Politics Chat, January 20, 2026

The Madness of King Donald. The 25th Amendment Watch List, Eighth Edition. The Senile Chief Executive.

January 3, 2026

Yesterday the United States mounted an early morning military operation and removed the chief executive, arguably an illegitimate chief executive, from office and brought him to the United States to face criminal charges, even though the real ability of the US to charge somebody overseas with a crime is dubious and we ignore that when people do that to us.

Later in the day, Donald Trump, also an illegitimate chief executive, gave a press conference.

Trump's comments on the raid on Maduro:

As usual, when he reads a prepared statement, he sounds awful.  While called to address the illegal attack in Venezuela, it meandered into the usual Trump mental mush addressing various Trump favorite topics and fantasies.  Use of the National Guard in various states ended up being addressed by the clearly senile illegal occupant of the Oval Office.¹

This demonstrates senility. There's no doubt about it.

January 9, 2026

There is one thing. My own morality. My own mind. It’s the only thing that can stop me,. . .

Donald Trump.

Need anyone say more?

The 25th Amendment needs to be invoked now.

January 10, 2026

At a meeting with oil company executives, which was odd in and of itself.

"Hold on, I need to look at my beautiful ballroom” — then got up and walked to the door.

Wow. What a view! This is the door to the ballroom!

The man is a child, but then, that's what senility does. 

It's worth finding the video.  Trump is clearly senile and its at the point where nobody can hide it.  Rubio is sitting there grim faced, because that's all he can do.

It's not, I'd note, just me that's been noticing a rapidly declining cognitive ability in Trump.

Tim O’Brien on the decline of The Donald

"He talks in circles that would defy Magellan to make sense of."

Trump Picks the Weirdest Moment to Hype Up His New Ballroom

Big meeting? Perfect time to brag about his vanity project!

If Trump was a partner in a law or accounting firm, he'd have been wheeled out the door by now.  If he ran a business on his own his employees would be jumping ship.  The man is mentally gone.

At this point its absolutely the case that these conversations are, beyond a shadow of a doubt, taking place behind Trump's back.  Rubio, Vance, etc., are discussing his mental incapacity. Rubio is full blown on correction mode all the time.  Vance is hiding most of the time.  The big question is who is angling for what.  We have no reason to believe that these characters all get along with each other, and we know that the Trump administration basically breaks down into 1) National Conservatives, using him as a distraction (Vance, Miller), 2) New Apostolic Reformation Evangelicals who figure that Trump is divinely charged with a mission to bring in a new, Evangelical, Christian age (not in the admin, but think Mike Johnson), 3) rank sycophants who worship Trump unthinkingly and 4) rank opportunist (Marco Rubio).  Any one of these groups save for the sycophants would have pushed Trump out by now, but no one group is really in agreement with what comes next.  Opportunists don't want the NatCons or the NAR people in, the NAR people don't want the opportunists or the NatCon people in, the NatCon people know that this is their only chance.

January 15, 2025

January 16, 2026

Invoke the 25th Amendment you cowardly bastards.

January 17, 2026

He's completely unhinged:

The 25th Amendment needs to be applied now.  Trump is a madman.  This is utterly insane and anyone supporting it is a complete moron.

Congress, step in.

Section 4

Whenever the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive departments or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall immediately assume the powers and duties of the office as Acting President.

     

Thereafter, when the President transmits to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives his written declaration that no inability exists, he shall resume the powers and duties of his office unless the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive department or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit within four days to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office. Thereupon Congress shall decide the issue, assembling within forty-eight hours for that purpose if not in session. If the Congress, within twenty-one days after receipt of the latter written declaration, or, if Congress is not in session, within twenty-one days after Congress is required to assemble, determines by two-thirds vote of both Houses that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall continue to discharge the same as Acting President; otherwise, the President shall resume the powers and duties of his office.

Do your duty.  Congress can declare itself to be the body that declares Donald Trump to be Bat Shit Crazy.  If it was a Democratic Congress, presumably it would.  It only requires a few Republicans who are sycophantic toadies to go get it done. 

