The memorial was not on the National Mall, per the article you linked. It was at the Netherlands American Cemetery in the southern village of Margraten, just east of city of Maastricht.
You use the phrase "The wire still holds" a lot. Can you explain what it refers to? I don't recognize the phrases & google is just returning results about the (admittedly brilliant) TV show
The act of holding the wire is, in my mythopoetic prose, is the act of insisting on truth, reality and principle. The act of standing firm admit chaos and refusing to fall into comforting falsehoods, loyalist narratives, partisan justifications, keeping an eye toward real evidence and insisting on moral seriousness.
Didn't actually help—still got only stuff about the TV show. I added quotes to the phrase... and ended up at a post on this here substack that didn't explain it either.
Stephen, in my befuddled old mind, “the wire still holds” fits perfectly with the whole “circus” motif. I imagine the high-wire acts, the acrobats, and the various tent guy-wires so important to the overall experience of the circus. You will have noticed, I imagine, that Mike also references whether we are approaching the ground yet.
"The Trump administration just quietly removed a memorial to Black U.S. soldiers who died in World War II from its site on the National Mall (official explanation: still pending, if one ever comes). Not relocated. Removed. Gone"
Mike, are you sure you are not citing something that is a scam? See text below:
However, it is true that two informational panels honoring Black US soldiers were removed from the visitors' center at the Netherlands American Cemetery in Margraten, Netherlands. The removal of these panels occurred in mid-2024 and was reportedly linked to a broader Trump administration effort to remove Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) related content from federal government websites and physical displays. The American Battle Monuments Commission (ABMC), the agency responsible for the cemetery, temporarily took down the panels for review after a complaint was filed by the right-wing Heritage Foundation. The local Dutch government in South Limburg considered installing a temporary exhibit to honor the soldiers in response.
The cemetery in Margraten, east of Maastrict, is cared for by Dutch citizen volunteers.
Separately, the Trump administration also removed web pages and educational materials from the Arlington National Cemetery website that specifically highlighted the history and accomplishments of Black, Hispanic, and women veterans and service members. Officials described this as a "digital content refresh" to comply with the President's executive orders against "divisive" DEI ideology, though the content was later mostly restored after public backlash.
The White House, under President Donald Trump, has cracked down on programs aimed at diversity and inclusion, an attitude echoed by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in his reshaping of the Pentagon and the U.S. military. Arlington National Cemetery in March removed references to the history of Black and female service members from its website, and the Pentagon in the same month restored a webpage celebrating U.S. Army Major General Charles Calvin Rogers, a recipient of the U.S. highest military honor and a Black Vietnam veteran, after an outcry at its removal.
My comment: Whether this was in 2024 or at any time, it is another manifestation of the sickness of Trump and his SICKophants. We are dealing with lunatics running the most armed nation in the history of the world. We are citizens of a Fascist reptilian who would lie to his mother if a profit could be made.
Schumer should be replaced. I would be fine with Bernie Sanders as minority speaker of the Senate. Chris Murphy would be my second choice. Raphael Warnock or Jon Ossoff, Sheldon Whitehouse, would be a great replacement for Schumer. We need to voice our opinion.
The Senate's minority leader can be replaced by vote at any time.
I just wrote to Sen. Schumer. This is exactly what I emailed hiim:
Senator Schumer,
I am a physician, Vietnam veteran, and an involved citizen. I am also a Jew who lost much of my mother's family in Nazi gas chambers. If I had been born in Poland and not in the US, I too would have been murdered.
Your stance on the most recent Senate vote was myopic. For the first time in years, I had some glimmer of hope that the Democratic Party was showing fortitude, chutzpah or balls. You stole that away for a short goal, and one based on some irrational belief that a Fascist regime is going to live up to its promises. You really blew it badly.
It is time you stepped down from the role of minority speaker. You are not a leader, but rather a sheep leading this nation to slaughter. Shame on you. You are an embarrassment to me as a citizen and as a Jew. And yes, I would gladly debate you on your foolhardy vote.
