They called us enemy

 

If you were a Star Trek fan, you may remember a character named Hikaru Sulu, He was the helmsman on the starship Enterprise.

Star Trek Original Theme

In real life, his name is George Takei – and he has a story of his own to tell. The details can be found in the book shown in the title above.

Shortly after Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, George and the rest of his family were moved to a series of internment camps in the Southwest. In much the same way that European Jews were forced to move on very short notice by the Nazis, his family was forced to leave most of their belongings behind on very short notice, as they were to camps in California and Arkansas. In total, roughly 120,000 Japanese Americans were moved to “relocation camps”, where they stayed until after the Japanese surrendered in August of 1945.The first camp was at Santa Anita racetrack, where they were forced to sleep in horse stalls. Their next stop was camp Rohwer, the eastern most of the 10 relocation camps. Their final stop was back in California, where they stayed until the end of the war. In fact, a small number of people remained at Camp Tule Lake until March of 1946.

George Takei’s family return to Las Angeles, where they had been living at the start of the war.

The camps came into being when FDR signed Executive Order 9066 on February 19, 1942. It changed a lot of Japanese lives, and it was not until years later that our government apologized for its role.

Even before he signed 9066, FDR also signed Proclamation 2537, which required people to acquire certificates of identification. The details can be found below, but it reminds me of Jews being forced to wear stars identifying them as Jews:

https://www.hpresidency.ucsb.edu/documents/proclamation-2537-regulations-pertaining-alien-enemies

In early 1943, some of the detainees were forced into military service, and they were housed at Camp Shelby in Mississippi, which became known as the 4452^nd regimental combat team. They served with distinction, and at the end of the war, the team was the most decorated unit of its size. President Truman honored dozens of its members with the Distinguished Service Cross.

On February 19, 1976, President Gerald Ford signed a proclamation formally terminating Executive Order 9066 and apologizing for the internment, stated: "We now know what we should have known then—not only was that evacuation wrong but Japanese Americans were and are loyal Americans. On the battlefield and at home the names of Japanese Americans have been and continue to be written in history for the sacrifices and the contributions they have made to the well-being and to the security of this, our common Nation.”

In 1980, President Jimmy Carter signed legislation to create the Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians (CWRIC). The CWRIC was appointed to conduct an official governmental study of Executive Order 9066, related wartime orders, and their effects on Japanese Americans in the West and Alaska Natives in the Pribilof Islands.

In December 1982, the CWRIC issued its findings in Personal Justice Denied, concluding that the incarceration of Japanese Americans had not been justified by military necessity. The report determined that the decision to incarcerate was based on "race prejudice, war hysteria, and a failure of political leadership". The Commission recommended legislative remedies consisting of an official Government apology and redress payments of $20,000 to each of the survivors; a public education fund was set up to help ensure that this would not happen again (Pub. L. 100–383).

On August 10, 1988, the Civil Liberties Act of 1988, based on the CWRIC recommendations, was signed into law by Ronald Reagan. On November 21, 1989, George H. W. Bush signed an appropriation bill authorizing payments to be paid out between 1990 and 1998. In 1990, surviving internees began to receive individual redress payments and a letter of apology. This bill applied to the Japanese Americans and to members of the Aleut people inhabiting the strategic Aleutian Islands in Alaska who had also been relocated.

FDR likely felt that he had no choice about the executive order that he signed, in view of the fact that the bombing of Pearl Harbor has happened roughly 2 months before. It was not until years later that we came to the conclusion that the relocation camps were not a good idea.

The story of the camps, however, is simply another example of the dangers of xenophobia, and it is a problem that has existed since ancient times

Xenophobia is the fear, dislike, or prejudice against people from other countries, cultures, or groups perceived as foreign or strange, stemming from Greek words meaning "stranger" (xenos) and "fear" (phobos). It manifests as discrimination, hostility, or violence, often fueled by anxieties about losing identity, national security, or cultural integrity, and can target immigrants, refugees, or minority groups, leading to policies of exclusion or persecution. 

Causes of Xenophobia

• In-group/Out-group Conflict: A basic human tendency to favor one's own group and distrust outsiders.
• Economic Fears: Belief that foreigners compete for jobs, resources, or strain social services.
• Cultural Anxiety: Fear of losing national identity, traditions, or values due to foreign influence.
• Misinformation & Propaganda: Spreading stereotypes and false narratives to portray outsiders as threats.
• Historical Grievances: Past conflicts or perceived injustices can fuel ongoing resentment. 

