I don't feel great about the past week in general, and very little was best about it. I got a cold (which I am now nearly over) was in an elevator collapse, and that's just the start of it.
Momento Mori. I don't know the source of it.
Well, every once in a while you get a well deserved dope slap from God. I probably need one a lot more often than I get them.
This is frankly one of the stupidest things I've seen recently. How self-indulgent. If you really want to get involved, get over there. But then you'd find that green haired yelling doesn't really cut it on the broken edge of the bottle.
A university girlfriend introduced me to the Pogues. She's bought an album of theirs because somebody recommended it as punk. She didn't care for it much, but thought I'd like it as it was so Irish.
It was, frankly, great. I've been a fan ever since. MacGowan was great.
The Luftwaffe attacked the Italian port of Bari in a surprise raid, hitting the SS John Harvey which had a cargo that included 2,000 M-47A1 mustard gas aerial bombs being brought into Italy secretly in case the Germans started using chemical weapons. The contents of the ship were known only to those on the ship, who were killed when it exploded.
83 people were killed due to the mustard gas release, and a further 545 injured. The cause of the deaths and injury could not be determined until a British diver discovered a shell casing.
The treatment of the victims lead to a medical advance which, ironically, lead to the introduction of Mustine, the first drug developed that could fight cancer with minimal harm to healthy cells. It was the effective birth of chemotherapy.
The incident was covered up at the time for obvious reasons.
The British announced the conscription of 10% of men from ages 18 to 25 for work in British coal mines.
Big traumas certainly serve as wake-up calls. The question is, however, if a person has just awakened too late.
I firmly believe that people are capable of reinventing themselves. Often people don't know to do that until some external force compels it. At that point, they're left with the choice of reformation or continuing on in their former path's. Reformation is hard, but people do it.
Take, as an example, Georgy Malenkov.
Malenkov graduated school in 1917, just before the Russian Revolution, and he served in the Red Army during the Russian Civil War. He became a commissar in 1920. He rose steadily in the Communist party, surviving Stalin's purges, and was the head of its nuclear missile program when that era arrived. He became a member of the Central Committee, the real ruling body in the USSR. He suffered a downfall, however, when he tried to stage a coup against Khrushchev, and was accordingly expelled from his positions.
Khrushchev was decidedly an opponent of the Church. Malenkov had never been adherent in his adult life. But upon his release from position, he converted to Russian Orthodoxy and became a lector, which in the Russian Orthodox Church is a minor order of clergy.
Dramatic change.
It probably wouldn't have come about, however, but for his fall from grace from Soviet leadership. A coup attempt against Khrushchev fell, he fell, and he fell into the Church,. It's almost like what Shane MacGowan noted in A Rainy Night In Soho.
We watched our friends grow up together
And we saw them as they fell
Some of them fell into Heaven
Some of them fell into Hell
The lucky ones choose to fall into Heaven, the obstinate ones choose to fall into Hell.
Save for the fact that some people find the alarm bell going off a bit too late.
The Tehran Conference concluded. The results of the conference were far-reaching.
2023 Russian stamp commemorating the Tehran Conference. Russia has good reason to celebrate its results.
Politically, the British and Soviets decided in the Curzon Line as the eastern border of Poland and the Oder-Nesse Line as the western border. Roosevelt excluded himself from the Polish border question, as he feared that adjusting Poland's borders would have a negative impact on his chance in the 1944 Presidential Election.
Adjusting the border guaranteed that large numbers of people would be forcibly relocated.
An agreement was reached that the Baltic States would not rejoin the Soviet Union until after the citizens of those countries voted on the question. Stalin would not agree to international supervision of such an election.
The Soviet Union agreed to join the war against the Japaneses upon the conclusion of the war in Europe.
The parties agreed to support Yugoslav Partisans, who were largely Communist.
The parties agreed to try to get Turkey to enter the war.
Operation Overlord was agreed to be launched in May, 1944, together with Operation Dragoon and Operation Bagration.
All in all, it was the Soviet Union that came out on top in the conference.
Born in England to Irish parents, Shane MacGowan, the frontman and principal songwriter for The Pogues, died of encephalitis at age 65.
The hard living MacGowan was a great, essentially creating a new type of Celtic music out of the folk music past and updating it. He was 65 years of age.
You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.
Well, Part X wasn't up for long before the next edition was necessary.
Ugh.
If any question why we died,
Tell them, because our fathers lied.
