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In History, Law, Law Enforcement, Military, Politics, Social commentary on March 26, 2024 at 12:26 am
Sometimes a historical novel can tell frightening truths about not only a past time but the present one.
Such is the case with The Mitford Affair (2023), by Marie Benedict.
The years 1933 through 1939 saw the rise of Nazi Germany and the embrace of Fascism by millions—not only Germans but those outside Germany.
Among these were members of England’s aristocratic Mitford family. As the book’s cover blurb states:
“Between the World Wars, the six Mitford sisters―each more beautiful, brilliant, and eccentric than the next―dominate the English political, literary, and social scenes.
“Though they’ve weathered scandals before, the family falls into disarray when Diana divorces her wealthy husband to marry a fascist leader and Unity follows her sister’s lead all the way to Munich, inciting rumors that she’s become Adolf Hitler’s mistress.
“As the Nazis rise in power, novelist Nancy Mitford grows suspicious of her sisters’ constant visits to Germany and the high-ranking fascist company they keep. When she overhears alarming conversations and uncovers disquieting documents, Nancy must make excruciating choices as Great Britain goes to war with Germany.”
From 1933 to 1939, Adolf Hitler moved from triumph to triumph—rearming Germany, largely eliminating unemployment, lifting the morale of the vast majority of Germans. And as he did so, Fascism became increasingly popular, even chic.
Millions saw Fascism as their only protection against Communism. Democracy was widely regarded as too weak to compete with the Soviet Union and Joseph Stalin’s legions.
While England was plagued by widespread unemployment and continuing disillusionment over the traumas of World War 1, Hitler’s Germany radiated a newfound pride and purpose.
Sisters Diana and Unity Mitford had their own private reasons for their attraction to Deutschland. Diane had married Oswald Mosley, leader of the British Union of Fascists (BUF). From Hitler, she hoped to gain funding for the BUF, and eventually did.
Jessica, Nancy, Diana, Unity and Pamela Mitford in 1935
Later, she and Mosley sought the creation of a German-financed ratio station to aim propaganda at their fellow Britons. Both expected—and celebrated—the future conquest of England and its total domination by Hitler.
Unity, meanwhile, became obsessed with Hitler the man. She studied German to speak conversationally with him, and for 10 months staked out his favorite restaurant in hopes of meeting him.
Adolf Hitler
Her patience bore fruit when, after repeatedly noticing her, Hitler, through an adjutant, invited her to his table. He was charmed by her knowledge of German—and her middle name: “Valkyrie.”
In Norse mythology, Valkyries were maidens sent by the god Odin to choose the dead warriors who merited a place in Valhalla.
She won even greater favor from Hitler by giving an anti-Semitic speech at a Hitler Youth festival at Hesselberg and posting an open letter in Der Sturmer (“The Daily Stormer”), the rabidly anti-Semitic newspaper run by Julius Streicher:
“The English have no notion of the Jewish danger. Our worst Jews work only behind the scenes. We think with joy of the day when we will be able to say England for the English! Out with the Jews! Heil Hitler. P.S. please publish my name in full, I want everyone to know I am a Jew hater.”
Unity Mitford
Eva Braun, Hitler’s secret mistress, saw Unity as a rival and attempted suicide with an overdose of sleeping pills. She survived, and this led Hitler to bestow greater attention on her.
For five years—at dinners, concerts, party rallies and private meetings–-Hitler remained charmed by Unity and Diana. He reveled in the company of two beautiful women who were members of the British aristocracy—and proudly and openly Fascist.
And they, in turn, remained charmed by him—and excited at their proximity to his lethal power.
Yet, in the end, all three met with disaster.
Diana never got the German radio station for her husband. Instead, she and Mosley found themselves imprisoned as German collaborators after England declared war on Germany on September 3, 1939.
Oswald Mosley
Unity, devastated that the two countries she most loved were now at war, shot herself in the temple with a small pistol Hitler had given her for protection. She survived, but remained a vegetable for the rest of her life.
Hitler paid her doctor bills, and when she was able to speak asked her if she wanted to remain in Germany or return to England. She chose England, so Hitler arranged her transportation by ambulance to neutral Switzerland. Her mother and youngest sister, Deborah, met her there and escorted her back to England.
She died on May 28,1948, of meningitis caused by the cerebral swelling around the bullet.
On April 30, 1045, having lost the war he had unleashed, Hitler shot himself in his underground bunker.
