Worth reading.

 

My Jewish family fled fascist Europe in 1939. Here are 10 lessons on authoritarianism from a Jew who learned from history and family's past.

Two time losers; wanna make it three?

 

Everyone should be Antifa....(updated)

 

 But then we have to remember that the desire for authoritarianism and a strong man dictator is a part of human nature and we will have to watch out for it and fight against it continuously.

Veteran's Day

Normandy Beach - from Evan Neilsen
In the early 70's I traveled to Europe and on a cold and overcast day in November made my way to Omaha Beach in Normandy, France. It was nearly deserted. I thought perhaps I had come to the wrong place when I saw a woman standing on the hill that led to the beach and as I approached, various concrete bunkers monuments and other features became clear. She turned and looked at me. I raised my hand and mumbled a "Bonjour." "Excuse me," she said. "Can you speak English?" I nodded. She spoke in a clear accent I recognized as 'Chicago.' "My husband is standing there,"she said, pointing to a man looking down on the beach from one of the cliffs. "I'm worried. It was my idea to come here to help him put this to rest, but he wanted a moment alone and he's been there a half hour already. Would you check on him, please?"

And so I found myself walking toward him. The United States was deeply involved in the Viet Nam War then and it seemed it was never far from our minds in those days. I wasn't sure what to expect from this man. I came up near him and said good morning, he looked up, his eyes puffy and red. He returned a mumbled greeting. I stepped closer to the edge of the cliff, looking down, trying to imagine the sights and sounds of that day in June of 1944, that day we all knew from our teachers, movies, fathers, and library books about the war. He sidestepped a bit closer to me and made a gesture as if to sweep away the whole scene below us.

"I lost nearly every friend I had in one morning here. And the rest in the following weeks." He paused. "I really hate Hollywood. I hate war movies. There are no heroes, no glory, no victory. There is nothing but death, and it is all random, and everything goes wrong. Everything they tell you about war is nothing but a big lie. We were nothing but numbers to them. Don't let the bastards ever tell you otherwise."

"I won't." We stood still looking down at the beach. I put my hand on his shoulder. "Your wife asked me to check on you. Do you want to come back with me, or shall I tell her you need some more time?" I waited. He looked down at the beach one more time, turned, and we walked slowly back to where his wife waited. She embraced him, his arms hanging limply at his sides, and after a bit his arms came up and he held her, too, tightly, his body shaking a bit with his sobbing, tears, I imagined, he had held back for many years. I left, not understanding fully what had happened, feeling humbled by what I had witnessed. I hoped that this was a release for him.

A Dump Truck of News

The GOP debate from several viewpoints.  Fact checking. Lack of presidential qualities. And how much nuking and bombing do they want?  Because fear works... or at least it did during the Bush era.  Will it work again? Because the GOP really really really wants to start WWIII because that's what they're good at.  War.  Because it's good business.

Tom Tomorrow.

Who let the fascist dogs out?  The GOP thought they could contain them....kept feeding them raw meat... encouraging them to distrust government...

(And why AREN'T we talking about the Saudi role in terrorism?)

If everyone is going to carry a gun, we need this new invention to stop bleeding to be a mandatory item too.

Homes on Mars.

This El Nino seems to be extra special.

Badass women of WWII.

Liberals live in their own bubble too.

George Bush ignored several pre-9/11 warnings to avoid a paper trail... but we knew this.

The melting of the permafrost brings all sorts of things to light.

The Bible?  Or the Koran?

Mr. Rogers was truly an excellent man.

George Takei takes on mayor who thought interment was a good idea.

British Muslims tell off Daesh.

Climate change to WWII and O'Reilly in between!

Climate change?  What climate change?  What climate change might unleash.

Whale graveyard in Chile.  Counting whales from space.

Poor Bill O'Reilly... scared of tough wimmen.  Maybe he feels like this?

Therapy dogs.

Plastic in our food... is good for us.  Right?  How about raw fish?

Harry Potter and the aftermath.

President Obama hanging out with scientists.

Fukushima radiation affected the USS Reagan and its crew.

Finding the forgotten Russian soldiers from WWII.

This way and that way....

Americans v Brits.

Any discussion of Richard III needs this photo:



Speaking of evil villains:  Karl Rove.

WWII as seen today.  (a long gif.)

Romney v truth.

It's MAN talkin' time!  ... about rape.

Electronic voting machines ... have 'sleepovers' at poll-workers' houses.

Public education isn't being helped by all the testing... but the testing companies sure are making money!  And if you aren't in it for the money... you obviously are a loser.

Not an oxymoron:  a gay Christian, Matthew Vines.

