My aunt was Sr. Maura Clarke, MM, a Maryknoll missionary, who was one of the four American churchwomen killed in El Salvador by the death squad on December 2, 1980.
One of my indelible memories of that time (among many), was Alexander Haig suggesting that the nuns were killed because they “ran a roadblock, or were perhaps returning gunfire.”
Gunfire. Running a roadblock. My aunt lived among the poor of El Salvador in a tin shack with a dirt floor (and before that, Nicaragua and Guatemala, when most Americans couldn’t even find these places on a map).
Aunt Maura truly devoted her life to God, and to trying to help those less fortunate than ourselves. Wherever he is now, perhaps Mr. Haig (RIP) has learned the considerable error of his ways.
For those who don't know about these nuns, there is a documentary:
(free on Kanopy):
"Roses in December" "The film begins with the exhumation of four American women tortured, raped, and murdered by the right-wing government of El Salvador on December 2, 1980. The women — Dorothy Kazel, an Ursuline; Ita Ford and Maura Clarke, Maryknoll mission sisters; and Jean Donovan, a young laywoman from Cleveland..."
The Reagan administration supported their murderers/rapists because they were anti-communists...and Reagan was an amoral dummy.
Mr. Haig may still be broiling on his karma rod, but your Aunt Maura must be reveling in peace and in the presence of bliss. I worked in a community organization with an ACLU lawyer putting out brochures about the US involvement in Nicaraugua. It is a sad day that the revolutionary Ortega became a dictator too when he got a taste of power.
Thank you for naming Alexander Haig, then Deputy Commandant of the USMA, as the screaming bully you courageously stood up to.
I seem to vaguely remember that at one point as Nixon's Chief of Staff, in an emergency of some sort, he tried to assume the powers of the President. I can't imagine how such an obvious shithead rose so high. But he was often described in the media then as a "smooth" or "slick operator." Some people think those are compliments. In the Armed Forces they are NOT compliments.
Question: Is the Constitution required reading in the military academies? Obviously, Haig never read it or if, he did, he was too thick (or arrogant) to understand it.
By the way, although the Constitution does not include the specific words "diversity, equity, and inclusion," these are the guiding principles ingrained in the document.
If I recall aright, it was as Reagan's chief of staff, the emergency was the attempted assassination of Reagan, and Haig's words were (I think), "I'm in control here." Not a stellar career move, as it turned out -- but please, give me back those good old days over this rolling phantasmagoria.
It was when he was Secretary of State just after Reagan was shot. In the White House, in front of the press, he said, "I am in charge here," ignoring the VP and the rest of the Constitutional chain of succession,
If I had given it more thought, I would have known that it could not possibly have been under Nixon, who was no dummy. Nixon would have instantly disliked Haig's response, and he probably would have removed him.
Brigadier General Telford Taylor, a young prosecutor in Germany after WWll, was a professor at Columbia Law School in 1971. I briefly worked there as "the information lady" in the lobby, handing out text book and reading assignments. Occasionally a member of the Weather Underground would deliver leaflets
I am so angry reading this. My father got his commander on Oahu to allow enlisted men, including Latinos and blacks who worked on the ships in the harbor, to be allowed in the Officers Club where he ran the band before 9pm so they could dance and listen to the band that my father ran. He had to go up the chain of command three times before he got permission. His colonel didn't need any persuasion, he gave his permission right away. Yes, that was my father's service in WWII, he ran the army band at the Officers Club on Oahu. Alexander Haig, what a pig!
I do marvel that we humans ever made it out of the caves. Certainly there are some, including a few who live in D.C., who should be back in a cave. Far away from the rest of us.
And I wonder if Trump even comprehends the implications what Musk and the Muskrats are doing. Trump wouldn't care, but I do wonder if he even knows what they're up to.
Oh, but Cadet Bonespurs attended a private Military School in his younger days - that's where he came to "know more about the military than the Generals".
