Archives for the 'history' Category
Big Guns Make Bad Neighbors
Published on 7 Nov 2009 at 8:26 am.
1 Comment.
Filed under America, Boston, guns, history, military.
I say, Muffy, that deuced gunnery is flattening the bubbly! Old Ironsides’ la-di-da waterfront condo neighbors want to muffle the guns … a.m. and p.m. salutes to the flag, unsettling. Boston Herald:
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Tabloidification Of America Continues!
Published on 3 Nov 2009 at 7:56 am.
3 Comments.
Filed under history, media.
Welcome to the dark side. At the Washington Post, they’re working it from the inside out. Politico: Fists fly! It’s a case of Style section rage:
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HD Wars
Published on 30 Oct 2009 at 9:51 am.
1 Comment.
Filed under TV, history.
It’s the battle of the HD channels. Smithsonian Channel HD has its own offering for Veterans Day. “Apocalypse: The Second World War.” Good title … WWII was about as close to apocalypse as our world has seen this side of the Black Death … also looks like good viewing, making the usual claims of previously unseen archives-scoured footage. With noted lefty [...]
Never Know How You’ll Go
Published on 28 Oct 2009 at 9:41 am.
2 Comments.
Filed under America, courage, history.
I’m guessing he never saw this coming. Silver Star-decorated Normandy, Bulge combat veteran, 87, killed while raking leaves. Salem News:
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Major Apology Tour Attractions
Published on 27 Oct 2009 at 10:05 pm.
4 Comments.
Filed under Japan, history, nukes.
Not on the itinerary. Obama won’t be going to Hiroshima and Nagasaki. A-bomb blast sites … under the Apology Tour bus! Which is frankly more of a surprise than you’d know from reading this AP story:
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WWII In HD
Published on 24 Oct 2009 at 11:55 am.
3 Comments.
Filed under TV, history, military.
Big History Channel event, two hours a night, Nov. 15-19, “WWII in HD” promises to ”change the way the world sees this defining conflict.” Previews* and details at History.com, where they say they combed the archives for a lot of largely unseen footage and digitally cranked it up to HD standards.
Leadership Secrets Of Attila The Hun
Published on 21 Oct 2009 at 11:10 pm.
No Comments.
Filed under Noble savages, ancient mysteries, books, history.
Leadership Secrets of Attila the Hun, 20th Anniversary edition,* just crossed the transom at work. Remember when? Some cynics might say the cruel realities of the early ’90s and pretty much the entire the ’00s would tend to render ridiculous any cultish macho business self-help books from the ’80s. Bah. What’s a Hun care about a bunch of junk [...]
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Historic Suckupness, Poor Judgment
Published on 14 Oct 2009 at 11:01 am.
1 Comment.
Filed under Afghanistan, France, Obama, history.
Self-destructiveness and abandonment. History doesn’t repeat, they say, it rhymes. Badly, sure, and with poor meter. Free verse, if you like.
Guess who else went to Cairo and addressed a big historic suckup speech to the Islamic world, to no avail? Then, through ineptitude, lost the means of his own resupply, bungled the whole operation and saw the greater Islamic world turn [...]
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First, Want To Win
Published on 11 Oct 2009 at 10:05 am.
6 Comments.
Filed under Afghanistan, Obama, history.
Good point by Graham Bowley at NYT. You want to sell a war? Start to win. But he misses a key point.
OK, One More Thought
Published on 9 Oct 2009 at 12:01 pm.
2 Comments.
Filed under Nazis, Obama, dummkopf!, history, moronocy.
About President Barack Obama’s Nobel Peace Prize. It would be one thing if it was those money-grubbing, Nazi-collaborating … excuse me, neutral … Swedes who had awarded it. Can’t expect them to know the true value of peace.
But the Norwegian Nobel Committee theoretically should be aware that peace and freedom do not grow on trees.
A Modern War Reader
Published on 27 Sep 2009 at 10:45 am.
