While there is news today, it is also the anniversary of the 1864 Battle of Mobile Bay, which is one of my favorite stories. I’m guessing we could all use a break from the drumbeat of today’s events to remember yesterday’s. The story of the Battle of Mobile Bay started long before August 5, 1864. By the spring of 1864, victory in the Civil War depended on which side could endure longest. Confederates were starving as they mourned their many dead; Union supporters were tired of losing sons to battles that seemed to accomplish nothing.
Dang! I wish you were the author of every history book U.S. children read in school (well, adults, too, at any time). Clear writing, vivid word pictures, and "just the facts, mam."
Professor Heather Cox Richardson, if you please! I
t took her not only a great deal of reading but writing also to achieve her PhD in History... no doubt a specific history I am not giving the full measure of Prof Richardson’s academic credentials! Her publications are all available online! And can be ordered from any independent bookseller😁. Support small businesses whenever possible please! And Thank You ❤️😉🎶
Are these what school children read. ProbAbly not in Texas where schools were hamstrung by the blather of Mel and Norma Gabler for decades. Their influence still resonates, nationwide, sad to say.
Growing up in the South, we did not learn the history presented in this essay. We learned that Lee was an honorable gentleman, but not about his treatment of those he enslaved. We were taught that enslaved persons were no worse off than the poor people up North. We were taught that Grant and Sherman were monstrous. Since Sherman marched through my hometown, that was not hard to imagine.
We were not taught that the civilian and military leadership of the Confederacy were traitors. Suppose Lee and his officers had been taken into custody as a condition of surrender? Suppose Jefferson Davis had been tried and imprisoned or executed? The traitorous leadership of the Confederacy was not held accountable. If the colonies had lost to the Crown in the Revolutionary War, you can be sure the founding fathers would have been executed.
True in NC as well. The South was never portrayed as treasonous, which they most assuredly were. We are in the same boat now with chump. Almost everybody seems afraid to call him what he is, and lock his arse up. He certainly will not be shy about doing just that if he gets a chance. After all, his mantra was lock her up. But he has a magic mirror which never shows him as anything but the Fox's Dorian Gray. Only we see what he really is. National insanity, as in Germany pre-war.
All of my primary school, middle school, high school and undergraduate and graduate education was in Texas.
Now, the good thing about that, especially back then, is it was all essentially free. My undergrad institution was A&M in engineering (which is a good, albeit academic Auschwitz like experience (flunk out rates were 40% the first two years). My grad institution was UT Austin (I was dating a girl at the time who refused to move out of Texas so UT Austin was it for ChE).
But, to answer your question: Are these what school children (in Texas) read?
Answer is: Emphatically no. I never heard of any of the events in Dr. Richardson's letters. I DID have many history courses along the way. All were mind numbingly boring exercises in memorizing dates and names of battles in various wars and a few Presidents and their years.
Nothing at all about Jim Crow. Nothing about slavery. Nothing about the peonage system or the prison system, post reconstruction, being the ongoing attempt to keep slavery alive.
Big, huge THICK books (I still have my required college history text in the basement) and a bunch of stuff in there that nobody remembers.
I do think the history professors were sincere though. It was just a time when everything had been covered over and everyone was OK with that (A&M and UT were essentially all white except for the football team back then). My supervising professor was the only professor in ChE to have an African American student in the department.
Same here in IA, nothing like this, and we were (irony intended), a Union state. I think the quote "the victors write the history" does apply, but I think whitewashing took place everywhere that people preferred their own version of history to the real thing.
Mike, if you don't mind me asking when, where did you develop your critical thinking chops? I know that design + engineering requires solid deductive reasoning skills. Curious in Oregon this am. :)
I concur. All of my public school education was in Texas and it prepared me for college, grad school and law school outside Texas. I don’t remember much about the Civil War except that in many instances it was kind to the South.
Do you know the titles to these books?? I read a lot of books of all kinds. i sure would love to read Ms. Richardson's books about The Reconstruction and post Civil War era.
Damn, the Texans, full speed ahead. They are not being led, they are being ruled. Enable the defeat of the Republicans in Texas and reclaim our national identity.
Yesterday in the comments, I wrote about having courage, for the sake of our children and grandchildren. Today I read “Damn the torpedoes!” - what a wonderful battle cry!
Absolutely, Governor abbott has appointed one of his henchman to rule the Houston ISD and the first edict out of his mouth was to state that there wouldn’t be Librarians in all schools and changing some libraries into “learning centers” and for disciplining students… At last report he seemed to have backed off but one can never be certain with abbott likely pulling his strings…abbott, in one of his greatest failings as governor failed to pass legislation for teacher raises in the last session and he continues to tweet that he doesn’t want the mythical “woke agenda” he claims is being taught in Texas schools. Lt. Governor dan, changed his name, patrick has long advocated for Charter Schools which makes one wonder how much money is involved should that plan result in the takeover of public schools denying the free public education guaranteed in the Texas Constitution. Texas Democrats need to steps up their game and provide a viable candidate to run against abbott since there is no provision for term limits for the governor’s position in Texas; otherwise…
Of course! Keep your population ignorant and unquestioning. It's one of THE tenets of fascism, if you read tracts by Hitler, Goebbels, and Mussolini. Keep telling them lies and they'll believe anything, then they're easier to keep in line that way. Same with evangelical Christianity . . . rule them by fear and intimidation, make them not question anything, and they'll do and believe what you tell them.
It is my firmly held conviction that these two entities, these cults of MAGA and evangelicals, constitute the single greatest threats to this country more than anything since the Civil War. I don't believe this is mere hyperbole. These are very real and present dangers.
Bruce, I agree wholeheartedly! There was an online article yesterday from a psychologist, comparing Trumpism to Jim Jones's Jonestown cult. This would explain Ginni Thomas, a former cult member, and others' behavior, which can't be explained away by lack of intelligence. I'm frightened to death.
Ann W: History is written by the victors. General Curtis LeMay (the Air Force General that firebombed and nuked the Japanese) famously said that if the Allies lost the war, the generals and admirals would be tried as war criminals and hung (as were the Japanese and German generals).
Both the Northern and Southern Armies committed war crimes in the War Between the States. But the North won so Lincoln, Grant, Sherman, and Sheridan's war crimes are not mentioned.
“I am tired and sick of war. Its glory is all moonshine. It is only those who have neither fired a shot nor heard the shrieks and groans of the wounded who cry aloud for blood, for vengeance, for desolation. War is hell”.
Of course the winners(if one can call them such)get to write the history but then so do the historians such as Dr Richardson.
The quote above is well known to many as it was said by one of the “winners”, who was right in the thick of things in the most un-civil of wars on this soil. William T. Sherman was the speaker of those words as he addressed a cadet class at West Point after the war of Southern insurrection. By the way, it’s the south that has written a history that bears no resemblance to the truth then just as they are doing today in order to keep the pot boiling and the ignorance on top of actual history. The War of Southern Aggression was lost by those rich, white slave holders and as usual, the poor whites were the cannon fodder led by their noses to the slaughter.
Another famous quote that I love and use often, is one by George Santayana from “The Life of Reason”(1905), “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it”. As smart as we’d like to believe ourselves to be, we here in these United States, have never learned this.
Two of the memorable quotations that most people only know by a few words. Thanks SPW for offering them in full. "Damn the torpedoes, indeed." Professor Richardson is a national treasure who bas a Mainer's work ethic. So grateful for her sacrifices.
Yes indeed. Dr. Richardson’s knowledge, work ethic and citations are why I subscribe to her newsletter. I file her information for future reference as well. She makes me wish I had continued with my history major in college. Oh well; maybe in my next life.
What major did SPW settle on, and how has that worked out for you? Next lives don't come with guarantees, or maybe ever, although I think I'm living the one of a US soldier who died DEFENDING DEMOCRACY IN WWII!
Majored in Motherhood twice. The School of Hard Knocks once and minoring in Taking Things as They Come as a vocation. Not sure what’s coming next so I’ll just stick around as long as I can and find out.
SPW: I know Sherman said those words. Old Generals say a lot of words to make their past actions less reprehensible.
The War Between the States was just that. Before President Lincoln centralized power in DC, every American was a Virginian or New Yorker or Mainer first, American second.
Robert E. Lee turned down an offer to lead the Union Armies. He couldn't bring himself to attack his home, Virginia.
Yes, the rich WASP plantation owners seceded from the Union. They were going to pay high tariffs on their imports needed for the cotton business. The New England Yankees wanted that tariff money. The Yankees, except for the Abolitionists, didn't give a damn about the slaves. There were slaves in New England.
The war was about money and territory as it usually is.
SPW: Read my last sentence. The war was about money and territory, not slavery directly (though if the plantations went broke the plantation owners couldn't afford slaves.)
The war was allegedly about States Rights; read that as the right to own and abominably treat other human beings. This country has danced all around the problem of slavery. Compromises were made over slavery to get the Constitution passed. Compromises were made to allow some new territory in slave free while others could have slaves. The country was sitting on a slavery powder keg and just too dumb to admit it. The 14th Amendment written after the war was supposed to have fixed what the war was fought about but it just gave rise to the Klan and continual anti Black sentiment that, to this day, never seems to stop(Ron Disantis anyone?)And of course, a lot of what the war was about was money. Planters had too much money tied up in Black skin. Most things truly evil boil down to money it seems. The south wanted to maintain the status quo; certainly not change.
If the South had succeeded in holding off the North in 1864 one has to wonder what a comparison of history textbooks in Northern vs. Southern cities would reveal.
Not quite. I was taught about Sherman burning Atlanta. Grant drinking. Lincoln so depressed, etc. That thousands died on each side is not a war crime. It is war. Whatever crimes were in fact committed, were forgiven for the good of unity. Lincoln was not a vengeful man, but he was politically savvy.
The Washington Post called out today for a unifying voice to help the nation through the trauma of confronting Mr. Trump’s attack on our democratic institutions. Once again, these Letters remind us of courage and loyalty that carried the Republic through peril. This is a most welcome message.
The Post OpEd was just another exercise in a long line of mealy-mouthed exercises in false equivalence by the Post editors. We have a strong and unifying voice in President Biden, who has consistently called for sane bipartisan action. The Post needs to recognize that both sides are not the same.
They called for another Walter Cronkite—ignoring the fact that people have been told for years that Walter Cronkite’s network can’t be trusted and wouldn’t trust him today. They then called for Biden to say something about the indictments—ignoring the fact that he’s working hard not to be seen as influencing the Justice Department. I didn’t see anything useful in the op-ed, just another “why can’t we all get along?” with no solutions.
You can't get along with people who want to ignore facts and your rights to "life, liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness." That's why we insisted on unconditional surrender from the Nazis and Japan in WW II. Republicans have become Trumpists. Leave them alone and they will burn it all down. They had many opportunities to silence him beginning before the first debate in 2015. Trump owns them all except Mitt Romney.
Lan, I’d add Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger to your list of anti-trump advocates. Sadly neither is serving any longer but hopefully they’re working in the background.
Thanks for the link. I admire Kinziger and see him sometimes on MSNBC. Had not heard of his organization. only hope he doesn’t endorse a third party candidate in the upcoming election.
Kinzinger has turned into one of my "kinda" heroes. Yes, he is a Republican, but I think it's safe to say he's a Republican whose ideas have "evolved". We may still disagree with him on some other issues, and I like to think we'll live to fight those battles another day, but he really recognizes what is at stake here, probably even more so because he has been on the "inside" of the machinations of how a lot of this came to pass. I saw him recently on CNN on a panel parsing the finer points of the last T***p arraignment, and he was explaining the behavior of Speaker McCarthy. He obviously knows McCarthy really well, but you could tell how really angry and disappointed Kinzinger was with McCarthy's statements. He basically said that McCarthy's seeming anger after the last arraignment was most likely coming more from McCarthy's genuine frustration that he was having to stand up once again and defend something that he, in his heart, knows is wrong. His position, and kind of the corner he has painted himself into, necessitates he do & say what is expected of him, but Kinzinger seemed to notice cracks in the façade that show McCarthy is getting sick of all this. If anybody would know McCarthy's mind it might be someone like Kinzinger, who can now speak freely. I found it very interesting.
Romney keeps his head down most of the time and lets the craziness go unopposed. Murkowski might be a little better. Too bad there isn't a Margaret Chase Smith among the Repubs.
Romney is just as petty as his party at crucial votes, such as his comments and vote blocking a Democratic Senator substitute for Diane Feinstein on a he judicial committee. He said it would be stupid for Republicans to give up their advantage in having Feinstein’s absence hold up appointments of justices.
It really is shocking how willing the Party of No is to throw our national security and military readiness and just general ability to get things done - like getting judges appointed - under the bus for the sake of grandstanding. While it flies under most people's radar, the lack of judges throughout the country (as a consequence of Senator Feinstein's ill health and refusal on the part of Romney et al to seat a substitute) has actual, immediate and long-term effects on living, breathing Americans (and others - not that those others matter a whit to the republicant, unless those others are able to make large donations to the Party of No). If they don't care at the very least about our fellow and sister Americans' lives, and that they have the authority and power to improve those lives, what is the point of their being in Congress at all? What do their constituents whose lives and businesses are daily and permanently being adversely affected by the clogged-up courts think about their "representatives"?
Born in 1945, I spent a lot of time in Germany on the technical side of buying heavy industrial equipment for an American company during the 80's and 90's. I got to known a lot of Germans very well. They did not want to go back to the time of the Nazis nor did I see monuments to Nazi generals or leaders.
There was one memorial to German war dead that I felt was really moving. It was outside the entrance to a large engineering works and was of grandfathers teaching their grandchildren the crafts of metal working. The fathers were missing because they were killed in the war. No overt glory for the missing fathers, just we must teach our grandchildren and carry on.
And yet Mitt’s no paragon either. Mitt’s in a very safe Senate seat with loads of LDS money to keep him there as long as he wants to be there. He can afford to open his mouth and squeak, uh SPEAK, every once in a while.
Lan Mosher: "We can't get along with people who want to ignore facts and your rights to 'life, liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness". That's why we (who is "we") insisted on unconditional surrender of the Nazis and Japan in WWII"
Lan, are you talking about the Federal government of the USA? The folks in DC ignored facts and our rights during the "Covid Panic".
And how many people needlessly died in WWII because of that stiff-necked "unconditional surrender" demand?
The anniversary of the nuking of Hiroshima and Nagasaki are coming up. Are you going to have a victory party?
Timmy, Timmy, Timmy wake up and smell the coffee. Your beloved leader is a con man. If you truly want an answer to injustice, you must find a leader that truly wants to fight injustice. Our history is dotted with mistakes and triumphs. Stop living in the past. Yes, we must learn from it. But move to solutions, not retribution.
Because Trump doesn't believe in the rule of law and he is perverting our culture to one that is leading to physical confrontation. His lawyer points out that free speech allows a person to lie. Do we really want to follow people who make it a practice to lie? The peaceful transfer of power is the only thing that allows diverse people to express the ideas of a majority. It has been the American tradition prior to modern times to at least give lip service to embracing the direction of the majority. Their argument for Trump's 2016 election was "he's a successful businessman so he will be able to run a better government." But Trump's "majority" fails to see his businessman's behavior undermines the structure of our government which depends on checks and balances to prevent the rise of an authoritarian ruler, which is actually in my view part of the standard business model. They seem to believe that destroying the structure of our government will resolve their grievances, but what they don't seem to understand is it is businessmen who in their search of profit that destroyed their jobs because there was cheaper labor somewhere else to be had. It was businessmen who did not find new jobs or training for new jobs for these people. It is not the business model to give a soft landing to the community you no longer need to run your business. If you don't want me to read your mind, tell me who do you follow? What is your concept of good government? It is obvious that you have sources providing you with information. Who are they? Who do you read? Who are your heroes?
