CliffsNotes of the Zeitgeist, 113th Edition. Some things you aren't hearing much about right now and some things that require explanation that we're not getting. The Venezuelan Distraction Edition.

Hmmmm. . . . 

The U.S. attacked Venezuela over the weekend as its a major drug exporter to the U.S., or maybe because we wanted to liberate the country from Maduro, or maybe because it has oil.  

One of those things.  

Anyhow, 

Somethings we aren't hearing much about now.

• Where are those Epstein files?

Where, where?

Still delayed.

Marjorie Taylor Greene, whose leaves office today, claimed Trump would attack Venezuela as nothing distracts like war.  She said that, not me.

I'm not saying that he attacked Venezuela for that reason, although I don't put it past him.  But we sure aren't hearing much about them now, are we?

They could have dropped the entire file in a giant Playboy Ephebophilia, Collectors Edition, complete with underaged centefolds, and nobody would have noticed.

• What's up with the economy?

Do you know?  I don't, and I follow the economy.

• What's going on in the Russo Ukrainian War?

Trump was going to instantly end the war, but it turned out to be hard.  

Over the last month he was praising Putin, and then sort of praising Ukraine, and now we don't hear anything about the war at all.  Utterly nothing.

I'm sure Trump didn't end the war.

By The image created by © Yuriy Kvach, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=31547668

Somethings we need explanations on.

• Greenland?

What is the real source of Trump's fascination with Greenland?  The strategic need line is complete and utter crap.  If somebody is actually telling him that, they need to be dope slapped into the 21st Century.  

I don't really think it's Trump, as I don't think Trump is smart enough to know anything about Greenland.  Having watched him now for years, I'm pretty much convinced that he was a fairly good salesman at one time, but he was never very intelligent.  Now he's demented so he's not even a good salesman.  

It's something or somebody else, or . . . 

• Putin and Trump?

We have to seriously consider once again why Donald Trump is a Russian asset.  

We know that he is a Russian asset, but we don't know why.  He may be simply because he likes them for some reason.  Or he may have really bought into some weird vision of the world that's centered in the 18th Century, in which he's King Donald the Demented and Putin is Tsar Vlad the Magnificent.  Btu with the threats on Greenland we need to at least consider the possibility that Trump is a full-blown Russian asset as they have something on him, or are giving something to him.

That sounds extreme, but a US that pulls back to the Western Hemisphere and wrecks NATO is a gift to Russia.  And it appears to be happening.  Putin had been a backer of Maduro but he didn't lift a finger to help him once our illegitimate head of state caused that illegitimate head of state to be seized.

And Putin has been oddly quiet.

It's clear that at least for the time being the relationship between the United States and Europe is wrecked.  If you were writing a script for a Russian mole to occupy the White House, even Tom Clancy couldn't do better than this.

Harry Dexter White. . . it's sort of happened before.

• Lindsey Graham.

What's going on with Lindsey Graham.  Unlike Trump, he's not dumb.  His complete and utter sycophancy needs some explanation.

• Stephen and Katie Miller

Okay, this is going to be delicate, but there's something really weird about Stephen Miller playing Joseph Goebbels and his wife playing, well, Joseph Goebbels.

They're both Jewish.

Miller is the chief proponent of White Anglo Saxon Protestantism in the administration, and he ain't one.  I don't know the ethnicity of his wife, but she could pass for a Mizrahi Jew.  

This might not quite be as weird as it sounds, although its downright dangerous for them.  Goebbels had been a Communist and you can find plenty of Nazis who were drawn from German populations that were repressed in the most violent ways during the Third Reich, but there's the lesson.  The policies that Miller advocates for would, in the end, put him and Katie in the hold of a boat and deport them to a place that people who think like him would think he would find more to their liking, or at least theirs.

Before this sounds too one sided, there's a real lesson for Catholics supporting Trump.  His people don't think you are very American either.

Careful Steve and Katie. . . this is how a lot of your fellow travelers see you.

• The weather.

It's been super warm this winter.  No winter at all.  

How long do we intend to ignore this?

