Secrets of Playboy

 

Delia Kane, age 14 at  The Exchange Luncheon, Why is her photo up here on this thread? Well, it'll become more apparent below, but we now know that the Playboy mansion had a minor who grew up in it, and whose fell into vice about it, tried to write about it, and who had those writing suppressed by Playboy.  Additionally, from other sources, which won't receive as much press as the current A&E documentary, Playboy actually promoted the sexualization of female minors in its early history to such an extent that the result of an independent European study caused this to cease before it became a matter they addressed. This was apparently through its cartoons, but it's worth nothing that apparently at least one Playboy model was 17 years old at the time of her centerfold appearance and another, who later killed herself, was a highschool student, albeit a married one.  Girls and young women were accidents of unfortunate labor early in the 20th Century. But the late 20th Century, they were the target of pronographers and sex explotiers.  Which is worse?

This is a documentary currently running on A&E which is an exposé on Hugh Hefner.  The A&E show summarizes itself as follows:

Hugh Hefner sold himself as a champion of free speech who created the Playboy brand to set off a sexual revolution that would liberate men and women alike, but over the years he used Playboy to manipulate women to compete for his favor and silenced whistleblowers

I frankly wouldn't normally bother to watch this show, but I did, in part because of my opinion on Hefner and in part because my wife was watching it.  Her interest was sparked because she had been a follower of the "real life" show that followed Hefner and three of his later prostitutes, and let's be blunt, that's what they are, which was a fairly popular show at one time.  Indeed, this documentary includes the last three notables of that lamentable group among those interviewed, with Holly Madison, the principal one, being a major, and very damaged, personality in the show.

Let me be start by being blunt.  Hugh Hefner is one of the worst and most despicable figures of the 20th Century.  

I know that's making quite a statement for a century that included among its notables such individuals as Stalin, Mao, Hitler and Mussolini, but it's true.  Just as those figures were dedicated enemies of Western civilization and values abroad, Hefner was at home.  In the end, the West prevailed over all of these political figures, but it didn't prevail against Hefner.  The destruction he caused is vast and ongoing.

I'm not going to give a full biography of Hefner as I don't know it, and I'm not going to bother to look it up. What I can relate is that he was from the Midwest, served stateside in the U.S. Army during World War Two, and then went to work for one of the then existing girly mags after the war.  Apparently according to his own recollection and that of his friends, he was jilted by a girl while in high school (with there being video footage of her, she was quite attractive and very intelligent looking), and then reformed his central personality into the early Playboy image as a result.^[1]  There's more than a little room to doubt that, but what seems clear is that he was a man who was essentially devoid of morals and driven principally by lust and its monetization, although what came about first is questionable.  The love of money is indeed the root of all evil, and it's possible that he loved money first and came into lust as a result.

Anyhow, in the early 1950s he went out on his own with a brilliant marketing idea that became Playboy magazine  

Dirty magazines of all sorts had existed for a while, and indeed, while I haven't published on it, it's pretty clear that there was a trend towards more and more risqué treatment of women in print starting wth the advancement of photography in the first quarter of the 20th Century.  It was still the case well into the first 1/3d of  the century that illustrations, rather than photographs, dominated magazines, but even by the 1920s black and white salacious magazines existed. By the 1930s, trends overlapping from the 1920s were such that magazines of all types were more and more willing to take risks with female figures for magazines and magazine covers.  By the late 1930s the female figure with a tight sweater was a pretty common feature on magazines of all types and one of the major magazines featured Rita Hayworth in 1940 in a pose so risqué that it rivaled anything put on the cover of Playboy early on. So the trend was on.

At the same time, this trend also started, and indeed was much advanced, in the movie industry, until the Hays Production Code put the brakes on it in 1922.

Something happened in the World War Two timeframe that's really not terribly clear to me, other than it seems to me that it was there. At one time, I would have been inclined to attribute the 1953 introduction of Playboy nearly entirely to the Second World War, but that's unfair.  Going into the war, it was already the case that pinups were around.  

During the war, however, millions of unattached young men spent years away from home at a time when that was quite uncommon, and that had some sort of accelerating impact.  Keep in mind that an unmarried man in his 20s or even 30s likely lived at home, with his parents, prior to the war, and indeed again after the war. During the war, this wasn't true at all.

As a result, during the war, the girly mag and related publications received a big unrestrained boost.  So did prostitution and other sexual vices as well.  And the seeping of sex into things in general, at least in the service, did.  Quite a few U.S. Army Air Corps crewmen flew into combat in World War Two in bombers with paintings of top heavy naked women on the fuselages of their planes, or painted on their flight jackets.  

The genie might not have been fully out of the bottle by war's end, but the cork was loosened.  At the same time, a famous study by Kinsey was conducted during the war, which ostensibly revealed that the average sexual conduct of American men was libertine.  It's now known that Kinsey himself was plagued with sexual oddities, and like a lot of people in such a position, he sought to justify them.  His study, as it turned out, largely focused on the incarcerated, hardly a representative slice of American men, and it went so far as to essentially force some minor males into sexual acts.  It's flaws, to say the least, and was perverted to say more.

That study, however, was released after the war and formed an inaccurate pseudo-scientific basis to challenge Western sexual morality.  And that's where we get back to Hefner.  Unlike the girly mags that had come before Playboy, Hefner's rag was able to claim to be mainstream.

Slickly published with high production values, Hefner took the pinup of the 1940s and published her in centerfold form, starting with purchased photos of Marilyn Monroe for the introductory issue.  It was an incredibly misogynistic publication, darned near outright hating women while celebrating an extremely exaggerated example of the female form. Like nose art on World War Two bombers, all the 1950s examples of Playboy centerfolds were hugely top-heavy. They were also all young, and portrayed as blisteringly stupid and willing and eager to engage in unmarried sex. They were also all sterile.  Playboy didn't run articles on young women getting pregnant.^[2]

In the climate of the time, just out of the Second World War, just following Kinsey's study, and in the midst of the Korean War, the magazine was an instant hit.  It began to immediately impact American culture and became accepted, if still regarded as dirty, as a publication.  It crept into male dominated settings of all types, there virtually not being a barbershop in the United States that didn't have it.  Women in popular media came to rapidly resemble, to some degree, the centerfolds who appeared in the magazines, and by the late 1950s the US was in the era of large boobed, blond haired, probably dumb (in presentation) starlets.  

Playboy had this field all to itself for quite some time and in the 1960s it really expanded.  While the early magazine was sort of weirdly conservative in away, the explosion of the counterculture and the introduction of the pill were tailor-made for its expansion.  While in the 50s, the suggestion was that the Playboy man could have all of these big breasted girls next door for himself, by the 60s it was an outright free for all.

Around that time, Hefner himself began to essentially live that way.  By the 70s it was completely open, with the Playboy Mansion   His big, and creepy, parties were a cause célèbre in the entertainment community.  It meant you were somebody to be invited, and many such celebrated figures of the era were, such as Bill Cosby. . . . 

Yeah. . . 

Well, anyhow, in the 20s, 30s, 40s and 50s being invited to the party of a pornographer wouldn't have been something a person wanting a public career would want. By the 70s, the opposite was true.

And that meant, in essence, the new sexual libertineism advocated by Playboy was essentially the American, and indeed Wester World, standard.  Even where not outright accepted, it seeped into being.  The magazine was everywhere, including in many middle class homes, sending the message to boys that lusting after big chested girls was not only normal, but desirable.

It's been a disaster.

Now we're reaping what Playboy helped sew, although the entertainment industry still hasn't quite figured that out.  Women want out of the sex object status that Playboy foisted on them but don't quite know how to get there. The "Me Too" movement is part of that.

Part of things being corrosive is that they corrode.  You can't just corrode a little bit.  That's happened to society, and as we are now being told, a little late in the day, that happened to Hefner.

As this series reveals, all things Playboy were gross. The life inside the Playboy Mansion as one of Hefner's concubines was controlled, gross and revolting, including to at least some of the subjects of his loveless attention.  One resident, whose father lived there, and who practically grew up in the mansion, not too surprisingly had turned to teenage lesbian sex with one of the female inhabitants and later tried to write a book about what she'd experienced in her early years.  It was pretty clearly suppressed, once released, by the declining Playboy empire.  Another former male employee was basically threatened if he went public with what he knew.

Suicides of Playboy models were a feature of its earliest days, with at least one of its most famous centerfolds (already a teenaged wife by the time she posed) being one example.  According to this show, however, other suicides featured among the women of Playboy with the news being hushed.  At least one well known centerfold was the victim of a murder, and a murder was referenced in the show without it being clear to me if that was the same figure or not, as I don't know the names of the characters involved.

Playboy was declining by the early 80s, a victim of its own success.  Penthouse came in, and started to erode its market share by being grosser.  Hustler came in and was grosser yet.  A race to the bottom ensued.  Then the Internet arrived, and they all rocketed into the gutter.  People weren't willing to pay for the smut they could access for free.