I can’t speak for everyone on this site. My interest in Trump being prosecuted for his crimes is largely to reduce the chances of him or others doing them again. I think that if Nixon had had to defend himself in court, Trump never would have run for office. It’s partly to punish Donald for what he’s done to all of us. It’s partly because that evil man provides so much drama, and I like stories. At the same time, I think what happens to Donald personally is not important. What’s important, is what we all do to get out the vote on behalf of democracy and rule of law, which means electing Democrats since the Republican Party has abandoned both. My opinion, others will see it differently.
There's retribution and there's justice. I want him brought to justice, because supposedly in this country, no one is above the law. And if he's allowed to get away with the mountain of crime he's committed, it sends a very dangerous message.
No celebration of the bombing of Hiroshima, Nagasaki, OR Dresden or any others. However, total War, including sneaky ones like Maggot Republicans are now waging against our freedoms, deserve a total response. In my other comment on August 5, I referred to our needing more aggressive leadership to fight Republicans undermining democracy. Our problems could also be solved by a faster and more aggressive prosecution of ALL of those who conspired to destroy democracy. Admit it, Republicans believe that, as Orwell put it, "some of the pigs were more equal than others." Women, for example, are denied control over reproduction.
Lan Mosher: I believe both parties agree with the Orwell quote you mention. Don't fall for the Red vs. Blue fake wrestling match. Neither party gives a damn about us.
I agree. The more things change, the more they remain the same. Looking back on it, I started cutting my political teeth during the civil rights era when the Dixiecrats flew into the open arms of the republican party but my study of history goes much further than that.
You reflect my own reaction of the details Heather uses to explain the importance of applying Historical framing to current events.
The plight of Abe Lincoln at an election with little to encourage support for the war to preserve the Union and Admiral Farragut’s refusal to succumb to discouraging circumstances both add credibility to President Joe Biden’s brave insistence on reviving FDR’s strategies for using Government in bottom up economic stimulus.
The best verification of economic theory is when the application works as our thriving markets attest.
Biden's IS that unifying voice, but only if people are willing to hear it over the rampant lies spread by the mouthpieces of Tramp and the Party of No. They have been led to the water, but can't be forced to drink. They seem to prefer their Kool-Ade.
“Damn the torpedoes. Full speed ahead!” was my grandfather’s (b. 1892 ~ Eastport, ME) rallying cry for all adventures he marshaled us kids to before my mother had time to intervene!
Those words were brave, but they were a willingness to sacrifice in the hopes of clearing a way forward. Like the men who used their bodies to shield others from the delay of barbed wire in infantry advances. War is a horrible thing that is sometimes necessary. Let's work to ensure we do not once again bear arms against our neighbors, but we can't give in to their lunacy. This next election our rallying cry should be "Joe because he believes". He believes in the "rule of law". Don't fall prey to the talk of he's too old. If he falters, someone will fill the breach. But unity is necessary to win this fight. Some of us will have to delay the implementation of our ideals. When the fog of battle clears, we can talk of better days and dreams for a better future that includes everyone. Do not falter! 2024 looms.
Stories of battles that turn the tide are always fraught with danger. Victory is never assured even when the plan is carefully wrought. The great leaders are often vilified even by their closest advisors who think that their own plan of battle is the better one. Lincoln faced that situation repeatedly during the Civil War. When Gettysburg ended, Lincoln couldn’t believe that Meade let General Lee’s forces safely retreat. The fog of war makes it hard to know even if a battle is won, as the costs of victory can be so very high.
America is winning now as a country as the spectres that threaten our democracy are forced to retreat. Did you watch trump head back to his golf club in Bedminster chastened by the power of the court? Our current conflict is with those that would weaken our democracy ....in favor of what? An oligarchy of rich aristocrats loyal not the the ideals of democratic self government but only to the accumulation of more money for the sake of the power and influence it can purchase? How truly damnably disloyal to the ideals, laws and Spirit of ‘76 that fuels our country’s real growth and development.
Biden and his supporters are getting the job done. The American people can tell winners from losers. We have to trust our neighbors to do so; that is the true risk of democracy. “We don’t need a weatherman to tell us which way the wind blows” as Dylan sang. Each one of us is empowered... the best system of government there is.
Except that millions are absorbing the bizarre lies that they are being fed. It’s a proven winning tactic of the fascists. Up is down and down is up and good luck figuring it all out if your mom drank alcohol while she was pregnant with you or you bumped your head too many times
It's only a valid choice if it's an informed choice, and being disinformed and misinformed about facts as well as about interpretations and opinions FOR YEARS deprives some of the hard-of-thinking of valid choices. I don't mean those who are willingly and wilfully blind, I mean those who have actually been gulled.
The thing is, Lynn, even good people make choices we can’t understand…right? Happens all the time. Everyone gets to vote secretly, so can anyone really know how another person really votes? Would we have it any differently? The job of the politician is to do a good job and then sell the outcomes. Yellow journalism and fear mongering politicians don’t help but it is the responsibility of each one of us to exercise our vote as each of us sees fit.
“Their” choice? To whose choice do you refer? The organically brain damaged? Fox doesn’t care about a few million when their lies deliver them billions and vengeance. The destruction the lying liars have wrought our Mother Ship sadly leaves all of us on the losing end. ☮️
So, if the lying Tramp IS convicted, of any of the crimes charged, would there be grounds for restitution as part of the sentence? I'd like to see that individual lose EVERYTHING, intangible and tangible - golf courses, jets, etc. - perhaps to recover f/b/o the treasury the money spent in these prosecutions? That individual won't ever need that tacky crap again, as he'll be in Camp Fed for the rest of his nasty, brutish and (I hope) short life.
Paula, I especially agree with your concern that we not judge Biden or other politicians on their age or their physical alacrity and coordination. We don't hire them for their athletic prowess but for their ability to think, to reason, to work with others to apply the best minds for the issue at hand, for their values expressed in their policies. We will be in a sorry state if we equate a stumble on stage with stumbling through policies and practices!
Well, John, from Upstate NY--why do the voters of Lewis County support an incompetent, attention whore whose knowledge of the area was AS A TOURIST, and not as a resident of one of the poorest areas of the country--Elise Stefanik. Why do they support tRump, for that matter? A malignant narcissist tied to the Russian mob; a crime boss who doesn’t pay his contractors and believes he is above the law?
Ohhh Dawna, we are SOOO sad that so many in Upstate NY can and are bamboozled by the likes of Elise Stefanik or worse, George Santos. I fear in Upstate we remain captured by Republicans who have pretended to represent the rural and farming communities which used to be the core constituency and which appear to have been invaded by development of mega-dairies ("Cowschwitzes") and hog farms. In fact I registered as a Republican so I could have a vote in the primaries around here. Most of these rural communities have lost their local newspapers beyond the occasional regional Pennysaver. Closer to the cities and their universities and colleges politics turn bluer. Ahh well, we keep trying...
I keep imagining that there will be someone who gives a St. Crispin Day speech to the troops. I believe you are being sarcastic. But each time Trump's lawyer speaks over a commentator and spews his trash about freedom of speech and Trump's rights as he tramples mine, I lose my mind. Our Biden is an honorable man and he tries but he is not an orator. I believe he is wise and he knows where to lead us, but will we go? There are no great orators in our time.
So much tragedy about that war and the incomprehensible number of dead. And more tragedy in its aftermath, not least that too many in the South are still determined to "win," to maintain racism and a philosophy of superiority and resentment even now, nearly 160 years later.
As a citizen now of SC, formerly “sweet home Alabama” I find this generalization offensive. You maintain we are determined to win....what exactly? My peers are not racists, do not feel superior, and feel no resentment as to the outcome of the Civil War. Source your statement or retract it. I found Heather’s post so interesting and then this?
Really? Where is your home? A place I can make statements that offend an entire population? I was taught the Civil War ended long ago. Items like this will surely reignite it. Shame on you and all who liked. Think before responding.
You and I both appreciate the tragedy of the war. My comment didn't generalize about all Southerners, or even all Americans. I said "too many in the South", and I probably could have said too many people everywhere. The source for my original comment is the unsettling, anti-democratic and at times racist news out of Alabama, Mississippi, Florida, and other states, plus my own experience living in NC some years ago.
You and I can hope that thoughtful, generous, and kind people will continue to work to strengthen life, liberty, justice, and happiness for all.
It's no doubt difficult in many ways to bring deeply democratic thoughts and actions into situations and places where they have not become that politically popular and enforced through legal and social means, at essential levels of compliance, in fairness to all. Alabama's very recent double defiance of the Supreme Court's order to redistrict voting is a particular low point. Having lived in Florida, Virginia and Texas I found little openness to larger ideas and practices aiming to change the old Civil War mythology towards equality for all.
Starting such dialogs took a certain amount of upfront chutzpah, harder to come by in the thick of such conditions as long area family histories, codes of silence or talk-with-no-real-action.
Possibly even dangerous. What does it take to turn that big old ship around?
I think the MAGA movement, abundance of confederate battle flags, “slaves learned a useful trade “,Charlottesville, the average wait time to vote in predominate black districts, white nationalism are a few examples of the manner in which the civil war ,regretfully,
Are you suggesting that the shoe LaurieOregon presented fits your foot? It's no accident that the failed insurrectionist is holding his rallies in AL, SC, MS and Florida. You and your peers sound like good people, you should direct your energy at those who would subvert our system of governance and take away the freedoms that the dead in the battles HCR wrote about today fought for and that we are still striving to fully achieve and deliver to everyone in this country and those who choose to come here to live and work.
No, the comment does not fit my foot nor those with whom I relate. I believe the presence of the “INSURRECTIONIST” in my state this day has made me more than a little sensitive, angry, and frustrated at those who hide their heads in the sand and do nothing to alter the events unfolding. True enough, these are primarily red states but the enthusiasm of the “INSURRECTIONIST”s last visit here was grossly amplified in the MSM. We must reach the younger people ie Gen Z and millennials to take up the fight to restore our freedoms and ideals. I am doing my part in every way I can. This past week has been very disturbing and I find myself alarmed at the potential long term outcome. How rallies after indictments can incentivize voters TOWARD TRUMP is frankly nauseating. For myself, I must find some peace without abandoning the need to fight like our lives depend on election 2024 somehow. I will get there another day but at this time must rest.
Good for you, Judith. Keep on fighting for your State, for the Country and for a fair and just America. You, and people like you are what we need most right now.
Although I now live in Switzerland, I grew up in Montgomery, Alabama, in the Forties and Fifties. When I visit my birth state, I stay with friends who are compassionate and progressive. We visit the Rosa Parks Library and the gut wrenching Memorial to the Victims of Lynching. However, when I read the news regarding the state’s unfair gerrymandering and extremely rigid attitude toward abortion rights, I wonder if the progressive spirit of my friends has a chance.
Sometimes I ask myself the ‘heretical’ question if, in light of the political power of the red states in today’s America, if it might’ve been better for the confederate states to have succeeded from the union. In certain tragic ways —for women, for the climate, for democracy — they’re still a threat to the union.
We all rest when we need to Judith, the better to fight another day. We will, to use a term from my youth, overcome this as well but it won't be easy and there will be ample frustration before the victory celebration.
Don't fight against your allies. They do not condemn you. You are a partisan fighting in a territory held by the enemy. Need I speak of Lindsey Graham? How is it that he still holds a state-wide office if the majority of your fellow South Carolinians hold with your values? What policies or ideals does he represent as he genuflects to Donald Trump? The "rule of law" or " equality before the law"?
Unfortunately for South Carolinians, your senior senator has been corrupted totally by his ardor for The Insurrectionist. Tim Scott is slightly better but won’t confront tfg’s extensive lawbreaking. Lindsey especially needs to go. Helps past his expiration date.
If you do not recognize that SC (as well as your unsweat AL) is knee deep in racism and always has been, your eyes and ears sadly have been shut tight! And now Tubby demands a nationwide abortion ban at the cost of promoting our military leadership but apparently SC (and soon to be indicted Lindsey Graham) loves him. Your peers may embrace democracy which is great but SC is a failed state and the evidence has been abundant before and since the civil war.
Ira, just FYI, I am stuck in SC without the option of relocating. I would estimate it is about 60% GOP which is racist equivalent, very sad to say. Charleston for example is a beautiful city but retains its historic racist “charm” disgusting though it may be. The home of Fort Sumter, it will soon succumb to the rising tides and find itself underwater; a fitting end to a legacy of slavery. As for my “sweet” not “sweat” home ALABAMA, it likewise has the awful association to George Wallace standing in the schoolhouse doors to enforce segregation, keeping Blacks out. If that weren’t bad enough, there was the bombing of a church in which 4 darling Black children were murdered. Need more? Wasn’t it Martin Luther King, Jr. that led a thousand demonstrators across the Edmond Pettus Bridge in protest? Let’s not forget Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a bus; a heroine for equality. I spent a wonderful career in cancer research nursing as an advocate for patients, the vast majority of which were Black and loved me in return for my unending care for them. I will not excuse the jackass football coach (idiot) who is presently compromising our military
and national security for his personal vendetta against a woman’s right to choose . I loved my life in Alabama but as I have said before quoting Thomas Wolf, “you can’t go home again.” To be clear, I fight the good fight every day on line because I am mobility impaired and can only be active in that way. Now, I am exhausted and will not review on YouTube Trump’s no doubt asanine remarks in our capital today; but I will rise another day to continue so please, give me a break and some respect.
I appreciate your wonderful career and your political views. Thank you for correcting me in that regard. I spent many years in Virginia politics, served in the legislature and ran statewide (and failed) as a progressive. But, as we both know, the racism throughout the southern states is ugly, though Virginia has overcome most of it at least politically. But it is still very prevalent in rural areas. It is rampant in most of the South and until GenZ come into its own in 2026-2028, most of the South will be predominantly racist! But hopefully our young voters to be will stamp it out at least governmentally! Stay strong and optimistic!
Interesting, Ira. Family members served in the General Assembly, Henrico County, and my first real foray into politics was as a volunteer for Bill Parkerson in his unsuccessful effort to defeat Eddy Dalton in the 80’s. How I wish I could revisit those kitchen table meetings of the ‘60’s and 70’s. Interesting cast of characters.
Absolutely interesting but Virginia was anchored in racism and antisemitism and male domination. Thankfully, northern VA grew exponentially along with Tidewater and Roanoke bringing more progressives, federal employees, military families, bigger universities! Then elected Wilder (when he he was somewhat sane though corrupt), Tim Kaine, Bobby Scott, Don Beyer, Mark Warner and of course a few setbacks. The future is bright if you will go to www.turnup.us and make a generous contribution! Thank you!
Judith, I wish you well. I can see how gut wrenching it must be to love a place and many of the wonderful people there, yet still be appalled at the terrible people who run it. I feel that way about America in general and have finally tamed my disgust with this phrase: I love my country, but fear for its future.
Ira, counting failed and failing states? By what criteria? Pray tell, what state, what company, what CAMPUS, what hospital, what DVM school, med school, law school, what police department, what nation, what island nation - isn’t?
Ira, humans are marked by intolerance, world wide - and Trump is playing humans for what we are...