The Mitford Affair ends in April, 1941, so there is no mention of the death of Unity or Hitler, or the release of Diana and Oswald Mosley from prison in 1943 due to Mosley’s ill health. They were placed under house arrest until the end of the war and denied passports until 1949.
Although the novel centers on characters and incidents that reach back almost a century ago, it’s packed with truths increasingly relevant to America as it nears the 2024 Presidential election.
Those truths will be explored in Part Two of this series.
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In Bureaucracy, History, Medical, Politics, Social commentary on March 22, 2024 at 1:17 am
It was the night of March 5, 1836. For the roughly 200 men inside the surrounded Alamo, death lay only hours away.
Inside a house in San Antonio, Texas, Mexican dictator Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna was holding a council of war with his generals.
For 12 days, his army had bombarded the old mission. Still, the Texians—whose numbers included the legendary bear hunter and Congressman David Crockett and knife fighter James Bowie—held out.
Now Santa Anna was in a hurry to take the makeshift fortress. Once its defenders were dead, he could march on to sweep all American settlers from Texas.
One of his generals, Manuel Castrillón, urged Santa Anna to wait just a few more days. By then, far bigger cannon would be available. When the Alamo’s three-feet-thick walls had been knocked down, the defenders would be forced to surrender.
The lives of countless Mexican soldiers would thus be spared.
Santa Anna was eating a late-night chicken dinner. He held up a chicken leg and said: “What are the lives of soldiers but those of so many chickens?”
Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna
Santa Anna ordered his generals to prepare an all-out attack on the Alamo, to be launched the next morning—March 6, 1836—at 5 a.m.
Hours later, the attack went forward. Within 90 minutes, every Alamo defender was dead—and so were at least 600 Mexican soldiers.
“What are the lives of Americans but those of so many chickens?”
That could well be the slogan of President Donald Trump in his approach to COVID-19.
The United States has become the country worst-affected by Coronavirus—with more than 8.38 million diagnosed cases and more than 222,000 deaths.
Coronavirus
Americans are living through their tenth month with the virus, and still the Trump administration cannot—or will not—design a coordinated plan to combat it.
Trump started out 2020 by dismissing COVID-19 as a threat. On January 22 he said: “We have it totally under control. It’s one person coming in from China.”
By February 28, he had termed the disease the Democrats’ “new hoax.”
By March, he was making it clear that each state was responsible for securing its needed supply of Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs) for its doctors and nurses aiding Coronavirus patients.
This resulted in a dog-eat-dog atmosphere of cutthroat competition and scarcity, with Americans not only fighting the virus but each other.
Even worse: Trump didn’t simply refuse to provide states with vitally-needed medical supplies—he ordered the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to illegally seize those supplies that states had ordered.
Donald Trump
When states’ governors issued stay-at-home orders, Trump was forced to cancel his campaign rallies. Starting Easter weekend, he held almost 50 daily press briefings at the White House.
Their official purpose: To update the country on the administration’s ongoing response to the Coronavirus pandemic.
Their real purpose: To serve as a substitute for Trump’s hate-filled political rallies, which have been likened to those staged by Germany’s Fuhrer, Adolf Hitler, at Nuremberg.
Eager to return to his mass rallies and reignite his support from Right-wingers, he began furiously campaigning to end social distancing and the wearing of masks. Both of these had been mandated by such governors as California’s Gavin Newsom and New York’s Andrew Cuomo.
He also demanded the reopening of businesses across the nation—although no vaccine nor even adequate testing and contact-tracing facilities existed. This led many states—especially in the South and Midwest—to reopen prematurely, with a resulting rise in COVID infections and deaths.
He urged his Right-wing supporters to flood into the capitols of such states as Michigan, Minnesota and Virginia—whose governors were Democrats—and demand an end to mask-wearing and social distancing. This was in direct defiance of the laws legally in force in those states.
And they did as he ordered—massing shoulder-to-shoulder, most of them not wearing masks, and with many of them carrying automatic rifles.
On April 23, at a White House press briefing, he suggested that UV light and disinfectant—such as Clorox—might prove an effective preventative or cure for Coronavirus. This prompted alarm from medical professionals—even as some Americans believed him and swallowed disinfectant to prevent COVID-19.
Unable—or unwilling—to effectively attack the virus, Trump chose to attack the medical professionals desperately trying to save lives. He accused them of hoarding scarce medical supplies and lying about the number of COVID cases they were treating.
As fall approached, Trump demanded that Americans risk the lives of their children by sending them back to school. This would allow their parents to return to work. Then Trump could claim that he had “saved” the American economy—and be re-elected.
