Sunday, December 24, 2023

Friday, December 24, 1943. The Dnieper–Carpathian Offensive and a Christmas Eve Address.

The Red Army commenced the Dnieper–Carpathian Offensive.

Operations on the Eastern Front during the relevant time frame, including the offensive in the south.

The operation was very large scale, as everything in the East was by this time, involving around 2,400,000 Soviet personnel against around 900,000 Germans, 300,000 Hungarians and 150,000 Romanians.

In a Christmas Eve radio address, President Roosevelt delivered the news that Gen. Dwight Eisenhower would be in command of the Allied invasion of continental Europe, discounting of course that the Allies had already landed on continental Europe in Italy.  The overall "chat" stated:

My Friends:

I have recently (just) returned from extensive journeying in the region of the Mediterranean and as far as the borders of Russia. I have conferred with the leaders of Britain and Russia and China on military matters of the present --especially on plans for stepping-up our successful attack on our enemies as quickly as possible and from many different points of the compass.

On this Christmas Eve there are over ten million men in the armed forces of the United States alone. One year ago 1,700,000 were serving overseas. Today, this figure has been more than doubled to 3,800,000 on duty overseas. By next July first that number overseas will rise to over 5,000,000 men and women.

That this is truly a World War was demonstrated to me when arrangements were being made with our overseas broadcasting agencies for the time to speak today to our soldiers, and sailors, and marines and merchant seamen in every part of the world. In fixing the time for this (the) broadcast, we took into consideration that at this moment here in the United States, and in the Caribbean and on the Northeast Coast of South America, it is afternoon. In Alaska and in Hawaii and the mid-Pacific, it is still morning. In Iceland, in Great Britain, in North Africa, in Italy and the Middle East, it is now evening.

In the Southwest Pacific, in Australia, in China and Burma and India, it is already Christmas Day. So we can correctly say that at this moment, in those far eastern parts where Americans are fighting, today is tomorrow.

But everywhere throughout the world -- through(out) this war that (which) covers the world -- there is a special spirit that (which) has warmed our hearts since our earliest childhood -- a spirit that (which) brings us close to our homes, our families, our friends and neighbors -- the Christmas spirit of "peace on earth, goodwill toward men." It is an unquenchable spirit.

During the past years of international gangsterism and brutal aggression in Europe and in Asia, our Christmas celebrations have been darkened with apprehension for the future. We have said, "Merry Christmas -- a Happy New Year," but we have known in our hearts that the clouds which have hung over our world have prevented us from saying it with full sincerity and conviction.

And (But) even this year, we still have much to face in the way of further suffering, and sacrifice, and personal tragedy. Our men, who have been through the fierce battles in the Solomons, and the Gilberts, and Tunisia and Italy know, from their own experience and knowledge of modern war, that many bigger and costlier battles are still to be fought.

But -- on Christmas Eve this year -- I can say to you that at last we may look forward into the future with real , substantial confidence that, however great the cost, "peace on earth, good will toward men" can be and will be realized and ensured. This year I can say that. Last year I could not do more than express a hope. Today I express -- a certainty though the cost may be high and the time may be long.

Within the past year -- within the past few weeks -- history has been made, and it is far better history for the whole human race than any that we have known, or even dared to hope for, in these tragic times through which we pass.

A great beginning was made in the Moscow conference last (in) October by Mr. Molotov, Mr. Eden and our own Mr. Hull. There and then the way was paved for the later meetings.

At Cairo and Teheran we devoted ourselves not only to military matters, we devoted ourselves also to consideration of the future -- to plans for the kind of world which alone can justify all the sacrifices of this war.

Of course, as you all know, Mr. Churchill and I have happily met many times before, and we know and understand each other very well. Indeed, Mr. Churchill has become known and beloved by many millions of Americans, and the heartfelt prayers of all of us have been with this great citizen of the world in his recent serious illness.

The Cairo and Teheran conferences, however, gave me my first opportunity to meet the Generalissimo, Chiang Kai-shek, and Marshal Stalin -- and to sit down at the table with these unconquerable men and talk with them face to face. We had planned to talk to each other across the table at Cairo and Teheran; but we soon found that we were all on the same side of the table. We came to the conferences with faith in each other. But we needed the personal contact. And now we have supplemented faith with definite knowledge.

It was well worth traveling thousands of miles over land and sea to bring about this personal meeting, and to gain the heartening assurance that we are absolutely agreed with one another on all the major objectives -- and on the military means of obtaining them.

At Cairo, Prime Minister Churchill and I spent four days with the Generalissimo, Chiang Kai-shek. It was the first time that we had (had) an opportunity to go over the complex situation in the Far East with him personally. We were able not only to settle upon definite military strategy, but also to discuss certain long-range principles which we believe can assure peace in the Far East for many generations to come.

Those principles are as simple as they are fundamental. They involve the restoration of stolen property to its rightful owners, and the recognition of the rights of millions of people in the Far East to build up their own forms of self-government without molestation. Essential to all peace and security in the Pacific and in the rest of the world is the permanent elimination of the Empire of Japan as a potential force of aggression. Never again must our soldiers and sailors and marines -- and other soldiers, sailors and marines -- be compelled to fight from island to island as they are fighting so gallantly and so successfully today.

Increasingly powerful forces are now hammering at the Japanese at many points over an enormous arc which curves down through the Pacific from the Aleutians to the Jungles of Burma. Our own Army and Navy, our Air Forces, the Australians and New Zealanders, the Dutch, and the British land, air and sea forces are all forming a band of steel which is slowly but surely closing in on Japan.

And (On) the mainland of Asia, under the Generalissimo's leadership, the Chinese ground and air forces augmented by American air forces are playing a vital part in starting the drive which will push the invaders into the sea.

Following out the military decisions at Cairo, General Marshall has just flown around the world and has had conferences with General MacArthur and Admiral Nimitz -- conferences which will spell plenty of bad news for the Japs in the not too far distant future.