At least since Eisenhower, at any meeting of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Commander-In-Chief has been the LEAST competent person in that room - and yet, only the POTUS vote matters. The critical difference between Harris and Trump was that Harris did NOT think she knows more than the Generals.
How long will it be before women and gays are not allowed to serve in combat? Or in the military at all? In turn, what will these moves do to morale and the desire to serve? Let’s call it like it is - bigotry plain and simple.
Putin knows because a hero of his - Stalin - made the mistake of shredding the officer class in the Soviet Union, nearly costing him the entire of what was the Soviet Union to Adolf Hitlers military machine.
Of course he’s instructed Trump to decimate the Pentagon - and will ravage our military from West Point to national guards to every post in the country - and the world..
After his death, Stalin was denounced by Krushchev in a secret meeting of the Politburo in 1957.
The dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1989 was a sincere attempt by Gorbachov to fully dismantle the failed social and economic system. He too was overthrown as and all hell-broke loose in Russia, leaving a power vacuum that was quickly filled by money-hungry mafia-inspired that were able to control the flow of food, goods and gas to heat a starving nation. The rise of Putin is another matter completely which began when he was the only child of a of man whose father was Lenin's personal chef!
Seriously! Talking about patronage . . . this one takes the cake.
*My source - Professor Kate Antonova, CUNY-QC (2023)
You’re right / a bunch of thugs who co-opted the industrial output and resources- and put the romanovs to shame with their excesses.. pootey is the gang boss.
Oh yes…Haig, of the demonic eyebrows. He was so creepy. Obviously more than I even imagined.
Of the total 32 US Rhodes Scholars selected to study at Oxford in fall, 4 are West Point Class of 2025! Of the 4, 3 are women, and 3 are also of different ethnicity. “The Corps has” THANK GOD!
Trump has already placed Pentagon on the list next-- really not after waste and abuse-- that is the cover story-- but wanting to find suppliant generals and submissive civilians to carry out his directives
Which I thought was the _real_ reason that Tommy Tuberville (R, NCAA-Div-I) put a hold on several hundred flag-rank officer promotions last year. He was putting sand in the gears, in the hope that Trump, if elected, could name "his generals," of the sort you're describing.
One problem with that. The military swears allegiance to the Constitution, not to the president ( lower case intentional). The felon and his gang would be hard pressed to be able to accomplish what they set out to do - especially depending on a man whose sobriety is already starting to be questioned.
As you know, US military personnel aren't the only ones who swear an oath of allegiance to the US Constitution.
Every member of Congress does. Every member of the Federal Judiciary does. Every member of the Federal Civil Service does. Every political appointee to the executive branch does. Every naturalized US citizen does.
I did, as a 20-year-old fall-semester college senior when I applied for a National Science Foundation fellowship.
With the exception of the presidential oath, given in the Constitution, all the other oaths of office, oaths of allegiance, and loyalty oaths are specified by Federal statutes. They vary considerably in length and precise wording (although there are certain phrases that recur). I know this because a year ago when the Colorado ballot-disqualification case was in progress, arguments revolved around the differences between the wording of A14s3 and the wording of the presidential oath in Article II... so I looked up _all_ these other oaths for comparison. (I noted also the differences between oaths sworn by officers vs. enlisted personnel, and between members of the active US military vs. states' National Guard.)
People are human & fallible. Far too frequently they violate those oaths.
Perhaps you are correct in your belief that the military — especially flag-rank officers whose ranks & roles are subject to Senate confirmation — are much more unswervingly loyal to their oaths to the Constitution than civilians who have sworn oaths are to theirs. If that were true, perhaps we'd never have courts martial.
But I _believe_ that Trump (& Tuberville) think military officers can be bent. And, it would appear, LTC (ret.) Riley does too.
When I was trying to reassure friends that America's officer corps was not going to fold to DJT 1.0, I said Michael Flynn was an outlier, and that their oaths to the Constitution would bind them. These days, I'm too well aware of how large the officer corps is, and the terror I feel if Trump might succeed in finding Generals "like Hitler had" is maddening.
