Is truth the first casualty of war
By Dave Read, Lenox, MA, June 26, 2025 – Since the time of Aeschylus (525-456 BC), writers and have been lamenting the fact that truth is the first casualty of war. Since the aftermath of WWII, America has been at war with itself. One side favors government by an executive fueled by secrets, with judicial and legislative branches fueled by secret donations; the other side favors government of the people, by the people, for the people.
Which side are you on? When politics was waged in the newspapers and on the stump, it was easy enough to avoid, to plead ignorance honestly and abandon the duties of self-governance to friends and neighbors. Today however, self-governance seems a rapidly disappearing myth. Nor is there any way to escape the incessant squawk of political talk.
When Truth is whatever POTUS says it is on T#uth Soci@l, anybody who isn’t alarmed, who isn’t mad as hell, must have taken their eyes off the prize, which is Liberty and Justice for All. Not only for rich South Africans, who violate their visas and buy their way into government, or for the talking airheads straight out of south-central casting the president surrounds himself with.
Harry Truman regretted the mistake he made when he allowed espionage to be instituted in the executive branch, after its ad hoc use during WWII. He was late, however, with his public confession of regret, published in the Washington Post on Dec. 22, 1963. Sixty years later, the identities of the people who planned and executed the public killing of JFK remain a private secret.
Netanyahu and POTUS rule to delay the start of prison terms each already has earned, which they know they won’t survive. Each owes his power to people enslaved by the power of Biblical poetry, one craves Apocalypse, the other Armageddon. By keeping them in power, we Americans impose unjust terms on ourselves, as well as on the homeless and tempest-tost America exists to serve.
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