Jack Smith may put him in jail. Remember the Boston mayor elected from jail? What was his name?
Remember the tale of the Salem Witch Trials? America started by shafting native tribes of Indians. We were hatched in intolerance.
Pocahontas wasn’t an allegory. John Smith was not Governor Wallace.
Check out www.sblewis.net and AG Nicholas deBelleville Katzenbach.
We loathed Sir Rudy, Mayor Giuliani. As AG, Nick confronted Gov. George C. Wallace. Obliged entry of AG Eric Holder’s relative as a college student.
Damn the torpedoes, damn Sir Rudy, Rudolph William Louis Giuliani, SDNY US Attorney and Mayor of New York, soon to be indicted... for lying to states and flirting with sedition. He will be charged. May give state’s evidence to Special Prosecutor Jack Smith on President Trump.
Should we jail Trump? In a penitentiary For the rest of his life? We erred with VP Agnew and President John F. Kennedy. Should have incarcerated each.
600,000 Cook County plurality was established as phony. But it worked. Nixon did not upset the bandwagon. He knew that the election was stolen in Cook County, Illinois. Leon Despres of the Fifth Ward IVI knew. All knew.
JFK STOLE THE ELECTION IN COOK COUNTY THROUGH MAYOR RICHARD J. DALEY…600,000 VOTES - THE DEAD VOTED - OLD JOE KENNEDY THE BOOTLEGGER OWNED THE MERCHANDISE MARKET AND HE PAID THE MACHINE… NIXON WON, BUT REMAINED QUIET… CHICAGO KNEW… JFK SLEPT HIS WAY THRU CHEATING ON HIS WIFE, EXACTLY AS OLD JOE DID, LIKE LONG…
So really, ole Joe and Daley should have been incarcerated because they were shysters. Already knew Joe was a piece of garbage. JFK, Bobby, and Teddy all slept around, just like their daddy taught them. It was their wives who suffered.
My first election I got to vote in was McGovern vs Nixon. Lived in DC and I voted for George. Devastated when that nasty joel-faced traitor won by a landslide.
Don’t forget the “Prince of Providence” , Buddy Cianci.Twice convicted, felon,served time in fed prison , 20 + years as mayor before finally losing to a younger progressive. Cianci ( corruptly) revitalized the city and he was worshipped. Some similarities to the current indictee although Trump didn’t revitalize anything…
As witness to South Carolina recently stripping women of reproductive autonomy, I have to say that criticism of the state’s politics is entirely warranted.
Judith, I feel that the Civil War is being revived. It is Red States against Blue States. The war is not with guns (although gun legislation is one of the issues), but with laws and owning the courts. Right now it is the courts still, but at some point it may be militias.
Linda Weide: The Federal government is bankrupt and the dollar is collapsing in value. That spells the end of the American Empire and DC. There won't be a Civil War. There will be a Great Depression and a splintering of the USA into individual states and communities.
Over half the country has less than $1,000 in savings. Most people are in debt.
Laws and courts mean nothing if people are hungry.
You might have been taught the Civil War ended a long time ago but look aground at the two states you mention, they have definitely not forgotten the war. Do you want the rest if us to put our heads in the sand and ignore reality as you apparently are. HCR is bring us the real story, history, that subject Republicans are most fearful if.
I was born in 1957 Texas. I chose a Northerner to marry. My grandmother's first comment was "damn Yankees" and it wasn't said in jest. Don't tell me that some Southerners are not still fighting that war and the demanded cultural change is still not completed.
My father was in the Air Force and was stationed in Mississippi where I was born. My grandmother (mother's mother) called me a little rebel. Via HCR's lectures, I learned that it was the misstep of the Republican government after Lincoln's assassination that has kept the South festering. They were never brought to justice.
Paula Dufour: The War Between the States has left its scars. They are still there in Missouri and Bloody Kansas. I know the area and the history well.
The elites have been dividing European and African workers in the USA since colonial times. The Irish slaves and the African slaves banded together for slave revolts in the American colonies and the Caribbean sugar plantations.
So, the English figured out how to divide the Irish from the African slaves. Give the Irish slightly better jobs like overseer and cooks and chambermaids in the manor. It worked.
Soon enough the Irish thought they were better than the Africans and the English elites were safe. The Irish and Africans would fight each other.
Yes. And we let them do it to us. Timmy none of us here are unfamiliar with what you state. We are here because we value knowing our history. Many of us have watched as we were once again fooled by the small government people. Led to believe that people failed because they were "lazy" and didn't deserve to be helped like FDR helped the poor during the Great Depression. "All they need is to work hard and they'll succeed". And we believed them as our parents worked hard, but couldn't pay the rent, couldn't pay the utilities, couldn't buy food. LBJ, and we accepted the small government people's "truth". LBJ, a colorful character no doubt, tried to expand on FDR's legacy to lift up the poorest among us. But, the small government people succeeded in convincing Americans that their opportunities were being stolen by those "lazy people". Now Trump is convincing people the "others" are thieves and that he is a victim of the elites who are trying to prevent him from helping the "good people" by saying he is breaking the law. Trump is an equal opportunity hater. The lies just get weaker.
Paula Dufour: The socialist countries everyone likes on this site (Denmark, Sweden, etc.) have small governments. Big governments fail the working people every time.
Timmy, you've worn out the list. They've asked me to stop answering. I suspect that it is natural for small countries to have small governments. I don't agree that big governments always fail working people. My sister's father-in-law worked for one of FDR's programs during the Great Depression. FDR helped many working Americans survive the Great Depression. Let's stop for today. Many people don't believe you believe what you write. They believe you are here just to annoy us. I just think you haven't had a good education and deserve to have someone who will take the time to add to that education.
Raised in NC, plenty still think “The South will rise again.” Plenty still think that successful blacks are “uppity.” Plenty still have that “white skin makes me
better” attitude, all the while baking at the beaches to darken their skin. Plenty still go to lilli-white churches and turn up their noses at Christian’s of a darker hue. I know them and still love some. Not the whole story, of course, but, sadly, more than was the case just twenty years ago. One step forward and two back, seems that 2000 made a difference, nationwide. In Texas it was 1994.
You are right Judith. Thank you for piping up regarding the generalizations. I have lived in the South and now in CA and CA is much more racist than the South.
Wow, what is your experience & where? I’m 3rd gen Californian (maternal side; 2nd gen paternal side) & have lived in working class small towns w/ large Hispanic populations & as kids & then teens, we all, well, just lived & strived & thrived together (the only real, if minor, rivalry that I experienced was between the car-guys and the surfers…but then if the “valley guys” came into town, both would band together in solidarity—note, no violence at all, just posturing). Later, late 60’s, moved to far northern coastal rural CA….not much ethnic diversity here, BUT a way larger-than-most counties % of indigenous peoples (their ancestral land after all). Sure, there are jerks everywhere…guess I’ve been lucky the places I’ve lived & that my extended family has lived to not have experienced overt racism in our daily lives (I don’t doubt some folks harbor such feelings, but have never really been able to wrap my head around that mindset).
I live in Los Angeles and I am gay and my partner is black. I find that racism is tied much to economic class. I used to attend the HRC (Human Rights Campaign) events but stopped from the obvious double standard of professing equality and then witnessing first hand the negative treatment of races from such membership. I find real lovers of equality are the truth seekers, more humble, and authentic. Not for show!
Living in Sonoma County, CA with neighbors and a local health officials he considers moronic because "there was no Pandemic". "Timmy" says he is a "redneck from Nebraska" actually "Timmy" has a red neck & a red face or should be red faced after his Comment on Savannah, Georgia, USA.
Though I understand your injury because I live in Elise Stefanik’s part of rural northern NY, I do not pardon my large number of uninformed neighbors. We are the ones that need to work hardest to change the culture that surrounds us.
Unfortunately, racism is all over, but in some areas more overt and in others where people act as if it doesn't exist, it is just as nefarious, but just more covert. Connecticut, for example, a very blue state, has 3 of the five poorest cities in the country, while it's one of the richest states. And, can anyone guess what ethnicity and race the majority of those living in the cities are?
I agree, and that's why i am wanting to move out of the South. I am tired of these people here with their ugly Confederate flags and all of the resentment here. I am also tired of the 5 months of hot and extremely humid weather here. I hardly go outside now because of that.
LaurieOregon: Have you ever been to the South. Oh, BTW, when Oregon became a state in the USA it was put in the agreement that Negroes were not allowed in Oregon. There were KKK rallies down the streets of Ashland, Oregon in the 1920s.
"Timmy" from Sonoma, the self described "redneck from Nebraska", I am in Oegon City right now to participate an Oregonian casual "forum" at 9 am about what is going down in ALL the states specifically Count Four (4), the failed attempt to destroy the right to
Vote in ALL the states,18 USC 241, but, you nor any juror do not have to have a JD to under-stand the Grand Jurors' Indictment. Very easy, the facts are not in dispute.
Update: The Perp has exposed himself to a contempt proceeding if he has already violated an existing court order issued by the Magistrate Judge or violates the protective Order (PTO) in the future being considered by the Trial Judge now. Don't mess with Tanya.
Bryan, I'm beginning to wonder if Timmy is another alter ego of john schmeekle (or however that troll spells his name). Timmy regularly teeters on the edge of trolldom for a while, then plunges in up to his neck, as witness his comment to LaurieOregon that you're responding to. And, of course, his comment in reply to yours above. "Judge Tanya"? A little respect for a federal court judge - who has not actually sat on any aspect of the federal indictments against Defendant 1078 so far - would seem to be out of his ability.
I need to edit this a bit; I apologize for the inaccuracy. Judge Chutkan (NOT "Judge Tanya", unless she gives you permission to address her in this way) has ruled on the prosecution's motion for protective order filed on Friday, August 4.
Oh, and "Timmy", if that's your real identity, your personal anecdotal experience is valid for you, not for anyone else who has ever lived. It's so nice for you that you've never experienced the kind of bigotry, racism, misogyny, that other Americans experience on a daily basis, but stop trying to pretent that Americans of those types don't exist everywhere, and in much greater concentrations than in others. Really, to say the South is less racist than California? Really?
Correct that is why I place "Timmy" in quotes. I heard a vivid analysis by an Oregonian this morning in Oregon City who analyzed a Troll's pyschological adoption of a "persona" when "on-line" that "allows" some folks on-line to attack any form of reality based data. Think about that ... that means scientific discovery is impossible when the Troll is cogntively disabled with fear. Reality can be very, very tough. I recommend such individuals go off-line, tmi.
Timmy, have you researched? It's possible (actually likely) that this was forced on the North by the South in order for Oregon to become a state. This shows that Oregon entered the Union as a free state. Not a slave state. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slave_states_and_free_states
Sadly Timmy is technically correct about Oregon's constitution saying Black people were not allowed to live there. However, your suggestion also has merit; Oregon worked to become a state in the midst of the pre-civil war period where there was a lot of keeping score of how many states would be slave states and how many would be "free" states. Oregon's birthday is February 14th 1859.
There is, of course, a lot more to the story. There was only one enforcement and there was a really interesting story about a man who promised his slaves that he would free them if they would help him move to Oregon; when he changed his mind after they got to Oregon they sued and won their children's freedom in Oregon courts. Gregory Nokes wrote a book about it.
A lot of white people who settled in Oregon came from or at least through Missouri and held racist beliefs. Portland was red-lined after WW2 and the KKK was active in Oregon politics in the 1920s. However, the KKK of the 1920s was mostly about anti-Roman Catholic opinions.
In my childhood in The Dalles the signs in store windows said "We don't serve Indians"...racism has always been with us, but has always been much more complicated than Black/white.
Thank you Mary Ellen. I started researching the timeline of Oregon's entrance into the Union. I want to read this book. All of us need to learn more about and read more about our country's slow, laborious, often painful fight to actually become who we think we are.
Between a people and their leaders, there is a contract. "I will follow you and you will lead me to a better place for both of us." A lie by the powerful can and often does abrogate that contract. Even in our everyday lives a lie will destroy relationships and end them outright. The spouse who cheats. The businessman who doesn't pay their bills, not because they can't but because they think the people they owe aren't powerful enough to collect on the debt. There are lies and then there are lies. You can tell me I'm beautiful when I'm ugly. But tell me I'm ugly when I'm beautiful? No that last doesn't work because it is done to destroy me. The first is done to lift me up and encourage me forward. Tell me the future will be brighter when you know the immediate future will be horrible. Tell me you'll make the future better for me when you have no intention of doing so. The last won't fly. The first will be because it gives me hope to continue. There are lies and there are lies.
Paula, thanks for engaging Timmy. I did it yesterday. Now I am all set.
The more he posts, the more he reveals his "libertarian" anarchist attitude. Now we know he "doesn't follow leaders". I am not sure how a leaderless world works. But I am sure he can explain. Because he enjoys having an answer for everything. Much like Schmeeckle, he likes to throw sand in the gears of democracy.
Some folks just enjoy relentlessly poking a stick in everyone's eye. There is an underlying disappointment and anger from both John and Timmy. They are not hopeful. They are "whatabouters". And they eat up conspiracies like candy.
Most of us here are seeking justice and compassionate treatment of all people. I am looking forward to your future posts.
Thank you Paula, I think everybody here knows I love contracts both express & implied particulary when state law requires good faith & fair dealing. All Substack "Readers" have contractual obligations to each other and to the Platform that can ( & will be) mediated at JAMS SF per the Publisher's Agreement.
Today is what I consider the first day of the week. I face this day disappointed at my fellow man. I feel there are no borders that collectively encircle the good guys. There is no historical people who hold the high ground. We all know the moral rules expected of us. The rules that allow us to live next to each other without violence. When the goals or motivations of a nation assume the "the ends justify the means", we have lost our moral authority. The United States is facing a judgement, a fork in the road. In November 2024, we are not voting for a leader. We are voting on the Constitution of the United States to which all federal leaders and employees, at all levels of the federal government, civil or military, swear an oath. There is no need for judgement of truth or lie. The Constitution is available for everyone to read on archives.gov. The vote in November 2024 is about that document. There are people who stood for the Constitution after the 2020 Election and those who did not. In my opinion, Donald Trump did not. Don't sleepwalk into tyranny, the very thing the founders crafted the Constitution to defeat. The Constitution is specifically written to avoid the concentration of power into the hands of a single individual. There are no benevolent dictators. Don't sleepwalk into tyranny.Today is what I consider the first day of the week. I face this day disappointed at my fellow man. I feel there are no borders that collectively encircle the good guys. There is no historical people who hold the high ground. We all know the moral rules expected of us. The rules that allow us to live next to each other without violence. When the goals or motivations of a nation assume the "the ends justify the means", we have lost our moral authority. The United States is facing a judgement, a fork in the road. In November 2024, we are not voting for a leader. We are voting on the Constitution of the United States to which all federal leaders and employees, at all levels of the federal government, civil or military, swear an oath. There is no need for judgement of truth or lie. The Constitution is available for everyone to read on archives.gov. The vote in November 2024 is about that document. There are people who stood for the Constitution after the 2020 Election and those who did not. In my opinion, Donald Trump did not. Don't sleepwalk into tyranny, the very thing the founders crafted the Constitution to defeat. The Constitution is specifically written to avoid the concentration of power into the hands of a single individual. There are no benevolent dictators. Don't sleepwalk into tyranny.
Paula, agreed, but the worst lie is "I will work to make your future brighter" when what you actually intend to do, and then in fact do, is everything you possibly can to make that future brighter for yourself alone, and worse for everyone as a consequence of completely disregarding all of their interests. That is what we have seen with D1078 and what that individual and his ilk continue to tell his sad, hard-of-thinking or just venal, supporters.
