This is how the Navy SEALs celebrate the 4th of July, every year, in Coronado.....



They do a big public demonstration, with all kinds of spectacular stunts, like fast-roping from helos, jumping from helos into the water, waterborne insertions, high speed drop offs and recoveries, swift boat demos and jumps by the Leap Frogs precision parachute demonstration team.

I caught their shows twice, in 1986 and '87, while on my summer midshipman training cruises. They pop out of the water, in front of the crowd, in diving gear and have someone dressed as their unofficial mascot, The Creature From The Black Lagoon, who comes out of the water and throws candy to the kids in the crowd. There is usually a bit where one of the divers misses the recovery attempt, from the high speed boat and a shark fin comes up behind him and he disappears under the water, to later appear, at the finale, riding in a boat, holding up a bloody shark fin and a sign that says "SEALS 1, JAWS 0!"

They then have fireworks at the Coronado Yacht Club.  They kind of paled in comparison to the artillery barrages and air strike demonstrations we saw at Camp Pendleton, a few days before.

I know we're supposed to talk politics here, but I'm just gonna say, "YEEESSSSSS!!! Thank f**k!"

I know...it's really bad sh*t, isn't it? Utterly appalling. It actually beggars belief that the Supreme Court could be so partisan and, frankly, undemocratic un-American. It was truly a "shaking my head in my hands" moment for me. As someone who really loves America and Americans it's hard to witness the dismantling of one of the basic tenets of the Constitution like that. It's all very worrying.

On a related note, I was showing your excellent Facebook post on the subject to a few folks in a bar yesterday (we were talking about the Supreme Court's decision) and my friends were really impressed with your eloquence. My wife said, "that's such a well written post, and you can absolutely feel the anger coming from him."

Ha! Nitzer Ebb?? Jeez, you must be angrier than I thought! That's some pretty intense stuff (good music though, from the little I've heard).

My go-to industrial indie record of choice for moments of extreme political disatisfaction is Primal Scream's XTRMNTR. Give it a go; it's probably the most intense and relentlessly brutal record I own. But it's great.

Thanks for the recommendadtions. I'm not usually that into this kind of industrial-ectro or industrial alternative rock stuff, but I do like it a bit -- Nitzer Ebb I know because of their association with Depeche Mode (and I'm a BIG Depeche Mode fan). Nine Inch Nails kinda do this sort of stuff too and I've liked what little I've heard of them as well. But yeah, those four bands that you named I've not heard at all, so I'll give 'em a go.

I appreciate that.  It took me a few days to really digest the decision.  But when the Fourth came around I had to put my thoughts down somewhere.  

Now I'll stop talking about politics.