Friday, March 13, 2026
The World Anti-Doping Agency is considering rewriting its rules to try barring President Donald Trump and all U.S. government officials from attending the LA Olympics in 2028 in a move that could also have implications for the World Cup being hosted by the U.S. this summer.
https://www.aol.com/articles/wada-weigh-barring-trump-us-214033170.html
Incomprehensible story line and crazy dubbing--Horrible transliterartion.
XinTong--Shin Tong--pronounced repeatedly as "Ex I N, tong"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0FKg6_vQ2Q&t=620s
This is what I found about Westerners, they never ask--they just say it any way they think--
Like an official herald shouting out--Ow oo san kee
for Aung San Suu Kyi
Bush Jr saying Aung Suu San Kyi
and even my prof saying "mau--bin" for Ma-oo bin
and Mony wa--for Mon-Ywa.
If you don't know why don't you ask.
And even Susan Sarandon said "I" for Aye--as in Aye Aye Sir.
Actually it's pronounced Eh
and means Cool as in cool water.
And these are the transliterations given us by the British Colonial writers/scholars.
I've taught my doctors' assistants to all say my name correctly.
And then there was that BBC Hardtalk interviewer I told before the taping started that I was "One of the exile government's advisors," and she said "The Exile Government's Advisor"
And she looked genuinely shocked when I said, "Sanctions are not on and off like a light switch. There are a whole range of different sanctions for different commodities."
"I was so angry I didn't stay downtown for the next interview,but went back home to cool off--where I at once complained on the BBC website.
My colleague ANO said, "I was so mad,I felt like jumping up and throttling them.
Even Savannah Guthrie,whose mother Nancy is still lost--pronounced John Le carre's name wrong as "Le Care"
Even I even in Burma in the 1960s with a few months of basic French knew it was John Le Carre--carr ray--as in the French word for The Square.
But Savannah apologized and pronounced the name correctly the very next day.
I do hope her mother is found safe and sound.
On the other hand, Burmese never admit they are wrong,so cocksure, and it's cocksure, not "hen sure," you know?
Kyi May Kaung
3-13-2026
Thursday, March 12, 2026
This is a different Love in the Kitchen--anyway, it's time to go to sleep--had a long day.
However, day very warm--75F. Things went relatively well. One fave restaurant closed permanently, but Trader Joes opened--easy to walk to,lots of Chinese dim sum,small portions.
Going to change my eating patterns.
Normally eat high fiber, multi-grain, but to prep for procedure have to eat low fiber foods.
Also buying in bulk from cheapie store,found could not eat so much, so some waste.
Therefore will eat like Scallion Shoot who eats small portions--like appetizers or tea time snacks. This good friend taught me a lot.
AS we grow old we need small portions of better food.
So today had 5 halves of deviled eggs and a beet salad.
With bread and the nice waiter filled up my cold coffee.
Waiters and waitresses always very kind to me.
Chinese place even makes steamed eggplant for me without the sauce, and by now they know I only eat brown rice.
Next time going to Trader Joes with shopping cart. Bottle of lemonade was very heavy.
Wow, boasting a little. Benjamina's,The Plum,Whole Foods, Starbucks, Trader Joes all within walking distance, 3 kinds of doctors--nice gardens and benches along the way. The cherry is starting to bloom--warm like summer.
https://www.iq.com/play/love-in-the-kitchen-2020-24nfjclpuxg?lang=en_us
Wednesday, March 11, 2026
Tuesday, March 10, 2026
From Slate:
There are many appalling things about the ongoing war in Iran, but one of the worst so far is President Donald Trump’s persistent avoidance of responsibility for the missile attack that hit a girls’ school, killing at least 175 Iranians, most of them grade-school children.
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2026/03/iran-trump-war-school-bombing-missile-strike-tomahawk.html
Video footage clearly shows the damage was done by a Tomahawk cruise missile. In his press conference Wednesday, Trump said that the Tomahawks are “generic” weapons (untrue, they are quite distinctive) and that many countries have some, including Iran (very untrue), suggesting—even stating explicitly—that Iranians themselves might have fired the missile.
There are precedents for how to handle these sorts of incidents. During the war in Afghanistan, when U.S. troops accidentally killed a civilian (a frequent occurrence), they went to the dead person’s family, apologized, and gave them some money. In 1999, during the war in Serbia, when U.S. planes mistakenly bombed the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade, killing three employees and injuring 20, President Bill Clinton phoned Chinese President Jiang Zemin to apologize, stressing that it was an isolated error, not a deliberate attack on China.
In other words, it is possible—under previous presidents, it has been policy—to admit to making horrific mistakes in wartime, and even to compensate for the damages. A soldier, even a president, can do so without appearing weak or suggesting doubts about the wider war. In fact,
Day 11, Malcolm Nance and Jacob Kaarsbo from Substack
Malcolm Nance and Jabob Kaarsbo--full of facts, really up to the minute, balanced, serious analysis.
Sorry, can't post the link--you have to get on Substack and look for it yourself.
Brief? fall in oil prices due to Trump remarks--
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2026/mar/10/oil-prices-drop-trump-iran-war?utm_source=firefox-newtab-en-us
1000 oil tankers still stuck outside Strait of Hormuz--
Temp storage facilities limited.