Last edition:

CliffsNotes of the Zeitgeist, 112th Edition. Clinton calls Trump's bluff.

Labels: Bill Clinton, Crime, Donald Trump, Ephebophilia, Epstein Scandal, Republican Party, The Second Trump Administration, The wealthy, Trump Derangement Syndrome, Zeitgeist

Friday, March 30, 1945. Mère Marie Élisabeth de l'Eucharistie gassed at Ravensbruck. Maj. Gen. Maurice Rose killed in action.

Algerian born Élise Rivet, whose father was a French Naval officer and whose mother was Alsatian, also known as Mère Marie Élisabeth de l'Eucharistie was gassed at Ravensbruck Concentration Camp after volunteering to take the place of a mother who was slated for that fate.  She had been arrested in 1944 for harboring refugees fleeing the Germans and for allowing her convent to be used to store weapons for the Mouvements Unis de la Résistance at the request of Albert Chambonnet.

She was 55 years of age.

Commander of the 3d Armored Division, Maj Gen. Maurice Rose was killed in action near Paderborn, Westphalia, where many of many ancestors immigrated from in the 19th Century.

Rose was cut off in a forested area near the city and his part attempted to escape in their Jeeps, which one Jeep managed to do.  Stopped by a tank, a Waffen SS tank commander emerged from the hatch with a submachinegun and Rose's hand went for his sidearm.  He was machinegunned and left.  The remainder of his party hid in the woods overnight, and recovered his body, which contained operational orders that had not been disturbed, that night.

He was the highest ranking U.S. Army officer to be killed in direct action by enemy forces during World War Two.

Rose was Jewish by descent and grew up in a Jewish household in Denver.  His father was a businessman who later became a rabbi.  Rose himself could speak Yiddish and read Hebrew.  He joined the Colorado National Guard before he was legally old enough to do so, hoping for a military career early on, and hoping to serve in the Punitive Expedition, but was discharged six weeks later when his age was discovered.  He enlisted again during World War One at age 17 with his parents permission, and went to OCS, which says something about how different things were in regard to educational requirements at the time.  He was briefly out of the service in 1919, but returned to the Army as an officer in 1920.

Rose was married for about ten years, from 1920 to 1931, to Venice Hanson of Salt Lake City.  although the marriage ended in divorce.  Their son served as a career Marine Corps officer and also served in World War Two, as well as the Korean and Vietnam Wars.  He later married Virginia Barringer in 1934.

While born and raised Jewish, Maurice identified as an Episcopalian as an adult, which has lead to speculation on whether his conversion was real or political, it being difficult at the time to advance in American society, and the Army more particularly, while being outwardly Jewish.  Not that much is known, however, about his personal religious convictions.

He was 45 years of age.

"he rabbi of the Jewish Inf. Brigade visits the aid station and distributes newspapers. 30 March, 1945. Photographer: Levine, 196th Signal Photo Co."

The Battle of Lijevče Field began near Banja Luka between Croatian and Chetnik forces in what would soon be incorporated into communist Yugoslavia.

The Red Army took Danzig.  The Danzig Corridor, of course, had been one of the things the Germans claimed they required that lead to World War Two.

Anyone else make a connection to Greenland today.. . . ?

Eric Clapton was born in Ripley, Surrey to 16 year old Patricia Molly Clapton and 25 year old Canadian soldier Edward Walter Fryer.  He was raised by his grandparents, whom he thought to be his parents until he was nine years old.  He thought, at that time, his mother was his older sister.  She'd marry another Canadian soldier later on and his grandparents would continue to raise him.

He was performing the blue professionally by age 17.

Last edition:

Thursday, March 29, 1945. The first Public Passover Sedar in Germany since 1938.

Labels: Battle of the Heiligenbell Pocket, Germany, Judaism, Passover, Red Army, religion

Thursday, March 29, 1945. The first Public Passover Sedar in Germany since 1938.

