The picture magazine Look was out, and on a Tuesday, oddly. Actress and singer Lizabeth Scott, famous for film noir roles, graced the cover.
Truman ordered Lead Lease be terminated immediately.
The first major Japanese surrender ceremony in China took place at the Zhijiang Airport in Hunan Province.
"Sitting on a jeep hood are two GIs watching as the Japanese Army emissaries arrive at Chinese Army HQs. at Chihkiang, China to arrange the details of surrendering the armies to Chinese forces. In front can be seen the Chief of Staff of the Japanese Armies in China, Major General Takeo Imai, (with sun helmet). Behind him is his interpreter, Mr. Tatsuo Kimura, and the Deputy Chief of Staff of Jap Armies in China, Lt. Col. Yoshio Hashijima and Major Kunio Maskawa. 21 August, 1945."
The Japanese government appealed to kamikaze pilots to immediately cease operations.
The Japanese government ordered that "there will be no direct contact between the general public and the Allied landing forces." That order would rapidly break down.
In fact, the Japanese on this day were already working on breaking it down, as they determined, on this day, to form the Recreation and Amusement Association (特殊慰安施設協会) or as it is more accurately translated the '"Special Comfort Facility Association". It extended the horrific "comfort women" system but with Allied servicemen in mind, in fear that failure to do so would lead to rapes.
55,000 women would be employed by the RAA, of which 2,000 were prostitutes.
American physicist Harry Daghlian accidentally dropped a tungsten carbide brick onto a plutonium bomb core resulting in an exposure to radiation at the lethal level. He died a couple of weeks later.
His hand on August 30:
The new British government announced its intention to nationalize the Bank of England.
The Romanian Royal Strike commenced during which King Michael I refused to sign the bills enacted by the Petru Groza cabinet or to receive its Ministers in audience in protest of Petru Groza's refusal to resign his position on the King's request. Resignation would have been the Romanian norm, but the Soviet backed Groza simply refused to do so.
The first post war kosher slaughter to be performed in Germany occurred with Rabbi Zweigenhaft performing the same.
Trump isn't even a legitimate President, as insurrectionist, which he is, do not need to be proven to be so under the U.S. Constitutional prohibition barring their being seated absent a Congressional pardon, which he lacks. Every single thing he does is null, void, and of no effect. Apparently people are simply too afraid to take this on, so they haven't, yet.
Anyhow, Trump has a record for not paying his bills. Why would this be any different.
The Guard isn't going to get reimbursed and its readiness is going to decline. Trump destroys everything he touches. The state ought to back out of cooperation with the Federal government on military missions, but it won't.
So, an administration which tends to feature frequent gadflyism enrolls on TikTok, thereby taking its place amongst twenty year old women attempting to give "relationship" advice or get away with flashing their boobs, and other drivel.
Lt. Gen. Jonathan Wainwright, Lt. Gen. Arthur Percival, and the governor-general of the Dutch East Indies, Mr. van Starkenborch Stachouwer. were rescued from being Prisoners of War by a special American parachute detail at Mukden. The goal was to free the POWs before the area was overrun by the Red Army.
The occupation of Mukden, as well as Harbin, in fact occurred on this day.
Anti Semitic riots broke out in Cracow, Poland.
The US War Production Board removed most of its controls over manufacturing activity, setting the stage for a post war economic boom.
The US standard of living had actually increased during the war, which is not entirely surprising given that the US economy had effectively stagnated in 1929, and the US was the only major industrial power other than Canada whose industrial base hadn't been severely damaged during the war. Ever since the war, Americans have been proud of the economics of the post war era, failing to appreciate that if every major city on two continents is bombed or otherwise destroyed, and yours aren't, your going to succeed.
Having said that, the Truman Administration's rapid normalization of the economy was very smart. The British failed to do that to their detriment.
British Foreign Secretary Ernest Bevin condemned Soviet policy in Eastern Europe as "one kind of totalitarianism replaced by another."
The trial of Vidkun Quisling began in Oslo.
The Việt Minh consolidated their control of Hanoi.
Seventeen year old Tommy Brown became the youngest player in Major League Baseball to hit a home run. Brown had joined the Dodgers at age 16.
Brown provides a good glimpse into mid 20th Century America. Nobody would think it a good thing for a 16 year old to become a professional baseball player now. Moreover, the next year, when Brown was 18, he was conscripted into the Army, something that likely wouldn't happen now even if conscription existed. He returned to professional baseball after his service, and played until 1953 and thereafter worked in a Ford plant until he retired, dying this year at age 97. Clearly baseball, which was America's biggest sport at the time, didn't pay the sort of huge sums it does now.