I met in the Generalissimo a man of great vision, (and) great courage, and a remarkably keen understanding of the problems of today and tomorrow. We discussed all the manifold military plans for striking at Japan with decisive force from many directions, and I believe I can say that he returned to Chungking with the positive assurance of total victory over our common enemy. Today we and the Republic of China are closer together than ever before in deep friendship and in unity of purpose.

After the Cairo conference, Mr. Churchill and I went by airplane to Teheran. There we met with Marshal Stalin. We talked with complete frankness on every conceivable subject connected with the winning of the war and the establishment of a durable peace after the war.

Within three days of intense and consistently amicable discussions, we agreed on every point concerned with the launching of a gigantic attack upon Germany.

The Russian army will continue its stern offensives on Germany's Eastern front, the allied armies in Italy and Africa will bring relentless pressure on Germany from the south, and now the encirclement will be complete as great American and British forces attack from other points of the compass.

The Commander selected to lead the combined attack from these other points is General Dwight D. Eisenhower. His performances in Africa, in Sicily and in Italy have been brilliant. He knows by practical and successful experience the way to coordinate air, sea and land power. All of these will be under his control. Lieutenant General Carl (D.) Spaatz will command the entire American strategic bombing force operating against Germany.

General Eisenhower gives up his command in the Mediterranean to a British officer whose name is being announced by Mr. Churchill. We now pledge that new Commander that our powerful ground, sea and air forces in the vital Mediterranean area will stand by his side until every objective in that bitter theatre is attained.

Both of these new Commanders will have American and British subordinate Commanders whose names will be announced to the world in a few days.

During the last two days in (at) Teheran, Marshal Stalin, Mr. Churchill and I looked ahead -- ahead to the days and months and years that (which) will follow Germany's defeat. We were united in determination that Germany must be stripped of her military might and be given no opportunity within the foreseeable future to regain that might.

The United Nations have no intention to enslave the German people. We wish them to have a normal chance to develop, in peace, as useful and respectable members of the European family. But we most certainly emphasize that word "respectable" -- for we intend to rid them once and for all of Nazism and Prussian militarism and the fantastic and disastrous notion that they constitute the "Master Race."

We did discuss international relationships from the point of view of big, broad objectives, rather than details. But on the basis of what we did discuss, I can say even today that I do not think any insoluble differences will arise among Russia, Great Britain and the United States.

In these conferences we were concerned with basic principles -- principles which involve the security and the welfare and the standard of living or human beings in countries large and small.

To use an American and somewhat ungrammatical colloquialism, I may say that I "got along fine" with Marshal Stalin. He is a man who combines a tremendous, relentless determination with a stalwart good humor. I believe he is truly representative of the heart and soul of Russia; and I believe that we are going to get along very well with him and the Russian people -- very well indeed.

Britain, Russia, China and the United States and their Allies represent more than three-quarters of the total population of the earth. As long as these four nations with great military power stick together in determination to keep the peace there will be no possibility of an aggressor nation arising to start another world war.

But those four powers must be united with and cooperate with (all) the freedom-loving peoples of Europe, and Asia, and Africa and the Americas. The rights of every nation, large or small, must be respected and guarded as jealously as are the rights of every individual within our own republic.

The doctrine that the strong shall dominate the weak is the doctrine of our enemies -- and we reject it.

But, at the same time, we are agreed that if force is necessary to keep international peace, international force will be applied -- for as long as it may be necessary.

It has been our steady policy -- and it is certainly a common sense policy -- that the right of each nation to freedom must be measured by the willingness of that nation to fight for freedom. And today we salute our unseen Allies in occupied countries -- the underground resistance groups and the armies of liberation. They will provide potent forces against our enemies, when the day of the counter-invasion comes.

Through the development of science the world has become so much smaller that we have had to discard the geographical yardsticks of the past. For instance, through our early history the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans were believed to be walls of safety for the United States. Time and distance made it physically possible, for example, for us and for the other American Republics to obtain and maintain (our) independence against infinitely stronger powers. Until recently very few people, even military experts, thought that the day would ever come when we might have to defend our Pacific Coast against Japanese threats of invasion.

At the outbreak of the first World War relatively few people thought that our ships and shipping would be menaced by German submarines on the high seas or that the German militarists would ever attempt to dominate any nation outside of central Europe.

After the Armistice in 1918, we thought and hoped that the militaristic philosophy of Germany had been crushed; and being full of the milk of human kindness we spent the next twenty (fifteen) years disarming, while the Germans whined so pathetically that the other nations permitted them -- and even helped them -- to rearm.

For too many years we lived on pious hopes that aggressor and warlike nations would learn and understand and carry out the doctrine of purely voluntary peace.

The well-intentioned but ill-fated experiments of former years did not work. It is my hope that we will not try them again. No -- that is putting it too weakly -- it is my intention to do all that I humanly can as President and Commander-in-Chief to see to it that these tragic mistakes shall not be made again.

There have always been cheerful idiots in this country who believed that there would be no more war for us, if everybody in America would only return into their homes and lock their front doors behind them. Assuming that their motives were of the highest, events have shown how unwilling they were to face the facts.

The overwhelming majority of all the people in the world want peace. Most of them are fighting for the attainment of peace -- not just a truce, not just an armistice -- but peace that is as strongly enforced and as durable as mortal man can make it. If we are willing to fight for peace now, is it not good logic that we should use force if necessary, in the future, to keep the peace?

I believe, and I think I can say, that the other three great nations who are fighting so magnificently to gain peace are in complete agreement that we must be prepared to keep the peace by force. If the people of Germany and Japan are made to realize thoroughly that the world is not going to let them break out again, it is possible, and, I hope, probable, that they will abandon the philosophy of aggression -- the belief that they can gain the whole world even at the risk of losing their own souls.

I shall have more to say about the Cairo and Teheran conferences when I make my report to the Congress in about two weeks' time. And, on that occasion, I shall also have a great deal to say about certain conditions here at home.

But today I wish to say that in all my travels, at home and abroad, it is the sight of our soldiers and sailors and their magnificent achievements which have given me the greatest inspiration and the greatest encouragement for the future.

