Fred’s bar opened next door to a church and the priest prayed against it. Within weeks it burned down. Fred sued the church. He said that, in effect, the priest had burned down his bar using the power of prayer.
When the case came to court the priest denied all responsibility. This was a problem for the born-again judge who said;
And,
After reading a few Reacher novels they begin to feel like a warm blanket. Predictable and a lovely interlude in life’s rich pageant.
Reacher is a ‘righteous’ psychopath smashing people into pulp. Killing people in ever more ingenious ways. Wandering like a vagrant across the empty spaces of the USA. Having (many) temporary but wonderful affairs leaving scores of young women forever grateful in his wake. Having a phenomenal mathematical ability – like being able to calculate the speed of a car or bullet. Knowing the exact time without a watch. And so on…..
Wonderful. Compulsive.
The Enemy isn’t any of those things – though there are glimpses. The Enemy is a subtle clever book about the impact of the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. And especially the impact on the USA’s gigantic military machine. The transition from the geopolitics of the Cold War on the military. The end of the Cold War was great unless your career depended on its continuation. Wow and Double Wow.
Additionally, Child shows genuine talent as a novelist. This ‘thrilling thriller’ is brilliant and is warmly recommended.
A bullet from the back of a bush took Medgar Evers’ blood
A finger fired the trigger to his name
A handle hid out in the dark
A hand set the spark
Two eyes took the aim
Behind a man’s brain
But he can’t be blamed
He’s only a pawn in their game
A South politician preaches to the poor white man
“You got more than the blacks, don’t complain
You’re better than them, you been born with white skin,” they explain
And the Negro’s name
Is used, it is plain
For the politician’s gain
As he rises to fame
And the poor white remains
On the caboose of the train
But it ain’t him to blame
He’s only a pawn in their game
The deputy sheriffs, the soldiers, the governors get paid
And the marshals and cops get the same
But the poor white man’s used in the hands of them all like a tool
He’s taught in his school
From the start by the rule
That the laws are with him
To protect his white skin
To keep up his hate
So he never thinks straight
‘Bout the shape that he’s in
But it ain’t him to blame
He’s only a pawn in their game
From the poverty shacks he looks from the cracks to the tracks
And the hoof beats pound in his brain
And he’s taught how to walk in a pack
Shoot in the back
With his fist in a clinch
To hang and to lynch
To hide ‘neath the hood
To kill with no pain
Like a dog on a chain
He ain’t got no name
But it ain’t him to blame
He’s only a pawn in their game
Today Medgar Evers was buried from the bullet he caught
They lowered him down as a king
But when the shadowy sun sets on the one that fired the gun
You’ll see by his grave
On the stone that remains
Carved next to his name
His epitaph plain
“Only a pawn in their game”
Rex, the labrador, walked into the butchers carrying a £10 and a note, which read, “5 lamb chops, please.”
Jim the butcher served Rex with the chops and followed him. Rex waited for the green light at the crossing. Then he took a bus and ran home. At the door, Rex dropped the bag and threw himself against the door to attract attention.
Fred opened the door and shouted at Rex.
Jim said, “Why are you yelling? Rex is a genius.”
“Genius? This is the second time he’s forgotten his keys.”
“As you get older, you get smarter and that can hinder you because you try to gain control over the creative impulse. Creativity is not like a freight train going down the tracks. It’s something that has to be caressed and treated with a great deal of respect. If your mind is intellectually in the way, it will stop you. You’ve got to program your brain not to think too much.”
Cows in West Bengal must carry photo ID
Source: Here cattle also must have Photo ID proofs – Roots of Indian
Hat tip to Graham
Introduction
Medieval warfare ended on the 1st July 1916. The battle of the Somme began with British soldiers being used as human battering rams. Its failure was so devastating warfare transitioned into modernity.1 Modern warfare then pivoted from battlefields to slaughtering civilians.
Discussion
The attack began with a week-long bombardment of German positions. This was the prelude to a mass infantry advance across No Man’s Land. The Germans slaughtered British soldiers with machine guns.
First world war generals were notorious for being ‘bone-headed’. British soldiers said their army was, ‘Lions led by Donkeys’. But even the generals were shocked by the unprecedented carnage. On July 1st, the first day of the attack, the British suffered 57,470 casualties. They were volunteer soldiers fighting for ‘King and Country’.
Allied combatants plus the Germans suffered one million casualties during three and half months of battle. A third of all soldiers were casualties.3
The tactical failure of the Somme had a political outcome in Britain. David Lloyd-George become prime minister in 1916.4 The army were now under a powerful democratic leader. Pure attrition was abandoned and soldiers were supported with technology. Tanks were used from 1917, with chemical warfare – mustard gas – also in 1917. Carnage was unacceptable as a tactic. Attrition warfare is, ‘We’ve got more men than they have and so we can bleed them dry!’5
Modern warfare
The 1st of July 1916 ended medieval warfare. Warfare became technological. Battlefields became as quaint as castles and cavalry charges. Atrocities like Hiroshima, 1945, are factored into military thinking. The current Russia-Ukraine war is so technical that soldiers are a subsidiary to technology. Russia does include attacks by soldiers but they rely on drone attacks. These are designed to destroy civilian morale.
The battle of the Somme was the stepping stone to technological warfare.
Notes
1 Battle of the Somme – Wikipedia
2 This was open land between the trench systems
3 The incredibly powerful TV series Blackadder Goes Forth illustrates the despair that the soldiers had. Blackadder Goes Forth – Wikipedia
4 David Lloyd George – Wikipedia
5 Battle of Verdun – Wikipedia This battle lasted eleven months in 1916 and the intention was to bleed Germany dry. This was a French-German battle
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