1 Comment.
Filed under Afghanistan, Iraq, history, military.
JH Stuart, who you’ll know from his periodic comments here, is a Norwich- and UVM-trained civil engineering consultant in Vermont and former Army engineer in Italy and Vietnam who has attacked our current wars with a engineer’s thoroughness, taking them apart to see how they work with the following course of study. Stuart called it “The [...]
Dismount!
Published on 25 Sep 2009 at 9:51 am.
4 Comments.
Filed under Afghanistan, Iraq, history, military.
Treadheads no more. The unit I rode into Baghdad with, 4th Battalion, 64th Armor Regiment, 2nd Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division, is now reflagged as 3rd Battalion, 15th Infantry, 4th Brigade, 3rd ID. Hasta la vista, Bradley! Arrivederci, Abrams. Until we mech again. They’re running around in the dirt in Georgia and getting ready to go to Afghanistan, with about [...]
Hidden Gem
Published on 25 Sep 2009 at 8:59 am.
No Comments.
Filed under history, military.
Reportedly one of the world’s best WWII collections has been salted away in a private museum in Natick, Mass., for the past decade. Now slightly less private. Viewing by appointment only. Includes a purported sawed-off bit of the couch Hitler did himself and the Mrs. in on, a draft of the Munich agreement, a Sherman tank and other [...]
In Which Obama Has A General Problem, Just Like A Real President*
Published on 22 Sep 2009 at 9:17 am.
6 Comments.
Filed under Afghanistan, Obama, history, military.
Roggio at Long War points to and discusses a McClatchy report that McChrystal is ready to resign if not given the resources to prosecute the war in Afghanistan.
I’m going to guess Obama and Emanuel are not going to take kindly to being pressured, but it puts them in a spot.
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Happy Molotov-Ribbentrop Day!
Published on 17 Sep 2009 at 9:40 am.
15 Comments.
Filed under Nazis, Obama, Russia, commies, history.
President Obama celebrates the 70th anniversary of the fruition of the famous non-aggression pact … the Sept. 17, 1939 Soviet invasion of Poland* … with a big present for Stalin wannabe Vladimir Putin. He scraps Euro missile shield! Reuters:
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Happy Labor Day!
Published on 7 Sep 2009 at 7:36 am.
4 Comments.
Filed under America, Canada, capitalism, history.
I’ll celebrate the way I usually do … working, and damned glad I have a job. Thanks to the sound and aggressive management of the company I work for, with an owner/publisher who made the tough choices and did what he had to do to keep us going. The unions helped to the extent that the unions got out [...]
Upward Mobility Downturn
Published on 6 Sep 2009 at 9:14 am.
1 Comment.
Filed under America, Obama, history, money.
Happens to coincide with the Great Society, War on Poverty, etc. Imagine that. The social scientists don’t seem to have quite figured it out yet, though. Boston Herald:
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Blitzkrieg
Published on 1 Sep 2009 at 10:30 pm.
2 Comments.
Filed under Europe, history, military.
Born on this day, 70 years ago, in the invasion of Poland: The coordinated use of armor, infantry and air power to penetrate opposing lines with lightning speed to encircle and destroy targeted units. As significant as the tactics were, the strategic maneuvering was that much more so. Possibly the single most cynical, murderous act of modern history, when [...]
Legacy
Published on 29 Aug 2009 at 9:25 am.
6 Comments.
Filed under Boston, history, pols.
As they hold a funeral mass for Ted Kennedy and bury him today, here’s some praise for the dead. It’s why they loved him. A couple of quick links to demonstrate the good he did as he attempted to redeem himself from the shame of Chappaquiddick, and to demonstrate his application of his considerable influence and political skills [...]
Woodstock, Celebrating 40 Years Of …
Published on 14 Aug 2009 at 8:00 pm.
7 Comments.
Filed under America, history.
