Taking some time off. pl
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Caballero,
Adios y vaya con dios, Jefe.
Well deserved Dear Host, you are a prolific contributor. Sometimes there are up to three threads per day; I can’t keep up I don’t know how you do.
Thanks mate, don’t hurry back. We aren’t going anywhere.
Good rest, and Happy Thanksgiving.
Enjoy your all earned rest. SST is a pool of sanity in an ocean of unreality.
You deserve it. Enjoy it.
Have a good time. It is wait and see, anyway, so it’s wise to rest.
Thank you PL and Committee. I have learned so much, and have stopped reading Juan Cole daily, although I do like some of his sites material. I need info, not propaganda. You are where I go for that, I can’t think of any other site where you can find some truthiness. Are there any?
Enjoy your respite. Always good to recharge the
batteries from time to time as we do here in the
north country. Your energy level is amazing!!
Amen to that shaun. Truthiness much like nature, hates a vacuume. It will take root in the tiniest of cracks between monolithic boulders of spin and find a niche between the clouds and winds of hot air out there. SST is a thriving patch as such. If you look hard, there are other places that reveal some insight, though not as bold and forthright. Lots of dot connecting I reckon.
Colonel,
Enjoy your rest. “The shit seems to be on™” in Syria. Let us see what we will see.
Ishmael Zechariah
Pause yes…be a shame to see you stray too far..your call.
Honorable PL, thank you, bless you, for all that you do for us. SST indeed is a pool of clarity in the ocean of insane angry denial where I live (Berkeley CA). Praying for calm to descend, and for the greater good for all.
May your Thanksgiving be happy and restful!
Enjoy your time away. You will be missed.
Enjoy the Thanksgiving break! I expect you need it after this election drama. Thanks again for your effort running this site and to the committee for their contributions.
PL, I am troubled by Tyler’s words, translated: “Goodbye, go with God, chief”. Does he know something we don’t? It sounds so final.
That said, take an overdue break, sir. This maelstrom of current events is beginning to feel like Yeat’s widening gyre.
SST is a much needed safe harbor for a diversity of people from your fellow Americans to citizens from the far abroad.
We all owe you such a great debt of gratitude. Thank you so much for your perseverance and inspiration, Colonel.
Tyler,
Don’t give me nervous shocks.
I would have thought ‘hasta luego’ more appropriate.
Or perhaps the words of the end of term song we used to sing when I was very young – ‘God be with you till we meet again.’
Certainly, I do not think any of us can afford to see the ‘old soldier’ who runs SST either ‘die’, or ‘fade away’ any time soon.
The saying – which was used by MacArthur – actually comes from a British soldiers’ song from the First World War, which was recorded by a fascinating man called Eric Partridge.
Having grown up in New Zealand and Australia, he served in the Australian infantry in that conflict, at mildly risky places like Gallipoli and the Western Front. (A lot of the ‘Anzacs’, in both global conflicts, as also the Canadians, were really rather good at what they did.)
Later, Partridge wrote notable books on the songs and slang of the First World War British Army, and the history of British slang. (When I want to find out where either where quite a few words I use came from, or words in old books I read mean, I consult his ‘Dictionary of Historical Slang.’)
Following up the reference on Google turned up a piece which brings out how complex, and bizarre the real world actually is. It was in the ‘Nassau Guardian’, and its author was one ‘Arinthia S. Komolafe’.
(See http://www.thenassauguardian.com/opinion/op-ed/51308-old-soldiers-never-die .)
It seems to me that Komolafe understands the ambiguities of the song very well, and he also quotes the full text as recorded by Partridge:
“Old soldiers never die,/ Never die, never die,/ Old soldiers never die – /They simply fade away./Old soldiers never die,/Never die, never die,/Old soldiers never die – /Young ones wish they would.”
However, as a ‘congenital civilian’ it seems to me that there is here an obvious truth.
I would absolutely love it if there were ‘young ones’ with a relevant combination of military experience and knowledge of scholarship on military affairs, and experience of the Middle East and other parts of the world and knowledge of scholarship on these areas, who could take over from our host here.
But the blunt and extremely unpleasant truth is that they are not there. (Or, if they are, I have not yet managed to identify them.)
So we have to face facts.
The ‘old soldier’ will have to die in harness, like it or not.
I hope you’re doing well, take it easy.
Col
This is a good time to search for Bigfoot. This manual will help.
Good luck.
https://www.amazon.com/Bigfoot-Observers-Field-Manual-follow/dp/0937663158
Bonne perm’ , Colonel !
(in case it’s needed : that’s french military lingo for leave)
I think you have made a huge contribution with this site to peace. Thank you.
Relax! Enjoy! Smell the roses!
Sir
Enjoy your time off from SST. While we’ll miss you, I’d like to take this opportunity to wish you and your family a Happy Thanksgiving. This year we are hosting the extended family as well as a few friends. Instead of the usual turkey I plan to cook goose and rib roast.
Colonel, is this sudden time out due to an invitation to a penthouse suite in NY, no matter what i wish you the best.
Colonel:
Good idea to take some time off after a busy reporting season. I’d recommend grilling up some good steaks. I’m a Delmonico fan, but thanks to your worldly advice, I now know what a “calf fry” is!
We’ll still be here…
–Cieran
Good time to take a break after this most wild and entertaining election. We are in limbo until January when the real Mr.Trump will emerge from behind the facade of “The Donald” his manufactured and deliberately outrageous public persona. Then we shall see. Godspeed Colonel, enjoy Thanksgiving and hope you return reinvigorated to keep alive the national treasure that is SST.
As we say, “may your mouth have butter and sugar”. May your words prove true.
Colonel, As you take your break perhaps you have time to raise a celebratory glass or two James Clapper resigns as US director of national intelligence
Oh well that’s what comes of not reading with care – he was due to go in January anyway still his impending absence from a policy position where he has done damage to his country and its allies is good news.
Col, Being the optimist that I occasionally am (or maybe SciFi fan), I wonder if some cell of wisdom in the Trump transition team requested your perspective on “what the heck do we do NOW?!”. I realize it’s a long shot, but long shots can happen. In any event enjoy the unseasonably warm Fall – it makes for nice hikes and contemplation of the important rather than the immediate. All the best, & Cheers.
You’re taking time off at the same time there is an opening at the DIA. Hmmmm
Happy Thanksgiving (to all) and all the best to you and yours during your time off, Col. Lang. Though I do admit I’m hoping you are being consulted on the changes to the national security apparatus.
Sir,
Enjoy your holiday.
David
All
A burr under my saddle has been the attempted argument made by someone, I forget who it was that an agreement among states who control 271 electoral college votes could be used to overcome the mechanism of the electoral college itself. The idea being that these states would oblige their electors by law to vote for the winner in the national popular vote. This is interesting for a number of reasons. One is that the national popular vote has no legal status in national law. if you consult the Constitution of the United States you will find that the electoral college process is described in detail in Article 2. IOW there was never a time since 1789 when we had anything other than the electoral college system. Secondly the “plan” would probably require the electors of states that the winner in the national popular vote had not carried to vote for the national popular vote winner. In this election HC did not win in Texas. Florida, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan and Wisconsin. Does anyone think that Texans could be forced to vote for her merely because she won a national beauty contest? pl