Effects of Xenophobia

• Social Division: Creates "us vs. them" mentality, increasing tension and conflict.
• Discrimination: Unfair treatment in housing, employment, or legal systems.
• Violence & Persecution: Hate crimes, ethnic cleansing, and even genocide (e.g., The Holocaust).
• Restrictive Policies: Laws limiting immigration, asylum, or citizenship. 

How it Manifests (Examples)

• Anti-immigrant sentiment: Hostility towards new arrivals, as seen historically with Irish, Chinese, and Latin American immigrants.
• Islamophobia/Anti-Semitism: Hatred of specific religions, like hatred of Muslims or Jews.
• Nationalistic Isolationism: Extreme policies to keep foreigners out (e.g., historical Japan, modern North Korea). 

Combating Xenophobia

• Education: Teaching about diverse cultures and promoting empathy from a young age.
• Intercultural Exchange: Encouraging interaction and understanding between different groups.
• Challenging Prejudice: Speaking out against discriminatory jokes, stereotypes, and policies.
• Promoting Inclusive Laws: Advocating for policies that protect immigrants and minorities. 

• Xenophobia - UCLA Initiative to Study Hate

 

It’s no secret that xenophobia has gotten worse during the Trump administrations, and it has gotten worse since January of 2025.

 

In the past few weeks, Minnesota has been the site of many of the atrocities linked to ICE, and it has led to protests around the country. The problems first came to light in Los Angeles, quickly followed by Washinton D.C., Chicago and Portland. Both Minnesota and Illinois recently sued the government because of the actions of today’s version of the Gestapo.

 

Some people wonder if the protests are doing any good. If you have any doubt, though, you need to consider the words of naturalist Margaret Mead:

 

Never underestimate the power of a small group of committed people to change the world. In fact, it is the only thing that ever has.” ~

 

 

 

 

 

the death of the shade tree mechanic

 

A shade tree mechanic is any mechanically inclined individual (and it was not always guys) who could repair any automobile just about any place – and it could be outside under a tree.

Today’s cars have gotten both more expensive and more complicated.

 When I was a young man, I did a lot of mechanical repairs on my cars, in addition to regular washing and waxing

The mechanical part consisted of doing my own oil changes, rotating the tires, and replacing exhaust systems and brake pads. It also included the “tune up”, which meant changing the plugs and the points, and setting the timing and dwell angle, which entailed using something called a “timing light”.

(The owner’s manual for my 1972 Opel recommended a tune-up every 6000 miles. Today, platinum tipped spark plugs last 100,000 miles.)

Recommended intervals for oil changes were every 3000 miles, but a few people I know did the task every 1000 miles.

(Most cars today use synthetic oil, which means oil change intervals can be 6000 miles or more).

At some time in the ‘80’s, car companies added “diagnostic panels” to the firewall that allowed mechanics to use a computer to help diagnose mechanical problems.

Things are much different today, which I learned yesterday.

Our car has been roughly idling for the last couple of weeks, and today, the “check engine light” came on, so I took it to my local repair shop today.

If you are keeping score at home, consider this:

Cars first got rudimentary "idiot lights" (warning lights) in the 1930s from Hudson, but the modern, diagnostic-linked Check Engine Light (CEL) emerged with early computerized systems in the 1980s, becoming standardized and mandated for all cars in the U.S. with the OBD-II system in 1996 to meet emissions regulations. 

Computers today do a lot more than simply aiding diagnostics. 

Modern cars contain a vast number of computer chips, typically ranging from 1,000 to over 3,000 semiconductors, with electric vehicles (EVs) and high-end models often having more. These chips control everything from engine timing and safety systems (like airbags, ABS, ADAS) to infotainment, climate control, and battery management in EVs, making cars complex "computers on wheels". 

Key Numbers & Trends:

• Average Car: Over 100 microchips, often 1,000 to 3,000+.
• Electric Vehicles (EVs): Require even more chips for battery and motor management.
• Luxury/High-Tech Cars: Can easily exceed 3,000 chips and have dozens of computers (ECUs).
• Growing Demand: Chip content increases with features like advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS) and connectivity. 

What They Control:

• Engine & Transmission
• Safety Systems (Airbags, ABS, Stability Control)
• Infotainment & Connectivity
• Climate Control
• Battery & Motor (in EVs)
• Sensors for ADAS (Lane Keep Assist, Adaptive Cruise Control)

Taiwan makes the most computer chips, especially the most advanced ones, thanks to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), which produces over 90% of the world's leading-edge chips for companies like Apple and NVIDIA. While the U.S. leads in design, and China is a major producer of less advanced chips, Taiwan's foundry model and robust supply chain make it the dominant manufacturing hub, with South Korea also a significant player. 

