Most of all, thank the protesters who demanded research into HIV.
“A new HIV vaccine, based on the Moderna COVID-19 inoculation, has shown a 97% antibody response rate in Phase I clinical trials.”
Wait, what? How the heck is this not front-and-center on the TV network news? The moment I saw the news, I couldn’t help but remember the decades of fear and heartbreak — and homophobic hatred — that followed the rise of HIV/AIDS since the late 1970’s. I remember listening at the time to a right-wing politician on the radio in the Mississippi Delta expound upon how best to control the spread of AIDS. He was absolutely sure that…
This general caused far more deaths than just those bombs, and we’re still paying the price.
Before reading this article, please remember that this is history, not political polemic. Let go of any political nationalism. In war, it is normal for all sides commit war crimes. The fact that one side committed far worse crimes than the other does not detract from, much less excuse the crimes committed by the other side.
The above photograph is instructive. It is of Tokyo, which a few days before was the most densely-populated city on the planet. See the wide-open spaces between the multistory concrete buildings? Before the devastation of the firebombing raid of March 9/10, 1945, those open…
And how even now China is trying to protect it
The Asian Art Of War
In the 1200’s the Mongols began building the greatest contiguous land empire in human history. Their main advantage was the horse archer. Instead of meeting their enemies with tens of thousands of foot soldiers in the kind of static land battle preferred by the Macedonians and Romans, the Mongols figured it made a lot more sense for their thousands of horse archers to ride up just close enough to the enemy to fire their arrows, then gallop away before the enemy could respond. …
An open letter to New York’s version of Ronald Reagan
Governor Cuomo, I really liked you. I was proud of how you stood up for New Yorkers, and I daresay most Dems and liberals across the nation took heart at how you refused to allow a future guest of the NY Department of Corrections by the name of Trump to bully you or the people of New York.
But it turns out that you, too, appear to have feet of clay disturbingly similar to those of the Former Guy, the Molester-in-Chief that brought so much shame upon our nation.
Don’t get me wrong. Even given what your administration allegedly did…
How the GOP just might put The Onion out of business.
I really thought the Republican Party couldn’t get any worse than their standing ovation for Marjorie Taylor Greene — you know, the newly-minted Congressperson (Q-GA) who (among other things) believed that the Sandy Hook massacre of children was a “false flag operation” and that the California wildfires were caused by Jewish space lasers to “make way for a high-speed railway for the Rothschilds.”
Boy, was I wrong. I had forgotten sci-fi grandmaster Robert Heinlein’s maxim, “Never underestimate the power of human stupidity.” …
How it could be both, and why China is working on it, too.
On February 1st, an article was published by The War Zone, the military subsection of the automotive news site The Drive, reporting that Dr. Salvatore Pais had filed several patents including the following, all enabled by what he calls the “Pais Effect”:
- A high-frequency gravitational-wave generator (for high-speed space propulsion and communication through solid objects);
- A room-temperature superconductor (which would revolutionize power transmission worldwide);
- An electromagnetic force-field generator (to be used to deflect small asteroids among other things), and best of all;
- A craft using an internal mass-reduction device (also for high-speed space travel).
The Danger Of Mandated Patriotism
Early this morning I read the news that Mark Cuban, owner of the Dallas Mavericks, had decided to end the pregame playing of the national anthem. I was glad to see it, and am disappointed that he has since changed his mind under pressure from the NBA.
Cuban’s Reasoning
According to The Athletic, Cuban at one point tweeted,
“The National Anthem Police in this country are out of control. If you want to complain, complain to your boss and ask why they don’t play the National Anthem every day before you start work.”
How America’s tradition of welcoming immigrants has proven its worth. Again.
Most of us know that America has often been called a “nation of immigrants,” a place where even the poorest can arrive and work towards achieving that fabled American Dream, however one might define it. What most of us do not know is, the forced importation of Black men and women for slavery notwithstanding, prior to 1965 our nation’s system of immigration was mostly designed to allow only immigrants from Europe; i.e., only white immigrants.
That all changed with the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 when America began to welcome immigrants from all over the world. For the next…
How damage to the health of one’s gut may permanently affect one’s mind
Dementia in general — and Alzheimer’s Disease in particular — is not just terrifying on a personal level, but heartbreaking for everyone involved. We operated an adult family home where almost all our residents had dementia, and I can’t think of a single disease or condition that frightens me more. As a result, I try to see what steps I can take to minimize my own risk as my hair turns ever grayer.
Alzheimer’s Disease is the most feared form of dementia, and it has a host of risk factors ranging from obesity, blood pressure, and diabetes to stroke, depression…
Lessons one learns both in the moment and across the years
When one survives having seen certain death approaching, the memories of the experience tend to become hard-wired in one’s brain. Here’s my story, and I encourage readers to leave their own experiences, that we all may share the lessons learned along the way.
Back in the mid-80’s and early on in my Navy career, I was part of an alpine climbing group in Washington state. One weekend we summited Mount Ellinor, one of the shorter peaks in the Olympic Mountain range on the Olympic Peninsula west of Seattle, and we were transiting over to Mount Washington. It was an early…
Glenn Rocess
Retired Navy. Inveterate contrarian. If I haven’t done it, I’ve usually done something close.
