memorial notes, 2025
market vibes
May 23…)
“I cannot command winds and weather.” Horatio Nelson
Many years ago, I wrote bitter and angry invectives about HRC and Obama; the forever wars, and trillions in debt to kill millions of innocent people overseas. I selfishly gave Bush a pass because I worked at the World Trade Center, and at the time, I was glad he hunted down Saddam and hanged him.
America was changing in those years, and I found fault with its changes every day. As I did, my writing grew tedious. The GFC, the transfer of losses from banks to the public, the Vampire Squids, QE and Fed speak. As the stock markets went ever higher, I was incensed by its injustice. It was fertile ground for me, a floor trader in gold and blinded by discontent with a new world that shut the commodity pits in favor of high-frequency trading.
Finally, some friends and readers said, “We like your writing, but we’re sick of the politics.” So, I stopped. When your friends say, “Bro, you gotta stop,” you either listen to them, or you lose them. But I didn’t stop thinking about politics; I just shut up about them. I concede, since Trump’s election, I have written about him often, and of course, he is a politician, so there is that.
The country is changing again. Americans say, “Our government is fighting wars; the people are not.” They say, “Our government is divided; the people are not.” Europe and Canada were once our allies. Now they are estranged, if not adverse. However, it is Memorial Day weekend, a time to honor those who served and died for us from The Revolution to present, among them, our soldiers and allies who fought in World War II, including the Russians who lost 27 million people.
Lord Halifax and Chamberlain were willing to sue for peace in 1940. The French had the strongest army in the world in terms of men and resources, but they didn’t have the will to use it. America sat on the fence of neutrality and charged the English for every sack of grain and teaspoon of gasoline, demanding payment in gold as the English withstood the blitz and fought battle of Britain…alone.
Finally, the Japanese attacked us in 1941. Then came the Korean War, Vietnam, 911 and twenty years of bloodshed in the Middle East. Ten trillion American dollars wasted. Is this now the world they died for? I say, “Yes, it is.”
The honor is on the battlefields where the cost of freedom is paid, and so too, in governements when needs must, as feckless and foolish as they seem. Occasionally great men lead us out of wars, not into them; Lincoln and Churchill come to mind. Of course, there are others, to many to list.
I am certain the reader has seen these clips, perhaps many times. I’ve posted them as a convenience, not to be pedantic or even instructive. I hope you enjoy them! If you have children (lol… you know who), you might share them.
So, speaking for myself this Memorial Day, as I give thanks for this beautiful nation and the freedoms I have, while cooking my cheeseburgers by the pool with beers, with friends, with family, safe and sound, and with deep appreciation for all my good fortune were it not for those who didn’t come back.
Have an excellent long weekend.
JJ
I was wounded in Afghanistan on Memorial Day 2011 but my friend Anthony Nunn lost his life on the side of that mountain that day. He was 19 years old from burnet tx. I appreciate yall having a beer for my friend this weekend
We’re a remarkable place and a people, aren’t we? Messy, argumentative, inefficient, overleveraged, unwilling to toe the line, and the prevailing cluster f*ck seems to worsen daily. Fully understand how it must frustrate some of the old world, what with all of those centuries of monarchical power keeping order. Certainly none of Sullivan Ballou, Abe Lincoln or (the fictional) Private James Francis Ryan had any idea that what they were defending would a few decades later manifest itself in Country Joe and the Fish speaking their piece. But the right of peaceful assembly? Petitioning for a redress of grievances? Pretty sure they knew they were fighting for that, which is what Country Joe, in his own style, was doing. I detest a lot of what I see from both of our political tribes, but I thank God that we’re free to openly duke it out amongst ourselves. Sincere thanks to any / all that serve and/or served to keep it that way. It may not look that way as we devour this weekend’s burgers and brats, but we know it doesn’t come for free. Thanks for posting those gems JJ. See you Tuesday morning.