At the same time, however, it seems like there's some effort to crawl back out of the gutter. The Me Too movement is part of that.  Its members are clear that they know that they're being treated wrongly, if they can't quite figure out how to define why they're being treated wrongly, and what the origin of the standard they are grasping for is.  And the depths of the salacious portrayal of women on magazine covers arrested in the 1970s.  At that time, the nearly bare breast of a model could appear on the cover of The Saturday Evening Post, and Farah Fawcett could be seen nearly falling out of her swimsuit on the cover of Time.  Advertisements in magazines don't feature minors in nearly pornographic poses anymore. That era is over.

What isn't over is the decline of television, however and movies, which remain sex fixated.  They may be behind the curve on this, or not. Having embraced the descent, however, they can't get out of it as easily as print can and has.  The Me Too movement might be helping it to do so, however, as now actresses are expressing regret over nude scenes they've done in conventional films, and some are clear that they outright will not do them.  

What also isn't over is the sex fixated nature of certain aspects of Americans culture, even while it is over in other areas.  It's interesting.  We see both sides at the same time, with part of the American left simply defining itself by sexual desires in a literal sense, while at the same time, posts like this have become amazingly common on Twitter.

if someone could marry me that would be great thx

That girl isn't looking for the Playboy man, and she sure isn't the Playboy "Playmate" bimbo.

So how do you undo six decades of destruction.

Well, it probably won't be easy, but if Playboy's story teaches us anything, it seems that at certain tipping points things can and do happen quickly.  Playboy wouldn't have been a success in 1943, but in 1953 it suddenly became one, and it changed views pretty quickly.  That came in the wake of two world wars, a smaller hot war in the Cold War, nearly universal male conscription, and the flooding of the universities with a massive number of young unattached people.  It also came just before a massive cultural rejection by one generation of the values of prior ones, and a massive infusion of money into society at an unheard of level.  And it followed a bogus scientific revelation followed by a genuine scientific pharmaceutical introduction.

But there was some tipping point that was reached before the wave started to crest.  Another one seemingly might be getting reached now.

We haven't fought a big war for a long time, even though we've fought some smaller ones.  Our military is at its smallest level since 1939.  A lot of the glamour of university life has worn off, and the post Boomer generations face economic realities that resemble the pre-1940 situation more than the post 1945 one.  

A seeming rediscovery of values is going on as part of that.

Cont. part 3

Part 3 of this documentary aired last night, focusing this time on the Playboy Clubs.

Other than being aware of the existence of the clubs, at one time, and the demeaning costumes the "Playboy Bunnies" wore at them, I really didn't know much about them. This episode did a good job in providing the details.

Basically, I guess, we could term these as nightclubs with the hostesses dressed in skin tight costumes featuring bunny tails and rabbit ears.   An interview with Hefner on the costumes had him note that he'd adopted the rabbit symbol as rabbits had a certain reputation at the time he did, which was a coy way of noting that rabbits engaged in the "act" constantly.  The rabbit in the symbol is portrayed as male, and of course his real world female subjects were that, female.

This may say all that you really need to say about Playboy.  The entire Hefner bullshit line about caring about women and women's right's was simply cover for their being viewed as living, dumb, objects of sex.   That's it.

The episode showed that's in fact how Playboy Bunnies ended up being viewed. Rules for members of the Playboy Clubs, and you had to pay $25.00 initially to be a member, were strict.  You couldn't touch a bunny. . .at the club.  But outside the clubs, rapes of the women who worked there were common.  A request by a "bunny mother" for security or at least male assistance for the hostesses leaving the clubs at night was for instance rejected.

That's bad enough, of course, but at the VIP level of membership the rules in practice evaporated.  One Bunny noted that she was raped by a VIP member who was in fact immediately expelled, but another woman who later worked as a "bunny mother" noted how the bunnies were frequently sodomized with it being traumatic for them not only because it occurred, but also because in that less pornified era it was a shock for them, this act being common due to a fear that the perpetrators would get the women pregnant.

Two instances of kidnapping were noted, with women being kidnapped and raped.  In one instance it can't really be blamed on Playboy, which then restricted women at that club, which was a resort, to dorms which they basically couldn't leave on their off hours, but another detailed the kidnapping by the late Don Cornelius, a VIP member who was the host of Soul Train.  In that instance two new bunnies who had spent an evening with a Cornelius entourage ended up held for a couple of days in his house, being subject to abuse there, before one was able to call out. The police were not called and Cornelius did not lose his VIP membership.  Cornelius killed himself in 2012 at age 75, apparently suffering from the onset of dementia, and therefore like Hefner escaped any earthly implications of his conduct.

This episode principally revealed, once again, the misogynistic nature of Playboy and Hefner.  Hefner portrayed himself as a lover and defender of women, but in reality, they were tools and objects to him, and he made them the same to a wider male audience.

One thing of note there, and a significant one, this third episode featured, like the prior two, interviews with Hefner that were done by some very major figures.  These include a female interviewer I somewhat recognize but can't place a name for, George F. Will, and William F. Buckley.  It may not be fair to comment on the interviews overall, as they haven't been shown, but what is obvious is that he was treated like a significant figure and at least in the questions asked, he was pretty much thrown softballs or was allowed to get away with non answers that nobody would tolerate in a serious interview now.  Essentially, society was winking at him.

Cont, part 4

This entry was posted earlier, then evaporated for some reason when I tried to post it.  For some reason updating this thread has been a bit difficult.

Episode 4 dealt with two figures who lost their lives in connection with Hefner.  One was Hefner's executive secretary who was arrested outside the mansion with cocaine on her person and later killed herself, and the other was a bunny who killed herself.  Both were mixed up with drugs, and the suggestion was that they were both "mules" who were supplying illegal drugs to the mansion.

It was clear that illegal drugs were very much a thing in the mansion, in spite of Hefner's claims to the contrary.  One of his girlfriends of the period made that very clear and confessed to being a mule herself.

A suggestion was vaguely made that both of the women featured may have come to bad ends externally, but there was no real evidence to suggest that, and the better evidence is to the contrary.

On a final note, it's hard not to notice that Hefner in this period has the appearance in interviews of a person whose suffering from drug withdrawals.  He's highly figity, jumpy and underweight.  He didn't look right during this period.

Cont, part 5

I'll make this entry relatively short, even though in some ways it may be the most telling and illustrative of the story of Hefner and the Sexual Revolution he was part of.

Part 4 of this series deals mostly with going ons in the Playboy Mansion from 1976 to 1981 and Hefner's then "girlfriend".  The girlfriend immediately before that was Barbi Benton, who left in 76.  The show deals hardly at all with Benton, so far, but the suggestion is vaguely made that even though Benton tolerated Hefner having serial sex partners, she kept the lid on things descending into outright depravity.

When she left, the next one, Sondra (Theodore?) entered the picture.  She wasn't a centerfold originally, unlike Benton, but a 19-year-old who attended a party at the mansion with a high school friend.  Hefner seduced her that night, although it seems pretty clear she allowed that to occur, and she rapidly went on to being his principal concubine.

As one of those interviewed, with Sondra Hefner was allowed to do things that he wouldn't be allowed to do with "a grown ass woman".  The house descended into complete and disgusting depravity, the likes of which I'll generally omit, with Hefner often forcing what amounted to a show of which he was the voyeur.

There's a real lesson in here.  Hefner claimed, during his lifetime, that he wanted to be part of a movement of his age redefining society's relationship with sex, but he never had anything deeper than that to say about it.  It's pretty clear he was just a self-centered egotistical weirdo, and in fact at one point was interviewed praising being self-centered.  With the rails off, which seem to have come fully off with Benton's departure, he collapsed into full scale depravity of the grossest sort.  To a very large degree, the same thing has happened with American society.

Being fascinated with a person's own lust really isn't an ethos, but a recipe for destruction.  That happened to Hefner's character, and it was inflicted on a lot of those around him.  It couldn't have happened but for independent developments in the 1960s, including pharmaceutical ones.  The central figure of this episode, his girlfriend from 76 to 81, was frank that she never recovered from her experience in those years. A larger societal recovery may be going on, but it hasn't fully occurred by any means yet.

Continued, Episodes 6, 7, 8 & 9.

I haven't updated this for some time for a variety of reasons, including that the war in Ukraine has been going on, and we're tracking it on the blog, which takes up more blogging time than a person might suspect.

Additionally, however, these episodes seemed to flow together in some ways, so I held off.  Indeed, in doing that I might have messed up as I'm losing track of the count of the episodes.  Nonetheless, what I'll note is that this series remains well worth watching.

What we've learned since the last reviewed episode is as follows.