The Republic of China's finance minister, Liao Zhongkai, was assassinated as he stepped out of his limousine for a meeting of the Kuomintang's Executive Committee. The Kuomintang had barred British and Japanese ships from entering or leaving Canton's harbor the day prior.
At the time, the Kuomintang was heavily left wing, with right wing elements, and veered towards a sort of Communism. It was backed by the USSR. It was also not fully in control of the country, and in fact, it never would be.
It's choice of allies and backers over the years would evolve enormously. After the right wing deposed the Communists, and the Chinese Civil War started, it continued to receive support, oddly, from the USSR, but also did from Germany, that support starting during the Weimar period and lasting right up until the Sino Japanese War, at which time the Germans withdrew it due to Japanese protests with some reluctance. It'd continue to be a friend of the Soviet Union's all the way through World War Two, but during the war itself, the United States became its major supporter.
You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.
Matthew, Chapter 24.
When a war breaks out, people say: "It's too stupid; it can't last long." But though a war may well be "too stupid," that doesn't prevent its lasting. Stupidity has a knack of getting its way; as we should see if we were not always so much wrapped up in ourselves.
Albert Camus, The Plague.
And so, we have the spectacle of a dipshit who never served his country trying to negotiate a peace with a former spy, who served his in that capacity, while ignoring the leader of a country that's put up a titanic fight against an invasion for the past two years.
And we're going to do it on American soil that once belonged to the Russian Empire.
What could go wrong?
August 10, 2028
Russo Ukrainian War
Predictable, and quite correct:
KYIV REJECTS
CEDING TERRITORY
Ukraine also demanded that Europe be included, which it should be since the United States has ceded its status as a serious nation.
Regarding this meeting, the BBC noted:
Trump announced the 15 August meeting on social media and it was later confirmed by a Kremlin spokesperson, who said the location was "quite logical" given Alaska's relative proximity to Russia.
Nowhere in Alaska is close to Moscow, or Washington D.C.
August 11, 2025
Israel v. Hamas
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated on Sunday that Israel “has no choice but to finish the job and complete the defeat of Hamas.”
On Gaza, Wyoming Congressman Harriet Hageman did the following:
Reinforcing House Republicans' Commitment to Israel
On Thursday, I joined Rep. Claudia Tenney (R-NY) and 14 of our House Republican colleagues in sending a letter to Treasury Secretary Bessent, urging his department to review whether Ireland’s proposed boycott of Israel violates U.S. anti-boycott laws.
As you may know, the Irish government recently introduced legislation aimed at prohibiting the import of goods and services originating from territories under Israeli “occupation.” This proposal aligns with the global Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement, which seeks to economically isolate Israel. These policies not only promote economic discrimination but also introduce legal uncertainty for U.S. companies operating in Ireland.
Under Section 999 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, or the Ribicoff Amendment, the Treasury Department is required to maintain a list of countries that condition commercial activity on participation in unsanctioned international boycotts. Countries on this list trigger specific tax reporting requirements and potential penalties for U.S. individuals and businesses involved in certain activities within those jurisdictions.
Our letter urges Secretary Bessent to investigate whether Ireland meets the criteria for inclusion on this list, ensuring that U.S. companies are aware of their legal obligations and protected from unintended exposure. As your representative, I remain firmly committed to combating antisemitism and standing up for our Jewish communities both here at home and around the world.
This came before Israel's announcement that it was going to invade and occupy Gaza. The war in Gaza is demonstrating Yeoman's Fifth Law of History pretty ably. Whatever a person thinks of the initial Israeli action, Israel can't find a way to end the war. The current idea is obviously to completely occupy the Gaza Strip and then hope that some Arab nations are willing to turn it over to a non Hamas entity. There's a fair amount of desperation in that concept.
Also, at this point, Israel has leveled Gaza completely and whatever the original justifications for the invasion were, and Israel had after all sustained a terrible terrorist attack, it's now gone too far.
Russo Ukrainian War
Meet the Press and Face the Nation were interesting on this in that they had guests who seemed tapped into the meeting that will occur this Friday in Anchorage.
Lindsey Graham, who just played golf with Trump, claimed the VP was really tapped into events and reiterated the "exchange of territory" line that Trump had earlier. Ukraine's ambassador to the US was on Face the Nation and noted that the territory of Ukraine is described in its constitution and nobody has the authority inside the Ukrainian government to negotiate it away. Basically, that'd be like negotiating Texas away, which while negotiating Texas away might be a good idea, it's illegal.