The Generals "like Hitler had"? The statement is coming from a 80 year old juvenile delinquent. Hitler's generals - the real ones, did not live to see the end of the war. Flynn is too radioactive even for this crew. The upper flag ranks have lived through one round of this base born idiot. For all we know, they are prepared.
There is a difference. The Supreme Court can order the military to obey their orders. The Supreme Court can not do that with Congress. Again, the Congress is an equal branch. The military is not. Also, there may be a civilian commander in chief, but that person may not order them into a full out war without the consent of Congress. The Supreme Court does not need that kind of permission. They may order the military to carry out their decision. I refer you back to the newsletter from Feb.11. I trust Terrence Goggin's assessment.
I am not making light of any of this by saying this, but the way you were abused by your superior at West Point reminds me of Dolores Umbridge in the Harry Potter books. Such people are so extreme that they feel fictional to me. Unfortunately they aren't. But really, who behaves like that? They wear their insecurities so openly that they should be embarrassed.
I'm sure Haig got an extra thrill out of bullying the grandson of one of WW2's finest combat Generals. For the moment he got at least an eighth inch taller.
I had a (civilian) boss exactly like Dolores Umbrage at my last regular full-time job at a major American state university. Typical middle manager promoted beyond their ability and taking out job and life frustrations on their underlings. There was no going around her, no corraling her, no recourse at higher levels or appeals. She drove me to quit in the end, which seems to have been her objective. Those assholes are everywhere.
I know. (Thanks!) I had dreams for years of slashing her tires in the parking lot or spiking her coffee with LSD. But of course those were just wishful fantasies. But she was an unhappy person and I hope got what she deserved in the end. I'll never know.
Well Lucien, back in 1970 I was drafted into the Army my #in the preeminent tv lottery was well within the first to be called in 1970 . I was told I could join for 1 more active year and get a school so inMay of 70 I was at Army Signal School. I got an appointment by the commandant to West Point( +6 more year enlistment). After some thought , I turned it down. Many times I have been told what a bad decision that was. I would have missed Vietnam, and had a possible career and then Civilian job guarantee. But in my military experience the best officers I met were “Mustangs”, and a few ROTC/OCS. I never met a pointer that didn’t have his head squarely up his ass! Worried about fitness reports and promotions, and not really concerned about those men he commanded. Today’s military “leaders” should be screaming about the push towards fascism. A couple have been vocal, but the majority are too worried about their carriers, and look the other way when these Nazi’s step all over the Constitution. So much for the thin grey line! All services are complicit. Racism, mysoginy, homophobia etc are more prevalent than ever. I would expect the Military Elites to lead the country,and protect the Constitution,rather then just pencil pushing career politicians!!!!
They want to take away women's right to vote & that's just the beginning. After Republicans pass SAVE Act, they'll take away the right to own property, have a credit card, etc. They are just getting started.
The additional danger in the SAVE Act is the requirement for _every_ voter to prove US citizenship at the time of initial registration or re-registration on account of moving to a new address.
Ask yourself — how many US Citizens possess a US Passport? Considering the expense required to obtain a passport, or to hire an attorney to change one's legal name to match a possibly difficult-to-obtain birth certificate, it's hard not to view these proof-of-citizenship requirements as, effectively, an unconstitutional poll tax. The outcome (if not the intent) of the SAVE Act will be a nationwide massive voter-roll purge that will disproportionately affect women, ethnic minorities, the poor, trans-folk, among others.
A dozen years before you graduated, I was a junior officer in a Navy squadron off NVN. Officers shared a single mess. I cannot recall a single Black officer in the Air Wing or Ship's Company. I went through the Cruise Book of the USS Ticonderoga, my carrier, which has pictures of all the officers. I found one Black officer, an Ensign who was in Communications. One Black officer on a ship with hundreds of officers and 4000 or so enlisted---lots of Black sailors. That was 1966-7. And people wonder why Affirmative Action or DEI is needed!