Episode 6 dealt with corporate Playboy.  I'll confess that this seemed unlikely to interest me, but it did turn out to be interesting.  Playboy, in reaction to protests against it by feminist in the 1970s, claimed to be supportive of women as part of its propaganda, but not surprisingly, working for the company as a woman was a nightmare.

That episode particularly focused on the story of Micki Garcia, who was heavily interviewed for this episode and who appears in others.  Highly articulate and obviously very intelligent, she made a career decision to go from modeling over to Playboy as it seemed like an economically wise decision, becoming one of the first Hispanic centerfolds.  Following that, she worked into being head of Playboy productions, which sent playmates and bunnies out as rented window dressing for events.

Garcia revealed in an earlier episode that she was raped at one such event herself.  In turn, and not surprisingly, she found that her charges were continually subject to everything from heavy sexual pressure to outright rape, with one model who was featured having been kidnapped for a time.  She attempted to bring this to the attention of management and was, in turn, marked as a bit of a pariah inside the organization. She finally broke with it and testified to a Congressional committee about the true nature of the organization, and how its charges were subject to such things, as well as the drug use that went on.  She became its outright enemy, which was a subject of the following episode, number 7.

P. J. Marston was also featured in episode 6, detaining how she transferred to Playboy headquarters for a time in Chicago. She also protested in favor of her charges, Playboy bunnies, and as a result was transferred to New Jersey where she wouldn't be a problem.  She detailed how certain figures at the corporate headquarters routinely grouped and whatnot the female employees.  She also detailed being raped by a corporate employee while employed there.  In the following episode, she detailed having been drugged and raped by Bill Cosby.

Episode 7, which we've led into (if I have the numbers right) dealt principally with events inside the Playboy mansion, which were horrific.  An epicenter of drugs and perverted conduct, the show started off with the suicide of a centerfold to whom something had happened, but which effectively covered up.  She left a message directed directly at Hugh Hefner, but the story did not become known at the time.  From there,  drug use, voyeurism of Hefner, really perverted sexual conduct, and the individual abusive conduct of some guests to the mansion were discussed.  Physically abusive conduct by James Brown, the former football star, and the now well known weird conduct by Bill Cosby were discussed.  Photos of Roman Polanski showed up, and while there was nothing directed connected with him in regard to the mansion, the attitude of men towards underage girls was noted, with it being asserted that Hefner had taken advantage of a 16-year-old friend of his daughter.

The following episode dealt with a series of "mini mansions" that were satellites of the central one. These seem to have come about during a period of time during which the main mansion was under control during one of the periods of time during which Hefner was married, and accordingly his centerfold wife put a halt to the conduct at the main mansion.  At the satellites, however, the conduct carried on, with the women features at them principally being young women who were lured into them, often drugged while there, and induced with claims that they'd be given modeling contracts.  The daughter of Hefner's physician who lived in the mansion claimed in one of these that one such young woman, an Eastern European, died during one such party and her body was removed, and she was basically never heard of again, with her father showing up some time later about her whereabouts.

In this episode there was speculation, and that is what it was, that the relationship between Hefner and his physician was itself sexual.  It was all speculative in nature, but Hefner did not in an interview that was run that he had experimented with homosexuality.  The physician is still living, and married, and denies that there was any sexual relationship.

Overall, what these series of episodes demonstrated was an ongoing highly abusive view of women, with all sorts of outrages perpetrated against them.  Garcia commented in the end of this series of episodes that she thought Hefner hated women.  Playboy certainly doesn't treat them as human beings, but as objects, indeed destructible toys.

These episodes do bring up, however, a point we've noted on this blog earlier.  Garcia and Marston were willing participants for at time in the horror that they saw going on. Granted, they tried to address it, and are trying to do so now, but nonetheless to at least some degree they were facilitating the abuse that they saw occurring.  How they allowed this to occur is hard to understand. At least Marston seems to have convinced herself that she could do good within the organization and that its underlying mythology wasn't a lie.  Garcia seems to have been much less deluded and became marked within the organization as a result.  Still, it's hard to grasp.

Episode 10

Episode 10 was clearly meant to be the final installment  of this series, although there are now two additional ones. We'll deal with those as epilogues.

This episode focused on the story of Dorothy Stratton, a Playboy model who was murdered in 1980.  Her story was used to tell the story of rape at the Playboy mansion, with the rapist being Hugh Hefner.

Stratton was regarded as an exceptional beauty when she was introduced to Playboy by a boyfriend, and she was undoubtedly a very beautiful woman of a certain type.  Like many in her category who fell into this world, she ended up a resident of the Playboy mansion, where she drew the unwanted attentions of Hefner.  At the same time, she drew the attentions of Peter Bogdanovich, the direction and actor, who cast her in the film They All Laughed.  However, just shortly after it became clear that she's become a major Playboy model, if not more, she married her boyfriend, thereby setting up an odd love triangle, as Bogdanovich's interest in her quickly became romantic.  

According to Bogdanovich, who later wrote a book about her, something forced and gross happened to Stratton at the Playboy mansion.  Discounted at the time, in his book he condemned Hugh Hefner broadly, blaming him for Stratton's psychological decline and Hefner for a wider decline in American culture.  In this episode, what happened to Stratton is developed, with a former butler at the mansion detailing having witnessed her rape by Hefner and confirming that the lights just went out of her after that.  Ultimately, she was murdered by her estranged husband.

The lights going out of women and rapes were not limited.  Another former model, who discussed her experiences in earlier episodes, related in this one that she too was a resident of the mansion. Her photos were taken when she was still 17, and then run when she turned 18, at which time she became a resident of the house.  She related that at some point she was drugged and woke up with Hefner on top of her.  Telling the chief Playboy photographer at the time about what occurred, she was told it was no big deal.

That victim had been a victim of childhood rape, and her recollections were chilling.  An obviously religious woman, she described Hefner's face during the rape ad demonic, a description she meant literally and not figuratively, and related it to the same appearance her grandfather had when he had raped her.  An obviously highly intelligent woman, she appears to still be struggling with what occurred.

Yet another model who was Hefner's main girlfriend for a time, and who has also been a major focus of the documentary, recollected Hefner taking her down the hall, opening a woman's bedroom, and raping the girl while she watched.  Hefner dismissed the entire action with the comment that surely a women wouldn't stay there and not expect to have sex.

Overall, descriptions of how the mental status of young women in the mansion went from lively to burned out due to their experiences there.  And the point was made and demonstrated that Hefner had no respect for women at all.  Indeed, in reality, what Micki Garcia claimed seemed well established, in some fashion he seemed to hate women.

In the very first episode of the series, it was briefly discussed that Hefner related his founding of the magazine to having been rejected by a girl in high school for a date. While psychoanalyzing the dead is always hazardous, it seems that there may be something to it.  That, in some fashion, may have lead to a warped and hateful attitude towards women in which they were merely objects.

The magazine presented that view to the world, and unfortunately, helped the culture to accept it.

Footnotes

*It's admittedly unusual for us to start a review of any kind prior to a series being completed, but here we've done so as the points made, and the horrors revealed, are sufficient to do so.  Additionally, given schedules and what not, its very possible that we may not view the reamining parts of the series.

On this topic, it could legitimately be asked why review this documentary at all, on this site.  Actually, however, its one of the very sorts of things this blog was designed to examine.

The very first entry here claimed the purpose of the blog as follows:

Lex Anteinternet?

The Consolidated Royalty Building, where I work, back when it was new.

What the heck is this blog about?

The intent of this blog is to try to explore and learn a few things about the practice of law prior to the current era. That is, prior to the internet, prior to easy roads, and the like. How did it work, how regional was it, how did lawyers perceive their roles, and how were they perceived?

Part of the reason for this, quite frankly, has something to do with minor research for a very slow moving book I've been pondering. And part of it is just because I'm curious. Hopefully it'll generate enough minor interest so that anyone who stops by might find something of interest, once it begins to develop a bit.

How does this to comport?

Well, the blog has clearly gone beyond "the practice of law prior to the current era" and, as noted before, it theoretically is a sort of blog based research for a very slow moving novel I'm theoretically writing. 

Part of that research has been to take a close look at how life really was in the 1910s, and that's expanded out to how life really was in prior eras. And part of that is social history. 

That's why this topic is very relevant.

All too often, portrayals of the past are based on our concepts of values and outlooks of today, which are very often wildly off base.  For this reason, particularly for badly based historical depictions, social views are expressed from a fully current. . . I wouldn't call them modern, point of view.  As modern in the Western world are blisteringly fascinated by sex, and frankly a pornographic concept of sex, this sort of view is extremely common in works that are ostensibly works of historical fiction.  It isn't limited to this, however.  This also tends to be the case with other common aspects of society, ranging from the roles of women in society, the attitudes towards that, and frequently matters of religion as well.