His chief target: Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. There were two reasons for this:
- Fauci repeatedly warned about the dangers of the virus—and criticized the failures of the Federal Government to effectively combat it; and
- His warnings repeatedly proved correct—while Trump’s rosy predictions proved wrong.
Finally, Trump wanted Americans to simply ignore the virus—and re-elect him.
Like Santa Anna, Trump could have easily said: “What are the lives of Americans but those of so many chickens?”
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In Bureaucracy, History, Humor, Politics, Self-Help, Social commentary on March 18, 2024 at 12:11 am
Every family has one—or several: Right-wing relations or friends who treat every word of former President Donald Trump as if it comes down from God Himself.
Who furiously assert that:
- Climate change is still a Democratic hoax.
- The Trump administration completely stopped illegal immigration.
- Legitimate media stories of Trump’s crimes and failures are “fake news.”
- Every civil and criminal case filed against Trump is part of a conspiracy by President Joe Biden to sabotage Trump’s 2024 candidacy for President.
- Only Trump can be trusted to safeguard America.
What to do?
There are three methods to cope with such behavior.
Method One: Challenge the Stormtrumper
Bring up an embarrassing incident that even the Stormtrumper can’t deny.
Example: A Stormtrumper falsely accuses Democratic President Joseph Biden of “groping” women.
Response: Mention how Trump openly bragged about grabbing women “by the pussy.” Then ask: “Would you leave your mother / wife / sister alone in a room with him?”
Donald Trump
No matter how the Stormtrumper replies, you have him.
- If he says “No, I wouldn’t,” then ask: “How can you support a candidate like this?”
- If he says “Yes, I would,” then assert: “So you’d leave your mother / wife / sister alone with an admitted sexual predator? What does that say about you?”
Odds are the Stormtrumper will back off—or try to change the subject.
If he opts for the latter, don’t let him. Keep attacking him for supporting a sexual predator until he flees or shuts up.
Method Two: Fight Fire With Fire
Trump has long relied on slanders and insults to successfully attack his opponents—in business, politics and media.
These have included:
- Falsely accusing the father of Texas United States Senator Rafael “Ted” Cruz of being a party to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.
- Falsely accusing Barack Obama—who was born in Hawaii—of being born in Kenya, and therefore ineligible to be President.
- Falsely accusing Democratic Vice Presidential Kamala Harris—who was born in Oakland—of being born outside the United States.
Such slanders and insults can be attacked with counter-slanders and insults.
For example: It’s widely assumed that Trump’s disastrous response to the COVID-19 plague resulted from mere incompetence. But it could have been a deliberate sabotaging of the American healthcare system.
Why?
To curry favor with Russian President Vladimir Putin
Trump’s effusive embrace of Putin—and the monies he’s received from Russian oligarchs—are well-known. Perhaps he chose to weaken the United States to pay off that debt.
Vladimir Putin
If this assertion is false, let the Stormtrumper prove it.
And insults can be countered with insults—such as:
- Commissar-in-Chief
- Fake President
- TrumPutin
- Red Donald
- DJTraitor
- Carrot Caligula
- Trumpy Traitor
- Coronavirus-in-Chief
There’s no need to insult your Stormtrumper friend/relative (unless you want to).
Just keep jabbing at his infamous idol. If he ends your relationship because you don’t subscribe to his brand of treason and criminality, the loss is his.
Of course, if he insults you and you feel like responding, here are two replies that are always useful:
- “Everybody has a right to be stupid, but some people abuse the privilege.”
- “Do you always support criminals and traitors?”
Then walk out, hang up and/or block him if he’s on your Facebook or Twitter page.
Method Three: Use Diplomacy
But suppose you don’t want to get into a verbal (and possibly physical) combat with your Stormtrumper relative/friend—or even your boss.
At the same time, you don’t want to prostitute your integrity by agreeing with the sheer ignorance and/or treason coming out of his/her mouth. (And often it’s impossible to tell which is at play.)
In that case, you can honorably defuse the situation by simply saying: “Of course.”
Most Stormtrumpers come from the ranks of high school dropouts or, at best, graduates.
They dismiss legitimate news media who chronicle Trump’s crimes and failures as “fake news.” Thus, they remain—proudly—ignorant of what’s going on in the world.
In short, they’re not exactly the sharpest knife in the box.
So when you say, “Of course,” they will most likely think you’re agreeing with them. When what you mean is: “Of course only a moron and Fascist like you would believe that.”
This will save you from wasting your time in trying to educate them. (Remember the adage: “Never try to teach a GOPig how to sing. It only wastes your time and annoys the GOPig.”)
