James M. Redwine

James M. Redwine

Hail From Hell

by Leave a Comment

Peg and I traveled to Scotland in 2017. We did not rent a car then because the British Isles have age restrictions on driving. After having to drive on the wrong side of the road in Ireland in 2013, we accepted the wisdom of those regulations. Then after surviving the Oklahoma thunderstorm on the highway last night in the dark, I suggest all driving everywhere should be reserved for no one under 30 or over 40. Only quick and 20-20 drivers should be on the roads. Author’s note: we weren’t the only ones who should not have been blindly swaying from lane-to-lane last night. There must have been thousands of too young and reckless and too old and feckless operators of potential death machines dodging hail and guessing where the road should be.

The Redwines in Scotland

It reminded us of our Scotland trip to the Isle of Skye. We stayed in the small town of Broadford and one day took a shuttle to the even smaller town of Portree. When we slowly and carefully got off the bus, we saw a sign that said, “Caution, elderly people crossing”. We were amused and even took a selfie; of course, we were almost 10 years younger then.

One of us got hearing aids a couple of years ago but they are more utility as earrings than listening devices. One of us was too vain to admit to any hearing difficulty but the uselessness of the set we bought justified the age-denial.

Picture by Tony Ricketts

The reason we were on the road back from Indiana was our children had thrown an 80th birthday party for Peg and a 75th party for her brother. It was great and enjoyable, especially because all we had to do was get there and back; we did, but barely. Peg rode in the back seat so she could lie down while I drove. Normally, Peg navigates as I would have had Christopher Columbus in Greenland. If I can see the Big Dipper, I can guess which way is north.

Usually, we do not encounter monsoons and Peg can shout directions to me with little damage being done. Alas, as they said about elderly Aunt Edith in the movie Christmas Vacation, I couldn’t have heard a ‘dynamite truck exploding in a nitroglycerin factory” during the hail last night, so her increasingly panicked screams to “Watch Out!”, fell on truly deaf ears.

Well, we got back to the ranch about 10:00 pm and hurried into the cabin as we yelled at one another. Some of the conversation I did hear went something like this:

Peg: “Jim, get in here before the lightning strikes again.”
I heard, “Where did you pack the medicines?”

Jim: “Peg, you’re all wet, do you need a blanket?”
Peg heard: “Peg, don’t be such a wet blanket.”

Peg: “Put the dirty clothes in the washer.”
I heard: “Jim, it’s time you did the washing for a change.”

This morning the sun is out, the rain and hail are gone and Peg and I are trying to recover. As we live on the prairie, we have deer, armadillos, etc., and wild turkeys that often appear in our yard. In an attempt to make amends to Peg for shouting back to her when she had shouted at me that my driving was going to get us killed, I tried to tell Peg we had some turkeys pecking in front of the veranda.

Jim: “Peg, come look at the preening tom!”
Peg heard: “Peg, where’s my toothbrush?”

Peg: “Jim, you need to get a photo of those turkeys.”
I heard: “Jim, quit being such a turkey.”

Regardless, all-in-all it was a wonderful celebration and another exciting adventure. However, it is a good thing that we are not likely to be attending another 80th birthday party.

 

You can also follow us on Facebook at “Jim Peg Redwine” or Substack “@gavelgamut”

President Trump’s Avatar

by Leave a Comment

President Trump had to find a way out of the descent into Hades he had recklessly threatened for Iran. Not even his most fervent acolytes could justify his destruction of an entire civilization because some of its leaders refused to prostate their country to President Trump’s demands. One of the President’s most irrational statements was to announce to the world a 48-hour time limit. This removed all wiggle room and meant either the United States had to retreat from its unconditional conditions or Iran had to.

The President’s dilemma remains he has exterminated not just Iran’s hierarchy but, over several years, he has eliminated many of his own advisors he could have relied upon for trusted advice. However, someone is left standing who managed to convince Trump to connive what is for now an off-ramp from his unhinged behavior. Who is the Trump Whisperer who helped him to extract defeat from devastation; the Court Jester who was able to get the emperor to listen to reason; The Greek Chorus that foreshadowed Trump’s own hubris fueled self-immolation on the world stage?

