Good Morning, Vietnam

When I was a boy I watched the evening news broadcasts of dead and wounded soldiers being choppered out of the Nam jungle. Revolution was in the air in those 1968 days and the military conflict on the other side of the world was touchstone for those who wanted to overturn "the system" and usher in the age of Aquarius. Thinking back on those restive days it's almost comical to see our contemporary techno-robot "revolutionaries" and the political upheaval they cause compared to the real deal of '68. Nixon was elected President in a truly insane political climate and he saved the country while slowly unwinding the dangerous societal pathologies that engulfed the nation and he all but ended the Vietnam conflict before succumbing to his (virtual) political assassination. He sacrificed much to save his country and, except for the vets (both real and hollywood hero/villans) the war in the Asian jungle became a nostalgic memory - A millennial would be hard pressed to find Hanoi on the map. Well guess what America...

We're back!

Why, oh why, would we jump back into a country that we damn near destroyed in a 10+ year war and, left tail between legs, forty years ago? For the same reason we were there the first time dipshit - OIL and NATURAL GAS. Yes, it is a veritable Shangri-La populated by beautiful people with a delicious French infused cuisine that make it a desirable country to place a diplomatic outpost. Yes, it was a hot cold-war proxy battlefield where conflicting ideologies could duke it out. Yes, it is strategically located to protect international shipping lanes and ensure the safe passage of cargo from Asia to the Middle East, Africa and Europe. Yes, there were a thousand other small reasons for waging war in Vietnam - including national pride - but most people in America couldn't give a rats ass about any of them and the one BIG reason was too base and self-serving for anyone to admit at the time (or even now) - but here on the KOTCB blog we'll admit it - ENERGY baby. Just off the Vietnam coast is an ocean of beautiful black oil and natural gas and the USA is going to get a piece of that action - period. So get ready America because "special advisors" are probably already in territory helping the Viet Cong figure out how to use all that advanced US military technology to fight the ChiComs when the time comes. It's going to be exciting and bloody and long.

Comments

Psycho Killer, qu'est-ce?

I came into this wicked world in the early 1960's and as a result I have born witness to America's 50 Years of Failure which includes the modern age of mass shootings by psychotic men who "go off" on a given day, for no reason at all (except "guns"), and kill scads of innocent bystanders. Back in August of 2019 a KOTCB blog post titled " Reciprocity City " explored a young gunman named Patrick Crusius who drove 9 hours through the west Texas flatlands to shoot up El Paso, TX The KOTCB has commented on many of these shootings, bombings and knifings over the years - The roots of the Boston Marathon Bombing , the Emanuel AME Church shooting , Syed Rizvan Farook and his bride Tashfeen Malik , Ft. Lauderdale Airport shooting , Nick Cruz lovesick Parkland shooting , the Iranian, PETA activist, Vegan Bodybuilder, YouTuber's attack on Google and now this very oddly timed and placed "lone wolf" attack on Walmart shoppers. This list

The Real Story with Gretchen Carlson

She was "sexy", but "too much hard work." I'm a regular Fox & Friends viewer (mostly in protest of the other insipid morning programs like Today and Good Morning America) so over the years I've gotten to know Gretchen Carlson pretty well. Stuck between Steve and Brian she always seemed a prudish scold with an irritating, self-righteous demeanor that I simply put up with because I figured some people in the Fox audience actually liked her persona. It was obvious that Steve and Brian did not, but they were stuck with her like so many talking heads and had to make the best of it - which they did. Besides, she was no worse than any of the other women on morning show TV - I mean, you're only going to find a certain kind of person to do this kind of work and that kind of person is the Gretchen Carlson kind. Then, one day, she was gone and replaced by Elisabeth Hasselbeck and the F&F ratings began to climb, and climb and climb - in two months view

Who voted for this guy?

Who voted for this guy? It's been ten days since the results of the Maricopa County, Arizona ballot audit were released to the public and presented at a hearing held by the state senate. This exercise in democratic accountability had been going on for months and, if reports are to be believed, was completed well over a month before the September 24th hearing where overwhelming proof of an illegitimate election was presented to lawmakers . The audit showed multiple irregularities, fake ballots, duplicate counts, errors, omissions and egregious acts of sabotage and obstinance by the Maricopa County board of supervisors who did everything they could to withhold and destroy evidence of wrongdoing from the citizen sleuths. The misfeasance of Arizona's political leaders was clearly defined, shocking and (for some) beyond belief but somehow these facts were discovered, organized, packaged and suppressed for MONTHS by the Cyber Ninjas who were attempting to "get to the bottom&q

Keeper of the Clown Bell

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