Kipling.
And so, the byproducts of the Great War continue to visit us, specter like. A war in Ukraine between a Slavic chauvinist empire, and one in the Middle East, sorting out the rubble of the Mandate.
So let us begin.
October 15, 2023
Hamas v. Israel.
Hamas infiltration attempts are continuing, but have dropped off on the West Bank.
Iran is warning the war could go regional, which it will not.
An Israeli ground offensive is imminent.
The US asked American citizens in Gaza (why on earth would anyone with American citizenship stay in Gaza?) to move closer to the Egyptian Rafah border crossing, which would likely suggest the U.S. has worked out some sort of deal with Egypt regarding Americans being displaced in the Gaza Strip (why on earth would anyone with American citizenship stay in Gaza?).
A bomb threat was levied against the Louvre yesterday, which is suspected to be related to this conflict in some fashion.
Russo Ukrainian War
Russian attacks on Avdiivka are continuing, but Ukrainian lines are holding. Apparently the offensive was anticipated.
October 16, 2023
Hamas v. Israel
From Twitter, and linked directly to what was put up there. Weapons displayed by the IDF that were used in the recent Hamas raid.
The really surprising one here is the ancient submachine gun. Apparently it is a Lanchester, which I've never even heard of. It looks like a German MP28 as it is in fact a version of it. They were actually produced, to my surprise, in large numbers during World War Two.
The Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem Cardinal Pizzaballa stated in an interview that he was willing to exchange himself as a hostage for the kidnapped children.
October 17, 2023
Hamas v Israel
Four Iranian nationals have been detained at the Del Rio crossing between the US and Mexico since October 1, with two Iranian nationals regarded as terrorist threats.
The Church of Saint Porphyrius, built in 1150 through 1160, a Greek Orthodox Church, is now housing Palestinian refugees of all religions.
2,000 U.S. troops are being readied to deploy to the region in support roles to Israel.
The Diocese of Cheyenne is asking Catholics in the Diocese to pray for Peace in the Holy Land, and has issued this prayer.
Pray for Peace in the Holy Land
Lord God, merciful and strong,
who crush wars and cast down the proud,
who extend mercy and tenderness to all,
we pray to you for the Holy Land, for the people of Israel and Palestine
who are under the grip of unprecedented violence,
for the victims, especially the children and their families.
Be pleased to grant healing for the wounded, the release of hostages,
protection for the innocent, and eternal peace to the dead.
To all those affected by war, grant healing, consolation, and the grace to forgive.
Almighty God,
guide the minds of world leaders to act with wisdom, prudence, and justice,
and to promote the common good.
Lord of Justice, help us to commit ourselves to building a fraternal world
so that these peoples and all those suffering similar conditions of
conflict, instability, and violence may walk together as sisters and brothers.
Help us to be peacemakers by practicing justice, dialogue, and reconciliation.
O God of Peace, who are peace itself,
grant that those in conflict may forget evil and so be healed.
Help those who have experienced violence to forgive their enemies,
as Christ taught us and after his example on the cross.
We pray that the whole of humanity may be reconciled as one family,
without violence, without absurd wars, and with a fraternal spirit,
and live united in peace and concord.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ Your Son, who lives and reigns with you
in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God for ever and ever. Amen.
cont:
Russo Ukrainian War
Ukraine struck Russian airbases deep within Russian occupied Ukraine with ATACMS missiles acquired from the United States
October 18, 2023
Hamas v Israel.
President Biden is in Israel.
Democrat Michigan Rep. Rashida Tlaib's accused Israel of bombing a Christian's hospital in the Gaza stating "Israel just bombed the Baptist Hospital killing 500 Palestinians (doctors, children, patients) just like that," in a tweet.
Israel replied within an hour that Islamic Jihad was responsible for the strike with an errant missile.
China v Taiwan and everyone else
The U.S. has accused China of increasingly dangerous actions with its fighter aircraft.
Russo Ukrainian War
Ukraine made small gains around Bakhmut and Russians tiny gains around Avdiivka.
The US completed deliveries of M1 Abrams tanks to Ukraine.
October 29, 2023
Russo Ukrainian War
Ukraine raided across the Dnipro near Kherson.
Iran v. United States
October 20, 2023
Hamas v. Israel, Iran v. The West
DOD assets in the Red Sea, Iraq and Syria responded to missile and drone attacks over the past two days, as U.S. service members look to deter groups from using the Israel-Hamas war as an opportunity to launch conflict that could engulf the region, Pentagon Press Secretary Air Force Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder said today.
