boxingfanmanic

I was saddened to see no one commemorate the 4th of July in these notes. The parallels with Ukraine are noteworthy -- perhaps Zalensky (spelling uncertain) is Ukraine's Washington, or Jefferson, or Franklin.
What strikes me the most this year is the incredible courage of those who against overwhelming odds fight on day after day for the freedom of a people. We've seen it succeed in this country, and watched in helpless grief at it fail in Syria. I hope Ukraine will be the US, at least as the US was intended.
It takes something special in enough certain people to see a republic flourish, or even to achieve one. Those who begin the journey know with some degree of certainty that they will surely die in the process, and that if their enemies reach them, they will be murdered in their beds, their homes and families destroyed, perhaps achieving nothing. "Our lives, our fortunes, our sacred honor...."
As we remember those who gave all for all of us, let's send our goodwill, our weapons and our greenbacks to help others along the way. Perhaps that is the most fitting remembrance of all.

Congratulations to NATO for belatedly doing the right thing in sending heavy weaponry to Ukraine. One only wonders how many lives might have been saved if they hadn't stood by watching for more than two months.

Recently, I've been re-reading all of Dostoyevsky. Last week, I saw an article about Putin, which listed D as one of his favorite authors. This struck me as exceedingly odd, given that in the last two books I've read, a main character, described as an intellectual, did "the only logical thing he could do."

That logic was as follows: Since the Russian is such an inferior class of human being, and since no solution could be seen to raise him to the standards of the rest of the world, the only logical choice is suicide.

If only.....

Well, it's that time of year again. Time for large numbers of largely vapid people engaging in mass self-congratulation. "You were so wonderful! Who are you wearing?" -- as if an actual designer was hung somewhere about the interviewee, peering around to get a glimpse of the admiring glances. Mind, they're asking these mindless people about clothes the average person could never afford, and which they haven't had to actually purchase. Meanwhile, they're draped in enough bling to send your entire neighborhood's children to college for four years -- which, unlike the clothing, usually has to be returned. Of course, you're being asked to watch this orgy of self-aggrandizement as you hunt through the couch for enough loose change to fill your gas tank again. The only time any of them come up for air is at the actual podium -- when they want to tell you how woke they are and how you should vote -- because, obviously, they have everything in common with the common folk.
I think I'll just say no, and prop up my $10K slippers on the barcalounger and try to decide between the Rolls and the Bentley for my next vacay.....
Let's go, Brandon.

I'm sure there were others, but I was never so proud of my hometown -- Dallas -- as to see it lit up in blue and yellow for Ukraine. I know this site originates in Poland, and I know Poland is bracing for an influx of Ukrainian refugees -- thank you to the good people of Poland for their willingness to help, and let's all decry naked aggression by various countries whenever it occurs.