To the members of our armed forces, to their wives, mothers and fathers, I want to affirm the great faith and confidence that we have in General Marshall and in Admiral King who direct all of our armed might throughout the world. Upon them falls the (great) responsibility of planning the strategy of determining (when and) where and when we shall fight. Both of these men have already gained high places in American history, places which will record in that history many evidences of their military genius that cannot be published today.

Some of our men overseas are now spending their third Christmas far from home. To them and to all others overseas or soon to go overseas, I can give assurance that it is the purpose of their Government to win this war and to bring them home at the earliest possible time (date).

(And) We here in the United States had better be sure that when our soldiers and sailors do come home they will find an America in which they are given full opportunities for education, and rehabilitation, social security, and employment and business enterprise under the free American system -- and that they will find a Government which, by their votes as American citizens, they have had a full share in electing.

The American people have had every reason to know that this is a tough and destructive war. On my trip abroad, I talked with many military men who had faced our enemies in the field. These hard-headed realists testify to the strength and skill and resourcefulness of the enemy generals and men whom we must beat before final victory is won. The war is now reaching the stage where we shall all have to look forward to large casualty lists -- dead, wounded and missing.

War entails just that. There is no easy road to victory. And the end is not yet in sight.

I have been back only for a week. It is fair that I should tell you my impression. I think I see a tendency in some of our people here to assume a quick ending of the war -- that we have already gained the victory. And, perhaps as a result of this false reasoning, I think I discern an effort to resume or even encourage an outbreak of partisan thinking and talking. I hope I am wrong. For, surely, our first and most foremost tasks are all concerned with winning the war and winning a just peace that will last for generations.

The massive offensives which are in the making both in Europe and the Far East -- will require every ounce of energy and fortitude that we and our Allies can summon on the fighting fronts and in all the workshops at home. As I have said before, you cannot order up a great attack on a Monday and demand that it be delivered on Saturday.

Less than a month ago I flew in a big Army transport plane over the little town of Bethlehem, in Palestine.

Tonight, on Christmas Eve, all men and women everywhere who love Christmas are thinking of that ancient town and of the star of faith that shone there more than nineteen centuries ago.

American boys are fighting today in snow-covered mountains, in malarial jungles, (and) on blazing deserts, they are fighting on the far stretches of the sea and above the clouds, and fighting for the thing for which they struggle.(,) I think it is best symbolized by the message that came out of Bethlehem.

On behalf of the American people -- your own people - I send this Christmas message to you, to you who are in our armed forces:

In our hearts are prayers for you and for all your comrades in arms who fight to rid the world of evil.

We ask God's blessing upon you -- upon your fathers, (and) mothers, and wives and children -- all your loved ones at home.

We ask that the comfort of God's grace shall be granted to those who are sick and wounded, and to those who are prisoners of war in the hands of the enemy, waiting for the day when they will again be free.

And we ask that God receive and cherish those who have given their lives, and that He keep them in honor and in the grateful memory of their countrymen forever.

God bless all of you who fight our battles on this Christmas Eve.

God bless us all. (God) Keep us strong in our faith that we fight for a better day for human kind -- here and everywhere.

The Battle of Hellzapoppin Ridge and Hill 600A, which had commenced on Bougainville on December 12, ended in a U.S. victory.

In the Solomon's, a U.S. Task force bombarded the Buka Island and the Japanese base at Buin on Bougainville.

The HMS Hurricane was damaged beyond repair by a torpedo fired by the U-415.  The U-645 was sunk by the USS Schenck.

Monday, December 24, 1923. The National Christmas Tree.


The first National Christmas Tree event was held in Washington, D.C., featuring a 100-member choir from the city's First Congregational Church at the South Portico of the White House and President Calvin Coolidge pushing a button to illuminate 2,500 electric bulbs adorning the tree.


More on this event:

1923 National Christmas Tree

On the same day, Mrs. Coolidge visited a Salvation Army location.



Calvin Coolidge Jr. went riding with a Dr. Boone:


Carolers visited the White House.


Best Post of the Week of December 16, 2023.

The best posts of the week of December 16, 2023

Cardinal Raymond Burke, Our Lady of Guadalupe Feast Day, 2023.










Going Feral: Subsistence hunter/fisherman of the week. Townsend Whelen

Going Feral: Subsistence hunter/fisherman of the week. Townsend...:

Subsistence hunter/fisherman of the week. Townsend Whelen

By occupation, Townsend Whelen was an Army officer who came into the Army through the National Guard, having first served in the nation's oldest military branch from 1895, and then having served in the Army from 1902 to 1936, leaving the service at the rank of Colonel.


At first an infantry officer, and then later an ordnance officer, Whelen had grown up outdoors in New York's Adirondack's and then moved to Pennsylvania, where he first served in the National Guard.  Joining the Army in 1902 as a commissioned officer, Whelen enjoyed military service at a time at which being a career officer tended to leave abundant free time for other pursuits, which in Whelen's case amounted to rigorous outdoor pursuits, including, and indeed principally, consisting of backwoods and wilderness hunting.  Indeed, his Army service included this as it took him to remote locations which remained very wild at the time.

A dedicated hunter, Whelen is in part remembered today for his association with the .30-06 military round in a hunting application, principally chambered in sporting variants of the M1903 Springfield rifle.  His name today is attached to the .35 Whelen cartridge, which was a wildcat cartridge based on the .30-06 during the time at which he was the superintendent of Frankfurt Arsenal.  It followed the development of the .400 Whelen which was also based on the .30-06, and about it Whelen recounted:

About the time we completed development of this cartridge (the .400 Whelen), I went on a long hunting trip in the Northwest, and when I returned, Mr. Howe showed me another cartridge he had developed. The .30-06 case was necked to .35 caliber to use existing .35-caliber bullets. Mr. Howe asked my permission to call this cartridge the .35 Whelen, but he alone deserves credit for its development.[ 
35 Whelen 
The 35 Whelen was designed by James Howe, of Griffin and Howe, partially in response to letters from Leslie Simpson and Stewart Edward White, suggesting that a good all-round rifle for African use would be one of 333 to 350 caliber, with a bullet of 250- to 300 grains (ideally 275 at 2500 fps. Both men (along with Roy Chapman Andrews and the Rev. Dr. Harry Caldwell, who were active in Asia,) perhaps the finest big game shots our country has produced, were aware of the outstanding performance of the 318 Westley-Richards with a 250-grain bullet, the 333 Jeffrey with a 300-grain bullet and the 350 Rigby with a 310-grain bullet on thin-skinned dangerous and non-dangerous game in Africa. It is of passing interest that the bullet for the old British 333 Jeffery is much like the 300-grain copper tube bullet which Winchester introduced for the 338 Magnum. The 35 Whelen was the first of 3 (three) efforts by Griffin and Howe to produce a cartridge that would meet this ideal. All were in 35 caliber. The 35 Whelen is simply the 30-06 necked up to 35 caliber and it’s about as easy to form from '06 brass as is the 270. Later, an "improved" version of the 35 Whelen, with venturi shoulders like Weatherby cartridges, was made up, but it never caught on. The 35 Whelen, now available in several factory rounds, and factory chambered in several different rifles (although some gunsmiths still sell properly formed brass for it) has racked up a tremendous record all over the world, rivaling the 375 Holland and Holland in its effectiveness. It was originally designed, partially, as a substitute for the 375 H & H, since rifles for it could be made up using inexpensive 30-06 actions rather than costly magnum-length Mauser Actions. It has killed, with aplomb and efficiency, all of the trophy animals in the world, with the possible exception of the “Big Three” (elephant, rhinoceros, and cape buffalo.) It can be loaded down to 35 Remington speeds for light recoil and pot-shooting, or loaded up to provide terrific stopping power--more than should ever be needed by a competent rifleman facing American big game. Although not legal in certain parts of Africa for dangerous game (some countries require that rifles of at least 375 or 400 caliber be used,) solid nose bullets are available so that, in a pinch, it would probably serve. It is easy to rebarrel an action to this cartridge-- it does not even require opening up the bolt face or free-boring; the rimless brass for it, as with the 358, is cheaper and easier to manufacture than the belted brass necessary for the 350 Remington, 35 Griffin and Howe (or Holland and Holland, as it is sometimes known) and 358 Norma Magnum. There is still a great future awaiting the 35 Whelen and, now that the 22-250 has been legitimized, perhaps we can hope that the 35 Whelen will meet the same good fortune.

Whelen, in addition to being a prolific hunter, was very active in shooting sports, and a prolific author as well. 

Last prior edition:

Subsistence hunter/fisherman of the week, and Agrarian of the Week, Tom Bell.

The Reformation as unmixed evil.

I am firmly convinced that the Reformation of the sixteenth century was as near as any mortal thing can come to unmixed evil. Even the parts of it that might appear plausible and enlightened from a purely secular standpoint have turned out rotten and reactionary, also from a purely secular standpoint. 

By substituting the Bible for the sacrament, it created a pedantic caste of those who could read, superstitiously identified with those who could think. By destroying the monks, it took social work from the poor philanthropists who chose to deny themselves, and gave it to the rich philanthropists who chose to assert themselves. By preaching individualism while preserving inequality, it produced modern capitalism. It destroyed the only league of nations that ever had a chance. It produced the worst wars of nations that ever existed. It produced the most efficient form of Protestantism, which is Prussia. And it is producing the worst part of paganism, which is slavery.

G. K. Chesterton

Saturday, December 23, 2023

Friday, December 23, 1973. The Geneva Conference opens.

Today In Wyoming's History: December 23: 1973  1973  Larry Larom, founding president of the Dude Ranchers Association, died in Cody.

The Geneva Conference opened in order to try to negotiate a solution to the Israeli Arab conflict.  Ultimately disengagement agreements would be worked out, the following year, between Israel, Egypt and Syrian. An agreement on the Sinai Peninsula was worked out in 1975.

Thursday, December 23, 1943. Moving toward railroad seizure.

The Great Hall of Union Station, Toronto, Canada, December 23, 1943.

Three out of five railroad unions rejected Franklin Roosevelt's offer of arbitration in their wage dispute.

Accordingly, President Roosevelt ordered Attorney General Francis Biddle to being the process of seizing the railroads effective December 30.

The Red Army prevailed in the Battle of the Dnieper.

The Canadian 1st Division seized most of Ortona.  Other 8th Army elements captured Arielli.

The HMS Worcester hit a mine in the North Sea and was rendered a loss.

Friday, December 22, 2023

Wednesday, December 22, 1943. Beatrix Potter, author and farmer.

Beatrix Potter, author of the Peter Rabbit books, died at age 77.


Potter was from a family that held extensive agricultural lands and was, in addition to being an author, a sheep farmer.  She married in 1914 over the disapproval of her family, as her husband, a country solicitor, was regarded as being beneath her status.  Never having had any children, she left most of her large landholdings to the National Trust.  Her husband, who died in 1945, left the balance of them to the National Trust.

Good people.

Some not so good people, including one Adolf Hitler issued a Führerbefehl creating the Nationalsozialistische Führungsoffiziere who were charged with getting German soldiers to believe in final victory, even if they were clueless on how that would come about.

Hmmm. . . .

On the same day the German government ordered that males down to 16 years of age register for conscription.

Hmmm. . . .

The Red Army completed its victory in the Second Battle of Kiev.

The German light cruiser Niobe was sunk off of Siba Yugoslavia by British torpedo boats.

Saturday, December 22, 1923. Reversal at Puebla.

It was a Saturday, so the Saturday news magazines were out, featuring Christmas themes, as to be expected.


The news did not have the Holiday Spirit.


The news reported the Rebel failure to take Puebla.

Georg Luger, inventor of the iconic handgun, died on this day.  He was an Austrian by birth, but had spent much of his early life in Italy.   Multi talented, he was trained as an accountant.