Department of Defense.
Effectively, Iran, often acting through its militias, is in a low grade war with the United States right now.
October 23, 2023
Hamas v. Israel, Iran v. The West
The weekend news shows were absolutely frighting on this topic, this weekend. A bill is being introduced in Congress to authorize the use of force under the War Powers Act, for instance.
October 24, 2023
Russo Ukrainian War.
The Chinese ship Newnew Polar Bear has entered the Port of Arkhangelsk with a missing anchor. Finnish investigators suspect it lost the anchor by dragging it into the Balticconnector gas pipeline between Finland and Estonia. It will take six months to repair.
cont:
Congo
The Allied Democratic Forces killed people in the city of Oicha in North Kivu province on Monday. The group has ties to the Islamic State.
The Administration reports that Russia has executed its own soldiers for refusing to carry out orders.
Hamas v. Israel
Israel killed the deputy head of Hamas’s intelligence directorate, Shadi Barud, in a strike in the Gaza today.
Iranian backed forces have targeted US sites in Israel and Iraq.
October 27, 2023
Iran v US
The US struck two Iranian backed militia sites in Syria in an air raid earlier today.
Hamas v. Israel
Israel has raided into Gaza.
October 28, 2023
Russo Ukrainian War
Slovakia's right wing populist government is ceasing aid to Ukraine.
Ireland has called for increased European support for Ukraine.
October 29, 2023
Hamas v. Israel
The IDF has entered Gaza.
November 1, 2023
North Korea
North Korea is closing a large number of embassies, apparently due to financial concerns.
Hamas v. Israel
From Yemen's Houthi militia:
Our armed forces launched a large batch of ballistic missiles and a large number of drones at various targets of the Israeli enemy
The Yemeni Armed Forces confirm that this operation is the third operation in support of our oppressed brothers in Palestine and confirm that we will continue to carry out more qualitative strikes with missiles and drones until the Israeli aggression stops.
Egypt’s Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly stated, in response to reports that millions of Palestinians could cross into Egypt, that Egypt was “prepared to sacrifice millions of lives to ensure that no one encroaches upon our territory”.
November 2, 2023
Hamas v. Israel
President Biden has called for a pause in the war to aid in removing refugees. It's unlikely to occur.
Nigeria
Thirty-seven have been killed in a Boko Haram terrorist attack.
Russo Ukrainian War
Ukrainian Commander-in-Chief General Valerii Zaluzhnyi stated in an essay in The Economist yesterday that the has taken on a positional nature. His article is entitled. "Modern Positional Warfare and How to Win It".
It's odd for a commander to write such an op ed during a time of war, but that the war has become static is pretty obvious. This needs to be overcome if Ukraine is to achieve victory. If it does not, Western nations will ultimately lose interest in funding the Ukrainian effort.
November 4, 2023
China v. Everyone
Japan and the Philippines are moving towards a troop cooperation agreement.
Secretary of State Anthony Blinken engaged in a round of regional shuttle diplomacy yesterday.
The IDF has split the Gaza Strip in two.
November 7, 2023
Sudan
Jihadi militias have murdered over 800 Massalit tribe members in Darfur, Sudan over the past few days. Like their oppressors, the Massalit are Muslims, but they are generally somewhat relaxed in their observance and retain some pre conversion practices in spite of having long been Muslims. Over recent decades they have become more orthodox in their observance.
I frankly don't know what this conflict is about.
November 8, 2023
Hamas v. Israel War
U.S. Rep Rashida Tlaib was censured for her "river to the sea" comment. Tlaib is of Palestinian extraction and has a vocal critic of Israel.
U.S. Rep. Harriet Hageman claimed n a television interview that Palestinian protests in the US were due to Palestinian infiltration of the U.S. government.
Russo Ukrainian War
Ukrainian's seem to have crossed the Dnipro in some force and to have ferried armored vehicles across the river.
November 9, 2023
Myanmar
Myanmar has lost control of much of its border with China due to attacks by three ethnic rebel armies in Shan State.
Iran v the West
The U.S. has attacked an Iranian backed militia's weapon storage facility in Syria via the air.
November 10, 2023
Hamas v. Israel
Israel agreed to pause its offensive actions periodically for humanitarian reasons but not to provide for a ceasefire or ceasefires.