It also allows you to preserve the relationship. (That’s assuming you want a relationship with someone who actively supports a master criminal and traitor.)
* * * * *
The key thing to remember when dealing with Stormtrumpers is what Ernest Hemingway said about Fascism: “Fascism is a lie told by bullies.”
Stormtrumpers are Fascistic bullies who tell lies. They give you two choices: You can be their slave—or their enemy.
If you choose to be their slave and you have any sense of self-worth, you will despise yourself for doing so.
If you choose to fight, you might not win, but you’ll have preserved your own integrity—which the Stormtrumper forfeited long ago.
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In Bureaucracy, History, Law, Law Enforcement, Military, Politics, Social commentary on March 15, 2024 at 12:12 am
On November 22, 2019, Mark Shields—a liberal syndicated columnist—and David Brooks—a conservative one for The New York Times—reached disturbingly similar conclusions about President Donald Trump’s efforts to extort a “favor” from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
DAVID BROOKS: “What strikes me [is] that everyone was in the loop, that this was not something they tried to hide.
“This was just something they thought was the way politics gets done or foreign policy gets done, that there’s no division between personal gain and public service.”
MARK SHIELDS: “What I have underestimated….is the fear that Donald Trump exercises over Republicans. I mean, people talked about Lyndon Johnson being a fearsome political leader. They don’t even approach. I mean, he strikes fear into the hearts of Republicans up and down the line. And I think that….has been eye-opening in its dimensions.”
Nor did the GOP try to reign Trump in.
In a November 14, 2019 column, “Republicans Can’t Abandon Trump Now Because They’re All Guilty,” freelance journalist Joel Mathis warned: “Trump’s abuses of power mirror those of the GOP as a whole. Republicans can’t turn on him, because doing so would be to indict their party’s entire approach to politics.”
For example:
- At the state level, GOP legislatures have passed numerous voter ID laws over the last decade. Officially, the reason has been to prevent non-citizens from voting. In reality, the motive is to depress turnout among Democratic constituencies.
- When Democrats have won elections, Republicans have tried to block them from carrying out their policies. In Utah, voters approved Medicaid expansion at the ballot box—but Republicans nullified this.
- In North Carolina, Republican legislators prevented voters from choosing their representatives. Instead, Republican representatives chose voters through partisan sorting. In September, the state’s Supreme Court ruled the legislative gerrymandered district map unconstitutional.
The upshot of all this: “The president and his party are united in the belief that their entitlement to power allows them to manipulate and undermine the country’s democratic processes….”
On November 21, 2019, Representative Adam Schiff (D-CA), chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, attacked Republicans’ total rejection of the overwhelming evidence linking Trump with extortion:
Adam Schiff
“But apparently, it’s all hearsay. Even when you actually hear the President….that’s hearsay. We can’t rely on people saying what the President said. Apparently, we can only rely on what the President says, and there, we shouldn’t even rely on that either….
“We should imagine he said something about actually fighting corruption, instead of what he actually said, which was, ‘I want you to do us a favor, though. I want you to look into this 2016 CrowdStrike conspiracy theory, and I want you to look into the Bidens.’
“I guess we’re not even supposed to rely on that because that’s hearsay….That would be like saying you can’t rely on the testimony of the burglars during Watergate because it’s only hearsay, or you can’t consider the fact that they tried to break in because they got caught. They actually didn’t get what they came for, so, you know, kind of no harm, no foul. That’s absurd.
“The difference between [Watergate and Trump’s attempted extortion of Ukraine] is not the difference between [Richard] Nixon and [Donald] Trump. It’s the difference between that Congress and this one. And so, we are asking, where is Howard Baker? Where are the people who are willing to go beyond their party to look to their duty?
“But the other defense besides ‘It failed, the scheme failed, they got caught,’ the other defense is ‘The President denies it.’ Well, I guess that’s case closed, right?
“….This President believes he is above the law, beyond accountability. And in my view, there is nothing more dangerous than an unethical President who believes they are above the law.”
* * * * *
The United States has indeed become a polarized country. But it’s not the polarization between Republicans and Democrats, or between conservatives and liberals.
It’s the polarization between
- Those intent on enslaving everyone who doesn’t subscribe to their Fascistic beliefs and agenda—and those who resist being enslaved.
- Those who believe in reason and science—and those who believe in an infallible “strong man” who rejects both.
- Those who cherish education—and those who celebrate ignorance.
- Those who believe in the rule of law—and those who believe in their right to act as a law unto themselves.
