Key West Lou / JANUARY 6 A PEARL HARBOR…..PERPETRATORS MUST BE PUNISHED AND ANNIHILATED

I have said it before, I say it again. January 6 was another Pearl Harbor. The insurgent opposition must be destroyed. Sounds strong. It is!

The insurgents would have done more if they could have on January 6. Imagine Pence hanging from the gallow. Pelosi killed.

Hundreds are being arrested. Whatever the number, it will be minuscule when compared to the number actually attacking the Capitol. Hundreds in no way equates to the 8,000 estimated to have participated in the attack.

Each insurgent group must be sought out. Their camps, offices destroyed. Their members arrested and tried. Total destruction of the enemy is required.

The insurgents are the “enemy.” January 6 has emboldened them. We must get them before they get us. It is like the Civil War as well as Pearl Harbor.

The enemy has fired the first shot. Retribution and destruction in order.

Not the time to sit and wait for the enemy’s next move. It is time to be active, not reactive.

Religion can be carried to extremes. Nonsensical ones.

Coronavirus has come in conflict with abortion.

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has instructed U.S. bishops to advise Catholic health systems not to use the Johnson and Johnson vaccine. It has something to do with what has been described as a “remote” connection between abortion and the vaccine. Something to do with “cells.” Specifically what, I could not ascertain. When I can, I will let you know.

The health systems are in a quandary. What do they do with the John and Johnson vaccines already received? Should they listen to the Bishops Conference and follow its dictates re use of the vaccine?

To listen to the Bishops Conference places health systems and others at risk.

Some Bishops do not accept the dictates of the Bishops Conference. They believe being anti the Johnson and Johnson vaccine requires Bishops to take an anti-life position.

Both positions anti-life.

Anti-abortion has become a theoretical moral purity. Must it become a position that places the lives of Catholics, the lives of others, and the common good at risk?

The Bishops Conference promoting avoidance of the Johnson and Johnson vaccine is another example of why Catholic Churches have fewer and fewer active members. Note as my past writings indicate, the Bishops Conference and Pope Francis are not on the same page with many issues. Francis has taken no position with regard to the Johnson and Johnson vaccine.

U.S. citizens along the way have become more and more independent. Even the government cannot tell them what to do. They will make their own judgments. The face mask issue an example.

State legislatures are expressing what they perceive as their right to avoid obeying federal laws and orders.

Georgia and Albama with their pending legislation to change voting laws an example.

Some states are going even farther. The North Dakota and South Dakota legislatures are in the process of invalidating all of what they perceive are unconstitutional Biden orders. The two states are heavy Republican. The legislatures overwhelming Republican. As are their governors. The proposed law in each state will without question become law in each state.

The “orders” involved include: Executive orders relating to the use of land, regulations on agriculture, regulations on natural resources such as oil and coal, regulations on pandemics or other health emergencies, the Constitutional right to keep and bear arms.

States do have the right to reject unconstitutional laws coming from the federal government. Normally done through court proceedings. Not unilaterally without the courts being involved.

North and South Dakota want to go their owns way, however.

The Constitution’s Supremacy Clause enjoins each state to follow laws that are Constitutionally sound and only on issues that the Constitution granted purview to the federal government to determine.

Years of litigation will follow the new laws.

The problem again is no one wants to listen to “authority.” People and some states consider themselves “the authority.”

Over a half million Americans have died because of COVID-19, Russia, the Middle East and China re threatening problems. To mention just a few of the heavy matters confronting the U.S.

The Republican mouthpiece FOX News and some Congressional Republicans have recently been expressing their positions re what has become labeled as “Cancel Cultural Wars.” The title in itself confusing.

Involved are children’s shows and books like Dr. Seuss, The Muppet Show, M. Potato Head, and Sesame Street.

Why?

I suspect because the base of the Republican Party has dramatically changed. It is no longer the “establishment” party. Educated serious minded persons. Rather it has become the party of “blue collar” persons.

Issues are sought which new found Republican voters can understand and follow.

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DAY 39…..Greece the First Time
Posted on July 5, 2012 by Key West Lou

I got lost!

Only to me would it happen.

Comogli runs upwards from the Mediterranean. My apartment is directly on the ocean. Each block ascends in parallel fashion behind me.