The Agrarian's Lament: Agrarian of the Week, Wendell Berry

The Agrarian's Lament: Agrarian of the Week, Wendell Berry

Agrarian of the Week, Wendell Berry

Surely known to everyone who might stop by this blog, polymath intellectual Wendell Erdman Berry of Kentucky is a farmer, a novelist, poet, essayist, environmental activist, and profound cultural critic.  His writings have had an enormous impact on a variety of areas, not the least of which being American agrarianism.

Last edition:

Subsistence hunter/fisherman of the week, and Agrarian of the Week, Tom Bell.

Thursday, December 21, 2023

Crocodile Tears.

Make no mistake about it, the same political party’s politicians that state they absolutely stand behind the Second Amendment cannot also rationally say they don’t support the 14th.

But they are.

The mantra is that if the Colorado Supreme Court finds that insurrectionist Donald Trump is disqualified from being on the ballot in 2024, because he’s an insurrectionist, that’s depriving the voters of a choice.

Which is, of course, exactly what the Second Amendment does in the case of gun control.  I’m not for it, but many voters are, only to have their votes deprived of them by the Courts.

And yes, such things do take votes away from voters, and choices away from them too. The Constitution sets age limits o who can run.  It sets nationality requirements.  And it prohibits insurrectionist from running.  By the same token, it prohibits a lot of firearms restrictions, and keeps the government from requiring you to be a member of a specific religion.

We are not an Athenian Democracy in which everything is decided by the vote. We are a Constitutional democracy.

Besides, a lot of Trumpite politicians are now fond of the dimwitted promise that We are not a democracy, but a Republic, which is stupid, but which weights the Constitution heavily.  That’s the entire basis, to the extent there is one, that the GOP worships the electoral college system, which is inherently anti democratic.

They swore an oath to defend it.  Apparently, few of them meant it.

Or. . . could it be that just like the death of an abusive father, or a boss who was an asshole, those praising Trump now will, in the case of public figures, be mighty glad to see him gone. . . ?  That way, they can maintain they always loved him, while, at the same time, go back to the back rooms, pour a tall shot of bourbon, and toast his demise, while rejoicing that they fooled the voters all along.

Tuesday, December 21, 1943. Arrests of the former Vichy officials.

Pierre-Étienne Flandin, a former Prime Minister of France, and briefly Premier of Vichy France, was arrested in Algiers along with former Vichy Interior Minister Marcel Peyrouton, former Vichy Information Secretary Pierre Tixler-Vignacourt, member of parliament André Albert, and Pierre François Boisson, the Vichy Governor-General of French West Africa.

Flandin had been a French pilot during World War One.

Albert had been serving with the Free French forces since June 1943, after he had fled from Vichy.

They would all survive their arrests and falls from grace.

The U-284 was scuttled by the Germans after it received storm damage southeast of Greenland.

Friday, December 21, 1923. Tabasco Rebels.


The Mexican Revolution was showing, once again, just how brutal it could be.  Peubla was taken back by the Federal Government.

The French airship Dixmude exploded in a thunderstorm over the Mediterranean.  

The British and Nepalese government signed the Nepal-Britain Treaty.  The treaty, which recognized Nepal's status as an independent nation, stated:
1) Nepal and Britain will forever maintain peace and mutual friendship and respect each other's internal and external independence.

2) All previous treaties, agreements and engagements, since and including the Sugauli Treaty of 1815, which have been concluded between the two Government are hereby cancelled, except so far as they may be altered by the present Treaty.

3) As the preservation of peace and friendly relations with the neighbouring States whose territories adjoin their common frontiers is to the mutual interests of both the High Contracting Parties, they hereby agree to inform each other of any rupture such friendly relations, and each to exert its good offices as far as may be possible to remove such friction and misunderstanding.

4) Each of the High Contracting Parties will use all such measure as it may deem practicable to prevent its territories being used for purpose inimical to the security of the other.

5) In view of the longstanding friendship that has subsisted between the British Government and the Government of Nepal and for the sake of cordial neighbourly relations between them, the British Government agrees that the Nepal Government shall be free to import from or through British India into Nepal whatever arms, ammunition, machinery, warlike material or stores may be required or desired for the strength and welfare of Nepal, and that this arrangement shall hold good for all times as long as the British Government is satisfied that the intentions of the Nepal Government are friendly and that there is no immediate danger to India from such importations. The Nepal such arms, ammunition, etc., across the frontier of Nepal either by the Nepal Government or by private individuals. If, however, any convention for the regulation of the Arms Traffic, to which the British Government may be a party, shall come into force, the right of importation of arms and ammunition by the Nepal Government shall be subject to the proviso that the Nepal Government shall first become a party to that Convention, and that such importation shall only be made in accordance with the provisions of that Convention.

6) No Customs duty shall be levied at British Indian ports on goods imported on behalf of the Nepal Government of immediate transport to that country provided that a certificate from such authority as may from time to time be determined by the two governments shall be presented at the time of importation to the Chief Customs Officer at the port of import setting forth that the goods are the property of the Nepal Government, are required for the public services of the Nepal Government are not for the purpose of any State monopoly or State trade, and are being to Nepal under orders of the Nepal Government, The British Government also agrees to the grant in respect of all trade goods, imported at British Indian ports for immediate transmission to Kathmandu without breaking bulk en route, of a rebate of the full duty paid, provided that in accordance with arrangements already agreed to, between the two Governments, such goods may break bulk for repacking at the port of entry under Customs supervision in accordance with such rules as may from time to time be laid down in this behalf. The rebate may be claimed on the authority of a certificate signed by the said authority that the goods have arrive at Kathmandu with Customs seals unbroken and otherwise untampered with.

7) This Treaty signed in the part of the British Government by Lieutenant-Colonel W.F.T. O'Connor, C.I.E., C.V.O., British Envoy at the Court of Nepal and on the part of Nepal Government by General His Highness Maharaja Sir Chandra Shumsher Junga Bahadur Rana, G.C.B, G.C.S.I., G.D.M.G., G.C.V.O., D.C.I., Thong-lin Pimma Kokang- Wang-Syan, Prime Minister and Marshal of Nepal, shall be ratified and the ratification shall be exchanged at the Kathmandu as soon as practicable.
 