- Those who believe in treating others (especially the less fortunate) with decency—and those who believe in the triumph of intimidation and force.
Those who hoped that Republicans would choose patriotism over partisanship got their answer on February 5, 2020. That was when the Republican-dominated Senate—ignoring the overwhelming evidence against him—acquitted Donald Trump on both impeachment articles: Obstruction of Congress and Abuse of Power.
It’s natural to regret that the United States has become a sharply divided nation. But those who lament this should realize there is only one choice:
Either non-Fascist Americans will destroy the Republican party and its voters that threaten to enslave them—or they will be enslaved by Republicans and their voters who believe they are entitled to manipulate and undermine the country’s democratic processes.
There is no middle ground.
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In Bureaucracy, History, Law, Law Enforcement, Military, Politics, Social commentary on March 14, 2024 at 12:23 am
On November 14, 2019, the CNN website showcased an opinion piece by Jane Carr and Laura Juncadella entitled: “Fractured States of America.”
And it opened:
“Some worry that it’s already too late, that we’ve crossed a threshold of polarization from which there is no return. Others look toward a future where more moderate voices are heeded and heard, and Americans can find better ways to relate to each other. Still others look back to history for a guide—perhaps for what not to do, or at the very least for proof that while it’s been bad before, progress is still possible.”
A series of sub-headlines summed up many of the comments reported.
- “I was starting to hate people that I have loved for years.”
- “Voting for Trump cost me my friends.”
- “I feel like I’m living in hostile territory.”
- “Our children are watching this bloodsport.”
- “A student’s Nazi-style salute reflects the mate.”
- “Our leaders reflect the worst of us.”
- “I truly believe I will be assaulted over a bumper sticker.”
- “It already feels like a cold war.”
It’s natural to regret that the United States has become so self-destructively polarized. And to wish that its citizens could somehow reach across the chasm that divides them and find common cause with one another.
But that is to ignore the brutal truth that America now faces a choice:
- To submit to the tyrannical aggression of a ruthless political party convinced that they are entitled to power to manipulate and undermine the country’s democratic processes; or
- To fiercely resist that aggression and the destruction of those democratic processes.
Consider the face-off between President Donald J. Trump and Army Lt. Colonel Alexander Vindman.
Vindman is a retired United States Army officer who served as the Director for European Affairs for the United States National Security Council. He was also a witness to Trump’s efforts to extort “a favor” from the president of Ukraine.
Lt. Colonel Alexander Vindman
Адміністрація Президента України [CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0)%5D
In July, 2019, Trump told his acting chief of staff, Mick Mulvaney, to withhold almost $400 million in promised military aid for Ukraine, which faced increasing aggression from Russia.
On July 25, Trump telephoned Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to “request” a “favor”: Investigate 2020 Democratic Presidential Candidate Joe Biden and his son, Hunter, who had had business dealings in Ukraine.
The reason for such an investigation: To find embarrassing “dirt” on Biden.
It was clear that unless Zelensky found “dirt” on Biden, the promised aid would not be forthcoming.
“I was concerned by the call,” Vindman, who had heard Trump’s phone call, testified before the House Intelligence Committee. “I did not think it was proper to demand that a foreign government investigate a U.S. citizen, and I was worried about the implications for the U.S. Government’s support of Ukraine.
“I realized that if Ukraine pursued an investigation into the Bidens and Burisma, it would likely be interpreted as a partisan play which would undoubtedly result in Ukraine losing the bipartisan support it has thus far maintained. This would all undermine U.S. national security.”
Trump denounced Vindman as a “Never Trumper”—as if opposing his extortion attempt constituted a blasphemy. Republicans and their shills on the Fox News Network attacked him as well. As a result, he sought physical protection by the Army for himself and his family.
(On February 7, 2020, he was reassigned from the National Security Council at Trump’s order.)
Donald Trump
On November 15, 2019, conservative New York Times columnist David Brooks and liberal syndicated columnist Mark Shields appeared on The PBS Newshour to offer their reactions by Republicans and Democrats to Trump’s extortion attempt.
David Brooks and Mark Shields on “The PBS Newshour”
DAVID BROOKS: “The case is very solid and airtight that there was the quid pro quo. All the testimony points to that. And, mostly, you see a contrast. The first two gentlemen that testified on the first day, they were just upstanding, solid public servants.
“I felt like I was looking back in time, because I was looking at two people who are not self-centered. They cared about the country. They were serving. They had no partisan ax to grind. They were just honest men of integrity.
