The American Revolution started at dawn in Lexington, Massachusetts. The Americans defeated a British force, driving them back to Boston.
The enemy doesn't wear red uniforms these days ... but their spirit still exists; among other places, still in the capital of Massachusetts.
However, lest we forget, also on this date in 1993, the Federal government showed us they were the true inheritors of the British Crown.
Listen, my children, and you shall hear
Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere,
On the eighteenth of April, in Seventy-Five:
Hardly a man is now alive
Who remembers that famous day and year.
He said to his friend, “If the British march
By land or sea from the town to-night,
Hang a lantern aloft in the belfry-arch
Of the North-Church-tower, as a signal-light,—
One if by land, and two if by sea;
And I on the opposite shore will be,
Ready to ride and spread the alarm
Through every Middlesex village and farm,
For the country-folk to be up and to arm.”
Then he said “Good night!” and with muffled oar
Silently rowed to the Charlestown shore,
Just as the moon rose over the bay,
Where swinging wide at her moorings lay
The Somerset, British man-of-war:
A phantom ship, with each mast and spar
Across the moon, like a prison-bar,
And a huge black hulk, that was magnified
By its own reflection in the tide.
Meanwhile, his friend, through alley and street
Wanders and watches with eager ears,
Till in the silence around him he hears
The muster of men at the barrack door,
The sound of arms, and the tramp of feet,
And the measured tread of the grenadiers
Marching down to their boats on the shore.
Then he climbed to the tower of the church,
Up the wooden stairs, with stealthy tread,
To the belfry-chamber overhead,
And startled the pigeons from their perch
On the sombre rafters, that round him made
Masses and moving shapes of shade,—
By the trembling ladder, steep and tall,
To the highest window in the wall,
Where he paused to listen and look down
A moment on the roofs of the town,
And the moonlight flowing over all.
Beneath, in the churchyard, lay the dead,
In their night-encampment on the hill,
Wrapped in silence so deep and still
That he could hear, like a sentinel’s tread,
The watchful night-wind, as it went
Creeping along from tent to tent,
And seeming to whisper, “All is well!”
A moment only he feels the spell
Of the place and the hour, and the secret dread
Of the lonely belfry and the dead;
For suddenly all his thoughts are bent
On a shadowy something far away,
Where the river widens to meet the bay,—
A line of black, that bends and floats
On the rising tide, like a bridge of boats.
Meanwhile, impatient to mount and ride,
Booted and spurred, with a heavy stride,
On the opposite shore walked Paul Revere.
Now he patted his horse’s side,
Now gazed on the landscape far and near,
Then impetuous stamped the earth,
And turned and tightened his saddle-girth;
But mostly he watched with eager search
The belfry-tower of the old North Church,
As it rose above the graves on the hill,
Lonely and spectral and sombre and still.
And lo! as he looks, on the belfry’s height,
A glimmer, and then a gleam of light!
He springs to the saddle, the bridle he turns,
But lingers and gazes, till full on his sight
A second lamp in the belfry burns!
A hurry of hoofs in a village-street,
A shape in the moonlight, a bulk in the dark,
And beneath from the pebbles, in passing, a spark
Struck out by a steed that flies fearless and fleet:
That was all! And yet, through the gloom and the light,
The fate of a nation was riding that night;
And the spark struck out by that steed, in his flight,
Kindled the land into flame with its heat.
He has left the village and mounted the steep,
And beneath him, tranquil and broad and deep,
Is the Mystic, meeting the ocean tides;
And under the alders, that skirt its edge,
Now soft on the sand, now loud on the ledge,
Is heard the tramp of his steed as he rides.
It was twelve by the village clock
When he crossed the bridge into Medford town.
He heard the crowing of the cock,
And the barking of the farmer’s dog,
And felt the damp of the river-fog,
That rises when the sun goes down.
It was one by the village clock,
When he galloped into Lexington.
He saw the gilded weathercock
Swim in the moonlight as he passed,
And the meeting-house windows, blank and bare,
Gaze at him with a spectral glare,
As if they already stood aghast
At the bloody work they would look upon.
It was two by the village clock,
When he came to the bridge in Concord town.
He heard the bleating of the flock,
And the twitter of birds among the trees,
And felt the breath of the morning breeze
Blowing over the meadows brown.
And one was safe and asleep in his bed
Who at the bridge would be first to fall,
Who that day would be lying dead,
Pierced by a British musket-ball.
You know the rest. In the books you have read,
How the British Regulars fired and fled,—
How the farmers gave them ball for ball,
From behind each fence and farmyard-wall,
Chasing the red-coats down the lane,
Then crossing the fields to emerge again
Under the trees at the turn of the road,
And only pausing to fire and load.
