mistakes, those crummy
mistakes are only mistakes
if admitted to

“Generosity, that was my first mistake,” so says bandit leader Calvera in the Magnificent Seven.

And, sorry, you can remake this movie 100 times but Calvera will always, only be Eli Wallach.

Even a bandit leader can admit to a mistake.

Neither here nor, but I was reading today about how the President was making a speech and asked if a certain Congresswoman was in attendance.

The Congresswoman in question was not in attendance as the Congresswoman was dead.

When the Congresswoman was killed in a car accident earlier this year, the White House had issued a statement of remorse and condolence in the name of the President so it was fair to assume the President was aware of her untimely demise.

When the White Press Office was questioned about it, “Did the President mis-speak, make a mistake, was the error in his prepared teleprompter remarks?”

But the Press Office would say neither Yeah no Nay and ended their comments with, “I’ve answered it multiple times already in this room, and my answer is certainly not going to change,” she said. “All of you may have views on how I’m answering it, but I am answering the question to the way that he saw it. And the way that we see it.”

Not looking for a political axe to grind either way but just wondering why it is so difficult for the feller in the White House to say “I made a mistake.”

The previous feller admitted every mistake he ever made.

I mean to say, the previous feller would have admitted any mistake the minute he made that first mistake.

So in 2019, Hurricane Dorian was coming.

The President was told that the east coast would be hit along with Bahama.

The President heard what he wanted to hear and when he tweeted (I don’t miss those days one bit) instead of Bahama, he includes Alabama.

Trump, Donald J (September 1, 2019). “In addition to Florida – South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia, and Alabama, will most likely be hit (much) harder than anticipated. Looking like one of the largest hurricanes ever. Already category 5. BE CAREFUL! GOD BLESS EVERYONE!”. (Twitter).

Which came as a great surprise to the people in Alabama.

Rather than say oops, the White House went to great lengths to PROVE that Alabama had ALWAYS been in the predicted path was coming.

I am reminded of a bit of dialogue in the book the Caine Mutiny where Captain Queeg is being questioned by a Captain Grace about the tow line cutting incident.

Captain Grace asks Queeg to be honest and admit he made a mistake.

Captain Grace says, “... let’s both put this incident behind us. On that basis I can understand it and forget it. It was a mistake, a mistake due to anxiety and inexperience. But there’s no man in the Navy who’s never made a mistake ”

But Queeg (in the movie played by Humphrey Bogart but it is important to remember that in the book, Queeg is around 28 years old) responds, “No, Captain, I assure you I appreciate what you say, but I am not so stupid as to lie to a superior officer, and I assure you my first version o£ what happened is correct and I do not believe I have made any mistake as yet in commanding the Caine nor do I intend to.“

In a way it was good to hear he did not INTEND to make a mistake, but I digress.

Ho-hummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

In July of 1863, after General Grant took Vicksburg he got this note from the President that said in part, “When you got below, and took Port-Gibson, Grand Gulf, and vicinity, I thought you should go down the river and join Gen. Banks; and when you turned Northward East of the Big Black, I feared it was a mistake. I now wish to make the personal acknowledgment that you were right, and I was wrong.”

It was signed, simply, A. Lincoln.

A later comment on this letter by a friend of Mr. Lincoln’s said, “was not intended for effect as some suppose but was perfectly in character.”

Character.

Good word.

Better character trait.

To have character I mean.

I guess instead of people with character, today the Office of President of the United States only attracts people who are characters.

and treated him as
if he was a halfwit – most
people do these days

I DO like how Brit’s can turn a phrase in the same manner in which they might turn a knife into someone’s rib cage.

Consider this paragraph:

Miliband treated Rees-Mogg as if he was a halfwit. Most people do these days. Long gone are the times when MPs were impressed by his faux politeness and smug self-confidence, squeezed into an oversized undertaker’s suit. Now people see him for the needy fraud that he is.

The article, Tories usher in their brave new world of half-arsed fantasy by John Crace, got better.

Maybe we need to introduced half-arsed into our lexicon.

Consider again these paragraphs (I can feel the fun as Mr. Crace’s fingers typed them out.)

But she has at least chosen her new health secretary wisely. Because when you’ve got no ideas, who better than Thérèse Coffey? A woman of no imagination and no great brain. But someone who can be relied to come up with some nonsense on the back of a cigar packet.

Sure enough, Coffey did not disappoint, coming up with – in the absence of a plan – a memory game. A was for Ambulance. B was for Backlog. C was for Care. D was for Doctor. And E was for total fucking Eejit. Poor Thérèse. She didn’t realise how shabby and half-arsed her ideas were.

The sad part, as in all political commentary, is the writing is about people who are making the decisions, the real decisions, that really do affect us all.

As Mr. Crace concluded his writing, “Truly we are screwed”.

the seven decades
of history-making reign
bore witness to an age

Adapted from A Proclamation on the Death of Queen Elizabeth II by the President of the United States.

The line in question states, “The seven decades of her history-making reign bore witness to an age of unprecedented human advancement and the forward march of human dignity.“

An age of unprecedented human advancement and the forward march of human dignity.

Well, as Arlo Guthrie liked to say, in a World were everyone got along, anyone would have to accomplish as awful of lot of good to stand out. But in a world that sucks, you might be surprised what you can accomplish with just a smile.

The Proclamation reads:

 Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II was more than a monarch.  She defined an era.

    In a world of constant change, she was a steadying presence and a source of comfort and pride for generations of Britons, including many who have never known their country without her.  Queen Elizabeth II led always with grace, an unwavering commitment to duty, and the incomparable power of her example.  She was a stateswoman of unmatched dignity and constancy who deepened the bedrock Alliance between the United Kingdom and the United States.  She helped make our relationship special.  The seven decades of her history-making reign bore witness to an age of unprecedented human advancement and the forward march of human dignity.  Her legacy will loom large in the pages of British history, and in the story of our world. 

   As a mark of respect for the memory of Queen Elizabeth II, by the authority vested in me as President of the United States by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, I hereby order that the flag of the United States shall be flown at half-staff at the White House and upon all public buildings and grounds, at all military posts and naval stations, and on all naval vessels of the Federal Government in the District of Columbia and throughout the United States and its Territories and possessions until sunset, on the day of interment.  I also direct that the flag shall be flown at half-staff for the same length of time at all United States embassies, legations, consular offices, and other facilities abroad, including all military facilities and naval vessels and stations.

     IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this eighth day of September, in the year of our Lord two thousand twenty-two, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and forty-seventh.

                               JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR.

Hereunto set my hand this eighth day of September, in the year of our Lord two thousand twenty-two, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and forty-seventh.

2022 years of Our Lord and 247 years of us.

Interesting that no one seems to notice how this country finishes off a proclomation.