… flaming hypocrisy from the back-to-nature crowd, which trashed a meadow, disturbed the bucolic peace with electronic noise, disrupted dairy operations, narrowly avoided a public health disaster, contributed to the destruction of untold thousands upon thousands of lives, and never looked back … except in self-congratulation!
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It’s A Small World After All
Published on 29 Jul 2009 at 10:42 am.
3 Comments.
Filed under Britain, Irish, Neanderthals, Obama, ancient mysteries, history, racism.
Here’s something for three Irishmen to marvel at over beers on the White House lawn. Professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. and Sgt. James Crowley may be related, according to ABC, sharing descent from a legendary 4th century Irish warrior. O’Bama, of course, hails from Moneygall.
Anyway, the racism thing didn’t pan out, but if anyone wants to find some [...]
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Glory
Published on 18 Jul 2009 at 12:16 pm.
2 Comments.
Filed under history, military.
146 years ago today, the 54th Massachusetts led the assault on Fort Wagner in South Carolina. The all-black regiment and its white officers were decimated, the dead including Col. Robert Gould Shaw, depicted with his soldiers above in the Shaw Memorial on Boston Common and in the 1989 film Glory.
Quick reading list:
Where Death and Glory [...]
Payroll Patriots, Hack Heroes
Published on 19 Jun 2009 at 10:13 am.
No Comments.
Filed under hacks, history.
Speaking of great battle anniversary observances, I missed one the other day … just like the Massachusetts payroll patriots: who insist on taking this highest of hack holidays,* Bunker Hill Day, June 17, as a paid day off, though they skipped the actual commemorations of the day in 1775 that American militia faced off against British troops on Breed’s Hill in [...]
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All War Is Local
Published on 18 Jun 2009 at 9:23 am.
4 Comments.
Filed under Britain, history.
Today marks the day, 194 years ago, the stage was set for our world.
History Lesson
Published on 16 Jun 2009 at 9:51 am.
3 Comments.
Filed under Iran, Obama, history.
Hey Obama, it’s 3 a.m. Do you know where your foreign policy is?
Roundup and deep thot kicks off with Michael Ledeen at PajamasMedia, always good on Iran. This great backgrounder that is pretty good on America, too:
United States Army, 234 Today
Published on 14 Jun 2009 at 12:22 pm.
3 Comments.
Filed under history, military.
With colonial militias confronting British troops garrisoned in Boston, on June 14, 1775 Congress voted to establish the Continental Army … 10 companies of infantry, with the expectation this number would quickly grow. The next day, Congress unanimously voted George Washington, who had been active in its military planning committees, to command the new army, and ordered him [...]
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Dawn’s Early Light (Captivity In Print)
Published on 12 Jun 2009 at 10:43 am.
13 Comments.
Filed under history, military.
Listening to the Star-Spangled Banner at the ROTC ceremony at Harvard last week, I reflected again on our nation’s choice of a description of armed struggle and resistance for its anthem. Vivid combat imagery, though understated as patriotic messages go. It was there at nightfall, we saw it during the night, by the light of explosions, is it still there? Over [...]
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Gallic Shrug
Published on 6 Jun 2009 at 7:57 am.
2 Comments.
Filed under France, history, military.
The storied Annals of French War Heroes grow by one as the French bestow high honors on a phony D-Day paratrooper, even though they were shown the documented truth.
Lowell, Mass., native/Derry, N.H., cop Howard Manoian retired to Ste. Mere-Eglise in 1985, where he is revered by the locals and has long earned free drinks, regaling tourists and reporters with tales of [...]
This Day In History
Published on 1 Jun 2009 at 12:01 pm.
4 Comments.
Filed under Britain, ancient mysteries, history, military.
Kent being the center of a spreading revolt against Parliament, sparked by the banning of Christmas celebrations in December 1647, that became known as the Second English Civil War; on the afternoon of June 1, 1648, the New Model Army under Sir Thomas Fairfax fronted up at the bridges over the Medway at Maidstone.