Yes, "person-of-color adjacent" puifies you. For over 60 years I've had to explain to sweet people who assure me I must not have the prejudices I was raised with as a working-class White kid just because I married into a Black family. I still get jolted by unbidden reminders of that mind-set. My wife has similar reminders of growing up Black in thoroughly racist places like Texas and Arizona. Mantra: not all X are Y (but enough are to be a pain in the ass).
This is shameful and horrifying. Thank you for calling it to our attention. There should be a list of all of these violations of decency, large and small, and every single one should be redressed when Trump is out of power.
Somehow, the very effect hit me harder that it was done in one of the European cemeteries rather than along the Washington Mall! The latter was bad enough. With that, I knew it had to be closely related to drumph’s anti-DEI fixation. This pseudo-Aryan, sickophantic (to borrow a usage), War Department leadership seems to fall all over itself to carry out der feuhrer’s merest wishes.
No where in the linked Rod Dreher piece is mention of White Nationalism. Anti-Semetism, sure, but nothing about how the new youth is white nationalist and overtly racist as a whole.
If the Nazi regime in the 1930s made fanaticism seem admirable, perhaps it’s high time we started valuing hysteria, because that may be the only sane response right now.
Yeah, if in some counterfactual universe, white soldiers fought as second-class citizens, I'd agree with you. But that's not what happened. And so I don't.
“Lying Frump”
He lies when he pees,
He lies eating cheese,
He lies in the morning,
He lies in the breeze!
He lies in December,
He lies in July,
He lies on the ground,
And he lies to the sky!
He lies when he’s chewing,
He lies when he’s tweeting,
He lies when he’s losing,
He lies when he’s beating!
He lies for attention,
He lies for applause,
He lies just because—
Well, he lies just because!
He lies when he’s golfing,
He lies when he’s still,
He lies when he’s scheming,
And always will.
He lies when he whispers,
He lies when he shouts,
He lies so much
That the truth tapped out!
No, you are not hysterical. You are awake, aware and give a damn about America.
I feel the same.
It is like either a large portion of the country had their "give a damn " surgically removed or anesthetized.
I can't tell you about their "give a damn" but I can tell ya this, my " Give A Fuck" is all riled up!
The memorial was not on the National Mall, per the article you linked. It was at the Netherlands American Cemetery in the southern village of Margraten, just east of city of Maastricht.
Oh wow. I must correct. Thank you.
You use the phrase "The wire still holds" a lot. Can you explain what it refers to? I don't recognize the phrases & google is just returning results about the (admittedly brilliant) TV show
The act of holding the wire is, in my mythopoetic prose, is the act of insisting on truth, reality and principle. The act of standing firm admit chaos and refusing to fall into comforting falsehoods, loyalist narratives, partisan justifications, keeping an eye toward real evidence and insisting on moral seriousness.
I get that it means that. I don't understand why you use THAT phrase TO mean that
Try the following search for better results. You have to craft a way to bypass that ignorant AI.
"The wire still holds is a quote from"
Didn't actually help—still got only stuff about the TV show. I added quotes to the phrase... and ended up at a post on this here substack that didn't explain it either.
If you know, perhaps you could just tell me?
Stephen, in my befuddled old mind, “the wire still holds” fits perfectly with the whole “circus” motif. I imagine the high-wire acts, the acrobats, and the various tent guy-wires so important to the overall experience of the circus. You will have noticed, I imagine, that Mike also references whether we are approaching the ground yet.
That's how I've understood it from the beginning.
Ok, that sounds reasonable. Thanks
"The Trump administration just quietly removed a memorial to Black U.S. soldiers who died in World War II from its site on the National Mall (official explanation: still pending, if one ever comes). Not relocated. Removed. Gone"
Mike, are you sure you are not citing something that is a scam? See text below:
However, it is true that two informational panels honoring Black US soldiers were removed from the visitors' center at the Netherlands American Cemetery in Margraten, Netherlands. The removal of these panels occurred in mid-2024 and was reportedly linked to a broader Trump administration effort to remove Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) related content from federal government websites and physical displays. The American Battle Monuments Commission (ABMC), the agency responsible for the cemetery, temporarily took down the panels for review after a complaint was filed by the right-wing Heritage Foundation. The local Dutch government in South Limburg considered installing a temporary exhibit to honor the soldiers in response.
