Joe

I have grave difficulty with the concept of "Moslem rule". Of "radical Islam" or "Moslem Civilization". These are sweeping generalizations of the worst sort and somehow imply that there was a single guiding force that directed the course of events during the expansion of the Moslem world. This was simply not the case in the Islamic World and it was not the case in Christendom. The initial expansion of the Moslem world was one of buccaneering opportunism perpetrated by an assortment of characters, some of whom considered themselves to be caliphs, some were Sultans, and some were simply chieftains or good old fashioned war lords. It was not until the Turks created the Ottoman Empire that there was a single caliphate and from the death of Suleiman the Magnificent, the Ottoman Empire began to slowly lose its grip. The Barbary pirates, it should be remembered, were technically vassals (to use a European term) of the Ottoman Empire and were not independent countries in the European sense. One example of this chaos can be found around the Crusades. Having conquered Jerusalem and founding a Christian kingdom there, along with an assortment of outlying fiefdoms (with various names and occasionally conflicted loyalty), there was immediate friction with the Moslem powers. Slowly, the Islamic powers in the area began to move to dislodge the Crusader kingdom. Salah al Din did some very deft political and diplomatic maneuvering while he gathered the military strength which he finally used to reconquer Jerusalem. Having accomplished this feat, he removed himself and his family to Egypt where he established a successful dynasty of his own. The point here, is that neither Christian nor Moslem were unified politically or spiritually then, or for that matter, now. Are their violent radical Islamicists? Of course. Every religion has them. Informed students of these matters understand that Christendom has never been unified. Neither has Islam. To name only three Christian divisions, we have the Orthodox, the Catholic, and the Protestant; to name only three Islamic divisions there are the Sunni, the Shia, and the Sufi. It does not take a great deal of research into either faith to discover many other divisions. That is sort of the nature of humankind when it comes to these sorts of matters. Interestingly, I enjoyed algebra, and I believe that admiral is also an Arabic word. Two vastly differed disciplines. We are going to be locked in conflict with religious terrorists for a long time to come. But we need to focus coolly on the real problem and not go off half cocked as we are capable of doing. There, some sweeping generalizations of my own.

I think this is ghastly; I think it so because I cannot think of any other American presidential candidate who has been so thoroughly detested and I don't think this says anything good about us. What has the republican party come to? That so unworthy a candidate could possibly be nominated. That his utter worthlessness should be so grotesquely characterized. There used to be a certain amount of respect due the office and the people campaigning for it. We have apparently moved beyond that. We're not commenting on Taft's bathtub or Blaine's mendacity. I do not think that this is an improvement. I think trumps candidacy is obscene; but so is this statue and we'd have been better off without them.

My girls were not amused.

Every time he opens his mouth I hear echoes from The Origins of Totalitarianism which I read with great interest as an undergraduate and it terrifies me. I saw a clip on the news about one of his rallies where he had worked the crowd up and they were mindlessly shouting "trump, trump, trump, trump...." It was eerily similar to some other newsreels I've seen.

Yesterday, when the internet returned to service (we had a fire outage here in Lake County) I was horrified to read a news report of a seven year old boy attempting to sell his teddy bear so that he could buy food. This was in Ohio. He was standing outside a drugstore when he came to the attention of a police officer who went ahead and bought him some food while allowing him to retain his teddy bear. The appropriate agencies became involved and it was discovered that he had three brothers and all were living in incredible filth. The parents were arrested. Just when you think you've read every fictional horror about the abuse of children there could possibly be, real life jumps in with an improved version. I'm not sufficiently computer aware to post one of those address thingies, but even I could Google it. I also know there is such a thing as a paragraph, but this screen won't let me make one.

The captain of a destroyer used to like to play the "cavalry charge" over the pa when he pulled away from fueling or replenishing ship. Finally, someone with a deeper knowledge of naval customs, traditions and usages, told him that in the navy, that call meant "abandon ship". He had enough respect for tradition that he stopped sounding "abandon ship". This wasn't my ship but the Chief Gunner told me the story.