Alzheimer's could be the most catastrophic impact of junk food

There is evidence that poor diet is one cause of Alzheimer's. If ever there was a case for the precautionary principle, this is it

And of course, cats

.

Around the world

How astonishing and unexpected!! Pipeline spill sends 22,000 barrels of oil mix into Alberta muskeg

Whether she will see any of this money is another thing... Woman Who Couldn’t Be Intimidated By Citigroup Wins $31 Million

Oklahoma Rape Victim Denied Emergency Contraceptives. Doctor Cites Religious Objection As Reason. I think suing the doctor (and the nurse who also refused to help) for 18 years of child support might get her attention.

Building tiny houses.. or should I say minimalist housing.

Big corporate fat cat thinks big corporations shouldn't pay taxes like real people.

A WWII Curtiss P-40 Kittyhawk is found preserved in the Sahara.

Know your rights if you photograph police.

Because the poor women need to be told what they think? In media reports on women’s issues—abortion, birth control, Planned Parenthood—men are quoted around five times more than women, a new study shows.

Oh NOES!! We're gonna crash! NASA's Hubble Shows Milky Way is Destined for Head-on Collision with Andromeda Galaxy

Compare and contrast: Republican spokesman: ‘Let’s hurl some acid’ at female Democratic senators to these articles about real acid attacks.  Really?  You want to carefully think about what you said, sir?  Are you aware of what you have actually suggested?

What getting rid of Obamacare would really mean to the Republicans:

All of which exposes how problematic the GOP’s two-year-long posture of total repeal always was. As a short-term political posture, it has served them well. But now that the Supreme Court might give them what they want, they’re forced to deal with the reality of what it would mean. And that’s a huge wake-up call for the party, especially one without a clear leader to herd the cats as they figure out their next move. As one Republican health care aide put it to TPM, “I do think some Republicans are finally starting to realize they could be the dog that caught the car.”

Be careful what you wish for... you may get it.

Coming in a series of posts

WWII in photos.

Cruising these here internetal tubes

You never know what you will find....

Exclusive: Gulf oil dispersant contained extremely toxic carcinogen

New Rule: Rich People Who Complain About Being Vilified Should Be Vilified

Dalek mysteriously appeared at elementary school

How it felt to shelter from the Blitz

Solved: mystery of the meteor-shedding asteroid

Downhill With the G.O.P.

Aurora saturnalis: halos at the poles of the ringed planet

WWII

On Facebook.

Headlines

The Republicans Are Like Frat Boys in 'Animal House'. Quote:

However, they soon fall in line after the fraternity's leader, the far more respectable, presentable, all-round-cad, Otter (Tim Matheson), backs Bluto's call to arms against the university authorities. "Bluto's right," he says. "Psychotic, but absolutely right. We gotta take these bastards … I think we have to go all out. I think that this situation absolutely requires a really futile and stupid gesture be done on somebody's part."

The Republican party, in particular, and American conservatism in general, have taken to operating in a similar manner to the Delta fraternity – increasingly reckless, anarchic and strident. Faced with defeat they respond with desperation. Only where the Deltas were motivated by ribaldry, conservatives are driven by rage.

Budget deficit shrink. Quote:

You know that staggeringly huge budget deficit bequeathed to the Obama administration by George W. Bush's and the rotten Bush recession? Don't look now, but that deficit is getting smaller.

The Ghost of Bobby Lee. Quote:

What undergirds all of this alleged honoring of the Confederacy, is a kind of ancestor-worship that isn't. The Lost Cause is necromancy--it summons the dead and enslaves them to the need of their vainglorious, self-styled descendants. Its greatest crime is how it denies, even in death, the humanity of the very people it claims to venerate. This isn't about "honoring" the past--it's about an inability to cope with the present.

Report: Palin Has Earned An Estimated $12M Since July. Quote:

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's speaking engagements may have earned her $12 million since she resigned in July, ABC News estimates.

Palin has been making the media rounds for the past few months, and is raking it in from her estimated six- to seven-figure appearance fees, according to a "conservative estimate" by ABC News.

Aside from becoming a Fox News contributor, Palin also toured the country to promote her book, "Going Rogue: An American Life."

The cash flow won't stop there, either: She will reportedly make $1 million for each episode of her Alaska travel show.

ZAZI PLOT DETAILS EMERGE. Quote:

I realize conservatives don't want to talk about this story, which is probably why major media outlets aren't paying much attention to it.