A blind man can see that the Navy made massive progress in advancing Black men between 1949 and 1966. Having one Black officer, an Ensign, on an aircraft carrier shows that there was nothing to hold them back! I'd bet that by 1983 there were at least 3 of 4 of them on every carrier; and that by 2000..../s/
My clearest memory of Haig is when he wanted us to march with fingers in a awkward straight to the second knuckle position. There he was at the corner of Brewerton Road, a full Colonel with medals up to there, making sure our fingers were in the "right" position as we matched to lunch
Haig visited our command, HQ Central Army Group NATO, in the mid 1970's...his ADC admitted his primary job was to keep extra cigarette lighters ready since Haig constantly lost his...
JUDD Legum, not "Todd." Sorry, Judd.
My aunt was Sr. Maura Clarke, MM, a Maryknoll missionary, who was one of the four American churchwomen killed in El Salvador by the death squad on December 2, 1980.
One of my indelible memories of that time (among many), was Alexander Haig suggesting that the nuns were killed because they “ran a roadblock, or were perhaps returning gunfire.”
Gunfire. Running a roadblock. My aunt lived among the poor of El Salvador in a tin shack with a dirt floor (and before that, Nicaragua and Guatemala, when most Americans couldn’t even find these places on a map).
Aunt Maura truly devoted her life to God, and to trying to help those less fortunate than ourselves. Wherever he is now, perhaps Mr. Haig (RIP) has learned the considerable error of his ways.
For those who don't know about these nuns, there is a documentary:
(free on Kanopy):
"Roses in December" "The film begins with the exhumation of four American women tortured, raped, and murdered by the right-wing government of El Salvador on December 2, 1980. The women — Dorothy Kazel, an Ursuline; Ita Ford and Maura Clarke, Maryknoll mission sisters; and Jean Donovan, a young laywoman from Cleveland..."
The Reagan administration supported their murderers/rapists because they were anti-communists...and Reagan was an amoral dummy.
Reagan was a trickle down POS. He should have stuck with the Bonzo movies. He was a terrible actor and a disaster for the USA.
Mr. Haig may still be broiling on his karma rod, but your Aunt Maura must be reveling in peace and in the presence of bliss. I worked in a community organization with an ACLU lawyer putting out brochures about the US involvement in Nicaraugua. It is a sad day that the revolutionary Ortega became a dictator too when he got a taste of power.
Thank you for naming Alexander Haig, then Deputy Commandant of the USMA, as the screaming bully you courageously stood up to.
I seem to vaguely remember that at one point as Nixon's Chief of Staff, in an emergency of some sort, he tried to assume the powers of the President. I can't imagine how such an obvious shithead rose so high. But he was often described in the media then as a "smooth" or "slick operator." Some people think those are compliments. In the Armed Forces they are NOT compliments.
Yes, he famously said, “I’m in charge here!”
He said this after Reagan was shot.
Thanks!
Question: Is the Constitution required reading in the military academies? Obviously, Haig never read it or if, he did, he was too thick (or arrogant) to understand it.
By the way, although the Constitution does not include the specific words "diversity, equity, and inclusion," these are the guiding principles ingrained in the document.
thank god those key words are not referenced...
If I recall aright, it was as Reagan's chief of staff, the emergency was the attempted assassination of Reagan, and Haig's words were (I think), "I'm in control here." Not a stellar career move, as it turned out -- but please, give me back those good old days over this rolling phantasmagoria.
Yep. We called him Al "I'm in Charge" Haig. Ninny
It was when he was Secretary of State just after Reagan was shot. In the White House, in front of the press, he said, "I am in charge here," ignoring the VP and the rest of the Constitutional chain of succession,
If I had given it more thought, I would have known that it could not possibly have been under Nixon, who was no dummy. Nixon would have instantly disliked Haig's response, and he probably would have removed him.
