Time captioned its cover "The Healing Begins.
Last edition:
Monday, August 19, 2024
Saturday, August 19, 1944. Uprising in Paris.
French resistance members began attacks on German troops in Paris.
FFL on August 19, 1944.
The uprising forced an Allied reassessment of the line of advance. While French forces very much wanted to take Paris, and probably would have advanced on it no matter what they were told, Eisenhower did not want to as he did not regard the city as strategic and its large civilian population would instantly become a burden Allied supplies.
Unlike the Soviets, however, the Western Allies were not willing to simply let the Germans do what they will with an uprising in a city.
On the road to Paris, Ecouche, a French military policeman directs a British armored convoy at an intersection of the town. August 19, 1944.
The Battle for Mont Ormel ridge as a final part of the Falaise operation, featuring Polish troops taking on the Germans at Hill 262.
3d Infantry Division soldier in southern France walks over a poster of Hitler.
American anti tank gun crew in southern France.
3d Infantry Division medic aiding wounded German. The medic's 1943 boots are clearly in evidence and the 3d Infantry Division insignia is prominent on the shirts and helmets of these men. The medic is carrying a short pickaxe on his belt.
French policeman and resistance fighter bringing in German captive in southern France.
Two French women on opposites sides of the war in sympathies square off in a fight in southern France. A couple of items. One of the French women is wearing shorts, which were very common hot weather apparel for French women in this period. They were worn elsewhere as well, but they were common for the French. Secondly, I don't know who is who, but as the women in the center seems to be getting the brunt of it, my guess she is the German sympathizer. This would become a common scene.
Operation Bagration concluded in a Soviet victory.
American submarines sank troopship Teia Maru (formerly the French ocean liner Aramis), the landing craft depot ship Tamatsu Maru and fleet oiler Hayasui.
German submarines U-123 and U-466 were scuttled.
A referendum to grant the Australian government additional powers over a five year period failed.
Field Marshal Günther von Kluge, age 61, who had fallen under suspicion due to the July 20 plot ,and who had been relieved the day prior, killed himself.
Last edition:
Friday, August 18, 1944. German retreats.
Wednesday, August 19, 1874. Taking back.
August 19, 1874
EXECUTIVE MANSION, August 19, 1874.
It is hereby ordered that all that tract of country, in Montana Territory, set apart by Executive order, dated July 5, 1873, and not embraced within the tract set apart by act of Congress, approved April 15, 1874, for the use and occupation of the Gros Ventre, Piegan, Blood, Blackfeet, River Crow, and other Indians, comprised within the following boundaries, viz: Commencing at a point on the south bank of the Missouri River, opposite the mouth of the Marias River; thence along the main channel of the Marias River to Birch Creek; thence up the main channel of Birch Creek to its source; thence west to the summit of the main chain of the Rocky Mountains; thence along said summit in a southerly direction to a point opposite the source of the Medicine or Sun River; thence easterly to said source, and down the south bank of said Medicine or Sun River to the south bank of the Missouri River; thence down the south bank of the Missouri River to the place of beginning, be, and the same is hereby, restored to the public domain.
U. S. GRANT.
Hmm. . . .
Last edition:
Sunday, August 9, 1874. Camp Scene Near Blue River, Colorado. William Henry Jackson.
Labels: 1870s, 1874, Colorado, Colorado River, Photography, The Frontier West, William Henry Jackson
Sunday, August 18, 2024
Is there any reason at all to have Reince Priebus on This Week?
He's just a shameless apologist for whatever Trump has said or is doing, no matter how idiotic.
Please. Screw up some courage Reince.
An Appeal To Heaven. The 2024 Wyoming Primary
The primary election is this Tuesday.
On that day, people who didn't go down to the courthouse early to vote, like me, and those who didn't vote absentee, and are voting, will cast their votes.
