IT WAS OVER

An entire generation of young men came to the end of a stupid war that cost them their lives and well-being. It finally came to an end in the 11th month on the 11th day at the 11th hour and you know there was some rat bastard out there shooting right up until the cease fire took effect in 1918.

Once the slaughter was over the French went to work to guarantee that the Germans would only slake their hatred with the blood of Frenchmen even if it took another generation for them to recover from the wounds inflicted by the 'peace' of Versailles.

Today is the day we remember the ones who fought for this country. When I was a boy it took the form of parades and yeah I even remember seeing some of the surviving doughboys march by when I was a boy in Carlisle. They were wearing the uniforms they had been issued some 45 years before but they were still spry enough to march in the line with the new veterans home from the war in Indo-China and with the veterans from the Korean War, World War II and the Cold War as  it slowly consumed men and wealth stolen from 3 generations in a fight so many idiots are eager to recapitulate and so bring about more human misery and suffering as they convince themselves and the other people too stupid to live, that socialism/communism/fascism is just the thing for fixing America.

It's enough to make a grown man cry. You see, the Cold War ended as it was foredoomed to end with the failure of every single communist state as each fell so far behind the West that there was no hope of competing. They're all nation states now and each seems bent on wiping out the vestiges of what ruined them for over 50 years, even Russia. The stubborn holdout is Cuba which is slowly starving to death because they chose a form of government so fucked up it cannot even feed its people on a tropical island paradise. They have been joined by the likes of Venezuela and that is quickly circling the drain as it is emptied of wealth, people and prosperity and looted by the victors who took power in their last 'free and fair' elections.

It is aggravating to watch the Democrats do everything in their power to make an enemy out of Russia which is barely a tithe of America. Russia still has the means to wage thermonuclear war but lacks both the will and any reason for waging such a war.

Interesting times now but hopefully our soldiers, sailors, marines and airmen will finally knock the dust of Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria and Africa from their boots and come home to stay. And with them will probably come most of our armed forces in Europe's old countries of what used to be the NATO alliance. It's been a long time since NATO meant anything at all and it's probably time to push it into the dustbin of history alongside the Washington Naval Treaties, the Kellog-Briand Pact and the League of Nations.