One of the more moronic episodes in American history, but one that oddly resonates with the spirit of the times, the Scopes Monkey Trial began in Dayton, Tennessee with jury selection.
Sounds like something that could happen right now, quite frankly.
TASS, the official news agency the Soviet Union was established.
Angolan liberation movements broke out in civil war, with the People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA), attacking the National Liberation Front of Angola (FNLA), led by Holden Roberto. The country had not yet officially received independence.
Dutch photographer and artist Bas Jan Ader left Cape Cod in an attempt to make an unassisted voyage from west to east of the North Atlantic Ocean. He would disappear and never be heard from again.
Rock musician John Anthony Gillis, better known as Jack White, was born.
The French Chamber of Deputies approved an additional 183 million francs to fight the Rif War in Morocco, where France shouldn't have been in the first place.
Private Clarence V. Bertucci murdered nine German POWs at the POW camp at Salina, Utah. He fired a Browning M1917 into their lodgings, only stopping when he ran out of ammunition.
Nineteen were wounded.
Bertucci, who had a previous court martial from his time in the UK, did not deny the killing and was court martialed and found insane. The New Orleans native died in New Orleans in 1969 at age 48.
Australian troops landed at Penajam, Borneo.
From Sarah Sundin's blog:
Today in World War II History—July 8, 1940 & 1945: 80 Years Ago—July 8, 1945: Only international sub-to-sub rescue in history: USS Cod rescues crew of stranded Dutch submarine O-19 in the South China Sea.
Ralph Samuelson became the first person to perform a ski jump on water.
Antonio Genna of the Genna crime family became the third member of the Genna brothers to be shot to death in less than two months in the ongoing war with Capone's North Side Gang.
Pioneering photographer Clarence Hudson White of the Photo-Secession movement died. He photographed dreamy female portraits, including nudes which debatably crossed into pornography, emphasizing, perhaps, an ongoing and developing problem in the age of film.
William Roper: “So, now you give the Devil the benefit of law!"
Sir Thomas More: “Yes! What would you do? Cut a great road through the law to get after the Devil?”
William Roper: “Yes, I'd cut down every law in England to do that!”
Sir Thomas More: “Oh? And when the last law was down, and the Devil turned 'round on you, where would you hide, Roper, the laws all being flat? This country is planted thick with laws, from coast to coast, Man's laws, not God's! And if you cut them down, and you're just the man to do it, do you really think you could stand upright in the winds that would blow then? Yes, I'd give the Devil benefit of law, for my own safety's sake!”
Robert Bolt, A Man for All Seasons: A Play in Two Acts.
The men were illegal immigrants from Cuba,
Laos, Mexico, Myanmar, Vietnam and South Sudan. They have criminal records. South Sudan makes sense for somebody whose from South Sudan, but Vietnam?
This is barbaric, and once barbarism comes to a country, it doesn't just leave until everyone has been brutalized.
The Japanese carried out the Kalagong massacre, killing villagers in the area after they failed to provide any information about guerrillas in the area.
Peter to Rot.
The Japanese also murdered Peter To Rot, a Catholic from New Guinea, in a bizarre incidence demonstrating the severe Japanese anti Western view and, frankly, the Japanese debasement of the period, which not only reflected itself in murder, but in a chattel slavery view of women and sex. He was executed for defending a woman whom another planned to kidnap and force into a plural marriage, with the Japanese supporting plural marriages in New Guinea (they were not legal in Japan). He was arrested and then later murdered on this day. He will be canonized this October.
Japanese rocket propelled fighter the Mitsubishi J8M made its first flight under it's own power. The test flight was not really a success as the engine stalled. The pilot, Lieutenant Commander Toyohiko Inuzuka, was able to glide the power into a landing, but the plane hit a building. He died the following day.
The plane was intended as a licensed copy of the ME 163. Only seven were built.
"First American Red Cross workers to leave Europe for duty in the Pacific are these girls shown waiting to board their transport: L-R: Brownie Thain, Waukomis, Okla.; Jean Fiegel, 7021 Hollywood Bvd., Hollywood, Cal., and Mildred Blandford, 1735 Chichester St., Louisville, Kentucky. Marseille, France. 7 July, 1945. Photographer: Cpl. Becker."
Heloísa Pinheiro (Helô Pinheiro), who inspired The Girl from Ipanema, was born.
Taxes and life in small-town Wyoming: Legislative plans to do away with property taxes would mean greater inequality in the Equality State, writes columnist David Romtvedt.