Get it done.

January 19, 2026.

Okay, MAGA adherents and Republican politicians, explain why this isn't batshit crazy:

cont:

The Atlantic.

Trump’s Letter to Norway Should Be the Last Straw

Will Republicans in Congress ever step in?

The man is bat shit crazy.  He needs to be removed.

From that article:

Yet what matters isn’t the specific phrases, but the overall message: Donald Trump now genuinely lives in a different reality, one in which neither grammar nor history nor the normal rules of human interaction now affect him. Also, he really is maniacally, unhealthily obsessive about the Nobel Prize. The Norwegian Nobel Committee, not the Norwegian government and certainly not the Danish government, determines the winner of that prize. Yet Trump now not only blames Norway for failing to give it to him, but is using it as a justification for an invasion of Greenland.

Congress, screw up your courage and do something. 

January 20, 2026

Trump gave a long, rambling, completely unhinged speech today in Europe.

This is effectively the final constitutional test.  The Emperor Has NO Clothes.  He's batshit crazy and everyone knows it.  If the cabinet will not act, it's because their souls are corrupt.  It's up to Congress at this point, and the Republicans are gutless cowards.

If they don't act, this is the end of the United States as a great power, and likely the end of the American economic era.  It's a disaster.

It's also the end of this edition. Trump's dementia is now in the rapidly accelerating stage and we've entered a new stage of frightful senility.  I had predicted the application of the 25th Amendment over a year ago.  What I hadn't counted on was evil men like Stephen Miller, or complete fools like Scott Bessett.  It's doubtful that it'll be applied now.  Like Hitler's minions, they're rather go down in the bunker, or can't realize that they are.

May God help the USA.

Last edition:

The Madness of King Donald. The 25th Amendment Watch List, Seventh Edition. Night of Camp David

Labels: 1960s, 1965, 2020s, 2025, 2026, 25th Amendment Watch List, Adam Kinzinger, Donald Trump, Health, History repeating itself or at least rhyming, Mental Health, Predictions, Republican Party, Rod Dreher, The Madness of King Donald

Tuesday, November 27, 1945. Slinky first sold.

The legendary toy The Slinky went on sale for the first time.  Gimbels in Philadelphia offered it.

Patrick J. Hurley, attorney and career civil servant, resigned as Ambassador of China having submitted a blistering letter of resignation the day prior.

Born in Oklahoma to Irish immigrant parents, he's started off in life as a cowboy and mule driver before becoming a lawyer. His work as a mule driver started when he was only 11 years old, and he attempted to join the 1st U.S. Volunteer Cavalry at age 15.  He graduated with a law degree from National University School of Law in 1908 and went to work in Tulsa.  He received a second law degree from George Washington University in 1913, by which time he was already a successful businessman and rising in Republican politics.  He served in the Oklahoma National Guard during the Punitive Expedition and was a Judge Advocate during World War One, as well as serving as an artillery officer, for which he received a Silver Star.  He was the Assistant Secretary of War under Hoover.  He started of World War Two as a General before going on to be a diplomat.  He'd retire to New Mexico where he'd die in 1963.

Most assessments of his role in China are not favorable.

As the Sheridan paper makes plain, the US was busy beating itself up over Pearl Harbor, even as the early rumblings of the Cold War were beginning.

He was replaced in his role by George Marshall, a role that Marshall is generally not recalled for.

Norway adopted the UN Charter.

Last edition:

Monday, November 26, 1945. Now's the Time, Wolves and War Brides, Questionable claim about Goering, Test tube babies in Virgin hospitals, Japanese social insurance, ties for Christmas.

Labels: 1940s, 1945, Cartoons, Colorado, Hermann Göring, Israel, J.R. Williams, Jazz, Music, Nuremberg Trials, Pro Natalism, Science, Sex, The relationship between men and women, Wolves, Women, Yeoman's First Law of History

Wednesday, October 24, 1945. The United Nations comes into being.