Eleven years ago, I took my Dad to the barbershop where we both got our hair cut. He was 91 at the time and had stopped driving.
We were both waiting for the next chair to open up, and Dad asked, “Is this August 5?”
Yeah, why do you ask, one of the barbers said.
“Well, 70 years ago today I was with the 1st Marines on the first rubber raft to land on Guadalcanal. I was just a Navy signalman, but the Marines needed me with them for ship-to-shore communications. We were the scouting party that went ashore one night to map out the landings that started a day or two later. It was the first big land battle of the Pacific campaign.”
You could have heard a pin drop.
His ship was the troop transport USS Heywood, which brought the 1st Marines from the West coast to the Guadalcanal Campaign. A few days after the landing, Heywood's sailors were tasked with removal of wounded. Dad went ashore to provide ship-to-shore communications a few more times. "The mortar fire you could kind of anticipate. It was the snipers who were scary," he told me on the drive home.
Like a lot of WW II veterans, he didn't talk much about the war.
Wow, Steve, thanks for sharing your Dad’s recollections. I can see why many/most (?) chose not to share such graphic stories, just another way to protect those at home….even tho’ they’d come home years before. What a deeply personal scar the war experience must have been…I know I cannot comprehend it, but CAN empathize with the tumultuous feelings. I am glad you were there when he felt safe enough to share such a defining moment.
Such brave men and women, our parents and grandparents and earlier generations fighting for America's promise. Naively, we did not realize that what seemed hopeful to us in the 60s and 70s in terms of rights and ecology, was just a rallying cry to the forces of greed and repression. And that 50 years on we'd end up once more having to fight them in the courts and at the ballot box. And please without bloodshed.
Amazing story, Steve, that your dad held tightly until he didn’t. The men who fought in WWII, like my dad, came back as heroes. They resumed their jobs.
My father-in-law was in the South Pacific as a marine using a new-fangled technology called radar. That generation kept their own council. I wish they hadn't. We needed to know the horrors of war. We need to know today. The possibility of civil war is bandied about as though it would be like a bar fight. That the namby-pamby bleeding heart liberals would fold before the mighty onslaught of righteous Republicans. After all, they have guns. Do they really think we don't?
Paula, war is so horrible....just think of Ukraine and the little chldren who are living without their full limbs....think of the terrible high-powered guns sold at
Walmart....when used on the human body. DNA had to be used to identify many of the children murdered in Uvalde.
Many wars are started by humans who will never be on the battlefield.
Many troubled souls will never know the loss of a child they chose to randomly destroy....and take from a loving family.
War is hell....sometimes even surviving is not really surviving....many commit suicide or become addicted to drugs to try and escape the memories!!!!
Thanks for this description of bravery and the horror your Dad must have experienced.
My WWII Dad was in North Africa and from there the drive to liberate Italy. He only spoke of the war a couple of times. I think they just wanted to bury the memories as they did their friends.
Once when I asked him what upset him the most about the war. He said " ...ordering young guys to charge the enemy..."
And then he shared how he, the wounded Lt met my Mom, the Army hospital nurse - who became a captain and would always outrank him. A German bullet in his arm led to my sister and I being born.
My folks met while Mom was on the Southern Pacific Owl, headed to San Diego to visit who she thought was her fiancee. Dad was on the same train, going from Portland (Heywood disembarked for repairs in 1942 after Guadalcanal campaign) to San Diego (Heywood refitted before Attu/Kiska) and spotted her with her traveling companion, another 20-year-old girl, and walked past her making eye contact and smiling. Apparently REALLY smiling. Finally, mom's companion asked him to have a seat. He had recently been promoted to Signalman First Class (SM1c, Navy equivalent of Staff Sergeant). He introduced himself as a First Class Signalman. Mom replied, "Nice to meet you, I thought you were the First Class Smiler."
They wrote literally hundreds of letters and got married - secretly - about 15 months later, while Dad was enrolled in V-12.
There are a lot of us Boomers who need to keep those stories alive.
Thanks for sharing the story of your parents and giving me a chance at the same.
Steve, whilst writing my comment this tune came to mind: Brother’s In Arms by Dire Straits…hadn’t listened to it in some time….it still moves me: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jhdFe3evXpk
STEVE ! , GOD BLESSED, Your Dad, & HE, is Blessing YOU ! for SHARING This Story With ALL of Us ! We VETERANS, put Our TRUST, in One Another, AND Our LORD ! That We will be BLESSED , To CONTINUE, so We Can LOVE ! AND Give Our LORD/GOD the GLORY ! , and The PRAISE !! ( VET of VN, Phu Bai 1971 )
Steve, thank you for sharing your dad’s story. And bless your father always for his duty and bravery. My father was an army Sargent in Korea, who saw battle but wouldn’t talk about it until his 80’s or so. He passed in 2020 at age 93.
My Dad was not quite 21 when he put ashore with the Marines, but he lived to a ripe 96.
My late brother was born 9 months after Dad was home on shore leave for Christmas in 1944. I was born a little over 9 months after Dad was discharged from the Korean conflict as a recalled USN Reservist, shortly after he helped evacuate the remaining wounded aboard the Hospital Ship USN Repose.
Our Dads will always be inseparable pieces of the Greatest Generation.
I heard this story from my grandmother when young who was married to a young navy civil war veteran who was present for this battle. While my grandfather died in 1919 long before I was born in 1947, the story of this episode of the battle that turned the tide of the civil war is one I heard many times when young.
Thank you. I had no idea where that saying came from. Farragut , I believe went on to an illustrious career. All it takes is some sort of victory for democracy for morale to rise. Like the judge turning down Trumps delay tactic today regarding the DOJ request for forbidding Trump to post about the discovery materials he’s about to be overwhelmed with. This judge means business. Like Farragut so long ago.
With all of Trump's posturing, he's probably trying to hide the scared little boy that he damned well won't show. Are the Officials afraid of what will ensue if he's locked up? I honestly think he's asking for it. 'Save me from myself'? I think it was Judith Hubbard who said the crowd was amplified by the media. I think the media might be a big part of the problem. They brought him back to life, so to speak..
I’m so tired of arguments for psychoanalysis of “poor, poor, pitiful tRump”. Yeah, he’s a malignant narcissist who, according to his niece, didn’t get adequately nurtured by his neo nazi, fascist parents. The bottom line: tRump has NEVER opted to develop conscience or integrity. He has a criminal mind, he is an unrepentant traitor. His actions are tied to deaths. He deserves to be hanged. “Scared little boy”--please.
You didn't absorb the rest of it. The 'scared little boy' is true but it goes further. He never developed healthy ways to cope so he rants, bullies, whines, bribes, threatens, etc. As a former Social Worker, I have my opinions and I have a right to express them It's not important whether you or anyone agrees with me.
Actually, it IS important to me and I'm sorry if I sound like a self-righteous prick. I try not to comment because I'm always sure someone will dissect what I say and I'll feel like a failure. I think 'no more comments for awhile'. Thank you for your feedback.
Damn the torpedoes, AG Garland. He’s not afraid of justice. He’s the only innocent in this country.
Damn the torpedoes, Special Prosecutor Jack Smith. You’ve got the helm. The crew awaits your orders.
James D. Robinson III awaits your orders. You are on the bridge. Damn the torpedoes.
Flank Speed
Flank Speed! America.
Fund Ukraine and pull out the stops. As Ukraine goes, so goes America. Fact.
We have a world to save.
Damn the torpedoes, Flank Speed, Jack Smith.
We have a republic to save. Yes...
Flank speed in DC, flank speed in Manhattan, flank speed in Atlanta, flank speed in Albany, New York, flank speed in DeSantis Land, Florida’s ethical racist illiterate swamp..and flank speed in Alabama, and the Scotus Swamp, knee deep in racist detritus and billionaires bribes all over the feckless congress.
We have a nation to save. Snap to attention.
This is not dress rehearsal.
The Civil War is not over, America. Prejudice is winning. Hatred is winning.
Don’t ask, don’t tell, we may lose the White House to a jailed orange criminal. An orange faced whack job criminal awaits attention. Who decides?
Damn the torpedoes ... America, sleep fast. We are flirting with defeat.
At dawn.
Just hours after.
Indicted in Florida. To the Miami Court House next week, Mr. Trump.
I had no idea. As a young apprentice electrician in the early 60's, I walked Farragut Avenue inside Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, Bremerton Washington, on my way to work every morning. It's very good to know, finally, who this man was. Thank you Professor Richardson for your continuing commitment to the education of all of your faithful readers.
With all of the indictments against Trump, and really they are indictments of the current Republican Party, “damn the torpedoes. And full speed ahead” on all prosecutions of law breaking by the current Republican Party and its facilitators until we clean up this damn mess of insurrection against our democracy and nation. Don’t leave FOX out. Law suits are piling up against FOX for their role in the 2020 election lies scam and slander against Americans and businesses who were caught in the cross fire to discredit the election results.
Every democratic minded American should be calling out our news media and democratic minded politicians to call a spade a spade where Republicans are attacking our nation. We should remind everyone who the Republicans were and what they stood for in President Lincoln’s time and what they have become, the Neo Confederates in Trump’s time. All southern Republicans today are well versed in how to be Confederates, having grown up in the conservative authoritarian culture of white supremacy and one party get away with murder rule.
I, briefly, watched FOX today to see how they're doing. They're even worse. And Jeanne Piro was suspended a couple of times this year, I read. I dunno. I think Murdoch and Trump will live forever.
That “infamy” needs to be widely experienced NOW. Reading the indictment was eye opening in its measured approach. Sad that the right “Everyman “won’t read it.
So much of history is shaped and recorded through battles and wars. The fates of nations are determined by the outcome. Thousands, sometimes millions of people die in the process. One side wins, and the world moves on. We are in the midst of one such was now in Ukraine. There are several other internal strifes in many other countries.
Usually, one side is seeking to dominate and exploit the other, while the other is fighting to stay free. For centuries, war was always considered to be the way differences were settled. If you try to total up the winners of history, the good guys usually lose. Often it is difficult to tell which side is better than the other.
Today, in America, one side is threatening violence, while the other is hoping to bring about a peaceful solution to some terrible differences through laws, the courts, and free elections. The outcome is not yet clear, but I am becoming more hopeful.
History will record that It was Jack Smith who said “Damn the motions to delay. Full speed ahead!
It is disappointing to read many of the comments above generalizing regions of our country. That, to me, makes civil discourse difficult, as one feels the need to defend themselves because of where they reside.
Dang! I wish you were the author of every history book U.S. children read in school (well, adults, too, at any time). Clear writing, vivid word pictures, and "just the facts, mam."
Ann, you must Ms. Richardson’s books about The Reconstruction and post Civil War era. She is a super nova.
Professor Heather Cox Richardson, if you please! I
t took her not only a great deal of reading but writing also to achieve her PhD in History... no doubt a specific history I am not giving the full measure of Prof Richardson’s academic credentials! Her publications are all available online! And can be ordered from any independent bookseller😁. Support small businesses whenever possible please! And Thank You ❤️😉🎶
Are these what school children read. ProbAbly not in Texas where schools were hamstrung by the blather of Mel and Norma Gabler for decades. Their influence still resonates, nationwide, sad to say.
Growing up in the South, we did not learn the history presented in this essay. We learned that Lee was an honorable gentleman, but not about his treatment of those he enslaved. We were taught that enslaved persons were no worse off than the poor people up North. We were taught that Grant and Sherman were monstrous. Since Sherman marched through my hometown, that was not hard to imagine.
We were not taught that the civilian and military leadership of the Confederacy were traitors. Suppose Lee and his officers had been taken into custody as a condition of surrender? Suppose Jefferson Davis had been tried and imprisoned or executed? The traitorous leadership of the Confederacy was not held accountable. If the colonies had lost to the Crown in the Revolutionary War, you can be sure the founding fathers would have been executed.
True in NC as well. The South was never portrayed as treasonous, which they most assuredly were. We are in the same boat now with chump. Almost everybody seems afraid to call him what he is, and lock his arse up. He certainly will not be shy about doing just that if he gets a chance. After all, his mantra was lock her up. But he has a magic mirror which never shows him as anything but the Fox's Dorian Gray. Only we see what he really is. National insanity, as in Germany pre-war.
As a northerner with scant southern exposure, thank you for that insight!
so well put.
Jeri,
All of my primary school, middle school, high school and undergraduate and graduate education was in Texas.
Now, the good thing about that, especially back then, is it was all essentially free. My undergrad institution was A&M in engineering (which is a good, albeit academic Auschwitz like experience (flunk out rates were 40% the first two years). My grad institution was UT Austin (I was dating a girl at the time who refused to move out of Texas so UT Austin was it for ChE).
But, to answer your question: Are these what school children (in Texas) read?
Answer is: Emphatically no. I never heard of any of the events in Dr. Richardson's letters. I DID have many history courses along the way. All were mind numbingly boring exercises in memorizing dates and names of battles in various wars and a few Presidents and their years.
Nothing at all about Jim Crow. Nothing about slavery. Nothing about the peonage system or the prison system, post reconstruction, being the ongoing attempt to keep slavery alive.
Big, huge THICK books (I still have my required college history text in the basement) and a bunch of stuff in there that nobody remembers.
I do think the history professors were sincere though. It was just a time when everything had been covered over and everyone was OK with that (A&M and UT were essentially all white except for the football team back then). My supervising professor was the only professor in ChE to have an African American student in the department.
Mike, I went to school in California and we did not learn any of the history that we read here thanks to Dr. Richardson.
Same here in IA, nothing like this, and we were (irony intended), a Union state. I think the quote "the victors write the history" does apply, but I think whitewashing took place everywhere that people preferred their own version of history to the real thing.
Mike, if you don't mind me asking when, where did you develop your critical thinking chops? I know that design + engineering requires solid deductive reasoning skills. Curious in Oregon this am. :)
Bryan. During my PhD time at UT.
You did NOT just say "academic Auschwitz like experience", right?!!! MIKE!!! NO!!
Did you ever hear about the Aggie who backed off the bus when it came to his stop? He heard someone say they were going to take his seat!
(Drumroll, bada boom!)
We're here all week folks, try the veal. :-)
A&M’s flunk out protocol was very abusive and ruined thousands of lives every year.
I did well. But. Many did not. It was horrible and terrifying.
I concur. All of my public school education was in Texas and it prepared me for college, grad school and law school outside Texas. I don’t remember much about the Civil War except that in many instances it was kind to the South.
I had never heard of the Gablers. A quick Google search gave this article (from 1982):
https://www.texasmonthly.com/news-politics/the-guardians-who-slumbereth-not/
which I thought was very good. Even though it's in the Texas Monthly, it is very reasonable.
I read that years ago. Probably before Rove and Bush ruined Texas. Old Norma and Mel were the propaganda network back then.
Do you know the titles to these books?? I read a lot of books of all kinds. i sure would love to read Ms. Richardson's books about The Reconstruction and post Civil War era.
Here's a list of HCR's books. Not sure which one is particular to the Reconstruction/post-Civil War era.
I suspect "How the South Won the Civil War" is a good start, though. https://www.goodreads.com/author/list/230264.Heather_Cox_Richardson
Good grief! I had no idea, but I think I'd better get started.
There’s a new book coming out in September and you can preorder on Amazon!
Or better still with your local independent bookstore!
Me, too!
