Well, there is a "check and balance" that takes effect if Felon47 attempts this. It is called "Posse Comitatus" and, so far, it is still a law firmly embedded in our land.
Take a look at this: https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/ … -explained
Bill
Just today, I read the following by Representative Mikie Sherrill, a format Navy pilot. I am reposting it here in its entirety. I totally agree with it.
QUOTE:
So much for a “meritocracy.”
Last night at the Pentagon, President Trump and Secretary Hegseth dismantled a core principle of American democracy: the apolitical military. Let me explain what’s going on and why it is deeply dangerous for our country:
Secretary Hegseth announced that he is firing some of our nation’s top military leaders — including Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General C.Q. Brown, Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Lisa Franchetti, and a number of three and four star Generals and Flag Officers.
You don’t rise to our military’s highest positions without decades of leadership and commitment to serving missions across the globe. Four-star General C.Q. Brown has been serving our nation since 1984. Four-star Admiral Lisa Franchetti has been serving since 1985. Both of these individuals earned their barrier-breaking positions because they devoted their lives to taking on our nation’s toughest challenges — and they have the resumes to prove it.
Yet, Secretary Hegseth called Admiral Franchetti a DEI hire in his book, and criticized General Brown because of his commitment to promoting diversity in our armed forces. This move isn’t about strengthening our armed forces, and it isn’t about merit. It's about Pete Hegseth and Donald Trump implementing their political agenda.
Additionally, Trump and Hegseth fired the top Judge Advocates General, who are the military’s top lawyers. These are the individuals who interpret law for our commanders, and ensure that we’re fighting in accordance with our values.
Normally, our military’s top leadership serves under multiple administrations — Democrats and Republicans alike. At the beginning of a presidential term, the leaders in these positions typically stay in place — some of the leaders fired yesterday even served in Trump’s first administration.
Now, Trump and Hegseth are trying to gut the military’s leadership so they can use the armed forces to carry out their personal, political agenda. This move will threaten America’s national security, show weakness to dictators worldwide like Vladimir Putin, and give Donald Trump unchecked power to abuse our military.
As a member of the House Armed Services Committee, I joined my veteran colleagues to demand answers from Hegseth and hold him accountable for this brazen, dangerous abuse of power.
In the United States Armed Forces, you swear an oath to the Constitution — not a person, not a political party. It’s an oath I took for the first time at age eighteen when I entered the Naval Academy, and have taken numerous times throughout my career. I will never abandon that oath, and I will always fight to protect the men and women who risk their lives to serve our country.
– US Representative Mikie Sherrill, Former Navy Pilot.
END QUOTE
Bill
It is a sorry state of affairs when the good citizens of any country begin thinking of moving to anywhere else purely due to political pressures and outright hooliganism. My ties are here. My father fought in WW2, not directly against aggressors, but monitoring weather conditions in Alaska and analyzing their physical contents to see if the Soviet Union had developed nuclear energy. He remained in service for a total of 31 years, retiring as a full colonel is what was now being called the Air Force. I was born in 1942, so I've never been a civilian. To my way of thinking, no right-minded military man could even think of signing up for a cup of Kool-Aide from Felon47. It runs against my grain every time I hear his comments that we are losers and incompetents. I worked damn hard for my twenty years, retired with honors, and I'll be damned if I'll just knuckle under. I'm here, and here I plan to stay. If I have to use the storm shelter, so be it. But, Felon47 isn't digging me out of my position. I think I can handle four years. If he ever gets that third term, then all bets are off.
Bill
I turn 83 this year (July 5). I've just been informed I will be a great-grandfather in October. I'm fortunate I recently got new hearing aids through the VA for my service-caused hearing loss in both ears (Morse Intercept Operator for most of my navy career). My wife has received two artificial hips and an artificial knee, and I've had several operations including a quad bypass. Medicare paid for all of them, with a backup of my Tricare for Life.
Fortunately, Felon47 cannot mess with my Tricare insurance as it is paid from VOLUNTARY contributions from my navy retired pay. I paid exactly ZERO for all of those operations and complete doctor care for minor illnesses and whatnot. I go to the military hospital at Wright-Patterson AFB here in Dayton. My hearing aids cost $3500 per ear and I pay nothing. All our medications are free.
So, on the face of this one would think I'm living in the lap of luxury. Not so. My wife and I are now fearful that Felon47 will cut Social Security. This would devastate both she and I as my total yearly income is just over $27K. of this, I still pay taxes (which has been falsely reported that military retirees don't pay taxes). Fortunately, Ohio is one state that does not tax military retired pay, even though it is a red state.
On other matters, I see now that three persons of the MAGA stripe are now whipping out Nazi salutes. Disgraceful in the extreme. Makes me want to smack every one of them aside the head. I did FIVE tours in Vietnam fighting against just that sort of nonsense and I want no part of any more. We fought them once. We don't need to again.