Headline in the British newspaper The Telegraph:
‘Queers for Palestine’ must have a death wish
Truly.
The Palestinian Authority, the West Bank and Gaza, have one of the world's worst records for intolerance of this topic in the world. Homosexual Palestinians fairly frequently flee to Israel.
Russo Ukrainian War
Russian forces have nearly encircled Avdiivka.
November 12, 2023
Hamas v. Israel
Israel has rejected calls for a cease fire and has indicated that it will retain security control of Gaza fater the war.
Russo Ukrainian War
Russian offensive activities in recent days have been resulting in huge casualties to their army.
November 16, 2023
Iran v. the West
The U.S. navy shot down a drone launched from Yemen aimed at a ship yesterday.
November 18, 2023
Russo Ukrainian War
Ukrainian forces have established bridgeheads on the east bank of the Dnipro and are pushing Russian forces back beyond artillery range of the west bank.
November 20, 2023
Hamas v. Israel
Houthi rebels have taken a cargo ship in a helicopter raid on the same. They have asserted this is legitimate as the ship had Israeli connections.
November 22, 2023
Hamas v. Israel
Israel has agreed to a four-day cease fire for humanitarian reasons. Hostages are to be released during that time period.
Iranian backed militias launched missiles at a US base in Iraq, causing the US to retaliate with an airstrike.
November 23, 2023
India v. Sikh separatists.
The US has announced that it foiled a plot on the life of a Sikh seperatist living in the US. A successful attempt on the life of a Sikh figure in Canada has lead to tension between those two countries. India denies being involved.
November 25, 2023
Hamas v. Israel
A prisoner exchange (Palestinian prisoners for Israeli and multinational hostages) took place yesterday as scheduled. Twenty four hostages were releaed, including 13 Israelis, 10 Thai citizens, and one Filipino citizen.
I was surprised to see this article by Reich, and I thought it would be on the late stages of the Vietnam War, but I'll note that I too am not a Kissinger fan.
President Roosevelt's Executive Order 9397 took effect. It provided.
Whereas certain Federal agencies from time to time require in the administration of their activities a system of numerical identification of accounts of individual persons; and
Whereas some seventy million persons have heretofore been assigned account numbers pursuant to the Social Security Act; and
Whereas a large percentage of Federal employees have already been assigned account numbers pursuant to the Social Security Act; and
Whereas it is desirable in the interest of economy and orderly administration that the Federal Government move towards the use of a single, unduplicated numerical identification system of accounts and avoid the unnecessary establishment of additional systems:
Now, Therefore, by virtue of the authority vested in me as President of the United States, it is hereby ordered as follows:
Hereafter any Federal department, establishment, or agency shall, whenever the head thereof finds it advisable to establish a new system of permanent account numbers pertaining to individual persons, utilize exclusively the Social Security Act account numbers assigned pursuant to Title 26, section 402.502 of the 1940 Supplement to the Code of Federal Regulations and pursuant to paragraph 2 of this order.
The Social Security Board shall provide for the assignment of an account number to each person who is required by any Federal agency to have such a number but who has not previously been assigned such number by the Board. The Board may accomplish this purpose by (a) assigning such numbers to individual persons, (b) assigning blocks of numbers to Federal agencies for reassignment to individual persons, or (c) making such other arrangements for the assignment of numbers as it may deem appropriate.
The Social Security Board shall furnish, upon request of any Federal agency utilizing the numerical identification system of accounts provided for in this order, the account number pertaining to any person with whom such agency has an account or the name and other identifying data pertaining to any account number of any such person.
The Social Security Board and each Federal agency shall maintain the confidential character of information relating to individual persons obtained pursuant to the provisions of this order.
There shall be transferred to the Social Security Board, from time to time, such amounts as the Director of the Bureau of the Budget shall determine to be required for reimbursement by any Federal agency for the services rendered by the Board pursuant to the provisions of this order.
This order shall be published in the Federal Register.
The order meant that every American would need to acquire a Social Security Number.
The Red Army withdrew from Korosten in Ukraine. It had held the city for twelve days before yielding it back to the Germans.
The Italian Social Republic's Minister of the Interior ordered the arrest of all Jews within its boundaries and their deportation to concentration camps.
From Sarah Sundin's blog:
Today in World War II History—November 30, 1943: US takes unoccupied Abaiang and Marakei Atolls north of Tarawa in Gilberts. Construction of the Los Alamos Laboratory in New Mexico is completed.
