rubicon, rio bravo

Despite the refutation on the part of the US Secretary of Defence that “this department doesn’t do stunts,” Trump’s fearmongering is playing to the crowds thronging his Nuremberger rallies with his announcement that he will deploy up to fifteen thousand active duty soldiers to the southern border to act in a support capacity for the army of deputised goons already there, and could hardly be characterised as anything else. Fully thirty-nine military units have been put on notice. Barred by federal law (posse comitatus) from acting in an enforcement capacity within the United States, their role during this mission will be limited to intimidation and building temporary barriers.

the march of folly

Via the ever-excellent Nag on the Lake, we are introduced to the intricate, kinetic wooden sculptures of Colorado artist John Buck whose characters tell a fitting allegory for our times and was created specifically in reaction to America’s approaching mid-term elections.
The title of the collection references the 1984 study of the same name that examines the thread of a government paradoxically acting against its own better interests through history from Troy to Vietnam by historian Barbara W Tuchman and couching it in contemporary times with timeless symbol to be teased out of the parade floats that urge the procession onwards. Learn more and see the sculptures in action at the links above.

october surprise

We’re all probably too fatigued already to weather another political bombshell and while the term was informed during the previous US election-cycle and came into common-parlance during the following presidential run-off between Richard Nixon and George McGovern, on this day fifty years ago (1968) President Lyndon Johnson announced probably the first non-spontaneous, last-minute policy shift by ordering cessation of all bombardment in North Vietnam.
Johnson cited progress in the Paris peace negotiations as his motivation but his opponents accused him of making a desperate overture to voters and as a sort of retribution for a series of unfortunate coincidences that tarnished his campaign in 1964 and nearly cost him the election: the unexpected retirement of Nikita Khrushchev, a gay sex scandal of one of Johnson’s top aides, a successful nuclear missile test in China and Labour taking control of the UK. The Vietnam October Surprise failed, however, to carry Hubert Humphrey, Johnson’s vice president, to victory and the Nixon administration continued hostilities. Ironically, the subsequent October Surprise in 1972 that helped the incumbent hold office and defeat Barry Goldwater was a promise delivered by Henry Kissinger that “peace was at hand” and that ground forces were to be withdrawn from Vietnam in the following year.

happy halloween!

As always, thanks for visiting and spooky tidings to you and yours!