Spanish Lesson - Gustar

    I like the city.

    Me gusta la ciudad.

    I like the cities.

    Me gustan las ciudades.

    I liked the city.

    Me gusto' la ciudad. (The apostrophe is the accent, that goes over the letter, tilting right.)

    I liked the cities.

    Me gustaron las cities.

    I used to like the city. I was liking the city (over a period of time).

    Me gustaba la ciudad.

    I used to like the cities. I was liking the cities.

    Me gustaban las ciudades.

    I wanted you to like the city.

    Queri'a quu a ti' te gustara la ciudad.

    

    Confused? Let's discuss.

    

Six Killed on the American Side, So Far - 3 Days In

    We are in a new chapter in United States history: we are at war with Iran. They have bombed our guys, killing some and injuring three times more, six and 18. How long will this conflict last?

    God bless the legacies and the families of those that we lost. I am still looking for their names and origins. May their contributions be meaningful.

    

 Lunardi Has the Indiana Men Still In?

    They have to win their last two...

    Too many losses now, which is 12. Right? Or 11. We have lost a lot of games. The Northwestern one was galling, the Michigan State one yesterday to be expected, more or less.

    We lost to Minnesota and a lot of teams.

    We have Ohio State... and Nebraska? Then the Tourney.

    What does Mike Lunardi know?

    We shall see.

The Legality and Morality of Fighting Iran, Killing their Leaders

    Well, the United States and Israel have combined to lethally execute operations against a major world leader, a religious icon, or a spiritual and political authority for the Republic of Iran and much of the Shia Muslim world.

    Does this fit into many Biblical narratives? I think this is likely. For those of us who believe and try to live by Biblical and scriptural covenants, blessings, and prophecies, it smacks of heavy and perhaps not accidental events and occurrences.

    The laws of the United States are being violated by such acts, according to a friend that spoke to me at a party last night. It deserves consideration, this accusation. Did the U.S. Congress need to give approval? Did the designation of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organization give the U.S. president and military carte blanche to strike as they wanted?

    Grey areas, not black and white. The recent capture of Nicolas Maduro and his wife was considered legal since the Cartel de Soles was qualified as terrorist. As the drug runners being blown up in the Caribbean and the Pacific. Whether some of those boats are really illegally moving illicit drugs is not always known. 

    Questions to ponder, legal and moral.

    Habeas corpus, all the rights of defendants or accusees of whether they deserve a trial.

    In the last 25 years, arguably longer (see Clinton trying to kill Bin Laden in 1998), killing enemies of the state who are terrorist has become normal, accepted.

    Israel is very determined to weed out its existential enemies. Especially since October 7, 2023. The tone and the rules of the deadly game has changed. Syria fell to the freedom fighters, which seems better for many. Lebanon has lost firebrands that threatened the existence of Israel.

    Israel has wiped out many Hamas members and fighters in Gaza City, and in other places. Hezbollah has a continual target on its back. No safe quarter, even in the rich Gulf States like United Arab Emirates.

    Saudi Arabia, and maybe Jordan, were pressuring the U.S. to strike Iran.

    Donald Trump determined that many U.S. presidents failed to combat and stand up to Iran and its threats as he has done. The revolution in 1979 was egregious to us and many citizens of many lands, while the bombings of the barracks in Beirut in 1983 were worse. Iran was blamed for killing our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan in the 2000s.

    They, the Irani government, would not back down from developing nuclear power.

    Israel could not abide by it. And the U.S decided by executive order and military might to do the extreme, "decapitate" Iranian leadership in order to let the people of Iran to make the next steps.

    Legal? Moral?

    What else is there to consider?

    Certainly awful and tragic that we killed school girls, maybe in Teheran, as collateral damage.

    Wars and military strikes are always a mixed curse of strategy and woe.

    Blood is on our hands, as a commander once said to me.

    Will the blood of guilty and innocents be attributed to our souls?

    I think so.

    The next days and weeks will determine much more.

    How will the next leaders of Shia Islam proceed? I think, undoubtedly, with more caution and less bravado. Will there be retaliation from some of the followers of Islam? Likely, too.

    We must figure things out.

College Basketball 2026 - Winners, Losers PART II

    Miami of Ohio is undefeated. They would be a sweet Cinderella. Go Redhawks!

    Saint Louis are top Twenty Five. Go Blues?

