I am learning a lot and thinking about things I never thought of while reading Volume 1 of Ian Toll’s trilogy about the war in the Pacific, titled Pacific Crucible. I had read about Pearl Harbor, even visited there, but I really had not focused on the same points as now.
Obviously, I knew the date of the attack, that it was a surprise, that our Navy was virtually destroyed, and, of course, about ”the day that will live in infamy”.
However, why was it a surprise, why were all our ships lined up next to each other so it was like shooting fish in a bottle, where did the Japanese come from to stage the attack, why did we not see the Japanese coming even an hour or a few minutes before the attack, and where did they go after the attack? These are just some of the issues that I am thinking about as I go back to college and reallly begin to learn things that I now realize I should have known decades ago. Better late than never is the best I can do right now!
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Only Scott Rolen made the baseball Hall of Fame. He did so by the hair on his chinny-chin- chin.
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Because of tides, our ship has speeded up to get to Easter Island a day early. There is still no guarantee that we will be able to land as we go in on tenders.
We had another very pleasant day at sea. Doing much better on the treadmill after five straight days in the gym.
Barbara is happier now that she has yoga on a regular basis. She eats out of our cabin so seldom that a sighting of her is akin to seeing a bald eagle fly over the ship.
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At least Republican House members have already announced they will not support McCarthy’s denying Omar a seat of the Foreign Relations Committee. Yesterday I predicted the new Speaker better be careful or he will go down in flames before he gains any traction whatsoever.
McCarthy did, as he has the right to do, refuse to seat two very experienced Democrats on the Select Intelligence Committee. This is pure retribution, which we can expect to see a lot of. The fact that McCarthy has weakened our Country with his pettiness appears irrelevant.
For those blind Republicans, keeping Republicans off committees “for cause” is different than keeping Democrats off committees “for no cause other than to get even".
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Now they have found that Mike Pence has some classified documents. Guess a special prosecutor has to look at the situation. However, it appears that Pence, like Biden but unlike Trump, is fully cooperating , and he should also be exonerated. Most likely, based upon what we know so far, both Biden and Pence inadvertently took classified documents. Neither do I categorize as a thief. Trump, I do.
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In anticipation of being in Chile, all the passengers are being tested for Covid in a few hours.
Tonight, Barbara and I are having dinner with the General Manager at Keller’s. He is Italian so we will be very comfortable. Barbara continues to try to teach herself the language. She knows lots of words and lots of grammar. However, she thinks in English and then translates, and it is better to think in Italian.
Sometimes, knowing a small faction of what Barbara knows, I do better. The reason: she wants to be perfect. I just want to be understood. Hell, my English is not perfect so why should my Italian be?
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For those living in South Florida, particularly Broward County, Runway 84, a longtime popular Southern Italian eatery, reopens today. The one place I am waiting for to reopen is the Mai Kai, but I understand that reopening is further delayed.
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Thank you son Steven for overseeing the tenting of our house while we are away.
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Market futures are down over 200. Street did not like Microsoft’s earnings report after the bell yesterday.
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See you tomorrow. At least that is my plan.
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Go Ukraine