On this date in 1862, the tall ship USS Cumberland was sunk by the ironclad CSS Virginia during the battle of Hampton Roads. My great great grandfather was a gunner on that ship. He happened to be on the far side of the ship when it was strafed, and was able to swim to shore. Otherwise, I would not have existed. A third of the crew perished. The captain boldly refused to lower the flag, which became a rallying event for the Union. I'm gratified to know that my family has always been on the best side of politics. ~ listener USS Cumberland sinking on March 8, 1862 during Battle of Hampton Roads,
by Max Lonzanida
Breaking News!! 😃👍 Word just reached me at this late hour from my 16 year old granddaughter (Shiloh's younger daughter) that her high school theater troupe, which had competed against all the other high schools in Maine this week, WON REGIONALS!!! It is especially gratifying because the play they chose to do was a very difficult topic...the story of Sophie Scholl, who was part of the White Rose Society, anti-Nazi, anti-fascists Resistance in WWII Germany. And they happened to be performing the play last weekend, as the fascist-inspired war with Iran began! In the course of the play "Antigone in Munich," Sophie is interrogated a number of times. And always the interrogation scenes include a very bright light over the table where she is being interrogated. And, brilliantly, the light deliberately shines annoyingly into the audience. So we feel that we are being interrogated with Sophie. We *are* Sophie. I'm so proud of her because she had the difficult job of Stage Manager!
ReplyDeleteBe sure to read Heather Cox Richardson's newly posted daily letter!
ReplyDeleteJust some of what's in HCR's daily letter:
DeleteIn Need to Know, David Rothkopf today called out the madness of the fact world trade and global security is being shattered by a single man. “Not since Adolf Hitler blew his brains out in a bunker beneath the garden of the German Reich Chancellery on April 30, 1945, have the lives of so many people around the world been so buffeted by the psychosis of a single man.”
Why has Trump launched a war against Iran on a whim, attacked other countries, and upended world trade, Rothkopf asked. “Because he’s insane. Because he’s venal. Because he’s a malignant narcissist. Because he’s a sociopath. Because he has a fragile ego. Because those around him exacerbate and play to those traits to advance their own interests. Because CEOs and investors do likewise to fill their coffers. Because to some people, whether he is insane or malevolent or repugnant or not matters less than whether his actions will feather their nests, increase their power.
“Because they, the billionaires…play their games and the consequences for the little people down below, the consequences for us, hardly matter a whit.”
On Thursday, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) called attention to another factor in play. In a speech to the Senate, Whitehouse noted that throughout his second term, Trump has advanced policies that help Russia, pausing weapons shipments to Ukraine, easing sanctions on Russia, and pushing a peace deal favorable to Russia. Last summer, he welcomed Putin to American soil, and administration officials have parroted Russian propaganda. Russian state media gloated when Trump “installed Russia apologist Tulsi Gabbard as his director of national intelligence,” and Attorney General Pam Bondi upon taking office stopped the anti-kleptocracy work that had targeted Russian oligarchs.
Trump’s new national security policy threw traditional U.S. allies overboard and favored policies that Russian government officials praised as “largely consistent” with their own.
“If Trump were purposefully doing Russia’s bidding,” Whitehouse said, “it is hard to see what he would be doing differently. The United States is the most powerful nation in the world. Russia is a weak, corrupt regime. My old friend Senator John McCain used to say that Russia is a gas station, run by gangsters, with an army. It doesn’t make sense that the President of the United States, who insists—insists—on being dominant in essentially every relationship, is so submissive to one person and that one person is Russia’s dictator, Vladimir Putin.”
Whitehouse suggested that the answer “could…have something to do with Trump’s close friendship with the deceased pedophile Jeffrey Epstein.” He noted that the Epstein files, riddled as they are with references to Trump, are also riddled with references to Russian girls and women, Russian operatives, and Russian president Vladimir Putin.
Whitehouse spoke about how many of Epstein’s victims believed he was recording them, and how there were hidden cameras installed throughout his homes. He quoted Epstein victim Virginia Giuffre, who wrote: “He explicitly talked about using me and what I’d been forced to do with certain men as a form of blackmail, so these men would owe him favors.”