I've been following politics since at least 1972, when Richard Nixon won his second term in office. I can remember doing so as a kid. I was nine. Teno Roncalio, a Catholic lawyer from Sweetwater County, a veteran of Operation Overlord, and a Democrat, was our Congressman. Gale McGee, a University of Wyoming professor, and a Democrat was one of our Senators. The other was Cliff Hansen, a rancher from Teton County when Teton County still had real ranches, and a Republican, was our other Senator. Stan Hathaway, a Republican Episcopalian at the time, who later became Secretary of the Interior and a Catholic, was our Governor.
Yep, that's right. We had more Democrats in Congress than Republicans. Being called a "Democrat" wasn't a slur.
In the 1980s, a very conservative and extremely religious Wyoming politician who was LDS attempted to have a bill passed targeting pornography sales. He was widely lampooned. HE had not, however campaigned on his faith, even though it obviously had informed his legislative effort.
I can't recall, until Foster Friess run for Governor in 2018, any Wyoming politician making their faith central to their campaign. If you knew much about candidates, you often knew what their faith was, but there was never anyone who boldly claimed "I'm a Christian" as a reason to vote for them. People probably would have been offended if they had, and of course Wyoming was and is the least religious state in the Union.
Something that did happen in that time frame was the arrival of the new Evangelical churches. I pass one every day on my way to work, and two gigantic ones have been built. I know very little about the one that I pass, which proclaims itself to be an "Evangelical Free Church", thereby proclaiming a denomination without realizing that its done so, and even less about the two gigantic ones, other than that one has a huge following, including members who are openly living in sin or violating Christ's injunction about divorce and remarriage.
With their arrival, and the campaign of Freiss, who wasn't from here and was never of here, and the evolution in national politics, we now see Evangelical proclamations thickly made, but with the adherence to the message of Christ thinly understood. One Natrona County legislature, newly imported from Illinois, Jeanette Ward, proclaimed her Christianity while asserting in the legislature that we are in fact not our brother's keeper. Numerous politicians in the hinterland have claimed that the Constitution is divinely inspired, a minority Protestant and minority LDS view that seemingly has wide acceptance in the populist right. A candidate in this district proclaimed his Christianity, and his wife, in his support did the same in a mailer, while making statements that are outright lies.
Now someone approached him and said, “Teacher, what good must I do to gain eternal life?”He answered him, “Why do you ask me about the good? There is only One who is good. If you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments.” He asked him, “Which ones?” And Jesus replied, “ ‘You shall not kill; you shall not commit adultery; you shall not steal; you shall not bear false witness; honor your father and your mother’; and ‘you shall love your neighbor as yourself.’”
The young man said to him, “All of these I have observed. What do I still lack?”
Jesus said to him, “If you wish to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to [the] poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” When the young man heard this statement, he went away sad, for he had many possessions.
Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Amen, I say to you, it will be hard for one who is rich to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for one who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.”
Matthew Chapter 19.
We are all familiar, of course, with the uncomfortable comment from Christ that its harder for a rich man to enter the Kingdom than it is for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle. This statement is so disquieting that one entire branch of Christianity, the heath and wealth gospel group, has dispensed entirely with focusing on it. They aren't alone, however. I heard plenty of homilies in the 70s and 80s, probably the 90s, from Priets who discussed "spiritual poverty".
I don't hear that much anymore from Apostolic Christians, whose clerics have become increasingly more orthodox.
And I think the warming is real. Vast wealth corrupts. You only have to look at the impact of the vastly wealthy to realize that, whether it be Elon Musk or Donald Trump and their personal morals.
People who look at Trump and see him as a devout Christians are fools.
But then, a lot of American Christians are Christian Light.
How does this relate here?
Well, in a culture loudly proclaiming itself to be Christian, that of the American political right, we see an awful lot of people whose adherence to the basic tenants of the Gospel are absent. That's why one right wing commentator could seriously maintain the Hawk Tuah Girl was exhibiting a conservative value (pleasuring her man, she stated), rather than seeing her for what she is, a sad example of a person whose become debased. Whole sectors, however, of the far right have become debased in various degrees, which is not to say that the left is a beacon of moral purity.
Seeing either party as a Christian one is foolish.
