Monday Morning Update: 11/11/24

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Sunday wasn’t a bad day, as things go. I felt decent enough to finally finish Tony’s pictures. It only took me three weeks, which isn’t a record but is still embarrassing. I’d say I can relax now, but there are still pictures from my last trip with Jen that I’ve not yet touched. This puts me in the position of having to ask myself if I’m as ready for a comeback as I thought I was. The answer, most likely, is no. I may never be ready for a complete comeback, which makes me incredibly sad.

Fortunately, G was here to keep my spirits up. He was in a fantastic mood yesterday, joking around, actually being nice to his sister, and talking up a storm. His frequent visits to my room kept me on my toes as his conversations always require me to completely stop what I’m doing and listen carefully to what he is saying. If he can get a zinger in about how old I am, he doesn’t miss it. At the same time, he’ll swing on a tree branch and laugh just like he did when he was six. It’s impossible to be down when you’ve got someone who can consistently make you laugh.

Kat came home and spent the night. As far as I can tell, she seems to have slept well. Her difficulty breathing is still obvious, though. I don’t know what her plans are for today, but I hope they include plenty of time for her to sit or lie down and recover. Kat tends to push herself; something she’s always had to do. Breaking that habit, and giving herself the space and time to fully recover is not easy for her. She wants to be up, taking care of things, moving around, and working. Right now, though, she needs to not do any of those things.

I tried watching the Colts game but turned it off and took a nap after Flacco threw two interceptions in the first quarter. That was enough to tell me that they were going to lose. I have a difficult time believing that there’s not a better QB sitting around somewhere in the NFL universe. And while Coach Stenchen is apologetic, I think Kenny Moore II, who caught an interception in the second half, is more in touch with what’s actually happening with the team. This is what he said in the locker room after the game:

“I don’t think everybody is working as hard as possible, and obviously it’s showing. I’m not the type to sugarcoat it, honestly. I don’t think the urgency is there. I don’t think the details are there. I don’t think the effort is there, and I don’t see everything correlating from meetings to practice to the games, and it shows. We have to look ourselves in the mirror and ask ourselves how bad we want it.”

“The thing that’s frustrating is we’re letting things leak into another week. To go out and make the same mistakes over and over—that’s what drives me insane as a player and individually. We are in November and I don’t see us making that jump from September to November. I’m seeing the same things. We just have to start addressing it and not sugarcoat or beat around the bush. I think that’s what we are lacking and year-to-year it’s the same thing.”

Holy shit. I hope Stenchen ponders on Moore’s words a bit this morning. I understand that there was some booing going on during yesterday’s game. We can’t let that get started here. Chicago fans are booing the Bears. Jets fans are being merciless when the team plays at home. We don’t need to be like them, but the Colts need to step the fuck up and show us they’re worth those million-dollar salaries.

There were some other really tight games yesterday. The Chiefs, in all honesty, should have lost yesterday’s game against the Broncos. Blocking that last-minute field goal saved their ass, but the fact remains that Kansas City played a lousy game. The same applies to the Lions as kicker Jake Bates made a 52-yard field goal at the last second to win the game against the Texans. Again, they should have lost. QB Jared Goff threw five interceptions! You don’t deserve to win when you’re playing that sloppily. Russell Wilson’s TD pass to Mike Williams lifted the Steelers over the Commanders 28-27, but the young Commanders were arguably the better team. This time next year, I expect it to be Washington who’s running roughshod over the division.

I’m not seeing a lot of news this morning that’s worth talking about. 25 of the Escaped Monkeys of 43 were Captured in South Carolina. And, somewhat hilariously, Mattel Mistakenly Listed A Porn Site on the Packaging for ‘Wicked’ Dolls. Oops!

What’s important is that today is Armistice/Veterans Day, one of the most increasingly forgotten holidays on the calendar. I came across an opinion piece by Vietnam vet Frank Lennon in the Providence Journal. The article is behind a paywall that’s difficult for anyone outside of Rhode Island to justify. So, let me quote a significant portion of that article for you here.