The United Nations came into existence with the ratification of the UN Charter by the Soviet Union.

Czechoslovakia nationalized banks, insurance companies, and 27 industries.

Vidkun Quisling was executed.

Last edition:

Tuesday, October 23, 1945. Signing Robinson.

Labels: 1880s, 1884, 1940s, 1945, 1946, 1947, 1970s, 1973, Army, Army Reserve, baseball, Conscription, Ethnicities, Harry S. Truman, It was because of World War Two, Military, Racism, Sports, U.S. Navy

Friday, October 12, 1945. Operation Beleaguer.

I missed this when it started, which was October 10, so I'll note it here. This was day two of Operation Beleaguer, the Marine Corps occupation of northeastern China's Hebei and Shandong provinces from 1945 until 1949.

Members of the 1st Marine Division in China.  Two Chinese women appear in this photograph, one dressed in Western clothing, even though the Marine Corps attempted to strictly prevent romances breaking out between Marines and Chinese civilians.  People are people, so such interactions are essentially impossible to stop, but this particular story is very understudied, in part because Asian women were not covered by the War Brides Act, but marriages nonetheless occured. 5,132 Chinese women entered the United States as spouses of servicemen after World War Two, which included women who married Army Air Corps servicemen who had served in China during the war.  This is, overall, a small number, and indeed its must smaller than the number of Japanese women who married U.S. servicemen after 1950, which reflects official policy, cultural differences, and lingering US prejudice in the period against the Chinese.

It was not a combat operation, although some combat would ultimately occur, but focused on the repatriation of more than 600,000 Japanese and Koreans that remained in China at the end of World War II to their homelands.  Having said that, the looming crisis in post war China in which a seemingly defeated Communist Party began to advance in the country's civil war was not far from anyone's mind and the primary mission of force was to prevent the People's Liberation Army from accepting the surrender of Japanese soldiers in Northern China and to secure that region of China for the Nationalist Government, which had been an American ally throughout the war.  Landings actually commenced as early as September 30. By the end of the operation in 1949, the 1st Marine Division would be a covering force for the evacuation of foreign nationals.

 

U.S. Marines had been in China well before World War Two, but in this instance the it was effectively a different Marine Corps than the one that had existed up until 1940.  The Marine Corps had only been a major combat force once previously, and that had been during World War One when the 4th Marine Brigade had been part of the US Second Division.  The 1st Marine Division dated back only to February 1, 1941 when the military started to enormously expand in anticipation of going to war.  Given its prior history, only the Marines themselves really anticipated being a major ground combat element in the war, ultimately expanding to six divisions.  Six divisions is a huge Marine Corps, but the Corps was dwarfed in size by the Army, even in terms of Pacific combat, where the Army deployed twenty two divisions.

With the end of the war the service began to return men quite rapidly to civilian status and members of the Marine Corps, the vast majority of whom were wartime volunteers, anticipated the same.  Prior to the war Marines tended to be career oriented to a high degree, and frankly about as rough of set of characters as could be imagined.  By 1945 most of them were toughened civilians in uniform, comparable to volunteers in the U.S. Army, and some were conscripts.  Nobody anticipated being sent into China, even though prior to the war Marines had served there.

Because the military was in fact demobilizing, this would prove to be a problem for the 1st Marine Division in China, as it soon began to suffer attrition due to members being discharged.  It's combat efficiency dropped, and at the same time, it became increasingly obvious that the Communists were going to win the Chinese Civil War.

While going to China was a surprise to the Marines, the found when they arrived that the Chinese were wildly enthusiastic about their appearance.  No doubt their showing up meant not only that they were liberated from the Japanese, but also from the Communists and the Nationalist, at least for a time.

On this, while we're jumping way ahead of our story, it's also worth noting that this points out a problem in the "who lost China" line of the Republican Party following the evacuation of the Chinese Nationalist from the mainland.  There are a lot of elements to that story, but the GOP at the time, suddenly shocked following the Berlin Blockade and then the fall of the Nationalist government in China, looked for somebody to blame.

