small men, large dreams

Every time I think I ought to be joking, something comes along to show me it's no joke imagining all the wannabe dictators who deserve a space (perhaps Wyoming or the Gobi Desert) in which to cavort and connive and preen.

This morning, the email coughed up what in saner times might have been a chuckle, but instead does nothing so much as offer added resonance to the symphonic bullshit lapping at the shores of a quasi-peaceful lifestyle:

The Cabinet of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe approved Tuesday a controversial bill that would revise the organized crime law so authorities can crack down on individuals and organizations who conspire to engage in serious criminal activity.
The conspiracy charges apply to groups of two or more people, where at least one person procures funds, supplies or surveys a location in preparation for committing a crime. Efforts to maintain or expand organized crime groups would also be punished, while reduced penalties would be considered for those who turn themselves in before a crime is carried out.

Sometimes I think the Japanese are nothing but a national version of the U.S. Marine Corps -- all of them disproportionately little and belligerent as a means of making up for small size. This way, gents -- pick up your katanas and tickets to the Gobi Desert... no reason to subjugate those uninterested in your diminished peckers and oversized egos. But when I think of the Japanese in this bigoted way, I have to remember the country within which I am speaking ... yes, Donald Trump restores my reason.

Not even pygmies are so minimally equipped.