Monday, March 09, 2026
This is a good one, but almost like JoJo Moyes' bestselling, Me before You, except here the man is less disabled.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2n7sCDVWG44
However, Maintenance will come in to install mandatory fire alarms, mandated by the state--not the nation state, the state state.
And I hate it but I always have to move my boxes of books and my "trays" of works in progress.
Watch the movie online (Me before You)--the lovers are super cute, but the ending is sad.
Moyes's 3 novels are a trilogy.
Maybe I should watch the movie again, but I can't bear it when someone dies.
It was just too much for "Will Traynor."
I guess movie-makers can make these look alike movies if they change things around a lot.
Another (depressing) memoir I am reading is Karl Ove Knausgard's My Struggles, which was published in 2000.
I bought it around then, and now 26? years later, I am reading the 2nd half.
His father, an alcoholic, dies, and he goes to his grandmother's to find the house full of junk--excrement, urine, empty liquor bottles.
The detail is incredible.
It makes me think I can write the painful parts after my father died.
"Granular detai" as Rachel Maddow always says.
After all, I remember it all.
Must try not to die like that. In Knausgard "Kah-nausgard"
the grandmother's dementia is very well depicted--she says the same sentence like "IGN brought her baby into the classroom," every 5 minutes.
I don't have dementia but if I don't take B12 and D3 regularly, I have to struggle more to remember--
Kyi May Kaung
3-9-2026.
Iceland crochet scarf--my own design. Kaung.
Sunday, March 08, 2026
Colonial wars of aggression and expansion--based on Peter Shaffer's famous play--Royal Hunt for the Sun.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qguC_ZlESEc
Now that Hegseth is giving another reason for the US-Israel attack on Iran, this time a religious war.
Saturday, March 07, 2026
Peter, Paul and Mary--Blowing in the Wind.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2RlnYC7skbI&list=RDbRe648clNjg&index=3
As saw them live in Colonial Williamsburg when we Fulbright Scholars were invited.
They included my late friend "Yasmine" --a Japanese man, a Sri Lankan Monk and Nelson Mandela's daughter.
We were treated to a great lunch in a tent, which included a lobster salad, a fireworks show and a fife and drum band.
Friday, March 06, 2026
Correction--the entire family was in a Japanese concentration camp. Empire of the Sun is fiction
but obviously informed by what he experienced in the camp.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._G._Ballard
It might be disturbing for some--war scenes--fall of Shanghai to the Japanese--as a boy
J D Ballard was separated from his parents--this is his true story.
Republican Rep Gonzales drops out of TX race after admitting affair with aide--this seems o be a thing these days.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/tony-gonzales-drops-out-of-house-runoff-race-after-admitting-affair-with-aide/?utm_source=firefox-newtab-en-us
From Axios -Senate GOP cheers Noem's firing.Looks like MAGA split is accelerating. War in Mid East can only widen.
Mullin is "pretty well vetted around here, so hopefully we can get the process going because I think that's a position that's going to need to be filled quickly," Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) said.
utm_source=firefox-newtab-en-u
https://www.axios.com/2026/03/05/senate-gop-cheers-trumps-decision-to-dump-noem?s
State of play: Democrats, while declaring good riddance to Noem, insisted that a change at the top would not unlock funding for DHS, which has been shut down since Feb. 14.
"No one person can straighten this up until the president changes the whole agency," said Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.). "This is not an issue of personnel. This is an issue of policy."
"I'm not going to vote for $1 more for that agency as long as they are body-slamming American citizens, barging into American homes without warrants or murdering Americans," Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) said.
Still, Booker acknowledged that Mullin's confirmation is likely a foregone conclusion.
"If it's a 50-vote threshold, I would imagine he will be confirmed," Booker told Axios. Cabinet nominations require only a simple majority.
The intrigue: There's a serious beef between Mullen and Sen. Ran Paul (R-Ky.), the chair of the Committee on Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs, which will handle Mullin's nomination.
"Rand Paul's a freaking snake," Mullin told a group at home in Tulsa last month. "And I understand completely why his neighbor did what he did," he said, apparently referring to a 2017 assault on Paul that left him with five fractured ribs.
"And I told him that to his face," Mullin said.
Thursday, March 05, 2026
Dubbing--double u aitch what? for "wh-what?"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DnX3GTp6zwQ
How can anyone be this stupid?
Who are going to-bring the wrongly deported people back??? How are they and their families to be compensated?
What punishment will Noem face ???
Trump fires Kristi Noem--it wasn't a rumor--it's true--Partial copy and paste.
At the start of her second year on the job, Noem faced bipartisan criticism over her leadership of an immigration enforcement surge in Minneapolis, where she deployed 3,000 officers and where two U.S. citizens were killed. Some of the loudest voices on the right for her resignation came from Sens. Thom Tillis, N.C., who is not running for reelection, and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska.
https://www.npr.org/2026/03/05/nx-s1-5667546/kristi-noem-homeland-security-fired?utm_source=firefox-newtab-en-us
Other Republicans denounced Noem after she referred to 37-year-old Alex Pretti, who was shot by two Border Patrol agents, as a "domestic terrorist" before any investigation had begun. Following the event, Congress, amid opposition from Democrats, failed to pass a budget to fund DHS and attempted to negotiate immigration enforcement reforms.