It might be noted at first, that they should have looked at themselves.  The GOP had been actively highly isolationist prior to World War Two and evcen leading up the last year before the war there were strong elements within the party that opposed entering the war.  The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor followed by the German declaration of war on the U.S. solved that for a time, but upon the restoration of peace, the main branch of the GOP returned to isolationism.  The US didn't become isolationist as the 79th Congress remained controlled by Democrats.  The 80th Congress did not, but it was somewhat ineffectual for that period (which is nothing compared to today).  The 80th Congress, however, notably presided over the fall of China.

Be that as it may, some have suggested that US inaction over China was due to the penetration of the US by Soviet spies in the 1930s, and there may be a little to that, but only a little.  M. Stanton Evans hinted at that in his revisionist biography of Joseph McCarthy, which is quite well done and a good read. But even there, the suggestion was that Communist elements managed to hold up arms shipments to the Nationalist.  Even were that true, any follower of this site could see that in 1945 China was awash in arms and yet at the same time the Nationalist were losing battle after battle.

It is something worth exploring.  Before the war with Japan, the Nationalist were winning.  After the war, it just took five years for them to lose.

Anyhow,, realistically, looking at Operation Beleaguer, what really could have been done?  The US was not going to be able to send U.S. troops into a Chinese Civil War right after World War Two. There was no public will for that at all and no moral within the U.S. military that would have allowed for that to have occured.

Elsewhere in China, the Shangdang Campaign ended in communist victory.

German general Anton Dostler was sentenced to death in Rome for war crimes.

The Norwegian Supreme Court upheld the death sentence imposed on Vidkun Quisling.

Last edition:  

Thursday, October 11, 1945. Racism in "the good old days".

Monday, August 20, 1945. Wainwright liberated.

Lt. Gen. Jonathan Wainwright, Lt. Gen. Arthur Percival, and the governor-general of the Dutch East Indies, Mr. van Starkenborch Stachouwer. were rescued from being Prisoners of War by a special American parachute detail at Mukden.  The goal was to free the POWs before the area was overrun by the Red Army.

The occupation of Mukden, as well as Harbin, in fact occurred on this day.

Anti Semitic riots broke out in Cracow, Poland.

The US War Production Board removed most of its controls over manufacturing activity, setting the stage for a post war economic boom.

The US standard of living had actually increased during the war, which is not entirely surprising given that the US economy had effectively stagnated in 1929, and the US was the only major industrial power other than Canada whose industrial base hadn't been severely damaged during the war.  Ever since the war, Americans have been proud of the economics of the post war era, failing to appreciate that if every major city on two continents is bombed or otherwise destroyed, and yours aren't, your going to succeed.

Having said that, the Truman Administration's rapid normalization of the economy was very smart.  The British failed to do that to their detriment.

British Foreign Secretary Ernest Bevin condemned Soviet policy in Eastern Europe as "one kind of totalitarianism replaced by another."

The trial of Vidkun Quisling began in Oslo.

The Việt Minh consolidated their control of Hanoi.

Seventeen year old Tommy Brown became the youngest player in Major League Baseball to hit a home run.  Brown had joined the Dodgers at age 16.

Brown provides a good glimpse into mid 20th Century America.  Nobody would think it a good thing for a 16 year old to become a professional baseball player now.  Moreover, the next year, when Brown was 18, he was conscripted into the Army, something that likely wouldn't happen now even if conscription existed.  He returned to professional baseball after his service, and played until 1953 and thereafter worked in a Ford plant until he retired, dying this year at age 97.  Clearly baseball, which was America's biggest sport at the time, didn't pay the sort of huge sums it does now.

Last edition:

Wednesday, August 19, 1945. Bataan I and Bataan 2.