As somewhat minor examples, just recently I was flipping through the channels and one of the more modern Westerns was on, complete with a female gunfighter wearing trousers.  Well, not very likely.  When women started to actually wear trousers, right around 1900 or so, it was somewhat of a controversial matter, and it required, to put it delicately, an evolution of undergarments.

To give another example, there is a popular television show on Vikings where they are the celebrated protagonists.  To the extremely limited extent I've seen it, which is extremely limited, it not only is completely historically inaccurate, but it's also somewhat hostile to religion, by which would have to mean Catholicism as there was only one Christian Church at the time, divided into east and west though it was.  In reality, the Viking era was heroically Christian and obviously so, so much so that the Vikings themselves, by the end of the Viking age, were Latin Rite Catholics.

On the topic at hand, television and Hollywood have really endorsed a sort of combined Cosmopolitan/Playboy view of women in recent historical dramas, or tend to.  The women tend to libertine and more often than not sterile, in an era when neither was anywhere near true.  Indeed, the irony is that many of our ancestors would regard our current conduct in this arena as not only shocking, but appalling.  The further irony is that in large part the Me Too movement seeks to reach back into this prior era, where the standards they're reaching for were the social standard, even if widely ignored.

1.  It's interesting that to be a "playboy" was originally a type of insult, and remained so to some degree when I was young.  In its original sense it meant a superficial male who played women.  It was sort of a nicer and more superficial way of saying that somebody was a womanizer.

2.  Prior magazines were pretty clearly depictions of prostitutes, with all the nasty vice and lack of personal knowledge that goes with that, or of what were essentially burlesque models, whom the vieweres knew that they could look at, but never touch.

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Some Gave All: National Vietnam Veteran's Day

Some Gave All: National Vietnam Veteran's Day: 

National Vietnam Veteran's Day

Governor and Veterans Commission to Host Veterans Welcome Home Day Events

 

CHEYENNE, Wyo. –  Governor Gordon and the Wyoming Veterans Commission have announced three celebrations around the state  for “Wyoming Veterans Welcome Home Day” on Saturday, March 26. During the 61st Legislative Session in 2011, the day of welcoming was codified in state law for March 30 of each year. This coincides with the date U.S. combat troops would have set foot on Wyoming soil after returning home from the Vietnam War in 1973.

All Wyoming Veterans, especially those from the Korean War, Vietnam War, and other Veterans who were not properly thanked upon their return home, are invited to attend and receive the welcome and thanks of a grateful state. Military, surviving spouses of Veterans, and family members are also welcome to attend.

The first ceremony begins at 8:30 am in Green River at American Legion Post 28, 38 North Center St.

A ceremony takes place at 11:30 am in Worland at American Legion Post 44, 129 S. 7th St.

The final ceremony of the day will commence at 3 pm in Gillette at the Campbell County Senior Center located at 701 Stocktrail Ave.

The ceremonies will include remarks by Governor Mark Gordon, Maj. Gen. Greg Porter, the Adjutant General of Wyoming and Veterans Commission Chairman Jake Jacobs, local officials and Veterans. Receiving lines will be formed so Wyoming residents can join the effort to thank our Veterans.

Wyoming communities are also encouraged to host their own celebrations to honor Wyoming Veterans who may not have been thanked for their service or welcomed home.

For additional information, contact the Wyoming Veterans Commission at (307) 777-8151.

-END-

 

March 29, 1942. The Hukbalahap Rebellion begins.

On this day in 1942 the Hukbalahap Rebellion, a Communist peasant rebellion, commenced in the Philippines.  The Huks, as they were called, conducted a guerilla war against the Japanese which lasted through the war and turned into a rebellion against the Philippine government which lasted until 1954.

The movement was supported by the US during the war, and opposed by it after the war.

It was interestingly put down after the war not only by military means, but by political reforms that co-opted the most pressing grievances of the Huks, leaving them essentially without a political base.

Stafford Cripps.

Stafford Cripps met with Mahatma Gandhi and presented British plans for a semi-independent India after World War Two.

Cripps was a left wing lawyer and a member of the Labour Party.  He'd been ambassador to the Soviet Union before it was attacked, during which time Cripps had warned Stalin that a German attack was inevitable.  Churchill had appointed him to the position due to Cripp's Marxist sympathies.  He became a member of the war cabinet during the war and his mission to India presented a plan of his own devising which met with support from nobody on either side of the issue.  After the war he was a figure in the Labour government and was one of those who approved of the sending of jet engines to the Soviet Union, something Stalin had dismissed as impossible due to being "foolish", which resulted in the design going into the early Mig 15s.

The Japanese won at Toungoo.

In a bizarre event, German internees managed to convince their native Indonesian guards to rise up in a rebellion against the Dutch on the island of Nias, and declared it to be an independent state.  This followed Japanese landings on other Indonesian islands. The Japanese would land on Nias in April and they removed all of the Europeans, save for a physician, from the island.

Wednesday, March 29, 1922. Washington Naval Treaty ratified and a familiar name enters Wyoming politics.

On this day in 1922, the Washington Naval Treat was ratified by the U.S. Senate, with there being only a single no vote.

And attention was being gathered around a possible campaign for Governor by Patrick Sullivan.  He would not become Governor, but his grandson, Mike, did.

Sullivan was a Creighton educated lawyer originally from Nebraska who practiced in Casper, and then later in Laramie.

Saturday, March 28, 1942. The St. Nazaire Raid

On this day in 1942 the British conducted the large and risky raid on the Normandie Dry Dock at the port of St. Nazaire.  The raid involved ramming the HMS Campbeltown, an obsolete destroyer packed with explosives, into the dry dock.  It worked, and it took the dry dock out of operation for the rest of the war.

Areal photograph of Normandie Dry Dock with Campbletown inside dry dock.  The dry dock had been for the modern French passenger liner Normandie which had been lost in an accidental fire only recently while being converted to a troop transport in the United States.

The raid was sizable and involved air, sea and land elements of the British forces, resulting in British dead and 215 becoming prisoners of war.  Surprisingly, the Germans lost 360 dead, if civilian casualties at the dock are also included, in part because explosives on the Campbletown were time delayed and did not go off until noon.  At that time a party of 40 German officers and civilians were on board the Campbletown examining it.

The USS Buchanan in 1936.

The HMS Campbletown had originally been the USS Buchanan.  Decommissioned before World War Two, she was transferred to the British as part of the Destroyers For Bases program. She'd been built in 1918.

The British sank the SS Galilea in the Ionian Sea in a submarine strike.  The ship was an Italian hospital ship, but it was being used as a troops transport carrying Alpini to Italy so that they could be reassigned to the Eastern Front.  The ship also carried other Italian troops and some Greek POWs.  981 people went down with the ship.

The British struck Lubeck Germany with landmines, incendiary canisters and high explosives.  The raid resulted in damage to 62% of the cities buildings and destroyed its cathedral.

Tuesday, March 28, 1922. Transferred Intent.

Mrs. Bertha Shelton, March 28, 1922.  No, I don't know who she was, or why she was photographed.

To would be Korean assassins attempted to kill the former Japanese Minister of War Tanaka Giichi as he disembarked a ship in Shanghai, but missed and instead killed an American woman.

In Berlin a would be assassin attempted to kill former Russian Foreign Minister Pavel Milyukov at a gathering of Russian exiles.  He missed and killed Vladimier D. Nabakov, the father of the author by that name who is famous for the novel Lolita, which I've never read.  The assassin, Sergey Vladimirovich Taboritsky, was a Russian untranationalist and monarchist who would go on to be a Nazi during in the Third Reich. He survived the war and died in 1980 at age 83.

Monday, March 27, 1922. The Yakut Revolt.

Dorothy & Lillian Gish, D.W. Griffith, 3/27/22

 

On this day in 1922, the Yakut People's Army took Yakutsk in eastern Siberia.  They were led by White General, formerly Imperial Cornet, Mikhail Yakovlevich Korobeinkov.  His success was short-lived, and he's soon retreat to China, where he died two years later.

The Yakut Revolt was the last chapter, practically an epilogue, in the history of the Russian Civil War.  The Yakut people, a native people of Siberia, would endure years of repression at the hands of the Soviets.

Sunday Morning Scene: March 25, 2022. On the Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord. An Act of Consecration To the Immaculate Heart of Mary. АКТ ПОСВЯЩЕНИЯ НЕПОРОЧНОМУ СЕРДЦУ МАРИИ. АКТ ПРИСВЯЧЕННЯ НЕПОРОЧНОМУ СЕРЦЮ МАРІЇ.

Churches of the East: March 25, 2022. On the Solemnity of the Annunciat...:  

March 25, 2022. On the Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord. An Act of Consecration To the Immaculate Heart of Mary. АКТ ПОСВЯЩЕНИЯ НЕПОРОЧНОМУ СЕРДЦУ МАРИИ. АКТ ПРИСВЯЧЕННЯ НЕПОРОЧНОМУ СЕРЦЮ МАРІЇ.