Captain Robert S. Marcus leads a Passover Seder for men of the 365th Fighter Group on a fighter-bomber base in Germany on March 29, 1945.  This was the first public Passover Seder in Germany since 1938.  This base, it should be noted, was extremely far forward.  The Allies had only crossed the Rhine on March 7, with the seizure of the Ludendorff Bridge at Remagen.  On the same day, 60 Jewish forces laborer's were murdered in the Deutsch Schützen massacre

 The Battle of the Heiligenbell Pocket ended in a victory for the Red Army.

The 7th Army took Mannheim and Heidelberg.

The last V1 to hit London did so.

US forces landed near Bacolod in the Philippines.

Last edition:

Wednesday, March 28, 1945. Guderian gets his release.

Labels: 1940s, 1945, Army, Australian Army, Bougainville, Dwight Eisenhower, German Army, Germany, Imperial Japanese Navy, Joseph Stalin, Personalities, Red Army, U.S. Navy, World War Two

Monday, February 26, 1945. Syria declares war. US coal curfew.

Syria declared war on the Axis powers.

Fighting ended on Corregidor.

The British Indian 17th Division took Tahlaing and the Thabuktong airfield.

A midnight curfew on bars, nightclubs and all other places of entertainment went into effect in the US in order to save coal.

USAAF Gen. Millard Fillmore Harmon Jr. and Brig. Gen. James Roy Andersen disappeared in an aircraft over the Pacific.

"With the gun crew riding on top, a tank destroyer chassis tows a huge Seventh Army 8-inch rifle through a French town, on the way to the front. 26 February, 1945. Monnenheim, France.  575th Field Artillery Battalion, 35th Field Artillery Group."

"Crosses are erected over Protestant and Catholic graves, the Star of David over those of the Jewish faith, in this U.S. military cemetery somewhere in the European Theater of Operations. 26 February, 1945. Foy, Belgium. Photographer: T/5 Billy Newhouse."

The USAAF bombs Berlin heavily.

Last edition:

Sunday, February 25, 1945. Smoke in the village.

Labels: 1940s, 1945, Aircraft, Army, Canada, Germany, Radio, U.S. Air Force, World War Two

Wednesday, January 11, 1775. Francis Salvador takes his seat.

Francis Salvador, a Sephardic Jew born into that community in London, and an emigrant to South Carolina, took his seat in that colonies Provincial Congress, making him the first Jewish elected official in North America.

Coat of arms of Francis Salvador.

He was killed in action in the American Revolution in 1776.

Interestingly, Salvador means "savior" or "salvation" in Catalan, Spanish, and Portuguese and is associated with Catholicism.

Last edition:

Thursday, December 22, 1724. The Greenwich Tea Party

Labels: 1770s, 1774, American Revolution, Colonial North America, Intolerable Acts, New Jersey, Tea

Friday, January 5, 1945. They gave all.

British forces prevailed in the Battle of Bure.

The Navy shelled Iwo Jima, Haha Jima and Chichi Jima. The USAAF also hit them with B-29s.

Suribachi Wan in the Kurils was bombarded by surface vessels.

Shwebo was taken by the British 2nd Division of British 33rd Corps (Stopford).  Indian paratroopers were dropped south of Rangoon.

The opening mission of Operation Cornflakes, an attempt to distribute propoganda via the German mail system, opened with a mail train being bombed followed by an air drop of fake mail to German homes.

Ala Gertner, age 32, was executed at Auschwitz for her role in the Sonderkommando revolt of October, 1944.

Julies Leber, age 53, was also executed by the Germans for his role in being an opposition politician and German resistance member.  An Alsatian who had originally chosen a career in the German Army, he was wounded in World War One and resigned from the army after the Kapp Putsch, which he opposed.  He was a member of the July 20 plot and was anticipated to have a future role in the replacement German government.

The Soviet government recognized the Communist Provisional Government, which the UK and US did not.

Pepe Le Pew debuted in "Odor-able Kitty".

Last edition:

Thursday, January 4, 1945. Fighting in snowy Belgium.

Labels: 1940s, 1945, Army, Battle of the Bulge, Belgium, British Army, Burma, German Wehrmacht, Indian Army, Luzon, U.S. Air Force, World War Two

Thursday, November 2, 1944. The march of the Hungarian Jews.