Labels: 1940s, 1945, Aircraft, Battle of Sakhalin, Battle of Yongjiazhen (雍家镇战斗), Chinese Civil War, Chinese Warlord Era, Japan, Manchuria, Nationalist Chinese Army, People's Liberation Army, Philippines, Red Army

Monday, June 24, 1945. Brandenburg Ballerina.

Junior Sergeant Lydia Spivak (Лидия Спивак), Red Army Traffic Regulator, June 1945.  She became locally famous in this role and was tagged the Brandenburg Ballerina or The Mistress of Brandenburg Gate.  She would have been 19 or 20 years old at the time and had been in the Red Army since she was 17.  She was a Ukrainian, and served in a transportation unit.  Like most Red Army soldiers, not that much is known about her in the West and indeed she's often confused with another female Soviet soldier who served in the same role.  Having said that, this role did make her into a type of celebrity and she did resurface from time to time, including once in the 1950s when she toured the area in which this video was shot.*  She passed away at age 59.  This is a truncated interview, and there is more to it.  It was impromptu, which is impressive.

US forces took Tuguegarao and Gattaran on Luzon.

Australian forces completed the occupation of the Miro oilfield on Borneo.

The Simla Conference to discuss the future Indian government of India began in Simla, India.

Seán T. O'Kelly became 2nd President of Ireland and Einar Gerhardsen became Prime Minister of Norway.

Footnotes:

*Ms. Spivak by that time was aging rapidly. By the 50s she'd gained a lot of weight and by the time of her sad early death she had aged rapidly  by western standards and looked much older than her 59 years.  She was undeniably cute and lively in 1945, and in later photographs the liveliness seems undiminished in spite of her aging.  She achieved her original goal of becoming a teacher, and in fact became a university professor and married another professor

Spivak is often confused with Maria Limanskaya (Мария Лиманскаяwho) served in the same role in Berlin.  She was a Russian and lived to age 100, dying last year, although oddly enough in some ways had a harder post war life, marrying than divorcing her first husband, and raising two children for a time on her own.

Last edition:

Sunday, June 24, 1945. A parade in Moscow.

Labels: 1940s, 1945, USSR, World War Two

Wednesday, May 9, 1945. The last Wehrmachtbericht, Stalin's congrats.

"Pvt. Wallace F. Burket, left, bazooka man with the 80th Infantry Division, U.S. Third Army, finds his brother, Sgt. Wm. C. Burket who was shot down over Africa two years and three months ago. Branau, Austria. 9 May, 1945. Company C, 318th Infantry Regiment, 80th Infantry Division. Photographer: Zinni."

The last Wehrmachtbericht was broadcast, which reported Germany's defeat.   The address read:

FROM THE GRAND ADMIRAL'S HEADQUARTERS, May 9-The High Command of the Armed Forces announces:

In East Prussia - German divisions even yesterday gallantly defended to the very last the Vistula mouth and the western part of the Frisches Nehrung. The Seventh Division distinguished itself particularly in this fighting. To their Commander in Chief, General of Tank Troops von Saucken, were awarded diamonds to the Oak Leaves with swords to the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross in recognition of the exemplary gallantry of his soldiers.

As an advanced bulwark, our armies in Courland [Latvia], under the well-proved command of Colonel General Guenther, tied down superior Soviet rifle and armored formations through many months and acquired eternal glory in six great battles. They refused any premature surrender. Only the wounded, and later numerous children, were transported in full order by aircraft that still left for the west. Staffs and officers remained with their troops.

At midnight all fighting and all movements were suspended on the German side, under the conditions that had been signed.

The defenders of Breslau, who resisted Soviet attacks for more than two months, succumbed to enemy superiority in the last hour after a heroic struggle.

On the Southeast and East Fronts, from Fiume to Brno [Bruenn] to the Elbe near Dresden, all the higher military authorities have received the order to cease fire.

A Czech rising is taking place in the whole of Bohemia and Moravia and may threaten the execution of the capitulation conditions as well as communications in that area.