Christians are indistinguishable from other men either by nationality, language or customs. They do not inhabit separate cities of their own, or speak a strange dialect, or follow some outlandish way of life. Their teaching is not based upon reveries inspired by the curiosity of men. Unlike some other people, they champion no purely human doctrine. With regard to dress, food and manner of life in general, they follow the customs of whatever city they happen to be living in, whether it is Greek or foreign.
And yet there is something extraordinary about their lives. They live in their own countries as though they were only passing through. They play their full role as citizens, but labor under all the disabilities of aliens. Any country can be their homeland, but for them their homeland, wherever it may be, is a foreign country. Like others, they marry and have children, but they do not expose them. They share their meals, but not their wives.
They live in the flesh, but they are not governed by the desires of the flesh. They pass their days upon earth, but they are citizens of heaven. Obedient to the laws, they yet live on a level that transcends the law. Christians love all men, but all men persecute them. Condemned because they are not understood, they are put to death, but raised to life again. They live in poverty, but enrich many; they are totally destitute, but possess an abundance of everything. They suffer dishonor, but that is their glory. They are defamed, but vindicated. A blessing is their answer to abuse, deference their response to insult. For the good they do they receive the punishment of malefactors, but even then they, rejoice, as though receiving the gift of life. They are attacked by the Jews as aliens, they are persecuted by the Greeks, yet no one can explain the reason for this hatred.
To speak in general terms, we may say that the Christian is to the world what the soul is to the body. As the soul is present in every part of the body, while remaining distinct from it, so Christians are found in all the cities of the world, but cannot be identified with the world. As the visible body contains the invisible soul, so Christians are seen living in the world, but their religious life remains unseen. The body hates the soul and wars against it, not because of any injury the soul has done it, but because of the restriction the soul places on its pleasures. Similarly, the world hates the Christians, not because they have done it any wrong, but because they are opposed to its enjoyments.
Christians love those who hate them just as the soul loves the body and all its members despite the body's hatred. It is by the soul, enclosed within the body, that the body is held together, and similarly, it is by the Christians, detained in the world as in a prison, that the world is held together. The soul, though immortal, has a mortal dwelling place; and Christians also live for a time amidst perishable things, while awaiting the freedom from change and decay that will be theirs in heaven. As the soul benefits from the deprivation of food and drink, so Christians flourish under persecution. Such is the Christian’s lofty and divinely appointed function, from which he is not permitted to excuse himself."
From a letter to Diognetus (Nn. 5-6; Funk, 397-401)
I'm fearful of what this election holds in more ways than one. One thing I'm afraid of is that the co-opting of Christianity by the Trumpists will harm it. The only really Christian party in the race is the American Solidarity Party, but it doesn't stand a chance. Some elements of Christian Nationalism are actually deeply Christian, with an understanding of Apostolic Christianity, whereas some parts are American Protestant, which have an erroneous view of the end of the Apostolic Age. They are not compatible. The deeper National Conservatives, for that matter, are an insurgent group within the far right seeking to slip in, take over, and effect a sort of social revolution. They saw J. D. Trump as their Trojan Horse, but thought they were through the gates of Troy too early.
Real Christian movements do rise up periodically. But that's what they do, rise up. They aren't imposed down. Some of that has already occured, with the far left reacting strongly to it. But that doesn't seem to be appreciated here.
I don't see a lot of really deep Christianity out there in the political field. If I did, frankly, quite a few of those things that the Democratic left have proclaimed as weird would be practiced, which may be why J. D. Vance, for all the negative attention he's attracted, is the only really honest figure in the Trump camp. He does believe the traditional things he says, I'm quite sure, currently regarded as "weird" or not. But then, like the members of the New Apostolic Reformation, which he's not party of, he's seemingly willing to make common cause with lies in order to try to advance what he regards as a greater good, something that's always tactically iffy and morally reprehensible.
Satan, we're told, is the father of lies. Lying, we're told, is a sin. In Catholic theology at least, it can be a mortal sin, which has not deterred at least one Catholica elected official here from campaigning on a whopper during the last election. Lying always has a bad end.