Noem was asked to testify before the Senate and House judiciary committees in early March — as her agency was in the third week of a shutdown. She said 100,000 employees were furloughed, including those who work in cybersecurity and disaster relief.
Noem was the face of the mass deportation agenda
During Noem's time helming the 250,000-person agency, DHS was at the center of an ambitious effort to arrest, detain and deport 1 million people without legal status per year. DHS data released in the fall shows the department deported 605,000 people and has a historic high number of people in immigration detention.
As secretary, Noem oversaw the start of a hiring surge to bring on thousands of Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers and the proliferation of Border Patrol agents as enforcers throughout the country.
Record prices--David Hockney's English Garden--
David Hockney’s ‘English Garden’ Could Net Its Consignor a 700 Percent Return
The 1965 painting, considered the artist's first English landscape, returns to the block at up to 30 times its 1997 price.
A David Hockney landscape that last sold at auction for £89,500 ($149,116) in 1997 is returning to auction with a £2.5 million–£3.5 million ($3.4 million to $4.7 million) estimate at Sotheby’s London, marking a dramatic leap in value for the 1965 canvas.
Titled English Garden, the lush green-hued work was made while Hockney was briefly teaching at the University of Colorado, Boulder, shortly after he left the Royal College of Art in London. It’s considered the artist’s first English landscape.
https://news.artnet.com/market/work-of-the-week-david-hockney-english-garden-2748979
Ex-prince Andrew surrenders lease on another royal residence--
https://www.aol.com/articles/ex-prince-andrew-surrenders-lease-162629682.html
Been on the gravy train too long--since birth, actually.
Wednesday, March 04, 2026
Irish Crochet tutorial--work on mat with pins--I would use easier worsted weight yarn and
recylcled cardboard mat and pins.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WW0ZYeWz48s
Handling Hybrid work etc on Apartment Therapy. DIY.
https://www.apartmenttherapy.com/block-scheduling-less-overwhelmed-37245848
Many well paid jobs are hybrid or remote now--suits me fine.
As for clothes, handbags--I only use one handbag--a canvas tote, till it falls apart--I only have a couple of summer sandals, I gave away all high heels ages ago--
I have Fall and Spring shoes, 2 pairs--
Some winter shoes and 1 pair of L. L. Bean rain boots--from my full-time work days.
Several wool coats,1 puffy long coat.
The rest are basic T shirts, solid colors and fleece pants or jeans.
I upcyled all my longyis (sarongs) into light jackets--have sold some.
My hobbies use recyled items as much as possible.
I buy cookware like baking trays,loaf pans mostly at yard sales--collectible items like my blue and white milk jug also at yard sales--
Fine tablecloths at yard sales also,I recycle into summer tops and pillow cases.
I buy groceries at "Middling Supermart" and have it all delivered.
I'm conditioned by life in Socialist Burma and cook and eat almost all my meals at home except one or two--in local restaurants on days when doctors' visits conk me out. But I'm not as bad as another friend who grew up during Great Depression and kept walnut sized pieces of food wrapped in aluminum foil in her freezer. Her Burmese husband however threw things out pretty fast--He threw out a bottle of pickled bean sprouts I just made for her.
I have a friend who had second-hand stuff coming out of her ceilings, ditto another friend who was very rich.
There is no one way to live. James Baldwin said,"Live the only life you have, otherwise you will end up living no life at all."
I'm making my Will.
Kyi May Kaung
3-4-2026
7 star chef goes back to 1980--C-drama--I like this a lot--very cute--
Like a Chinese Hallmark movie, the acting and the dubbing voices are very good, especially the hero's voice. Very well chosen and very well read.
Generally I don't like movies about army officers, but this one is good.
In the rom com world, these are called slow burn, because the male lead and the femal lead fall in love slowly.
Also I like that the bad girl who wanted the man is removed from the scene fast, about 1/4 of the way in.
I hate it when the bad guys go on and on and on.
Fashions and cars and hair and shoes about 1950s--but this is China.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5-m5gaoH0o
Whatever it's called, this is a good movie. K.M.Kaung 3-4-2026
Tuesday, March 03, 2026
This C-drama clip is very good, well-written, acted---dialog well-dubbed and poetric.
It's the Legend of Han Mulan.
I read Maxine HongKingston's Woman Warrior a long time ago, but I did not understand it that well.
Also on a very long flight to Bangkok the Disney version was playing on neighboring consoles with no sound.
I seldom read or watch TV on long flights--It makes me dizzy.
The next time I saw it was on the chemo nurse's iPad while getting a lot of chemo pumped into me intravenously and then kept on for about 48 hours.
Naturally, I did not remember anything.
Must read up a bit about it.
The chemo was really grueling though I asked for the lowest possible dose.
I could not open the frig without wearing gloves.
My jaw bone stung when I tried to drink some orange juice.
I gave up after 2 intravenous sessions and went back to oral chemo.
Now I am still alive, of course with lots of tests, all the time.
Last year 2 young men aged about 55-65, brilliant, well-educated, with the whole world before them died of 2 different kinds of cancer.
If you think I write too much and share too much and maybe don't meditate enough, well, that is the reason why.
I feel I have to do something for those who died too soon, not completing their normal life cycle.