 ACT OF CONSECRATION TO THE IMMACULATE HEART OF MARY

O Mary, Mother of God and our Mother, in this time of trial we turn to you. As our Mother, you love us and know us: no concern of our hearts is hidden from you. Mother of mercy, how often we have experienced your watchful care and your peaceful presence! You never cease to guide us to Jesus, the Prince of Peace.

Yet we have strayed from that path of peace. We have forgotten the lesson learned from the tragedies of the last century, the sacrifice of the millions who fell in two world wars. We have disregarded the commitments we made as a community of nations. We have betrayed peoples’ dreams of peace and the hopes of the young. We grew sick with greed, we thought only of our own nations and their interests, we grew indifferent and caught up in our selfish needs and concerns. We chose to ignore God, to be satisfied with our illusions, to grow arrogant and aggressive, to suppress innocent lives and to stockpile weapons. We stopped being our neighbour’s keepers and stewards of our common home. We have ravaged the garden of the earth with war and by our sins we have broken the heart of our heavenly Father, who desires us to be brothers and sisters. We grew indifferent to everyone and everything except ourselves. Now with shame we cry out: Forgive us, Lord!

Holy Mother, amid the misery of our sinfulness, amid our struggles and weaknesses, amid the mystery of iniquity that is evil and war, you remind us that God never abandons us, but continues to look upon us with love, ever ready to forgive us and raise us up to new life. He has given you to us and made your Immaculate Heart a refuge for the Church and for all humanity. By God’s gracious will, you are ever with us; even in the most troubled moments of our history, you are there to guide us with tender love.

We now turn to you and knock at the door of your heart. We are your beloved children. In every age you make yourself known to us, calling us to conversion. At this dark hour, help us and grant us your comfort. Say to us once more: “Am I not here, I who am your Mother?” You are able to untie the knots of our hearts and of our times. In you we place our trust. We are confident that, especially in moments of trial, you will not be deaf to our supplication and will come to our aid.

That is what you did at Cana in Galilee, when you interceded with Jesus and he worked the first of his signs. To preserve the joy of the wedding feast, you said to him: “They have no wine” (Jn 2:3). Now, O Mother, repeat those words and that prayer, for in our own day we have run out of the wine of hope, joy has fled, fraternity has faded. We have forgotten our humanity and squandered the gift of peace. We opened our hearts to violence and destructiveness. How greatly we need your maternal help!

Therefore, O Mother, hear our prayer.

Star of the Sea, do not let us be shipwrecked in the tempest of war.

Ark of the New Covenant, inspire projects and paths of reconciliation.

Queen of Heaven, restore God’s peace to the world.

Eliminate hatred and the thirst for revenge, and teach us forgiveness.

Free us from war, protect our world from the menace of nuclear weapons.

Queen of the Rosary, make us realize our need to pray and to love.

Queen of the Human Family, show people the path of fraternity.

Queen of Peace, obtain peace for our world.

O Mother, may your sorrowful plea stir our hardened hearts. May the tears you shed for us make this valley parched by our hatred blossom anew. Amid the thunder of weapons, may your prayer turn our thoughts to peace. May your maternal touch soothe those who suffer and flee from the rain of bombs. May your motherly embrace comfort those forced to leave their homes and their native land. May your Sorrowful Heart move us to compassion and inspire us to open our doors and to care for our brothers and sisters who are injured and cast aside.

Holy Mother of God, as you stood beneath the cross, Jesus, seeing the disciple at your side, said: “Behold your son” (Jn 19:26). In this way he entrusted each of us to you. To the disciple, and to each of us, he said: “Behold, your Mother” (v. 27). Mother Mary, we now desire to welcome you into our lives and our history. At this hour, a weary and distraught humanity stands with you beneath the cross, needing to entrust itself to you and, through you, to consecrate itself to Christ. The people of Ukraine and Russia, who venerate you with great love, now turn to you, even as your heart beats with compassion for them and for all those peoples decimated by war, hunger, injustice and poverty.

Therefore, Mother of God and our Mother, to your Immaculate Heart we solemnly entrust and consecrate ourselves, the Church and all humanity, especially Russia and Ukraine. Accept this act that we carry out with confidence and love. Grant that war may end and peace spread throughout the world. The “Fiat” that arose from your heart opened the doors of history to the Prince of Peace. We trust that, through your heart, peace will dawn once more. To you we consecrate the future of the whole human family, the needs and expectations of every people, the anxieties and hopes of the world.

Through your intercession, may God’s mercy be poured out on the earth and the gentle rhythm of peace return to mark our days. Our Lady of the “Fiat”, on whom the Holy Spirit descended, restore among us the harmony that comes from God. May you, our “living fountain of hope”, water the dryness of our hearts. In your womb Jesus took flesh; help us to foster the growth of communion. You once trod the streets of our world; lead us now on the paths of peace. Amen.

АКТ ПОСВЯЩЕНИЯ НЕПОРОЧНОМУ СЕРДЦУ МАРИИ

О, Мария, Матерь Божия и наша Матерь, в это тревожное время мы прибегаем к тебе. Ты Матерь, и ты любишь и знаешь нас: от тебя не скрыто ничего из того что у нас на сердце. Матерь милосердия, как часто ощущали мы твою материнскую нежность, твое умиротворяющее присутствие, ибо ты всегда ведешь нас к Иисусу, Владыке мира.

Мы сошли с мирного пути. Забыли трагические уроки минувшего века, о миллионах погибших в мировых войнах. Не сумели выполнить обязательства, что взяли на себя как Сообщество Наций и не оправдали мечты народов и чаяния молодежи. Нас ослепила алчность, мы замкнулись в своих национальных интересах, нас сковал холод равнодушия и парализовал эгоизм. Мы отвернулись от Бога и предпочли жить ложью, копить злобу, убивать жизни и наращивать оружие; мы забыли, что должны защищать ближнего и наш общий дом. Войною мы разрушаем Земной сад, грехом ранили сердце нашего Отца, Который хочет, чтобы мы были братьями и сёстрами. Мы стали безразличными ко всем и ко всему, кроме себя самих. Со стыдом взываем: прости нас, Господи!

В этой юдоли греха, скорби и страданий, перед тайной несправедливости зла и войны, Пресвятая Матерь, напомни нам, что Бог не забывает о нас, непрестанно взирает на нас с любовью, желает простить нас и спасти. Он даровал нам тебя и в твоем непорочном Сердце устроил прибежище для Церкви и человечества. Ты с нами по благости Господа и даже в самых тесных изгибах истории помогаешь нам не сойти с пути к Богу.

Посему, твои возлюбленные чада, мы прибегаем к тебе, стучим в дверь твоего Сердца. В любой час ты внимаешь нам и призываешь к обращению. В эти темные времена поддержи и утешь нас. Каждому прошепчи: «Я здесь с тобой, Матерь твоя». Ты знаешь, как развязать путаницу в наших сердцах и сложные узлы истории. Мы полностью уповаем на тебя. Мы твердо верим, что особенно в час испытаний ты не отвергнешь наши молитвы и придешь помочь нам.

Так поступила ты в Кане Галилейской, когда ускорила час явления Христа миру. Как только на пиру стало утихать веселье, ты указала Христу: «вина нет у них» (Ин 2, 3). О, Мария, скажи это еще раз Богу, ибо ныне исчерпалось у нас вино надежды, исчезла радость, растворились братские узы. Утратилась человечность, разладился мир. Отныне мы способны на любое насилие и разрушение. Нам очень нужна твоя материнская помощь.

О, Матерь, прими наше прошение:

Звезда над морем, помоги нам уцелеть в буре войны.

Ковчег нового завета, укажи нам пути к примирению.

«Небесная земля», верни в мир божественную гармонию.

Прекрати вражду, погаси месть, научи нас прощению.

Избавь нас от войны, сохрани мир от ядерной угрозы.

Царица Розария, пробуди в нас желание молиться и любить.

Царица человеческой семьи, укажи народам путь к братству.

Царица мира, стяжай мир для мира.

О, Матерь, своим плачем разбуди наши ожесточенные сердца. Пусть слёзы, которые ты пролила за нас, оросят эту долину, иссушенную нашей злобой чтобы она снова зацвела. И пока не смолкает лязг оружия, твоя молитва да направляет нас к миру. Пусть те, кто страдает и пытается спастись от бомб ощутят прикосновение твоих материнских рук. Пусть те, кто вынужден оставить свой дом и родину найдут утешение в твоих объятиях. Своим скорбящим Сердцем пробуди в нас сострадание, чтобы мы отворили двери, впустили и окружили заботой всех страждущих и изгнанных.