A fair question, fwiw, is why poor Alaska, with its early Russian heritage, has to suffer through this?
Well, we can hope for the best, and should in fact pray for it.
And who knows, maybe the crush of the press in Anchorage, which frankly isn't that nice of town, will cause them to relocate to remote Nikolaevsk where they can be in seclusion. Maybe a bored Vladimir Putin will visit the Church and become an Old Believer, and we'll cease to hear from him.
Maybe.
Shoot, maybe Trump will too. As a serial polygamist with a string if invalid marriages, perhaps he'll live his days out as a monk. Melania, who after all is an immigrant, can return to her native land.
Yes, this idea is bat shit crazy, but then, Trump likes bat shit crazy land ideas. First it was Greenland, which doesn't want to be part of the US, but which Trump was threatening with forced annexation. Then it was Canada. Then it was Gaza. So why not set his sights on the Kurils?
The Commander Islands are right off the coast of the Kamchatka Peninsula and there's no earthly way that the Russians would go for this. That'd be half the fun. Boris would have to deal with the demanding demented Trump and the rest of us could watch the goofball fun.
Cont:
There will be some changes in land ... Russia has taken some very prime territory. They've taken largely ocean -- in real estate we call it oceanfront property. That's always the most valuable property.
Trump's frame of reference is amazingly narrow. He looks at everything like a real estate developer.
cont:
US Domestic Strife.
Trump ordered 800 National Guardsmen to deploy to Washington, D.C., on Monday. There's utterly no need to do so.
Trump is reportedly going to offer Putin a rare earth minerals deal for Russia in Alaska if Russia ends the war in Ukraine.
WTF?
August 15, 2025.
Russo Ukrainian War
A headline in the CST:
Land swap deal with Russia
would be illegal in Ukraine
I've already noted that on one of these threads.
By the way, the ICC has an arrest warrant out for Putin.
This day, of course, will be marked by international war criminal Vlad Putin meeting convicted felon Donald Trump. In normal times, both of these men would be people that you wouldn't read about.
Trump has been campaigning for the Nobel Peace Prize even though there's not to his credit to warrant it. Having promised originally to end the war between Ukraine and Russia within 24 hours of being nominated for President, and then as soon as he was elected, he hasn't been able to effect the peace process at all. For that matter, Gaza, where he claimed credit for peace, is about to be re-invaded by Israel.
Trump fancies himself a great negotiator, but all he really is, is a large-scale real estate developer who was born into wealth. Indeed, it's frequently asserted that while being born into the middle class means that its almost impossible to fall out of it permanently, family wealth of the wealthy simply doesn't last. Seventy percent of wealthy families lose their wealth by the second generation and 90 percent of families lose their wealth by the third generation, or so its claimed (there are those who outright dispute this claim).
Trump is, as is often noted, the descendant of German immigrant Frederick Trump, a Lutheran Bavarian who had to leave the country after having returned to it after marrying fellow Bavarian Elizabeth Christ due to his failure to perform mandatory military service. He became wealthy in the US, wealth inherited by his father, Fred Trump, who built it further, and on to Donald Trump. Nobody really knows how wealth Donald Trump is, but he demonstrates all the classic traits of those who inherit wealth and then lose it. Having said that, he's the third generation, and he's wealthy.
And he caters enormously to the wealthy.
He also is deeply amoral and doesn't grasp the world beyond transactions. He seemingly is unable to understand the world beyond that which means in matters of war and peace, and diplomacy, he's singularly poorly suited to engage in it. He's likely to approach this whole thing as a land deal.
Indeed, if early reports are correct, he'll likely propose land swaps between Ukraine and Russia, which Ukraine cannot legally do, and they are not even at the table, and he'll grant Russia minerals concessions in Russia. If Russia agrees, he'll try to force those down on Ukraine. The minerals concessions, whatever they are, will be disavowed by some future administration.
August 13, 2025
Russo Ukrainian War
Trump files all the way from Washington D.C.
Putin all the way from Moscow.
Conference already over, and we still have a war.
Is there somebody who actually still takes this clown's promises seriously?
Some history (not that Trump would appreciate it).
New Yorker Theodore Roosevelt negotiated the end of the Russo Japanese War, from the US, from August 9, 1905, through August 30, 1905.
But then, Roosevelt was a genuine article.