The cancers were different from mine, at least one was stage 4, the other had a very rare kind of cancer I had never heard of before.
My advice is always get regular checkups, go to qualified doctors and specialists, buy the best insurance you can and do what they tell you.
It's better to have doctors and specialists looking after you, than to rely on some el cheapo person.
If in doubt seek out 2nd or 3rd opinions.
Read up and educate yourself.
Read Siddhartha Mukherjee's The Emperor of All Remedies.
When I saw friend J.(changed initial) the last time summer of 2024, he was very cheerful,though maybe in pain.
His mind was very clear. He knew about the blood-brain barrier. He said his oncologist--one of 13! just for cancer! --had already put him on that.
Unfortunately, both men went through a lot.
Kyi May Kaung
3-3-2026
The Buddha and Nanda.
The male and the female Nanda were siblings who fell in love with each other and were to be married.
The female Nanda was said to be very vain about her looks.
The Buddha made her see Impermanence by showing her a vision of a palace attendant growing old and dying before her eyes.
Like a time lapse photo.
Tamara Lempiska painted the man who posed for Rodin's The Kiss when he was old. Rheumy face with crud at the corners of his eyes.
There's also a Rodin with the title "I was once the blacksmith's beautiful daughter," --A seated woman, very thin, about age 70, her shanks
sunken and stuck to her bones.
Google and look for things.
kmk
C--drama--fat girl marries pig farmer billionaire.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HAsqfHvbgDw
Shrimp painting in here is by Qi Baishi.
I knew of him even as a child--age 10-12. His name was spelled Chih Pai Shi then in Wade Giles transliteration--present spellings such as Beijing are Pinyin.
Pt 2--Virus (repeat) meets Granny (stitch) Fiber Spider. Crochet.
Once you get to Granny stutch row 1 at the end of this video, it's plain sailing for a few rows until he starts the Virus again in Pt 3.
So I hope I can watch some mindless C-drama then.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t6nzlaBBHVQ
Crochet--he's my very favorite Youtube crochet mentor. I've made more of his patterns than anyone else's.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t6nzlaBBHVQ
Granny meets Virus Shawl.
Thank you.
Monday, March 02, 2026
March 2, 1962--General Ne Win's 2nd coup--usually mistaken as his first.
Actual first was 1958, when he set up the "Caretaker Government."
Iran war--the death toll and damage toll mounts--copied and pasted from LinkedIn
Lewis M. SimonsLewis M. Simons • 1st1st Pulitzer Prize-Winning Journalist | Author of “To Tell The Truth: My Life as a Foreign Correspondent”; “Worth Dying For”; “The Next Front”Pulitzer Prize-Winning Journalist | Author of “To Tell The Truth: My Life as a Foreign Correspondent”; “Worth Dying For”; “The Next Front” 46m •
46 minutes ago • Visible to anyone on or off LinkedIn
The U.S.-Israeli attack on Iran and wide-scale Iranian reprisals expanded Monday as the United States pledged to send more troops to the region. The U.S. military expects to endure additional casualties in its operation, Joint Chiefs Chairman Dan Caine said in a rare on-camera news briefing, adding that accomplishing objectives will take “some time” and, “in some cases, will be difficult and gritty work.” The briefing, with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, came after U.S. Central Command reported that a fourth U.S. service member had died of injuries suffered in Iran’s initial retaliatory salvos over the weekend. Earlier Monday, Centcom said that three U.S. fighter jets were mistakenly shot down overnight by Kuwaiti amid active combat but that all six crew members safely ejected. As the war entered its third day, Iran continued its attacks on several Persian Gulf states. Lebanon’s Hezbollah responded to the killing of Iranian leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei with rocket and drone attacks on Israel, prompting Israeli strikes in the suburbs of Beirut and other strongholds of the Iran-allied group.
— The Washington Post, Mar. 2
THE FOG OF WAR...AND OF WAR BRIEFINGS.
Twilight over Burma--rare--Mrs Inge Sargent, the former Hsipaw Mahadevi (Queen's) true story.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_3PCvI0gBA
I knew her and her husband Tad Sargent. They were a beautiful couple. I stayed with her several times when they lived in a house and last saw them in 2016 when they were in senior housing.
I interviewed her several times,once from the radio station when Dr.Michael Aris, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi's husband passed away.
I miss them--very brave abd devoted couple.
Rest in Protest.
Her memoir of the same name is published by University of Hawaii Press.
Movie still.
Master and Commander based on novels--maritime warfare in the age of sailing ships--Russell Crowe-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XUy9HuPOpZs
I saw this in a movie theater when they still existed.
U Thaw Kaung--The Ramayana in Myanmar--Journal of the Siam Society--
https://thesiamsociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2002/03/JSS_090_0i_UThawKaung_RamayanaDramaInMyanmar.pdf
U Thaw Kaung is my elder brother and I was in Bangkok at the time and so could attend this lecture.
