A photograph taken seconds before a Japanese pilot crashed his plane into the USS Lexington. The Lexington was severely damaged in these attacks.
AMM 2/c Loyce Deen, a torpedo plane gunner, is buried at sea in his TBF Avenger He was the only crewman buried in his airplane. November 5, 1944.
Task Force 38 struck targets on Luzon, losing 25 aircraft. The USS Lexington was damaged in Kamikaze attacks. The Japanese lost 400 planes and the cruiser Nachi.
The British 8th Army captured Ravenna. The victory cutoff rail transportation to Bologna.
The British landed at Salonika.
"This M-4 medium tank is put thru the (?) in the mud by members of the Motor transport unit, near Nancy, France. 5 November, 1944. 761st Tank Battalion." This M4 is an "Easy 8", the best of the wartime Shermans in U.S. use. The 761st was an African American unit.
The former Emperor of China, Puyi, was expelled from the Forbidden City by Gen. Feng Yuxiang who unilaterally revoked the Articles of Favourable Treatment of the Great Qing Emperor after His Abdication
Puyi lived a tragic life, having been born into the anachronism of the Chinese Empire at a time it was collapsing. He'd go on to be Emperor of Manchukuo, the Japanese puppet state in Manchuria, a prisoner of the Soviet Union, a prisoner of the Red Chinese, and finally, a gardener. He died in 1967 at age 61.
President Coolidge made a Thanksgiving proclamation:
M3 Stuart in British desert camouflage pattern. The British made extensive use of the M3. To the right is a M3 half track. The "M3" designation repeated for various things by category.
Self propelled U.S. 155 shelling German positions with captured German artillery projectiles, November 4, 1944.
Australian forces landed at Jacquiot Bay in New Britain.
The last major air raid on Bochum, German occured. 4,000 buildings and 1,000 people were lost in the raid by the RAF.
The Red Army took Szolnok and Cegled on the way to Budapest.
Royal Navy Minesweepers reached the port of Antwerp while the logistical tail continued to reach back principally to Normandy, a major problem for the Western Allies.
The 5th Indian Division took Kennedy Peak, south of Tiddim.
Field Marshall Sir John Dill died in Washington D. C. at age 63. The British officer was immensely respected in Washington, and is buried at Arlington.
1924 Nellie Tayloe Ross of Wyoming was elected the nation's first woman governor, when she was elected in a special election to fill the term of her late husband, who had been governor. She would serve until 1927, when she would leave office after having narrowly lost the 1926 election. She refused to campaign in either election, but remained popular nonetheless. Her 1926 loss is likely attributable to her refusal to campaign, which her opponent did do, and her strong support for Prohibition. She would later serve in Franklin Roosevelt's administration and Truman administration as the head of the United States Mint.
1924 Calvin Coolidge elected President.
Coolidge took 52% of the Wyoming vote, but showing a strong remaining progressive/populist streak, Robert LaFollette of the Progressive Party took second place with 32%. The Democratic candidate, the forgotten John Davis, took the balance.
Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party returned an historic third Presidential victory in a blow to the People's Republic of China.
The party regards Taiwan as de facto independent, which it should be. President Biden, following the election, stated the US didn't support Taiwanese independence, which it very much should.
January 14, 2024.
Hungary
The President of Hungary, Katalin Novák, age 46, has resigned due to a scandal involving the pardoning of an accomplice in a child sexual abuse case.
February 11, 2024.
Ireland
I had a post on the Irish referendum to amend its constitution, and was frankly way off
The referendum failed massively. Actually two proposals, the one that sought to expand the definition of family from a relationship founded on marriage to include other durable relationships, failed 67.7% to 32.3%. The one to replace language surrounding a woman's duties in the home with a clause recognizing the role of family members in the provision of care was rejected 73.9% to 26.1%.
This deserves its own thread.
March 10, 2014
Russia
Putin. Gee, what a surprise.
March 18, 2024.
South Africa.
The ANC lost the majority of parliamentary seats so, if it is to stay in power, it needs to form a coalition with minority parties.
Mexico
Claudia Sheinbaum won the presidential election, becoming the countries first woman elected to this office.
She is a protégé of the incumbent populist Manuel López Obrador and served as his pro oil environmental minister, in spite of having a degree in the field. Mexican presidents may only serve one six year term.