What sort of dipshit would think that; 1) anyone in the Middle East cares what the views of a handful of people in a small Western city hold; and 2) somebody somewhere is going to think "a protest in a remote place by a purple haired sharpy. . oh, well we better make peace now, what were we thinking?"
Funny thing is that if Hamas got its way, and these people lived in Israel, they'd probably end up with a bullet in their head.
It was Thanksgiving Day for 1923, Calvin Coolidge having fixed the very late date for this year on November 5.
By the President of the United States of America
A Proclamation
The American people, from their earliest days, have observed the wise custom of acknowledging each year the bounty with which divine Providence has favored them. In the beginnings, this acknowledgment was a voluntary return of thanks by the community for the fruitfulness of the harvest. Though our mode of life has greatly changed, this custom has always survived. It has made thanksgiving day not only one of the oldest but one of the most characteristic observances of our country. On that day, in home and church, in family and in public gatherings, the whole nation has for generations paid the tribute due from grateful hearts for blessings bestowed.
To center our thought in this way upon the favor which we have been shown has been altogether wise and desirable. It has given opportunity justly to balance the good and the evil which we have experienced. In that we have never failed to find reasons for being grateful to God for a generous preponderance of the good. Even in the least propitious times, a broad contemplation of our whole position has never failed to disclose overwhelming reasons for thankfulness. Thus viewing our situation, we have found warrant for a more hopeful and confident attitude toward the future.
In this current year, we now approach the time which has been accepted by custom as most fitting for the calm survey of our estate and the return of thanks. We shall the more keenly realize our good fortune, if we will, in deep sincerity, give to it due thought, and more especially, if we will compare it with that of any other community in the world.
The year has brought to our people two tragic experiences which have deeply affected them. One was the death of our beloved President Harding, which has been mourned wherever there is a realization of the worth of high ideals, noble purpose and unselfish service carried even to the end of supreme sacrifice. His loss recalled the nation to a less captious and more charitable attitude. It sobered the whole thought of the country. A little later came the unparalleled disaster to the friendly people of Japan. This called forth from the people of the United States a demonstration of deep and humane feeling. It was wrought into the substance of good works. It created new evidences of our international friendship, which is a guarantee of world peace. It replenished the charitable impulse of the country.
By experiences such as these, men and nations are tested and refined. We have been blessed with much of material prosperity. We shall be better able to appreciate it if we remember the privations others have suffered, and we shall be the more worthy of it if we use it for their relief. We will do well then to render thanks for the good that has come to us, and show by our actions that we have become stronger, wiser, and truer by the chastenings which have been imposed upon us. We will thus prepare ourselves for the part we must take in a world which forever needs the full measure of service. We have been a most favored people. We ought to be a most generous people. We have been a most blessed people. We ought to be a most thankful people.
Wherefore, I, Calvin Coolidge, President of the United States, do hereby fix and designate Thursday, the twenty-ninth day of November, as Thanksgiving Day, and recommend its general observance throughout the land. It is urged that the people, gathering in their homes and their usual places of worship, give expression to their gratitude for the benefits and blessings that a gracious Providence has bestowed upon them, and seek the guidance of Almighty God, that they may deserve a continuance of His favor.
In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.
Done at the City of Washington, this 5th day of November, in the year of our Lord, One Thousand Nine Hundred and Twenty-three, and of the Independence of the United States, the One Hundred and Forty-eighth.
CALVIN COOLIDGE
By the President:
CHARLES E. HUGHES, Secretary of State.
The Casper paper apparently gave its staff the day off, but the Saratoga one did not, and also informed its readers that childhood vaccinations for smallpox were now mandatory.
Wilhelm Marx was chosen as the new Chancellor of Germany. He's serve twice in the 1920s.
He was charged with criminal activity in the early 30s by the Nazi regime for his leadership of the People's Association for Catholic Germany (Volksverein für das katholische Deutschland) but the charge against him was dropped in 1935. He died in 1946. The Catholic association he headed, which had dated back to the 1890s, was recreated as the Volksverein Mönchengladbach after World War Two.
I hesitate to post this, and probably shouldn't. I'm not a counselor of anything other than "the law" and I always think lawyers who use that term in their letterheads are being pretentious. Having said that, the only thing lawyers really do is deal with people's problems, sometimes by creating problems for other people, so we do know something about it.