So through the night rode Paul Revere;
And so through the night went his cry of alarm
To every Middlesex village and farm,—
A cry of defiance, and not of fear,
A voice in the darkness, a knock at the door,
And a word that shall echo forevermore!
For, borne on the night-wind of the Past,
Through all our history, to the last,
In the hour of darkness and peril and need,
The people will waken and listen to hear
The hurrying hoof-beats of that steed,
And the midnight message of Paul Revere.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow - 1863
Continue reading →... but I can't avoid it any longer.
[DT: In response to: Taps For NATO]
On almost every issue under discussion today, I am either ambivalent (tariffs) or in complete agreement with Pres. Trump. He is largely doing what I elected him to do, and doing more of it than I had imagined.
The one great, glaring exception is his foreign policy. America, and Americans, will long regret his approach to handling the Russia-Ukraine war.
But first, some concessions…..
If you're going to tell me that after 20+ years of the GWOT, America is tired of being at war, that our military is worn out and under-equipped, then I'll agree with you.
If you're going to tell me that the Euros have taken our protective (and nuclear) umbrella as an opportunity to create soft semi-socialist states, then I'll agree with you.
If you're going to tell me that Ukraine is corrupt, and that a good portion of the monies that we (and others) have sent them have wormed its' way back to primarily liberal interests in our respective capitals, then I'll concede that too.
If you're going to tell me that America is coming to the end of the road in facing our own fiscal problems, then I'll agree with that as well.
Give me any of your reasons supporting why we shouldn't be helping in Ukraine, and I'll agree with each of them.
But I still think that we should.
The Europeans….our friends in Europe….are frightened to death of the future that Russia is presenting them with. These are nations to which most of us can trace our ancestry. These are friends who have been our trading partners, our allies in all sorts of endeavors, and they do not want Russia to succeed in her ambitions against Ukraine. The Danes gave Ukraine 19 F-16s….that's a complete squadron. The Dutch gave more F-16s. All totalled up, the Ukranians are said to have 90 F-16s from primarily European sources. The French have given Ukraine Mirage 2000s. The Latvian's gave all of their Stinger missiles to Ukraine. I could further mention the armor, the air defense, the blankets and bandages, and all sorts of things, and the point remains: Europe is invested in defending Ukraine.
But despite this great fear that they fear in Ukraine, there is still a greater need for more support. Take a took at this map. Scroll around and click on the countries. Would you rather look at a report? OK. Here's a report. From that report's Conclusion, with my emphases…..
"...[I]n the bigger picture, the support for Ukraine appears low. Most large donors, including Germany, the US, or the UK, only allocate around 0.2% of their annual GDP to Ukraine, while Italy, Spain, or France allocated only around 0.1% of GDP per year. These numbers are small from a historical perspective (earlier wars and crises) and can be compared to minor domestic spending priorities. In most Western countries, questionable subsidy programs, e.g. for company cars or diesel fuel, consume much larger sums of taxpayer money per year than what has been mobilized for Ukraine. Through the lens of Western governments’ fiscal budgets, aid to Ukraine thus looks more like a minor political "pet project" than a major fiscal effort.....
You'll ask: Why should I care about the Russian intent with Ukraine? Russia wants all of Ukraine, not just the 4 oblasts that they have (illegally) annexed. This was evident three years ago when they aimed straight at Kiev. It is also evident today. Here* are the conditions that the Russians are setting today for a cease fire.
1) Ukraine's neutrality…no alliances which will protect Ukraine from Russia.
2) Ukraine's effective demilitarization.
3) "De-nazification" of Ukraine.
4) No Ukrainian restrictions on the Russian language inside Ukraine.
Atop all that, the Russians require that Ukraine acknowledge the Russian annexation of Ukrainian lands.
Putting that all together, what part of that amounts to any concession from the Russians?
*BTW, I have found the Military & History Youtube channel to be a very thoughtful and balanced discussion of events in Ukraine. I encourage a full view of the video I linked, as well as of his other videos.
The rest of Europe looks at this and sees a Russia that is attempting to reconsitute the USSR. The Baltic states….Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania….believe that they will be overrun. You can see this by watching how heavily they are invested in stopping Russia in Ukraine. Poland too feels this same pressure.
These are all NATO allies, but back to the point of this post, what happens if NATO is a "zombie alliance" and that "…without US leadership, NATO cannot survive as a coherent structure….Europe will have to defend itself – and it is not ready."