“And I thought we saw that again today with [former Ambassador to Ukraine] Marie Yovanovitch. And in her case, the day was more emotional, because you got to see a case of bullying against a strong, upstanding woman.
“And so I thought she expressed—like, the heavy moments of today where when she expressed her reaction to how badly she was treated. And so that introduces an element of emotion and pathos into what shouldn’t be just a legal proceeding. It should be something where people see the contrast between good people and bad people.”
MARK SHIELDS: “This is a story of corruption—corruption not in Ukraine, corruption in the United States.
“I mean, why? Why did they go to such lengths to denigrate, to attack, to try and destroy and sabotage the career of a dedicated public servant [United States Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovich], a person who had put her life on the line? Why did they do it? What was it, money? Was it power?”
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In Bureaucracy, Business, History, Law, Law Enforcement, Politics, Social commentary on March 13, 2024 at 12:10 am
There is a phrase that’s well-known south of the border: “Pan, o palo.” Or, in English: “Bread or stick.”
And this, in turn, comes down to: Do as I say and you’ll get this nice reward. Disobey me and you’ll get your head bashed in.
According to the FBI’s website, “some 33,000 violent street gangs, motorcycle gangs, and prison gangs are criminally active in the U.S. today.
“Many are sophisticated and well organized; all use violence to control neighborhoods and boost their illegal money-making activities, which include robbery, drug and gun trafficking, prostitution and human trafficking, and fraud. Many gang members continue to commit crimes even after being sent to jail.”
Gangs are responsible for an average of 48% of violent crime in most jurisdictions and up to 90% in others.
FBI seal
These gangs aren’t going to disappear, no matter how many of their members die or wind up in prison.
For decades, the rhetoric of the Cold War has carried over into the debate over policing. “Hawks” on the Right have demanded a “hard” approach to law enforcement, emphasizing punishment. “Doves” on the Left have pursued a “soft” line, stressing social programs and rehabilitation.
But it isn’t enough to be “hard” or “soft” in pursuing the goal of a safe, law-abiding society. It’s necessary to be “smart” above all.
If you can’t eradicate evil, then you should try to direct at least some of its elements into a safer path.
So it’s clearly time for an innovative approach to gangbusting.
Instead of merely using “the stick,” state and federal governments should use a combination of rewards and punishments to reduce gang membership and protect innocent citizens who are often the victims of gangland violence.
Each state should invite its resident gang members to take part in a series of competition for the title of “State Gang Champion.” These would be modeled on competitions now existing within the National Football League—a series of playoffs to determine which two gangs will duke it out in the “Super Rumble.”
These competitions would be completely voluntary, thus eliminating any charges of State coercion. They would be modeled on the country’s current mania for “Ultimate Warrior” contests for kickboxers and bare-knuckled fighters.
Contestants—from at least 10 opposing gangs—would meet in a football-sized arena.
No firearms would be allowed, thus ensuring safety for spectators. Contestants could otherwise arm themselves with whatever weapons they desired—such as baseball bats, swords, axes, spears or chains.
Everyone who agreed to participate would automatically be guaranteed full immunity for whatever carnage they inflicted.
The object of these contests would be to officially determine which State gang was the “baddest” for the year. Tickets could be purchased by fans looking for an afternoon’s festival of gore.
Television networks could—-and no doubt would—vie for rights to film the events, just as they now do for streaming wrestling or boxing matches.
So why would hardcore gangs even consider participating in such a series of contests?
L.A. gang
For a multitude of reasons.
First, they would be able to eliminate members of rival gangs without risk of prosecution and imprisonment.
Second, they would be able to gauge—through the heat of combat—the toughness of their enemies and their own members.
Third, they would gain at least temporary stardom—just as successful gladiators did under the Roman Empire and winning football quarterbacks do today.
Fourth, the winning gang would gain official status as “The Baddest” gang in the State for that year.
On this last point: Napoleon Bonaparte created the Order of the Legion of Honor, distributed 15,000 crosses to his soldiers and called his troops the “Grand Army.” When someone criticized him for giving “toys” to his war-hardened veterans, Napoleon replied: “Men are ruled by toys.”
And for the State there would be gains as well.
First, these contests would literally eliminate a great many gang members who could not be removed any other way.
Second, police and prosecutors could concentrate their limited resources on gangs that refused to participate and/or were deemed to pose the greatest threat.
Third, millions of dollars in State revenues would be generated through ticket sales and the buying of streaming rights.
Fourth, for Republican politicians, there would be an added bonus: Their constituents would find this an especially attractive way to fight crime because it would adhere to the two concepts most precious to Right-wingers: Killing people and making money.