While looking up the 1924 Armistice Day information, I came across another event from that year that was pivotal in the history of how we treated our veterans. It was the passage of legislation providing Bonuses to WWI veterans.

After the euphoria of our victory in World War I died down, many veterans went through hard times. Most were disillusioned, because our government, and society at large, left them to fend for themselves. Adequate health care was beyond the reach of many, especially for “shell shock” – what we call PTSD today. Others found it difficult to find a job.

These problems were exacerbated by the Great Depression at the end of the 1920s. The already high unemployment rates among veterans increased. Vets competed for the few available jobs with civilian workers – many of whom had done very well during the way – while “our boys” got by on the pittance that Uncle Same paid them.

In 1924, Congress tried to redress some of this disparity through the World War Adjusted Compensation Act. It gave bonuses to all enlisted personnel who had served during wartime, with the amount based on each individual’s service time. There was an additional payment for overseas service.

The catch was that these bonuses were paid in the form of certificates, not cash. They functioned like insurance policies, and although they did accrue interest, veterans could not redeem them until 1945.

Rendered desperate by the Depression, veterans asked Congress to modify the law to allow the certificates to be cashed out immediately, when the need was most dire.

In May 1932, WWI veterans organized a march on Washington. At least 20,000 (and perhaps as many as 40,000) veterans, their families and supporters set up camps and occupied buildings in various locations in Washington. The largest camp was a shantytown on the Anacostia Flats across from the Navy Yard. They called themselves the BEF – “Bonus Expeditionary Forces,” a play on AEF, the banner under which most of them had fought during the war.

On July 28, 1932, the attorney general ordered their eviction. Washington police fired at the protesters, killing two veterans. President Herbert Hoover then ordered the Army to clear the campsites and move the protesters across the Anacostia River.

The troops advanced with Tanks, fixed bayonets and tear gas.

You might be surprised to know that Gen. Douglas MacArthur led the troops in this confrontation, along with his aide, Maj. Dwight D. Eisenhower. The commander of the tank contingent was Maj. George S. Patton.

Despite specific orders from Hoover not to cross the bridge, MacArthur pressed on to the camp on the far side. (Perhaps a harbinger of things to come?)

The camp still held about 10,000 people. Tanks and tear gas drove out the Bonus Amer marchers, their wives and their children. Their shelters and belongings were burned. Injured civilians overwhelmed D.C.’s hospitals.

Chillingly, the Army deemed the exercise to be a success. The Bonus Army was gone.

The press saw it differently. The Washington Daily News called it “a pitiful spectacle” to see “the mightiest government in the world chasing unarmed men, women, and children with Army tanks. If the Army must be called out to make war on unarmed citizens, this is no longer America.”

And we thought being spit upon was as bad as it could get?

Throughout the 1930s, the strength of our military reached frighteningly low levels, and little if any emphasis was placed on veterans issues.

Then Pearl Harbor happened, and all of a sudden the military became important again. After the war ended, we could not do enough for our veterans. The GI Bill ensured that post-WWI problems would not be repeated. In the late 1940s and early 1950s, respect for veterans reached an all-time high.

Unfortunately, it took another all-in world war to make that happen.

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About 25 years ago, Ge. Bernard Rogers, former Army chief of staff, made a very interesting point about the unique nature of military service in our society.

“A doctor contributes to his patients; a priest to the members of his parish; a lawyer contributes to his clients; a politician to his constituents. But those privileged to wear our nation’s uniforms belong to a profession in which every member, every day, makes a contribution – no matter how small – to every citizen of this great land.”

Those are words we should take to heart on this Veterans Day.

I concur. And as I consider how the president-elect is setting up his administration, with emphasis on “rounding up” immigrants and “making the country great,” I fear we will see repeats of Hoover’s disastrous orders. If MacArthur, Eisenhower, and Patton weren’t strong enough to stand up to illegal presidential orders, do we dare think that anyone in today’s Pentagon would respond any differently?

This is why I worry. This is why I am committed to being a safe person, a reliable resource, for anyone being assaulted by any portion of our government or the ridiculous laws it may pass.

Pass me that coffee pot. I need a refill.