But that's a shame because when it comes to counter-terrorism, this is a big f'in deal. Here we had a serious terrorist threat -- arguably the most important since 9/11 -- and an al Qaeda recruit who was poised to kill a lot of people. Obama administration officials thwarted Zazi's plan, took him into custody, read him his rights, and gave him a lawyer.

And the results couldn't have been better for the United States. Zazi will spend the rest of his life behind bars, but only after cooperating with federal officials and becoming a valuable source of intelligence.

If Republicans really want to debate the efficacy of Obama's counter-terrorism policies, we can start right here.

DNA On Envelopes Identifies World War II Sailor. Quote:

Gerald Lehman is going home to Michigan, 68 years after he was killed at Pearl Harbor. The young sailor's remains were thought to be among the hundreds trapped under the water when the USS Oklahoma was torpedoed. But his remains were recovered and buried with the remains of four other "unknowns." Lehman's remains were finally identified by using DNA collected from the letters he sent home — Lehman had licked the envelopes to seal them.

Michelle Obama Visits Haiti: First Lady Makes Unannounced Trip. Quote:

Obama and Biden's visit is intended to underscore U.S. commitment to the Haitian reconstruction effort and to thank American officials who have worked in the country for the past three months, the administration said in a statement.

It is Obama's first solo trip as first lady, and she will visit Mexico next, spokeswoman Katherine McCormick-Lelyveld said. Haiti was included when the trip was planned a month ago but not announced for security reasons.

Is the U.S. Army Losing Its War on Suicide? Quote:

From the invasion of Afghanistan until last summer, the U.S. military had lost 761 soldiers in combat there. But a higher number in the service — 817 — had taken their own lives over the same period. The surge in suicides, which have risen five years in a row, has become a vexing problem for which the Army's highest levels of command have yet to find a solution despite deploying hundreds of mental-health experts and investing millions of dollars. And the elephant in the room in much of the formal discussion of the problem is the burden of repeated tours of combat duty on a soldier's battered psyche.

RRS James Cook Voyage 44. Quote:

Join our team of scientists and engineers exploring the Cayman Trough, a three-mile deep rift in the seafloor of the Caribbean, in search of the world's deepest volcanic vents and new species of deep-sea creatures.

The White House Blog "An Opportunity -- Not Simply to Talk, But to Act". Quote:

Today the President and delegations from 46 other nations are working to address the most dire threat of our time: nuclear terrorism. It is the second day of the Nuclear Security Summit, following a first day during which several nations made significant commitments which will strengthen the global effort to maintain nuclear security and nonproliferation. For instance:

* Chile has shipped its highly enriched uranium to the United States; Ukraine has agreed to ship its highly enriched uranium out of the country within two years; and Canada has agreed to ship its used highly enriched uranium to the United States.
* The United States and Russia have reached an agreement on plutonium disposal, a deal that has been stalled since 2000, and which commits both countries to eliminate enough total plutonium for approximately 17,000 nuclear weapons.
* Recognizing the importance of this summit, and that its goals require a long-term commitment, South Korea has agreed to host the next Nuclear Security Summit in 2012.

If gay soldiers were in the Greatest Generation war...

How come we won?

Blog sprinkles

I always KNEW they were trashy rodents!

• Amazon explorers uncover signs of a real El Dorado

• Phila of Bouphonia's Friday Hope Blog.

• Great Britain in winter!

• Sunk Australia WWII hospital ship Centaur: first images

It's what you scream as you see it sail past? PHAaaaa!!! There are currently 1091 known Potentially Hazardous Asteroids.

• Power Your Cellphone Off Coca-Cola

• You say El Nino, I say La Nina, let's call the whole thing off ... El Nino, La Nina

Thank you, sir, for your service to our nation

Your patriotism, and your love of your sons. All of them.



h/t to JJ of Unrepentant Old Hippie

Only known video of Anne Frank

From this site.

Echoes of WWII still can be heard

Neo-nazis rising up to create fear and chaos:

"Right-wing extremism is part of everyday life and only attracts attention when the crimes are especially horrific," says Wolfgang Thierse, the Social Democrat vice-president of the lower house of the German parliament, the Bundestag.

The statistics are alarming. In 2007, the number of reported arson attacks committed by right-wing extremists climbed to 24 from 18 in the previous year. The targets are foreigners, including immigrants' mosques, cars and cafés.

"These are crimes that pose a threat to public safety and that could lead to people getting killed," warns Heinz Fromm, president of Germany's domestic intelligence service. The upward trend (more...) seems to be continuing this year. The numbers in March were higher than they had been in years. Throughout Germany, the police documented a total of 1,311 right-wing extremist and racist crimes, an increase of 458 over the year-earlier month. The incidents included 72 acts of violence, the government said in response to an inquiry from the Left Party vice president of the Bundestag, Petra Pau.

