COMMEMORATION -- MEMORIAL DAY -- WAR

Commemorating U.S. Military who made the ultimate sacrifice with their lives. 

Defending our shores.

Fighting for freedom and  justice.

Civil War ---  Decoration Day – Memorial Day History

  

WWI –-------  the war to end all wars

WWII --------  a world war to finally end wars

Korean -------  police action/actually war

Vietnam -----   war
Kuwait -------  war

Iraq -----------  war

Afghanistan -- war
    ?   ?   ?     --    ?

Instances of the Use of U. S. Armed Forces Abroad 1798-2018 (Updated Dec. 28, 2018)
 from Congressional Research Services

The History of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and Memorial Amphitheater

DEMOCRACY VOTE -- I.D. CARD SAGA -- PHOTO I.D. GLITCHES

The most important U.S. activity in this coming week is election day, Tuesday, for those going to traditional voting sites -- who haven’t voted early or mailed in their ballots.   Please vote – the future of our democracy matters -- will be impacted. 

Fear-Mongering, U.S. Military Politicization in the name of security.....

Attempts to influence voters with fear-mongering by our President that South American migrants  caravanning from their countries are criminals and terrorists is the latest con he’s foisting on the American people.  Those migrants say they simply want to apply for asylum in the United States just as is permitted by the law here and in many countries in the world (contrary to our leader saying that our country is the only country allowing such in his never-ending mendacious pronouncements).

Our President has blatantly used his governing office to politically hype this situation some say.  He has used our U.S. military forces to promote this position under the guise of being necessary for security by ordering troops to our borders – long before these migrants will ever reach there – as he continues this political exploitation just prior to our election.

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I.D. Card Saga Up Date....

Previously I wrote HERE about my travails at our California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) renewing my driver’s license and applying for a new I.D. Card. 

In 2020 this I.D. Card will be necessary to board airlines in the U.S. for our flights, or both a Driver’s License and a Passport will be required.  Wanting to carry only one card for identification domestically I chose to obtain the I.D. Card which will also be my successfully renewed California Driver’s License.  Also, I can well imagine the I.D. Card may begin to become required by more businesses in the future. 

Some have speculated that the closer we come to 2020 our DMV offices will become busier as more people will want this I.D. Card.  As I reported earlier, residents of other U.S. states should investigate their motor vehicle department’s I.D. Card issuance procedures and recommendations.

Because one of my 3 required identification documents was not initially accepted, I had to return to the DMV office another time with a different document, actually bearing much the same information.   

I repeated some of the previously described time standing in line, alternating waiting, sitting between visits to only 4 different lines this time over a 1 ½ hour period.   Again, there was an instance of conflicting information.  Also, I was instructed I’d need to again complete an application though I had done so on the Internet originally before my first visit to expedite this whole process. 

Seems that application went with the original file which resulted in my receiving only the limited regular California driver’s license – the one I had to wait to receive before I would be allowed to re-apply for the I.D. Card I had wanted in the first place. 

I pressed as to why they couldn’t access my original application made only a week or so earlier (no data changed).    What was the efficiency point of putting it on the Internet in the first place if they couldn’t access it again?  I received an explanation about how this paralleled old-fashioned paper files and once a file was closed out, it was done.  Hm-m-m, I said – I still can’t imagine why you couldn’t just make a copy of the application from the old file! 

Suddenly this very pleasant clerk excused herself, told me to sit down and wait, went to another close-by station and after a short time returned – with a print-out copy of my original application. 

Then it was time to have my photo taken once again -- with my right thumb print for I.D. repeated, also.   Each of times I had to submit my thumb print during this visit the process seemed to be problematic as I had to keep re-submitting it multiple times which the clerks seemed surprised was happening, too.

I was pleased to be having another photo taken as the one appearing on the driver’s license had to be my worst i.d. photo I’ve ever had taken.  I haven’t seen this latest one and can only hope it’s better when my I.D. Card finally arrives within the coming week probably.  I hope the expiration date allows me quite a few years before I have to seek a renewal.  

* * * 

Photo I.D. Catastrophes.....

So many of our various identification type cards – credit cards, employer, professionals in many medical settings where I’ve been, driver’s licenses, to name a few – carry our photograph head shots.   I’ve not been too displeased with mine through the years, until recently.   