This is going to be a most interesting election cycle. I think that anyone who suspects Hillary of living in a "fluffy bunny" universe is sadly underestimating her. The selection of a southern politician who is clearly a progressive - by the standards of the south - demonstrates that Hillary is coming for the trump with knife points gleaming. Kaine is well thought of in Virginia and should be able to keep Virginia in the blue fold. He's a well thought of southerner so there's a good possibility that North Carolina, too, will be blue; Florida almost assuredly. Even Louisiana recently elected a Democrat as governor. I suspect that Hillary has modified Howard Dean's "50 state" strategy and is going to be working hard in the south and has a good chance of impacting down ballot offices. Whether we are talking about Indira Ghandi, Margaret Thatcher, or Hillary Clinton, it should be remembered that these women have succeeded in a realm not usually open to women. They were not successful by virtue of peaches and cream, sweetness and light, or fluffy bunnies. Hillary Clinton is tough and I suspect that her strategy is beginning to indicate that she intends to "Goldwater" the trump. If she can carry it off, the trumps defeat will be epic. The only person who can elect the trump is Hillary Clinton and she knows it. We live in interesting times and I'm enjoying it.

And Sheila is an interesting manifestation of the bully. There was nothing like her in my high school years. I think there will be some interesting episodes with her. A wonderful and enjoyable start. I'll be anxiously awaiting the next chapter.

Here's another book I'm trying to add to my library but read a long time ago and cannot remember title or author. The principal characters are in the Royal Navy during Edwardian times moving into WW I. One is a four ring captain in the RN who is tortured by his sexuality and resolves to end it all. During some situation at sea, he flings himself into the sea in the expectation that he will drown. However, a young sailor plunges into the sea and rescues his captain and their relationship develops from there. Later, the captain will serve heroically in a naval battle (I think it was some kind of a raid) and would have received the Victoria Cross except somehow, his sexuality became known and the decoration refused him as he was gay. I hope this rings a bell with someone out there so I can reread this excellent story. Best, Joe

Batshit crazy.

I don't think I'd make too many comparisons of the Brexit vote and the status of the US electorate. The US electorate is far more diverse than that of the UK and that bodes ill for Trump. Whom I've seen described as a "spoon", among other choices descriptions by UK folks. It's great, though possibly a slur on the noble spoon. If memory serves, the Republican party their ownest-own selves said they had to get at least 35% of the Hispanic vote to have any chance at the White House. They'll be lucky to get 10%. They'll be luck to get 10% of the Afro-American vote. They'll get their radical base but they'll lose everything else by double digits and the Democrats will hold the White House, probably take the senate back, and seriously reduce the Republican majority in the house

Cole, Thanks for the clarification and apologies for misconstruing your comments. I'm afraid I see no interest among the nations of that region to move in the direction you prescribe so I leapt to a typically imperial notion that we'd better do it for them and I don't think that's possible, even assuming it's a good idea. A hundred years or more ago, the Taliban was alive and well in Afghanistan, though they called them "Ghazis" then. Doesn't seem like there's been much progress. Oh well, festina lente I guess. Cheers,

Christopher Hitchens questioned the issue of "despair" and pointed out that the jihadist screeds left by many of the suicide bombers did not reflect anything remotely resembling "despair". Certainly, I do not think that we could list "despair" as a motivation for the kamikaze bombers of the Second World War. I have yet to hear anyone suggest "despair" as among the motivators for Orlando. I think the answer is more complex, and more evil, and more religious, than that. I like the solution, and would point out that there was a Golden Age for Islam that was rather ruthlessly stamped out by fundamentalists. That is a good solution, but how would we even consider implementing it and, are "we" even capable of implementing it. Sounds rather imperial to me.

A Fed is reported to have said the investigation is being conducted with terrorism suspected. Apparently another example of fundamentalist religion at work.