June 3, 2024
European Union
Far right parties gained overall in EU parliamentary elections over the weekend, although in Scandinavia, the far left did. President Macron dissolved the French parliament as a result, and France will now have elections. Poland's governing conservative party came out on top for that country, edging out the further right wing party that had governed Poland before it came to power last year.
June 10, 2024
France
In round one of a snap French election, the far right Le Pen RN bloc took 33.15% of the vote, the left-wing New Popular Front (NFP) coalition came second with 27.99% and President Emmanuel Macron’s Ensemble alliance took 20.76%. Voting concludes next week, but it's clear the far right is going to take the most votes, but not enough to form a non coalition government.
And so the far right, globally, continues its rise.
July 1, 2024.
United Kingdom
Labor won the recent election and Sir Keir Starmer will become Prime Minister.
July 5, 2024.
Iran
Reformist candidate Masoud Pezeshkian won Iran’s runoff presidential election.
July 7, 2024.
France
In an amazing one week long rally, the French left and Macron's Ensemble stages a comeback with the left wing NFP now having the majority of seats in the French Assembly and Ensemble the second largest.
None of the parties have enough seats to form a government, and nobody is certain what will occur. If a government is to be formed, it will have to be a coalition government.
July 8, 2024.
Venezuela
Both sides have declared victory in the election for the nation's president, with the incumbent having the current reigns of power. The election has been accused of having irregularities.
Still, with the constant influx of news, we thought it was time for a new edition and to retire the last one.
October 24, 2024
You have no idea what I did in the White House. I stopped wars with France.
Trump at a recent rally.
Eh?
October 25, 2024
Russia spread disinformation about the recent hurricanes in the US in order to attempt to influence the upcoming U.S. election.
Guess we know for sure who Putin wants in office.
No surprise there.
Trump indicated he'd fire special prosecutor Jack Smith as soon as he was in office, if he returns to office.
No surprise there.
Unfortunately, you got a lot of American leaders who like to beat their chest and say; this [Ukraine] is the good guy and this [Russia] is the bad guy.
J. D. Vance.
Well, J. D., that's because Ukraine is the good guy and Russia is the bad guy.
Tucker Carlson compared the United States to a "15 year old" girl, who needs a spanking.
Eh?
I have a daughter and I don't think I ever spanked her. I sure didn't at 15, which is a downright creepy thing to say.
Trump's going to deliver the spanking of the nation, according to Carlson.
cont:
The Washington Post returns to its position of not endorsing Presidential candidates:
Russian actors were behind a widely circulated video falsely depicting mail-in ballots for Donald Trump being destroyed in Pennsylvania, U.S. officials confirmed Friday.
Associated Press.
Locally we have a school board race that the Freedom Caucus, in the form of Mom's For Liberty or people aligned with their thinking are in. The folks below are those who are not part of that group.
These seem to be the populist ones:
Frankly, while I probably ought to post it elsewhere, I think there's a crisis in American education, but its not the one that commonly comes up. There's probably a series of crises actually.
Locally, we've always had excellent public schools. One thing that we can really tank our community ancestors for is appreciating the value of education. School boards for many years have had people who took the task on with a sense of public duty. People like to complain about the schools nonetheless, but that's in no small part because education is a spectator sport, like agriculture. I've heard so many things about how to raise sheep, for example, from people whose family have not had a connection with sheep since Roman times, it's not funny.
The problem that seems to have developed recently is that education has been impacted, like politics in general in Wyoming, by an influx of people who were raised and educated well outside of the region, and brought a lot of regional ideas with them. This reflected itself at first with a notable homeschooling movement which included quite a few people who were convinced that schools were teaching children "left wing" ideas, which they weren't and never have been. In some instances the concerns of those parents included a strongly anti scientific background.
Now its spilled into the schools in general. While she didn't run for the school board, in a way this is reflected by the one term now defeated House member Jeanette Ward. Looking into her background it seems that a big part of her problems with Illinois' politics, where she came from, had to do with schools. She was upset, for instance, that a class noted that Muslims pray to the same God that Christians do. And she was upset with school mask mandates, which ironically Wyoming also had.
This has spilled over into the war over library books, which actually doesn't have much to do with actual school libraries.
