember what these ejected officials are actually there doing. They have done NOTHING for us. NOTHING for our fallen soldiers. NOTHING except vote against everything this last two years because their ‘king’ told them to vote against it. Every bill to benefit our veterans, soldiers, their mental and physical health, all voted against and not passed because of the Republicans.
Lest we not forget Senator Tommy Tuberville. He held up the advancement of our military leaders for his own political agenda and gain.
On each Memorial Day we honor those in our family who fought for our freedoms.
My father and his older brother fought in the South Pacific in WWII. They were both in the Marine Corps. My dad returned, my uncle did not. The absence of my uncle was noted at holiday gatherings and during the routine days of life. His death left a hole in my dad’s heart that never healed.
My mother’s two brothers also served in WWII. One was in the Navy, deployed to the Pacific. The other was in the Army, deployed to Europe. Both came home.
My cousin served as a corpsman in the Vietnam war. He also returned.
All of the survivors had seen horrible things. They were all forever changed.
God bless all those who answer the call to protect us. And please God, someday very soon, may there be an end to war.
My step-grandfather, who served in the Pacific during World War 2 in the 8th Army, was part of the Occupying Force on Japan. He spent two years in Japan and taught himself the Japanese language. Near the end of his life, when dementia was setting in, he would speak Japanese to me.
He is buried at the General William C. Doyle Veteran’s Cemetery in New Jersey. It is a cemetery operated by the State of New Jersey. I give the State of New Jersey much kudos and credit — the State paid for everything for my step-grandfather. The funeral director told me that New Jersey was the only state in the nation to pay 100 percent of such costs for resident veterans.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brigadier_General_William_C._Doyle_Memorial_Cemetery
Steve, Memorial Day is for me a definition of our uniquely sick American personality disorder. On one hand, we fly red white and blue flags and love marching bands and hold BBQs and beginning of summer (happy happy).
On the other hand we are supposed to grieve the millions of dead who, for the sake of their lying leaders, wasted their lives. (witness the tragedy of the the endless dead in art: Picasso's "Guernica," Britten's "War Requiem" and Vaugh Williams' Dona Nobis Pacem.") This country has long since whatever moral authority, if it ever had any (which it didn't, given slavery), in nonsense wars like Vietnam, Korea, Iraq and Afghanistan, chasing the Masters of War's stupid, greedy notions of "stopping communism" and promoting American exceptionalism.
I say: A plague on the warmongers' houses. A plague on Raytheon and and the rest of the corporate "Masters of War, who our tax dollars pay to "build the big planes, who build the big bombs/Who hide behind walls, and who hide behind desks" and whose government puppets are only committed to power and greed and killing while seducing the rest of us with their sick propaganda.
Was America ever good? Certainly it is a citadel of ultra-capitalism. Maybe for a moment, for pushing back Hitler, too late but helpful.
Leaving Ukraine in the lurch for His Heinous's sake? For Putin's sake?
There is an American Dream, but right now it's just a hallucination.
We're simply lost.
Honor all the dead young men, and the only way is to cease wars. There is only one way to do that, and Albert Schweitzer told us how:
“We must fight against the spirit of unconscious cruelty with which we treat the animals. Animals suffer as much as we do. True humanity does not allow us to impose such sufferings on them. It is our duty to make the whole world recognize it. Until we extend our circle of compassion to all living things, humanity will not find peace.”
― Albert Schweitzer
Steve! Cease your own hunting and fishing for sport.
Time and place. Please not when we're honoring Americans who gave the ultimate sacrifice.
I wonder if Alito and Leo have taken down their pine tree flags and raised the American flag this Memorial Day? Traitors!
When I lived in New Jersey, I was not far from The Beverly National Cemetery. It is one of 164 U.S. National Cemeteries created after the Civil War. Although listed as being in Edgewater Park, New Jersey, the Village of Beverly is there as a little hamlet.
Occasionally I would visit and pay my respects. Below is a link to the history of this National Cemetery. It is one of two National Cemeteries in New Jersey.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beverly_National_Cemetery
So well said Steve!!! This is passionate and heartfelt from you, and one can tell it. Isn’t it ironic that given this day of remembrance and your message that we a candidate for our presidency that evaded our military draft and considers our fallen American heroes “suckers and losers”? It is sickening that Americans would even consider such a coward to be president.
www.tomthedemocratist.com
It would benefit the USA if US Military veterans would coordinate their voices, from Memorial Day until Election Day, to remind EVERYONE that one potential nominee for US President, Donald Trump, considers ANYONE who had decided or does decide to risk their lives to serve in the
Military…”suckers and losers.”
It is incredulous that are US Military veterans who would EVER consider to vote for him, and, of course, more incredulously, have already done so.
It is all well and good to vote for your specific political beliefs (Rep. or Dem., or otherwise), but it is irresponsible, unforgivable and willingly ignorant to vote for an individual who has no specific political beliefs and who is hellbent on becoming the first US dictator.
Veterans: isn’t that what you’re sworn to defend the US against?
Remind your brothers and sisters who’ve seem to have forgotten their sworn allegiance to protect the US and not serve the whims and wants, and narcissistic needs, of a single, and insane, individual.
Deeply discerning!
Thank you for the repost of your column last year