Sunday, March 01, 2026
From Library of Congress site--
Dramatic performances of the Ramayana emerged in the Konbaung Period (1752-1885), when royal minister Myawaddy Mingyi U Sa converted the Ramayana Jataka into a typical Burmese classical drama; he also composed theme music and songs for its performance. Ever since then, Ramayana performances have been very popular in Burmese culture, and Yama zat pwe (Rama dramatic performances) and marionette stage shows are often held. Scenes from the Ramayana can also be found as motifs or design elements in Burmese lacquerware and wood carvings.
https://www.loc.gov/item/2021668039/
Could not find full series of this--From Chao Phra to Irrawaddy-- a fictionalization of
Myawaddy Mingyi U Sa--
I think I can do better.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/From_Chao_Phraya_to_Irrawaddy
You will notice the beautiful scenery in Zulu--here from Zulu wiki--
Most of Zulu was shot on location in South Africa. The mission depot at Rorke's Drift was recreated beneath the natural Amphitheatre in the Drakensberg Mountains. (This landscape was more precipitous and dramatic than the real Rorke's Drift, which is little more than two small hills). The set for the British field hospital and supply depot was created near the Tugela River with the Amphitheatre in the background. The real location of the battle was 100 kilometres (60 mi) to the northeast, on the Buffalo River near the isolated hill at Isandlwana.
Other scenes were filmed within the national parks of the then Province of Natal. Interiors and all the scenes starring James Booth were completed at Twickenham Film Studios in Middlesex, England. The majority of the Zulu warriors were real Zulus. The 240 Zulu extras who were employed for the battle scenes, were bused in from their tribal homes more than 100 miles away. Around 1,000 additional tribesmen were filmed by the second unit in Zululand. Eighty South African military servicemen were cast as soldiers.[11]
The film was compared by Baker to a Western movie, with the traditional roles of the United States Cavalry and Native Americans taken by the British and the Zulu, respectively. Director Endfield showed a Western to Zulu extras to demonstrate the concept of film acting and how he wanted the warriors to conduct themselves.[5]
It has been rumoured that due to the apartheid laws in South Africa, none of the Zulu extras could be paid for his performance. Endfield was said to have circumvented this restriction by leaving them all the animals, primarily cattle, that were used in the film. These are highly valued in their society. This allegation is incorrect; no such law existed and all the Zulu extras were paid in full. The main body of extras were paid the equivalent of nine shillings per day each, additional extras eight shillings, and the female dancers slightly less.[12][11]
Real Zulu Prince who played the Zulu king in Zulu, the movie.
Prince Mangosuthu Gatsha Buthelezi (/ˌmæŋɡoʊˈsuːtuː ˈɡætʃə ˌbʊtəˈleɪzi/;[3] 27 August 1928 – 9 September 2023) was a South African politician and Zulu prince who served as the traditional prime minister to the Zulu royal family from 1954 until his death in 2023. He was appointed to this post by King Bhekuzulu, the son of King Solomon kaDinuzulu (a brother to Buthelezi's mother Princess Magogo kaDinuzulu).
Buthelezi was chief minister of the KwaZulu bantustan during apartheid and founded the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) in 1975, leading it until 2019, and became its president emeritus soon after that. He was a political leader during Nelson Mandela's incarceration (1964–1990) and continued to be so in the post-apartheid era, when he was appointed by Mandela as Minister of Home Affairs, serving from 1994 to 2004.[4]
From Zulu (1964) movie--wiki--
The film stars Stanley Baker and introduces Michael Caine in his first major role, with a supporting cast that includes Jack Hawkins, Ulla Jacobsson, James Booth, Nigel Green, Paul Daneman, Glynn Edwards, Ivor Emmanuel, and Patrick Magee. Zulu chief Mangosuthu Buthelezi (a future South African political leader) played Zulu King Cetshwayo kaMpande, his great-grandfather. The opening and closing narration is spoken by Richard Burton.
First shown on the 85th anniversary of the battle, 22 January 1964, at the Plaza Theatre in the West End of London, Zulu received widespread critical acclaim, with praise for its sets, soundtrack, cinematography, action sequences, and the cast's performances, particularly Baker, Booth, Green, and Caine. The film brought Caine international fame. In 2017, a poll of 150 actors, directors, writers, producers, and critics for Time Out magazine ranked it as the 93rd best British film ever.[6]
Special post--I remember this distinctly--read in Burma, 1970s. Toynbee said in Life Magazine that the Vietnam War could not be won bc it was a national war.
He said the same to Playboy Magazine.
https://www.originalmagazines.com/blogs/vintage-magazines/a-historian-against-empire-arnold-toynbee-s-warning-on-america-vietnam-and-the-future-of-civilization
quote:
Between the pinups and bachelor pad features in the April 1967 issue of Playboy Magazine, American readers found something unexpected: a prophecy.
Arnold J. Toynbee—the British historian whose 12-volume A Study of History had made him one of the most famous intellectuals alive—sat for a lengthy, unsparing interview. His message was blunt: the United States was repeating the fatal mistakes of Rome. The Vietnam War would fail. Nuclear weapons threatened human extinction. And America's moral authority was collapsing under the weight of its own power.
For readers living through the spring of 1967, these were not abstract warnings. Draft notices arrived daily. Protests erupted on campuses. Body counts scrolled across evening news broadcasts. Toynbee's interview landed like a stone through glass—shattering the illusion that American might was unassailable. More than half a century later, this issue remains one of Playboy's most significant cultural documents. It captured the moment when empire met its mirror.
Lindsey Graham --R--S.C says it's not the US's job to choose the next leader of Iran. Khamaneini was 86.
