Wayward Landlubber

     I'm not ashamed to admit that I enjoy a degree of incivility. I often skirt the outer ring of civility, that is what satire does, but there is a greater service done by incivility than black humor. Incivilty at one time drew a line in the sand for what is no longer acceptable. Ironically, that haven of civility gave birth to a sense of too much power by people who do not know the limits of civility, and don't much care. These are the people who believe that cultural sensitivity (political correctness, PC) is something to belittle. And now we have forgotten the location of that line in the sand.      Politicians are a convenient target of opportunity for humorists, satirists, and comedians. "Humor is comforting the oppressed by oppressing the comfortable." There is no better time to start oppressing the comfortable than now. In my life, where I barely remember Eisenhauer, become politically aware with JFK, conflicted over LBJ, hated Nixon, did not hate ...

     Back in the late 60s or early 70s I participated in several anti-Vietnam war marches. Peace marches were a common expression by many Americans at the time, and many of us were quite passionate about expressing our distaste for America's foreign policy. That passion sometimes erupted into civil disobedience and even property damage. There are reports that FBI agent provocateurs initiated some of that  violence as part of J Edgar Hoovers' COINTELPRO operation. The differences between the Covid 19 lockdown protesters of today, and those anti-war protesters of yesteryear are legion, most notable is the weaponry openly displayed by the anti-lockdown groups today. Sometimes we openly carried candles, at dusk, signs, some even bang out a rhythm on 5 gallon plastic buckets. The only lasting effect of that was some discarded cups in the streets, cigarettes and roaches. There was no chance of arson, no possibility of gunfire. There was always the possibility of being knoc...