At any rate, it's a sad fact of American life that a lot of primary education in the United States is really lacking. This reflects itself in politics right now, which finds actual debates over topics that simply are decided on the basis of the evidence. The ability of highly monied people to lead others around reflects it as well. Education in the US has always been uneven. There's a scary chance that the excellent education that the Upper Plains and Rocky Mountain regions have always had, may be impacted by the populist flood.
cont:
Trump continues to make statements that in any other era would be regarded as dumb:
There will be no hydrogen. They tend to blow up and once they blow up you are not recognizable anymore. No, they say that's the hottest new thing. Hydrogen does. Anybody in the, they say it's so hot. The problem is when it's not, when it's not hot, it's bad. It's bad. So, I don't want to do that. They say for the most part here is for the most part it's really wonderful. But when it goes bad it's over, you're not recognizable. They call the wife. Please come and inspect to see whether or not this is your husband. He's lying against a tree and the tree has a lot of red on it... Is that ok for everybody?
Indeed, one of the things that really scares me about Trump is his supporters claim he says things that they're thinking. If that's the case, we've got a massive lack of intellect in this country. Are we this dumb?
October 28, 2024
Given the story on Russia above, this is of interest:
Apparently Trump's rally last night at Madison Square Garden was packed with racist comments and off color remarks by the various speakers.
On other matters, there appears to be a very strong chance that independent candidate Dan Osborn may beat Trump Senate lackey Deb Fisher in Nebraska.
October 30, 2024
It's becoming increasingly clear Trumpites are mobilizing and planning to steal the 2024 election if Trump does not win it. They'll use lawsuits, ballot challenges and fake electors in a more planned effort this time.
cont:
October 31, 2024
Elon Musk, who supporters fellow billionaire Trump, has been chatting with Putin.
Trump proposes to put Robert Kennedy, whose health ideas are wackadoodle, in charge of some sort of health thing.
November 1, 2024
Real Clear Politics electoral map predictors show Trump winning the election decisively.
November 2, 2024
At a rally in Milwaukee Donald Trump simulated oral sex, albeit briefly, on stage.
Is this really whom Republicans want to be President?
And is this truly the man some Evangelicas see as a neo Cyrus the Great?
Next year with be a Jubilee Year in the Catholic Church. For some reason, the Church felt it needed a mascot for this.
This is what it came up with:
How does a 2,000 year old institution in possession of much of the Western World's great art, come up with something so juvenile, and indeed something that looks like its out of Pokemon?
In announcing this, Archbishop Rino Fisichella stated that the cartoon imagine, titled "Luce" (light in Italian) was inspired by the Church's "to live even within the pop culture so beloved by our youth." This presents the classic problem of the elderly, now the Baby Boomers, recalling the desires of "youth" in terms of when they were fairly youthful themselves. Indeed, in my mind it brings to mind attending the "Teen Life Mass", or whatever it was called, that used to be held on Sunday evenings. I generally tried to avoid it, but when I did, you'd find a guitar band with bongos for the music, lead by a Boomer, and a bunch of aged Boomers who would sway and whatnot to the music.
In contrast, if you hit some Masses with a lot of young people, you'd find young women, some down in their teens, wearing mantillas.
I'm pretty convinced that in 2024, with ready access to the Internet, and all the news that's on it, combined with all the sewage that's washed up with it, such as horrific political arguments, the revival of racism, far right and far left extremist, Hamas murder and rape of young people in Israel, an aged geezer in the Kremlin trying to revive the Soviet Union, and young women prostituting themselves on TikTok, a childish cartoon from the 1980s isn't really going to win hearts and minds. Indeed, its even worse than the Comic Sans Serif font and 1970s vintage art that was officially used for the Synod on Synodality. And it gives emotional support to the Orthodox who are looking for reasons not to come back into the Church, even if superficially. This sure doesn't look like something Saints Cyril and Methodius would have passed out.
I've long held, and have stated it here, that Western culture had experienced Post World War Two materialism and found it lacking, and that the generations that have come up in the wake of the Baby Boomers are struggling to through the cultural innovations of the 1960s and 1970s off. We don't believe that "Greed is good" or that the Sexual Revolution was freeing. The problem is that so much was destroyed that recovering is hard, particularly when the aged hand remains on the tiller. Often that aged hand reaches out with what it thinks the young want, not grasping what that is, and actually making things worse.
This cartoon is really bad. Somebody should look around the Vatican and see if something serious might be available. The young Catholics in blue jeans, the mantilla girls, and myself, will all be thankful.
Postscript
I'm hating this image slightly less after some Twitter person made some interesting riffs off of it, but I still don't like it.