I recently upgraded to "10" and it was horrible. In the first place, the download easily provided didn't work. So having decided to proceed, I had to go to MS & have one of their helpers install the miserable thing. Then, all of my favorites, or book marks, disappeared, so I had to go back to the helper to get my favorites recovered; then it was the mail that wouldn't work and so, for the third time I was on hold while a helper, this one an actual person that I could talk to, figured out how to make the mail work. It was a miserable experience. I'm going to explore the possibility of shifting to Apple. I like my Apple phone. I loath MS. I was perfectly happy with XP, but then I had to upgrade that when they would no longer service or support it. I upgraded to 7 and noticed no improvement. One of the reasons that motivated me to upgrade to 10 was what they did to me with XP. And again, I detect no improvement. I do not pretend to know what might be motivating MS though Larkin does have some ideas that are certainly food for thought, but it may just be arrogance. Whatever it is, I'm going to get rid of it in the foreseeable future.

Cole has it right. We need to face the past and learn from it. But we seem unable to do that. We couldn't even learn the lessons from our entrance into what became the Vietnam War in time to avoid the Iraq War. Sanitizing is a form of censorship that is bad for all of us. I see where a southern university (I think Kentucky, but haven't checked) is removing the statue of an anonymous Confederate soldier from it's current location on campus. What a genius solution, now the war will become one step closer to romantic mythology because we don't have to think about it, or be reminded about it. I quite agree that slavery is, and was, an unmitigated evil; but does that mean we're going to have to dynamite the Washington Monument? We need to stop trying to view the past through the ubiquitous rose colored glasses. Along the same lines, I think that Confederate veterans in VA cemeteries should be honored with Confederate flags. But the flag should be a national flag, and not the Confederate battle flag. If they used the Stars and Bars it would probably go unnoticed since I suspect a lot of contemporary Americans would have no idea what it was. Censorship is wrong and it is wrong whether it is inspired by the right or the left. And, for the record, my antecedents are Yankee and include a veteran from an Indiana Regiment.

Hi Des, I'm interested to hear your experience as I've enjoyed all your stories. I grew up in the "cow counties" of Eastern Nevada. Television was alive and well at the time, only not where I lived. So I too grew up listening to stories on the radio: "Gunsmoke" and the "Shadow"; they were wonderful as I recall. But I also read a chapter a night of Sherlock Holmes until I'd read the entire series whereupon I read them again. It was kewl (as they say). Physically I was on the high desert and the wind was moaning and the snow was falling; but actually, I was in Victorian England and the game was afoot. I've not been able to warm to Shakespeare. A combination of mediocre teachers and a high turnover thereof caused me to be subjected to ​Julius Caesar ​four times and I've never recovered. Does anyone remember Shulkers "Sekatary Hawkins" series? I remember them as great and they had great titles: ​Stoner's Boy​, The Gray Ghost​, ​Stormie the Dog Stealer​, and others. My Mom had enjoyed them when she was a kid and I loved them too. I don't have them anymore as my bibliophilia had not yet manifested itself and my Mom gave them to a cousin. A great topic. I'm going to go see if Shuklers work is even in print.

Chris, So I'm sure you know of Lt Cushing who used the same type of "spar" torpedo to sink ​CSS Albermarle ​one dark night. Happily for him, his "torpedo boat" was on the surface so Cushing was able to swim for it unlike the poor lads on the ​Hunley. Joe

Nigel, I loved Trustee from the Toolroom and thought it was a wonderfully patient story as it tied everything together in a very precise manner. You might also try Richard McKenna. Best known for the ​Sand Pebbles h​e also wrote some good short stories, "Left Handed Monkey Wrench" pops to mind. ​ ​ Chris R, I do not know who fired the first submarine launched torpedo, but it wasn't von Trapp. He was in command of a training boat in the opening months of the war and was not engaged in combat. It was not until he took command of SM U-5 that he scored his first victory and he assumed command of SM U-5 on 17 April 1915. By this time, Otto Weddigen had already scored the first great submarine victory by sinking three British armoured cruisers on 22 September 1914. I love ships so have a basic dis-enthusiasm for submarines. The Austrian Navy has a first and a last that are noteworthy. The Austrian Navy was involved in the last battle on the high seas between opposing fleets of wooden ships. A tactical defeat that was a strategic victory in the war against Denmark. And was victorious in the first battle on the high seas between opposing fleets of ironclads. The Austrian commander in both incidents was Wilhelm von Tegetthoff one of the most sparkling late 19th century fighting admirals. Von Trapp's memoir was translated into English and published in 2007, it was originally published in German in 1935. Von Trapp's grand daughter was instrumental in the reissue. About the only decent history of the Austrian Navy that I'm aware of is Sokol's ​The Imperial and Royal Austro-Hungarian Navy both are good reads if you like naval history.​

