...rages on and Iran is toast.
I could list the overwhelming damage done to their army, air force, navy, weapons infrastructure and leadership, but it would take way too long.
Suffice to say they are defenseless and the end is near, but like the Japanese in WWII, they seem determined to fight to the death.
We're happy to accommodate, but there are 90 million Iranian citizens - who are doing <the Trump dance> in the streets, thanking both America and Israel for liberating them -
- so we're pressing what's left of Iran's leadership for unconditional surrender instead of total annihilation.
Would be nice for those folks who have been living under oppression to have a country left that could leave the 7th century behind and join civilization.
In the next few days oil tankers - with US Navy escorts - will begin moving through the Strait of Hormuz again.
Since 20% of the world's oil flows through there, the world will breathe a sigh of relief, the stock markets will rebound, and no one will care what happens to the world's biggest state sponsor of terror.
And for the history illiterates and anti-semites among us (read: democrats)...
...who claim this is an unjust war against a nation that has done no harm, consider:
A summary of terrorist attacks and military actions against US Persons carried out by Iran and Iranian-backed terrorist groups since 1979
November 1979–January 1981: Iranian students, backed by the new revolutionary government in Tehran, seize the U.S. Embassy in Tehran and take 66 Americans hostage for 444 days, demanding the return of the deposed Shah for trial.
April 1983: A suicide car bombing at the U.S. Embassy in Beirut kills 63 people, including 17 Americans. The Iran-backed group Islamic Jihad (a precursor to Hezbollah) claims responsibility.
October 1983: Hezbollah operatives drive a truck bomb into the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut, killing 241 U.S. service members (including 220 Marines) and wounding dozens more. This remains one of the deadliest attacks on U.S. forces in history and leads to the U.S. withdrawal from Lebanon.
December 1983: Hezbollah operatives bomb the U.S. Embassy in Kuwait City with an explosives-filled dump truck. No Americans are killed, but the attack targets U.S. interests in the region.
March 1984: Terrorists kidnap CIA Beirut station chief William Buckley, torturing him before killing him in 1985. Islamic Jihad claims responsibility.
December 1984: Hezbollah terrorists hijack Kuwait Airways Flight 221, divert it to Tehran, and kill two American USAID officials.
June 1985: Hezbollah hijacks TWA Flight 847 from Athens to Rome, killing a U.S. Navy diver and holding passengers hostage for 17 days.
July 1989: Hezbollah kills U.S. Marine Corps Col. William Higgins after kidnapping him in 1988 during a UN peacekeeping mission in Lebanon.
April 1995: An explosives-laden van attacks a bus near Kfar Darom in Gaza, killing one American. Palestinian Islamic Jihad claims responsibility.
August 1995: A Hamas suicide bomber detonates on a bus in Jerusalem's Ramat Eshkol, killing one American and wounding others.
February 1996: A Hamas suicide bomber attacks a Jerusalem bus, killing three Americans and wounding three more.
March 1996: A suicide bombing at Tel Aviv's Dizengoff Center wounds two Americans. Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad both claim responsibility.
May 1996: Gunmen kill an American-Israeli dual citizen in the West Bank community of Beit El. Suspected links to Hamas or Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
June 1996: A truck bomb at Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia kills 19 U.S. airmen and injures hundreds. Iran-backed Hezbollah al-Hijaz is responsible.
September 1997: Hamas suicide bombers attack Jerusalem's Ben Yehuda mall, killing one American-Israeli dual citizen and wounding seven other Americans.
August 1998: With Hezbollah assistance, al-Qaeda bombs U.S. Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, killing 12 Americans among 224 total deaths.
August 2001: A Hamas suicide bomber attacks Sbarro pizzeria in Jerusalem, killing three Americans (including dual citizens).
September 11, 2001: Iran facilitates transit for al-Qaeda members, including some future 9/11 hijackers, into and out of Afghanistan.
January 2002: Gunmen from the Iran-backed al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade kill one American-Israeli dual citizen in the West Bank.
July 2002: A Hamas bomb at Hebrew University in Jerusalem kills five American students.
June 2003: A Hamas bus bombing in Jerusalem kills one American.
October 2003: Iran-backed Popular Resistance Committees bomb U.S. diplomatic personnel in Gaza, killing three.
