On-line Opinion Magazine…OK, it's a blog

Adopted as the flag of the United States of America by the Flag Resolution of 1777 enacted on 14 June, 1777.

The flag was first flown from Fort Stanwix, on the site of the present city of Rome, New York, on August 3, 1777. It was first under fire three days later in the Battle of Oriskany, August 6, 1777.

An official flag has a rise to run ratio of 1 to 1.9 [the flag should be 1.9 times as long as it is high] with the canton [the dark blue part] that rises over the top seven stripes with a run of 40% of the flag’s run.

The only time you will see a “correct” US Flag is if you see the official colors of a military unit. Most flags are 3’X5′ or 4’X6′ instead of 3’X5.7′ or 4’X7.6′.

Frances Bellamy, the Baptist minister and socialist who wrote the Pledge of Allegiance was from Rome, New York.

This is the 78^th anniversary of one of history’s biggest military gambles – the invasion of Normandy. There were so many things that had to fall into place for it to work, that it really is amazing that it did.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt told a news conference the invasion did not mean the war was over. He said: “You don’t just walk to Berlin, and the sooner this country realizes that the better.”

The war continued for almost a year, but FDR did not, dying a month before the German surrender.

This is what it was like when the US had adults in the White House.

Position: 35.5N 60.6W [ 4:00PM CDT 2100UTC].
Movement: East-Northeast [060°] near 31 mph [50 kph].
Maximum sustained winds: 60 mph [ 95 kph].
Wind Gusts: 70 mph [110 kph].
Tropical Storm Wind Radius: 195 miles [315 km].
Minimum central pressure: 993 mb.

Currently about 325 miles [ 525 km] Northeast of Bermuda.

At 1PM CDT the Tropical Storm Warning has been cancelled by Bermuda as Alex moves away from the island and begins to lose its tropical characteristics.

At 4PM CDT the storm has transitioned to a post-tropical cyclone. This is the final public advisory issued by the National Hurricane Center on this system.

Here’s the link for NOAA’s latest satellite images.

[For the latest information click on the storm symbol, or go to the CATEGORIES drop-down box below the CALENDAR and select “Hurricanes” for all of the posts related to storms on this site.]

Position: 32.5N 69.0W [10:00PM CDT 0300UTC].
Movement: East-Northeast [060°] near 28 mph [44 kph].
Maximum sustained winds: 70 mph [110 kph].
Wind Gusts: 85 mph [135 kph].
Tropical Storm Wind Radius: 205 miles [335 km].
Minimum central pressure: 988 mb.

Currently about 245 miles [ 395 km] West of Bermuda.

A Tropical Storm Warning is in effect for Bermuda.

Here’s the link for NOAA’s latest satellite images.

[For the latest information click on the storm symbol, or go to the CATEGORIES drop-down box below the CALENDAR and select “Hurricanes” for all of the posts related to storms on this site.]

Position: 28.4N 78.2W [10:00PM CDT 0300UTC].
Movement: Northeast [055°] near 20 mph [31 kph].
Maximum sustained winds: 45 mph [ 75 kph].
Wind Gusts: 55 mph [ 90 kph].
Tropical Storm Wind Radius: 205 miles [335 km].
Minimum central pressure: 1000 mb ↑.

Currently about 840 miles [1355 km] West-Southwest of Bermuda.

A Tropical Storm Watch is in effect for Bermuda.

Here’s the link for NOAA’s latest satellite images.

[For the latest information click on the storm symbol, or go to the CATEGORIES drop-down box below the CALENDAR and select “Hurricanes” for all of the posts related to storms on this site.]

Position: 24.5N 83.7W [10:00PM CDT 0300UTC].
Movement: Northeast [045°] near 12 mph [19 kph].
Maximum sustained winds: 40 mph [ 65 kph].
Wind Gusts: 50 mph [ 80 kph].
Tropical Storm Wind Radius: 175 miles [280 km].
Minimum central pressure: 1003 mb.

Currently about 185 miles [ 295 km] Southwest of Fort Meyers, Florida.

A Tropical Storm Warning is in effect for the Florida Keys including the Dry Tortugas; Florida Bay; the West coast of Florida south of the Middle of Longboat Key to Card Sound Bridge; the East coast of Florida south of the Volusia/Brevard County Line to Card Sound Bridge; Lake Okeechobee; the Cuban provinces of Pinar del Rio, Artemisa, La Habana, & Mayabeque; and the Northwestern Bahamas.

A Tropical Storm Watch is in effect for the Cuban provinces of Matanzas & the Isle of Youth.

Here’s the link for NOAA’s latest satellite images.

[For the latest information click on the storm symbol, or go to the CATEGORIES drop-down box below the CALENDAR and select “Hurricanes” for all of the posts related to storms on this site.]

Position: 21.8N 87.4W [10:00PM CDT 0300UTC].
Movement: North [360°] near 6 mph [ 9 kph].
Maximum sustained winds: 35 mph [ 55 kph].
Wind Gusts: 45 mph [ 70 kph].
Minimum central pressure: 1003 mb.

Currently about 480 miles [ 770 km] Southwest of Fort Meyers, Florida.

A Tropical Storm Warning is in effect for the Florida Keys including the Dry Tortugas; Florida Bay; and the West coast of Florida south of Englewood to Card Sound Bridge.

A Tropical Storm Watch is in effect for the West coast of Florida south of the Middle of Longboat Key to Englewood; the East coast of Florida south of the Volusia/Brevard County Line to Card Sound Bridge; Lake Okeechobee; the Cuban provinces of Matanzas, Mayabeque, Havana, Artemisa, Pinar del Rio, & the Isle of Youth; and the Northwestern Bahamas.

