Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day

Tomorrow is Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day. It recognizes the day in 1915 that a couple hundred Armenian intellectuals were arrested in Constantinople and subsequently deported to remote concentration camps where most died or were murdered.

 

It was the opening act of a genocide that began with pogroms killing 100,000 Armenians a few years earlier, 17,000 in another. It was to continue at least until late 1916. There was followup murder, suffering and homelessness until the middle of the next decade.

 

It was an intentional act by the Turkish government, this murder of 1,500,000 innocent people. The documents still exist, housed and on display in the Armenian Genocide Museum in Yerevan. There is massive evidence of the genocide, with many photos and much contemporary testimony from distinguished and reliable witnesses. Popes and presidents have attested to the facts.

 

Not OUR presidents, though. Presidents of other countries. Lots of sympathy and promises from us (Obama and Trump, for example, but not just them) but no recognition of the genocide until 2021. Joe Biden finally officially recognized the Armenian Genocide for what it was. I am not a Biden supporter but give credit where it’s due. He promised and he delivered.

 

Genocide deniers are like Holocaust deniers. The truth offends them so much that they rail against it. I’ve seen it happen twice concerning the Armenian Genocide and once regarding the Holocaust. There is never enough proof for them, never enough testimony, never enough photos.

 

I’ve written about the Armenian Genocide before, in 2009, in 2010, and this, later in 2010: 

 

Sadly (and tellingly), I sometimes neglect to write an Armenian Genocide column on April 24.  I wrote one a bit earlier but that's no excuse.  Remember that one?  And the one I wrote last year?  And my brief mention on March 12?  The inevitable has happened, as it is wont to do (Ed Rendell's myopia notwithstanding).  The Turkey-Armenia talks have broken down because, to no one's surprise, the Turks won't discuss their massacre of 1,500,000 Armenians.

 

And so it goes.  All those little kids' skulls and tiny skeletons in the desert?  You can just forget about them.  Or you can try.  

 

There is plenty of shame to go around.

 

WHAT IS A WOMAN?

 

It has come to my attention that many people, including many in high elected or appointed office, cannot say what a woman is. This extends even to Congressional testimony. Just two days ago, Secretary of Education Miguel Cardonas couldn’t or wouldn’t answer the simple question “What is a woman?” in a Congressional hearing.

 

He also couldn’t or wouldn’t explain the term “equal access” in Title IX. You know, the law that protects women and girls from discrimination based on “sex (including pregnancy,) sexual orientation, and gender identity in any education program or activity receiving federal financial assistance.”

 

He can’t explain it but HE’S IN CHARGE OF IT! Perhaps leading one to ask, “Then what the hell are you in charge OF?” Or, more to the point, “Then what the hell are we paying you for?

 

There are definitions out there in the wild. As Casey Stengel so often said, “You could look it up.” But I, your humble scribbler, will save you the trouble by offering this definition:

 

A woman is a mature female individual of the species homo sapiens. She may be specifically identified by the two X chromosomes in her genetic makeup, as opposed to the male of the species, which has X and Y chromosomes.

 

You may quote me.

 

Women are often assigned social roles. These are notoriously flexible. Cute, or lovely, or dainty, perhaps. Sometimes they pick them themselves. Square dancer, teacher, distance swimmer, infantry soldier, biker bitch. Regardless of social assignment or choice, women are, fundamentally, female specimens of homo sapiens.

 

Sometimes people pretend to be the gender they are not. There have always been drag queens. They are tolerable in the society in which I live because they have the same rights that the rest of us have. That’s just fine. “You be you and I’ll be me. Go in peace.”

 

Who I find intolerable are persons who pretend to be the other gender - there are only two, count the X chromosomes - in order to take advantage of the weak. A recent example is a violent male criminal who pretended to be a woman so that he would be assigned to a women’s prison. The not-so-shocking result was that he impregnated two real women. Fox, meet hen house.