Infantrymen moving through Hurtgen Forest near Vossenack, Germany. 2 November, 1944. Company E, 110th Infantry Regiment, 28th Infantry Division.

The Germans commenced a forced march of 50,000 Hungarian Jews from Budapest to Austria as Germany's ongoing amplification of mass murder against the Jews in the closing months of the war carried on.

Josip Broz Tito became the Prime Minister of Yugoslavia.

The 7th Army took Nompatelize.

The 5th Army took Casseta.

"American Red Cross worker Henry Eichman of Springfield, Mo., giving a pair of U.S.- made moccasins to a pig-tailed Italian girl. 2 November, 1944. Monghidoro, Italy."

Robert Edward Femoyer preformed the actions that resulted in his receiving a posthumous Medal of Honor.

For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty near Merseburg, Germany on 2 November 1944. While on a mission, the bomber, of which 2d Lt. Femoyer was a navigator, was struck by three enemy antiaircraft shells. The plane suffered serious damage and 2d Lt. Femoyer was severely wounded in the side and back by shell fragments which penetrated his body. In spite of extreme pain and great loss of blood he refused an offered injection of morphine. He was determined to keep his mental faculties clear in order that he might direct his plane out of danger and so save his comrades. Not being able to arise from the floor, he asked to be propped up in order to enable him to see his charts and instruments. He successfully directed the navigation of his lone bomber for 2 and one half hours so well it avoided enemy flak and returned to the field without further damage. Only when the plane had arrived in the safe area over the English Channel did he feel that he had accomplished his objective; then, and only then, he permitted an injection of a sedative. He died shortly after being moved from the plane. The heroism and self-sacrifice of 2d Lt. Femoyer are in keeping with the highest traditions of the U.S. Army.

The tanker Fort Lee was sunk in the Indian Ocean by the U-181.

Last edition:

Wednesday, November 1, 1944 Death of Greek Catholic Archbishop of Lviv and Metropolitan of Halych Andrey Sheptytsky

Labels: 1940s, 1944, British Army, Canadian Army, Catholic, Conscription, Conscription Crisis, Eastern Rite Catholic, Japan, Netherlands, Operation Infatuate, Personalities, religion, World War Two

Sunday, October 29, 1944. Shelling chocolate bars.

Knocked out Panther, October 29, 1944.  Oddly, it's labeled as to what it is.

The Red Army and the Romanian Army commenced the Budapest Offensive.

The Red Army prevailed in the Petsamo–Kirkenes Offensive.

The RAF tried for the Tirpitz again, and again without success.

Himmler ordered the gas chambers closed at Auschwitz and other death camps.  Keep in mind, most of the death camps were in the east, which the Red Army was now approaching.

The final of three acts by Pvt. Barney F. Hajiro occurred which resulted in his being awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor.

For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty. Private Barney F. Hajiro distinguished himself by extraordinary heroism in action on 19, 22, and 29 October 1944, in the vicinity of Bruyeres and Biffontaine, eastern France. Private Hajiro, while acting as a sentry on top of an embankment on 19 October 1944, in the vicinity of Bruyeres, France, rendered assistance to allied troops attacking a house 200 yards away by exposing himself to enemy fire and directing fire at an enemy strong point. He assisted the unit on his right by firing his automatic rifle and killing or wounding two enemy snipers. On 22 October 1944, he and one comrade took up an outpost security position about 50 yards to the right front of their platoon, concealed themselves, and ambushed an 18-man heavily armed, enemy patrol, killing two, wounding one, and taking the remainder as prisoners. On 29 October 1944, in a wooded area in the vicinity of Biffontaine, France, Private Hajiro initiated an attack up the slope of a hill referred to as "Suicide Hill" by running forward approximately 100 yards under fire. He then advanced ahead of his comrades about 10 yards, drawing fire and spotting camouflaged machine gun nests. He fearlessly met fire with fire and single-handedly destroyed two machine gun nests and killed two enemy snipers. As a result of Private Hajiro's heroic actions, the attack was successful. Private Hajiro's extraordinary heroism and devotion to duty are in keeping with the highest traditions of military service and reflect great credit upon him, his unit, and the United States Army.