Святая Матерь Божия, когда ты стояла под крестом, Иисус, видя рядом с тобой ученика, сказал тебе: «Же́но! се, сын Твой» (Ин 19, 26), таким образом каждого из нас он вверил тебе. Затем Он сказал ученику, а в нем и каждому из нас: «се, Матерь твоя!» (Ин 19, 27). О, Матерь, ныне желаем принять тебя в своей жизни и в нашей истории. Сейчас бессильное и обескураженное человечество вместе с тобой стоит у креста. Ему нужно довериться тебе, через тебя посвятить себя Христу. Народ Украины и народ России, с любовью чтящие тебя, обращаются к тебе с мольбою, твое же сердце бьётся за них и за все народы, страдающие от войны, голода, несправедливости и нищеты.

Твоему непорочному Сердцу, Матерь Божия и наша, мы торжественно вверяем и посвящаем себя, Церковь и все человечество, особенно Россию и Украину. Призри на сие деяние, что совершаем с упованием и любовью, останови войну, обеспечь мир во всем мире. Словами согласия, исшедшими из твоего Сердца, растворились врата истории для Владыки мира, и сегодня мы верим, что через твое Сердце в мир войдет мир. Посвящаем тебе будущее всей человеческой семьи, нужды и чаяния народов, тревоги и надежды мира.

Через тебя да изольется на Землю божественное Милосердие и пусть вновь наши дни наполнятся нежным ритмом мира. Же́но, ты ответила Богу да, и на тебя сошел Святой Дух, сделай так, чтобы между нами воцарилось божественное согласие. «Живой источник надежды», смягчи наши сердца. Ты соткала человечество Христа - соделай из нас творцов единства. Как и мы ты ходила по земле - веди нас по пути мира. Аминь.

АКТ ПРИСВЯЧЕННЯ НЕПОРОЧНОМУ СЕРЦЮ МАРІЇ

О Маріє, Мати Божа і Мати наша, ми в цю скорботну годину прибігаємо до Тебе. Ти є Матір’ю, любиш і знаєш нас: від Тебе нічого не приховано з того, що лежить у наших серцях. Мати милосердя, ми багато разів досвідчили Твоєї турботливої ніжності, Твоєї присутності, яка повертає мир, тому що Ти завжди ведеш нас до Ісуса, Князя миру.

Однак ми втратили шлях миру. Ми забули урок трагедій минулого століття, про жертву мільйонів полеглих у світових війнах. Ми знехтували зобов’язаннями, взятими як Спільнота Націй, і ми зраджуємо мрії народів про мир і надії молоді. Ми захворіли на жадібність, ми замкнулися в націоналістичних інтересах, ми дозволили собі бути скованими байдужістю і паралізованими егоїзмом. Ми воліли ігнорувати Бога, співіснувати з нашою облудою, підживлювати агресію, придушувати життя та накопичувати зброю, забуваючи, що ми є хранителями нашого ближнього та нашої спільної домівки. Ми роздерли війною сад Землі, поранили гріхом серце нашого Отця, Який хоче, щоб ми були братами і сестрами. Ми стали байдужими до всіх і до всього, окрім до самих себе. І з соромом кажемо: прости нам, Господи!

У нещасті гріха, у наших зусиллях та слабкостях, у таємниці несправедливості зла і війни Ти, Пресвята Мати, нагадуєш нам, що Бог не покидає нас, але продовжує дивитися на нас з любов’ю, прагнучи пробачити і знову піднести нас. Це Він дарував нам Тебе і розмістив у Твоєму Непорочному Серці пристановище для Церкви і для людства. Завдяки Божественній доброті Ти є з нами і ведеш нас з ніжністю, навіть через найтісніші вигини історії.

Тож прибігаємо до Тебе, стукаємо у двері Твого Серця, ми, Твої дорогі діти, яких Ти не втомлюєшся відвідувати і запрошувати до навернення. У цю темну годину прийди, щоб допомогти нам і втішити нас. Повторюй кожному з нас: «Хіба Я не тут, Я, котра удостоїлася бути твоєю Матір’ю?» Ти знаєш як розв’язувати плутанину у наших серцях та вузли нашого часу. Ми покладаємо нашу довіру в Тобі. Ми впевнені, що Ти, особливо в хвилині випробування, не знехтуєш нашими благаннями і прийдеш нам на допомогу.

Саме так Ти вчинила в Кані Галілейській, коли прискорила годину втручання Ісуса і впровадила його перший знак у світі. Коли свято перетворилося на смуток, Ти сказала йому: «Не мають вина» (Йн 2, 3). Повтори це ще раз Богу, о Мати, бо сьогодні у нас вичерпалося вино надії, зникла радість, розчинилося братерство. Ми втратили людяність, ми зруйнували мир. Ми стали здатними на будь-яке насильство і знищення. Нам терміново потрібне Твоє материнське втручання.

Тому прийми, о Мати, це наше благання.

Ти, зірко моря, не допусти, щоб ми потонули в бурі війни.

Ти, Ковчегу Нового Завіту, надихай плани та шляхи примирення.

Ти, «небесна земле», поверни у світ Божу злагоду.

Погаси ненависть, вгамуй помсту, навчи нас прощати.

Визволи нас від війни, вбережи світ від ядерної загрози.

Царице Розарію, пробуди в нас потребу молитися і любити.

Царице людського роду, вкажи народам шлях братерства.

Царице миру, виклопотай мир для усього світу.

Твій плач, о Мати, нехай зворушить наші зачерствілі серця. Нехай сльози, які Ти пролила за нас, зроблять квітучою долину, яку висушила наша ненависть. І поки не стихає гуркіт зброї, нехай Твоя молитва налаштує нас до миру. Нехай Твої материнські руки голублять тих, хто страждає і втікає під гнітом бомб. Твої материнські обійми нехай втішають тих, хто змушений покинути власні домівки та свою країну. Нехай Твоє Скорботне Серце мотивує нас до співчуття і спонукає нас відчинити двері та подбати про поранене й відкинуте людство.

Пресвята Богородице, коли Ти стояла під хрестом, Ісус, побачивши учня поруч із Тобою, сказав Тобі: «Ось Син Твій» (Йн 19, 26), таким чином довіривши Тобі кожного з нас. Потім до учня, до кожного з нас, Він сказав: «Ось мати твоя» (Йн 19, 27). Мамо, ми прагнемо зараз прийняти Тебе у нашому житті та нашій історії. У цю годину з Тобою під хрестом перебуває виснажене і збентежене людство. І йому потрібно довіритися Тобі, щоб через Тебе присвятити себе Христу. Український народ та російський народ, які вшановують Тебе з любов’ю, прибігають до Тебе, а серце Твоє б’ється за них і за всі народи, підкошені війною, голодом, несправедливістю і нещастям.

Тому ми, о Мати Божа і наша, урочисто ввіряємо і присвячуємо Твоєму Непорочному Серцю себе, Церкву і все людство, а особливо Росію та Україну. Прийми цей наш акт, який ми здійснюємо з довірою і любов’ю, вчини так, щоб закінчилася війна, наповни світ миром. Твоє «так», що вийшло з Твого Серця, відкрило двері історії для Князя миру; ми віримо, що знову через Твоє серце прийде мир. Тому ми присвячуємо Тобі майбутнє всієї людської родини, потреби та очікування народів, тривоги та надії світу.

Нехай через Тебе проливається на Землю Боже Милосердя і повертається лагідний ритм миру, щоб відмірювати наші дні. Жінко, що сказала «так», на яку зійшов Святий Дух, поверни нам Божу гармонію. Втамуй спрагу наших засохлих сердець, Ти, яка є «живим джерелом надії». Ти сплела людську натуру Ісусу, вчини нас ремісниками єдності. Ти ходила нашими шляхами, веди нас стежками миру. Амінь.

Blog Mirror: Over 450 Companies Have Withdrawn from Russia—But Some Remain. Yale School Of Managment

Over 450 Companies Have Withdrawn from Russia—But Some Remain

Best Posts of the Week of March 19, 2022

The best posts of the week of March 19, 2022.

Nebraska Ranchers to go into Meat Processing

An etymological note on Russian and Ukrainian, sort of. The lingering Greek influcence in the Black Sea.

March 25, 2022. On the Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord. An Act of Consecration To the Immaculate Heart of Mary. АКТ ПОСВЯЩЕНИЯ НЕПОРОЧНОМУ СЕРДЦУ МАРИИ. АКТ ПРИСВЯЧЕННЯ НЕПОРОЧНОМУ СЕРЦЮ МАРІЇ.

Wars and Rumors of War, 2022. The Russo Ukrainian War Edition, Part Three

Sunday, March 22, 1922. Before jackhammers.

Dog Fight

Dog Fight

I haven't seen Power of the Dog.

I started to watch 1883, but I quit watching it as I couldn't get over the historic improbabilities.  That's why there's no review of it here.

As to 1883, my interest in it started to wane when it showed one of the protagonist engaged in a relatively short range gun fight, after being ambushed, using a scoped rifle.  Yes, there were scope rifles at the time, but they were exceedingly rare, quite delicate, and not really suitable for snap shooting.