We do not know, as yet. However, there is a Daniel Ellsberg somewhere in the Trump Administration who will someday divulge the facts behind President Trump’s total defeat by his own ego. History provides many examples of people who have had the courage to put principle over their own survival.

Hitler’s greatest general, Erwin Rommel, gave his own life to try to stop a maniac from ending civilization. Marcus Junius Brutus conspired to assassinate Julius Caesar to prevent Caesar from claiming the emperorship and destroying the Roman republican form of government. Both Rommel and Brutus committed suicide, but both tried to save their countries from narcissistic tyrants. Daniel Ellsberg released the top-secret Pentagon Papers to divulge to the world the false basis for America’s involvement in the Viet Nam War. He was charged with espionage and endured great contumely for his courage.

Someone in President Trump’s truly inner circle had the ability to speak truth to Trump about Trump’s seismic moral, political and diplomatic tirade that placed America in the position that Hitler’s Nazis and Netanyahu’s Zionists are known for, genocide. We are, for now, most known for President Trump’s threats to eliminate an entire civilization. If the President decides to eliminate the Cassandra who brought America back from the edge, doom may yet occur.

Here’s a big thank you to that Cassandra, whoever she or he is, and a caution that truth can be a dangerous thing, especially if whispered to megalomaniacs.

You can also find us on Facebook at “Jim Peg Redwine” or Substack “@gavelgamut”

Epic Fury Revisited

by Leave a Comment

“Peg, Peg, are you awake?”

“I am now that you have poked your elbow through my ribs. What are you laughing about?”

“I just solved President Trump’s kerfuffle in the Middle East. It came to me in a dream; I knew you’d want to hear it. It has everything. No blood, no money and no more angst. Do you want to get up and have a hot chocolate or just lie here and be amazed?”

“What I want is to go back to sleep, but apparently that’s not an option. So, go ahead; let’s hear what, if anything, is going on in your head.”

“Oh, good. The country needs my help. Listen up, I think this borders on brilliant; it’s kinda like something Trump, Hegseth, J.D. Vance and Marco Rubio might have thought of on their own, if they’d thought of it.”

The Dream Solution

President Trump summoned Secretary of War Pete Hegseth to the oval office after he saw a FOX NEWS report of a portion of Hegseth’s prayer at the Pentagon directed to the war against Iran:

“Grant this task force clear and righteous targets for violence.
….
[L]et justice be executed swiftly and without remorse.”

“Now, Pete, that is a real prayer. Where in the world did you come up with that?”

“Mr. President, I took that straight from the Bible. I am sure you are familiar with Psalm 144 that holds: ‘Blessed be the Lord, my rock, who trains my hands for war, and my fingers for battle.’”

“Oh, sure, I used to be referred to suggested passages, but then I found Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount to be rather D.E.I. in its approach so, I quit wasting time on such by-gone thinking. The world now looks to me to solve these things. After all, I am the peacemaker.”

“Anyway, Pete, I just wanted to commend your attitude of all out victory and run an idea by you as to how we might land on our feet in this Iran thing. What do you think about a little diversionary tactic such as finding a country we can get to surrender without any more blood or tax dollars wasted? We need an enemy we can truly subdue in a couple of days, you know, one we can blame for criticizing our righteous invasion of Iran. I have one in mind based on what this guy from Chicago just said on March 26th about the war. No, no, it wasn’t that slob J.B. Pritzker who wants to run against me in 2028. He is in Illinois, but I mean that other Chicago preacher who used to be called Robert Francis Prevost but now dresses like a mullah or an Arab Sheik. Just this past Palm Sunday he said our ‘… hands are full of blood and that God does not listen to our prayers because we are waging war and using religion to justify violence.’”

“I think the fellow does not like my policies and is challenging my authority. Doesn’t he realize I represent 350 million people? Of course, he touts his leadership of 1.4 billion Catholics, 5 ½ of which are on the U.S. Supreme Court, but most of those people do not even own one golf course. And he lives in the smallest country on earth with the smallest army. Do you know there are only 135 members of the Swiss Guards and their last military engagement was at the sea battle of Lepanto in 1571? Further, they dress funny with their red, yellow and blue pantaloons and their only weapons are long sticks. How long could they last against our troops or even one Abrams tank?”