New Trend of "Anarchist Nationalists"

Intelligence agents have identified a new, right-wing extremist phenomenon: so-called anarchist nationalists who are "significantly more likely to commit acts of violence against political rivals and the police." After the May riots in Hamburg, the police are keenly aware of the threat posed by this new group of extremist thugs. In Hamburg, they joined in the fray wearing the same black outfits and showing a similar level of aggression as leftist anarchists. It took a massive police effort to prevent the situation from spinning out of control. What happened in Hamburg, says Interior Minister Wolfgang Schäuble, a Christian Democrat, attests to a "new quality."

And talk about ticking time-bombs:

Barely a week goes by in Germany without wartime bombs and weapons being found during construction work.

On Monday, much of the city of Potsdam near Berlin was brought to a standstill after an unexploded 250 kilogram British bomb was found at the site where a tram bridge is being built.

Some 3,000 people were evacuated from nearby homes and a hotel, and the main train station was closed along with key streets and tram lines.

The detonator was still live and the bomb could easily have gone off when it was accidentally touched, a spokeswoman for the city said. A bomb disposal expert gingerly unscrewed the detonator and the all clear was given nine hours after it was found.

Even kids find them:

A 10-year-old boy in the German city of Kassel is lucky to be alive after playing with a new "toy" that turned out to be a high-explosive shell from World War II.

[snip]

Gossens said that in the state of Hesse alone, 230 tons of World War II-era weapons and munitions were found in 2007 -- over 60 years after the end of the war.

Not to activate Godwin's Law, but how many unexploded bunker busters and cluster bombs will be in Iraq for decades to come? (I'm not even addressing the depleted uranium that we've released into the Iraqi environment to poison all forms of life for centuries.)

Doesn't this remind you of something out of WWII?

Comparing what we were hiding from the Red Cross:

WASHINGTON — The U.S. military hid the locations of suspected terrorist detainees and concealed harsh treatment to avoid the scrutiny of the International Committee of the Red Cross, according to documents that a Senate committee released Tuesday.

"We may need to curb the harsher operations while ICRC is around. It is better not to expose them to any controversial techniques," Lt. Col. Diane Beaver, a military lawyer who's since retired, said during an October 2002 meeting at the Guantanamo Bay prison to discuss employing interrogation techniques that some have equated with torture. Her comments were recorded in minutes of the meeting that were made public Tuesday. At that same meeting, Beaver also appeared to confirm that U.S. officials at another detention facility — Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan — were using sleep deprivation to "break" detainees well before then-Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld approved that technique. "True, but officially it is not happening," she is quoted as having said.

A third person at the meeting, Jonathan Fredman, the chief counsel for the CIA's Counterterrorism Center, disclosed that detainees were moved routinely to avoid the scrutiny of the ICRC, which keeps tabs on prisoners in conflicts around the world.

"In the past when the ICRC has made a big deal about certain detainees, the DOD (Defense Department) has 'moved' them away from the attention of the ICRC," Fredman said, according to the minutes.

The document, along with two dozen others, shows that top administration officials pushed relentlessly for tougher interrogation methods in the belief that terrorism suspects were resisting interrogation.

Where we had elected officials assuring the public that all was good at Gitmo and Iraq:

WASHINGTON, June 27 - Senators from both sides of the aisle competed on Monday to extol the humane treatment of detainees whom they said they saw on a weekend trip to the military detention center at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. All said they opposed closing the center.

And:

WASHINGTON – House Armed Services Committee Chairman Duncan Hunter is using menus to defend U.S. conduct at the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, detention facility.

In a TV interview show Sunday and a Capitol news conference Monday, Hunter, R-El Cajon, brandished the menus for the Guantanamo detainees' meals as a partial rebuttal to allegations that suspected terrorists and anti-U.S. fighters there were being mistreated.

[snip]

"The inmates in Guantanamo have never eaten better, they've never been treated better and they've never been more comfortable in their lives. . . . And the idea that somehow we are torturing people in Guantanamo is absolutely not true, unless you consider having to eat chicken three times a week is torture," Hunter said at the news conference.

To what the Nazis did?:

Succumbing to pressure following the deportation of Danish Jews to Theresienstadt, the Germans permitted the International Red Cross to visit in June 1944. It was all an elaborate hoax. The Germans intensified deportations from the ghetto shortly before the visit, and the ghetto itself was "beautified." Gardens were planted, houses painted, and barracks renovated. The Nazis staged social and cultural events for the visiting dignitaries. Once the visit was over, the Germans resumed deportations from Theresienstadt, which did not end until October 1944.