Brigadier General Telford Taylor, a young prosecutor in Germany after WWll, was a professor at Columbia Law School in 1971. I briefly worked there as "the information lady" in the lobby, handing out text book and reading assignments. Occasionally a member of the Weather Underground would deliver leaflets
Shitheads are highly esteemed in the Republican Party.
Oh! I'd forgotten that! Guess civics wasn't his thing when he was at the Point.
I met Haig once. He was really short. That explained a lot. Anyway, the usual insight. Thank you for your writing service, too!
HA! (Yes, that tends to explain a lot.)
My Aunt Maura (mentioned below) was a very willowy 5’10”.
I am so angry reading this. My father got his commander on Oahu to allow enlisted men, including Latinos and blacks who worked on the ships in the harbor, to be allowed in the Officers Club where he ran the band before 9pm so they could dance and listen to the band that my father ran. He had to go up the chain of command three times before he got permission. His colonel didn't need any persuasion, he gave his permission right away. Yes, that was my father's service in WWII, he ran the army band at the Officers Club on Oahu. Alexander Haig, what a pig!
I do marvel that we humans ever made it out of the caves. Certainly there are some, including a few who live in D.C., who should be back in a cave. Far away from the rest of us.
And I wonder if Trump even comprehends the implications what Musk and the Muskrats are doing. Trump wouldn't care, but I do wonder if he even knows what they're up to.
Oh, but Cadet Bonespurs attended a private Military School in his younger days - that's where he came to "know more about the military than the Generals".
At least since Eisenhower, at any meeting of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Commander-In-Chief has been the LEAST competent person in that room - and yet, only the POTUS vote matters. The critical difference between Harris and Trump was that Harris did NOT think she knows more than the Generals.
Trump and Musk are still in their own cavelike world!
but I do wonder if he even knows what they're up to. Laurie, that would ba a 'no'
How long will it be before women and gays are not allowed to serve in combat? Or in the military at all? In turn, what will these moves do to morale and the desire to serve? Let’s call it like it is - bigotry plain and simple.
It’s bigotry alright! May God wipe them off the face of this earth!
Putin knows because a hero of his - Stalin - made the mistake of shredding the officer class in the Soviet Union, nearly costing him the entire of what was the Soviet Union to Adolf Hitlers military machine.
Of course he’s instructed Trump to decimate the Pentagon - and will ravage our military from West Point to national guards to every post in the country - and the world..
After his death, Stalin was denounced by Krushchev in a secret meeting of the Politburo in 1957.
The dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1989 was a sincere attempt by Gorbachov to fully dismantle the failed social and economic system. He too was overthrown as and all hell-broke loose in Russia, leaving a power vacuum that was quickly filled by money-hungry mafia-inspired that were able to control the flow of food, goods and gas to heat a starving nation. The rise of Putin is another matter completely which began when he was the only child of a of man whose father was Lenin's personal chef!
Seriously! Talking about patronage . . . this one takes the cake.
*My source - Professor Kate Antonova, CUNY-QC (2023)
You’re right / a bunch of thugs who co-opted the industrial output and resources- and put the romanovs to shame with their excesses.. pootey is the gang boss.
True. Some others survived too I know.
Fortunately, Zukov avoided being purged.
Who's Zukov?
I was thinking about Boris Yeltsin and his disastrous attempt to control the oligarchs.
Yeltsin "appointed" Pootie-Pute (George Bush II words, not mine)), because of his extensive background in "undercover security".
General Zhukov made Hitler sad. Very sad.
Putin's saboteur strikes again.
Mind boggling isn’t it - not even pretending
Oh yes…Haig, of the demonic eyebrows. He was so creepy. Obviously more than I even imagined.
Of the total 32 US Rhodes Scholars selected to study at Oxford in fall, 4 are West Point Class of 2025! Of the 4, 3 are women, and 3 are also of different ethnicity. “The Corps has” THANK GOD!
WOW! That's an impressive number of Rhodes Scholars by any measure. Good for the academy.
Yes it truly is! It also is an extraordinary testament to INCLUSION, don’t you think?
