Devin, Harold, and Me - Al Thalath Isdiqa'

    Once upon a time in the Middle East, among the sand and the barb wires of the Kingdom of the Al Sabah clan of the once pearl-rich coasts of that vital gulf, these three young men found themselves together. Although, they were not that young overall by age, but perhaps in wisdom and experience each had youth in his own way. Certainly not me, not young in count of years. I was turning or turned 51, an age that my own aged father proclaimed that a man (or woman, person) knows who he is and has nothing left to prove to anyone.

    Age 50, has proven everything?

    Tell that to my bosses, my co-workers, my wife, my children. Nothing left to prove.

    Sure. God grant me another 25 years to to try to prove a little more. Or maybe a lot.

    We came together under different reasons and circumstances. Military, sure. But God has His ways; I believe that He put us together for strong and (understandably) divine purposes.

    I called us the Thalath Isdiqa'- Los Tres Amigos. Individually we had our own powers, but as a trio we seemed to have an extra power and light.

    Not easy or even that sensible to explain. 

    God works in mysterious ways.

    According to Isaiah, His thoughts are not our thoughts, His ways not ours...

    But sometimes He brings us together for a spell.

    Live Devin, in his twenties, Harold, in his thirties, and young middle-age me.

    Peace. Salaam.

 Controversies in My Head - There are Plenty

    There are a plethora of things in my head. Some may be pertinent, others perhaps distractions. First of all (as my dumb computer "errored" and logged me out, erasing my last words here, baseball. Does baseball matter. In some ways, yes. Millions of us in many couuntries aspired to it, so now we watch the best of the rest. Verlander is retiring after his last start. He is all right. Good life, good wife. We think.

    The American systems works for most, right? Despite some hard histories here alone. (More on that later, with a focus on race.)

    My last year terrible White Sox have made the playoffs! It surprised me Friday morning. Cleveland finished first, but Chicago will play in the wild card starting Tuesday. Best wishes. I like Murakami a lot, as a newcomer, but I think maybe Tristan Peters might be the hero to me. Great stories with this team, my favorite in the American League since 1993... I guess.

    My computer froze. Did I lose any words? We must embrace technology.

    Okay, on to controversial things, more.

1. Global Warming. Is is real? Do we need to act more?

2. Palestinian issues. Do they exist? Who grants them status?

3. Blacks in America. More rights than immigrant Latinos? Do we care about the poor of all races? Is there white privilege across the board? In the U.S.? Is Canada better? Are countries in Europe better than the United States?

    I. My son explained to me that the U.S. has bigger vehicles because they get granted larger truck status, thus making it cheaper to have worse emission standards, and the car or truck does not have to be as expensive to make. Is this true in Mexico? Canada? I could see Mexico being more like the United States in more liberal or laxer emission standards. Canada seems cleaner to me. 

    Canada has a lot of wealth, and therefore power. A certain U.S. president may threaten them, but they are not a light weight. Crazy to think that we might actually threaten to take them. While we hardly handle Iran. Russia and China can chomp at the bit.

    But anyway, about global warming. We should spend more to conserve more. But when the real poor struggle to survive, and the fat cats are still greedy way beyond their means, it is harder to prioritize less pollution to our planet, as some people who should know better deny that it is happening, that global warming is real.

    It is. Our planet is getting hotter, more and more ice is melting everywhere. And that matters.

    II. Palestinians exist. They are a people with less rights than most in the world. Arguably, many of them are doing better than some peoples in part of Africa or Asia, or even Latin America. There are struggling poor everywhere. Of all races. But more of that in the last section.

    Gaza is a rough situtation. What will the United States, and Israel, and the United Nations determine? Will the Arab league step in and help? They have money. Power. Status. Influence. Can the Arabs learn to help themselves? The Shia Sunni divide continues to hold back the Arabs, for sure.

    My wife's grandfather McCabe asserted religion was the single biggest killer in world history. I see and acknowledge the point, but there are nuances. Religion does get exploited to justify killing and war, yes. But is this the case in Rwanda, Burundi, and Congo? No. It is ethnic there. About class and status, and maybe language. Not so much skin color, but ethnic attribution. And national denomination.

    Palestinians have hurt their causes there, certainly. Israel has continued to gobble up land. No land, no negotiations. That has always been the Arab stance. It always will be. Land is everything.

    No land, no peace. The Israelis under Netanyahu and all their leaders have never stopped encroaching on more and more settlements.

    Although, Sharon removed the occupiers of Gaza in 2005. Then Hamas won elections. Then things got worse... 

    Israel and Palestine cannot co-exist. Millions of Arabs of the Holy Land have second class rights, or third class, worse than Pakistanis and Filipinos in Kuwait or United Arab Emirates, or even Saudi Arabia.

