38 minutes to live...

We got inbound...38 minutes to live..

What if you suddenly found yourself with just 38 minutes to live? Residents of Hawaii were faced with this very dire question just last week when their Emergency Broadcast System sent out an alert warning residents that a nuclear armed ballistic missile was incoming from North Korea. That this was not a drill, the message said. It was in fact, the real deal.

People who were going about their day suddenly found themselves dropping everything and taking shelter, or trying to get home to family, or just plain panicking in place. In the words of one resident who was home at the time, I didn't know of the proper protocol. I guess I had no choice but to sit there and wait for it.

So what would you do if you suddenly had just 38 minutes to live? How would you react to knowing you were about to be vaporized into oblivion? I can still recall the duck and cover drills of the early 1970s.  It seemed like sci fi to me then because I was just a little boy, and I suppose it still sort of seems like that to most people now.

But we are vulnerable, our species. Never was that more apparent this week when some knucklehead working for the Emergency Broadcast System apparently, and I quote, "hit the wrong button" and sent out the message giving Hawaii only 38 minutes to exist on this planet. Imagine if Rocket Boy suddenly hits a wrong button?

The fact that we're ill-prepared to defend ourselves against a nuclear attack has become painfully apparent. The fact that when faced with just 38 minutes to live, I wouldn't know what the hell to do, is even more apparent. What's for sure is I'll keep on keeping on in the mean time.

WWW.VINCENTZANDRI.COM
  

Radical Islam's Long Planned Murder

No one likes to be the bearer of bad news. Certainly our President doesn't like to issue bad news. In fact, he'd rather retreat from it to the golf course, or downplay the severity of an international crisis by referring to something like ISIS as the "JV team" or even in recent weeks, refusing to call them what they are: Radical Muslims.

When the embassy in Benghazi was attacked two years ago, it was President Obama and then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton who dismissed all evidence of an organized attack by Radical Muslims, and instead blamed the murder of several innocent American diplomats and military personnel on an anti-Islamist video that was circulating YouTube (in other words, he was blaming America). It was of course, a lie perpetrated by liars, and an absurd one at that. 

Now, we have ISIS, a Radical Islamist State or Caliphate, that is not only beheading innocent men, women, and children at will, they are building up an army that is closing in on 50K strong. They are also funding their operations with stolen oil reverses to the tune of $3 million per day. At present they are recruiting some of the world's most talented computer hackers in order to wage a cyber war with the west.

In the meantime, we have a major domestic problem in the form of two porous borders, both north and south. Just last week a reporter dressed in a Bin Laden costume casually walked across the southern border into the United States. Yet, the present administration is refusing to do anything about this lack of security in fear of losing their voter base come November and ultimately in 2016. Some naysayers will argue this point by saying, we have the largest police presence ever stationed on the borders, while others will say it's impossible to build walls that large. I say, declare a State of Emergency to exist on both borders, establish a formidable military presence, and in the meantime, engage in the aggressive deportation of the 11 million known illegals presently shacking up in this country while revoking the passports and student visas of questionable aliens. Yes, this will take a toll on the Democrats and their voting base, but national security shouldn't be a political issue determined by professional politicians.

When I think about this administration in years to come, I won't see the dismembered head of journalist James Foley resting on his own torso in the unforgiving desert sun. I will instead see Obama's smiling face as he went golfing only minutes after addressing reporters about the barbarous act of murder and war. A display of unimaginable disinterest if not callousness from a man who refuses to lead and who seems particularly bent on dismantling the US as a world power.

Two years remain in this Presidency and in terms of national security, they will be our most vulnerable and most dangerous since the outbreak of WWII. Here's a sampling of what we can expect:

--An attack on our homeland that will come in the form of a dirty bomb, or even a crude nuclear device.
--An all out cyber attack that will severely injure our power grid, delete bank accounts, dismantle our communications systems, and more.
--Attacks by Radical Islamists in Europe where military might has largely been depleted due to the costs of socialism and socialist programs.
--Attacks on the world's transportation systems, including trains and planes.
--Meanwhile, Russian, China, and other regimes who have already taken advantage of a weak, if not dangerously inept President, will make their moves in order to grab what they can while the taking is good.

This is not to be alarmist, but it is a reality that all of us are going to have to deal with one way or another. Like Hemingway said of the Nazis and their power grabs of the late 1930s, "A world war is certainly coming. It's like a long planned murder." And that's what is presently happening right before our eyes: a long planned murder by barbarians who dress in black, fly the black banner of Radical Islam, and who have one goal and one goal only: to administer the total destruction of the Judeo-Christian establishment, Europe, and the United States of America.

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When Traveling ...

When traveling in Venice, try not to stay on the Grand Canal anywhere near the Casino. You know, the one where James Bond rolls up to the table in his white dinner jacket, tosses a couple of die, and nails craps. And then, when the lovely young brunette standing beside him spilling out of her red gown asks him his name, he replies, "Bond ... James Bond," with a face that conveys neither happiness nor sadness, but surly intuits, "I'm also available and I've got a big hard gun." Anyway, don't stay at a hotel near the casino because you will be up most of the night due to thunderous beat of Euro-Disco, the lyrics "I'm too sexy for my car ..." replaying in your brain again, and again, and again. Not even James Bond could withstand such a torture without cracking (You listening to me Q?).

But hey, this is Venice so I'm not complaining.

While here I have been retracing the steps of my main characters in The Disappearance of Grace, my Venice stand-alone novel. Hitchcockian in form, the novel is about a solider, an officer, who having returned from the Afghan war suffering from PTSD along with temporary bouts of temporary blindness, attempts to try and reconcile his stressed relationship with his significant other. A painter named Grace. Problem is, while the two are enjoying a quiet lunch in San Marco, Grace suddenly goes missing. Our blind soldier has no choice but to try and find her, blindness be damned.

Yesterday while in Piazza San Marco I saw the exact table where Grace disappears and I saw the exact boat that carries her away to one of Venice's many islands. This is not my first time here but every time I visit I see something different and the experience becomes new again.

Walking the narrow, maze-like corridors of this ancient city is an experience of both claustrophobia and wonder that is not always easily described unless you expose yourself entirely to its magic on your own terms. I tried to get all the emotions right in "Grace" and hopefully I've succeeded. Imagine being half blind and losing the love of your life inside this aquatic city of love and broken hearts? A city that, at times, seems impossible to navigate even when your vision is 20/20.

Tonight I will board the night train to Paris. I've been overseas now for 64 days and will fly home from Paris later this week. I've gathered more material for a new novel or two, while completing a brand new novel called The Breakup.

Europe can be a wonderful place to write, to disappear, to find yourself amongst the eternal ruins. But do not ever try and attempt a good night's sleep by laying your head beside a casino.

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