We normally generate a “Weather Report” each week as a means not of “informing” or “convincing.” It is intended to be a stream of information in which some smaller stories are advancing in emphasis to the media that now surrounds us. We are trying to to keep track of the various post-Colonial conflicts, America’s vulnerabilities, and the specific event of the elections here this fall.

Our favorite for summing up this week is one that is frankly unbelievable. There is so much that intrudes on that category that we have to mention a series of single-family events that seem to typify everything else. This one was the continuing story of apparently carniverous canines at the residence of the First Family.

“Commander” is the name of the German Shapherd in question. The report this week was of two dozens snarling, bitiing attacks on- no, not intruders. The Secret Service was the target of the biting, and not a one-off. Two dozen attacks were referenced in the reporting. This is a follow-on pet to another German Shepherd named “Major,” who was given a vacation in Delaware after a string- unknown number- of similar incidents.

We will not make anything in particular about it. Except it would have been addressed otherwise in every US jurisdiction as a public health hazard.

The rest of it? The two wars we hear about continue. Both had some developments this week. The Russians knocked out a US-provided M-1 Abrams battle tank. We have not heard who was operating the vehicle, and if it was a Ukrainian crew, it is just a cost of providing aid to a nation invaded from the East. There have been no reports of injuries or identities of the crew, so it is just another in the blob of warfare. The Russians continue to slowly push west, and the Ukrainians are attempting to fill the gaps with soldiers.

In the Red Sea, the Houthi Rebels hit the merchant vessel Rubymar. It is reported adrift and sinking, with the symbolic translation of the ship’s name being “Red (ruby) Sea (mar). The Houthis also have cut some of the oceanic cables that carry commercial data between fiscal and business centers. This will disrupt lines communication already under threat. No events from the other Iran-sponsored belligerent, Hamas, operating from what used to be Lebanon to the north.

The most curious story of all of them is a 25 year-old USAF airman who burned himself to death in front of the Israeli Embassy on the other side of the river here in DC. His story was initially just horrifying- a quotation of the Buddhist monks who immolated themselves in Vietnam during that conflict. Apparently the young man believed the Israelis are conducting something called “genocide” against the Palestinian people.

We know, we know. A real brutal campaign of that sort victimized millions of people in Europe. And wasn’t it a splinter group of murderers who swept across the border from Gaza last October in the first invasion of Israeli territory in 50 years? Didn’t that attack result in 1,139 Israeli deaths? Another 250 Israeli civilians and soldiers were kidnapped to Gaza, including 30 kids. We do not claim to understand how the reasoning works, and stand only for the principals of peace. But the current discussion appears to ignore what happened last October 7th, and there are those who seem to wish for the cruelty and madness to continue.

So, that is just this week. We could wander more deeply into controversies about new stadiums and illegal aliens who have breached our border and murdered our own young women, but enough is enough for this week.

It will be interesting to see how this all resolves itself, won’t it? Enjoy the first tendrils of Spring. The tantalizing ones, filled with false promise. The real deal of Spring is still a month away.

Copyright 2024 Vic Socotra
www.vicsocotra.com