Wednesday, December 20, 2023

Monday, December 20 1943. A chivalric act.

Luftwaffe Oberleutnant Franz Stigler, a combat veteran with 22 kills o his record, , escorted the heavily damaged Ameircan B-17 Ye Old Pub out of German airspace rather than shoot it down.

Franz Stigler.

Stigler had shot down two B-17s prior to this incident, but in lining up to shoot down the heavily damaged plane he noticed that its tail gunner took no effort to shoot at him and in flying closer he could see through holes in the fuselage that the aircrew were attempting to save the lives of wounded crewmates.  His commanding officer, Gustav Rödel, had earlier told his squadron that "If I hear of one of you shooting a man in a parachute, I'll shoot you myself!" and Stigler determined that this would have amounted to the same thing.  He motioned to the pilot, Charles Brown, to fly towards Sweden, but Brown didn't comprehend and instead kept on to the United Kingdom, and Stigler in turn escorted it out of German airspace.

Pilot Charles "Charlie" Brown.

Stigler kept the act to himself, as he would have been court martialed for it.  Brown did report the incident to his superiors, who kept it secret.  Brown's superiors had threatened his men if they landed in a neutral country.

Brown and Stigler met after the war many years later and became friends.  They both died in 2008.  Stigler, who didn't tell anyone of the incident until Brown revealed it many years later, immigrated to Canada and entered the lumber industry in Vancouver.  Brown retired from the Air Force in 1965.

The SS reported on requirements for invading Switzerland, which demonstrates how the tyrannical become delusional as their fortunes decline.

Canadian armor in Ortuna.

The Battle of Ortona commenced in Italy with the 1st Canadian Division attacking positions held by the German 1st Parachute Division.  The battle would be hard fought, and compared to Stalingrad due to the urban conditions.  Less certain is the importance of the town, which has been debated and even at the time commented upon by the Germans.

Bolivian President Enrique Peñaranda was overthrown in a military coup led by Major Gualberto Villarroel just over two weeks after the country had entered World War Two, although the coup had nothing to do with that.  Villarroel himself fall by the sword in a 1946 revolution.

The U-850 was sunk by aircraft from the U.S. escort carrier Boque.

Thursday, December 20, 1923. Setback in Mexico.

 Mexican revolutionaries were suffering a set back.


And Congress went on vacation.

The German arms manufacturing company, which also manufactured other things, started finding workers who refused to work a ten-hour day.


The Dixmude, a war prize German Zeppelin in French service, exploded in midair, with all hands lost.

A Prayer to St. Joseph Before Work

A Prayer to St. Joseph Before Work: A Prayer to St. Joseph Before Work by Pope St. Pius X

Tuesday, December 19, 2023

Sunday, Saturday, December 19, 1943. The Hopeville Martyrs.

Corsair damaged over Bougainville, December 19, 1943.

On Panay Island, in the Philippines, ten American Baptist missionaries, along with a handful of other Americans, were captured by the Japanese Army after having been in hiding for two years.

They offered to be executed in exchange for the release of Filipino's captured with them and were in fact killed by the Japanese, adults by beheading and children by bayoneting.

American forces captured the Japanese airstrip at Arawe, New Guinea.

Liberty Ship SS James Withycombe which went aground off Fort Randolph, Canal Zone, December 19, 1943.


Wednesday, December 19, 1923. Spreading revolution.

 The fastest expression of Revolution in Mexico was continuing on.


The newly elected Greek government wanted the royals of that country to leave, and on this day they did.  King George II and Queen Consort Elisabeth left Greece for Romania, where the Queen Consort was from.

They'd ultimately come back, both to the country, and their offices.

Marie Curie was granted an annual pension by France in the amount of 40,000 Francs.

The Soviet Union executed six prisoners at Solovki Prison Camp for protesting conditions on the Solovetsky Islands.

China executed Sun Meiyao, age 25, the bandit who masterminded the Lincheng Outrage.

Monday, December 18, 2023

Tuesday, December 18, 1973. Fate unknown.

The Palestinian terrorists in Rome ordered a Lufthansa plane to fly to Kuwait, where the remaining hostages were freed.  A year later, Kuwait turned them over to the PLO, which promised to put them on trial. Their fate is unknown.

Saturday, December 18, 1943. German terror expands.

T/5 Cletus H. Moert, Louisville, Ky., holds pigeon and while reading message taken from its leg. Pozzilli Sector, Italy. 18 December, 1943.

Heinrich Himmler revoked most exemptions for Jews married to Gentiles in Germany.  Jewish spouses, for the most part, ordered deported to Theresienstadt in January, with exceptions for couples that had very young children or who had lost a child in combat.

The SS murdered 118 men at Drakela, Greece, in a reprisal for partisan activities.

The US 5th Army captured Monte Lungo.  San Pietro is taken by the 36th Infantry Division.

Three officials of the Kharkov Gestapo were tried before a Soviet military Court, found guilty and sentenced to death.  All three, Hans Rietz, Wilhelm Langfeld, and Reinhard Retzlaff would be executed the following day.

The U.S. Army formed a Counter Intelligence Corps unit for the Manhattan Project.

The Japanese destroyer Numakaze was sunk by the US submarine Grayback.

Famous British rocker Keith Richards was born in Kent.

Cpl. Albert Allen of Chicago, Ill., and Cpl. Byron Davis of Lansing, Mich., (15th Weather Squadron), sit down to a meal of "J" rations, December 18, 1943 on New Britain.  Cpl. Davis appears to be wearing jump boots.

Tuesday, December 18, 1923. Liking Prohibition.

Some news that read like news of the decade prior, and some that was truly horrific.


A murder simply over a man staying at a hotel.

Farmer James D. Cummings and draftsman J. Earl McLeod of Washington, Kansas, filed the patent application for the bulldozer.

It's amazing to think that bulldozers did not exist before that time.

