Day 245…
Up until today, the weather in New York since the election has been fantastic.
In the nineteenth century, people started using the phrase ‘Indian summer’ to describe this late period of unseasonably warm weather. It feels like summer’s last gasp before winter begins to settle in.
In eastern Europe, this period is called ‘old woman’s summer. In Gaelic in Ireland it is referred to as ‘little autumn of the geese’. Turkey calls it ‘pastrami summer’ because it is considered to be the best time to make pastrami.
The temperature is dropping today, and we are expected to get some rain later on. The rest of the week will start to get colder as well.
Today is also Veterans Day.
It is a day put aside to honor all of those who, living and dead, have served in our armed forces. Memorial Day, at the beginning of summer honors those who gave their lives to our country, Veterans Day honors all people who served whether they lost their lives in service or not.
It also marks the anniversary of the end of World War I. The armistice with Germany went into effect in the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month in 1918. Most federal holidays fall on a Monday. Veterans Day, however, lands on November 11, wherever it occurs in the week.
My father-in-law never actually fought in a battle, but as a member of the reserves he was prepared to at a moment’s notice.
Michael’s youngest sister is married to an ex-Marine. My brother-in-law served several tours in Iraq.
My father was part of the 87th Infantry during World War II and fought in the Battle of the Bulge.
The Battle of the Bulge was the last major German offensive on the Western Front. It was also called the Ardennes Counteroffensive. The Germans were trying to stop the Allied forces from being able to use the port of Antwerp in Belgium. The battle was fought largely in the Ardennes region of eastern Belgium, northeast France and Luxembourg. What the Germans hoped to be able to do was divide and encircle the four allied armies and destroy them.
The Americans got the worst of it. There were more US casualties in this engagement than there were in any other of the war. The 87th fought in Belgium. Conditions that day were awful - snowy and foggy. There was no shelter.
People died horrible deaths all around my father. He watched as his friends were ripped apart.
Afterwards, he was awarded the Bronze Star. The medal was given to any person who distinguishes themselves by heroic or meritorious service. I am not sure what he did to get it, he never said. He always said that it didn’t mean anything because so many were given out - everybody got them. I recently found a list of those who had been awarded them in his division and that was simply not true. There were not that many given out at all.
Maybe all he did was survive, but, knowing my father, there was more to it than that. I am going to keep digging into it until I find out.
The 87th was one of the youngest divisions who fought in the war. During the Battle of the Bulge, my father was twenty-one years old.
The President laying his hands on a wreath in Arlington Cemetery this morning was an appalling sight. This is a man who has referred to members of the armed forces as “losers” and “suckers”.
He has never served himself. He avoided the draft for the Vietnam War five separate times.
In June of 1964, on his eighteenth birthday, he became eligible for the draft and registered. Five or six weeks later he received his first deferment because of college. In December of 1965, he received his 2nd 2-S college deferment. When that deferment expired, he was reclassified as 1-A, or able to serve, in November of 1966. The following month, however, he was given a third 2-S deferment. In January of 1968, he then got his fourth and final college deferment.
By June of that year he had graduated from Wharton and was reclassified as 1-A. He was out of the college that he had gotten into by paying somebody to take the SATs for him and could no longer use that as an excuse.
After a physical examination in September of 1968, he was reclassified as 1-Y - qualified for service only in a national emergency. He spent the rest of the war working for his father.
The President’s campaign said that the 1-Y designation was because of him having bone spurs in both heels. If he actually had them, a simple surgery could have gotten rid of them. Unsurprisingly, the podiatrist from Queens who gave him the diagnosis, rented office space from the President’s father.
Many young men avoided having to serve in the Vietnam war using similar means. What they all had in common was, in fact, means. Those without the President’s means, could not avoid the inevitable and they were shipped overseas to fight in a war that we never should have been in in the first place.
My father didn’t have the means to avoid fighting in World War II. The men he fought alongside with were largely working-class. They were first generation immigrants who were sent to the front lines in droves. My father was a relatively poor kid from Virginia. He met his first New Yorker in Belgium - a tough Italian guy from Brooklyn with a thick accent. He talked about him for the rest of his life.