Photo by Peg Redwine

“Most importantly, I bet if I decided to take over the Vatican, Pope Leo XIV would just turn the other cheek. Then we could raise really huge campaign contributions by converting the Sistine Chapel into a really high-end rental suite like the Lincoln bedroom. We could also sell off that depressing Pieta thing and replace it with a statue of me.”

“What do you think, Pete? It would be easier than Venezuela and a whole lot less trouble than Iran. Also, the Pope doesn’t have any way to restrict access to the Mediterranean Sea or even to the Trevi Fountain. Okay, that’s enough planning, let’s go for it this afternoon! This should really divert attention from Iran and Epstein. Let the games begin.” 

“To sleep, perchance to dream.”
Hamlet, Act 3, scene 1

Photo by Peg Redwine
Photo by Peg Redwine

“What a dream. What do you think? The solution was right there in my head and now I just need to get the President and the Pope to sit down for some real Trump-like deal making. I’m pretty sure the Pope will be amenable to a Trump negotiation calling for unconditional surrender. What’s the Pope going to do, run over the President with that funny little golf cart?”

“I can’t speak for the Pope, but if you don’t shut up and let me go back to sleep, you won’t need to worry about it.”

You can also follow us on Facebook at “Jim Peg Redwine” or Substack “@gavelgamut”

American Essence

by Leave a Comment

Freedom of choice defines America.  We revolted against our then country, King George III’s Great Britain, in 1776 for the same reasons the English nobility had demanded that King John put his seal on the Magna Carta in 1215 at the plain of Runnymede.  Life under a governmental system of rule by fiat was anathema to freedom of choice.

America is recognized throughout the world as the best example of a people who live free.  Our Bill of Rights is a Bill of Choices:  choice to speak, Due Process of Law, the right to practice any or no religion or to complain about the government (even if it is a government we have chosen).  And, while we have often fallen short of our ideals and denied such rights to some of our own people and other peoples throughout the earth, our Volksgeist for 250 years has remained freedom for all. For example, President Trump has often and loudly proclaimed since the election of 2020 that American voters had their freedom of choosing their leaders stolen from them.  Regime change by fraud, not choice, Trump claims.

Yet, when it comes to Iran, Zionist Israel and the United States have publicly celebrated regime change by murder; the ultimate denial of a country’s freedom to choose their own leaders.  The despotic nature of Iran’s theocratic government does not exonerate our illegal aggression under the guise of removing the yolk from the necks of the Iranian people. This is especially true when our real purpose is to install the leaders we choose for them as we did when we gave them the Shah, then replaced the Shah and gave them the Ayatollah.  Is it any wonder Iran sees America and Israel as the not to be trusted Great Satan instead of its savior? Could they believe we are more interested in controlling the Straits of Hormuz than the welfare of the Iranian people?

As to negotiations to end hostilities, President Trump has demanded unconditional surrender including the elimination of Iran’s sitting government along with 14 other provisions including control over the Straits of Hormuz, the only true defensive asset Iran has to Israel’s nuclear weapons and its overpowering military; both of which we helped establish.  In June 2025 and again in February 2026, we led Iran to rely upon “negotiations” as we prepared to bomb them without notice.  Both times President Trump gleefully pronounced we and Israel had killed Iran’s leaders and destroyed their ability to defend themselves.  Israel has purposely led President Trump to assist it in attacking Iran when most Americans were adamantly opposed to this immoral and self-destructive course.  Four-dollar fuel and innocent blood are already the result of Israel’s deception and our “Passionate Attachment”.

We should not attack Israel but we surely should open our eyes as to which country in the Middle East for the past 78 years has attacked virtually every country near it including: Qatar, Egypt, Lebanon, Yemen, Palestine, Jordan, Syria and Iran.  And we should cease enabling this constant aggression.  America should adhere to its own ideals and not be used as a guarantor of Israel’s hegemony, revenge and genocide.  Most importantly, we should at least be ashamed of our role in those countless sins of both omission and commission and afford to other countries the rights we so proudly proclaim for ourselves.