Admittedly, many law-abiding citizens would be repulsed by the carnage that would result from implementing this proposal. But these are generally the people who disdain boxing or wrestling contests anyway.
Given our increasingly jaded and violence-prone society, however, even most of these people would eventually tolerate these contests as an effective way to simultaneously raise badly-needed tax revenues and reduce the size of criminal gangs.
In short: With sufficient creativity and ruthlessness, it should be possible to reclaim control of our streets from the evils of gang violence.
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In Bureaucracy, History, Politics, Social commentary on March 6, 2024 at 12:10 am
According to Wikipedia:
“Casablanca is a 1942 American romantic drama film directed by Michael Curtiz and starring Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, and Paul Henreid.
“Filmed and set during World War II, it focuses on an American expatriot (Bogart) who must choose between his love for a woman (Bergman) and helping her husband (Henreid), a Czechoslovak resistance leader, escape from the Vichy-controlled city of Casablanca to continue his fight against the Germans.”
It was immediately recognized as a classic—and its reputation has only grown over the continuing decades.
Ronald Reagan was reportedly an early front-runner for the part of Rick Blaine, but the role went—fortunately—to Bogart. For Casablanca’s millions of devoted fans, it’s unimaginable that anyone else could have played that role.
And yet, with a little imagination, it’s possible to imagine a remake of this classic—with Donald Trump starring as Rick.
For the role of his former lover, Ilsa Lund, there could be no better choice than his daughter, Ivanka, whose body he has repeatedly and publicly lusted over. Rudy Giuliani would lend new meaning to the role of Sam, the house pianist.
Thus, if Casablanca were remade today:
* * * * *
IVANKA: Play it once, Rudy. For old times’ sake.
RUDY: I don’t know what you mean, Miss Ivanka.
IVANKA: Play it, Rudy. Play “My Heart Belongs to Daddy.”
RUDY: Oh, I can’t remember it, Miss Ivanka. I’m a little rusty on it.
IVANKA: I’ll hum it for you. Da-dy-da-dy-da-dum, da-dy-da-dee-da-dum…
Rudy Giuliani as Sam
[Rudy begins playing]
IVANKA: Sing it, Rudy.
RUDY: [Singing] You must remember this / A kiss is still a kiss / A bust is just goodbye. / The fingerprinting ink applies / As cops drive by. / And when the cops in blue / Come kick the door in two / You think you wanna cry / No matter how the jailhouse swings—
TRUMP: [Rushing up] Rudy, I thought I told you never to play—
[Sees Ivanka. Rudy closes the piano and rolls it away]
* * * * *
IVANKA: Red Donald, I have to talk to you.
TRUMP: I saved my first drink to have with you.
IVANKA: No, Red Donald, not tonight.
TRUMP: Especially tonight.
IVANKA: Please…
TRUMP: Why did you have to come to Trump Tower? There are other places.
IVANKA: I wouldn’t have come if I’d known you were here. I thought you were out shooting children. Believe me Red Donald, I didn’t know….
TRUMP: It’s funny about your voice, how it hasn’t changed. I can still hear it. “Red Donald, dear, I’ll go with you anyplace. We’ll get on a train together and never stop–“
IVANKA: Don’t, Red Donald! I can understand how you feel.
TRUMP: You understand how I feel. How long was it we had, honey?
IVANKA: I didn’t count the nights.
Donald Trump as Rick, Ivanka as Ilsa
TRUMP: Well, I did. Every one of ’em. Mostly I remember the last one. The wow finish. A guy waiting by the bed, with plenty of orgy butter in jars on the nightstand, with a comical look in his face because his date stood him up.
IVANKA: Can I tell you a story, Red Donald?
TRUMP: Has it got a wow finish?
IVANKA: I don’t know the finish yet.
TRUMP: Well, go on. Tell it – maybe one will come to you as you go along.
IVANKA: It’s about a girl who knew a man—a very great and courageous man. He opened up for her a whole beautiful world full of knowledge and thoughts and ideals. Everything she knew or ever became was because of him. And she looked up to him and worshiped him….with a feeling she supposed was love.
TRUMP: You mean me, right?
IVANKA: Of course. But after you I met Jared.
TRUMP: Yes, it’s very pretty. I’ve heard a lot of stories in my time. They went along with the sound of a tinny piano playing in the parlor downstairs. “Mister, I loved my Daddy once when I was a kid,” it always began.