Scroll down in the same link below.
Sen. Mark Kelly criticizes Trump--
At the same time, Kelly criticized Trump’s post to Truth Social referencing his hopes for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and police to “peacefully merge with the Iranian Patriots.”
https://www.nbcnews.com/world/iran/live-blog/iran-attack-strikes-us-israel-trump-khamenei-dead-live-updates-rcna261172?utm_source=firefox-newtab-en-us
“Hope is not a strategy,” Kelly said, criticizing Trump's Truth Social post in which he said he hoped members of the Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and police would "peacefully merge with the Iranian Patriots."
“We got to have a plan here," Kelly said. "I mean, what is the strategic goal, and how do we achieve it?”
Asked whether the U.S. could continue the operation without putting troops on the ground, Kelly said “that is incredibly challenging.”
Kelly argued that Iran cannot be allowed to develop a nuclear weapon, but criticized Trump for having withdrawn from the Iran nuclear deal during his first term.
Saturday, February 28, 2026
Reuters--images--demonstrations world-wide for and against US--Israel strike on Iran.
https://www.reuters.com/world/iran-crisis-live-explosions-tehran-israel-announces-strike-2026-02-28/
Trump says Khameini is dead, Iran says he's commanding the field.
Rice and cheese balls--
https://www.thekitchn.com/arancini-recipe-23771652?utm_source=firefox-newtab-en-us
Cuban-born writer/poet Pena--killed in "invasion attempt" off Cuban coast--yes, it's as I thought,
a copy cat of Bay of Pigs--BUT--it's not clear if Trump sanctioned or helped it.
https://www.tampabay.com/news/clearwater/2026/02/27/clearwater-writer-among-those-killed-gunfire-off-cuban-coast/
BBC--breaking--live coverage--US and Israeli forces strike Teheran, which retaliates--
Air space already shut down, 53+63 at Iranian elementary school already dead.
Some distraction from Epstein Files engineered by Trump. Expect more price increases in USA etc--
https://www.bbc.com/news/live/cn5ge95q6y7t?utm_source=firefox-newtab-en-us#player
I think Trump mightcall off or try to call off midterms on basis of emergency he created himself.
"Regime change" might take place in other places than Iran.
This is difft from 9/11 and George W. Bush who labeled himself the War President.
***
Friday, February 27, 2026
Subscribe to AP (banned from WH early 2025), The Guardian,BBC, NPR, broadcasters on Substack, friends on LinkedIn--
Legacy Media--not so much.
Make a list of who caved to DJT--avoid.
Hillary calls House Oversight questioning repetitive--+ Burma--
https://www.npr.org/2026/02/26/nx-s1-5727777/hillary-clinton-deposition-house-oversight-epstein?utm_source=firefox-newtab-en-us
That's what people on the attack do, when they have no firm facts.
Case in point "Dr." Bo Lay at my viva voce for my Ecos.M.A. at Rangoon Univ. His favorite student or follower herself said his Ph.D. was from a correspondence course.
At the examination, I said, "You just asked this Q and I just answered it.
Dr. Aye Hlaing dismissed the session and as I walked out the 15' corridor lined with bookshelves--I heard Dr Aye Hlaing (Dept Chair), Dr.Findlay and Yebaw Chan Aye shouting at U Bo Lay.
U Bo Lay later became head of govt Co-op ministry where all the co-op farm animals died. At the govt Pearl Island,the Japanese experts did not show the Burmese staff how they inserted the round beads--all the oysters died and were eaten. My brother's friend Gloria H.S. now in USA told him.
U Tha Hto and I sat on an oral exam for a Diploma in Eco.Planning student.
After about 5 mins, U Tha Hto said, "why this is just a record of all the chickens, ducks, geese, pigs and cows dying."
We passed the student. They were all working at Burmese govt. ministries or economic entitiies like banks etc.
One student described a certain Air Force man who had taken home antiques.
I still wonder today why U Tha Hto chose me as co-examinar though I wasn't from Mandalay.
Ne Win the dictator pulled the Mandalay staff back to Rangoon--so --there was Mandalay, also Moulmein, and Rangoon staff literally under one roof.
U Bo Lay and his wife got to stay in the confiscated house of Dr Suvi on Inya Road. Dr. suvi was a surgeon expelled from Burma by NW as "foreign."
His wife and he got in the newspapers bc his wife's longyis (sarongs) were stolen and he went and found them at the black market and roughed up the vendor, who I think was just the fence.
His wife invited my mother and other society ladies like Mrs. San Lin to her house for tea. She was quite a good-looking woman but obviously scared of her husband.
He had a pugnacious bulldog face and personality.
He later left the Co-op Ministry and is said to have made a living by telling fortunes.
Dr. Suvi operated in my mother's tumor and had one of the first orchid houses.
After Cyclone Nargisn, there was a Myanmar Gov. Report on the number of for eg. chickens killed, 7326 (a made up #)) but no statistics for humans killed. The day after the Cyclone, Myanmar govt-owned news outlets said only 5 women were killed as they were rowing a sampan in the Rangoon River. My neices stopped eating fish for awhile bc the found a human finger inside a fish they were cleaning for Mohinga--a popular fish soup eaten as breakfast.
K.M.Kaung
2-17-2026.