Wyoming politicians have failed to protect veterans: Sen. Lummis would rather serve Trump than her state, endangering those who have risked their lives for this country, writes her former intern Aidan Jacketta.
Halley's comet depicted on the Bayeux Tapestry, showing how big of event it was and how it was viewed, particularly after the events of 1066.
In ancient times, some things were seen as portents A warning of things to come. Sometimes, of course, that was appreciated retrospectively.
A terrible flood has resulted in loss of life in Texas, most tragically at Camp Mystic, a Christian girls’ summer camp near the Guadalupe River in the Texas Hill Country.
It'll seem odd noting it, but this is right after the codification of Trump's agenda in the Big Ugly Bill, which took an axe to solar and wind electricity support.
In Wyoming it's been popular to criticize those project. It likely has been in Texas too, and everywhere in the US in which petroleum has been a major economic factor. In those areas, the climate change is a fib line of reasoning has been popular, mostly based on the thesis that what's good for my wallet can't be bad for anything.
The weather recently has been weird.
Some will likely point out that flooding in Texas isn't a new thing. Indeed, the great Stevie Ray Vaughan put out an lp called Texas Flood which featured the great blues number It's Flooding Down In Texas.
All of which is quite true.
And none of which demonstrates that the weather has been normal. It hasn't been.
I read once, years ago, a comment by a Catholic monk pertaining to the problem of evil, "why does God allow bad things to happen?" I've seen various explanations over the years, but he related he had actually asked that question, directed as a petition (prayer) to God. He received an answer, that being "Why do you?"
Indeed, why do we?
Here's one we can avoid, and even reverse. It's our duty to do so.
One thing I'd also note. The Big Ugly takes money from things like NOAA and from weather prediction. One of the thing that's being complained of in Texas is the lack of weather warnings before the terrible storm.
Norway declared war on Japan, backdating the act to December 7, 1941.
Occupying Allied forces held a parade in Berlin.
King Michael I of Romania was awarded the Soviet Order of Victory.
The king had been instrumental in deposing the right wing military dictatorship late in the war, and causing Romania to be one of the many European powers to switch sides during the war. a list that included Italy and Finland as well.
President Truman established the Medal of Freedom by executive order, which stated:
Executive Order 9586
by President of the United States
The Medal of Freedom
Executive Order 9587
Signed by President Harry S. Truman Friday, July 6, 1945
By virtue of the authority vested in me as President of the United States and as Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, it is hereby ordered as follows:
There is hereby established a medal to be known as the Medal of Freedom with accompanying ribbons and appurtenances for award to any person, not hereinafter specifically excluded, who, on or after December 7, 1941, has performed a meritorious act or service which has aided the United States in the prosecution of a war against an enemy or enemies and for which an award of another United States medal or decoration is considered inappropriate.
The Medal of Freedom may also be awarded to any person, not hereinafter specifically excluded, who, on or after December 7, 1941, has similarly aided any nation engaged with the United States in the prosecution of a war against a common enemy or enemies.
The Medal of Freedom shall not be awarded to a citizen of the United States for any act or service performed within the continental limits of the United States or to a member of the armed forces of the United States.
The Medal of Freedom and appurtenances thereto shall be of appropriate design, approved by the Secretary of State, the Secretary of War, and the Secretary of the Navy, and may be awarded by the Secretary of State, the Secretary of War, or the Secretary of the Navy, or by such officers as the said Secretaries may respectively designate. Awards shall be made under such regulations as the said Secretaries shall severally prescribe and such regulations shall, insofar as practicable, be of uniform application.
No more than one Medal of Freedom shall be awarded to any one person, but for a subsequent act or service justifying such an award a suitable device may be awarded to be worn with the medal.
The Medal of Freedom may be awarded posthumously.
Harry S. Truman
The award existed until 1963, by which time over 20,000 had been awarded, and was superseded by the Presidential Medal of Freedom which exists at the current time which has a broader application.
Operation Overcast was authorized providing that the US could import captured German scientists.
Nicaragua ratified the United Nations Charter, the first nation to do so.
General Claire Chennault resigned his command of the US 14th Army Air Force in protest to plans to disband it.
Japanese forces attacked the British positions in the Sittang river bend unsuccessfully.
B-29 raids continued over Japan.
The multiple editions of Yank came out.
The centerfold was quite subdued.
I have no idea who Madelen Mason was and a google search failed to give any clues.
The best posts of the week of June 29, a week marked by the passage of the disastrous Big Ugly, and which we predict will lead to the fairly rapid downfall of the Second Trump Administration.
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