 

Another phenomenon is men who pretend to be women in order to win things. William (Lia) Thomas pretends to be a woman and has won national honors and fame in women’s swimming. He was previously non-competitive in men’s swimming where he had tried for years. There are too many other examples. What’s the harm? Allow me.

 

The federal gummint awards money to institutions for women’s sports programs. Fair enough and OK with me. The harm comes when men pretending to be women benefit from that money at the expense of real women who need it. It is a sexual insult and harm and violates, at minimum, the intent of Title IX. It becomes, “Here’s a bunch of money to protect women’s sports. Male athletes, it’s OK if you take it.”

 

I remember the women’s rights movement and the advocates for Title IX. They were right. Where did those people go? Why did they stop advocating for women? When did they change to the cry, “Women’s rights are trans rights.” Really? Based on what? A superior ability to win things? The ability to impregnate incarcerated women?

 

I am opposed to this trend. It violates basic principles that I was taught and have practiced all my life. If we refuse to recognize basic genetic truths, then what’s next?

 

May I suggest that life is next? It’s already happening. The big-city rioters we see on TV demonstrate no respect for human life. They also vote, or soon will, and political parties will court their votes. Is it so outrageous to think they will vote for politicians who have no respect for life or who have no basic human morality, who share their value void? It is only outrageous to think they won’t.

 

We can’t seem to define life without reference to birth. Why is that?

 

 

 

 

What if EVERYONE is lying?

Among the stories I don’t believe:

The prez doesn’t know about Hunter’s business deals;

It’s OK to let a Chinese spy balloon flit across America;

It’s better to buy dirty oil from dictators than to be clean energy independent;

Exchanging a basketball player for the Merchant of Death was in America’s best interest. Too bad the dead can’t speak.

Ukraine is going to win;

The $1.2T Inflation Reduction Act was about reducing inflation;

America isn’t careening toward a nuclear exchange.

* * *

I don’t believe any of the above, nor do I believe any apologia for them are true. 

We elect mayors, DAs and school boards to do necessary jobs that we aren’t trained to do. The problem is, they aren’t trained to do them, either. There are no mayor schools, for instance. Racist, I suppose.

So they wing it. MSU — make stuff up. Or, someone behind the scenes tells them what to do and they do it in exchange for more money or power, then they lie about what they did.

There are precedents. Joseph Goebbels is notorious but we’ve had our own in America and elsewhere. Woodrow Wilson and Neville Chamberlain come to mind. Angry and incompetent wastes of air.

Then what should we do? Read as much as you can and read diverse sources. Be informed. Watch as much TV news as you can stomach but watch at least two different biases. If you watch MSNBC for an hour, give Fox News Channel an hour, or alternate daily.

If there is a national cataclysm - a nuclear exchange, say - at least we’ll have had time to save our children. Some of us, anyway. And time to vote for those who represent our point of view in hopes that they will change things and avoid the cataclysm.

What stories do you not believe?

Atrocity Overload - Myanmar

 

 

There are two parties/factions/sides in Myanmar. You can decide for yourself which you support but this might help. Yesterday, the party NOT in power was opening an office in a small town when the party IN power bombed the ceremony. Killed at least twenty children and fifty women who were there, mostly, for the free tea and snacks, part of the local New Year’s celebration. 

 

Food is scarce in Myanmar and free food is sure to draw a crowd. One hundred thirty dead in all, so far. Then the pilots ate lunch, refueled, bombed up, went back and did it again. Strafed the town, too. BTW, only one side has an air force or missiles.

 

The Myanmar explanation for massacring its own citizens? “They are opposing our government.” The US State Department is “deeply upset.” You think?

 

On Monday they bombed a school. In March they bombed a monastery. Last September they bombed another school. They have bombed hospitals.

 

You may have known Myanmar as Burma, a war-torn country in which many allied lives were lost in WWII. Should you be interested in that, and I can hardly blame you if you’re not, I recommend Quartered Safe Out There, one soldier’s experiences, by George Macdonald Fraser.