I’m not sure that my father would have even considered not fighting even if he could have avoided it.
The President hasn’t stopped his gutting of the Defense department that began with his firing of the Secretary of Defense, Mark Esper yesterday. In the last 24 hours he has replaced four or five other senior civilian officials in the Pentagon with people he thinks will be loyal to him.
James Anderson who is the acting Under Secretary for Defense Policy has been replaced by General Anthony Tata. In 2018 this guy tweeted that President Obama had done more to “help Islamic countries than any other President in history.” He claimed that Obama was a “terrorist leader.”
In his parting words, Anderson said, "I leave knowing that the team will persevere, regardless of what lies ahead. I encourage everyone to remain mission focused, apolitical, and never to forget your oath of office."
The Democratic House Armed Services Chairman Adam Smith said yesterday, "It is hard to overstate just how dangerous high-level turnover at the Department of Defense is during a period of presidential transition. The top policy professional in the Department resigning the day after the Secretary of Defense was fired could mark the beginning of a process of gutting the DoD -- something that should alarm all Americans."
The President seems to think that the armed forces are his. Like a character in Game of Thrones, he seems to feel that he can just wield them at will. It looks like he is going to try and do just that.
The tough thing about some of these appointments that he’s making is that they are not tied to his term. These are civil service positions with no end date.
As he tries to create his personal army, the President continues to refuse to concede. His loyal enablers continue to rally around him.
One idiot, Republican Congressional representative Price Wallace, tweeted that Mississippi should “succeed” (his spelling) and form its own country rather than work under a Biden presidency.
There is, however, a small but growing group of Republican officials who have started to break with the President and congratulate the new President-elect.
Senator Mitt Romney of Utah congratulated the Democratic ticket. Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska have both extended their congratulations, but Collins in her usual spineless waffling has also signaled her support of the recounts. Even Marco Rubio of Florida has said that the Biden team needs to begin their transition work. Republican Governor of Arkansas, Asa Hutchinson said yesterday, that Joe Biden would “certainly be easy to work with.”
Former Republican President George W. Bush said, "I know Joe Biden to be a good man, who has won his opportunity to lead and unify our country. The president-elect reiterated that while he ran as a Democrat, he will govern for all Americans. I offered him the same thing I offered Presidents Trump and Obama: my prayers for his success, and my pledge to help in any way I can."
Internationally, the President-elect has been congratulated by Prime Minister Trudeau of Canada, President Macon of France, Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel, Saudi Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman and Prime Minister Boris Johnson of Great Britain among others.
Johnson, in a discussion yesterday, referred to our current President as the “previous president”.
Those who haven’t congratulated him yet include the President of Brazil, the President of Mexico, the President of China, and the President of Turkey. Predictably, the Presidents close friends, President Vladimir Putin of Russia and the Supreme Leader of North Korea Kim Jong-un have stayed silent.
Yesterday, we went out to celebrate the birthday of a dear friend outside on Restaurant Row. While we were talking, a gust of wind blew a whole raft of small yellow leaves off of the tree across the street and they filled the air. For a moment, we all felt as if we were sitting inside a snow globe.
“It’s like the beginning of Mary Poppins,” somebody said.
Well, I am afraid that we aren’t getting Mary Poppins. She isn’t just going to float down onto the street and make this all better. We have to do this on our own.
Joseph R. Biden, the President-elect, is not going to magically fix everything that his predecessor and all of those around him have broken. What Joseph R. Biden can hopefully do is to create an environment where all of the rest of us can push up our sleeves and get to work ourselves.
The members of our armed forces will need to stay strong over these next two months and remember the oath that they all took when they started:
I, (name), do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the president of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God.
In two months, the President of the United States will be Joseph R. Biden. If the current President of the United States tries to impede that, then he becomes a domestic enemy of the United States.
It looks like the rain is starting.
On this damp day, we should all take a moment and extend our gratitude out to all of the people who have served in our armed forces over the years who have kept us and continue to keep us and our country safe.
Thank you for your service.
💙11:11 a very powerful day indeed
...thought about something after I read
“He has never served himself”
I think
He has only served himself!
I’m dancing around my apartment to
“Date with the Rain” by Eddie Kendrix...
🌞🍂