JEN ! Yess !, iT HAS Been ORDERED !!
Please preorder at an independent bookstore, or after a while we won’t have them!
"West From Appomattox" is another.
Thank you greatly for this link.
Thank you very much for the link. I am going to check it out.
YES!
How the South Won the Civil War, The Death of Reconstruction and West of Appomattox: The Reconstruction of America After The Civil War.
Oh yes, i read about that recently. I am still finding out more and more about that every day, a lot of things that i didn't previously know.
Just put her name on the search and all her books come up.🥰👏🏻
the texans wouldn't allow it.
Damn, the Texans, full speed ahead. They are not being led, they are being ruled. Enable the defeat of the Republicans in Texas and reclaim our national identity.
Yes damn the Republicans full speed ahead. That will be my new mantra.
Yesterday in the comments, I wrote about having courage, for the sake of our children and grandchildren. Today I read “Damn the torpedoes!” - what a wonderful battle cry!
Thank you Professor Richardson!
This Texan agrees
Defeat Republicans in Ohio Tuesday! Then we can worry about Texas.
One of the excellent groups working in Texas is bluehorizontexas.org
Donated.
Absolutely, Governor abbott has appointed one of his henchman to rule the Houston ISD and the first edict out of his mouth was to state that there wouldn’t be Librarians in all schools and changing some libraries into “learning centers” and for disciplining students… At last report he seemed to have backed off but one can never be certain with abbott likely pulling his strings…abbott, in one of his greatest failings as governor failed to pass legislation for teacher raises in the last session and he continues to tweet that he doesn’t want the mythical “woke agenda” he claims is being taught in Texas schools. Lt. Governor dan, changed his name, patrick has long advocated for Charter Schools which makes one wonder how much money is involved should that plan result in the takeover of public schools denying the free public education guaranteed in the Texas Constitution. Texas Democrats need to steps up their game and provide a viable candidate to run against abbott since there is no provision for term limits for the governor’s position in Texas; otherwise…
Why do they want citizens to be ignorant? Does it make ruling easier, really?
Of course! Keep your population ignorant and unquestioning. It's one of THE tenets of fascism, if you read tracts by Hitler, Goebbels, and Mussolini. Keep telling them lies and they'll believe anything, then they're easier to keep in line that way. Same with evangelical Christianity . . . rule them by fear and intimidation, make them not question anything, and they'll do and believe what you tell them.
It is my firmly held conviction that these two entities, these cults of MAGA and evangelicals, constitute the single greatest threats to this country more than anything since the Civil War. I don't believe this is mere hyperbole. These are very real and present dangers.
Bruce, I agree wholeheartedly! There was an online article yesterday from a psychologist, comparing Trumpism to Jim Jones's Jonestown cult. This would explain Ginni Thomas, a former cult member, and others' behavior, which can't be explained away by lack of intelligence. I'm frightened to death.
Remember Trump saying "I love the uneducated." Tells you a lot.
It's the barefoot-and-pregnant principle.
Ann W: History is written by the victors. General Curtis LeMay (the Air Force General that firebombed and nuked the Japanese) famously said that if the Allies lost the war, the generals and admirals would be tried as war criminals and hung (as were the Japanese and German generals).
Both the Northern and Southern Armies committed war crimes in the War Between the States. But the North won so Lincoln, Grant, Sherman, and Sheridan's war crimes are not mentioned.
From Google;
What is the famous quote about war is hell?
“I am tired and sick of war. Its glory is all moonshine. It is only those who have neither fired a shot nor heard the shrieks and groans of the wounded who cry aloud for blood, for vengeance, for desolation. War is hell”.
Of course the winners(if one can call them such)get to write the history but then so do the historians such as Dr Richardson.
The quote above is well known to many as it was said by one of the “winners”, who was right in the thick of things in the most un-civil of wars on this soil. William T. Sherman was the speaker of those words as he addressed a cadet class at West Point after the war of Southern insurrection. By the way, it’s the south that has written a history that bears no resemblance to the truth then just as they are doing today in order to keep the pot boiling and the ignorance on top of actual history. The War of Southern Aggression was lost by those rich, white slave holders and as usual, the poor whites were the cannon fodder led by their noses to the slaughter.
Another famous quote that I love and use often, is one by George Santayana from “The Life of Reason”(1905), “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it”. As smart as we’d like to believe ourselves to be, we here in these United States, have never learned this.
I like "war of southern insurrection".
One of the monikers for the war in the South was: "Our Late Unpleasantness". Typical.
Well done, SPW. Thank you from everyone who reads your comment!
You’re most welcome. I may not always succeed, but I try to get my facts straight when memory feels hazy.
Two of the memorable quotations that most people only know by a few words. Thanks SPW for offering them in full. "Damn the torpedoes, indeed." Professor Richardson is a national treasure who bas a Mainer's work ethic. So grateful for her sacrifices.
Yes indeed. Dr. Richardson’s knowledge, work ethic and citations are why I subscribe to her newsletter. I file her information for future reference as well. She makes me wish I had continued with my history major in college. Oh well; maybe in my next life.
What major did SPW settle on, and how has that worked out for you? Next lives don't come with guarantees, or maybe ever, although I think I'm living the one of a US soldier who died DEFENDING DEMOCRACY IN WWII!
Majored in Motherhood twice. The School of Hard Knocks once and minoring in Taking Things as They Come as a vocation. Not sure what’s coming next so I’ll just stick around as long as I can and find out.
SPW: I know Sherman said those words. Old Generals say a lot of words to make their past actions less reprehensible.
The War Between the States was just that. Before President Lincoln centralized power in DC, every American was a Virginian or New Yorker or Mainer first, American second.
Robert E. Lee turned down an offer to lead the Union Armies. He couldn't bring himself to attack his home, Virginia.
Yes, the rich WASP plantation owners seceded from the Union. They were going to pay high tariffs on their imports needed for the cotton business. The New England Yankees wanted that tariff money. The Yankees, except for the Abolitionists, didn't give a damn about the slaves. There were slaves in New England.
The war was about money and territory as it usually is.
Your point is?
SPW: Read my last sentence. The war was about money and territory, not slavery directly (though if the plantations went broke the plantation owners couldn't afford slaves.)
The war was allegedly about States Rights; read that as the right to own and abominably treat other human beings. This country has danced all around the problem of slavery. Compromises were made over slavery to get the Constitution passed. Compromises were made to allow some new territory in slave free while others could have slaves. The country was sitting on a slavery powder keg and just too dumb to admit it. The 14th Amendment written after the war was supposed to have fixed what the war was fought about but it just gave rise to the Klan and continual anti Black sentiment that, to this day, never seems to stop(Ron Disantis anyone?)And of course, a lot of what the war was about was money. Planters had too much money tied up in Black skin. Most things truly evil boil down to money it seems. The south wanted to maintain the status quo; certainly not change.
If the South had succeeded in holding off the North in 1864 one has to wonder what a comparison of history textbooks in Northern vs. Southern cities would reveal.
Not quite. I was taught about Sherman burning Atlanta. Grant drinking. Lincoln so depressed, etc. That thousands died on each side is not a war crime. It is war. Whatever crimes were in fact committed, were forgiven for the good of unity. Lincoln was not a vengeful man, but he was politically savvy.
Linda Shirley: If raping women, burning farms and cities, looting, and murdering civilians isn't a war crime, please tell me what is.
This was riveting. I am in tears!
Ann, I agree.
The Washington Post called out today for a unifying voice to help the nation through the trauma of confronting Mr. Trump’s attack on our democratic institutions. Once again, these Letters remind us of courage and loyalty that carried the Republic through peril. This is a most welcome message.
The Post OpEd was just another exercise in a long line of mealy-mouthed exercises in false equivalence by the Post editors. We have a strong and unifying voice in President Biden, who has consistently called for sane bipartisan action. The Post needs to recognize that both sides are not the same.
Long overdue.
Mr Gamer ! THATS, a Solid AMEN !! The CONTRAST , is BLINDING ! GODS WILL , Will Be DONE !
They called for another Walter Cronkite—ignoring the fact that people have been told for years that Walter Cronkite’s network can’t be trusted and wouldn’t trust him today. They then called for Biden to say something about the indictments—ignoring the fact that he’s working hard not to be seen as influencing the Justice Department. I didn’t see anything useful in the op-ed, just another “why can’t we all get along?” with no solutions.
You can't get along with people who want to ignore facts and your rights to "life, liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness." That's why we insisted on unconditional surrender from the Nazis and Japan in WW II. Republicans have become Trumpists. Leave them alone and they will burn it all down. They had many opportunities to silence him beginning before the first debate in 2015. Trump owns them all except Mitt Romney.
Lan, I’d add Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger to your list of anti-trump advocates. Sadly neither is serving any longer but hopefully they’re working in the background.
Adam Kinzinger is working hard, with Country First.
https://www.country1st.com/about
Thanks for the link. I admire Kinziger and see him sometimes on MSNBC. Had not heard of his organization. only hope he doesn’t endorse a third party candidate in the upcoming election.
Yes, I agree, but I think he is smart enough to know that a third party candidate will make it very hard for Biden to win.
Charlie Sykes interviewed him yesterday on The Bulwark podcast.
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-bulwark-podcast/id1447684472?i=1000623472696
Kinzinger has turned into one of my "kinda" heroes. Yes, he is a Republican, but I think it's safe to say he's a Republican whose ideas have "evolved". We may still disagree with him on some other issues, and I like to think we'll live to fight those battles another day, but he really recognizes what is at stake here, probably even more so because he has been on the "inside" of the machinations of how a lot of this came to pass. I saw him recently on CNN on a panel parsing the finer points of the last T***p arraignment, and he was explaining the behavior of Speaker McCarthy. He obviously knows McCarthy really well, but you could tell how really angry and disappointed Kinzinger was with McCarthy's statements. He basically said that McCarthy's seeming anger after the last arraignment was most likely coming more from McCarthy's genuine frustration that he was having to stand up once again and defend something that he, in his heart, knows is wrong. His position, and kind of the corner he has painted himself into, necessitates he do & say what is expected of him, but Kinzinger seemed to notice cracks in the façade that show McCarthy is getting sick of all this. If anybody would know McCarthy's mind it might be someone like Kinzinger, who can now speak freely. I found it very interesting.
Thank you, Bruce. McCarthy needs to stand up for what's right, but he won't. He and McConnell have done this country a lot of harm.
Romney keeps his head down most of the time and lets the craziness go unopposed. Murkowski might be a little better. Too bad there isn't a Margaret Chase Smith among the Repubs.
Romney is just as petty as his party at crucial votes, such as his comments and vote blocking a Democratic Senator substitute for Diane Feinstein on a he judicial committee. He said it would be stupid for Republicans to give up their advantage in having Feinstein’s absence hold up appointments of justices.
It really is shocking how willing the Party of No is to throw our national security and military readiness and just general ability to get things done - like getting judges appointed - under the bus for the sake of grandstanding. While it flies under most people's radar, the lack of judges throughout the country (as a consequence of Senator Feinstein's ill health and refusal on the part of Romney et al to seat a substitute) has actual, immediate and long-term effects on living, breathing Americans (and others - not that those others matter a whit to the republicant, unless those others are able to make large donations to the Party of No). If they don't care at the very least about our fellow and sister Americans' lives, and that they have the authority and power to improve those lives, what is the point of their being in Congress at all? What do their constituents whose lives and businesses are daily and permanently being adversely affected by the clogged-up courts think about their "representatives"?
And we need to continually remind readers that Republicans of the past are today’s Democrats.
Of which I am one….
Amazing that so many have no clue
Born in 1945, I spent a lot of time in Germany on the technical side of buying heavy industrial equipment for an American company during the 80's and 90's. I got to known a lot of Germans very well. They did not want to go back to the time of the Nazis nor did I see monuments to Nazi generals or leaders.
There was one memorial to German war dead that I felt was really moving. It was outside the entrance to a large engineering works and was of grandfathers teaching their grandchildren the crafts of metal working. The fathers were missing because they were killed in the war. No overt glory for the missing fathers, just we must teach our grandchildren and carry on.
This caught my eye ".... nor did I see monuments to Nazi generals or leaders."
Mitt is a wuss of the Republican stripe. Not his dad’s republican. Liz and Adam spoke up and who remembers…
LAN , Remember, the WORD ! , Has SPOKEN, " A House DIVIDED , CAN NOT ! , STAND ! "
And yet Mitt’s no paragon either. Mitt’s in a very safe Senate seat with loads of LDS money to keep him there as long as he wants to be there. He can afford to open his mouth and squeak, uh SPEAK, every once in a while.
And Mitt Romney has his own “rich guy” problems. Remember the 47% speech and the razor wire around factories in China?
Lan Mosher: "We can't get along with people who want to ignore facts and your rights to 'life, liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness". That's why we (who is "we") insisted on unconditional surrender of the Nazis and Japan in WWII"
Lan, are you talking about the Federal government of the USA? The folks in DC ignored facts and our rights during the "Covid Panic".
And how many people needlessly died in WWII because of that stiff-necked "unconditional surrender" demand?
The anniversary of the nuking of Hiroshima and Nagasaki are coming up. Are you going to have a victory party?
Timmy, Timmy, Timmy wake up and smell the coffee. Your beloved leader is a con man. If you truly want an answer to injustice, you must find a leader that truly wants to fight injustice. Our history is dotted with mistakes and triumphs. Stop living in the past. Yes, we must learn from it. But move to solutions, not retribution.
Paula, please stop feeding (encouraging) the troll.
Paula, Paula, Paula what the hell are you talking about? Who's this "leader" I follow? Do you think I can read your mind?
If you don't believe in retribution, why does everyone on this site want to prosecute the Orange Huckleberry (Donald Trump)?
Because Trump doesn't believe in the rule of law and he is perverting our culture to one that is leading to physical confrontation. His lawyer points out that free speech allows a person to lie. Do we really want to follow people who make it a practice to lie? The peaceful transfer of power is the only thing that allows diverse people to express the ideas of a majority. It has been the American tradition prior to modern times to at least give lip service to embracing the direction of the majority. Their argument for Trump's 2016 election was "he's a successful businessman so he will be able to run a better government." But Trump's "majority" fails to see his businessman's behavior undermines the structure of our government which depends on checks and balances to prevent the rise of an authoritarian ruler, which is actually in my view part of the standard business model. They seem to believe that destroying the structure of our government will resolve their grievances, but what they don't seem to understand is it is businessmen who in their search of profit that destroyed their jobs because there was cheaper labor somewhere else to be had. It was businessmen who did not find new jobs or training for new jobs for these people. It is not the business model to give a soft landing to the community you no longer need to run your business. If you don't want me to read your mind, tell me who do you follow? What is your concept of good government? It is obvious that you have sources providing you with information. Who are they? Who do you read? Who are your heroes?
I can’t speak for everyone on this site. My interest in Trump being prosecuted for his crimes is largely to reduce the chances of him or others doing them again. I think that if Nixon had had to defend himself in court, Trump never would have run for office. It’s partly to punish Donald for what he’s done to all of us. It’s partly because that evil man provides so much drama, and I like stories. At the same time, I think what happens to Donald personally is not important. What’s important, is what we all do to get out the vote on behalf of democracy and rule of law, which means electing Democrats since the Republican Party has abandoned both. My opinion, others will see it differently.
There's retribution and there's justice. I want him brought to justice, because supposedly in this country, no one is above the law. And if he's allowed to get away with the mountain of crime he's committed, it sends a very dangerous message.