Trump has already placed Pentagon on the list next-- really not after waste and abuse-- that is the cover story-- but wanting to find suppliant generals and submissive civilians to carry out his directives
Which I thought was the _real_ reason that Tommy Tuberville (R, NCAA-Div-I) put a hold on several hundred flag-rank officer promotions last year. He was putting sand in the gears, in the hope that Trump, if elected, could name "his generals," of the sort you're describing.
One problem with that. The military swears allegiance to the Constitution, not to the president ( lower case intentional). The felon and his gang would be hard pressed to be able to accomplish what they set out to do - especially depending on a man whose sobriety is already starting to be questioned.
As you know, US military personnel aren't the only ones who swear an oath of allegiance to the US Constitution.
Every member of Congress does. Every member of the Federal Judiciary does. Every member of the Federal Civil Service does. Every political appointee to the executive branch does. Every naturalized US citizen does.
I did, as a 20-year-old fall-semester college senior when I applied for a National Science Foundation fellowship.
With the exception of the presidential oath, given in the Constitution, all the other oaths of office, oaths of allegiance, and loyalty oaths are specified by Federal statutes. They vary considerably in length and precise wording (although there are certain phrases that recur). I know this because a year ago when the Colorado ballot-disqualification case was in progress, arguments revolved around the differences between the wording of A14s3 and the wording of the presidential oath in Article II... so I looked up _all_ these other oaths for comparison. (I noted also the differences between oaths sworn by officers vs. enlisted personnel, and between members of the active US military vs. states' National Guard.)
People are human & fallible. Far too frequently they violate those oaths.
Perhaps you are correct in your belief that the military — especially flag-rank officers whose ranks & roles are subject to Senate confirmation — are much more unswervingly loyal to their oaths to the Constitution than civilians who have sworn oaths are to theirs. If that were true, perhaps we'd never have courts martial.
But I _believe_ that Trump (& Tuberville) think military officers can be bent. And, it would appear, LTC (ret.) Riley does too.
When I was trying to reassure friends that America's officer corps was not going to fold to DJT 1.0, I said Michael Flynn was an outlier, and that their oaths to the Constitution would bind them. These days, I'm too well aware of how large the officer corps is, and the terror I feel if Trump might succeed in finding Generals "like Hitler had" is maddening.
The Generals "like Hitler had"? The statement is coming from a 80 year old juvenile delinquent. Hitler's generals - the real ones, did not live to see the end of the war. Flynn is too radioactive even for this crew. The upper flag ranks have lived through one round of this base born idiot. For all we know, they are prepared.
There is a difference. The Supreme Court can order the military to obey their orders. The Supreme Court can not do that with Congress. Again, the Congress is an equal branch. The military is not. Also, there may be a civilian commander in chief, but that person may not order them into a full out war without the consent of Congress. The Supreme Court does not need that kind of permission. They may order the military to carry out their decision. I refer you back to the newsletter from Feb.11. I trust Terrence Goggin's assessment.
His directives and Putin's.
How you been? Haven't seen you in the comments for a while.
Good, Thanks!
Great to hear. Thanks for replying. It's tough living in what is now maga MI
Nitpicking a great column; the writer of POPULAR INFORMATION is _Judd_ Legum, not Todd Legum. He's too damn good to get his name wrong.
And I appreciate you every day.
corrected
I am not making light of any of this by saying this, but the way you were abused by your superior at West Point reminds me of Dolores Umbridge in the Harry Potter books. Such people are so extreme that they feel fictional to me. Unfortunately they aren't. But really, who behaves like that? They wear their insecurities so openly that they should be embarrassed.
I'm sure Haig got an extra thrill out of bullying the grandson of one of WW2's finest combat Generals. For the moment he got at least an eighth inch taller.
👍
I VERY MUCH wondered about that...
I had a (civilian) boss exactly like Dolores Umbrage at my last regular full-time job at a major American state university. Typical middle manager promoted beyond their ability and taking out job and life frustrations on their underlings. There was no going around her, no corraling her, no recourse at higher levels or appeals. She drove me to quit in the end, which seems to have been her objective. Those assholes are everywhere.