Facebook and the other social media are just now realizing they can censor everyone's feeds as they wish, so to find this outlet is a great thing. I doubt anyone able to do any good railing against the establishment will see this venting, but it sure feels good.
Bill
Good work, MJ. Who made the name change, you or the publisher? I've left a review.
Bill
Welcome back, Janet. I chatted a couple of times with him, but didn't really know much about him. Condolences to the family.
Bill
Here's something that has bugged me for quite a while. It's probably easy for me to offer it, but much harder to implement.
Every posting I read has the "Write Regular Review" and the "Write In-Line Review" button at the END of the post. Unless you're the type that will always write one or the other, when you finally decide, you have to scroll all the way down the post, click one button of the other, then find your way back to where you were when you decided to post In-Line.
If you always post Regular, then this isn't a problem at all. It only becomes a pain if you write an In-Line, for the reasons stated.
Putting the two buttons in a frame to one side of the post would be a way of doing it. This way you can read the whole thing, then click, or you can find something you want to comment on and click the In-Line button right at that point without having to scroll all the way down and back up.
Once you select In-Line, the post is put into a frame of its own anyway, so why couldn't you do this a little earlier before you have to decide on a review type?
Bill
I'm happy she's doing better, Alan. Family is much more important than anything else. I'm not sure if a whole novel can be made inactive. On the dropdown there is only "Delete." Afraid you'd have to go to each chapter and make it "Inactive."
Bill
True. We can only post pictures that are hosted elsewhere on a forum post.
Bill
The TNBW editor can handle pictures easily. You have to make sure it is sized properly and ready for insertion. Then go to the little "picture" icon at the top of the editing window. When you click it, you have three tabs. The first tab is the easiest. You simply seasrch on your computer for the picture and follow the prompts. The second method involves hosting your picture offsite. Then you insert the URL for that picture into the box and click OK.
The first method hosts the picture on the TNBW server, so be careful how big it is and how many you put up there. Personally, I have a web site of my own where I host my pictures and only provide the URL to it in my postings.
Almost midnight here in EST, so I am going to shut down and join the family.
Bill
Congrats, Randall. Hard work pays off. A prosperous New Year to you and yours as well.
Bill
No limit as far as I know. If you're doing a novel, I suggest you keep chapters down to less than 2500 words, though. No limit on the number of chapters.
Bill
The first para seems to read better to me. It's cohesive and doesn't require the mental gymnastics to visualize where each person is before reading the next sentence.
Bill
Eggnog is a cool drink, but only if you're into swallowing pancake batter. LOL
Bill
Hope everyone has a grand time during the holidays. Take care driving if you have to. Take everything in moderation but fun!
Bill
Brilliant work, Dirk! Laughing throughout it.
Happy holidays to everyone on the site.
Bill
Here's something from "The Wayback Machine" showing the entries in the contest from march 03, 2021. I don't see your story there, Vern. You can use the basic URL (web.archive.org) and do some searching for saves from thenextbigwriter.com and see if you can find it. The interface is a bit touchy, and you get a lot of "network errors" but you can keep trying and eventually get the page you're looking for.
http://web.archive.org/web/202103032110 … Contest-22
This is NOT a live site, so DO NOT try to log in.
Bill
Happy to hear you and your family are relatively unscathed, Randall. Our fiber-optic is buried, so it would take something catastrophic to kill our Internet.
Bill
Thanks, Dirk. After I posted, I checked to find I was wrong about TNBW. Oh well. Sometimes you get the bear, sometimes it gets you. Something to look into, though.
Bill
One thing that may need looking in on is the "which house do you want to publish in?" question when posting the first chapter of anything. Currently, the method uses check boxes. However, since you can only post in ONE house, a check on two or more results in an error. Could these boxes be changed to a radio button, which will only allow ONE choice? Most noticeable on Booksie, but is done here as well.
Bill
Hi, Dags. You can change your username here and on Booksie. To change your username, just to go your profile page, click the three-dots at the right of your picture, and choose edit profile. There, you will be able to change your username easily. Use the same one as you do here in fact. I did it.
Bill
And the same to you, George.
Bill
When I first started out many years ago, I found a book called "The Breakout Novelist" by Donald Maass. It is a great book filled with ways to improve your writing. After two of my novels being published, I can say that it helped me a great deal.
Here is the URL for Amazon (US) which carries the book: https://www.amazon.com/s?k=The+Breakout … _sb_noss_1
Good luck.
Bill
The old way was very good. I was only a guest for about three days when I sprung for the fee. Since then, a lot of water has passed under the bridge and now I'm starting another novel for review.
Bill
Outstanding, Alla! Always happy to hear an author makes good.
Bill