But what really did it is when the Sam Elliot character is being recruited to lead a part of overland immigrants north from Texas.

In 1883, you could take the train. And why would you start from Texas in any event?  You would not.

Indeed, railroads leased out freight cars to immigrants, so they could dump whatever implements they had in them, and ride with them.

Yes, cattle were being driven overland, and some immigrants still took the Oregon Trail that late, but trailing up from Texas?

Anyhow, 1883 was a big deal with some viewers as Yellowstone, which I also have not seen, is a big deal with some viewers.  Sam Elliot reprised a role he's now typecast in as aged cowboy, with cowboy loosely defined.

Following that, Elliot was interviewed about the movie Power of the Dog, which I haven't seen and which I'm unlikely to.

More specifically, Elliot called the movie "a piece of shit".  He further noted, "They’re running around in chaps and no shirts. There’s all these allusions of homosexuality throughout the movie.”

I've read the synopsis of the movie, which is billed as a "psychological Western", and it frankly reminds me a bit of Legends Of The Fall, which was an awful movie.  Maybe Elliot is right, and it is a "piece of sh**".  I have no idea, but I'm not going to bother with it.

But what I will note is that Elliot is right about shirtless riders. Wouldn't happen.  Then, as now, cowboys cover up, even in hot months.  You very rarely, at least up here, see a working cowhand wearing a short sleeve shirt.  Television cowboys might work in t-shirts, but real ones don't.

Going further, in one of the photos from the film, the protagonist is wearing overalls.  You won't see cowhands wearing those, either. That's strictly a farmer thing. They're not appropriate for riding, frankly.

As for his other comments, I'll leave them there, as I haven't seen the film.

The director, New Zealander Jane Campion, did react to Elliot, noting that he's not a real cowboy (true) and defended her work by stating:

The west is a mythic space and there’s a lot of room on the range. I think it’s a little bit sexist… I consider myself a creator and I think he sees me as a woman or something lesser first. And I don’t appreciate that.

As a Westerner (and a stockman) that's part of the problem  The West is no more a "mythic space" than New Zealand is and ought not to be treated that way.  Yes, it's been mythologized, and often badly, but that process is part of an instinctive way of preserving history.  It happens, we'd note, in all cultures, on some topic.

Power of the Dog, I'd note, was written by one Thomas Savage, whom I'd describe as a minor novelist.  But for this film, I've never heard of him, and I've never heard of any of his works.  To some degree, it seems like his career was sort revived by Anne Proulx, which is interesting.  Proulx gained  a following as a regional novelist from the Northeast, but then briefly lived in Wyoming, during which time she produced Brokeback Mountain, which I also have not seen. Even when she lived in Wyoming, apparently Saratoga, she spent part of the year in Newfoundland.  From here she went on to New Mexico, always a favorite haunt of artists, and is now in Washington state.

I note all of this because Proulx is prominent, or at least her one work is, in what might be regarded as an "anti-Western", which Power Of The Dog seems to be as well, perhaps.  That is, the authors of these works, in some ways, take Western themes and seek to turn them on their head.  In Savage's case, it seems he had an early exposure to ranching as a youth and young man, but never took to it, and then as a writer used it as a setting of criticism, with the dysfunctional family being the primary topic.

This stands out, I think, from works by authors like Larry McMurtry.  McMurtry wrote some very gritty novels, but they're quite true to life.  McMurtry also grew up on a ranch, in Texas, and while, like most novelist, his themes exaggerate, they're also fairly accurate as a rule.  His book Horseman, Pass By, is probably the best book written set in a modern setting, with its descriptions being incredibly true to life.

Less so, but still notable, are those of Cormac McCarthy, who tends to write things set in Texas, and has spent much of his life there, but who is from Rhode Island originally, showing that a person doesn't have to be from a place from infancy in order to pick up the feel of a place.

I guess what this gets to is three things, one is historical accuracy, a second is love of place, and the  third is love of subject.  In order to produce a really outstanding work, written or filmed, all three have to be there.

Now, I may be going further than I should on some of these works, as I haven't seen them all, but that's lacking, it seems to me, on some of these, and perhaps on the two ones that started this dog fight.  I know that people have been fawning over 1883, but frankly it just fails in the first category at least.  I think people love it as they love sappy dramas and from what I can pick up about it, without watching it, that's what Yellowstone is. People love Yellowstone, so they love 1883. Beyond that, some people love Sam Elliot and will watch anything he's in, and others love Faith Hill and Tim McGraw, and finally some viewers, while they won't put it this way, find Isabel May hopelessly hot.  None of that makes the film great, or even good.  Nor does just simply taking Western stereotypes, which at least to some degree are stereotypes as they're based on reality, and turning them on their head. That can be done, to be sure, but just to do it, just does that, and not much else.

Thursday, March 26, 1942. The Battle of Suursaari

The Finns commenced an offensive in the Battle of Suursaari to retake two islands in the Gulf of Finland, Gogland and Bolshoy Tyuteers, which they'd earlier been forced to cede to the Soviet Union. They were successful in the effort in an offensive conducted over the frozen gulf.

They were clearly Finnish islands.  Bolshoy Tyuteers had been a center of fishing for centuries and had become a tourism destination prior to the war.  It reverted to Russian possession after World War Two but is abandoned, heavily mined and littered with abandoned German equipment and heavy weapons.  

Gogland remains a tourist destination, but is also a Russian possession today.  Given that Finland's entry into the war had specifically been aimed at recapturing the territories it had lost in the Winter War, the attacks on the island garrisons were probably not a surprise.

The Germans murdered over 1,000 Jews in Latvia in the second part of a ghetto clearing action.

Sunday, March 22, 1922. Before jackhammers.

Usually, if I put a newspaper up here, it's due to some historically significant event it discusses.  But that's not the case here.  In this case I put it up as the cartoon depicts a tool that never even occurred to me.  A "pounder", which is probably not what it was called, is shown. Something that came before, apparently, hydraulic jack hammers.

In news of the day, the Allies agreed to amend the Treaty of Sevres, the peace treaty with the now defunct Ottoman Empire, but Turkish Nationalist refused to sign it as long as Greek forces, now fighting alone in Turkey, remained there.

Anti treaty officers of the Irish Republican Army convened a convention in Dublin.  The one-day convention rejected the treaty and the authority of the Dail.

Wars and Rumors of War, 2022. The Russo Ukrainian War Edition, Part Three

 

March 14, 2022

Russo-Ukrainian War

Talks will resume today between Russia and Ukraine. So far they have failed to produce results.

The weekend shows all featured concerns that Russia will deploy chemical weapons.  

Russia struck a training base which is approximately ten miles from the Polish border with missiles.

Russia is seeking economic relief and military drones from China.  The request for drones is particularly telling as it's the attempt to import weapons from a foreign source, something Russia has not done since World War Two, demonstrating a material deficiency.

March 15, 2022

Russo Ukrainian War

March 15, 2022

By Viewsridge - Own work, derivate of Russo-Ukraine Conflict (2014-present).svg by Rr016Missile attacks source: BNO NewsTerritorial control source: ISW & Template:Russo-Ukrainian War detailed map, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=115506141

The lines remain largely the same as yesterday, with a slight Russian advance in the north.  The Russians have continued to assault cities through various forms of artillery and rocketry.

This has resulted in large-scale civilian loss of life, including the heavily pregnant woman whose photograph was widely distributed.  The woman, photographed on a stretcher, was severely injured and both she and her baby died as a result of the Russian strike on a pregnancy hospital in Mariupol.  

An article by a participant reveals that the Marine Corps ran a hex and counter game of a Russian invasion of Ukraine, with largely similar results up to the present time.  The author noted that a premise of the game was that the Russians committed less than they could, failing to understand how stout Ukrainian resistance would be.

That assumption has been widespread, but the problem with it is that it ignores the reality of Russian effectiveness on the ground. The Russians military continues to have apologists, but at this point it's pretty difficult to conclude that the Russians simply weren't prepared for what they've encountered and, moreover, their military is experiencing its traditional incompetence.  Yesterday, the news broke that the Russians are seeking drones and field rations from the Chinese, indicating an inability to readily supply good drones of their own and moreover a shortage of field rations.  While I've even seen that explained away, that's a clear indication that this war has gotten over their heads and abilities.  That doesn't mean they'll lose, but it does mean that they're being outfought and attrition of material items is catching up with them on at least a basic level on one thing, food.

An examination of the chemical weapons story being tossed about by the Russians reveals that it originated on American far right websites and was adopted by the Russians.  That means that those circulating it now, such as Candace Owens, have picked up on a far-fetched American conspiracy theory story adopted by the Russians are now basically unwitting Russian tools.

A bill has been introduced in the U.S. Congress to issue letters of marque and reprisal.