The Tangier Protocol was signed between France, Spain and the United Kingdom, creating the Tangier International Zone in Morocco.  It governed the international zone of the city, and would exist until 1956 when Morocco became independent.

Andrew Volstead of Volstead Act fame told a law enforcement conference that the American public was working around towards supporting prohibition.

Blog Mirror: Robert Reich. Freedom and Power (Why American capitalism is so rotten, Part 4)

 

Freedom and Power (Why American capitalism is so rotten, Part 4)




Sunday, December 17, 2023

The Lost Cause and the Arlington Confederate Monument. Cliffnotes of the Zeitgeist, 53d Edition.

Laying the cornerstone in 1912.

Coming at a particularly odd time, given the resurgence of the type of views that the monument represents1, the Federal Government is removing the Confederate Memorial from Arlington National Cemetery.

A massive allegorical work, the monument by Moses Jacob Ezekiel2 portrays the Southern cause heroically, and includes a slave in the "mammy" role, saddened by the departure of her soldier owner.

Probably always offensive, the work was part of the rise of the Lost Cause myth in the early 20th Century, which is when many of these monuments date from.  It's being removed and will be relocated at a park dedicated to Confederate monuments.

This process has been going on for a while. Under President Biden, military posts named for Confederate generals have been renamed, but even before that, monuments in Southern states started coming down on a local basis.  Interestingly, right now the Southern cause is strongly in mind as Donald Trump tacks closer and closer to the secessionist's view of the nation that brought the war about and which preserved racial segregation for a century thereafter.

The monument itself was located in the Confederate Section of Arlington, which was created in 1900 at the request of those who felt that Confederate dead in the cemetery should be located together.  Ironically, the move was opposed by some in the South, who felt that they should be relocated to "Southern soil".  Laying of the cornerstone of the monument came in 1912, and it was dedicated, Woodrow Wilson in attendance, in 1914.

Wilson at dedication of the monument in 1914.

Things like this are particularly problematic in various ways. For one thing, the monument is a work of art, and as such it has its own merits, no matter how dramatically flawed its image of the Southern cause was.  And they have, interestingly, an image of the South which was, while false, sort of bizarrely aspirational in that it depicted, as many such monuments of that period for that cause do, a South which was a yeoman state, when in reality the South was controlled by strong large scale economic interest to the detriment of the Southern yeoman, and certainly to the massive detriment of Southern blacks.

And they also reflect a period of American history, lasting roughly from the end of Reconstruction to the Civil Rights Era, when the nation as a whole adopted a false view of itself, or at least a large portion of itself.  They reflect, therefore, the zeitgeist of that time and our own.  Removing the monuments is understandable, but it doesn't cure the massive defect of past racism and slavery.  It does serve to help us forget how racist we once were, and not only in the 1776 to 1865 time frame, but the 1865 to mid 1970s time frame as well.

Footnotes:

1.  Just this past week Donald Trump, whose acolytes sometimes brandish the Confederate battle flat at his events, or in support of him in general, spoke of immigrants "poisoning" the blood of Americans, much like Southern Americans sometimes did in regard to desegregation in the 1960s.  The Nazi allegory has come up frequently, but to my ear, perhaps because I'm old enough to remember the tail end of that era, it sounds more the Southern view of the 60s or even 70s.

2.  This work is by far Ezekiel's best known one.  Interestingly, another major one is an allegorical monument from the 1870s dedicated to and entitled Religious Liberty.

Last Prior Edition:

Lame. Cliffnotes of the Zeitgeist, 52nd Edition.

Monday, December 17, 1973. Terrorism at the Leonardo da Vinci Airport.

Palestinian terrorists killed 32 people at the Leonardo da Vinci Airport near Rome by seizing a terminal and then throwing grenades in the open doors of a Boeing 707.

Because killing innocent people is a mature and rational way to get what you want . . . 

Canada and Denmark signed a treating delineating their territorial waters.

Friday, December 17, 1943. Black Sheep Raid.

F4U Corsair at the Natrona County International Airport, 1985.  The Black Sheep flew Corsairs.

Marine Attack Squadron 214, the "Black Sheep", made use of the fighter sweep technique for the first time, sending 76 fighters over Rabaul.

The Battle of San Pietro Infine ended in an Allied victory.

The Magnuson Act, which repealed the Chinese Exclusion Act, was signed into law.

Statement on Signing the Bill to Repeal the Chinese Exclusion Laws.

December 17, 1943

It is with particular pride and pleasure that I have today signed the bill repealing the Chinese Exclusion Laws. The Chinese people, I am sure, will take pleasure in knowing that this represents a manifestation on the part of the American people of their affection and regard.

An unfortunate barrier between allies has been removed. The war effort in the Far East can now be carried on with a greater vigor and a larger understanding of our common purpose.

Franklin Roosevelt. 

President Roosevelt announced Wright Flyer would be returned from the United Kingdom and displayed at the Smithsonian.  The Wrights had allowed the flyer to go to the UK after the Smithsonian and originally refused to recognize their flight at Kitty Hawk as the first powered flight.

Monday, December 17, 1923. Closing in on Mexico City.


The revolution in Mexico looked as if it was about to topple the government.

Subhi Bey Barakat was elected President of the Syrian Federation, a French mandate. He'd be its only president as the state would be succeeded by the State of Syria, also a French mandate, which he'd also be the chief executive of.


Thailand adopted the metric system.

An agreement was reached on the formation of the Imperial Air Transport Company, which soon became Imperial Airways.

Sunday Morning Scene: 30 NOV 2023 · #607 A PRIMER FOR UNSETTLED LAY PEOPLE

An excellent edition, and one I was hoping for:

30 NOV 2023 · #607 A PRIMER FOR UNSETTLED LAY PEOPLE


Taking neither a Trad position, nor a "liberal" one, and arguing that things are not a binary choice, they come as close as they can to basically stating that Pope Francis is a bad pope in their opinion.

This is pretty much where I'm at.  I admire the traddies in a lot of ways, I hold some liberal opinions, but I feel that the Pope is allowing attacks on orthodoxy and even sometimes doing that himself.  It would appear I'm not alone in this view.