If NATO falls apart, and if Europe will have to defend itself, they're going to have to provide all the support that the US used to give them. Here's what that means: Nukes. In the short term, the Poles are discussing placing themselves under a French nuclear umbrella, but for the long term, they're discussing adding that capability for themselves. [https://www.politico.eu/article/donald-tusk-plan-train-poland-men-military-service-russia/] Who else is thinking along the same lines? The Germans.
"...Today, fear is palpable as Germans are debating a question that sounds like it was taken right from the early Cold War playbooks: What if the United States abandons Europe in face of a Russian aggression? In this debate, Germans quickly come up with answers: (1) a somewhat Europeanized deterrent, based on French and British nuclear forces, (2) Germany co-financing the French force de frappe in exchange for greater security assurances from Paris, or (3) a German bomb.... [my emphasis]" https://thebulletin.org/2024/03/germany-debates-nuclear-weapons-again-but-now-its-different/
Think about that a minute. The Germans are discussing having nuclear weapons.
If NATO fails, that is where Europe is headed. I think that it is in American interests to prevent that possibility from occurring. And you do that by being involved in Ukraine….today.
Moreover, America is in a full-fledged trade war today with China. We have badgered and bribed the rest of the world into lining up with us against China. Elevated tariffs have been placed, and then paused to allow 90 days to negotiate new terms…..for every country except China. As I read Trump here, his aim is to entice as much manufacturing back into the US as possible, but failing that, to have manufacturing move away from China. I think that Trump is pissed about China's role in Covid, as well as China's expansion via their Belt-and-Road Initiative and quasi-militarily in the Western Pacific. Trump wants to bring American manufacturing back so that when the next pandemic happens, we're not forced to go begging for PPE or Pharma products. He wants us to have an independent source of key components (steel, chips) with which to build a military. He wants American jobs here, providing American products to Americans.
But what is Europe's response to this, today? They're planning to go back to Beijing in July to speak with Xi. Not meeting with the Chinese in Europe, or elsewhere. In Beijing, on Xi's terf and on Xi's terms. [https://www.reuters.com/world/eu-leaders-plan-beijing-trip-july-summit-with-chinas-xi-scmp-reports-2025-04-10/]
This is the net result of Trump's (apparant) abandonment of NATO. If you won't help us in our hour of need, then we'll think twice when the hour of need arrives for you.
Pulling away from Europe and NATO is a terrible, terrible mistake. It endangers every agreement and alliance we have. The future will be far less stable (read: "profitable") for everyone in the world without American leadership.
Continue reading →
I hear tell someone in Congress wants to make the Monday after Easter a Federal holiday. Seems to me just another way to take Christianity out of the most holy of Christian celebrations - if anything, the Friday before Easter should be the holiday.
I never really cared for this Monday substituting for an actual holiday. Holidays aren't holidays anymore; they've turned into nothing more than 3-day weekends - mostly for the benefit of Federal employees. A paid day off work - who cares why?
I may not be Christian in the traditional sense but this is/was a Christian-based nation founded mostly on Christian principles. Unfortunately, it's the Christian "turn the other cheek" that has led to the coming - or past - ruin of the nation and its ideals. As has been said: "Tolerance for the sake of tolerance is no virtue" ... and we've seen the effects of too much tolerance. Now any attempt to return to those ideals will be met with laughter, derision, and lawsuits - "My rights are violated"; "I'm offended".
Christmas and Easter are fundamental celebrations in this nation - yet neither can be properly acknowledged. But Ramadan is OK ... Kwanzaa is OK.
The muse isn't clear to me tonight and I'm not expressing myself as I desire but may I wish you all a Blessed Easter season.
could not love you
more if I tried
and there is no trying
to love you
as much as I do.
probably other people
just as kind, good, strong
as you
but I don't love them
just you.
This site was subjected to a brute-force attack which mostly affected me as administrator. The domain host fixed the issue but I have some clean-up to do. If any of you notice any issues, please let me know through email.
Meanwhile, today's "Picture Of Inspiration":
Used to go skinny-dippin' out there many, many long-times-ago. Wasn't so over-grown then.
PSA: It's never safe to do such things alone ...
Continue reading →Had a notice from the host of a brute-force hack-attack this AM and even I was locked out. Had to go to the host CPanel to fix the site access ... and it seems I blocked >everybody<.
Oops.
One of the regulars contacted me and asked what was up. I'd have not known y'all were locked out 'cause the site looked normal to me. As administrator, I don't see the site exactly as you do. If you notice problems, please let me know - I may not realize there's a problem.
Continue reading →Seems to be a favorite of mine - at least I fix it often enough.