Evolution of the Check Engine Light:

• 1930s: The "Idiot Light": The Hudson Motor Car Company introduced simple warning lights for critical issues like low oil pressure or overheating, but they offered no specific details, just a binary warning.
• 1980s: Early Computerization: As cars became more electronic, early versions of the CEL appeared, linked to proprietary manufacturer diagnostic systems that could flash fault codes, though they weren't standardized.
• 1996: OBD-II Standardization: The U.S. government mandated On-Board Diagnostics II (OBD-II) for all vehicles, creating a universal connector and standardizing Diagnostic Trouble Codes (DTCs), making the CEL more informative and diagnostic tools universally applicable. 

What I learned today is that repair shops have also started to use artificial intelligence to simplify the diagnostic process, which makes it faster and cheaper than prior methods.

Naturally, the costs of maintenance are a lot more than they used to be.

To get our car running smoothly again, the repair garage replaced 4 spark plugs and one of the 4 ignition coils. The spark plugs were $31.36 each, but that single coil was $463.48. which brought the total bill (including labor) to a little more than $1100.

“What is a coil?”, you might ask.

Ignition coils act as high-voltage transformers, converting your car's low battery voltage into the thousands of volts needed by the spark plugs to ignite the air-fuel mixture in the engine's cylinders, powering your vehicle. By creating a strong electrical spark, they initiate combustion, and without them, the engine can't run, leading to misfires, poor performance, or a no-start condition. 

 

An ignition coil is used in the ignition system of a spark-ignition engine to transform the battery voltage to the much higher voltages required to operate the spark plug(s). The spark plugs then use this burst of high-voltage electricity to ignite the air-fuel mixture.

The ignition coil is constructed of two sets of coils wound around an iron core. Older engines often use a single ignition coil which has its output directed to each cylinder by a distributor, a design which is still used by various small engines (such as lawnmower engines). Modern car engines often use a distributor-less system (such as coil-on-plug), whereby every cylinder has its own ignition coil.

 I still wash our car on a regular base, and I wax it 4 times a year to protect the paint from Tucson’s summer heat – but my days as a shade tree mechanic are now a thing of the past.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

wag the dog

 

 

  If you don’t think that history repeats itself, consider the case of the 1997 film, “Wag the Dog”.

The portions highlighted in yellow will seem familiar to you.

Wag the Dog is a 1997 American black comedy political satire film starring Dustin Hoffman and Robert De Niro. Produced and directed by Barry Levinson, the film centers on a spin doctor and a Hollywood producer who fabricate a war in Albania to distract voters from a presidential sex scandal. The screenplay by Hilary Henkin and David Mamet is loosely adapted from Larry Beinhart's 1993 novel American Hero.

Wag the Dog was released one month before the news broke of the Clinton–Lewinsky scandal and the bombing of the Al-Shifa pharmaceutical factory in Sudan by the Clinton administration in August 1998, which prompted the media to draw comparisons between the film and reality. The comparison was also made in December 1998, when the administration initiated a bombing campaign of Iraq during Clinton's impeachment trial for the Clinton–Lewinsky scandal. It was made again in spring 1999, when the administration intervened in the Kosovo War and initiated a bombing campaign against Yugoslavia, which, coincidentally, bordered Albania and contained ethnic Albanians.

(Although Bill Clinton was impeached for the Lewinsky scandal, Trump has been impeached TWICE. The first time was due to his attempt to hurt Joe Biden’s 2020 presidential campaign, or 5 years ago, due to his attempt to overthrow the government on January 6, 2021, almost exactly 5 years ago).

The film grossed $64.3 million on a $15 million budget, and was well received by critics, who praised the direction, performances, themes and humor. Hoffman received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance, and screenwriters David Mamet and Hilary Henkin were both nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay.

The music, by the way, was done by Mark Knopfler:

(1393) Mark Knopfler - Wag The Dog (Official Video) - YouTube

 

Plot

The President of the United States is caught making advances on an underage girl inside the Oval Office less than two weeks before the election. Conrad Brean, a top spin doctor, is brought in by presidential aide Winifred Ames to take the public's attention away from the scandal. He decides to construct a fictional war in Albania, hoping that the media will concentrate on this instead. Brean contacts Hollywood producer Stanley Motss to create the war, complete with a theme song and fake film footage of a fleeing orphan to arouse sympathy. The hoax is initially successful, with the president quickly gaining ground in the polls.

When the CIA learns of the plot, it sends Agent Young to confront Brean about the hoax. Brean convinces Young that revealing the deception is against his and the CIA's best interests. But when the CIA—in collusion with the president's rival candidate—reports that the war has ended, the media begins to revert its focus to the president's sexual misconduct scandal. To counter this, Motss invents a hero who was left behind enemy lines in Albania.