Lying will have some sort of existential bad end for those now doing it. Lying to yourself does as well. You can't really be "a devout Christian" with multiple marriages, or when shacked up, or when favoring your career over others or over nature, or while prioritizing wealth,
And if you are seeking to transform society, you have to give society a reason to transform. Simply declaring that you are on the side of God doesn't really do that.
Friday, August 18, 1944. German retreats.
SC 192989 - French girls wave to members of an artillery unit as their truck towing an eight inch gun rolls along a highway to take up a position near Brest. The artillery piece is a M1 155 "Long Tom".
The German 7th Army retreated across the Orne River, abandoning 18,000 troops to captivity. The Allies closed the Falaise Gap.
The Third Army reached Versailles.
The Red Cross entered the Drancy internment camp in France, finding 500 survivors there.
The Vichy French Vichy battleship Strasbourg and cruiser La Galissonnière were sunk at Toulon by the U.S. Army Air Force.
U.S. serviceman shares a glass of something with two French women, August 18, 1944.
Pvt. J.K. Mabry, Memphis, Tenn., and Pvt. Borislav M. Tences, Garfield, N.J., infantrymen of the 3rd Infantry Division, rest alongside the road leading to Brignoles, southern France. ONe has his shoes off, which would have made my DI yell at me. The 3d Infantry Division was highly experienced and had been in action since Operation Torch. It must have been refitted before Dragoon, as photos consistently show its troops wearing M1943 boots, which were new at the time. Photos of troops from Overlord do not tend to show that.
The U-107 and U-621 were sunk by Allied ships and aircraft. The U-129 was scuttled.
US submarines attacked Japanese convoy Hi-71 in the South China Sea and sank the carrier Taiyō. In the Philippine Sea a US submarine sank the cruiser Natori.
Last edition:
Monday, August 18, 1924. Wyoming for Wyomingites. The 1924 primary, and its echo in 2024.
France withdrew from Offenburg and Appenweier as a gesture of good faith on France's part to enact the London pact.
The sole two remaining US aircraft attempting to fly around the world were damaged attempting to take off while overloaded in Reykjavik, Iceland.
It was the day before Wyoming's 1924 primary election. The Wyoming State Tribune urged that Wyoming be for Wyomingites:
In a year in which Wyoming has seen out of state entities attempt to heavily influence the election, this editorial means as much today as it did then.
Why, we should ask, have PACs centered elsewhere tried to back candidates here, and why should we let them try to influence our elections?
Last edition:
Wednesday, August 18, 1824. The Mexican General Colonization Law.
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Mexico's new government passed its General Colonization Law allowing foreigners to gain title to land that was at least 20 leagues from the border of another country or at least 10 leagues of the coast.
Colonist would be exempt from taxes for ten years.
Last edition:
Saturday, August 14, 1824. Return of Lafayette.
Saturday, August 17, 2024
The Best Posts of the Week of August 11, 2024.
Woke v. Weird? The race we should have had (and still could save for Republican cowardice and populist subversion).
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By The logo may be obtained from Socialist International., Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=5214135
I don't really think J. D. Vance is weird.
I think Trump is pretty weird. I'm concerned that he has accelerating dementia. His press conference the other day was jammed packed with gibberish. A rational GOP, which doesn't exist, would at this point show him the door. Rather than a rational GOP, however, we have the Populist masses and a collection of forces with agendas, such as the National Conservatives, Christian Nationalist, etc. Some adore his meandering gibberish as they are unthinking or actually quit thinking about what's going on years ago. Some tolerate it as they know that when he's in office they can basically shove him aside and run the bus. Some, I strongly suspect, figure that if elected, which they were planning on, age and the 25th Amendment or a pine box will take him out the back door of the White House and put them in the leather upholstered executive chair.
I think J. D. Vance was in that last category. By supporting Donald Trump, I suspect, he and people in his obit, were figuring that that Trump would play the same role that the Ghost plays in Hamlet. . . departed and out of power.