The High Command of the Armed-Forces so far has not received any reports regarding the situation of the army groups Loehr, Rendulic and Schoerner.

Far from home, the defenders of the Atlantic bases, our forces in Norway and garrisons of the Aegean Islands have maintained the military honor of the German soldier in obedience and discipline.

Since midnight all weapons have been silent on all fronts on orders of the Grand Admiral, and the armed forces have ceased the fighting, which has now become hopeless, thus ending a heroic struggle that lasted almost six years. This struggle brought us great victories. But also heavy defeats. In the end the German Wehrmacht succumbed with honor to enormous superiority.

Loyal to his oath, the German soldier's performance in a supreme effort for his people can never be forgotten. Up to the last moment the homeland had supported him with all its strength in an effort entailing the heaviest sacrifices. The unique performance of the front and homeland will find a final appraisal in the later, just judgment of history.

The enemy, too, will not deny his tribute of respect to the performance and sacrifices of German soldiers on land, at sea and in the air. Every soldier, therefore, may lay aside his weapon proud and erect and set to work in these gravest hours of our history with courage and confidence to safeguard the undying life of our people.

In this grave hour the Wehrmacht remembers its comrades who have died in battle. The dead impose upon us an obligation of unconditional loyalty, obedience and discipline toward the Fatherland, which is bleeding from countless wounds.

(There followed three minutes of silence).

The German radio has transmitted the last High Command communiqué of this war. We close our news bulletin with an official announcement as follows:

"It is officially announced that effective May 9, 1945, blackout regulations are lifted. Effective also from today the ban on listening to foreign stations has been lifted."

An often missed oddity of this period is that while Germany had surrendered, it's government was still functioning. The Flensburg Government still had a military command, in spite of the surrender, and in some areas it had troops under arms.

Indeed, in spite of the surrender, German forces of German Army Group Ostmark (Lohr) continued to resist in Croatia and to the north.

Stalin congratulated the Red Army. This is regarded by the Russians as VE Day.

Comrades! Men and women compatriots!

The great day of victory over Germany has come. Fascist Germany, forced to her knees by the Red Army and the troops of our Allies, has acknowledged herself defeated and declared unconditional surrender.

On May 7 the preliminary protocol on surrender was signed in the city of Rheims. On May 8 representatives of the German High Command, in the presence of representatives of the Supreme Command of the Allied troops and the Supreme Command of the Soviet Troops, signed in Berlin the final act of surrender, the execution of which began at 24.00 hours on May 8.

Being aware of the wolfish habits of the German ringleaders, who regard treaties and agreements as empty scraps of paper, we have no reason to trust their words. However, this morning, in pursuance of the act of surrender, the German troops began to lay down their arms and surrender to our troops en masse. This is no longer an empty scrap of paper. This is actual surrender of Germany’s armed forces. True, one group of German troops in the area of Czechoslovakia is still evading surrender. But I trust that the Red Army will be able to bring it to its senses.

Now we can state with full justification that the historic day of the final defeat of Germany, the day of the great victory of our people over German imperialism has come.

The great sacrifices we made in the name of the freedom and independence of our Motherland, the incalculable privations and sufferings experienced by our people in the course of the war, the intense work in the rear and at the front, placed on the altar of the Motherland, have not been in vain, and have been crowned by complete victory over the enemy. The age-long struggle of the Slav peoples for their existence and their independence has ended in victory over the German invaders and German tyranny.

Henceforth the great banner of the freedom of the peoples and peace among peoples will fly over Europe.

Three years ago Hitler declared for all to hear that his aims included the dismemberment of the Soviet Union and the wresting from it of the Caucasus, the Ukraine, Byelorussia, the Baltic lands and other areas. He declared bluntly: “We will destroy Russia so that she will never be able to rise again.” This was three years ago. However, Hitler’s crazy ideas were not fated to come true—the progress of the war scattered them to the winds. In actual fact the direct opposite of the Hitlerites’ ravings has taken place. Germany is utterly defeated. The German troops are surrendering. The Soviet Union is celebrating Victory, although it does not intend either to dismember or to destroy Germany.

