“The President is merely the most important among a large number of public servants. He should be supported or opposed exactly to the degree which is warranted by his good conduct or bad conduct, his efficiency or inefficiency in rendering loyal, able, and disinterested service to the Nation as a whole. Therefore it is absolutely necessary that there should be full liberty to tell the truth about his acts, and this means that it is exactly necessary to blame him when he does wrong as to praise him when he does right. Any other attitude in an American citizen is both base and servile. To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public. Nothing but the truth should be spoken about him or any one else. But it is even more important to tell the truth, pleasant or unpleasant, about him than about any one else.” – Theodore Roosevelt, 26th US President (1858-1919)
Category: history
Seventy Five Years In The Passing: A D-Day Tribute — Gloria Smud
This needs no introduction whatsoever, other than to say what a wonderful tribute it is.
Seventy Five Years In The Passing..A D-Day Tribute. Seventy five years in the passing, The 6th of June; brave troops amassing. Nobody knew how countless would pay, For saving our souls that proud D-Day. From hillsides, valleys, towns & moors, They set off, leaving British shores. A rendezvous of military purpose, They called it Piccadilly…
via Seventy Five Years In The Passing: A D-Day Tribute — Gloria Smud
Privilege and Fractures
Carol at Wanderings of an Elusive Mind has done a great job of explaining the problems facing The United States of America…and it starts with the haves, afraid they will lose something, vs. the have nots, who are struggling with the long-held belief that upward mobility is possible. This applies equally to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Interesting to note that UNITED appears in both country titles, but fails to appear in everyday living!
Thanks to Margo at https://margosviews.wordpress.com for her initial re blog of this post.
Privilege is defined as “a special right, advantage, or immunity granted or available only to a particular person or group”.
As a white-skinned man, you have always been granted the privilege to “sit at the counter”, drink from a water fountain, live in the better neighborhoods, be given credit for some degree of intelligence, admitted to the school of your choice, enter in the business of your choice, ride in the front of the bus, vote for the candidate of your choice. Women have had to fight hard for these privileges. People of color have had to fight harder for these privileges.
Even today, when equality is purportedly granted to all, some experience much more privilege than others.
As a wealthy white man, you have always had more privileges than those of a lower “class” or income group. As a wealthy man, you have always had the privilege of being…
View original post 361 more words
#WeRemember
There are still lessons to be learned, as hatred and bigotry are still widespread in all countries. It was reported today that 1 in 10 in the UK do not believe the Holocaust happened. Thank you to Kelly for the reminder.
Today is International Holocaust Remembrance Day, and marks the 74th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. I thought it was a fitting time to recount my visit to the Sydney Jewish Museum back in November.
The museum was established in 1992 by the generation of Holocaust Survivors who settled in Australia. This very special place continues to give a voice to the victims of the Holocaust, so their individual and collective stories can spark dialogues and inspire change. As well as preserving and documenting this important historical period, the museum also beautifully illustrates the richness of Jewish life in Australian society. The ground floor displays teach many aspects of Jewish faith and traditions. This Gentile found it fascinating.
The Holocaust exhibition stretches across three levels of the building, and details the persecution and murder of European Jewry from 1933-1945. The events of Hitler’s WWII are described in chronological order…
View original post 358 more words
Remember: not just Who and When, but also understand Why — babbitman
This makes so much sense to me. I hope it may make you think beyond the ceremony of remembrance!
Wars kill people. They devastate families. Wars should be a politician’s absolute last resort and they are an admission that they have failed their people.
via Remember: not just Who and When, but also understand Why — babbitman
Twittering Tales #104 – 2 October 2018
It’s time again for Kat Myrman’s wonderful challenge to tax our creative souls. Just take her photo prompt and write a story, inspired by it, in 280 characters or fewer.
Photo by fotoerich at Pixabay.com
Here is this week’s prompt and my contribution. Check out all the fabulous entries here.
Those new contraceptive tablets were great.
The instructions were really clear.
I just had to make a sheath out of the intestine of a goat and stretch it over my organ, before ravishing all the handmaidens I desired.
I didn’t have an organ, or a piano, so I stretched it over my lyre!
(280 characters)
Four days in North Yorkshire
If you want to learn a little Yorkshire dialect, here’s your chance! You never know when it may come in handy. Apart from that there is a very interesting bit of history too.
Entrance to the Boar’s Head public house and country hotel, Ripley, North Yorkshire
You can catch a bus to Ripley, from Leeds Bus station. Number 36. It takes you all across the dales to North Yorkshire and drops you off right outside the Boars Head in Ripley, which was where I was staying for a four-day Yorkshire Break. Ripley is one of those handsome stone built Yorkshire villages set in rolling dales, which round there are steeped in the blood and the history of religious and civil wars. Not too far away was Marston Moor where Oliver Cromwell destroyed the Northern army of Charles the 1st. And at Ripley castle, on the edge of the village, lived the Ingleby’s, heavily related to and implicated with those involved in the 1605 Guy Fawkes gunpowder conspiracy to blow up the Houses of Parliament. There’s some good people round here!
The…
View original post 1,273 more words
The wise and foolish Wicklow Virgins
A wonderful account, by John McGuiggan, of some beautiful murals in Edinburgh.
John’s blog is a hidden gem, just like the pictures he describes.
July 4, 2018
Margo, “That little voice“, has a few very pertinent questions for the American people on this, their Independence Day. The same questions apply to all countries, to all societies, to all peoples, and it is the people who must decide the answers. I do so hope that they get it right!
July 4, 2018
Can I celebrate this day the way I have past Independence Days: without thought, concern, doubt, fear, disgust, or alarm?
The question plagues me as I watch the sun rise on this two hundred and forty-second birthday of the United States of America. On this day more than two centuries ago a group of men signed a paper declaring America would no longer be ruled by another nation. Our country would be independent of and from outside dominance. Henceforth we would determine our own fate, decide how we would be governed, guided by a Constitution that promised equality.
Not a perfect document, but one filled with hope, determination, and belief that individual voices can better chart the future of this new democracy, not one person.
So I wonder if we, the people of this fragile yet strong, and relatively new nation, can weather the storm of today’s internal…
View original post 267 more words