Consequences for breaking the rules is sanity not retribution.
Not at all the same.
Eisenhower was under pressure to take Berlin before the Russians got there. He refused to avoid further loss of American (and probably German) lives.
Bill O'Connor: Eisenhower was also against dropping the nukes on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. What is your point?
Good question. Maybe he saw all the destruction of the German cities we bombed?
No celebration of the bombing of Hiroshima, Nagasaki, OR Dresden or any others. However, total War, including sneaky ones like Maggot Republicans are now waging against our freedoms, deserve a total response. In my other comment on August 5, I referred to our needing more aggressive leadership to fight Republicans undermining democracy. Our problems could also be solved by a faster and more aggressive prosecution of ALL of those who conspired to destroy democracy. Admit it, Republicans believe that, as Orwell put it, "some of the pigs were more equal than others." Women, for example, are denied control over reproduction.
Lan Mosher: I believe both parties agree with the Orwell quote you mention. Don't fall for the Red vs. Blue fake wrestling match. Neither party gives a damn about us.
Beautifully put!
Reminds me of the time when republicans were not actively working to destroy the country
When was that? 40, 50 years ago?
Before Ronald Reagan, for sure.
80's I think. Wrote more than a few letters to Houston Chronicle about those religious nuts.
Just because they switched party names , doesn’t mean they were any different back in the 1860’s
I agree. The more things change, the more they remain the same. Looking back on it, I started cutting my political teeth during the civil rights era when the Dixiecrats flew into the open arms of the republican party but my study of history goes much further than that.
You reflect my own reaction of the details Heather uses to explain the importance of applying Historical framing to current events.
The plight of Abe Lincoln at an election with little to encourage support for the war to preserve the Union and Admiral Farragut’s refusal to succumb to discouraging circumstances both add credibility to President Joe Biden’s brave insistence on reviving FDR’s strategies for using Government in bottom up economic stimulus.
The best verification of economic theory is when the application works as our thriving markets attest.
So glad you mentioned that.
Biden's IS that unifying voice, but only if people are willing to hear it over the rampant lies spread by the mouthpieces of Tramp and the Party of No. They have been led to the water, but can't be forced to drink. They seem to prefer their Kool-Ade.
“Damn the torpedoes. Full speed ahead!” was my grandfather’s (b. 1892 ~ Eastport, ME) rallying cry for all adventures he marshaled us kids to before my mother had time to intervene!
Those words were brave, but they were a willingness to sacrifice in the hopes of clearing a way forward. Like the men who used their bodies to shield others from the delay of barbed wire in infantry advances. War is a horrible thing that is sometimes necessary. Let's work to ensure we do not once again bear arms against our neighbors, but we can't give in to their lunacy. This next election our rallying cry should be "Joe because he believes". He believes in the "rule of law". Don't fall prey to the talk of he's too old. If he falters, someone will fill the breach. But unity is necessary to win this fight. Some of us will have to delay the implementation of our ideals. When the fog of battle clears, we can talk of better days and dreams for a better future that includes everyone. Do not falter! 2024 looms.
Stories of battles that turn the tide are always fraught with danger. Victory is never assured even when the plan is carefully wrought. The great leaders are often vilified even by their closest advisors who think that their own plan of battle is the better one. Lincoln faced that situation repeatedly during the Civil War. When Gettysburg ended, Lincoln couldn’t believe that Meade let General Lee’s forces safely retreat. The fog of war makes it hard to know even if a battle is won, as the costs of victory can be so very high.
America is winning now as a country as the spectres that threaten our democracy are forced to retreat. Did you watch trump head back to his golf club in Bedminster chastened by the power of the court? Our current conflict is with those that would weaken our democracy ....in favor of what? An oligarchy of rich aristocrats loyal not the the ideals of democratic self government but only to the accumulation of more money for the sake of the power and influence it can purchase? How truly damnably disloyal to the ideals, laws and Spirit of ‘76 that fuels our country’s real growth and development.
Biden and his supporters are getting the job done. The American people can tell winners from losers. We have to trust our neighbors to do so; that is the true risk of democracy. “We don’t need a weatherman to tell us which way the wind blows” as Dylan sang. Each one of us is empowered... the best system of government there is.
Except that millions are absorbing the bizarre lies that they are being fed. It’s a proven winning tactic of the fascists. Up is down and down is up and good luck figuring it all out if your mom drank alcohol while she was pregnant with you or you bumped your head too many times
It’s their choice...Fox is paying a price for its yellow journalism...others likewise. Lying liars always end up on the losing end. Peace...
It's only a valid choice if it's an informed choice, and being disinformed and misinformed about facts as well as about interpretations and opinions FOR YEARS deprives some of the hard-of-thinking of valid choices. I don't mean those who are willingly and wilfully blind, I mean those who have actually been gulled.
The thing is, Lynn, even good people make choices we can’t understand…right? Happens all the time. Everyone gets to vote secretly, so can anyone really know how another person really votes? Would we have it any differently? The job of the politician is to do a good job and then sell the outcomes. Yellow journalism and fear mongering politicians don’t help but it is the responsibility of each one of us to exercise our vote as each of us sees fit.
“Their” choice? To whose choice do you refer? The organically brain damaged? Fox doesn’t care about a few million when their lies deliver them billions and vengeance. The destruction the lying liars have wrought our Mother Ship sadly leaves all of us on the losing end. ☮️
So, if the lying Tramp IS convicted, of any of the crimes charged, would there be grounds for restitution as part of the sentence? I'd like to see that individual lose EVERYTHING, intangible and tangible - golf courses, jets, etc. - perhaps to recover f/b/o the treasury the money spent in these prosecutions? That individual won't ever need that tacky crap again, as he'll be in Camp Fed for the rest of his nasty, brutish and (I hope) short life.
He already going broke ( again). Should have stayed away from politics; he was warned.
Paula, I especially agree with your concern that we not judge Biden or other politicians on their age or their physical alacrity and coordination. We don't hire them for their athletic prowess but for their ability to think, to reason, to work with others to apply the best minds for the issue at hand, for their values expressed in their policies. We will be in a sorry state if we equate a stumble on stage with stumbling through policies and practices!
Well, John, from Upstate NY--why do the voters of Lewis County support an incompetent, attention whore whose knowledge of the area was AS A TOURIST, and not as a resident of one of the poorest areas of the country--Elise Stefanik. Why do they support tRump, for that matter? A malignant narcissist tied to the Russian mob; a crime boss who doesn’t pay his contractors and believes he is above the law?
Ohhh Dawna, we are SOOO sad that so many in Upstate NY can and are bamboozled by the likes of Elise Stefanik or worse, George Santos. I fear in Upstate we remain captured by Republicans who have pretended to represent the rural and farming communities which used to be the core constituency and which appear to have been invaded by development of mega-dairies ("Cowschwitzes") and hog farms. In fact I registered as a Republican so I could have a vote in the primaries around here. Most of these rural communities have lost their local newspapers beyond the occasional regional Pennysaver. Closer to the cities and their universities and colleges politics turn bluer. Ahh well, we keep trying...
RIGHT ON ! , Paula ! Get UP ! , GET OUT ! & DO ! , THAT VOTE !!
I keep imagining that there will be someone who gives a St. Crispin Day speech to the troops. I believe you are being sarcastic. But each time Trump's lawyer speaks over a commentator and spews his trash about freedom of speech and Trump's rights as he tramples mine, I lose my mind. Our Biden is an honorable man and he tries but he is not an orator. I believe he is wise and he knows where to lead us, but will we go? There are no great orators in our time.
I love this!
Love this!! 💙😂
So much tragedy about that war and the incomprehensible number of dead. And more tragedy in its aftermath, not least that too many in the South are still determined to "win," to maintain racism and a philosophy of superiority and resentment even now, nearly 160 years later.
Amen to that. Sadly so true.
As a citizen now of SC, formerly “sweet home Alabama” I find this generalization offensive. You maintain we are determined to win....what exactly? My peers are not racists, do not feel superior, and feel no resentment as to the outcome of the Civil War. Source your statement or retract it. I found Heather’s post so interesting and then this?
Really? Where is your home? A place I can make statements that offend an entire population? I was taught the Civil War ended long ago. Items like this will surely reignite it. Shame on you and all who liked. Think before responding.
You and I both appreciate the tragedy of the war. My comment didn't generalize about all Southerners, or even all Americans. I said "too many in the South", and I probably could have said too many people everywhere. The source for my original comment is the unsettling, anti-democratic and at times racist news out of Alabama, Mississippi, Florida, and other states, plus my own experience living in NC some years ago.
You and I can hope that thoughtful, generous, and kind people will continue to work to strengthen life, liberty, justice, and happiness for all.
Hate of the “other” is a dominant theme in AL and FL. Whether that “other” is LGBTQ , Drag Queens, Liberal, Trans .....
And Tx
It's no doubt difficult in many ways to bring deeply democratic thoughts and actions into situations and places where they have not become that politically popular and enforced through legal and social means, at essential levels of compliance, in fairness to all. Alabama's very recent double defiance of the Supreme Court's order to redistrict voting is a particular low point. Having lived in Florida, Virginia and Texas I found little openness to larger ideas and practices aiming to change the old Civil War mythology towards equality for all.
Starting such dialogs took a certain amount of upfront chutzpah, harder to come by in the thick of such conditions as long area family histories, codes of silence or talk-with-no-real-action.
Possibly even dangerous. What does it take to turn that big old ship around?
Thank you.
I think the MAGA movement, abundance of confederate battle flags, “slaves learned a useful trade “,Charlottesville, the average wait time to vote in predominate black districts, white nationalism are a few examples of the manner in which the civil war ,regretfully,
lives on.
Are you suggesting that the shoe LaurieOregon presented fits your foot? It's no accident that the failed insurrectionist is holding his rallies in AL, SC, MS and Florida. You and your peers sound like good people, you should direct your energy at those who would subvert our system of governance and take away the freedoms that the dead in the battles HCR wrote about today fought for and that we are still striving to fully achieve and deliver to everyone in this country and those who choose to come here to live and work.
No, the comment does not fit my foot nor those with whom I relate. I believe the presence of the “INSURRECTIONIST” in my state this day has made me more than a little sensitive, angry, and frustrated at those who hide their heads in the sand and do nothing to alter the events unfolding. True enough, these are primarily red states but the enthusiasm of the “INSURRECTIONIST”s last visit here was grossly amplified in the MSM. We must reach the younger people ie Gen Z and millennials to take up the fight to restore our freedoms and ideals. I am doing my part in every way I can. This past week has been very disturbing and I find myself alarmed at the potential long term outcome. How rallies after indictments can incentivize voters TOWARD TRUMP is frankly nauseating. For myself, I must find some peace without abandoning the need to fight like our lives depend on election 2024 somehow. I will get there another day but at this time must rest.
Good for you, Judith. Keep on fighting for your State, for the Country and for a fair and just America. You, and people like you are what we need most right now.
Although I now live in Switzerland, I grew up in Montgomery, Alabama, in the Forties and Fifties. When I visit my birth state, I stay with friends who are compassionate and progressive. We visit the Rosa Parks Library and the gut wrenching Memorial to the Victims of Lynching. However, when I read the news regarding the state’s unfair gerrymandering and extremely rigid attitude toward abortion rights, I wonder if the progressive spirit of my friends has a chance.
Sometimes I ask myself the ‘heretical’ question if, in light of the political power of the red states in today’s America, if it might’ve been better for the confederate states to have succeeded from the union. In certain tragic ways —for women, for the climate, for democracy — they’re still a threat to the union.
Betty, I hope you're still an American citizen and that you vote in every election you legally can.
We all rest when we need to Judith, the better to fight another day. We will, to use a term from my youth, overcome this as well but it won't be easy and there will be ample frustration before the victory celebration.
Don't fight against your allies. They do not condemn you. You are a partisan fighting in a territory held by the enemy. Need I speak of Lindsey Graham? How is it that he still holds a state-wide office if the majority of your fellow South Carolinians hold with your values? What policies or ideals does he represent as he genuflects to Donald Trump? The "rule of law" or " equality before the law"?
Unfortunately for South Carolinians, your senior senator has been corrupted totally by his ardor for The Insurrectionist. Tim Scott is slightly better but won’t confront tfg’s extensive lawbreaking. Lindsey especially needs to go. Helps past his expiration date.
If you do not recognize that SC (as well as your unsweat AL) is knee deep in racism and always has been, your eyes and ears sadly have been shut tight! And now Tubby demands a nationwide abortion ban at the cost of promoting our military leadership but apparently SC (and soon to be indicted Lindsey Graham) loves him. Your peers may embrace democracy which is great but SC is a failed state and the evidence has been abundant before and since the civil war.
Ira, just FYI, I am stuck in SC without the option of relocating. I would estimate it is about 60% GOP which is racist equivalent, very sad to say. Charleston for example is a beautiful city but retains its historic racist “charm” disgusting though it may be. The home of Fort Sumter, it will soon succumb to the rising tides and find itself underwater; a fitting end to a legacy of slavery. As for my “sweet” not “sweat” home ALABAMA, it likewise has the awful association to George Wallace standing in the schoolhouse doors to enforce segregation, keeping Blacks out. If that weren’t bad enough, there was the bombing of a church in which 4 darling Black children were murdered. Need more? Wasn’t it Martin Luther King, Jr. that led a thousand demonstrators across the Edmond Pettus Bridge in protest? Let’s not forget Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a bus; a heroine for equality. I spent a wonderful career in cancer research nursing as an advocate for patients, the vast majority of which were Black and loved me in return for my unending care for them. I will not excuse the jackass football coach (idiot) who is presently compromising our military
and national security for his personal vendetta against a woman’s right to choose . I loved my life in Alabama but as I have said before quoting Thomas Wolf, “you can’t go home again.” To be clear, I fight the good fight every day on line because I am mobility impaired and can only be active in that way. Now, I am exhausted and will not review on YouTube Trump’s no doubt asanine remarks in our capital today; but I will rise another day to continue so please, give me a break and some respect.
I appreciate your wonderful career and your political views. Thank you for correcting me in that regard. I spent many years in Virginia politics, served in the legislature and ran statewide (and failed) as a progressive. But, as we both know, the racism throughout the southern states is ugly, though Virginia has overcome most of it at least politically. But it is still very prevalent in rural areas. It is rampant in most of the South and until GenZ come into its own in 2026-2028, most of the South will be predominantly racist! But hopefully our young voters to be will stamp it out at least governmentally! Stay strong and optimistic!
“Damn the torpedoes “ again tomorrow!
Interesting, Ira. Family members served in the General Assembly, Henrico County, and my first real foray into politics was as a volunteer for Bill Parkerson in his unsuccessful effort to defeat Eddy Dalton in the 80’s. How I wish I could revisit those kitchen table meetings of the ‘60’s and 70’s. Interesting cast of characters.
Absolutely interesting but Virginia was anchored in racism and antisemitism and male domination. Thankfully, northern VA grew exponentially along with Tidewater and Roanoke bringing more progressives, federal employees, military families, bigger universities! Then elected Wilder (when he he was somewhat sane though corrupt), Tim Kaine, Bobby Scott, Don Beyer, Mark Warner and of course a few setbacks. The future is bright if you will go to www.turnup.us and make a generous contribution! Thank you!
Judith, I wish you well. I can see how gut wrenching it must be to love a place and many of the wonderful people there, yet still be appalled at the terrible people who run it. I feel that way about America in general and have finally tamed my disgust with this phrase: I love my country, but fear for its future.