I've been in litigation for decades, and I think what that's taught me is that fighting sucks. People who like to fight, including lawyers who like that, also suck. Most people, including most lawyers, don't fit in that category, however.
Anyhow, with that caveat, I'm going to just put out some observational comments on how not to help people, and by that I mean people who are seeking our help as they have a close relationship. Some people deserve help, some don't, and a lot deserve a lot better help than that they get.
Before I get into that, however, the first thing I'd note is that if you've sought help from a whole bunch of people, and they all give you the same advice, maybe you are the problem. I've seen people who are flat out wrong with a legal problem ask a whole series of professionals, and then go down to their dog and cat, and get the same advance and be upset. They don't want real help, they want verification that their wacky view or bad plan is right. Sometimes they want verification for going after somebody they shouldn't.
Don't be that person.
Well, in offering advice, here goes.
1. Ridden like a rented mule.
Years ago, I had a friend who started off in the same line of work I did, but who temperamentally wasn't very suited for it. He'd married right out of law school, and he and his wife had a couple of children pretty quickly.
At some point, he began to burn out pretty badly. It was obvious. But his wife had achieved a status that she'd always hoped for in the process. Indeed, frankly, we'd been friend with both of them when they started out, but because he became quite financially successful, briefly, she reached the point of viewing us as being of inferior status and quit associating with us. He didn't.
Anyhow, you could see what was coming. He was having trouble, then a close friend of his died and it was life altering. He wanted out. Financially, he started declining.
I don't know what the conversations between the two of them were, but I have a suspicion. It was probably "you'll get over it" which amounted to "get back to work and stop complaining".
Well, ultimately he took up going to the gym a lot, she took up eating a lot, he met a woman at the gym. . . fill in blanks here. The couple split.
Now, I’m a Catholic and I don't advocate for divorce, and I'm not justifying what happened here, but the "shut up and plow on" response is really common from spouse to spouse. I've seen it from female to male and male to female. Men work themselves to deaths as their wives can't conceive of them doing anything else or simply won't allow them to.
Death may be the mildest of results here, actually. The failing party gets the blame, but often they were pushed into it. If somebody is saying "I can't go on", they probably really can't go on, and they need the other person's help.
Indeed, to add to this, I've witnessed the odd phenomenon of a spouse who was there for all of her friends and her siblings, but nearly totally unsympathetic to her husband under the situation described above, and not even all that sympathetic to at least one of her children's problems. There as well, the husband was sending out pretty clear signals that he was worn out beyond repair. He started to get sick, and the wife didn't even really react much to that. Eventually he had a bad fatigue related accident. The "I told you I needed help" wasn't well received.
2. Looking for a solution.
Closely related to this is this one, and this is a male/female thing.
More particularly, this is a male/female couple thing.
Something about the psychological makeup of women causes them to present problems to their spouses, boyfriends, and close friends that they don't want solved. This is so common that there are some well known jokes about it. Men don't work this way, usually. Actually women don't either, with men they know in a professional sense, even if they become friends with them, but then often coworker problem discussions are also of the "venting" nature.
If a man just wants to vent about a problem, but not have it solved, he'll just relate the problem to a stranger or somebody he barely knows, hence the classic stories about bartenders. When he tells a friend, however, or a spouse, he's looking for a solution.
Probably due to simple familiarity, the longer a couple has been together, the more likely a real solution is just going to be brushed off.
I've read lots of stories in legal journals about successful lawyers who entered some sort of deep crisis and then something horrible happened. Often a spouse is interviewed and gives a "there were no signs" teary comment.
Maybe, but I'll bet more often than not there were. Probably Joe Big Law had gone to his wife repeatedly with "look, honey, I need to do something here as I can't keep on like this", and the reply was "oh, you'll feel better. . . " at best. He didn't. Wife is distraught.
Well, she wasn't much help, quite often.
Offering no solution isn't being helpful. Flat out stating there's no solution definitely isn't helpful.
This also applies, however, to a lot of professional colleague advice.
A running story in the television series M*A*S*H was that, at the end of the day, the object of a field hospital was to get you patched up, and back into combat. That's pretty much the way professional assistance programs work as well. They're going to address your problems and get you back into the game.
Maybe the game is the problem.
3. It's all about me.
I've seen this repeatedly.