Both King John and King George III are gone.  We should not anoint a new sovereign or approve of actions that violate our founding documents. We do not need to reprise the debacles of Viet Nam, Iraq and Afghanistan.  A true negotiation that fairly addresses the long-term needs and aspirations of every people involved is necessary to resolve the current conflict.  Bluster and lies will only produce what all immoral words and actions always produce.  And yes, it will be difficult, expensive and time consuming but on the other hand it already has been, so we might as well do it right.

You can also follow us on Facebook at “Jim Peg Redwine” or Substack “@gavelgamut”

Monkey Traps

by Leave a Comment

When a country embarks on a military peccadillo it is prudent to have planned for an offramp, as what appeared to be a walk in the park may turn out to be a Monkey Trap. Monkeys sometimes are captured by placing food in a jar that has an opening large enough to allow a monkey’s open paw to go in, but small enough that the inserted paw, when clinching food in a fist, cannot be withdrawn. Then the monkey sometimes stubbornly refuses to let go of the food and can be easily captured.

The United States has often suffered from this sin of hubris when dealing with less powerful nations. For example, Custer’s 1868 easy slaughter of Chief Black Kettle and his peaceful Cheyenne tribe at the Washita Battlefield in western Oklahoma infected Custer with the misconception indigenous people could not defend against the U.S. Cavalry. Ten years after Washita, Custer attacked another peaceful Indian encampment at the Little Bighorn in southeastern Montana. He expected the same result as with Black Kettle’s tribe, but this time was a Monkey Trap for the United States.

America has a penchant for seizing defeat from the jaws of victory in confrontations with countries which can do us no harm, but are ones we choose to destroy or revamp in our own image for them: North Korea, Viet Nam, Cambodia, Iraq (twice), Afghanistan, Palestine (Gaza and the West Bank), Syria, Yemen, Lebanon, Panama, Venezuela and Iran. There have been others, but these few debacles should illustrate the point.

Now, President Trump is threatening to invade Greenland and yesterday the President stated he could and might simply take Cuba, or as he said, “Do whatever I want with it”. Writing these proposed conquests down or publicly stating we will conquer another country because we do not like their attitude or their regime has become the new American dream. America, long seen as a beacon of freedom to the world, has changed perception of us to that of a Nazi Germany, or a Stalinist Soviet Union, or a Zionist Israel.

We cannot resist dipping our paws into the Monkey Trap of unjust, unnecessary, deadly, expensive, intractable and most importantly, immoral, conflicts. Why? According to what President Trump said about our invasions of Iran, they are “just for fun”. The temptation is to analyze Trump’s policy statements as products of our video game culture. However, we have been engaging in these misadventures since the 17th century, even before we were the United States. No, we should not attempt to assuage our collective conscience by laying the blame, shame and self-defeating national behavior on technology. The cause is not advancing science but declining character. We elected President Trump. He speaks for us. His morality is our morality. When he equates the destruction of other countries to a game and we hardly take notice, as a people we have lost our way.

America made a valid claim to having stopped Germany from its WWII genocide, but now we support Israel’s genocide in Palestine and Lebanon. The slaughter and displacement of innocent human beings is wrong whether in Germany or the Middle East. And, as we are rotting from the inside to defend Israel’s immorality, what about what such lack of character is doing to us?

Our traditional friends and allies no longer look to America for enlightenment. They are increasingly lumping us into the cauldron of hegemony and hate. If President Trump can publicly state from the White House that our Monkey Trap behaviors are excursions or “just for fun”, while there is no hue and cry about how our national soul is rapidly being lost, we need not blame Trump; a mirror will suffice.

Follow us on Facebook at “Jim Peg Redwine” or Substack “@gavelgamut”

Regime Regrets

by Leave a Comment

In 1953 Iran had a democratically elected president, Mohammad Mosaddegh. Mosaddegh was deposed by the United States CIA and Britain’s MI6 because he wanted to change Iran’s position on how Iran’s oil revenues were being unfairly taken, mainly by Britain but also the U.S.A. The CIA and MI6 instigated riots and protests among the Iranian people, then without allowing the Iranian citizens to choose, installed Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi as their absolute dictator whose repressive and corrupt regime led to a popular revolt in 1979. The citizens who took American hostages did so because they blamed America for deposing their president and imposing the Shah. Then, ironically, the foreign intelligence agencies fomented what became the Iranian Revolution of 1979 that ousted the Shah. That revolution continues today and pits Iran’s current repressive religious leaders against progressive reformists.