NBC broadcast a Jewish religious service from US occupied Aachen.

D-ration chocolate bars and bottles of Halazone pills are packed into 105mm howitzer shells to be fired to men in an Infantry battalion that is cut off by Germans in the Belmont sector, France. 29 October, 1944. ABL Bat., 131st Field Artillery Battalion, 36th Infantry Division.

Last edition.

Saturday, October 28, 1944. Slovaks put down, French Resistance ordered to disarm, Bulgaria quits, Day of Liberation of Ukraine from Fascist Invaders (День визволення України від фашистських загарбників).

Labels: Allied Powers, Auschwitz, Battle of Dukla Pass, Bulgaria, Charles de Gaulle, Czechoslovakia, French Resistance Movements, Red Army, Slovak National Uprising, Slovakia, The Holocaust, Ukraine, World War Two

Today in World War II History—October 29, 1939 & 1944

Today in World War II History—October 29, 1939 & 1944: 85 Years Ago—Oct. 29, 1939: Golden Gate International Exposition closes on Treasure Island in San Francisco Bay (will re-open 25 May 1940).

 

KOSHER WHISKEY

Sunday, August 3, 1924. German memorial day.

Germany observed its first memorial day.  

German communists disrupted a noontime two minutes of silence, with German police moving in to restore order.

Jewish Berliners held a separate service in the memory of Jewish German soldiers who were killed during the war, as a Jewish cleric was not allowed to deliver a prayer at the Reichstag ceremony held that day.

Soviet agents raided Stolpce Poland in a mission to free two members of the Communist Party of Western Belarus.  Seven Polish policemen were killed but the Soviet mission failed and would cause a reassessment of such attacks.

An American plane had made the leap to Iceland in the around the world flight:

It was a Sunday paper, so it had some human interest ones, including the following one, which I"m not sure I grasp:

King Amanullah Khan of Afghanistan, declared a jihad against six tribes who had commenced the Khost rebellion.

Ja'far al-Askari resigned as Prime Minister of Iraq in protest of the Constituent Assembly voting to ratify the Anglo-Iraqi Treaty approving the terms of the Mandate for Mesopotamia and making Iraq a British protectorate.

British novelist Joseph Conrad died.

Last edition:

Wednesday, July 24, 1924. Around the world flight reaches the Orkneys.

Labels: 1920s, 1924, Army, First Around The World Flight, Orkney Islands, U.S. Air Force, United Kingdom

Blog Mirror: 508. Fr Joe Krupp QC: Weddings, marriage and divorce in the time of Jesus | March 22, 2023

 A really interesting look at Jewish marriages in the time of Jesus, and before:

508. Fr Joe Krupp QC: Weddings, marriage and divorce in the time of Jesus | March 22, 2023

Saturday, May 3, 1924. Foundings.

The Grand Order of the Aleph Zadik Aleph (AZA or אצא), an international fraternity for Jewish teenagers, was founded in Omaha, Nebraska.

It would go on to found the B'nai B'rith Youth Organization a year later.

The SS Catalina, which would be in service for 51 years ferrying passengers between Los Angeles and Santa Catalina Island, was launched.

German police raided the Soviet Trade Delegation

Zinaida Kokorina, against the odds and through the intervention of the Soviet head of state, became the first female military pilot on this day in 1924.

She wanted to become a fighter pilot, but was persuaded to remain a flight instructor, which she did through World War Two.  She later became headmistress of a village school at Cholpon-Ata in Kyrgyzstan before retiring to Moscow.

Last prior edition:

Friday, May 2, 1924. Craters of the Moon.

1920s, 1924, Calvin Coolidge, Craters of the Moon National Monument, Cuba, Government, Idaho, Radio

Passover, 2024.

Passover for this year starts with sundown, tonight, and runs to the evening of April 30.

Orthodox Easter for this year is yet to come.

Wednesday, April 5, 1944. I want to be useful or bring enjoyment to all people, even those I’ve never met. I want to go on living even after my death! And that’s why I’m so grateful to God for having given me this gift, which I can use to develop myself and to express all that’s inside me! When I write I can shake off all my cares. My sorrow disappears, my spirits are revived!