117th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 6869

  To authorize the President of the United States to issue letters of 
 marque and reprisal for the purpose of seizing the assets of certain 
               Russian citizens, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           February 28, 2022

 Mr. Gooden of Texas introduced the following bill; which was referred 
                  to the Committee on Foreign Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To authorize the President of the United States to issue letters of 
 marque and reprisal for the purpose of seizing the assets of certain 
               Russian citizens, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. ISSUANCE OF LETTERS OF MARQUE AND REPRISAL FOR PURPOSE OF 
              SEIZING ASSETS OF CERTAIN RUSSIAN CITIZENS.

    (a) Authority of President.--The President of the United States is 
authorized and requested to commission, under officially issued letters 
of marque and reprisal, so many of privately armed and equipped persons 
and entities as, in the judgment of the President, the service may 
require, with suitable instructions to the leaders thereof, to employ 
all means reasonably necessary to seize outside the geographic 
boundaries of the United States and its territories any yacht, plane, 
or other asset of any Russian citizen who is on the List of Specially 
Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons maintained by the Office of 
Foreign Assets Control of the Department of the Treasury.
    (b) Security Bonds.--No letter of marque and reprisal shall be 
issued by the President without requiring the posting of a security 
bond in such amount as the President shall determine is sufficient to 
ensure that the letter be executed according to the terms and 
conditions thereof.

The bill will not pass, but it's interesting how this is the second time this suggestion has come up in the last twenty years, showing a slight renewed interest in one of the war powers that had seemingly fallen away completely.

Yesterday, an employee of a Russian television show popped into the background of a news broadcast with a sign protesting the war.

March 16, 2022

Ukraine has launched counteroffensives in the north seeking to relieve its besieged cities, including Kyiv.

Ukrainian President Zelenskyy addressed the U.S. Congress.

March 18, 2022

Among the casualties of war is civilian Oksana Shivits, a famed Ukrainian actress, who was killed by a Russian missile strike.

Yet another Russian general, together with his staff, was killed in action.

An interesting prediction from a well known commentator:

Anders Åslund

@anders_aslund

The incredible is about to happen: Ukraine appears to be about to defeat Russia in Ukraine. Russia allocated 100 out of its ca 170 battalion tactical groups to its assault on Ukraine. According to the Ukrainians, about 50 btgs are now out of action.

March 19, 2022

March 19, 2022

By Viewsridge - Own work, derivate of Russo-Ukraine Conflict (2014-present).svg by Rr016Missile attacks source: BNO NewsTerritorial control source: ISW & Template:Russo-Ukrainian War detailed map, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=115506141

Russian forces have been gaining ground in the south and in the north once again.  This has been little reported on, but whatever has been holding them up may have, at least to some degree, been overcome to some extent.  Since the last map was posted, a significant amount of Ukrainian territory was taken in the south and southeast.

The Russians have been hitting Lviv with rockets regularly.

Russian cosmonauts, in a bold act of protest, arrived at the International Space Station yesterday wearing suits that were in Ukraine's national colors.

The United States has cautioned China to avoid aiding the Russians in the war.

March 20, 2022

March 20, 2022

By Viewsridge - Own work, derivate of Russo-Ukraine Conflict (2014-present).svg by Rr016Missile attacks source: BNO NewsTerritorial control source: ISW & Template:Russo-Ukrainian War detailed map, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=115506141

Russian forces continue to gain ground in the south.

Fighting continues on in Mariupol with the Russians continuing to hit urban structures resulting in civilian loss of life.

The Russians have deployed hypersonic missiles in their long range bombardment efforts, the first use of the same in war.

The Russians appear to be starting to recruit Syrians to serve in their forces in the war.\

March 20, cont:

On the weekend shows, Mitch McConnell made a pitch for aiding Ukraine and noted that we should take the view that the Ukrainians may win, and we should help them do so.

Russia has been deporting residents of Mariupol to camps.

The Institute for the Study of War reported that it regards Russia as having lost the first stage of the war and that it is now basically digging in for a long war.  It reports:

Ukrainian forces have defeated the initial Russian campaign of this war. That campaign aimed to conduct airborne and mechanized operations to seize Kyiv, Kharkiv, Odesa, and other major Ukrainian cities to force a change of government in Ukraine. That campaign has culminated. Russian forces continue to make limited advances in some parts of the theater but are very unlikely to be able to seize their objectives in this way. The doctrinally sound Russian response to this situation would be to end this campaign, accept a possibly lengthy operational pause, develop the plan for a new campaign, build up resources for that new campaign, and launch it when the resources and other conditions are ready. The Russian military has not yet adopted this approach. It is instead continuing to feed small collections of reinforcements into an ongoing effort to keep the current campaign alive. We assess that that effort will fail.

It further reports:

The Ukrainian General Staff reported for the first time that the Kremlin is preparing its population for a “long war” in Ukraine and implementing increasingly draconian mobilization measures. The General Staff reported the Russian military commissariats of the Kuban, Primorsky Krai, Yaroslavl Oblast, and Ural Federal Districts are conducting covert mobilization measures but are facing widespread resistance.

In an odd development, in some parts of the US efforts to collect arms for Ukraine have commenced, although how much help donated arms could be, let lone whether they could get there, is a pretty problematic question.

NATO representatives and US Defense Department representatives hinted that the use of biological or chemical weapons by the Russians may cross a line which would result in direct NATO involvement in the war.

March 21, 2022

Ukraine rejected Russian calls for the surrender of Mariupol.  Western analysts have opined the Russians may be too exhausted to take the city in a house to house battle.

There are growing fears that Russia, should it win in Ukraine, may take on the Baltic States, members of NATO, next, or Moldova, which is not.

March 22, 2022

The Ukrainians pushed the Russians out of a Kyiv suburb.

Over the last few days, the Ukrainians have been mounting some offensive actions.

March 23, 2022

From the Wall Street Journal:

NATO says that up to 40,000 Russian troops have been killed, wounded, taken prisoner or are missing in Ukraine, said a senior military official from the alliance.

40,000.

NATO estimates that between 7,000 and 15,000 Russian soldiers have been killed since the invasion began on Feb. 24. Using statistical averages from past conflicts that for every casualty roughly three soldiers are wounded, NATO analysts reach their total figure.

Russia began its invasion with roughly 190,000 troops. It has since brought in additional troops from Chechnya, Syria and other locations.

This would mean that the Russian Army has sustained as many combat deaths in Ukraine as the Soviet Army did during its entire campaign in Afghanistan.

March 24, 2022

Russo-Ukrainian War

High ranking Russian official Anatoly Chubais resigned his post and left the country due to the war in Ukraine.

Russian journalist Oksana Baulina was killed while filming in Kyiv.

Renault, which had resumed production in Russia, has stopped again.

Finland has detained 21 yachts with ties to Russians.

North Korea

North Korea fired a missile that may be an ICBM into the sea.

March 25, 2022

Russo Ukrainian War

Half of Ukraine's children have been displaced due to the war.

The Ukrainians destroyed the large Russian landing ship Orsk and damaged two other Russian naval vessels in the occupied port of Berdyansk.

Ukrainians have been regaining some ground near Kyiv.

There are reports that yet another Russian general, Yakov Rezantsev, has been killed in Ukraine.  He reportedly was close to Putin and had predicted the war in Ukraine would be short.

Col. Yury Medvedev, a Russian commander, was injured when a Russian tank crewman intentionally ran over him with a tank.

There are reports that hackers and railway workers in Belorussian have been disrupting the railway system there in support of Ukraine.  Pro Ukrainian protests have broken out in the country.

March 26, 2022

Russia declared yesterday that its goal in the war had been to take all the Donbas region and that the larger offensive was just a diversion, a claim that's fairly obviously baloney.  More likely, this signals an effort to recast the war in that light, perhaps to the Russians themselves, in an effort to declare victory and potentially wind the operation down in light of the difficulties it has been facing.

The announcement is quite significant, however, as it signals the war has likdly entered a new phase with Russian forces going, at least temporarily, into a defensive posture.

Russian forces have ceased offensive actions near Kyvi and gone on the defensive.  Ukrainian forces have been on the offensive there in recent days.

The BBC reports that the Russians have lost a total of six generals in the war in Ukraine.  In contrast, the United States lost 12 generals during the long Vietnam War, and one in Afghanistan.

The Pentagon reports that Russian cruise missiles have a failure rate of 20% to 60%.

Last Prior Thread:

Wars and Rumors of War, 2022. The Russo Ukrainian War Edition, Part Two.

Other related threads:

Some observations on the war in Ukraine

Ash Wednesday 2022. A day of fasting and prayer for Peace.

MAKE BORSCHT, NOT WAR. - The Borealist

Subsidiarity Economics. The times more or less locally, Part IX. The Russo Ukranian War edition.

A Daily Reading

The Russo Ukrainian War. Russian Generals