Iran’s current political situation is theocratic, not democratic and much of the population lives under repression of rights. Such are the fruits of the various regime changes we have arbitrarily forced on the Iranian people. They know we are to blame and are understandably upset with us, much as we would be if Iran attempted to change our regime by subterfuge and/or assassination. Israel just murdered the leaders of Iran’s government so the Iranians may wonder why they should not seek to respond. Now, President Trump wants another regime change in Iran but he wants to select the new regime leader while Israel wants to turn Iran into the same type of rubble it has wrought in Gaza.

Two hundred and fifty years ago we Colonials sought regime change from King George III’s control. After great strife and hardship our Founders adopted the U.S. Constitution that is the gold standard for regime change. It was and is the light that kept a rag-tag group of British subjects from disintegrating into a mob of warring factions and, while far from a perfect union, led to a country where religion is supposed to have no say in our government and our government is to have no say in religion. Both press and speech are to be unfettered while due process is required to take our lives and our property. When it comes to war, our military is to be only for OUR national defense, not ill-advised adventurism. And that self-defense is to be entered into ONLY with the advice, consent and authorization of our elected representatives in Congress.

We Americans have frequently lost touch with the wisdom that took regime change to freedom. Unfortunately, we have occasionally lost sight of our own experience and convinced ourselves we know how other countries should govern themselves. Such entanglements almost always have resulted in disaster for America and those we deign as inferior to our culture. We normally work our way into these briar patches with no way for either the other countries or ourselves to escape without losing our dignity, our treasure or even our lives. Such is our current stumble into starting a war against Iran because we, once again, have violated our Constitution to our detriment.

If our Constitution is carefully followed, our collective goodwill and good judgment will help us remember to remain humble and to choose right over wrong. To see what is right is what our founding document guides us to. It is then up to us to do what is right in the face of our natural human frailty of choosing to impose our will on others. We should remember we are neither Nazis, Zionists, Marxists, Communists, Fascists, monarchists nor a theocracy and we should not allow ourselves to be misled by any such flawed systems of government. We are a republic based on a constitution and when we fail to follow our Constitution, as in Korea, Viet Nam, Afghanistan, Iraq, Israel, Palestine or Iran, they suffer and so do we. Of course, when our country becomes untethered from its core principles, the first issue to be addressed is which principles have been cast aside and why.

Donald Trump based his campaign promises on two worthy goals: avoid offensive wars and improve America’s standard of living. Trump had looked at our foreign military entanglements in the devastating, pointless and baseless wars since WWII and campaigned on their immorality and multi-trillion-dollar cost; Trump was right about our failure to adhere to our core values then. But, as we humans often do, Trump succumbed to the same hubris as some of his predecessors. We Americans are not the saviors we see ourselves to be, but are mere humans who have lost our way because we drifted from our Constitution, core values and our true Volksgeist.

President Trump has fallen victim to what almost all of us has from time to time. When we are cursed with power, we cannot resist abusing it. That is the danger our Founders knew and guarded against 250 years ago. One of those worst dangers is unbridled military power fueled by blind belief in the rightness of a cause and/or the belief in the evilness of someone else.

Donald Trump is caught up in that trap many of us are in danger of falling heir to. He has the reins of immense power and cannot recognize that he is much like a child with an irresistible opportunity of exerting it over virtually defenseless victims. His is the psyche of a boy with a new BB gun and a helpless bird in his sights. It is the immorality of one who simply cannot resist the exhilaration of killing, especially of anyone who asserts their own views and independence.

That is the frailty of human nature our Founders recognized most of us are in danger of should we ever have the opportunity to force our will on others. That is the basis of our Constitution. Our President, the Congress, the Supreme Court, the News Media and each American citizen need the constant reminder that the separation and equality of our three branches of government are the raison d’etre we are nearing our 250th birthday.

Follow us on Facebook at “Jim Peg Redwine” or Substack “@gavegamut”