Is there a “drone” in your future? Indubitably!

What’s a drone? The first definition of a drone is a male honeybee that has no sting and gathers no honey. Then there’s the definition of a parasite that lives on the labors of others. The drone I’m wondering about coming soon into all our lives is an unmanned aircraft or ship guided by remote control. Indubitably.

What’s indubitably? That means something that’s too evident to even be doubted.

In Afghanistan, and especially in Pakistan, and Yemen where the U.S. is supposedly not at war, remote controlled drone aircraft have been doing a lot of the war’s “heavy lifting,” that is killing targets without even the possibility of casualties by U.S. military forces. In war terms, that’s like going to Heaven without having to die. Continue reading →

Like most people in this country I remember distinctly what I was doing on September 11, 2001. I was on my way back from the U.N. World Conference Against Racism in Durban, South Africa. I was sitting in BJ’s at the Johannesburg airport–that’s tucked between the “Juicy Lucy” and the “Chicken Licken” franchises there. The South Africans seemed to have perfected the U.S. gimmick of cutesy names for food franchise business names…but I digress.

I saw something on a nearby television monitor that made me spring to my feet. It was about 3:30 p.m. local time–9:30 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time–and it was a Tuesday. Over and over again CNN was showing an airplane crashing into the World Trade Center. Panic and confusion were the order of the day, soon even in South Africa. Continue reading →

The recent visit by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin “Bibi” Netanyahu to Washington and his White House visit with President Barack “Barry” Obama made for an interesting mating ritual, if you will.

The “special relationship” between the U.S. and Israel was reaffirmed, but not before some icy stares and sharp words were exchanged between the two leaders.

Netanyahu has some distinct advantages. He is fluent in English, while Obama speaks little, if any Hebrew. In some American circles the Prime Minister is more popular than the President. Obama’s State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress received only 25 standing ovations, while Netanyahu’s speech before the same body received 29 such rounds of applause.

It’s kind of reminiscent of President Herbert Hoover’s standing in 1930. When baseball legend George Herman “Babe” Ruth was asked by a reporter what he thought of his yearly salary of $80,000 (equivalent to $1.05 million in current dollars) being more than President Hoover’s $75,000. The Bambino responded: “I know, but I had a better year than Hoover.” Continue reading →

Imagine an espionage defendant convicted of a crime in which no classified documents or information was compromised. Now, imagine five such defendants.

Imagine a group of pro-Castro Cubans standing trial for espionage, in Miami, Florida, of all places, where hundreds of thousands of anti-Castro, Cuban exiles reside. There is an African proverb which describes their plight: “In a court of fowls, the cockroach never wins his case.”

Imagine such a Kangaroo Court where the principles of law and justice are disregarded and perverted, but just to make sure things go their way, the government made extensive payments to Miami journalists covering the trial of the five men, in order to manipulate public opinion against the defendants.

Sounds like a Banana Republic, and not the Good Old U.S. of A., doesn’t it? Continue reading →