Reflection & Reality ~ Making Tough Choices...

Given the state of leadership in the world today...

History of War Deaths ~ Global Rates since 1400

Oxford's Max Roser spotlights Global Deaths In Conflict Since the Year 1400 which shows the rate of warkills over the past ~600 years...

History of Coups ~ Visualizations of Attempts...

WaPo's Adam Taylor shares dataset about political coups since the 1950s compiled by political scientists Jonathan Powell and Clayton Thyne. By "coup" they mean illegal and overt attempts by the military or other elites within the state apparatus to unseat the sitting executive...

"Why did they have the first one? Coups also generally occur in disproportionately poor countries that suffer from other forms of political instability (such as protests and/or civil war). In recent years, there seems to be an increasing proportion of coups in new democracies, especially those that seem to already be backsliding toward authoritarianism. Ultimately, the legitimacy of the government is a crucial indicator."

Kill Decisions ~ Suarez @ TED on Autonomy...

The Counted ~ Total Victims of Police Force...

The Guardian shares interactive database -- The Counted -- of everyone killed by police in the US in 2015 (and counting). I've personally witnessed grotesque police brutality and -- like the rest of the 'Net -- have seen the seemingly endless number of videos of bullies with badges brutalizing citizenry.  And we're not talking about gangsters or terrorists, but everyday people. Here we can see the ridiculous scale of the wanton moral (and legal) corruption and inhumanity run amok. Who protects us from our so-called protectors?

US in NL ~ Honoring American WWII Liberators...

Ian Shapira writes in the Washington Post how Americans gave their lives to defeat the Nazis. The Dutch have never forgotten...

"The U.S. military needed a place to bury its fallen. The Americans ultimately picked a fruit orchard just outside Margraten. [...] Right from the start, Margraten embraced the Americans. The town’s mayor invited the company’s commanders to sleep in his home, while the enlisted men slept in the schools -- welcome protection against rain and buzz bombs. Later, villagers hosted U.S. troops when the men were given rest-and-recuperation breaks from trying to breach the German frontier defenses, known as the Siegfried Line. "After four dark years of occupation, suddenly [the Dutch] people were free from the Nazis, and they could go back to their normal lives and enjoy all the freedoms they were used to,” explained Frenk Lahaye, an associate at the cemetery. “They knew they had to thank the American allies for that. [...] To the Dutch, the Americans were liberators.”

Liberation is the essence and enduring ethos of the US of A and why we Dutch, both locals and expats, remember those who paid for our freedoms with their lives today on Memorial Day since 1945...

Invasion of America ~ Timelapse Map of US...

Kottke spots eHistory's timelapse map of the Invasion of America...

"Between 1776 and 1887, the United States seized over 1.5 billion acres from America's indigenous people by treaty and executive order. Explore how in this interactive map of every Native American land cession during that period."

(Of course, this is rather deceptive, since the French, Spanish, Russians, newly-independent Mexicans, and others played key roles. And it's worth comparing this to the conquering ravages of the Aztecs, Incas, Persians, Arabs, Alexander, Imperial Russian, Victorians, etc, etc, including especially Genghis Khan and his Mongol Hordes.)

Inspiring Amputees ~ MSF Action in Jordan...

MSF works in Jordan on seriously injured Syrian refugees. Here's a snippet of their work... Now the key additional thing is to ensure affordable quality prostheses are, in fact, accessible to those Syrian amputees, otherwise this was not inspiration but cruelty.

Anthem Vet Memorial ~ Sunspot at 11:11 on 11/11

Behold Mike Spinelli's beautiful photo of Anthem Veterans Memorial!

"At precisely 11:11 a.m. each Veterans Day (Nov. 11), the sun’s rays pass through the ellipses of the five Armed Services pillars to form a perfect solar spotlight over a mosaic of The Great Seal of the United States."

Let's never forget those who had to fight or stood ready to.