Thursday, February 26, 2026
American among those killed in Cuban waters, WH confirms--First reported by Axios.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/american-among-those-killed-speedboat-cuban-waters-white-house-confirms/
Marco Rubio looks down--
Was it another Bay of Pigs attempt??
Wednesday, February 25, 2026
We are all Burmese, Ukrainians, Somali, Iranian now--
We bleed, we die and we suffer all the same.
Tibetans, Rohingya, Persians, we all lose our native country.
kmk
2-25-2026
From Al Jazeera--Mexico descends into violence after cartel leader killed--Copied and pasted.
Schools have been shut in several Mexican states, and local and foreign governments alike warned their citizens to stay indoors, as widespread violence erupted following the army’s killing of the powerful leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel.
https://www.aljazeera.com/gallery/2026/2/23/mexico-erupts-in-violence-after-army-kills-jalisco-cartel-boss-el-mencho?utm_source=firefox-newtab-en-us
Nemesio Ruben Oseguera Cervantes, also known as “El Mencho”, was killed in a shootout in his home state of Jalisco on Sunday as the Mexican military attempted to capture him.
“El Mencho” was the boss of one of the fastest-growing criminal networks in Mexico, notorious for trafficking fentanyl, methamphetamine and cocaine to the United States and for staging brazen attacks against government officials who challenged it.
Cartel members responded with violence across the country, blocking roads and setting fire to vehicles.
The killing of “El Mencho” comes 10 years after his rival, Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, the leader of the Sinaloa Cartel, was captured in a joint US-Mexico operation. El Chapo was later extradited to the US.
President Claudia Sheinbaum urged calm, and authorities announced late on Sunday that they had cleared most of the more than 250 cartel roadblocks across 20 states. The White House confirmed that the US had provided intelligence support to the operation to capture the cartel leader and applauded Mexico’s army for taking down a man who was among the most wanted criminals in both countries.
The US Department of State had offered a reward of up to $15m for information leading to the arrest of “El Mencho”. The Jalisco New Generation Cartel is one of the most powerful and fastest-growing criminal organisations in Mexico, which began operating
In February 2025, the Trump administration designated the cartel a “Foreign Terrorist Organization”.
Sheinbaum has criticised the “kingpin” strategy of previous administrations that took out cartel leaders, only to trigger explosions of violence as cartels fractured. While she has remained popular in Mexico, security is a persistent concern, and, since US President Donald Trump took office a year ago, she has been under intense pressure to show results against drug trafficking.
The Jalisco cartel has been one of the most aggressive in its attacks on the military, including on helicopters, and specialises in launching explosives from drones and planting mines.
In 2020, it carried out a dramatic assassination attempt with grenades and high-powered rifles in the heart of Mexico City against the then head of the capital’s police force, now the federal security secretary.
Mexico fears more violence after army kills Jalisco cartel leader
AP--photo essay Portraits of Ukrainians before and after full scale Russian invasion.
https://apnews.com/photo-essay/ukraine-photo-essay-portraits-anniversary-war-d7bb463924e7cad9cfaa45e59600fc60?utm_source=firefox-newtab-en-us
Get your handkerchief, your wallet, your credit card and your checkbook/s, your brain or your brawn ready to help in any way you can.
NPR fact check of T's "state of the union."
https://www.npr.org/2026/02/24/nx-s1-5716277/trump-state-union-fact-check?utm_source=firefox-newtab-en-us
Trump Fence around US Capital.
March, 2025 an artist won a major painting prize for similar image from Trump 1.0.
Tuesday, February 24, 2026
Top US General has been warning Trump about attacking Iran--
Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Dan Caine has been advising President Trump and top officials that a military campaign against Iran could carry significant risks, in particular the possibility of becoming entangled in a prolonged conflict, according to two sources with knowledge of those internal discussions.
https://www.axios.com/2026/02/23/iran-strike-trump-gen-dan-caine-vance-rubio?utm_source=firefox-newtab-en-us
Monday, February 23, 2026
Trump appointed judge permanently blocks Jack Smith Report.
WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge on Monday permanently barred the release of a report by special counsel Jack Smith on his investigation into President Donald Trump’s hoarding of classified documents, a prosecution that was once seen as the most perilous of the four criminal cases the Republican faced.
https://apnews.com/article/trump-classified-documents-jack-smith-3a86d9c12f18b4dfe648e539925d72a2?utm_source=firefox-newtab-en-us
U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, who was nominated to the bench by Trump, granted a request from the president to keep under wraps the report on an investigation alleging that Trump stored sensitive documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate after he left the White House following his first term and that he obstructed government efforts to get them back.
Smith and his team produced a two-volume report on the classified documents investigation and a separate probe into Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election after he lost to Democrat Joe Biden. Both investigations produced indictments that were abandoned by Smith’s team after Trump’s November 2024 election win in light of longstanding Justice Department legal opinions that say sitting presidents cannot face federal prosecution.
FDA website removed warning against ineffective autism "treatments"--Make America Sick Again.
https://undark.org/2026/02/23/fda-autism-treatment-warnings/?utm_source=firefox-newtab-en-us
FDA Removes Webpage Warning Against Ineffective Autism Treatments
HHS states it was cleaning up “dated content.” But advocates for people with autism say the warnings are still needed.