Here’s the link for NOAA’s latest satellite images.

[For the latest information click on the storm symbol, or go to the CATEGORIES drop-down box below the CALENDAR and select “Hurricanes” for all of the posts related to storms on this site.]

June 1^st:

The official start of the hurricane season.

Events:
1495 – Friar John Cor records the first known batch of Scotch whisky.
1660 – Mary Dyer is hanged in Boston, Massachusetts, for defying a law banning Quakers from the colony. She is considered by some to be the last religious martyr in what would become the United States.
1890 – The United States Census Bureau begins using Herman Hollerith’s tabulating machine to count census returns.
1967 – The Beatles album Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band is released.
1980 – The Cable News Network (CNN) begins broadcasting.

Births:
1563 – Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury, English statesman and spymaster (d. 1612)
1780 – Karl von Klausewitz, Prussian general (d. 1831)
1804 – Mikhail Glinka, Russian composer (d. 1857)

For some reason, I didn’t make the list. 🧙🏻‍♂️

This is a picture from one of the columbariums at the Arlington National Cemetery, the final resting place of many of those who served the United States since the middle of the 19^th century.

That is my Father’s marker. He didn’t know those located around his marker, but they all shared service to their country as part of their life.

The country continues to ask for service and people still respond to that call. As you think about the sacrifices represented by Arlington and other cemeteries, ask yourself if you have done what you could to prevent misuse of the willingness of some to serve.

It is rather for us the living, we here be dedicated to the great task remaining before us–that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they here gave the last full measure of devotion–that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain, that this nation shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth.

Taps – the final salute to a fallen comrade.

Declare .223 ammunition military mission critical and prevent sale to civilians.

If you you want an AR-15, AK-47, or .30 caliber carbine – buy them chambered for .22 rimfire for around $400 or less. My Colt SSA chambered for .22 was the same “feel” with less recoil and cheaper ammo.

Looking at the picture of the “Uvalde SWAT team” there was a glaring absence – there was no scoped ‘deer rifle’ to take down the ‘perp’. It’s West Texas, surely someone hunts and could have ended this before the school. ‘Body armor’ doesn’t work well with deer rounds and appropriate bullets. Buy and train with the appropriate tools for the job.

I have seen a number of people suggesting that term limits might alleviate some of the problems we are facing in this country. I’m sorry, we did it in Florida and things have gotten worse.

There are no senior politicians to act as moderating influences and laws are written by lobbyists and staff. The actual legislators don’t develop the necessary skills and start campaigning for Federal office as they approach their limits. They aren’t governing, they are in campaign mode. If you contact them with a problem with the state government, they don’t know who to contact to fix it.

Be careful what you wish for – you may get it and it’s hard to correct.

Towel Day

Do you know where your towel is?

Starting on the ninth of the month my respiratory health dropped to the level of feral kittens. We have finally put together a plan that is improving things, with one exception: the Codeine-Guaifenesin cough syrup tastes like it was strained through sweat socks, did nothing for me, and costs twice the price of a .7 liter bottle of a really decent Mosel trockenbeerenauslese. The Rhein is more fruity but a definite dessert wine that is a wonder with cheese and crusty bread. The C&G is the waste of a mediocre plastic bottle.

The major systems are returning to normal and I should be able to achieve my old level of sarcasm by Friday.

Before getting into subject, I would put money on the leak of the Supreme Court draft to have been perpetrated by Virginia Thomas. The old copper in me sees motive and opportunity. I don’t see even a slightly reputable media outlet publishing based on a rogue clerk.

Like anyone who stayed awake for American History, Tom Sullivan noticed the similarity between the battle over slavery and the battle over abortion. He is dead on that the anti-abortion states are going to want a new version of the “Fugitive Slave Act” so they can go after women who leave their states for a medical procedure in another state.

An opinion piece at NBC News 8 legal reasons to dislike Justice Alito’s draft opinion on abortion by Caroline Mala Corbin, professor of law at the University of Miami School of Law gives a professional’s view of Alito’s draft.

Alito’s logic is supposedly based on the wisdom of Sir Matthew Hale which we can find in the volume he wrote on 17th century English Common Law, The History and Analysis of the Common Law of England:

The book dealt with the criminal capacity of infants, insanity and idiocy, the defence of drunkenness, capital offences, treason, homicide and theft. Hale endorses the application of capital punishments to children in Historia, writing that “it is clear that an infant above fourteen years is equally subject to capital punishments as others of full age; for it is presumptio juris, that after fourteen years they are doli capaces, and can discern between good and evil”.
…
Hale’s writings on witchcraft and marital rape were extremely influential. In 1662, he was involved in “one of the most notorious of the seventeenth century English witchcraft trials”, where he sentenced two women (Amy Duny and Rose Callender) to death for witchcraft. The judgment of Hale in this case was extremely influential in future cases, and was used in the Salem witch trials to justify the forfeiture of the accused’s lands. As late as 1664, Hale used the argument that the existence of laws against witches is proof that witches exist.

So if DeMentis passes a law against unicorns and dragons, unicorn and dragons exist. This is “astute legal reasoning?”

I’m old enough to remember how abortion became a national issue. The Supreme Court decided that separate was not equal and schools had to desegregate. In many areas of the South they closed the public schools rather than comply and “Christians”, like Jerry Falwell, opened all white “Christian” schools. Things went along for a while until the IRS decided that segregated schools could no longer qualify for tax exempt status. Upset by the ruling “Christian leaders” felt they needed to get involved in politics, chose an anti-abortion stance as the way to raise funds and and build a voter base. The Moral Majority, which was neither, was born.

Roe v. Wade was a 7-2 decision, and now 5 would eliminate it and then go on to steal more rights from citizens.