A Bridge Too Far ~ WWII's Market-Garden @ 70

Seventy years ago this past week was one of the boldest and yet most disastrous battles of WWII in Europe when the Allies attempted to bypass German defenses by punching through the Netherlands in Operation Market Garden. Alas it was to become infamously known as A Bridge Too Far when bad weather, logistical hurdles, and under-anticipated Nazi resistance prevented capture of Arnhem, the last essential crossing. My own Dad and his family was caught in the cross-fire, which meant they lost almost everything, but at the same time this was understood by us Dutch as a tangible step towards ultimate liberation. That's why Robert Hardman's piece in the DailyMail is right: Seventy years on, Arnhem has never forgotten its debt to the thousands of British and Polish soldiers who gave their lives in ill-fated Allied plan to deliver final blow to Hitler...

"When it comes to commemorating those who made the ultimate sacrifice, there is nowhere quite like Arnhem. This historic Dutch town has never forgotten its debt to the 10,000 British and Polish soldiers who came from the sky in one of the great heroic failures of the Second World War. In September 1944, 70 years ago, with Paris liberated the Allies hatched a new plan -- codenamed Operation Market Garden -- to thrust north through Holland and on into Germany to deliver the final blow. Airborne troops would land by parachute and glider to capture a series of Dutch bridges and then cling on until a vast armoured column could arrive by road and reinforce them. The last bridge straddled the Rhine at Arnhem. But, in the end, the cavalry couldn’t get there in time. Through a combination of poor planning and bad luck -- the Germans had just parked a crack SS unit in the area -- the lightly-armed Allied troops ended up surrounded by overwhelming enemy forces. Of the 10,000 men who landed at Arnhem, just under 2,400 would make it out again after a vicious nine-day battle. The rest were killed or taken prisoner. [...] All the veterans were bowled over by the way they were received when they returned after the war. ‘It was a defeat and the Dutch lost everything yet they could not have done more for us,’ Colonel John Waddy, 94, the senior surviving veteran of Arnhem, told me at his Somerset home. ‘But then it was a unique battle because we were fighting alongside them in their own houses. And afterwards, they helped hundreds of us escape.’ [...] The true legacy of Arnhem is [...] a new organisation called the Arnhem Fellowship. Run on a shoestring by Dutch and British volunteers, it seeks to ensure that this precious bond of friendship continues after the last of the veterans have gone. [...] There is a magic about Arnhem. Perhaps it explains why, all these years later, so many veterans have made one last wish. ‘They often ask if they can have their ashes buried here, next to their comrades,’ says Gerrit Pijpers, a retired Dutch air force officer who has helped to organise ceremonies here for years. ‘They were only here for nine days, but they feel that this is home.’ It certainly is."

Mission Continues ~ Avenge 9/11, Cauterize Evil

Evil religious swine slaughtered thousands on 9/11 including my classmate David Berray. Alas, in the interim years, we have yet to fully extirpate irrationally-faithful and incorrigibly-violent ideological-cancer carriers from civilized humanity. Whether it's the messianic wingnuts occupying the land of Canaan, or the desertine usurpers of the Hejaz, or the pestilential-pretender neo-caliphate in today's fertile crescent, or other mad maniacs ruling west asia and beyond, humanity is still infested with verminous cretins believing in fundamentally bad ideas and executing mystical mandates for supposed higher powers. We must do our best to avenge the assassinated and sterilize the faithful stupidity that continues to plague civilized peoples.

When Time Stood Still ~ Surviving Hiroshima

The BBC's Vibeke Venema shares a special report When time stood still: A Hiroshima survivor's story of immediate pain and bitterness, but ultimately recovery and transcendence.

Battlefield Medicine ~ Accelerated Learnings...

Battlefield Medicine means treating those injured in or affected by combat. While the carnage of war and violence is horrific, an ironic good has come from it because normal civilian medicine has advanced by techniques first learned in treating war wounds, a topic I touched on a few weeks ago by looking at the WWII Guinea Pig Club. These documentaries survey this landscape...