The horizontal/parallel streets are ok. They run normal in a straight line. It is the vertical streets that are the problem. There are streets and alleys running up and down. The alleys, though narrow, are as much a thoroughfare as the streets. The vertical streets and alleys bend and twist all over the place.

I was at an internet shop several blocks up. Took a large number of steps and one long street to get to the internet store. When I left the internet store, I got confused, screwed up. I missed the first set of stairs. Tried several others. No good. Then tried the alleys. Even worse.

I knew I would eventually get out. I could see the Mediterranean below me. I just needed to find the correct opening to get down to it.

I finally did. It was a major accomplishment!

There is a palazzo a few steps from the internet store. Note, palazzo. I am starting to speak like a native Italian.

I sat on a bench. There was a nearby street fair. I wanted to watch the world go by.

I lit a cigarette. Bad, I know. So did some one else. There was an elderly man (like me) sitting on the next bench. Italian. He came over and started speaking to me in Italian. Though I could not understand him, I knew what he was talking about. The evils of smoking.

I let him finish. Then I let him know I did not understand Italian, only spoke English.

His face lit up. He started the tirade again. This time in English. He was proud to show off his ability to speak English.

He sat with me for a while. We talked of his experiences back in 1960 in the United States. He had been in Cuba on business. Flew to Philadelphia and then to California where he spent some time. He congratulated me on the Fourth of July. He knew our history intimately.

I was ashamed. I had forgotten it was July 4, Independence Day. Other than my new found friend, there was no other person or thing to remind me. Additionally, days and dates run into each other when you are bouncing around as I am. I rarely am sure of the day of the week let alone a date.

My friend’s wife came along. He introduced me and they were on their way.

There was a large statue in the palazzo. It was a memorial to Nato A. Camogli. I tried to look him up on the internet. He is there. All over the place. However, every article is in Italian so I never got his background.

I swam a bit in the Mediterranean and sun bathe in the afternoon. To swim, you have to pay. Just like the Jersey Shore and Cape Cod. The beaches were unique. No sand. Stones. Each about 3-4 inches in diameter. Hurt the feet. The water was not clear as it had been in Greece. Murky like Key West used to be.

Then a nap. The sun was hot and tiring. My apartment for some reason cool. No air conditioning. I think it is the three foot walls.

Clotheslines come into play again. I raised the issue with my new friend in the palazzo. He, too, said it was because sun dried is better. I think he is wrong, also. These people have never known the joy of an electric dryer so they cannot compare.

He also told me many of the buildings were built with special pipes to hold the clothesline between windows or buildings. He assured me my apartment had one.

When I returned to the apartment, I checked. Sure enough, there below the window ledge in the living room was a clothesline. It ran from one living room window to the other. There were pipes at each end firmly affixed to the walls. A roller on each.

I had my own clothesline and never knew it!

Dinner was at another sea side cafe. Another excellent meal!

I had a local dish. Whereas the polenta was bad from my perspective, the pasta special dish was not. Oh, so good!

It is called trofie. A small curly thin macaroni. It was served with a pesto sauce. If I ate no more, I had dined like a king!

Broiled fish was my entree. I was taken into the kitchen. There were several glass vats with fish swimming around in them. I picked my own fish for dinner. I could not help thinking I was also passing a death sentence on the fish selected.

The cooked fish was a winner!

I took a walk along the sea side after dinner. The area is like a huge boardwalk. Except that it is about 40 feet wide and constructed with brick and stone from a thousand years ago or better.

Speaking of bricks, there are many in arches under buildings and walk ways. Some one told me the bricks were from medieval times. He showed me how they were half the size of today’s brick. He was proud to explain how they had held up over the ages.

I desired ice cream. It is gelato here. You buy it at a galateria.
I enjoyed a soft chocolate on a cone.

Gelato back home in Utica is different. It is hard. Great taste. Better than present day gelato.

I figured out years ago when I visited Rome why there was a difference between Utica’s gelato and that of Italy. It is the time factor. My people came to the new world between 1880 and 1920. They brought with them the cooking and food of that time in Italy. Gelato was hard back then.

Time changes everything. From the hard delicacy of yesteryear to the softer one of today. Both good. Again however, I prefer the older.

Never made Portofino yesterday. I get comfortable and say another day. I am running out of days. This afternoon Portofino is on my schedule. A car is not the way to get there. No parking. I have been told to take the train. For one stop only. Then a boat for a short ride to Portofino. Not easy. But I will get there.

Enjoy your day!

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