Somebody has a real problem, they go to their spouse or close friend, and that person quickly turns it into a discussion about their own, probably trivial problem. It works like this. "Honey, I've been shot, and I'm bleeding out", to which is replied, "Oh I know just what that's like, I stubbed my toe on a piece of furniture at work the other day, why I had told the janitor a thousand times that that needed to be moved, and I hate that furniture, it's Ikea and ".
No help at all.
I've actually had couples come with a legal problem where I have to shut one of them up as that person won't let the other talk about the problem. "The semi tractor exploded and. . . . " followed by sudden interruption and; "Bob is always so dramatic, it wasn't a big explosion, why just the other day I was at Walmart looking at the low, low prices and Mrs. Sepansky cut in front of me at the notion's isle, well I said to her. . . "
4. Lacking empathy
Most people are at least somewhat empathetic to others, but not all. Some simply lack it entirely.
There's been some studies that suggest this is genetic, but I somewhat doubt that. If it fully were, the genetic driver would be towards empathy. Indeed, an opposite speculation on this is that the world became more empathetic with the spread of Christianity, as Christians survived crises because of their empathy towards others, and others empathy towards them.
My guess is that this is a more developmental thing. Something's gone wrong. And I suspect that lacking empathy is something stepped into. Otherwise, quite frankly, the anti empathy genes would be weeded out, as people who lack empathy are hard to be around, while those who show it are sought out.
None of which takes away from the fact that some people just lack empathy.
In the excellent podcast Catholic Stuff You Should Know Fr. Michael O'Loughlin once observed that he'd remarked to a friend that he had his spouse to go to for sympathy. The friend laughed. He couldn't go to his spouse for sympathy. I suspect that's a lot more common than people suspect, and has a lot to do with the first item noted here. It's not so much that familiarity breeds contempt as the people have assumed certain roles at some time, and there's a lack of sympathy for not fully measuring up to them.
An aspect of this, I'd note, is that some people are so lacking in empathy towards somebody seeking help from them that the asker just stops. Indeed, the person lacking empathy not only lacks it, but is resentful about being asked for help. That actually punishes the person who needs the help.
That can really have a lasting negative impact. At best, the asker just learns that asking is pointless. But if the people are in a close relationship, that insertion of distance is corrosive. A person asking somebody they love for help, and not receiving any, and even getting dissed for it, will struggle with disappointment at a bare minimum, and that disappointment can turn to hate.
You see that all the time with married couples who once obviously loved each other, but their love turned to hate. There's a lot of things that can cause that, but one is a person seeking help and receiving instead rejection. The same comes up in parent child relationships. Children seek out legitimate help, but don't get it, learning that they apparently really weren't that important in the first place.
5. The wrong help.
Some seeking help seem to get it, but the help they get isn't real. Instead they receive validation, things akin to offering an alcoholic a drink.
This plays out widely in our modern society where some behaviors clearly recognized at one time as mental illnesses are now celebrated instead. People are asking for help in their actions, but instead are simply being told they're okay.
It's easy to undestand this, as its easy. Tough to give help is hard to receive help, and this tends to involve that.
6. The blender
Finally, I'd note, that a lot of these things get all blended together.
A person seeks help from the person who is supposed to be the closest person to them in the world, only to find that person has acclimated themselves to the role the help seeker occupies and doesn't want it changed. At the same time, the person sought out is providing help to family and friends at an epic charitable level. Back at home, however, it's "all about me".
Maybe that offers a clue to all of this.
7. The Wreck
8 Final thoughts.
I'll go back to what I noted at the start. You read all the time, or hear it directly, that after something horrible happens "he showed no signs". Often its from a close family member, probably a spouse. A big law partner takes his own life, a busy business person drinks too much, too often, and dies young, a beloved mother falls apart, a desperate "transgendered" person ends their own life.
There were no signs.
Oh, sure there were. People simply chose to ignore them.
The Tehran Conference commenced in Iran between Franklin Roosevelt, Winston Churchill and Joseph Stalin.
Tehran was chosen as Stalin was reluctant, for legitimate reasons, to leave the USSR. Roosevelt had tried to have him travel to Cairo, but he had refused.
The USSR's Council of People's Commissars issued Resolution 1325 creating a Department of Russian Orthodox Christian Affairs. It provided for a process to open new churches, and while that was progress, the process was a difficult one.
The Kolari Raid on Bougainville, which would end quickly in failure, was commenced by the Marines.
Vice President Gerald Ford was sworn into that office. Only three votes were cast against his appointment.
The Emergency Petroleum Allocation Act was signed into law in order to allocate petroleum distribution and control prices. This came about, of course, due to the Arab Oil Embargo.