If that's what Vance was figuring, that's not weird. It's probably correct in terms of the expiration of Trump's mortal coil or his cerebrum. The latter would be, of course, slightly more problematic than the former, but in a pinch, would likely work just as well, save for some disruptions from the Maga Militia crowd.Anyhow, Trump is getting weird, but neither Harris or Vance are weird. What they are is poles apart in existential views, and they both really have one.
Harris is a politician of the political left, which has gone increasingly leftward since the mid 20th Century. Indeed, it's final descent into the far left is what sparked, in part, the populist counter reaction. It's adopted lifestyle politics with lifestyle's that were regarded as "weird" until fairly recently, and frankly many still are.
At the same time, the full bore assault on culture that commenced in the 1960s was hugely successful, normalizing behaviors regarded as immoral at the time, but which now are not. That's why, in no small part, people are proclaiming J. D. Vance as "weird". As I noted here earlier, Vance isn't of the populist line of thought, he's an actual conservative, but a National Conservative of the Rusty Reno, Patrick Dineen, Kevin Roberts, type. Vance expresses cultural views that have in varying degrees been under attack since the 1960s, but which have remained all along in some sectors of the culture and are attempting to stage a comeback, or even more, gain entry and acceptance for the first time.
That race, if it were on the surface, would be a really interesting existential one.
Chances are high that the country isn't really comfortable with it. Certainly the unwashed populists who see nothing inconsistent about proclaiming themselves Christian while admiring the Hailey Welch or Sydney Sweeny wouldn't really be all that comfortable with the views of Roberts and Vance. But for that matter, a lot of suburban moms or the now lauded/condemned "cat ladies" are probably not all that comfortable with the views of Sanders and Harris.
That contrast would serve a purpose in and of itself.
The race, however, we actually have is a national embarrassment due to the figure leading the GOP.
Um. . .
Odd scene. German armor general discussing the battle in Kursk Oblast. . . where the Germans had quite the fight 80 years ago.
Thursday, August 17, 1944. And on this day too, 30 years later, the Red Army entered East Prussia.
The Red Army crossed the River Scheshule and raised the Soviet flag on German soil. Sgt. Alexander Belov took the honors. He survived the war and died in 1960.
Interestingly, the Red Army entered East Prussia on the same day that the Imperial Russian Army had during World War One.
German forces in Lithuania launched counterattacks along their entire line.
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Statue of St. Joan d'Arc in Orleans, August 17, 1944.
The Canadian Army took Falaise. The city was in ruins. A gap of a few miles exists thereafter between the British lines and the American ones.
The US Third Army took Saint-Malo.
In Southern France, almost no resistance to Allied advances is offered and the US captured St. Raphael, St. Tropez, Frejus, Le Luq and St. Maxime.
Third Infantry Division troops advancing on August 17, 1944, in southern France. Troops are wearing the new M1943 combat boots.
Hitler dismissed Field Marshal Kluge as commander of Army Group B and replaced him with Model.
The Battle of Biak, which had been going on since May 27, ended in an Allied victory. American forces advanced near Aitape. The length of these battles gives testament to how hard the Japanese were fighting.
Last edition:
Wednesday, August 16, 1944. Closing the Falaise Pocket.
Roads to the Great War: Weapons of War: Germany's Maschinengewehr 08
Roads to the Great War: Weapons of War: Germany's Maschinengewehr 08: MG 08 in Action Maschinengewehr 08 (MG08)—The MG08 was a heavy machine gun used by the German Empire during World War I. It was developed f...
August 17, 1774. Militia Muster.
The first known muster of Tennessee Militiamen took place when Capt. Evan Shelby and 49 militiamen, formed a volunteer company to fight with Virginia militia in Lord Dunmore’s War.
The company was called the Fincastle Company.
Last edition:
Tuesday, August 16, 1774. No to the British judiciary.
Labels: 1770s, 1774, American Revolution, Colonial North America, Connecticut, Court, Courthouses, Massachetts
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