Well worth listening to on how to approach this crisis.

Sunday Morning Scene. A Reddit Exchange.

 An interesting Reddit exchange:

Subreddit Icon

r/AskAPriest

•Posted by u/ajm1211

Why can’t women preach the gospel or become priests?

1 Timothy 2:12

I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man; rather, she is to remain quiet.

1 Corinthians 14:34

The women should keep silent in the churches. For they are not permitted to speak, but should be in submission, as the Law also says.

I’ve seen these quotes from The Bible but is there any other reason?

Is that what these quotes refer to?

Almostreverend

7 hr. ago

Maronite Priest

Women can, should, and do teach and preach the Gospel. Just usually not in the mass. Do you seek out and listen to holy women's voices in how to live the Gospel and what Jesus teaches?

Now with regards to priests. I would like to ask you a philosophical question. Are men and women different? If they are different is it possible that there are some things men can't do and some things women can't do? What are those things? If they are the same what difference would it make?

7 hr. ago

Hi, that’s what I meant, they can’t teach in a Christian gathering.

Of course they are different. It’s just there is a big argument behind if they should be allowed or not depending on the Christian denomination people are in.

I was hoping for a more definitive answer as to why if I’m honest lol

Almostreverend

6 hr. ago

Maronite Priest

They are allowed to teach in Christian gatherings, it happens all the time. It doesn't matter what each denomination thinks only what Christ taught.

ajm1211

OP

·

4 hr. ago

So why does Catholic.com say different?


There were other roles that Christ had in mind for women. For example, they played a key role in the spread of the Gospel, being the first to spread the news of the risen Christ. They were also allowed to pray and prophesy in church (1 Cor. 11:1–16), but they were not to assume the function of teaching in the Christian assembly (1Cor. 14:34–38; 1 Tim. 2:1–14), which was restricted to the clergy.


https://www.catholic.com/magazine/print-edition/why-cant-women-be-priests

robberrito

7 hr. ago

I am quite curious about this subject. Certainly women have special roles: men cannot bear children, after all. However, is it not… unbalanced in a sense that only one half of the human race is permitted to become able to do the sacraments? As a man, I will always be able to do that, and if I were a woman, I would never in my life be capable of doing these same sacraments. The sacraments are what life is centered around. Would that not make men more valuable in a sense? Not trying to be misogynistic or anything, just genuinely curious about your thoughts.


Almostreverend

edited 6 hr. ago

Maronite Priest

Anyone can baptize, but baptism is for the baptized not the baptizer. Lay people can't confirm, but the point of confirmation is to be confirmed. Lay people can't anoint the sick sacramentally, but the point of the sacrament is to be anointed. Consecrating the Eucharist is not an end in itself, but Christ's goal is that we take and eat.

The priesthood is not an end in itself, it is for others. It is so that others can know Christ. Guess what when we are baptized we become priests for others and we are called by love to bring God to them and them to God.

robberrito

6 hr. ago

Thanks. This makes a little more sense to me. I greatly appreciate your words.

Calling Oliver Cromwell.

Lex Anteinternet: A Protestant Country. It's history, and what it me...: Puritans on their way to church. One of the blogs that's linked into the right on this site recently had this item: The Declaration of I...

Recently I wrote about the New Apostolic Reformation, twice. Once in the post above, and once here:

Mike Johnson and the Sinai?

And now Donald Trump has stated this at a campaign rally:

I’ll implement strong ideological screening of all immigrants…If you don’t like our religion…then we don’t want you in our country.

Pretty clear who he's pitching to here.

Cardinal Raymond Burke, Our Lady of Guadalupe Feast Day, 2023.

Many today violently rebel against God Who reveals Himself to us through reason and, most fully and perfectly, through the Catholic faith. The rebellion has beguiled even members of Christ’s Mystical Body, leading them to abandon Christ and His Way, leading them to apostasy. What are we to do? What is the Church to do?

Some, even among Bishops, would tell us that the Church has to change her doctrine, her Sacred Worship, and her discipline, in order to accommodate the culture. They talk about a necessary paradigm shift or an ill-defined synodal way which declares that all are welcome in the Church without making clear the conversion to Christ which is necessary to be a member of His Mystical Body. 

They forget that the king in the Parable of the Wedding Feast, who had welcomed all, “the good and the bad,” to the marriage feast for his son, when he saw “a man who had no wedding garment,” had the man cast out from the banquet. Our Lord concludes the Parable of the Wedding Feast with the admonition: “Many are called, but few are chosen.” Yes, Our Lord wants all of us to share in the banquet of divine grace, but we cannot do so unless our hearts, one with the Immaculate Heart of Mary, rest in His Most Sacred Heart, unless we allow ourselves to be clothed with Him in our daily life.

The way of the Church in today’s crisis is the same as it has always been. The teaching of the Deposit of Faith and of all the riches of the Catholic Faith, daily prayer and worship of God “in spirit and in truth,” and a good and holy daily life. 

Before the great challenge of our time, Pope Saint John Paul II cautioned us that we will not save ourselves and our world by discovering “some magic formula” or by “inventing a new programme.” In unmistakable terms, he declared: "No, we shall not be saved by a formula but by a Person, and the assurance which he gives us: I am with you." 

He reminded us that the program by which we are to address effectively the great spiritual challenges of our time is, in the end, Jesus Christ alive for us in the Church. He explained:

The program already exists: it is the plan found in the Gospel and in the living Tradition, it is the same as ever. Ultimately, it has its center in Christ himself, who is to be known, loved and imitated, so that in him we may live the life of the Trinity, and with him transform history until its fulfillment in the heavenly Jerusalem. This is a program which does not change with shifts of times and cultures, even though it takes account of time and culture for the sake of true dialogue and effective communication." 

In short, the program leading to freedom and happiness is, for each of us, holiness of life, in accord with our state in life and the particular gifts with which God has endowed us.

Cardinal Raymond Burke, Our Lady of Guadalupe Feast Day, 2023.