August 16, 2025
Russo Ukrainian War
Volodymyr Zelenskyy will fly to Washington D.C. to meet with Trump on Monday.
I wonder if J. D. Vance will be available to berate him for not wearing a suit?
August 17, 2025
Russo Ukrainian War
Trump had stated "we're close to a deal", but leakers have provided Putin's demands, which basically amount to a complete surrender. Ukraine cedes territory, including presently unoccupied territory, and Russia gives a "security guaranty".
That's not going to happen.
What needs to happen is to find a way to bring Russia to its knees, but of course Donny is a Putin fanboy, which makes that difficult.
A Trump tweet would appear to place Trump pathetically fully in the Putin camp today:
Basically this means Ukraine can end the war by surrendering, to the extent its capable of being deciphered.
If Trump was a drinking man, which he's not, this would look like a drunk tweet.
August 18, 2025.
US Domestic Strife.
Some National Guardsmen in D.C. are going to be issued arms.
South Carolina, Ohio and West Virginia are supplying National Guardsmen to the Trump municipal takeover.
Russo Ukrainian War
Ukraine's president and the heads of various European states will be in D.C. today following Trump's failed meeting with Putin. It'll be a momentous day, no matter what.
Apparently Giorgia Meloni will be one of those present. A populist herself, but an intelligent one, I suspect she might be the one person in the room capable of calling Trump a dumbass to his face and Trump not being able to handle it.
Meloni with Trump in the tacky room.
Marco Rubio, whose political career is pretty much now deservedly in the toilet, was sent to all the weekend shows to work on spin for the Trump diplomatic failure.
US v. al-Shabab
The US has been carrying out air strikes against al-Shabab in Somalia.
April 19, 2025
And again, the talks were one single day.
Wars don't end with one day talks.
April 20, 2025
Russo Ukrainian War
Donald Trump indicated that U.S. troops won't be sent to Ukraine as part of a post war force guaranteeing the nation's security.
The Center for Disease Control estimates that, taking the massive spread of Omicron around the country into account and the final relatively high vaccination rate in the country, 73% of the nation is now immune from the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2, i.e. COVID 19.
Nobody is really sure exactly what that means. But it might mean that we're entering a phase where the virus doesn't disappear, but it's much less disruptive to society.
It's still the case, however, that it remains a danger for the unvaccinated.
March 1, 2022
Wyoming's public health emergency shall expire on March 14.
March 21, 2022
A new variant of Omicron has developed, which is about 30% more transmissible than the already more transmissible Omicron. It's spiking in Europe and in Hong Kong has caused an outbreak with a massive death rate, mostly concentrated in the unvaccinated elderly.
China has reported its first deaths in many months.
According to experts, the world is about 50% through the probable course of the pandemic.
April 14, 2022
Over 1,000,000 Americans have now died from the COVID 19.
July 22, 2022
President Biden has COVID 19.
At this point, two members of our four member family also have, with one having had it quite recently and finding it awful, but being grateful accordingly for having been vaccinated.
A new, more traditional type of vaccine, has now been approved.
September 20, 2022
On 60 Minutes over the weekend, President Biden stated; "The pandemic is over. We still have a problem with COVID. We're still doing a lot of work on it. But the pandemic is over." The HHS Secretary later confirmed that position.
Epidemiologically, it isn't over, but then neither is the plague's pandemic either. The statement has been criticized, with 400 people per day dying of the disease, but by and large it reflects the mood of the public which has largely gone back to a new post Covid introduction, world in which COVID 19 is part of the background.
December 15, 2022
The new defense spending authorization includes a requirement that the Secretary of Defense rescind vaccination requirements for troops because, well because that's the idiotic sort of thing that politicians like to stick into bills.
All of the troops should be vaccinated.
December 24, 2022
China, which has not accepted western vaccines, reported 37,000,000 new vaccinations in a single day.
January 2, 2023
A new variant of Omicron, XBB.1.5, now makes up 40% of the new cases in the U.S.
And Covid is still killing.
January 20, 2023
Governor Gordon Tests Positive for COVID-19
CHEYENNE, Wyo. – Governor Mark Gordon has received results of a COVID-19 test that showed he is positive for the virus. The Governor is experiencing only minor symptoms at this time and will continue working from home on behalf of Wyoming.
March 1, 2023
The Washington Post broke a story that the Department of Energy issued a report believing, with "low confidence", that the SARS-CoV-2 virus originated in a Chinese lab.