Ira, counting failed and failing states? By what criteria? Pray tell, what state, what company, what CAMPUS, what hospital, what DVM school, med school, law school, what police department, what nation, what island nation - isn’t?
Ira, humans are marked by intolerance, world wide - and Trump is playing humans for what we are...
Jack Smith may put him in jail. Remember the Boston mayor elected from jail? What was his name?
Remember the tale of the Salem Witch Trials? America started by shafting native tribes of Indians. We were hatched in intolerance.
Pocahontas wasn’t an allegory. John Smith was not Governor Wallace.
Check out www.sblewis.net and AG Nicholas deBelleville Katzenbach.
We loathed Sir Rudy, Mayor Giuliani. As AG, Nick confronted Gov. George C. Wallace. Obliged entry of AG Eric Holder’s relative as a college student.
Damn the torpedoes, damn Sir Rudy, Rudolph William Louis Giuliani, SDNY US Attorney and Mayor of New York, soon to be indicted... for lying to states and flirting with sedition. He will be charged. May give state’s evidence to Special Prosecutor Jack Smith on President Trump.
Should we jail Trump? In a penitentiary For the rest of his life? We erred with VP Agnew and President John F. Kennedy. Should have incarcerated each.
Sandy, please explain why you think JFK should have been incarcerated.
600,000 Cook County plurality was established as phony. But it worked. Nixon did not upset the bandwagon. He knew that the election was stolen in Cook County, Illinois. Leon Despres of the Fifth Ward IVI knew. All knew.
PS… I VOTED FOR JFK… AND HATED TRICKY DICK…
The Kennedy Clan was not honest. Big city machines ruled many states.
JFK STOLE THE ELECTION IN COOK COUNTY THROUGH MAYOR RICHARD J. DALEY…600,000 VOTES - THE DEAD VOTED - OLD JOE KENNEDY THE BOOTLEGGER OWNED THE MERCHANDISE MARKET AND HE PAID THE MACHINE… NIXON WON, BUT REMAINED QUIET… CHICAGO KNEW… JFK SLEPT HIS WAY THRU CHEATING ON HIS WIFE, EXACTLY AS OLD JOE DID, LIKE LONG…
So really, ole Joe and Daley should have been incarcerated because they were shysters. Already knew Joe was a piece of garbage. JFK, Bobby, and Teddy all slept around, just like their daddy taught them. It was their wives who suffered.
My first election I got to vote in was McGovern vs Nixon. Lived in DC and I voted for George. Devastated when that nasty joel-faced traitor won by a landslide.
James Michael Curley, who one biographer described as "a disaster mitigated only by moments of farce". Sound familiar?
Don’t forget the “Prince of Providence” , Buddy Cianci.Twice convicted, felon,served time in fed prison , 20 + years as mayor before finally losing to a younger progressive. Cianci ( corruptly) revitalized the city and he was worshipped. Some similarities to the current indictee although Trump didn’t revitalize anything…
Well give credit where credit is due... he elevated hate, mistrust and lies!!!
As witness to South Carolina recently stripping women of reproductive autonomy, I have to say that criticism of the state’s politics is entirely warranted.
Judith, I feel that the Civil War is being revived. It is Red States against Blue States. The war is not with guns (although gun legislation is one of the issues), but with laws and owning the courts. Right now it is the courts still, but at some point it may be militias.
That seems to be chump’s go to.
Linda Weide: The Federal government is bankrupt and the dollar is collapsing in value. That spells the end of the American Empire and DC. There won't be a Civil War. There will be a Great Depression and a splintering of the USA into individual states and communities.
Over half the country has less than $1,000 in savings. Most people are in debt.
Laws and courts mean nothing if people are hungry.
You might have been taught the Civil War ended a long time ago but look aground at the two states you mention, they have definitely not forgotten the war. Do you want the rest if us to put our heads in the sand and ignore reality as you apparently are. HCR is bring us the real story, history, that subject Republicans are most fearful if.
I was born in 1957 Texas. I chose a Northerner to marry. My grandmother's first comment was "damn Yankees" and it wasn't said in jest. Don't tell me that some Southerners are not still fighting that war and the demanded cultural change is still not completed.
My father was in the Air Force and was stationed in Mississippi where I was born. My grandmother (mother's mother) called me a little rebel. Via HCR's lectures, I learned that it was the misstep of the Republican government after Lincoln's assassination that has kept the South festering. They were never brought to justice.
Paula Dufour: The War Between the States has left its scars. They are still there in Missouri and Bloody Kansas. I know the area and the history well.
The elites have been dividing European and African workers in the USA since colonial times. The Irish slaves and the African slaves banded together for slave revolts in the American colonies and the Caribbean sugar plantations.
So, the English figured out how to divide the Irish from the African slaves. Give the Irish slightly better jobs like overseer and cooks and chambermaids in the manor. It worked.
Soon enough the Irish thought they were better than the Africans and the English elites were safe. The Irish and Africans would fight each other.
Divide and conquer.
Yes. And we let them do it to us. Timmy none of us here are unfamiliar with what you state. We are here because we value knowing our history. Many of us have watched as we were once again fooled by the small government people. Led to believe that people failed because they were "lazy" and didn't deserve to be helped like FDR helped the poor during the Great Depression. "All they need is to work hard and they'll succeed". And we believed them as our parents worked hard, but couldn't pay the rent, couldn't pay the utilities, couldn't buy food. LBJ, and we accepted the small government people's "truth". LBJ, a colorful character no doubt, tried to expand on FDR's legacy to lift up the poorest among us. But, the small government people succeeded in convincing Americans that their opportunities were being stolen by those "lazy people". Now Trump is convincing people the "others" are thieves and that he is a victim of the elites who are trying to prevent him from helping the "good people" by saying he is breaking the law. Trump is an equal opportunity hater. The lies just get weaker.
Paula Dufour: The socialist countries everyone likes on this site (Denmark, Sweden, etc.) have small governments. Big governments fail the working people every time.
Timmy, you've worn out the list. They've asked me to stop answering. I suspect that it is natural for small countries to have small governments. I don't agree that big governments always fail working people. My sister's father-in-law worked for one of FDR's programs during the Great Depression. FDR helped many working Americans survive the Great Depression. Let's stop for today. Many people don't believe you believe what you write. They believe you are here just to annoy us. I just think you haven't had a good education and deserve to have someone who will take the time to add to that education.
Raised in NC, plenty still think “The South will rise again.” Plenty still think that successful blacks are “uppity.” Plenty still have that “white skin makes me
better” attitude, all the while baking at the beaches to darken their skin. Plenty still go to lilli-white churches and turn up their noses at Christian’s of a darker hue. I know them and still love some. Not the whole story, of course, but, sadly, more than was the case just twenty years ago. One step forward and two back, seems that 2000 made a difference, nationwide. In Texas it was 1994.
You are right Judith. Thank you for piping up regarding the generalizations. I have lived in the South and now in CA and CA is much more racist than the South.
Wow, what is your experience & where? I’m 3rd gen Californian (maternal side; 2nd gen paternal side) & have lived in working class small towns w/ large Hispanic populations & as kids & then teens, we all, well, just lived & strived & thrived together (the only real, if minor, rivalry that I experienced was between the car-guys and the surfers…but then if the “valley guys” came into town, both would band together in solidarity—note, no violence at all, just posturing). Later, late 60’s, moved to far northern coastal rural CA….not much ethnic diversity here, BUT a way larger-than-most counties % of indigenous peoples (their ancestral land after all). Sure, there are jerks everywhere…guess I’ve been lucky the places I’ve lived & that my extended family has lived to not have experienced overt racism in our daily lives (I don’t doubt some folks harbor such feelings, but have never really been able to wrap my head around that mindset).
Where is your fact based material for this statement?
Where in Cali are you living?
I live in Los Angeles and I am gay and my partner is black. I find that racism is tied much to economic class. I used to attend the HRC (Human Rights Campaign) events but stopped from the obvious double standard of professing equality and then witnessing first hand the negative treatment of races from such membership. I find real lovers of equality are the truth seekers, more humble, and authentic. Not for show!
Kyle Walkenhorst: I live in Sonoma County, CA. The town I live in is 50% Hispanic and 50% Anglo. There is no racism here. We all get along just fine.
My folks lived in Savannah, GA for 20 years. I visited often. Again, no racism there that I saw.
If you had darker skin you wouldn’t have to look for or see racism. You would experience it.
Gina: I've seen plenty of racism. It still exists in the South and right here in Sonoma County, CA. I saw racism at Bohemian Grove.
Living in Sonoma County, CA with neighbors and a local health officials he considers moronic because "there was no Pandemic". "Timmy" says he is a "redneck from Nebraska" actually "Timmy" has a red neck & a red face or should be red faced after his Comment on Savannah, Georgia, USA.
BSM: The County of Sonoma's website listing Covid-19 deaths shows a 0.1% death rate. That is a fact, BSM.
Personal insults at me won't change that fact.
And I have no idea to which comment I made about Savannah, GA that you are referring.
Are you really a lawyer? Your writing is terrible.
Though I understand your injury because I live in Elise Stefanik’s part of rural northern NY, I do not pardon my large number of uninformed neighbors. We are the ones that need to work hardest to change the culture that surrounds us.
I find racism much more fierce here in California than the South.
Unfortunately, racism is all over, but in some areas more overt and in others where people act as if it doesn't exist, it is just as nefarious, but just more covert. Connecticut, for example, a very blue state, has 3 of the five poorest cities in the country, while it's one of the richest states. And, can anyone guess what ethnicity and race the majority of those living in the cities are?
I agree, and that's why i am wanting to move out of the South. I am tired of these people here with their ugly Confederate flags and all of the resentment here. I am also tired of the 5 months of hot and extremely humid weather here. I hardly go outside now because of that.
LaurieOregon: Have you ever been to the South. Oh, BTW, when Oregon became a state in the USA it was put in the agreement that Negroes were not allowed in Oregon. There were KKK rallies down the streets of Ashland, Oregon in the 1920s.
Don't give me your "Holier than thou" bullshit.
"Timmy" from Sonoma, the self described "redneck from Nebraska", I am in Oegon City right now to participate an Oregonian casual "forum" at 9 am about what is going down in ALL the states specifically Count Four (4), the failed attempt to destroy the right to
Vote in ALL the states,18 USC 241, but, you nor any juror do not have to have a JD to under-stand the Grand Jurors' Indictment. Very easy, the facts are not in dispute.
Update: The Perp has exposed himself to a contempt proceeding if he has already violated an existing court order issued by the Magistrate Judge or violates the protective Order (PTO) in the future being considered by the Trial Judge now. Don't mess with Tanya.
Bryan, I'm beginning to wonder if Timmy is another alter ego of john schmeekle (or however that troll spells his name). Timmy regularly teeters on the edge of trolldom for a while, then plunges in up to his neck, as witness his comment to LaurieOregon that you're responding to. And, of course, his comment in reply to yours above. "Judge Tanya"? A little respect for a federal court judge - who has not actually sat on any aspect of the federal indictments against Defendant 1078 so far - would seem to be out of his ability.
I need to edit this a bit; I apologize for the inaccuracy. Judge Chutkan (NOT "Judge Tanya", unless she gives you permission to address her in this way) has ruled on the prosecution's motion for protective order filed on Friday, August 4.
Oh, and "Timmy", if that's your real identity, your personal anecdotal experience is valid for you, not for anyone else who has ever lived. It's so nice for you that you've never experienced the kind of bigotry, racism, misogyny, that other Americans experience on a daily basis, but stop trying to pretent that Americans of those types don't exist everywhere, and in much greater concentrations than in others. Really, to say the South is less racist than California? Really?
Correct that is why I place "Timmy" in quotes. I heard a vivid analysis by an Oregonian this morning in Oregon City who analyzed a Troll's pyschological adoption of a "persona" when "on-line" that "allows" some folks on-line to attack any form of reality based data. Think about that ... that means scientific discovery is impossible when the Troll is cogntively disabled with fear. Reality can be very, very tough. I recommend such individuals go off-line, tmi.
BSM: Does Judge Tanya have a pouch with a joey inside of it?
Timmy, have you researched? It's possible (actually likely) that this was forced on the North by the South in order for Oregon to become a state. This shows that Oregon entered the Union as a free state. Not a slave state. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slave_states_and_free_states
Sadly Timmy is technically correct about Oregon's constitution saying Black people were not allowed to live there. However, your suggestion also has merit; Oregon worked to become a state in the midst of the pre-civil war period where there was a lot of keeping score of how many states would be slave states and how many would be "free" states. Oregon's birthday is February 14th 1859.
There is, of course, a lot more to the story. There was only one enforcement and there was a really interesting story about a man who promised his slaves that he would free them if they would help him move to Oregon; when he changed his mind after they got to Oregon they sued and won their children's freedom in Oregon courts. Gregory Nokes wrote a book about it.
A lot of white people who settled in Oregon came from or at least through Missouri and held racist beliefs. Portland was red-lined after WW2 and the KKK was active in Oregon politics in the 1920s. However, the KKK of the 1920s was mostly about anti-Roman Catholic opinions.
In my childhood in The Dalles the signs in store windows said "We don't serve Indians"...racism has always been with us, but has always been much more complicated than Black/white.
Thank you Mary Ellen. I started researching the timeline of Oregon's entrance into the Union. I want to read this book. All of us need to learn more about and read more about our country's slow, laborious, often painful fight to actually become who we think we are.
Gailee Walker Wells: I did the research. The forbidding of Negroes to enter Oregon was in the original state constitution.
Timmy, Timmy, Timmy, king of the "Holier than thou".
Paula, Paula, Paula, queen of the "No liar, no how."
Between a people and their leaders, there is a contract. "I will follow you and you will lead me to a better place for both of us." A lie by the powerful can and often does abrogate that contract. Even in our everyday lives a lie will destroy relationships and end them outright. The spouse who cheats. The businessman who doesn't pay their bills, not because they can't but because they think the people they owe aren't powerful enough to collect on the debt. There are lies and then there are lies. You can tell me I'm beautiful when I'm ugly. But tell me I'm ugly when I'm beautiful? No that last doesn't work because it is done to destroy me. The first is done to lift me up and encourage me forward. Tell me the future will be brighter when you know the immediate future will be horrible. Tell me you'll make the future better for me when you have no intention of doing so. The last won't fly. The first will be because it gives me hope to continue. There are lies and there are lies.
Paula, thanks for engaging Timmy. I did it yesterday. Now I am all set.
The more he posts, the more he reveals his "libertarian" anarchist attitude. Now we know he "doesn't follow leaders". I am not sure how a leaderless world works. But I am sure he can explain. Because he enjoys having an answer for everything. Much like Schmeeckle, he likes to throw sand in the gears of democracy.
Some folks just enjoy relentlessly poking a stick in everyone's eye. There is an underlying disappointment and anger from both John and Timmy. They are not hopeful. They are "whatabouters". And they eat up conspiracies like candy.
Most of us here are seeking justice and compassionate treatment of all people. I am looking forward to your future posts.
Perhaps he would enjoy watching Monty Python's Life of Brian? :-)
Thank you Paula, I think everybody here knows I love contracts both express & implied particulary when state law requires good faith & fair dealing. All Substack "Readers" have contractual obligations to each other and to the Platform that can ( & will be) mediated at JAMS SF per the Publisher's Agreement.