2003–2011: Iranian-backed militias in Iraq kill at least 603 U.S. troops using explosives and other weapons.
August 2003: A Hamas bus bombing in Jerusalem kills five Americans.
August 2006: Hezbollah kills American-Israeli dual citizen Michael Levin, an IDF soldier, during the Second Lebanon War.
January 2007: IRGC-Quds Force operatives disguised as U.S. soldiers attack a U.S. facility in Karbala, Iraq, killing five U.S. soldiers.
July 2014: Hamas kills two Americans serving in the IDF during Operation Protective Edge in Gaza.
October 2015: Hamas drive-by shooting kills an American citizen and his wife in the West Bank.
December 2019: Kataib Hezbollah rockets kill one U.S. contractor and wound U.S. and Iraqi personnel at K1 base in Iraq.
January 2020: Iran launches ballistic missiles at Ain al-Asad airbase in Iraq, causing traumatic brain injuries to over 100 U.S. troops.
March 2020: Former FBI agent Robert Levinson, who disappeared in Iran in 2007, is believed to have died in Iranian custody.
September 2020: U.S. intelligence uncovers an Iranian plot to assassinate the U.S. Ambassador to South Africa.
February 2021: Iran-backed militia rocket in Erbil, Iraq, wounds one U.S. service member and four contractors.
July 2021: Iranian-backed militias launch rocket and drone attacks on U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria, wounding two U.S. service members.
September 2022: Iranian rocket attack kills an American citizen in Iraqi Kurdistan.
November 2022: An IRGC captain orchestrates the killing of an American citizen in Baghdad.
March 2023: Iranian drone strikes a U.S. base in Syria, killing one American contractor and wounding five service members and another contractor.
October 7, 2023: Hamas massacre in southern Israel kills at least 48 Americans and kidnaps 12.
December 2023: Iran-backed Iraqi militia drone attack in Erbil wounds three U.S. soldiers, one critically.
January 2024: Kataib Hezbollah drone kills three U.S. soldiers in Jordan and wounds over 40.
October 2024: Iran executes U.S. permanent resident Jamshid Sharmahd on terrorism charges.
October 2023–November 2024: Iran and proxies conduct over 180 attacks on U.S. forces in the Middle East, wounding more than 180 and killing three U.S. service members.
November 2024: U.S. charges an Iranian national and two Americans for plotting to assassinate President Trump.
March 2025: U.S. jury convicts two Iranian agents for plotting to assassinate Iranian-American journalist Masih Alinejad in New York (planned in 2022).
June 2025: Missile or drone attacks, likely by Iranian-backed militias, target at least three U.S. bases in Syria and two in Iraq.
Iran, through direct action, and through backing other terrorist groups, is responsible for the deaths of thousands of Americans across hundreds of incidents over the last 46 years.
Iran has considered themselves at war with us ever since 1979. Their demise is long overdue.
As the Captain's children sang in The Sound Of Music...
..."So Long, Farewell, Auf Wiedersehen, Goodbye..."
Don't forget "good riddance".
We went from winter to spring then back to winter for awhile.
Hoping to avoid the "starting from scratch" syndrome that seems to recur each season, this year I continued swinging my hickories outside.
Happy to report we've snuck in another little bit o' early spring weather, so you know what that means:
Outside whacking wiffle golf balls; but unlike our last warm weather interlude, this time I'm noticing improvement.
The reason?
Harry Vardon and his book, "The Gist Of Golf"; specifically the section on the grip.
In the past I skimmed this, because I already use the "Vardon Grip" (like almost every golfer today).
But this time as I read through it I noticed his comment about holding the club "firmly with the thumb and forefingers, but not like grim death" (love his expressions).
He noted how many golfers have needless callouses on their fingers / palms from gripping the club too tightly.
Turns out I'm one of 'em.
So the last few days I've worked on using a much lighter grip; no more "choking the cobra" as I wind up to strike a mighty blow!
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| Norman Rockwell's "The Golfer" |
Not surprisingly - since Mr. V said as much - this has caused my swing to be smoother, more relaxed and rhythmic.
The result, at least with wiffles, is I'm hitting them farther and straighter.
There is no "secret sauce" when it come to golf; witness <Shane Lowry's collapse> on the last 3 holes of the recent Cognizant Classic.