Fairfax, with his force of about [...]
Shameful Imperialist Past
Published on 30 May 2009 at 12:20 pm.
2 Comments.
Filed under Islam, history.
Neptunus Lex on the one that no one ever brings up.
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Greatest Generation Chic
Published on 29 May 2009 at 11:18 am.
3 Comments.
Filed under Germans, Obama, history, media, mockery.
Or just making the most of dead Jews and old uncles? Obama’s using Buchenwald for political purposes, says beloved Great-Uncle Charles Payne, via Der Spiegel:
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This Just In
Published on 26 May 2009 at 11:24 am.
7 Comments.
Filed under A Right-Wing Warmonger's Boutique Bookshop, history, literary.
Some reader suggestions for the shelves at Crittenden’s Boutique Right-Wing Warmonger Bookshop:
The Gallic War, Julius Caesar.
The Patton Papers, 1885-1940, George S. Patton
Thanks, good choices, GW, who adds ”any of the S.L.A. Marshall books … Most read like what they are, after action reviews of combat.” Some dispute over exactly what they are, though. The legendary combat historian [...]
Is Obama Another Jimmy Carter?
Published on 26 May 2009 at 9:33 am.
3 Comments.
Filed under Obama, history.
It’s a big question that history ultimately gets to answer, a lot like that “Is Bush the Worst President Ever” one. But people keep taking a stab at it. Who can resist? The latest is from a former Indian intelligence officer, who says yes, but adds that its is not simply bad to encourage North Korea [...]
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Resting Place Of Mothers’ Sons
Published on 10 May 2009 at 8:18 am.
4 Comments.
Filed under Bush, Obama, history, military.
Will be off limits to the common man on D-Day plus 65 years. Big Hollywood:
Barack Obama will attend the events on June 6th as George Bush did in 2004 for the sixtieth memorial service. Here is the rub, as of now Obama’s State Department has asked (read demanded) the French government not allow tour guide [...]
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Anzac Day
Published on 25 Apr 2009 at 11:51 pm.
1 Comment.
Filed under Australia, history, military.
April 25 is Anzac Day in Australia and New Zealand, marking the landings at Gallipoli in 1915 and the disastrous campaign there. Churchill’s idea for a second front went badly wrong, and he ended up resigning as First Lord of the Admiralty. The deaths of thousands of diggers at Gallipoli became a galvanizing event that helped establish [...]
A More Aggressive Carterism
Published on 25 Apr 2009 at 11:50 am.
9 Comments.
Filed under Obama, history.
It’s like Carterism on steroids. Like Carter with abs. Cooler, too, I guess. It wears shades sometimes.
I was having lunch downtown the other day with a couple of my crazed war vet pals I hadn’t seen in a while, one left, one right, and the right one says, “So, what do you think about Obama?”
Like he [...]
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The Pink Lady
Published on 22 Apr 2009 at 11:42 am.
1 Comment.
Filed under aircraft, history, military.
The Dissident Frogman with some French air show art and updates on the status of the Pink Lady, purportedly the last B-17 to see action over Europe that is still flying. History and more art at the Pink Lady link,
It Was About Hope, And Change …
Published on 20 Apr 2009 at 8:21 am.
9 Comments.
Filed under America, Boston, Britain, history, military.
Patriots Day may be the least known American holiday, and the day most deserving of our recognition. Observed by schools and government today in Massachusetts and Maine only. Don’t know it? It marks the day, April 19, 1775, on which Americans took up arms against their king, and bled, at the crack of terrible dawn.
The following collection of first-person [...]
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Victory Point
Published on 19 Apr 2009 at 9:14 am.
No Comments.
Filed under Afghanistan, history, military.