 

Anne Frank.

I finally realized that I must do my schoolwork to keep from being ignorant, to get on in life, to become a journalist, because that’s what I want! I know I can write, […] but it remains to be seen whether I really have talent. And if I don’t have the talent to write books or newspaper articles, I can always write for myself. But I want to achieve more than that. I can’t imagine living like Mother, Mrs. van Daan and all the women who go about their work and are then forgotten. I need to have something besides a husband and children to devote myself to! […] I want to be useful or bring enjoyment to all people, even those I’ve never met. I want to go on living even after my death! And that’s why I’m so grateful to God for having given me this gift, which I can use to develop myself and to express all that’s inside me! When I write I can shake off all my cares. My sorrow disappears, my spirits are revived! But, and that’s a big question, will I ever be able to write something great, will I ever become a journalist or a writer?

The Diary of Anne Frank, April 5, 1944.

She achieved her goal, and triumphed over her oppressors.

Yitgadal v’yitkadash sh’mei raba b’alma di v’ra chir’utei; v’yamlich malchutei b’hayeichon u-v’yomeichon, uv’hayei d’chol beit yisrael, ba-agala u-vi-z’man kariv, v’imru amen.

Y’hei sh’mei raba m’varach l’alam u-l’almei almaya.

Yitbarach v’yishtabah, v’yitpa’ar v’yitromam, v’yitnasei v’yit-hadar, v’yit’aleh v’yit’halal sh’mei d’kudsha, b’rich hu, l’ela min kol birchata v’shirata, tushb’hata v’nehemata, da-amiran b’alma, v’imru amen.

Y’hei sh’lama raba min sh’maya, v’hayim, aleinu v’al koi yisrael, v’imru amen.

Oseh shalom bi-m’romav, hu ya’aseh shalom aleinu v’al kol yisrael, v’imru amen.

Magnified and sanctified is the great name of God throughout the world, which was created according to Divine will. May the rule of peace be established speedily in our time, unto us and unto the entire household of Israel. And let us say: Amen.

May God’s great name be praised throughout all eternity. Glorified and celebrated, lauded and praised, acclaimed and honored, extolled and exalted ever be the name of thy Holy One, far beyond all song and psalm, beyond all hymns of glory which mortals can offer. And let us say: Amen.

May there be abundant peace from heaven, with life’s goodness for us and for all thy people Israel. And let us say: Amen.

May the One who brings peace to the universe bring peace to us and to all the people Israel. And let us say: Amen.

And; 

Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them. May their souls and all the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace.

Amen.

On the same day, Hungarian authorities, now leaning into Nazism as it collapsed, ordered Hungarian Jews to wear a yellow Star of David.

The Marines occupied Utirik Atoll in the Marshalls, another of the numerous islands taken and occupied which we have forgotten.

A soldier who has been a long time in the line does have a 'look' in his eyes that anyone with practice can discern. It's a look of dullness, eyes that look without seeing, eyes that see without transferring any response to the mind. It's a look that is the display room for the thoughts that lie behind it---------¬exhaustion, lack of sleep, tension for too long, weariness that is too great, fear beyond fear, misery to the point of numbness, a look of surpassing indifference to anything anybody can do to you. It's a look I dread to see on men. 

Ernie Pyle, April 5, 1944.

The Red Army cut the rail line from Odessa at Rozdilna.

Ploesti, Romania, is attacked by B-17s and B-24s.  Only 12 bombers are lost in spite of heavy German, Romanian and Bulgarian fighter opposition and flak.

Wendell Willkie, a democratic until 1939, withdrew from the 1944 GOP Presidential contest.

Last prior edition:

Holy Tuesday, April 4, 1944. Battle of Kohima commences, German counteroffensive, Photographing Auschwitz by accident, Bombing Bucharest, Italo-Yugoslav partisands, Charlie Chaplin not guilty.1920s, 1924, 2020, 2020s, 2024, Animals, baseball, Crime, Prohibition, The Roaring Twenties, Wolves