Well, he commenced portentously, I bought all the Harry Potter series and frequently read them in public. Still capable of youthful evasion, I refused to read the final volume as I sensed Rowling was going all homicidal and I wasn't interested in a final resolution. I gave my set to my grandson, upon whom I dote, and he read them; I then gave him the first Percy Jackson series, after I read it of course, and he devoured them and is well into the second series of episodes (Roman) and is eager for the third (Egyptian). He has routinely embarrassed his teacher when it comes to mythology. I'm hoping to get him started on Stroud's ​The Bartimaeus Trilogy as soon as he's ready. I also read Nevil Shute's work when young. I was deeply impressed because Shute was an extremely capable engineer and had participated in the construction of the highly successful British dirigible R100 so was even more credible than your basic novelist. I discovered many things when reading as a youth; I'm still fascinated by dirigibles, and Austria once had a navy. I deployed the Austrian Navy against one of my teachers at the time and discovered that teachers weren't all that knowledgeable. I read and try to write youthful fiction, largely I suspect, because I made such a hash of it when I was young. I get to do things over again. I don't think I'm the only one who is motivated in this way. ​

Definitely not Kipling. I'm conversant with him and my favorite Raj story is "Drums of the Fore and Aft" which always brings a tear to my eye. I've most of Kipling's work. Not Masters either. I've his autobiographical works and at least one novel. Masters served with the Ghurkas and later with the Chindits and Slim. Not a cavalryman. Thanks for the effort.

More years ago than I care to count, I idly pulled a book from the library stacks and took it home to read with a pile of other books. I loved it and read it twice. Of course, the author and title are now buried deep in my subconscious (I think that's what happens) so I'm unable to easily add it to my little library and I very much want to do so. Having been successful in my previous search, I thought I'd try again. The story takes place between WW I and WW II in British India. It tells the story of a young boy, and his sister I think. They are the children of the colonel of a regiment of lancers in the regular army. The boy is young enough that he is still at home, but being sent off to England for school is looming in his immediate future. The colonel is preoccupied by the problems associated with combining his regiment with another regiment of lancers. I think, but am not at all sure, that the result of this combination was the 20th/21st Lancers. Certainly it was one of those "fractured" numbers that used to drive the American brass to distraction. And of course, these numbers do not relate to a genuine regiment; of if they do, then my memory is wrong with respect to the numbers, though there are/were some cavalry regiments that retained the number of both regiments in the new title. Students of the British Army will understand that regimental identities are far more important in the British Army than in most other lesser armies. Our hero has a number of adventures and at some point, the bite of the cobra rears it's hooded head. If anyone remembers this story, I'd be delighted to hear from them. Thanks in advance...

It certainly gripped me with the first paragraph and has maintained it's hold. I'll be none too patiently awaiting the subsequent chapters.

Well said by Rutabaga. Beautifully written as always and the choir involvement is a great touch that helps to develop the characters. I think that we are entering a time when something like this could very well happen.

I recall that the Murdock press breathlessly reported that over 100 FBI agents were investigating this matter. Then it turned out that the number was actually 14 (if memory serves) which seems appropriate for a high profile case and most of them are probably technical support personnel and not actual agents. I've also heard it breathlessly compared to the Petraeus scandal, which of course it is not. So I suspect the matter will ultimately vanish with a whimper and will be believed only by the Whitewater/Benghazi circus who never give up and generally subscribe to abstinence only sex education and a 6000 year old Earth among their many delusions.