 

Myanmar once held free elections. In March, 2021, the losing side staged a coup and they’re in charge now. Let the killing begin! They see that China and Russia commit genocide and the US stands by and does nothing, so why not Myanmar? It’s like crime in NYC: You may get caught but nothing’s going to happen to you.

 

Did I mention that Myanmar has a LOT of oil and gas? That’s the reason the Japanese fought so hard to keep it, back in the day.

 

If JoeyB will buy Venezuelan oil and Cuban oil, then why not buy Myanmar oil? It’s the same thing. Make a dictator rich at the expense of the USA, and our conscience.

 

TAKE A STAND, JOE! Tell them there are consequences to genocide!

 

Some things just piss me off.

 

 

 

 

 

"Show Me the Man and I'll Show You the Crime"

and 

"The Thing"

Attributed to Lavrenti Beria, Joe Stalin's NKVD Commissar, "Show me the man and I'll show you the crime," was thought to have been a discredited terror technique. Meaning, of course, "Don't worry, Joe. I'll find something to pin on whomever you want and we'll execute him."

There's another Joe today, Joe Biden. His Beria is named Alvin Bragg but the idea is exactly the same. "I'll get Trump for you, Joe. I'll find something." After all, Bragg campaigned and won on that very promise.

Referring to our Declaration of Independence, at a campaign stop Biden 2020, Biden said, "We hold these truths to be self-evident. All men and women created by -- You know, the thing." So much for having an Ivy League law degree.

There's a BIG problem, though. That pesky Sixth Amendment thing. "You know, the thing!"

What the Sixth Amendment says:

In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defence.

Bragg's big problem: There is an indictment of sorts, yes, but it doesn't define the crimes Trump is alleged to have commited. When asked why the nature of the crimes is omitted in the indictment, Bragg responded, "The law doesn't require me to."

Umm, say what? I excerpt from the above: "and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation;"

As your fearless prognisticator I advise, bet on Trump.

What Did Trump Do?

What Did Trump Do? 

“All I know is just what I read in the papers, and that’s an alibi for my ignorance.” – Mark Twain 

Me, too. 

You’ve been following the Trump indictment drama, haven’t you? If not, you should. It’s disturbing, frightening even. Perhaps titillating. Theater of the absurd. The story owns today’s airways. 

It seems like everyone has already made up their mind: “He’s Trump. He’s evil. Guilty!”

"Where's the proof? This is just wrong. Innocent!” 

What might Trump have done so wrong that it rose to the level of a crime? I can’t yet answer that question. Something about bootstrapping a misdemeanor up to a felony in order to avoid the statute of limitations on the underlying misdemeanor. Seems like a stretch but I’m no lawyer. 

I’m open to seeing any evidence of a punishable crime. If he committed one/some, especially under the color of his office, and if the statute is still open, then sure, try him if you must. Let the punishment fit the crime. If not, allow him the freedom to campaign for office. It’s a right we all have. 

Another of our rights is the right to a free, fair, speedy and open prosecution for crimes that we are alleged to have committed. We have no Star Chambers. Let it all out, let the world see it, then let the jurors decide. 

“He will have his opportunity to prove his innocence in court.” -- Nancy Pelosi 

No, Nancy. That’s not the way American justice works. The burden is the prosecution’s, to prove that a defendant committed a crime. The defendant can say nothing and he is presumed to be innocent of all charges. 

Go ahead, prosecutor, prove up to the satisfaction of your jury. If you can’t, the defendant goes free. Perhaps tarnished by the prosecution, but free. 

No one in America has to prove his innocence, despite Nancy’s subversion of our Constitutional rights. 

Trump’s big mistake was not to pardon himself before he left office. Presumably, neither he nor his dozens of lawyers ever imagined that something like this could happen in America. It never had before. It will be a standard closing act from now on.

You may be sure that Biden won’t repeat that mistake for himself, Hunter or the rest of the Biden family. I predict that those pardons happen on his last day in office. They usually do. Wait, watch and get back to me.