    New Mexico is good, Utah States is decent, Gonzaga is okay even though upset by the Portland Pilots.

    Florida? Vanderbilt? Clemson?

    Louiseville or Kentucky. Talented, but I do not want them for historical reasons.

    Who else? Saint John's, and a few more Mountain West.... No.

    It will be Big Ten, I hope. Michigan, MSU, Illinois. No, Illinois is too outside oriented my friends said today. This morning after basketball. I like to play. Make a few threes. Get hit in the eye and a little bloody.

    So, Texas Tech without Toppin. That would be cool.

    Texas A & M? Alabama. Tennessee. Arkansas. Uhhhhh.... Iowa? No. Wisconsin? Maybe. No.

    Too many teams, but definite ones that we do not want.

    No UCONN, kentucky, kansas, UNC, or even UCLA. 1995, almost as bad as 1987 for IU.

    Did I forget anyone? Not Nevada.

    Nah, that is most them. There, part deux in the books.

 College Basketball 2026 - Winners, Losers

    Okay, UConn came back against Seton Hall today. UConn, the Huskies of Storrs, a recent winner of the Big Dance over all, is a top team. Lots of talent, I basically hate them. They have won way too much in the last almost three decades since 1999. That year was fine, as a newbie, 2004 was fine, but now since the miracle run in 2010 or 2011 and then more recently in this decades, I am tired of them.

    They stole an IU commit, and may have actually won with him. I hate them. Okay, I just do not want them to add more rings. IU has sat at five a large majority of my aging life. Connecticut has five now. I think. I do not want them to have six.

    Nor Duke. Who is very good right now. Nor UNC, which is ish, but still good enough to dance. March Madness, that is.

    My BYU Cougars are on the ropes, after losing their star guard Saunders and crumbling sadly at home to UCF. UCF may be better than Brigham Young right now. Ugh. Hmm, hmmm, hmmm.

    Why should we care? I am from Indiana.

    And the Hoosiers are squishy... Purdue is good. Notre Dame and Butler are down...

    OHHH! BYU loses in Morgantown tonight! They will drop out of the Top 25 and now may not be good enough for the March Madness around the corner. So much promise, now in jeopardy and lost...

    Arizona? Maybe. Houston? Struggling lately, but maybe.

    I hate not having my teams in the fight.

    Iowa State, but not Kansas... UCF is good. 

    Who in the Big Ten, or SEC? There are a few good ones.

    UCLA. Probably not good enough...

    All for now.

 The Machines in which we Flow

    I was taking a nap after playing basketball this morning, and I had a dream or thought with that title. I fell asleep reading some from the book, a classic, The Road by Cormac McCarthy. We loves days off, do we not? I work some Saturdays, but not today.

    I also wanted to write about some college basketball. But first, I must mention that Israel and the United States have struck Iran all over their country, Iran has retaliated, and it looks like the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei is dead.

    So, those posts can be for the near future. In sha' allah.

    Where do we find ourselves? In these machines that I had a notion of.

    We have governments, militaries, businesses, religions, in which we find ourselves ensconced. Some say it has a lot to do with race and ethnicity. Fair enough, for many people their birth in "White Privilege" allows them a step or three ahead of others. Their parents raise them in a healthier atmosphere, with nice homes, good neighborhoods, travel and good or excellent education, inheritances from previous generations...

    Whereas Blacks or African-Americans, in large numbers of cases, claim the opposite. Many Latinos have similar complaints of none of the above. Hard work can only make up so much, many claim. Rare are the poor, be they brown, black, or white or Asian, or any other ethnic background.

    How are we at math? Does this lead to strong careers in engineering, or other STEM professions. What about law, or medicine? So many people excel in these fields, create wealth for themselves and others, primarily their children.

    Entertainment can bring wealth and success to an elite few.

    Writing, in all its forms. 

    Many of us ride in the middle, we struggle or live at our means or at our desires for modicums of success.

    We move and travel according to our whims, fancies, desires, our capacities and financial availabilities. Some rich folks die in airplane or helicopter crashes, because they had the economic means to go that way, but it became tragic. Kobe Bryant had everything, but he died like a poor man with a junky car, who could not withstand a treacherous highway.

    Luck, fate, and God can play itself into all of our machines, our systems, our ways of living.

    Surviving, thriving, struggling, making it.

    What machines of life do you find yourself in?

    If not in our country, where else do you find yourself? 

    Can you go where you like to go?