My next read, new out this month, Victory Point: Operations Red Wings and Whalers - the Marine Corps’ Battle for Freedom in Afghanistan, describes 2/3 Marines operations in the Korengal Valley region before, during and after the incident dramatically described by SEAL Marcus Luttrell in Lone Survivor: The Eyewitness Account of Operation Redwing and the Lost [...]
Double A-Bomb Survivor
Published on 24 Mar 2009 at 9:49 pm.
1 Comment.
Filed under Japan, history.
Not the kind of accomplishment anyone goes looking for. Officially registered in Japan. Tsutomu Yamaguchi was on business in Hiroshima on Aug. 6, 1945 and suffered some burns. Then he went home to Nagasaki. UK Guardian:
At 11.02 on 9 August, as his boss reportedly questioned his sanity for believing that a single bomb could destroy a [...]
Living History
Published on 23 Mar 2009 at 9:09 am.
1 Comment.
Filed under history, military.
And sacred soil. Joe Galloway on the dedication of a parade ground at the new National Infantry Museum:
Great Depression
Published on 8 Mar 2009 at 10:26 am.
No Comments.
Filed under America, Boston, history, money.
A couple of comparisons, macro and micro, at the Boston Herald.
Faster, Cheaper, Lighter
Published on 1 Mar 2009 at 11:15 am.
No Comments.
Filed under history, military.
Or the back to future in defense spending under the Obama admin? via Castle Argghhh!!!, who actually points to a practical revival of the concept. Tanks for the memories, Argghhh!!!
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Danger’s Hour
Published on 1 Mar 2009 at 12:10 am.
No Comments.
Filed under history, literary, military.
My friend Max, a Cape Cod man currently living in Los Angeles,* has produced a towering work of history. I’m just finishing it now. Danger’s Hour: The Story of the USS Bunker Hill and the Kamikaze Pilot Who Crippled Her has a couple of problems, technically and thematically, one of which I mentioned earlier. You know, the al-Qaeda, kamikaze, [...]
Bloody Old Home Week
Published on 25 Feb 2009 at 10:21 am.
No Comments.
Filed under history, military.
Dhanmandi, the old neighborhood in Dhaka, Bangladesh … back when it was Dacca, East Pakistan … is shot up the Bangladesh Rifles, a paramilitary border force that mutinied over pay and objections to Army leadership. Latest is the PM has pardoned them and promised to address demands to end heavy daylong that left several dead … including senior [...]
Tainted Love
Published on 23 Feb 2009 at 12:43 pm.
4 Comments.
Filed under Obama, history.
His approval is headed south (from a high of 70 to 63), his disapproval is headed north (from a low of 12 to 24), and more people are unwilling not to have an opinion (down from 21 to 13). Gallup.
Iwo
Published on 23 Feb 2009 at 9:53 am.
1 Comment.
Filed under Iraq, history, military.
64 years ago today, an iconic moment for a war-weary nation, a symbol that it might all be worth something. Gateway with some links and vid. So in these wars of ours, did we get an iconic Iwo moment. Yeah, but it didn’t end up on front pages across the nation. Almost no one noticed.
Non-Partisan Poll
Published on 17 Feb 2009 at 6:45 am.
4 Comments.
Filed under history.
Loves Lincoln, shoves Bush down to 36. Apparently non-partisan historians don’t think much of thwarting terrorism attacks and freeing 50 million people from tyranny. CNN:
Presidents Day
Published on 16 Feb 2009 at 11:26 am.
2 Comments.
Filed under America, history.
Waking up on Presidents Day, 2009, quick check out the window, still looks like America out there. Obama gets a free throw today. No mockery, despite his chief of staff’s revelation last week that mockery is the new statesmanship … at least until you hit the water’s edge, at which point suckupery … sorry, I [...]
When In Rome
Published on 15 Feb 2009 at 10:02 am.
6 Comments.
Filed under Iraq, history.
Tom Ricks sits in the Forum, mulls the ruins of ancient “Mission Accomplished” arches, and looks at the prospects for renewed war in Iraq.