More on the hoax:

In December 1943, the Nazis told the Council of Elders of Theresienstadt about the Embellishment. The commander of Theresienstadt, SS Colonel Karl Rahm, took control of planning. An exact route was planned for the visitors to take. All buildings and grounds along this route were to be enhanced by green turf, flowers, and benches. A playground, sports fields, and even a monument were added. Prominent and Dutch Jews had their billets enlarged, as well as had furniture, drapes, and flower boxes added.

But even with the physical transformation of the Ghetto, Rahm thought that the Ghetto was too crowded. On May 12, 1944, Rahm ordered the deportation of 7,500 inhabitants. In this transport, the Nazis decided that all orphans and most of the sick should be included to help the facade that the Embellishment was creating.

The Nazis, so clever at creating facades, didn't miss a detail. They erected a sign over a building that read "Boys' School" as well as another sign that read "closed during holidays."9 Needless to say, no one ever attended the school and there were no holidays in camp.

On the day that the commission arrived, June 23, 1944, the Nazis were fully prepared. As the tour commenced, well-rehearsed actions took place that were created specially for the visit. Bakers baking bread, a load of fresh vegetables being delivered, and workers singing were all queued by messengers who ran ahead of the entourage.

Godwin's law is broken. The Bush and all of his loyal Bushies are the new Nazis.

Ashcroft sure is cranky for a godly man

Via Blue Texan at Firedoglake, Elsinora of the Daily Kos during a question and answer period after Ashcroft's speech:

ME: Actually, Mr. Ashcroft, my question was about this other document. (laughter and applause) This other document is a section from the judgment of the Tokyo War Tribunal. After WWII, the Tokyo Tribunal was basically the Nuremberg Trials for Japan. Many Japanese leaders were put on trial for war crimes and crimes against humanity, including torture. And among the tortures listed was the "water treatment," which we nowadays call waterboarding...
ASHCROFT: (interrupting) This is a speech, not a question. I don't mind, but it's not a question.
ME: It will be, sir, just give me a moment. The judgment describes this water treatment, and I quote, "the victim was bound or otherwise secured in a prone position; and water was forced through his mouth and nostrils into his lungs and stomach." One man, Yukio Asano, was sentenced to fifteen years hard labor by the allies for waterboarding American troops to obtain information. Since Yukio Asano was trying to get information to help defend his country--exactly what you, Mr. Ashcroft, say is acceptible for Americans to do--do you believe that his sentence was unjust? (boisterous applause and shouts of "Good question!")
ASHCROFT: (angrily) Now, listen here. You're comparing apples and oranges, apples and oranges. We don't do anything like what you described.
ME: I'm sorry, I was under the impression that we still use the method of putting a cloth over someone's face and pouring water down their throat...
ASHCROFT: (interrupting, red-faced, shouting) Pouring! Pouring! Did you hear what she said? "Putting a cloth over someone's face and pouring water on them." That's not what you said before! Read that again, what you said before!
ME: Sir, other reports of the time say...
ASHCROFT: (shouting) Read what you said before! (cries of "Answer her fucking question!" from the audience) Read it!
ME: (firmly) Mr. Ashcroft, please answer the question.
ASHCROFT: (shouting) Read it back!
ME: "The victim was bound or otherwise secured in a prone position; and water was forced through his mouth and nostrils into his lungs and stomach."
ASHCROFT: (shouting) You hear that? You hear it? "Forced!" If you can't tell the difference between forcing and pouring...does this college have an anatomy class? If you can't tell the difference between forcing and pouring...
ME: (firmly and loudly) Mr. Ashcroft, do you believe that Yukio Asano's sentence was unjust? Answer the question. (pause)
ASHCROFT: (more restrained) It's not a fair question; there's no comparison. Next question! (loud chorus of boos from the audience)

“When did the liberal media decide…that waterboarding was torture?”

Joe Scarborough defending torture.

Does he listen to himself? So we won WWII by torturing Nazis? No. We won by luck and strength and the galvanizing sense we were on the moral high ground. We did not torture. We did not brutalize our prisoners of war. We did not need to.

So when did torture become an indication of strength rather than of cowardice? When did torture become the tool of the righteous? When did men think that torture is the way to behave on the battlefield? Is the saying now "Who would Jesus torture?"

So. A question for those who think that torture makes us fearsome and strong rather than craven and weak. What are you going to do when they show one of our captured soldiers being waterboarded? We no longer have the protection of the Geneva Conventions. We've made sure of that. So....

Is he being tortured?

And that's okay with you?