Comrades! The Great Patriotic War has ended in our complete victory. The period of war in Europe is over. The period of peaceful development has begun.

I congratulate you upon victory, my dear men and women compatriots!

Glory to our heroic Red Army, which upheld the independence of our Motherland and won victory over the enemy!

Glory to our great people, the people victorious!

Eternal glory to the heroes who fell in the struggle against the enemy and gave their lives for the freedom and happiness of our people!

The Battle for Czech Radio in Prague ended in Czech victory.

General Alexander Löhr, Commander of German Army Group E near Topolšica, Slovenia, signed the capitulation of German occupation troops in that region.

British forces took the surrender of troops occupying Jersey and Guernsey.

The Stuffhof concentration camp was liberated.  It had been the first to be established outside of Germany's borders and was the last one liberated.

Vidkun Quisling and other members of  his regime in Norway surrendered to the Resistance (Milorg) and police at Møllergata 19 in Oslo.

The British began Operation Doomsday with the British 1st Airborne Division landing in Norway to act as a police and military force.

Walter Frank, 40, German Nazi historian, committed suicide.

The US 145th Infantry Regiment captured Mount Binicayan on Luzon.

Marines captured Height 60 on Okinawa.

The British 82nd West African Division occupied Sandoway, Burma.

Last edition:

Tuesday, May 8, 1945. Victory In Europe.

Labels: 1940s, 1945, Algeria, Germany, Harry S. Truman, Hermann Göring, Joseph Stalin, Massacre in Trhová Kamenice, The Sétif and Guelma massacre, Victory in Europe Day, War Crimes, Winston Churchill, World War Two

Friday, February 9, 1945. Black Friday. Heroes and victims in the Philippines.

A force of Bristol Beaufighters attempted an attack on the German destroyer Z33 and its escorting vessels in  Førde Fjord, Norway.  The position was heavily defended and the raid a failure with heavy losses, resulting in the event being termed Black Friday.

The British reached Millingen on the Rhine.

The Australians prevailed at the Battle of Tsimba Ridge on Bougainville. . . yes that was still going on.

Cleto Rodriguez performed the actions that resulted in his being awarded the Medal of Honor.

He was an automatic rifleman when his unit attacked the strongly defended Paco Railroad Station during the battle for Manila, Philippines. While making a frontal assault across an open field; his platoon was halted 100 yards from the station by intense enemy fire.

On his own initiative, he left the platoon, accompanied by a comrade, and continued forward to a house 60 yards from the objective. Although under constant enemy observation, the 2 men remained in this position for an hour; firing at targets of opportunity, killing more than 35 hostile soldiers and wounding many more.

Moving closer to the station and discovering a group of Japanese replacements attempting to reach pillboxes, they opened heavy fire, killed more than 40 and stopped all subsequent attempts to man the emplacements. Enemy fire became more intense as they advanced to within 20 yards of the station.

Then, covered by his companion, Pvt. Rodríguez boldly moved up to the building and threw 5 grenades through a doorway killing 7 Japanese, destroying a 20-mm. gun and wrecking a heavy machinegun. With their ammunition running low, the 2 men started to return to the American lines, alternately providing covering fire for each other's withdrawal.. In 2+1⁄2 hours of fierce fighting the intrepid team killed more than 82 Japanese, completely disorganized their defense, and paved the way for the subsequent overwhelming defeat of the enemy at this strongpoint.

Two days later, Pvt. Rodriguez again enabled his comrades to advance when he singlehandedly killed six Japanese and destroyed a well-placed 20-mm gun. By his outstanding skill with his weapon, gallant determination to destroy the enemy, and heroic courage in the face of tremendous odds, Pvt. Rodriguez, on two occasions, materially aided the advance of our troops in Manila.

Rodriguez had lost both of his parents when he was only nine years old, and had been raised by relatives.  He went on after the war to serve first in the Air Force and then again in the Army, retiring in 1970.  He passed away in 1990 at age 67.