Inspired by the idea that he was "discarded like an old shoe", Brean and Motss ask the Pentagon to provide a special forces soldier with a matching name (a sergeant named "Schumann" is identified), around whom a POW narrative can be constructed. As part of the hoax, folk singer Johnny Dean records a song called "Old Shoe", which is pressed onto a 78-rpm record, prematurely aged so that listeners will think that it was recorded years earlier and sent to the Library of Congress to be "found". Bream and Motss fling pairs of old shoes into a tree outside of the White House grounds. Soon, large numbers of shoes begin appearing on phone and power lines, and a grassroots movement to bring home Schumann takes hold, completing a successful astroturfing.

When the team goes to retrieve Schumann, they discover that he is actually a criminally insane Army convict. On the return to Andrews Air Force Base, their plane crashes. The team survives and is rescued by a farmer, an illegal alien. However, Schumann is killed when he attempts to rape a gas station owner's daughter. Seizing the opportunity, Motss stages an elaborate military funeral for Schumann, claiming that he died from wounds sustained during his rescue, and the farmer receives expedited citizenship for a better story.

( The novel, “The dangerous case of Donald Trump”,  highlights the fact that he is not exactly playing with a full deck.)

As the President rallies toward re-election, Motss becomes frustrated that the media are crediting his upsurge in the polls to the bland campaign slogan, "Don't change horses in mid-stream", rather than to Motss's hard work. Despite Brean's offer of an ambassadorship and the dire warning that he is "playing with his life", Motss demands that he receive credit for his production, and he threatens to reveal his involvement unless he gets it. Realizing that he has no choice, Brean orders his security staff to kill him. A newscast reports that Motss has died of a heart attack at home, the president has been successfully re-elected, and an Albanian terrorist organization has claimed responsibility for a recent bombing, suggesting that the fake war is becoming real.

 

Let’s connect the dots.

 

Since his inauguration in January, Donald Trump has generated controversy in the following ways:

 

He has unilaterally imposed a variety of tariffs, even though only congress can impose tariffs.

 

He has sent National Guard troops to Los Angeles, Chicago, and Portland, even though there is no legal justification for doing so

 

He has bombed Iran, Yemen, and boats from Venezuela

 

He has destroyed the East Wing of the White House, without getting the approval to do so by congress.

 

He has encouraged the Department of Justice to attack his political enemies, including James Comey, Letitia James, Adam Schiff, and Mark Kelly.

 

He has invaded Venezuela, a clear violation of the War Powers Act passed by congress in 1974

 

Sex scandals? Too numerous to mention, but the Epstein files give a hint at what he did, but so did E. Jean Carroll, Stormy Daniels, and more than 20 other women.

 

He has added his name to the Kennedy Center, and replaced most of the board of directors - even though only congress can change the name.

  

The transcript of Jack Snith’s closed door testimony was recently released to the public, and even Judge Cannon is outraged by its revelations. Jack Smith has stated that Trump is solely responsible for the events of January 6. 

 The Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol "does not happen" without Donald Trump, former special counsel Jack Smith told lawmakers earlier this month in characterizing the Republican president as the "most culpable and most responsible person" in the criminal conspiracy to overturn the results of the 2020 election.

The Republican-led House Judiciary Committee released on Wednesday a transcript and video of a closed-door interview Smith gave about two investigations of Trump. The document shows how Smith during the course of a daylong deposition repeatedly defended the basis for pursuing indictments against Trump and vigorously rejected Republican suggestions that his investigations were politically motivated.

"The evidence here made clear that President Trump was by a large measure the most culpable and most responsible person in this conspiracy. These crimes were committed for his benefit. The attack that happened at the Capitol, part of this case, does not happen without him. The other co-conspirators were doing this for his benefit," Smith said, bristling at a question about whether his investigations were meant to prevent Trump from reclaiming the presidency in 2024.

"So in terms of why we would pursue a case against him, I entirely disagree with any characterization that our work was in any way meant to hamper him in the presidential election," he added.

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/jan-6-attack-does-not-happen-without-trump-jack-smith-told-congress

The Trump administration is one of the most corrupt in our nation’s history, and selling pardons for $1 million or more is just part of what he is doing.

 

I am still of the opinion that Trump will not finish his current term of office due to his declining mental capacity, his physical condition caused by his diet, his legal problems, and his increasing unpopularity with both his former supporters in congress, and the general public.

 

My predictions don’t also go as I planned, but I’m willing to bet that the paragraph will be true.

 

Any takers?