moon traveller herald

The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors by James Hornfischer is about a desperate sea battle that took place in the Samar Gulf off the Philippines toward the end of the World War II. The fighting was a key part of the much larger Battle of the Leyte Gulf. The Last Stand focuses primarily on the destroyers and destroyer escorts that urgently took the fight to an ultra large Japanese incursion force trying to hold (or reverse) advances to (or in) the Philippines. As such it is an in-depth assay on tactics and valor; those looking for more big picture strategy best turn to other tomes. Which is not to say Hornfisher’s book dismisses strategy altogether. The driving forces that lead to this battle – often pictured as the likely the last big naval battle in history – are discussed. Moreover, the scene is set with detailed portraits of Japanese and American participants, somewhat on the order of the writing of Cornelius Ryan. While strategy may not be exactly clean, it can be said that...

In humanitarian move, Trump will equip Wall with doorbell.  Meanwhile, National Guard dispatched to remove Guatemalan family above bodega in Chelsea. Mexican president cancels Washington visit. "Peking is nice this time of year."

Trump Day 2: Goes after the Native American tribes in Lakota territory. Thinks they will be good target, like handicaps, or woman kind. This is first of many huge mistakes he will make. Native Americans in 2017 will not take it - and his hedge will begin to crumble. On top of that, so many of his white supporters have Cherokee blood... sad to resort to in-kind Trumpish putdown, but worse is ahead for his likes. The site of his tail between his legs..I see it now and chorttle. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2017/01/24/trump-gives-green-light-to-dakota-access-keystone-xl-oil-pipelines

Underlying the larger discussion of Fake News is the fact that it has been a central element of Donald Trump's manner of gaining the White House. The Fake News ploy has been one of the trusted irons in his fantastic golf bag as he has run amok without replacing divots. Evidence now shows that Trump re-tweets anything that helps his point - if it is planted misinformation, he doesn’t care. *He took time out of his busy life style in 2011, to tweet that Obama wished America Happy Kwanza, but not happy Christmas. A lie. *In 2012, Trump tells us Obama's birth certificate is a fraud. A lie. (Full disclosure: I was born at the same hospital as our first Black president, and I have a stat-foto replica of my own birth certificate, and heck if doesn't actually resemble Barak's.) *Ted Cruz's father was part of the Kennedy Assassination. *He didn’t lose the popular vote because the popular vote was a fake. And on and on. Link Trump up with the retired KGBers over...

During the inauguration hoopla, I read that Michelle Robinson Obama, back in Chicago in the day and before she had been too very long originally dating Barak, asked her brother to play basketball with him and give a report. As the Obama era ends, I thought I would run the piece again. Jake helped create the art. The thinking was that if Obama had genuine character flaws of any kind they would probably surface in a pick up game. I think that is a sort of street smarts; I like the idea. The idea that you study a person this way - it's almost Shakespearian to ask your brother to run the ploy. With that in mind I asked old buddy pick-up game all stars of yore for their take on suspect traits in a pick-up game player - traits that could divulge deep inner traits of character - ugly ones - ones you wouldn’t want to endure for a lifetime. How did they gauge other players? I invited my b-ball buds to forward the question to their team mates too. This ran on MoonTravellerHerald in Marc...