    Second class citizens.

    III.

    

    Blacks in the United States. Still underpriviged. Do they have to work harder? Is it more difficult for Latinos and other foreigners with less American citizenship status? Who has it worst? Are there white people in perpetual lower class status? Can education and opportunity overcome the barriers for all people to succeed?

    In my life, talent and privilege work there way in.

    My past heritage has helped me stay comfortable.

    Hmmm. Not cut and dry.

    Greta Van Fleet. I Saw You Stand. Paradigm Shifting song.

    I will write next in the one I though of in my car: Who is your martyr?

    People of all colors thrive.

    

Indiana Hangs on to Beat the Stubborn, and Talented, Northwestern Wildcats. Doubts Remain.

    Some of my childhood friends were at the game. Evan, a year older than me, and Rob Sa. and Chris Au., both a good 8 to 10 years older, I think. I recall both of them as young men, or young married, taking care of me as a babysitter or while my parents were away. Perhaps when Rob and Ellen did that I was in 7th grade. Chris, staying for an evening, I might have been seven. We liked him.Great folks in my estimation. All guys from my faith community.

    It was a Friday night. My wife mostly slept through it. She needed that break; I liked it.

    Indiana had the boon of letting their two on again/off again defensive linemen play, based on the latest court injunction or order. Weird times. On again and off again. Even up till game time.

    The offense of the IU football team did not do too well the first half. They got their first two points when the Wildcat QB fumbled in the endzone. Hoover, the Indiana QB, did some good things. Becker was stellar, and Turbo Richards was doing great until... the late hit out of bounds. He hobbled out of the stasium. Beebe took the load after, and did well. But this is bad news for IU. Khobie Martin, number 3, has been hurt till maybe mid-October. We need numbers four and five at running back to come in a bit, I think.

    IU led at halfitme, 12-0. Yes.

    The touchdowns were not coming. But the defense was doing pretty well. Scoring points.

    Until the second half. Aidan Chiles and his receivers and his main tight end tore up the IU defense for 22 points. I feel like the safeties for Indiana were lacking. Not enough tackling of the Nortwestern Quarterback either, who was savvy and wily. He impressed me, as did the guys catching those passes.

    Maybe Northwestern is really good, like top twenty? I look forward to see how they play out the year.

    Indiana? Did not play like they are top five. First half defense, maybe. But not the second. Luckily the offense did enough to stay ahead. A key two point conversion was stopped by the Hoosiers. That helped.

    Next stop: Piscataway versus the rather puddly looking Rutgers Knights.

    Some of us might be there.

    Yes. Go IU. 

    We may be developing and improving, as Coach Cignetti intimates.

    I like Devion Shandler. There are good receivers. Hoover needs to find them better. The tight ends, too.

    Play on

 Meant to Explore: A Different World

    Yesterday I heard some actors on the radio who did a show that I used to watch. I learned a few things about them, and in turn I think that I learned or realized some things about myself. The show begain in 1987, and was a follow on or splinter of the ever popular Cosby Show.

    More later. It has to do with cultures, perspectives, friendships or no... America. The world.

    Whitley. And Keenan, Dwayne... Wade?

    HBCUs before we knew much about the South.

    Blog on.

    

 My Book Problem

    I have a book problem. Some of you may identify with them, but some of my issues I do not expect all to understand. That's okay. To each there own.

    1. I am trying to get through this book, from the library, called "History Play". It is interesting but awful at the same time. Rodney Bolt. Many of his paragraphs are too long. Much of his wording and stories are hard to follow. But I am sticking with it. I think that his evidence and arguments as to why Christopher Marlowe is the real William Shakespeare, which changes how I and others think about things, I guess. The lauded Bard is the son of a cobbler instead of the son of a glove maker. 

    Maybe it changes nothing. But learning about the times, the politics, the ways and the surroundings is quite compelling and eye-opening to me. It is a different kind of book; I want to finish it but it is a slog. Like some others that I have pushed through, even this year. (See: War and Peace).

    99 more problems? Lessee.

    2. There are so many books that I would like to read. Too many. I cannot do it.

    3. I do not give myself enough time to read more. Some of this is other interests. Some of it is discipline and energy.

    

    4. I have written a book or two that I have not edited nor published. They sort of haunt me. But, such life.

    5. My dad has published three books. One, from the 1970s, is no longer available, I would guess. But his other two from this century are purchaseable! Letters to Lucretia and Lost Memory.

    6. I own many books that I have not read. I want to. They sit there on the levels of my home. Waiting. Some collecting dust. Latent, energy, hein?