Beany Weinies
What? You expected something new and original? :)
Frying pan
1 - 15oz can VandeCamps Pork & Beans ... though I prefer Bush's version - less water
2 - hot dogs - sliced about ¼ in thickness
Sliced onion - cut ¼ in slice of medium sized onion, then dice/slice that
Sliced green pepper - about ½ in section of green bell pepper - I'm a midwestern boy. "Peppers" are bell peppers
Sliced tomato - about ¼ - ½ in section, then chopped
Saute onions and peppers together until onions start to brown.
On low heat -
Toss in tomato pieces, continue to fry for length of time it takes to slice the two hot dogs (together)
While hot dogs are (lightly) browning, open can of beans
When hot dogs are lightly browned, dump in can of beans
Heat until center of mass begins to bubble
Serves one or two
From an article on RealClear Wire via ZeroHedge:
"Meanwhile, the United States—still NATO’s military backbone—faces a fiscal cliff, a recruitment crisis, and an overstretched force posture. The era of limitless resources is over. American global primacy has ended. Multipolarity has arrived. The U.S. must now prioritize. And that means making hard choices about where its forces are truly needed—and where others must finally step up or face the consequences."
I don't know or necessarily agree that American global primacy has ended; weakened though ... and it's not that "multipolarity" has arrived, but that multipolarity has returned. Multipolarity had existed - was NATO's purpose - throughout most of NATO's existence. That multipolarity - and the need for NATO ... at least US involvement ... first ended with the collapse of the Soviet Union. Too many - most of the world - has lived off US largess (and American neocon dreams and wishes) since 1990.
35 years - an entire generation - is enough. The world has drained us dry - we let them for pie in the sky imaginations of global unity under a US flag - but it's now past time to end the charade. Europe in particular does not need - nor any longer deserve - American "protection".
Update April 16:
A prominent Turkish defense official has given a rare interview to a regional Middle East outlet wherein he describes NATO as a "zombie alliance" which has outlived its functionality and legitimacy as a real military alliance, something which is becoming increasingly evident at Trump threatens to walk the United States away from being its main funder and leader.
NATO is now a zombie alliance. It exists more as a myth than a functional military bloc. Its expansion has been reckless. Its operations – from the Balkans to Libya to Ukraine – have destabilized entire regions, and its credibility is collapsing.
The EU, meanwhile, is pushing a €800 billion (approximately $864 billion) military revamp under the name “ReArm Europe.” But this requires massive austerity at home. European governments are preparing their populations for war, not peace. They need enemies to justify the spending.
He then admits, "But without US leadership, NATO cannot survive as a coherent structure. Trump’s America will not fight for Estonia or send troops to Moldova. Europe will have to defend itself – and it is not ready."
Continue reading →
So you've paid your taxes and counted your remaining pennies and now Easter is coming and Lent is almost over. Time to make, what?
What Easter specialties do folks here prepare?
My favorite Easter sweet is home made hot cross buns served warm with butter.
Hot cross buns
Hot cross buns
One a penny
Two a penny
Hot cross buns
If you have no daughters give them to your sons!
On the Canadian island where I was born the Easter "scoff" (big meal) included flipper pie prepared with onions, turnips and carrots. Harp seal flipper that is. It's a dark gamey meat not to my taste but the dish goes far back in history and many islanders still love it even if animal rights activists now object to its consumption.
In England no Easter Sunday lunch would be complete without fresh pea soup made with mint and spring onions. So delicious.
And then there's lamb that is traditional everywhere.. roasted leg of lamb, roasted or grilled shoulder of lamb , griĺled lamb chops, lamb burgers.
In northern Italy, there is the delicious Colomba di Pasqua (Easter Dove). It's a sweet bread with dried fruit or candied citrus that is sprinkled with sugar and almonds, like a panettone but shaped like a dove. In the unlikely event you can't finish it all it makes great French toast or bread pudding.
In the south, Easter luncheons almost always include deviled eggs. The Scandinavians do deviled eggs deluxe for Easter with shrimp or fish roe added on top.
Personally, I'm just looking forward to my first glass of wine in 40 days. I'll be happy to have it with nothing more than potato chips.
I've included links for recipes in case anyone is interested, but not for flipper pie!
www dot kingarthurbaking dot com/recipes/colomba-pasquale-easter-dove-bread-recipe
www dot countrylife.co dot uk/food-drink/recipes/how-to-make-homemade-hot-cross-buns-25333
www dot southernliving dot com/recipes/classic-deviled-eggs
www dot bbcgoodfood dot com/recipes/pea-mint-spring-onion-soup-parmesan-biscuits
www dot recipetineats dot com/rosemary-garlic-grilled-lamb-chops/
Continue reading →