The effort at price control and allocation would prove to be a failure, as generally such measures prove to be.
The House of Representatives passed a bill to put the US on Daylight Savings Time year around. A similar bill recently passed the Senate, and then went nowhere.
This act passed and went into effect in 1974, and very rapidly it went from being popular to unpopular. I can remember the reason why. As a kid, we now went to school in darkness.
It escapes me why these bills always choose Daylight Savings Time over natural time.
It was a Saturday, and all the Saturday magazines were out. As we're dealing with 1943, they're still protected by copyright. They all featured Thanksgiving themes, but the most recalled is that of the Saturday Evening Post, which featured a Rockwell with a picture of an Italian girl praying near rubble, wearing the wool mackinaw of an American Army 1st Sergeant.
The US, China, and UK agreed to the release of the Cairo Declaration. It stated:
The several military missions have agreed upon future military operations against Japan. The Three Great Allies expressed their resolve to bring unrelenting pressure against their brutal enemies by sea, land, and air. This pressure is already rising.
The Three Great Allies are fighting this war to restrain and punish the aggression of Japan. They covet no gain for themselves and have no thought of territorial expansion. It is their purpose that Japan shall be stripped of all the islands in the Pacific which she has seized or occupied since the beginning of the first World War in 1914, and that all the territories Japan has stolen from the Chinese, such as Manchuria, Formosa, and The Pescadores, shall be restored to the Republic of China. Japan will also be expelled from all other territories which she has taken by violence and greed. The aforesaid three great powers, mindful of the enslavement of the people of Korea, are determined that in due course Korea shall become free and independent.
With these objects in view the three Allies, in harmony with those of the United Nations at war with Japan, will continue to persevere in the serious and prolonged operations necessary to procure the unconditional surrender of Japan.
Included in the "rising pressure" that declaration referenced were actions on New Guinea, where on this day the Australians, who didn't get a seat at the table in the Cairo Conference, began an armored supported advance at Wareo.
The Australian Army was using the Matilda tank, which had been a disappointment elsewhere, to great effect in New Guinea. Its use took the Japanese by surprise.
The campaign in New Guinea, one of the major ones of the war against Japan, which was heavily borne by the Australian Army, went on until the Japanese surrender. It was like the Marine action at Bougainville, albeit on a much larger scale, that way.
The Army-Navy Game was played at West Point. Navy beat Army 13 to 0.
Angelo Bertelli was awarded the Heisman Trophy for his performance as Notre Dame's quarterback. He was in Marine Corps bootcamp at the time.
Photo of eleven collegic football players, including Bertelli, who had joined the Marine Corps.
Badly wounded as a Marine Corps officer on Iwo Jima, his football career in the NFL was short after the war, ending in 1948. His Marine Corps career lasted longer, as he remained in the reserves until 1957. He died of brain cancer at age 78 in 1999.
As playing for Notre Dame would indicate at the time, Bertelli was Catholic and the child of Italian immigrants.
No, not that kind of mask you might see in a headline today, but rather the costume of the Ku Klux Klan.
The Wiggins shoe store mentioned in this article was still open in the 1990s, and maybe the 2000s. It no longer is. By that time, it was one of two shoe repair shops still operating downtown.
Now there are none.
The modern oil filter was patented by George H. Greenhalgh. Prior to this, automobiles simply used a screen, which would partially account for the short engine life early automobiles had.
The Purolator oil filter is essentially what most vehicles use today, and is still in production.
The Purolator original design featured the cardboard filter which was inserted into a fixed housing. I've worked on vehicles that retained this filter design exactly, and it is essentially the same as a modern filter except now the housing comes with the filter, and you replace the entire thing. I've also worked on cars that used this sort of filter for their fuel filter.
While a revolutionary design, it did not become immediately widespread. It wasn't until the 1950s, apparently, when they became universal, although my 1946 CJ2A, which I sold long ago, had one. A 1954 Chevrolet Sedan I once had also had one.
Siegmund "Zishe" Breitbart pulled a wagon with fifty passengers through Washington D.C. with his teeth.
I'll confess the point of such stunts as this really escapes me.
And, also a plenary indulgence is granted to the faithful who on the solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe, publicly recite the Act of Dedication of the Human Race to Christ the King (Iesu dulcissime, Redemptor). A partial indulgence is granted for its use in other circumstances.
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