    7. I read in other languages. I have some good ones in Spanish, Arabic, Portuguese. And others.

    8. The Holy Bible is great to read. I wish I spent more time on it.

    9. The Book of Mormon is great to read. I like to read it on other languages, too.

    10. There are smart and educational books to read. I wish I could read, and retain, the knowledge therein.

    11. James Joyce is a great writer, but Ulysses is a gamut of thuddy duddiness. Maybe some day. Who knows? Maybe Artificial Intelligence will spoon feed me with it in a old folks home when I am 103?

    12. Maybe AI bots will inject book pills into our blood stream so that we can ingest and incorporate great literature. Perhaps we can have it implanted so that we just know "Wuthering Heights" and "Little Women", by heart and by spleen.

    13. My favorite childhood series, the Chronicles of Narnia, are ignored and neglected by the majority of my children and their friends.

    14. People do not see or enjoy the genius of Arthur C. Clarke.

    15. Oh, yeah, C.S. Lewis. He is a tremendous Christian and it would be amazing to read more of him.

    16. However, J.R.R. Tolkien did not think Lewis was qualified to pontificate nor ruminate about Christ and the true religion. Oh, those corrupting rings of power!

    17. Books can be heavy. 

    18. Books take up space. Too much, in the opions of others, like some I might be related to.

    19. Some books get corrupted by water, rat droppings, and other detritus.

    20. Some books are lent out but never return.

    21. Some books are given away! (That is okay.)

    22. Books are hard and soft. But they all have charms.

    23. Some books are trashy and trash. I have read a few. I try to avoid them.

    24. Some books eschew hate. Mein Kampf. Whoo boy.

    25. Some people think that some books of religious value push hate and judgment. Or judging inherently is hateful. Okay, fair to think through.

    26. Wow, this list is long. About books. And problems. And me. And you.

    27. I have many favorite authors that I would like to read more of.

    28. I am at an age where I need to be more decisive about some books.

    29. What books did I read at age 29? I married and read the four part trilogy "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galazy." That was sweet. Thank you, sweetheart. I read the fifth part in 2010 or so, from my local library.

    30. I read Dune and realized that George Lucas borrowed a lot.

    31. I read Crime and Punishment and I realized that that book was influential. And not bad. Othe Russian books are harder, I say.

    32. I have blogged enough to have a book or three. Not sure how coherent. AI could make something of it all. Bet.

    33. Larry Bird's number. I have read some on him. Indiana kind of thing.

    34. Kurt Vonnegut is from Indiana.

    35. So is John Mellencamp. Lyrics are things that go into books.

    36. Okay, I need to look at book. Rodney Bolt, anyone? Son of a glove maker...

    37. All right, stopping at my dad's birth year. The once and future author.

    100 will come later.

    PS. 38. Can AI on Wayback Machine find my old Foxsports blogs? edclinchsaints' or edclinch'sit, those ones?

    PPS. 39. Can someone fix my hijacked Linked In accounts? Help.

    Books.

Will the Rich and the Powerful Work to Alleviate Hunger and Despair?

    Many rich and wealthy generate work that provides sustenance. Good on them.

    Churches have money to help the desperate and poor. Members of those churches, and mosques and synagogues and temples, donate their monies and time, and even labor and expertise to the good of others.

    My father helped out wealthy and poor, and did not seek remuneration. 

    Perhaps people took him for granted.

    I am not sure. You could argue that.

    Who gives and helps the most?

Biggest Killers who Are Human in the World, 2026

    1. Likely Vladimir Putin? That is why Alex Ovechkin, biggest NHL scorer of all time, should sing a different tune. He makes millions here in North America, and lauds an autocrat baby killer back home. Irony? Not sure what that awfulness is, Alanis Morisette.

    2. Bibi Netanyahu? Hard to get around Gaza. Pretty awful. But there are worse, possibly...

    3. Donald Trump. Pulling medical aid and life saving drugs in Africa in 2025 was pretty bad. Maybe hundreds of thousands died? 

    4. Elon Musk. See above.

    5. Nicolas Maduro. He has killed a lot of Venezuelans, I think. Not sure how many.

    6. Xi Jinping. We cannot tell how many have been killed in China.

    7. Kim Jung Un. Hard to know how many North Koreans and a few others have been murdered or died off because of him.

    8. The leaders of Iran. Is there a Mujtaba over there in command?

    9. There have to be some mean killers in Africa. More than Latin America.

    10. Zelensky? Many of us see his deaths caused as self-defense. Depends on perspective.

    11. Who am I leaving out? The leaders of Afghanistan, perhaps. Or the awful Cartel leaders of Mexico, certainly. Many, many killed.

    How do we let them do it? We do not have enough knowledge, power, or passion.

    We likely need more. More of all it.

    Less murder and killing.