John N. Reese, Jr. also was conveyed a Medal of Honor for his actions on this day, in the same theater, but his was a posthumous award.

He was engaged in the attack on the Paco Railroad Station, which was strongly defended by 300 determined enemy soldiers with machineguns and rifles, supported by several pillboxes, 3 20mm. guns, 1 37-mm. gun and heavy mortars. While making a frontal assault across an open field, his platoon was halted 100 yards from the station by intense enemy fire. On his own initiative he left the platoon, accompanied by a comrade, and continued forward to a house 60 yards from the objective. Although under constant enemy observation, the 2 men remained in this position for an hour, firing at targets of opportunity, killing more than 35 Japanese and wounding many more. Moving closer to the station and discovering a group of Japanese replacements attempting to reach pillboxes, they opened heavy fire, killed more than 40 and stopped all subsequent attempts to man the emplacements. Enemy fire became more intense as they advanced to within 20 yards of the station. From that point Pfc. Reese provided effective covering fire and courageously drew enemy fire to himself while his companion killed 7 Japanese and destroyed a 20-mm. gun and heavy machinegun with handgrenades. With their ammunition running low, the 2 men started to return to the American lines, alternately providing covering fire for each other as they withdrew. During this movement, Pfc. Reese was killed by enemy fire as he reloaded his rifle. The intrepid team, in 2½ hours of fierce fighting, killed more than 82 Japanese, completely disorganized their defense and paved the way for subsequent complete defeat of the enemy at this strong point. By his gallant determination in the face of tremendous odds, aggressive fighting spirit, and extreme heroism at the cost of his life, Pfc. Reese materially aided the advance of our troops in Manila and providing a lasting inspiration to all those with whom he served.

Likewise, Joseph J. Cicchetti received the same posthumous award for action in the same theater.

He was with troops assaulting the first important line of enemy defenses. The Japanese had converted the partially destroyed Manila Gas Works and adjacent buildings into a formidable system of mutually supporting strongpoints from which they were concentrating machinegun, mortar, and heavy artillery fire on the American forces. Casualties rapidly mounted, and the medical aid men, finding it increasingly difficult to evacuate the wounded, called for volunteer litter bearers. Pfc. Cicchetti immediately responded, organized a litter team and skillfully led it for more than 4 hours in rescuing 14 wounded men, constantly passing back and forth over a 400-yard route which was the impact area for a tremendous volume of the most intense enemy fire. On one return trip the path was blocked by machinegun fire, but Pfc. Cicchetti deliberately exposed himself to draw the automatic fire which he neutralized with his own rifle while ordering the rest of the team to rush past to safety with the wounded. While gallantly continuing his work, he noticed a group of wounded and helpless soldiers some distance away and ran to their rescue although the enemy fire had increased to new fury. As he approached the casualties, he was struck in the head by a shell fragment, but with complete disregard for his gaping wound he continued to his comrades, lifted one and carried him on his shoulders 50 yards to safety. He then collapsed and died. By his skilled leadership, indomitable will, and dauntless courage, Pfc. Cicchetti saved the lives of many of his fellow soldiers at the cost of his own.

Filipino accountant and educator Nicanor Reyes Sr. was killed by the Imperial Japanese forces at Manila.  Likewise killed were his wife and two youngest children.  The Japanese also murdered the residents of the  Catholic Vincentian Central House in San Marcelino St, Manila.

The U-864 was sunk off of Bergen by the British submarine HMS Venturer.  Both submarines were submerged, making this the only example of a submarine sinking another submerged submarine.

Hitler examined a model of post war Linz.

Last edition:

Thursday, February 8, 1945. Offensives started in the East and West.

Labels: 1940s, 1945, Alaska, Alger Hiss, Army, British Army, Canadian Army, Espionage, Heroes, Lower Silesian Offensive, Luzon, Native Alaskans, Operation Veritable, Racism, Red Army, World War Two