A really good analysis of this story can be found here:
In actuality, the Biden Administration early on ordered governmental intelligence agencies to get to the bottom of the virus' origin. Eight intelligence agencies were assigned to the tasks, two of which have concluded, but with confidence doubts, that the virus was natural in origin. Two, we know now, felt the opposite, with it already known since 2021 what the FBI felt, with "moderate confidence" that the origin was a Chinese lab. Two just haven't reported.
None of this kept some from claiming that it's now proven that the virus originated in the lab.
FWIW, private scientists, as opposed to intelligence agencies, overwhelmingly feel that it originated due to animal transfer in the Wuhan market.
March 18, 2023
Recent evidence points to raccoon dogs at the Wuhan market as the source.
April 11, 2023
President Biden declared the COVID emergency to be over.
August 22, 2023
Declared over or not, two new strains are on the loose and a new booster should be available mid September.
April 12, 2024
The CDC has found there's no link between the COVID vaccines and cardiac arrest in young people.
Not that this is a surprise.
It'll make no difference in the anti-scientific atmosphere of the day. A society that can believe that legalizing marijuana, which is largely untested and wholly unregulated, and that Donald Trump won hte 2020 election, will still believe that the vaccine is risky, but cause it wishes to.
June 15, 2024
Reuters has revealed that during the height of the pandemic, the US ran an anti-vax campaign in the Philippines to try to undermine Chinese efforts there.
The Central Intelligence Agency revised its report on the origin of COVID reporting, with low confidence, that a Chinese laboratory is to blame.
This was a report that was completed during the Biden Administration and was just now released. It's being released now is unfortunate, in that it comes during the Trump Interregnum which is packed with people who generally have a contempt for science, which this will slightly fuel if anyone notices it given all the distraction at the present time. Most Scientists think the most likely hypothesis is that it circulated in bats, like many coronaviruses, before infecting another species.
May 21, 2025
The Trump Administration is limiting vaccine updates to those over 65 or in high risk categories, and requiring extensive testing for new updates.
August 20, 2025
The American Academy of Pediatrics is strongly recommending COVID19 shots for children ages 6 months to 2, putting it in conflict for the first time with HHS, lead by Robert F. Kennedy, Jr, which doesn't recommend the shots for healthy children. The AAP's recommendation is based on science, the HHS's by waiving a fryer chicken above Robert F. Kennedy's head while singing the Hockey Pokey.
The HSS point of view will get people killed, which means RFK Jr. has blood on his hands.
Japanese officials arrived in Manila to conclude the surrender there. They flew in two Mitsubishi G6M1- with green crosses rather than Japanese roundels.
Bataan 1 and Bataan 2 on Ie Shima., where they stopped for refueling.
The planes were assigned the flight names Bataan 1 and Bataan 2.
The Red Army kept on with its war against Japan, landing at Maoka on South Sakhalin.
Chiang Kai-shek forbid Japanese forces from surrendering to the Red Chinese forces and demanded of the Communists that they not advance.
The Chinese Communist prevailed at Yongjiazhen. 1300 Warlord/Nationalist and twentyone Japanese troops were killed on the Nationalist side.. Ninety-eight Nationalist troops and twenty-one Japanese troops were captured.
The Red Army took Tsitsihar in the Manchurian Plain and linked up with Chinese Communist forces in the region.
A B-32, an obscure bomber that was a competitor of the B-29.
B-32 crewman Anthony J. Marchione became the last American to die in WWII when the B-32 he was flying in over Tokyo in a photography mission was attacked by Japanese fighter aircraft in spite of the Japanese surrender. The attack on the two B-32s followed an attack the prior day on B-32s in the same locality, which the bombers were investigating. Staff Sergeant Joseph Lacharite was severely wounded and would take years to recover from his injuries.
The plane he was on was named "Hobo Queen"
The Consolidated B-32 Dominator is an almost forgotten World War Two aircraft. A competitor with the B-29, it was produced as a fallback to the B-29, and plans to replace B-17s and B-24s with the Dominator were cancelled due to production delays. 118 were built.
Indian nationalist, who sided with the Japanese during the war, died at age 48 in an airplane crash in Formosa.
The Soviets invaded the Kuril Islands, which was certainly a questionable act given the Japanese having announced their surrender. The resulting Battle of Shumshu was the last battle of the Second World War.
On the other hand, Japanese forces on the Asian mainland continued to resist Soviet advances there, albeit ineffectively.
The Japanese government was clearly having trouble getting some forces to stand down.
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