The cemetery in Margraten, east of Maastrict, is cared for by Dutch citizen volunteers.
Separately, the Trump administration also removed web pages and educational materials from the Arlington National Cemetery website that specifically highlighted the history and accomplishments of Black, Hispanic, and women veterans and service members. Officials described this as a "digital content refresh" to comply with the President's executive orders against "divisive" DEI ideology, though the content was later mostly restored after public backlash.
The White House, under President Donald Trump, has cracked down on programs aimed at diversity and inclusion, an attitude echoed by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in his reshaping of the Pentagon and the U.S. military. Arlington National Cemetery in March removed references to the history of Black and female service members from its website, and the Pentagon in the same month restored a webpage celebrating U.S. Army Major General Charles Calvin Rogers, a recipient of the U.S. highest military honor and a Black Vietnam veteran, after an outcry at its removal.
My comment: Whether this was in 2024 or at any time, it is another manifestation of the sickness of Trump and his SICKophants. We are dealing with lunatics running the most armed nation in the history of the world. We are citizens of a Fascist reptilian who would lie to his mother if a profit could be made.
Schumer should be replaced. I would be fine with Bernie Sanders as minority speaker of the Senate. Chris Murphy would be my second choice. Raphael Warnock or Jon Ossoff, Sheldon Whitehouse, would be a great replacement for Schumer. We need to voice our opinion.
The Senate's minority leader can be replaced by vote at any time.
Shuck Chuck. Shoo Schumer.
I just wrote to Sen. Schumer. This is exactly what I emailed hiim:
Senator Schumer,
I am a physician, Vietnam veteran, and an involved citizen. I am also a Jew who lost much of my mother's family in Nazi gas chambers. If I had been born in Poland and not in the US, I too would have been murdered.
Your stance on the most recent Senate vote was myopic. For the first time in years, I had some glimmer of hope that the Democratic Party was showing fortitude, chutzpah or balls. You stole that away for a short goal, and one based on some irrational belief that a Fascist regime is going to live up to its promises. You really blew it badly.
It is time you stepped down from the role of minority speaker. You are not a leader, but rather a sheep leading this nation to slaughter. Shame on you. You are an embarrassment to me as a citizen and as a Jew. And yes, I would gladly debate you on your foolhardy vote.
Stephen B. Strum, MD, FACP
The URL to email Schumer is: https://www.schumer.senate.gov/contact/message-chuck
Yes, "person-of-color adjacent" puifies you. For over 60 years I've had to explain to sweet people who assure me I must not have the prejudices I was raised with as a working-class White kid just because I married into a Black family. I still get jolted by unbidden reminders of that mind-set. My wife has similar reminders of growing up Black in thoroughly racist places like Texas and Arizona. Mantra: not all X are Y (but enough are to be a pain in the ass).
So sick! And nauseating. I wish I could puke on dump's shoes. 🤮
... with soldiers.
This is shameful and horrifying. Thank you for calling it to our attention. There should be a list of all of these violations of decency, large and small, and every single one should be redressed when Trump is out of power.
Somehow, the very effect hit me harder that it was done in one of the European cemeteries rather than along the Washington Mall! The latter was bad enough. With that, I knew it had to be closely related to drumph’s anti-DEI fixation. This pseudo-Aryan, sickophantic (to borrow a usage), War Department leadership seems to fall all over itself to carry out der feuhrer’s merest wishes.
We must not become complacent to or numb we have to continue to be outraged.
No where in the linked Rod Dreher piece is mention of White Nationalism. Anti-Semetism, sure, but nothing about how the new youth is white nationalist and overtly racist as a whole.
If the Nazi regime in the 1930s made fanaticism seem admirable, perhaps it’s high time we started valuing hysteria, because that may be the only sane response right now.
If all others about you are losing their heads......etc.
We have memorials to soldiers. Are you suggesting we add memorials for white soldiers?
Yeah, if in some counterfactual universe, white soldiers fought as second-class citizens, I'd agree with you. But that's not what happened. And so I don't.
Thanks Mike. I absolutely hate false equivalence!
If you were to look around, you’d see many memorials with white soldiers.
Otherwise known as the default Americans.