Notes on the Easter Uprising

this year marks the 100th anniversary of the Easter Uprising in Dublin which was the violent curtain-raiser on England's final departure from Ireland.
Its important to remember that the seven original members of that short lived "provisional government" proclaimed in the Dublin Post Office were by and large of a romantic disposition. They had no illusions as to their final fates, in fact they'd all be court martialed and executed about ten days later by revenge minded British Forces.
No...they were looking for an sort of ultimate act of expiation, deliberately surrendering their lives to rouse Ireland to a final show down with England.
And...despite the initial disdain of the Dublin citizenry....the scheme worked. Of course British "fell for it" indulging violent reprisals (including shooting Dublin's beloved town lunatic Sheehy Skeffington) and standing up the Provision Government up against a wall and gunning them down. It was a melodramatic end for one and all, worthy of Dickens...and it was more than enough to touch off a powder keg. We disdain purely romantic notions at our peril when making revolutions.
Of course the irony is, the men who finally freed Ireland, the De Valeras, The Collins'...were very hard ruthless antagonists indeed, nothing of the romantic about them. They were reconciled to doing "reddish work at night" sans qualms.
And that my friends is the enduring Irony That Is Ireland....Romantic Start, Realist Finish.

I am trying...with a little more effort than the Evening Newscasts

To refrain from allowing this blog to descend into "what stupid thing did Donald Trump say today"....its easy writing but damnably repetitive.
But I guess yesterday he decided we should allow Japan and South Korea to acquire nuclear weapons (in contravention of their obligations under the Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty) so that the US can basically "quit and go home" in East Asia.
I mean...any else remember when George McGovern was accused of being an isolationist and an appeaser shit he was Global Cop #1 compared to Donald Trump!
Arming South Korea and Japan with nukes destabilizes the region ramps up confrontation with the PRC and either puts Peking on the short road to it's cherished dream of regional domination or lights the fuse to a nuclear war in East Asia....and believe Trump can build no wall high enough around the USA to keep out the fallout.
I mean South Korea doesn't have the size and strategic depth to deploy a nuclear force with any inherent second strike reliability. Japan might fare better in that department but not by much assuming they even wanted to go back on sixty plus years of understandable "nuclear chariness".
Assuming something like this came to pass you could basically set the Union of Concerned Scientists Doomsday Clock at five past midnight and be done with it.
Its a stupid idea from someone that is naturally frustrated by the nuances and contradictions of strategic thinking.
For better or worse there is a reason why nations abide under the USA's "nuclear umbrella", mostly because within defined parameters, the damn thing works.  And if people are tired of the USA's status as "Texas Ranger to the World" wait til Peking gives the job a try....

On the other hand...

Jeb Bush along with the other also rans must think if they can just prevent Trump from clearing the boards at the RNC this summer they might have a shot at stampeding the delegates.  So that might account for the Former Governor of Florida's endorsement of his once hated rival Ted Cruz.
I think this is a forlorn hope at best, a second ballot stampede away from Trump would require a great deal of preparatory skullduggery....and I don't think the current GOP leadership has the requisite skill set to pull that off.
From that perspective endorsing Cruz comes at the low cost it affirms Jeb's party loyalty while doing nothing to really advance the Senator's chances.
Frankly I think this lot are all living in Fantasyland, blatantly superceding the expressed will of the GOP Primaries has to come at a catastrophic cost....then again Jeb brings so little to the table fantasizing seems his last recourse.

True to Form...

Jeb Bush has wasted what little political capital he has left by endorsing Teds Cruz of all people for President.
Mind you, Jeb's options were limited he did after all fruitlessly vilify the entire GOP Presidential Roster in NH including a special animus for John Kasich....I suppose it was either Cruz...or Bolt the Partei.
Therein lies the rub, the endorsement is a craven admission from Jeb that he has no intention of quitting the GOP over Trump, he'll follow the given political parameters and accept Trump's nomination if it happens.
La Famiglia Arbusto still has plenty of props with the republicans and if Jeb simply kept quiet he could fuel a "deviationist third party tendency" by keeping silent.
But that kind of guts is denied The Bush Family, so much moreso than Ronald Reagan the contemporary GOP with it's perpetual foothold on a restive minority ever dependent on manipulating a rejectionist wing of the White Working Class is a creation of Georges Senior and Junior...and now their creation has turned on them with fangs bared.
I doubt Jeb will do much for Ted let alone Trump should the developer seize the nomination but he'll be a voice for unity with the pious hope that The Donald loses the general election and thus somehow La Famiglia Arbusto and their jobbers can still rule over the GOP rubble.

Lets Talk about Fear....

in the wake of the Brussels Attack, the Fear Level must be waaa-ay higher than the DHS "Threat Level".
Why?
The mundane setting of the bombing (air port subway) imprint themselves on the average news consumer almost all of whom must utilize such mundane settings in their daily life and thus can easily project themselves into notional carnage.
Fear is an emotion....and emotions have to be ruled, but they must be ruled from a place of understanding or else panic and or craziness ensues.
As liberals we tend to over rationalize (that Utilitarian Mantra "The Greatest Good for the Greatest Number" undercuts us in situations like this) attributing the fear to demagoguery at home and religious frenzy abroad.
It bears repeating that high body count or low, the fear comes from a real place and we are gonna have to abide in that real place understanding the "emotional content" even directing our response to that content while staying rational.
And that is the hardest mission at a time like this....and I write that as someone who has to take a poorly run indifferently secured subway every day.

Even my Ninety Three Year Old Mother

(who at various times had everyone from James Michael Curley to John F. Kennedy as her Congressman) thinks the Annual South Boston Saint Patrick's Day Breakfast ought to be quietly discontinued.
Her reasoning is simply "Politicians aren't witty anymore".
And you know what she is right, that Breakfast is a vast endangered species refuge for tone deaf  politicos and their leaden gubernatorial sense of humor.
But they got that way because we are living in an era of 24-7 political surveillance, these boyos are watched all the time, so my dictum is "as surveillance increases, spontaneity declines" hence the dearth of wit last Sunday.
Back in the 1950's democrat Adlai Stevenson was a noted wit even without his gag writers & even a stiff like Richard Nixon could get off a good line now and again....but these days all our elected officials live in mortal terror of a thoughtless bon mot with "ramifications"....
So I say turn it into a charitable dinner for the homeless or something...keep the parade (that much is worthwhile) but ditch the breakfast it's become a torpid embarrassment.

Rubio Outski

another overhyped wingnut fidget bites the political dust. We heard a rumor that Marco had to ask his wife's permission before he could drop out with the remnants of his dignity intact.
My guess is, Marco might be cynical enough to troll for Trump's Vice Presidential slot, especially if it looks like Trump might lose, fighting the good fight in that context could pay dividends for Rubio he wanted to run again in 2020...besides Rubio is a twitchy selfish hypocritical character who'd sell out his own and the nation for small advantage indeed.
Its also proof positive that Rubio has no self respect at all but that's been clear for months and month....