Leading by 3 strokes, he splashed a couple of tee shots on 16 then 17, carding back to back double bogeys, ultimately losing by 2.
Lowry's an accomplished pro; 10 wins on the European and PGA tours including the British Open in 2019.
He's won nearly $60 million since turning pro in 2009 and was a member of Europe's winning Ryder Cup team in 2025.
It's a tough game and what's working for you early can desert you later, leaving you scratching your head and wondering, what the heck just happened?
And if that's what happens to the world's best, what chance does a schmuck like me have?
Thankfully my failures A) aren't broadcast live worldwide, and B) don't affect my income.
In my world what happens on the links stays on the links (until I splat it all over the AMC in an odd ritual of public confession).
My bottom line is I truly enjoy swinging my hickories.
Even on bad days it can be a little solitude, a little exercise and a pleasant stroll through the countryside.
On good days?
Well, on good days it's a tiny taste o' heaven.
And down here in Dufferville I'm finding that every little bit I learn from past masters about the hickory game seems to be helping by degrees.
We'll see what happens on the links a couple of months hence.
Someone recently asked me, "why do you act this way?"
I'll tell you the same thing I told them:
Never mind that, let's 23 Skidoo!
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| did you remember? |
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| if only they were that much fun |
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| saw this commercial recently that asks if I'm one of the "millions of people who suffer from an upset stomach after a big meal?" her wide eyed solution: buy Pepto Bismol! A lower cost option with the added benefit of skipping the upset stomach: don't eat so much. |
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| not pretty, but that's 60 degrees in early March. it doesn't always come in like a lion. |
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| we actually are on our annual spring diet and unfortunately, it's nowhere near as much fun as that one would be |
When I was a kid we lived in Texas in a small 2 bedroom tract house my folks purchased for $5,000.
Dad was an engineer at Thiokol, Mom was a homemaker.
We owned one car, a 1960 Ford Falcon.
I don't remember if it had seat belts; if it did, we never used them.
If there was a sudden stop, my mom's right arm whipped out and pinned me against my seat.
And old school air bag, I guess.
In those days I wore white T-shirts, jeans with the cuffs rolled up, and rode my bike to the William B Travis elementary school.
I used to buy a big red Charm Pop from a machine for a nickel which I enjoyed on my ride home in the afternoons.
My folks bowled in 2 different leagues - Dad carried a 200+ average back when that meant something -
- and were members of a country club.
Dad was a good golfer; not scratch, but better than bogey.
(In later years I realized I took after my mom.)
I learned to swim in the country club's pool, taking lessons from a teenage girl my folks hired to teach me.
Mostly what I remember about that is how cold the water was.
After that I was allowed - expected, really - to swim whenever we had the chance, shallow end or deep, my choice.
There was an empty stretch of undeveloped land across the street from us in which I played and explored.
One day I was down by the road when I spotted a big longhorn steer trotting free in that field.
It stopped and looked at me, lowered its head and pawed the ground.
There was nothing between us but a narrow blacktop road and a mailbox.
Scared, I stood still and waited.
Mr. Longhorn snorted a couple of times, then dismissed me as irrelevant and resumed his afternoon ramble.
Another day I came home from an adventure and told my folks I had found some pretty worms.
"Show me," my dad instructed, so off we went to the site of my discovery.
He had me stand behind him, found a long stick and used that to gingerly raise the rock to which I pointed.
"There!" I said as he uncovered the nest of baby Timber rattlesnakes.
He quickly let the rock drop, picked me up and hustled us back home.
Once there I received a strong admonition to never do that again.
I never did, but have often reminisced about those days growing up in the southland.
Car trips without seatbelts, riding my bike everywhere - sans helmet and pads - exploring by myself, out of sight and earshot, swimming in the deep end while Mom, unconcerned, chatted with her friends under umbrellas.
My parents weren't careless, they were products of their times - survivors of the Depression, veterans of war, proud participants in America's Golden Age when children were cared for but not coddled, and ambition was praised, not pilloried.
And though they were not especially religious, yet they had help in their task of child rearing:
14 Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?
- Hebrews 1:14
10 Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones; for I say unto you, That in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven.
- Matthew 18:10
later, mcm fans...