African Holocaust ~ Rwanda Genocide 20 Yrs Ago

Two decades ago, extreme violence seized the small but densely populated African nation of Rwanda. Peacekeeping efforts were overwhelmed, the UN and outsiders were slow to act, many, many died. We're still not sure what lessons to draw from the whole experience. But at least it's worth remembering what happened. First, contemporary reports, for example, Nightline Rwanda 1994... Next, retrospective documentaries from a decade ago, including the Ghosts of Rwanda 2004... The overwhelmed UN General Dallaire whose memoir is tellingly titled Shake Hands with the Devil... President Kagame reflects on 20 years... Finally, amidst the craziness of that time emerged several remarkable protectors and heroes. The BBC's Mark Doyle tells of A good man in Rwanda, the Senegalese Captain Mbaye Diagne, a UN observer...

"This is the story of the bravest man I have ever met. [...] We will never know exactly how many people owe their lives to Mbaye. [He] was part of a small group who had been willing to risk their lives to save others. [Mbaye] had a sense of humanity that went well beyond orders, well beyond any mandate."

Guinea Pig Club ~ Dr McIndoe's WWII Patients...

WWII airmen with terrible injuries were cared for by remarkable plastic surgeon, the New Zealander Sir Archibald McIndoe, who pioneered modern reconstructive surgery through bold but careful experimental methods at the Queen Victoria Hospital in East Grinstead, England.  The injured were "human guinea pigs" and proud of it.  With McIndoe's encouragement, these men formed an exclusive drinking club which endures even now, nearly three-quarters of a century later.  The Guardian's Lucinda Marland shares some of their stories.  And the BBC's Nick Tarver writes in 2011 as East Grinstead 'guinea pigs' celebrate 70th anniversary...

"According to the Guinea Pig Club's honorary secretary, Bob Marchant, who worked with the surgeon in the 1950s, it was his focus on young men's future lives, which paid dividends. "He not only treated them for burns, but also psychologically by getting them back into the community," he said. "There were a lot of wealthy people around here and McIndoe went out and asked them to invite the airmen into their homes. He also did the same in the pubs. "Eventually East Grinstead became known as the town that didn't stare."

Amazing and holistic healing innovations... Finally, 60 Minutes catches up with two Australian "Guinea Pigs" who met during recovery and are still best mates after all these years!

Star Wars ~ Making of an Imperial Legacy...

Iron Suits ~ SF Visualization of Protective Gear++

Tony Stark's various Iron Suits... Plus, of course, his Brass Rat...

Miracle Rising ~ South Africa’s Political Reboot...

The History Channel's Miracle Rising documentary shares how...

"South Africa, against all odds, avoided a civil war, ended apartheid enabling the country to have its first free and fair democratic election. The word ‘Rising’ comes from a comment that Oprah Winfrey made during her interview which was to “rise and transcend to something higher” which is what happened to make this miracle possible. [...] “Also the idea of a “Miracle Rising” is something that is never finished or complete -- but always in process -- is a more accurate way of describing most political situations in that they are always evolving."

Remember Pearl ~ Surprise, Failure, & Lessons

Imperial Japan's infamous attack on US forces in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii 72 years ago today killed thousands and expanded WWII greatly. But it was such a surprise and so devastating largely because of unconcerned, inattentive, and incompetent intelligence, military, and government authorities, much like 9/11 sixty years later. Let that be the ultimate lesson:  visionary leadership, eternal vigilance, and creative ability are all three together paramount for civilization to survive the forces of malice and perfidy and indeed thrive towards human greatness, overcoming the evil irrationalities of colonial imperialism, religious fanaticism, and political collectivism.

Healing Bobby ~ Injured Vet Turned Comic...

Peter van Agtmael's film Healing Bobby spotlights Bobby Henline an Iraq War veteran turned comic, an inspirational figure we first saw in 2009...