National Shit-Yer-Pants Day

When I think of the aftermath of 9/11/2001, I think of all that we willingly threw away. We threw away our right to morally object to another nation's war of aggression when the Bush Administration invaded Iraq. We threw away many of our civil liberties with the abysmally-named "USA Patriot Act". That piece of excreable lesiglation, among many other things, authorized "sneak-and-peek" searches, where the cops could legally sneak into your home and look for things that might justify a formal search. Over 99% of the "sneak-and-peek" searches had nothing to do with terrorism.

We had the FBI doing what they do best: Ginning up terroism cases based solely on egging on someone with a loud mouth and few brain cells. The FBI concentrated on locking up Achmed the Blowhard while refusing to look into the neo-Nazis and their ilk who were actually killing people. But to be fair, the FBI and the DHS (a Soviet-style security apparatus if there ever was one) were hampered in looking into far-Right terrorism because the GOP, even pre-Trump, recognized them as being part of their base.

We commemmorate a day when the intelligence agencies failed without acknowledging that they had all the tools and information that they needed before the attacks without giving them more power to further harass us. We commemmorate a day which happened after then then-sitting president was more interested in getting back to his golf game than being briefed on the therat that was posed. We commemmorate a day which was used as an excuse to launch a war of aggression that destabilized a region and which we are still dealing with. We commemorate a day which resulted using torture to prove a crime.

We criticize other nations for overreacting to a terrorist attack without ever having done a single thing to hold those who overreacted here to account for their actions. History may not judge the Bush Admininstration for having a discussion in the White House about using torture, but it's clear that we won't.

As I see it, there is little today that is worth commemmorating. Mourning would be more appropriate.

Israel's Reaction to the Hamas Attack of 10/7/2023 and A Look Back to 9/11/2001

I have read and seen a lot of stuff in the paper, on the TV and online decrying Israel's pummeling of Gaza. So let's take a short trip down memory lane, shall we?

2,977 people were killed in the 9/11 attack. Many more died as a result of cleaning up the debris of the World Trade Center.[1] In the aftermath, we not only drove the Taliban out of Afghanistan,[2] we invaded and defeated another country that had nothing to do with 9/11.[3]

The casualty figures of that misbegotten invasion are disputed. But it is safe to say that hundreds of thousands of civilians were killed. When "excess deaths" are computed, the butcher's bill is likely around a million or so.

A million people, all innocent, who were killed because we invaded a country based on no good goddamn reason, other than Darth and Chimpy wanted to do it. Besides that. two million or so people fled the country as refugees. Two million more were displaced internally, "internal refugees" if you will.

Not to mention that more Americans were killed there than who died on 9/11/01. The arrogance of American mercenaries resulted in a brutal battle that levelled a city.[4] The actions of soldiers guarding a prison became a further stain on American honor.[5]

A country that was a counterweight to Iran became, more or less, an Iranian puppet state. Terrorists took over a portion of the country, necessitating even more military involvement.[6]

All of that, the entire parade of horribles, came from American overreaction to 9/11. The reverberations from that overreaction will persist for decades to come. The consequences of that overreaction have been largely met with a collective shrug by the American people.[7], [8] So it's not as though we are standing on high ground when we criticize Israel's war against Gaza.
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[1] Most of those because of their own obstinacy. Though advised to wear respiratory protection, most refused. While at the Pentagon cleanup, which was a military project, the workers were ordered to wear respiratory protection and, as a result, the incidence of respiratory problems was very low.
[2] Temporarily.
[3] Iraq.
[4] The Battle of Mosul.
[5] Abu Ghraib Prison.
[6] ISIS.
[7] Though the senior members of the Bush Administration have since been scrupulously avoiding foreign travel in order to avoid being arrested on war crimes charges.
[8] A number of other countries also participated for their own reasons. So they own a piece of this, too.

Cowardice in Oz

In essence, it'll be damn near impossible to build a new synagogue in Australia because of the risk of terrorist attacks.

The Shitting-Our-Drawers crowd has, heretofore, been crying about mosques and cemeteries being built.

The Aussies are taking pants-shitting to an entirely new level. Their reasoning could also be used to ban the construciton of any religious facility, or a dance hall, a theater, or a bar.

People need to be getting a grip.