Today is what I consider the first day of the week. I face this day disappointed at my fellow man. I feel there are no borders that collectively encircle the good guys. There is no historical people who hold the high ground. We all know the moral rules expected of us. The rules that allow us to live next to each other without violence. When the goals or motivations of a nation assume the "the ends justify the means", we have lost our moral authority. The United States is facing a judgement, a fork in the road. In November 2024, we are not voting for a leader. We are voting on the Constitution of the United States to which all federal leaders and employees, at all levels of the federal government, civil or military, swear an oath. There is no need for judgement of truth or lie. The Constitution is available for everyone to read on archives.gov. The vote in November 2024 is about that document. There are people who stood for the Constitution after the 2020 Election and those who did not. In my opinion, Donald Trump did not. Don't sleepwalk into tyranny, the very thing the founders crafted the Constitution to defeat. The Constitution is specifically written to avoid the concentration of power into the hands of a single individual. There are no benevolent dictators. Don't sleepwalk into tyranny.Today is what I consider the first day of the week. I face this day disappointed at my fellow man. I feel there are no borders that collectively encircle the good guys. There is no historical people who hold the high ground. We all know the moral rules expected of us. The rules that allow us to live next to each other without violence. When the goals or motivations of a nation assume the "the ends justify the means", we have lost our moral authority. The United States is facing a judgement, a fork in the road. In November 2024, we are not voting for a leader. We are voting on the Constitution of the United States to which all federal leaders and employees, at all levels of the federal government, civil or military, swear an oath. There is no need for judgement of truth or lie. The Constitution is available for everyone to read on archives.gov. The vote in November 2024 is about that document. There are people who stood for the Constitution after the 2020 Election and those who did not. In my opinion, Donald Trump did not. Don't sleepwalk into tyranny, the very thing the founders crafted the Constitution to defeat. The Constitution is specifically written to avoid the concentration of power into the hands of a single individual. There are no benevolent dictators. Don't sleepwalk into tyranny.
Paula, agreed, but the worst lie is "I will work to make your future brighter" when what you actually intend to do, and then in fact do, is everything you possibly can to make that future brighter for yourself alone, and worse for everyone as a consequence of completely disregarding all of their interests. That is what we have seen with D1078 and what that individual and his ilk continue to tell his sad, hard-of-thinking or just venal, supporters.
Paula Dufour: I don't follow "leaders". They are all charlatans.
To the American justice system, and to all eligible voters I say . . . Damn the torpedos, full speed ahead. Let’s win this battle against fascism!!
Agreed. Full speed ahead against death star and the party of death. A welcome respite too from current news too.
We will , because failure isn't an option.
It's not an option, but it is a possibility.
More history of August 5:
Eleven years ago, I took my Dad to the barbershop where we both got our hair cut. He was 91 at the time and had stopped driving.
We were both waiting for the next chair to open up, and Dad asked, “Is this August 5?”
Yeah, why do you ask, one of the barbers said.
“Well, 70 years ago today I was with the 1st Marines on the first rubber raft to land on Guadalcanal. I was just a Navy signalman, but the Marines needed me with them for ship-to-shore communications. We were the scouting party that went ashore one night to map out the landings that started a day or two later. It was the first big land battle of the Pacific campaign.”
You could have heard a pin drop.
His ship was the troop transport USS Heywood, which brought the 1st Marines from the West coast to the Guadalcanal Campaign. A few days after the landing, Heywood's sailors were tasked with removal of wounded. Dad went ashore to provide ship-to-shore communications a few more times. "The mortar fire you could kind of anticipate. It was the snipers who were scary," he told me on the drive home.
Like a lot of WW II veterans, he didn't talk much about the war.
He said more about it that day than any other.
Wow, Steve, thanks for sharing your Dad’s recollections. I can see why many/most (?) chose not to share such graphic stories, just another way to protect those at home….even tho’ they’d come home years before. What a deeply personal scar the war experience must have been…I know I cannot comprehend it, but CAN empathize with the tumultuous feelings. I am glad you were there when he felt safe enough to share such a defining moment.
Such brave men and women, our parents and grandparents and earlier generations fighting for America's promise. Naively, we did not realize that what seemed hopeful to us in the 60s and 70s in terms of rights and ecology, was just a rallying cry to the forces of greed and repression. And that 50 years on we'd end up once more having to fight them in the courts and at the ballot box. And please without bloodshed.
Amazing story, Steve, that your dad held tightly until he didn’t. The men who fought in WWII, like my dad, came back as heroes. They resumed their jobs.
Thanks for sharing a wonderful story.
My father-in-law was in the South Pacific as a marine using a new-fangled technology called radar. That generation kept their own council. I wish they hadn't. We needed to know the horrors of war. We need to know today. The possibility of civil war is bandied about as though it would be like a bar fight. That the namby-pamby bleeding heart liberals would fold before the mighty onslaught of righteous Republicans. After all, they have guns. Do they really think we don't?
Paula, war is so horrible....just think of Ukraine and the little chldren who are living without their full limbs....think of the terrible high-powered guns sold at
Walmart....when used on the human body. DNA had to be used to identify many of the children murdered in Uvalde.
Many wars are started by humans who will never be on the battlefield.
Many troubled souls will never know the loss of a child they chose to randomly destroy....and take from a loving family.
War is hell....sometimes even surviving is not really surviving....many commit suicide or become addicted to drugs to try and escape the memories!!!!
TELL Me !, ABOUT IT ! Emily ! Ideation, of Suicide, is NOT ! a " good Place !" By GODS GRACE ! , & a LOVING WIFE ! I am, STILL HERE !
so true
Thanks for this description of bravery and the horror your Dad must have experienced.
My WWII Dad was in North Africa and from there the drive to liberate Italy. He only spoke of the war a couple of times. I think they just wanted to bury the memories as they did their friends.
Once when I asked him what upset him the most about the war. He said " ...ordering young guys to charge the enemy..."
And then he shared how he, the wounded Lt met my Mom, the Army hospital nurse - who became a captain and would always outrank him. A German bullet in his arm led to my sister and I being born.
My folks met while Mom was on the Southern Pacific Owl, headed to San Diego to visit who she thought was her fiancee. Dad was on the same train, going from Portland (Heywood disembarked for repairs in 1942 after Guadalcanal campaign) to San Diego (Heywood refitted before Attu/Kiska) and spotted her with her traveling companion, another 20-year-old girl, and walked past her making eye contact and smiling. Apparently REALLY smiling. Finally, mom's companion asked him to have a seat. He had recently been promoted to Signalman First Class (SM1c, Navy equivalent of Staff Sergeant). He introduced himself as a First Class Signalman. Mom replied, "Nice to meet you, I thought you were the First Class Smiler."
They wrote literally hundreds of letters and got married - secretly - about 15 months later, while Dad was enrolled in V-12.
There are a lot of us Boomers who need to keep those stories alive.
Thanks for sharing the story of your parents and giving me a chance at the same.
Yup. "First class smiler." Love it.
Imagine how powerfully important it would be to meet that special someone in the middle of such conflict and danger. Powerful stuff.
They were married for 73 years. That's pretty rare, even rarer today.
Powerful stuff indeed.
This is a treasured telling. Thank you.
Steve, whilst writing my comment this tune came to mind: Brother’s In Arms by Dire Straits…hadn’t listened to it in some time….it still moves me: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jhdFe3evXpk
STEVE ! , GOD BLESSED, Your Dad, & HE, is Blessing YOU ! for SHARING This Story With ALL of Us ! We VETERANS, put Our TRUST, in One Another, AND Our LORD ! That We will be BLESSED , To CONTINUE, so We Can LOVE ! AND Give Our LORD/GOD the GLORY ! , and The PRAISE !! ( VET of VN, Phu Bai 1971 )
Steve, thank you for sharing your dad’s story. And bless your father always for his duty and bravery. My father was an army Sargent in Korea, who saw battle but wouldn’t talk about it until his 80’s or so. He passed in 2020 at age 93.
My Dad was not quite 21 when he put ashore with the Marines, but he lived to a ripe 96.
My late brother was born 9 months after Dad was home on shore leave for Christmas in 1944. I was born a little over 9 months after Dad was discharged from the Korean conflict as a recalled USN Reservist, shortly after he helped evacuate the remaining wounded aboard the Hospital Ship USN Repose.
Our Dads will always be inseparable pieces of the Greatest Generation.
I heard this story from my grandmother when young who was married to a young navy civil war veteran who was present for this battle. While my grandfather died in 1919 long before I was born in 1947, the story of this episode of the battle that turned the tide of the civil war is one I heard many times when young.
Thank you for retelling it.
Finally I learn that it wasn’t Admiral Dewey sailing into Tokyo Bay. Thank you, Professor Richardson.
Thank you. I had no idea where that saying came from. Farragut , I believe went on to an illustrious career. All it takes is some sort of victory for democracy for morale to rise. Like the judge turning down Trumps delay tactic today regarding the DOJ request for forbidding Trump to post about the discovery materials he’s about to be overwhelmed with. This judge means business. Like Farragut so long ago.
From your lips to god’s ears
MLRGRMI ... " Your lips , to GODS ! Ears ! AMEN !
With all of Trump's posturing, he's probably trying to hide the scared little boy that he damned well won't show. Are the Officials afraid of what will ensue if he's locked up? I honestly think he's asking for it. 'Save me from myself'? I think it was Judith Hubbard who said the crowd was amplified by the media. I think the media might be a big part of the problem. They brought him back to life, so to speak..
I’m so tired of arguments for psychoanalysis of “poor, poor, pitiful tRump”. Yeah, he’s a malignant narcissist who, according to his niece, didn’t get adequately nurtured by his neo nazi, fascist parents. The bottom line: tRump has NEVER opted to develop conscience or integrity. He has a criminal mind, he is an unrepentant traitor. His actions are tied to deaths. He deserves to be hanged. “Scared little boy”--please.
You didn't absorb the rest of it. The 'scared little boy' is true but it goes further. He never developed healthy ways to cope so he rants, bullies, whines, bribes, threatens, etc. As a former Social Worker, I have my opinions and I have a right to express them It's not important whether you or anyone agrees with me.
Actually, it IS important to me and I'm sorry if I sound like a self-righteous prick. I try not to comment because I'm always sure someone will dissect what I say and I'll feel like a failure. I think 'no more comments for awhile'. Thank you for your feedback.
Me too. How many times have we said that?
Farragut had a fascinating story. A Southerner loyal to the Union.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Farragut
Damn the torpedoes. He’s raising millions.
Damn the torpedoes, AG Garland. He’s not afraid of justice. He’s the only innocent in this country.
Damn the torpedoes, Special Prosecutor Jack Smith. You’ve got the helm. The crew awaits your orders.
James D. Robinson III awaits your orders. You are on the bridge. Damn the torpedoes.
Flank Speed
Flank Speed! America.
Fund Ukraine and pull out the stops. As Ukraine goes, so goes America. Fact.
We have a world to save.
Damn the torpedoes, Flank Speed, Jack Smith.
We have a republic to save. Yes...
Flank speed in DC, flank speed in Manhattan, flank speed in Atlanta, flank speed in Albany, New York, flank speed in DeSantis Land, Florida’s ethical racist illiterate swamp..and flank speed in Alabama, and the Scotus Swamp, knee deep in racist detritus and billionaires bribes all over the feckless congress.
We have a nation to save. Snap to attention.
This is not dress rehearsal.
The Civil War is not over, America. Prejudice is winning. Hatred is winning.
Don’t ask, don’t tell, we may lose the White House to a jailed orange criminal. An orange faced whack job criminal awaits attention. Who decides?
Damn the torpedoes ... America, sleep fast. We are flirting with defeat.
At dawn.
Just hours after.
Indicted in Florida. To the Miami Court House next week, Mr. Trump.
Indicted in Manhattan. Often.
The People Shall Judge....
I hope.
Hope and optimism is necessary. If we give up hope, they win. We the People MUST hear the call and rally everyone we know to VOTE BLUE at all costs!
Indeed!!
Inspiring 🥲
PREACH IT ! , SB Lewis ! Come ON !!
The title of this newsletter should be 'Letters from an American Treasure'
Here! Here!
Thanks for the story and, thankfully, we're now using the legal system rather than torpedoes.
What a marvelous recounting of such a momentous event in Civil War history. Professor Richardson, you are “ simply the best.” Thank you.
I had no idea. As a young apprentice electrician in the early 60's, I walked Farragut Avenue inside Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, Bremerton Washington, on my way to work every morning. It's very good to know, finally, who this man was. Thank you Professor Richardson for your continuing commitment to the education of all of your faithful readers.
With all of the indictments against Trump, and really they are indictments of the current Republican Party, “damn the torpedoes. And full speed ahead” on all prosecutions of law breaking by the current Republican Party and its facilitators until we clean up this damn mess of insurrection against our democracy and nation. Don’t leave FOX out. Law suits are piling up against FOX for their role in the 2020 election lies scam and slander against Americans and businesses who were caught in the cross fire to discredit the election results.
Every democratic minded American should be calling out our news media and democratic minded politicians to call a spade a spade where Republicans are attacking our nation. We should remind everyone who the Republicans were and what they stood for in President Lincoln’s time and what they have become, the Neo Confederates in Trump’s time. All southern Republicans today are well versed in how to be Confederates, having grown up in the conservative authoritarian culture of white supremacy and one party get away with murder rule.
I, briefly, watched FOX today to see how they're doing. They're even worse. And Jeanne Piro was suspended a couple of times this year, I read. I dunno. I think Murdoch and Trump will live forever.
LIVE FOREVER IN INFAMY.
That “infamy” needs to be widely experienced NOW. Reading the indictment was eye opening in its measured approach. Sad that the right “Everyman “won’t read it.
Seems a possibility, though I pray not
We should storm their headquarters and take Fox off the air . . . And deport the Murdochs.
Let’s hope not. Though we don’t hear much about Satan anymore. I guess with these characters the Bible is a reality show of fake news?
So much of history is shaped and recorded through battles and wars. The fates of nations are determined by the outcome. Thousands, sometimes millions of people die in the process. One side wins, and the world moves on. We are in the midst of one such was now in Ukraine. There are several other internal strifes in many other countries.
Usually, one side is seeking to dominate and exploit the other, while the other is fighting to stay free. For centuries, war was always considered to be the way differences were settled. If you try to total up the winners of history, the good guys usually lose. Often it is difficult to tell which side is better than the other.
Today, in America, one side is threatening violence, while the other is hoping to bring about a peaceful solution to some terrible differences through laws, the courts, and free elections. The outcome is not yet clear, but I am becoming more hopeful.
History will record that It was Jack Smith who said “Damn the motions to delay. Full speed ahead!
It is disappointing to read many of the comments above generalizing regions of our country. That, to me, makes civil discourse difficult, as one feels the need to defend themselves because of where they reside.
I don’t think you should feel stigmatized. The generalizations inherently understand a minority exists within red states.
I agree. I live within a red area of bright blue New York. Sometimes, it is depressing.
Yep. A couple of my neighbors fly Trump flags.
Damn the Trumpedoes!
Full screed ahead!
🤣 I like it!
I think we’re on a roll!
Fifty five. 55% of the vote. Let’s get it, again!
Worth a read… 55% changes our country for the good and for a long long time…
https://simonwdc.substack.com/p/memo-get-to-55-expanding-our-coalition?utm_source=twitter&utm_campaign=auto_share&r=130dna
“Hopium” Simon Rosenberg’s Substack link
https://open.substack.com/pub/simonwdc/p/memo-get-to-55-expanding-our-coalition?r=44kjm&utm_medium=ios&utm_campaign=post