Sunday/Palm Sunday

On this day:

1461
Wars of the Roses: Battle of Towton – Edward of York defeats Queen Margaret to become King Edward IV of England.
1847
Mexican-American War: United States forces led by General Winfield Scott take Veracruz after a siege.
1857
Sepoy Mangal Pandey of the 34th Regiment, Bengal Native Infantry revolts against the British rule in India and inspires a long-drawn War of Independence of 1857 also known as the Sepoy Mutiny.
1879
Anglo-Zulu War: Battle of Kambula: British forces defeat 20,000 Zulus.
1936
In Germany, Adolf Hitler receives 99% of the votes in a referendum to ratify Germany’s illegal reoccupation of the Rhineland, receiving 44.5 million votes out of 45.5 million registered voters.
1945
World War II: Last day of V-1 flying bomb attacks on England.
1951
Ethel and Julius Rosenberg are convicted of conspiracy to commit espionage.
1973
Vietnam War: The last United States combat soldiers leave South Vietnam.
2004: Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia join NATO as full members.

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Trade is not just about transactions. It’s about relationships and trust built and earned over time. This establishes that trading partners will play by agreed-upon rules and that market access is not a bargaining chip to be leveraged whenever one side, in this case Washington, needs a political victory.--Hebert

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Indian Rebellion of 1857, a widespread but unsuccessful rebellion against British rule in India in 1857–59. The revolt began in Meerut with an uprising of Indian troops (sepoys) in the service of the British East India Company. 

The pretext for revolt was the introduction of the new Enfield rifle. To load it, the sepoys had to bite off the ends of lubricated cartridges. A rumor spread among the sepoys that the grease used to lubricate the cartridges was a mixture of pig and cow lard; thus, to have oral contact with it was an insult to both Muslims and Hindus. There is no conclusive evidence that either of these materials was actually used on any of the cartridges in question. However, the perception that the cartridges were tainted added to the larger suspicion that the British were trying to undermine Indian traditional society.

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No Kings Report: Kamala Harris won 74,999,166 votes or 48.3 percent of the votes cast.

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Sunday/Palm Sunday

An Old Testament battle begins over succession to Saul, the first King of Israel. Solomon is David's choice over a false claimant. Solomon arrives in victory to Jerusalem riding on an ass. He then builds the new temple.

So, the bible endorses symbolism and poetry. The concrete world, not so much. 

Today is Palm Sunday, a long and difficult Gospel from Holy Thursday to Christ's burial, filled with drama, conflict, and ambiguity. It is so dramatic, so much a part of the Western world, it is hard to believe students are regularly deprived of it. 

That frustrating, "That is what you say." And this strange back-and-forth, which sounds bitterly ironic, even in Christ's mouth:
He said to them,
“But now one who has a money bag should take it,
and likewise a sack,
and one who does not have a sword
should sell his cloak and buy one.
For I tell you that this Scripture must be fulfilled in me,
namely, He was counted among the wicked;
and indeed what is written about me is coming to fulfillment.”
Then they said,
“Lord, look, there are two swords here.”
But he replied, “It is enough!”

The Gospel is oblique as Christ is passive throughout; the real actors are the humans. Humans fail on just about every level you can imagine. Christ's friends leave Him, the future head of the Church denies Him, the religious organization that He is a member of conspires against Him, and the State washes its hands of Him, unable to follow even its own laws. 

It's a pretty ugly picture. There are some obvious explanations. Christ is the only answer. Friends are fickle, and the world transient. Organizations can not be relied upon. They may all be true. But there seems to be very little faith in human beings or their constructs. Even the tried-and-true customs and institutions that we all think of as society's DNA fall apart.

It is a nightmare, a moral and social dystopia. Chaos of the spirit. The storm that comes later after Golgotha is only an exclamation point. 

What does come through in astonishing clarity is the unbelievable gentleness of the victim, gentle and forgiving. 

It is overwhelming.