Ugh. I'm sorry to hear that. You hope people like that get what's coming to them but it doesn't always happen.
I know. (Thanks!) I had dreams for years of slashing her tires in the parking lot or spiking her coffee with LSD. But of course those were just wishful fantasies. But she was an unhappy person and I hope got what she deserved in the end. I'll never know.
It rarely happens
It rarely happens
Well Lucien, back in 1970 I was drafted into the Army my #in the preeminent tv lottery was well within the first to be called in 1970 . I was told I could join for 1 more active year and get a school so inMay of 70 I was at Army Signal School. I got an appointment by the commandant to West Point( +6 more year enlistment). After some thought , I turned it down. Many times I have been told what a bad decision that was. I would have missed Vietnam, and had a possible career and then Civilian job guarantee. But in my military experience the best officers I met were “Mustangs”, and a few ROTC/OCS. I never met a pointer that didn’t have his head squarely up his ass! Worried about fitness reports and promotions, and not really concerned about those men he commanded. Today’s military “leaders” should be screaming about the push towards fascism. A couple have been vocal, but the majority are too worried about their carriers, and look the other way when these Nazi’s step all over the Constitution. So much for the thin grey line! All services are complicit. Racism, mysoginy, homophobia etc are more prevalent than ever. I would expect the Military Elites to lead the country,and protect the Constitution,rather then just pencil pushing career politicians!!!!
They want to take away women's right to vote & that's just the beginning. After Republicans pass SAVE Act, they'll take away the right to own property, have a credit card, etc. They are just getting started.
The additional danger in the SAVE Act is the requirement for _every_ voter to prove US citizenship at the time of initial registration or re-registration on account of moving to a new address.
Ask yourself — how many US Citizens possess a US Passport? Considering the expense required to obtain a passport, or to hire an attorney to change one's legal name to match a possibly difficult-to-obtain birth certificate, it's hard not to view these proof-of-citizenship requirements as, effectively, an unconstitutional poll tax. The outcome (if not the intent) of the SAVE Act will be a nationwide massive voter-roll purge that will disproportionately affect women, ethnic minorities, the poor, trans-folk, among others.
And abortion will be illegal nationwide.
Well said and well spoken. As a ‘78 grad, here were my own thoughts on West Point and white Privilege at that time: - https://mnhallblog.wordpress.com/2020/06/06/i-am-number-35591/
A dozen years before you graduated, I was a junior officer in a Navy squadron off NVN. Officers shared a single mess. I cannot recall a single Black officer in the Air Wing or Ship's Company. I went through the Cruise Book of the USS Ticonderoga, my carrier, which has pictures of all the officers. I found one Black officer, an Ensign who was in Communications. One Black officer on a ship with hundreds of officers and 4000 or so enlisted---lots of Black sailors. That was 1966-7. And people wonder why Affirmative Action or DEI is needed!
The first black man graduated from the Naval Academy in 1949.
A blind man can see that the Navy made massive progress in advancing Black men between 1949 and 1966. Having one Black officer, an Ensign, on an aircraft carrier shows that there was nothing to hold them back! I'd bet that by 1983 there were at least 3 of 4 of them on every carrier; and that by 2000..../s/
Max, I am a ‘69 grad developing a biopic, Black Knight of the Hudson, about Henry Flipper. Should be out by year end.
My clearest memory of Haig is when he wanted us to march with fingers in a awkward straight to the second knuckle position. There he was at the corner of Brewerton Road, a full Colonel with medals up to there, making sure our fingers were in the "right" position as we matched to lunch
It's the important thing in life.....illusion is all.
Haig visited our command, HQ Central Army Group NATO, in the mid 1970's...his ADC admitted his primary job was to keep extra cigarette lighters ready since Haig constantly lost his...
Remember that Haig bullshit well. He was 3rd Regiment commander 67-68.