I speculate on how much my negative reaction to my photo i.d. is due to simple face and hair natural aging changes.     How much can be partly attributed to my different hair style in length while my natural hair color keeps gradually changing, too?    On the other hand, some of the people who take these photographs seem to do a better job than others in capturing a warm, more personable facial expression. 

My first passport pictures years ago were pleasing, including even one taken midlife.   The last photo renewed in more recent years is pretty gruesome in my opinion – snapped before I really had a chance to adopt a smile, or reasonably friendly look on my face.  That woman seemed annoyed that she even had to take the picture.

When my new driver’s license renewal photo taken a couple weeks ago was received, I was horrified.  Fortunately, that card has been voided, to be replaced by the new I.D. Card.   Surely, the new photo on that card can only be better!  

What has been your experience or reaction to i.d. photos on any cards you carry? 

NATION'S VALUES BETRAYED

This American citizen considers our nation’s values have been betrayed once again by an individual, our U.S. President, who is unable to acknowledge truth and insultingly expects others to believe his lies -- despite the fact that he assumed his governing office with no humility, even though the popular majority did not vote for or support him (of course, he never likes to be reminded of such facts). 

Our leader continues to market divisiveness, lies pathologically, frequently contradicts himself, pettily resorts to juvenile name-calling, expects everyone to always like/respect/agree with him, while being oblivious to the fact such behavior as his does not result in the admiration he so desperately demands.    

That leader continues making knee-jerk decisions defying common sense frequently.  He does so without benefit of consultation with those more knowledgeable -- does so in a manner that doesn’t allow appropriate post planning -- as with the recent treatment of infants and children taken from their parents who were seeking asylum -- to name just a few of his dangerous behaviors. 

This leader and his supporters (some likely well-intentioned) will eventually learn they are being complicit in his effort to alter our form of government – by misusing our constitution to undermine our democracy and reduce our freedoms.   That this leader assumed office in the first place has occurred because of an electoral college voting system (long overdue for reassessment).  Some supporters acquired have been misled and unwittingly influenced partially through their very own social media activity. 

This social media has been subjected to manipulative machinations by a hostile foreign nation led by an autocrat committed to eliminating world democracies by any means possible.  Our leader, reprehensibly, courts this and other dictators he repeatedly praises and has intimated aspiring to emulate.    So, it’s not surprising he seeks to assume similar controls in our country over all branches of our government, continues efforts to undermine and destroy our free press if they don’t parrot his spiel – in his efforts to nullify our constitution’s checks and balances to prevent such a result.  

Some of our nation’s most immoral and despicable traits selected groups demonstrate continue to be exploited by those in the highest leadership positions for political and maybe even personal gain.   One of the most recent evidences of just how dangerous this is, occurs when we consider -- how could anyone even entertain the thought of separating infants and children from their parents?   Parents who should have a legal right to seek safety and asylum in a country other than their own.  Then, this leader deliberately actually issues orders for others to separate them without, at least, assuring reunification plans were in place.   

Might we wonder if those receiving such immoral directions should refuse to follow them?   Might we wonder what more is this leadership capable of doing to each of us if we are not in his favor?

My mind reels with memories of the parallels of just such a similar activity separating children from parents in other countries justified at the time citing other immoral reasons when I was a mere child myself during WWII.   When I became an adult recalling those years I wondered where had been the good people in those countries to resist such despicable actions – refuse to enforce them?  

Similarities were depicted in a haunting mother/children scene in the movie, “Sophie’s Choice” starring Meryl Streep in too horrific a video to post here – and yet, the babes screaming, mother in shock, has now happened in my country! 

Are those who put the leader(s) in power who ordered this travesty of human decency complicit --- fellow citizens -- acted in my and your name – including other of our citizens who followed those immoral orders? 

When does morality, including that of those pointedly pronouncing their religious convictions but who say or do nothing, demand a stand be taken? 

   We are reminded of that famous quote:

        “The only thing necessary for evil to succeed is for good men to do nothing.”

We also might wonder, based on past behaviors, what plans our leader may have for those of us who see through his schemes – maybe his using for his own gains our military establishment for which he claims to have such a patriotic affinity? 

Or maybe he’s just enamored or obsessed with putting on big military parades, thinking somehow doing so aggrandizes his power and serves as testimony to his virility? 

Has he been ingratiating himself with our veterans, armed services and their families in a systematic effort to obtain for himself, above all else, unquestioning alliance and allegiance as he is known to have attempted to demand from others?  For what purpose? 

Meanwhile, we must demand these children be reunited with their parents!