Visual: iStock / Getty Images Plus
By Megan O’Matz, ProPublica
Meanwhile--also from Slate--incld VIDEO--FBI dr, Kash Patel partying in Milan on taxpayer money--
Five-ring Circus
MAGOlympics
Kash Patel, Donald Trump, and the gold-winning U.S. men’s hockey team just showed us, again, exactly who they are.
By Alex Kirshner
https://slate.com/culture/2026/02/kash-patel-trump-maga-us-mens-hockey-team.html?pay=1771889976619&support_journalism=please
Sad--Nancy Guthrie home--what is FBI doing?--From Slate--17 days still unsolved.
The details of the case are sensationally macabre and rich with intrigue. I was not surprised to learn that several of my friends are in Guthrie-themed group chats; they’ve pelted me with their postulations all week long. Most crucially, the stalling momentum of the criminal probe has become its own kind of content engine, stimulating a growing belief that crucial puzzle pieces have yet to be properly interrogated, perhaps due to bumbling detective work.
https://slate.com/business/2026/02/nancy-guthrie-update-news-savannah-mom.html?utm_source=firefox-newtab-en-us
Copied and pasted from Reuters--Lewandowski entered cockpit during planes ascent--bf firing the pilot over Noem's missing blanket--
Lewandowski, a long-time ally of President Donald Trump, was traveling with Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem when they discovered her blanket was missing, the people said, requesting anonymity to discuss internal government operations.
The new details about the pilot incident suggest Lewandowski may have violated the safety guidelines set out by the U.S. Coast Guard, which operated the plane.
Lewandowski entered the cockpit before the plane had reached 10,000 feet (3,048 meters) and while the seatbelt sign remained on, one of the people said.
>Federal Aviation Administration rules, several of which were tightened after 9/11, strictly limit cockpit access and prohibit interfering with aircraft crew duties. An FAA regulation also prohibits airline pilots and staff from engaging in non-essential activities or conversations in the cockpit while operating under 10,000 feet, and civil aircraft operators that violate that rule could face thousands of dollars in fines while pilots could face fines or termination. The U.S. Coast Guard is not legally bound by the FAA's regulation, known as the "sterile cockpit rule," but has a similar policy, spelled out in a 2021 operations manual: "No person shall engage in any conversation or activity that could distract or interfere with a flight crewmember properly conducting their assigned duties during critical phases of flight." The manual does not provide a specific penalty for violating the rule, but states that rule violations generally will be handled through internal disciplinary processes. In response to a Reuters request for comment, Lewandowski said in a text message: "There was never a conversation in the cockpit when the flight was taking off." Lewandowski said the facts as related by the sources were wrong but he did not respond whether he entered the cockpit while the plane was climbing and still under 10,000 feet. Aviation safety experts consider the initial ascent among the riskiest parts of any flight. Randy Klatt, a flight safety officer with The Foundation for Aviation Safety, said planes are "low and slow" during the initial climb to 10,000 feet, making it important for pilots to focus on flight operations. "This is a vulnerable situation for any aircraft," Klatt said. "You don't have the altitude to spare, or trade for airspeed if needed." The U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. Coast Guard, which falls under DHS, declined to comment on the flight in question. They did not respond to a Reuters request to interview the pilots. The FAA did not respond to a request for comment. Noem, a top official overseeing Trump's aggressive immigration crackdown, has come under intense scrutiny after federal immigration agents killed two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis in January. The Wall Street Journal reported earlier this month on infighting and tensions at DHS under Noem and Lewandowski, including the firing of the pilot. PILOT FIRED, THEN REINSTATED In response to a request for comment about Lewandowski entering the cockpit and about tensions at DHS, the White House referred to remarks in late January by Trump praising Noem and remarks by press secretary Karoline Leavitt saying Trump had the "utmost confidence and trust" in her. Lewandowski, a "special government employee" who by law is allowed to work up to 130 days annually, is a senior Noem adviser and has traveled on high-profile trips with her. The Wall Street Journal reported that the White House Counsel's Office opened an investigation into Lewandowski's use of the quasi-government role last year. The DHS spokesperson said that Lewandowski volunteers his time and that the department was not aware of any such investigation. Lewandowski did not comment when asked by Reuters about his employment status. During the flight last spring, which was on a Gulfstream jet, the pilots in the cockpit asked Lewandowski to return to the cabin until they had reached cruising altitude, one of the people familiar with the incident said. When the pilot walked back into the cabin later in the flight, the two sources said, Lewandowski asked who should be fired because Noem's blanket had been left behind when they switched planes for technical reasons before take-off. The pilot, an accomplished flyer with a long record of service, took responsibility for any possible mistake and Lewandowski fired him on the spot, the sources said, confirming the Wall Street Journal report. However, once Noem and Lewandowski reached their destination, Coast Guard leadership realized the pilot would be needed to fly them back to the Washington region and he was reinstated by the agency, the sources said. DHS and the Coast Guard declined to comment on the pilot's firing and reinstatement. Reuters was unable to independently confirm the reason for the reinstatement. (Reporting by Ted Hesson in Washington and Erin Banco in New York; Additional reporting by Kristina Cooke in San Francisco; Editing by Craig Timberg and Edmund Klamann)
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)