* * * * *
TRUMP: Last night we said a great many things. You said I was to do the thinking for both of us. Well, I’ve done a lot of it since then, and it all adds up to one thing: you’re getting in that car with Jared where you belong.
IVANKA: But, Daddy, no, I…
TRUMP: Now, you’ve got to listen to me! You have any idea what you’d have to look forward to if you stayed here? Nine chances out of ten, we’d both wind up on the sidewalk when Biden takes over. Isn’t that true, Rudy?
GIULIANI: I’m afraid President Biden would insist.
IVANKA: You’re saying this only to make me go.
TRUMP: I’m saying it because it’s true. Inside of us, we both know you belong with Jared—even though I can’t imagine how you could prefer him to me.
Jared Kushner as Victor Laszlo
IVANKA: But what about us?
TRUMP: We’ll always have the Lincoln Bedroom. We didn’t have, we lost it until you came to Trump Tower. We got it back last night.
IVANKA: When I said I would never leave you.
TRUMP: And you never will. But I’ve got a job to do, too. First, I’ve got to ditch Melania. Then we have to do something about Jared. Ivanka, I’m no good at being noble, so I won’t try. Someday you’ll understand that.
[Ivanka lowers her head and begins to cry]
TRUMP: Now, now…[Gently places his hand under her chin and raises it so their eyes meet] Here’s looking at you, slut.
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In Bureaucracy, History, Law, Law Enforcement, Military, Politics, Social commentary on February 14, 2024 at 12:10 am
On January 27, 1944, Adolf Hitler convened a meeting of 100 of his military chiefs, including all the army group commanders of the Eastern front.
The war against the Soviet Union was going badly while the Americans and British were preparing to invade France. And Hitler believed he had the recipe for assuring victory: The Wehrmacht needed to be inoculated with the spirit of National Socialism.
At the end of his long-winded speech, he addressed this challenge to his generals:
“If the worse ever comes to the worst, and I am ever abandoned as Supreme Commander by my own people, I must still expect my entire officer corps to muster around me with daggers drawn—just as every field marshal or the commander of an army corps, division or regiment expects his subordinates to stand by him in the hour of crisis.”
Adolf Hitler
Sitting in the front row was Field Marshal Erich von Manstein, perhaps the most brilliant member of the German General Staff. It was Manstein who had designed the “Sickle Cut” attack on France in May, 1940.
Bypassing the much-vaunted Maginot Line, the Wehrmacht struck through Belgium, taking the French completely by surprise. As a result, it defeated France in six weeks—something Germany had been unable to do during the four years of World War 1.
Now, in a loud voice, Manstein proclaimed: “And so it will be, Mein Fuhrer!”
Hitler froze; it had been more than a decade since anyone had dared interrupt him. Then, trying to make the best of a bad moment, he continued: “Very well. If this is the case, it will be impossible for us to lose this war.”
Hitler hoped that Manstein had intended to reassure him of his loyalty. But Martin Bormann, his al-powerful secretary, told him that the generals had interpreted the outburst differently: That the worse would indeed come to the worst.
Erich von Manstein
And, which, in fact, happened.
As the Russian army closed in on his underground bunker in April, 1945, Hitler revealed his utter contempt for the Germans who had so blindly served him for 12 years.
“If the war is lost,” Hitler told his former architect and now Minister of Armaments, Albert Speer, “the nation will also perish. This fate is inevitable.
“There is no necessity to take into consideration the basis which the people will need to continue even a most primitive existence.
“On the contrary, it will be better to destroy these things ourselves, because this nation will have proved to be the weaker one and the future will belong solely to the stronger eastern nation.”
Just as Hitler demanded loyalty from his accomplices to infamy, so does Donald Trump.
Former FBI Director James Comey has had firsthand experience in attacking organized crime—and in spotting its leaders.
In his bestselling memoir, A Higher Loyalty, he writes:
“As I found myself thrust into the Trump orbit, I once again was having flashbacks to my earlier career as a prosecutor against the mob. The silent circle of assent. The boss in complete control. The loyalty oaths. The us-versus-them worldview. The lying about all things, large and small, in service to some code of loyalty that put the organization above morality and the truth.”
James Comey
Validating Comey’s comparison of Trump to a mobster is the case of Michael Cohen, Trump’s longtime attorney and fixer.
A longtime executive of the Trump Organization, Cohen told ABC news in 2011: “If somebody does something Mr. Trump doesn’t like, I do everything in my power to resolve it to Mr. Trump’s benefit.”
In April 2018, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York began investigating Cohen. Charges reportedly included bank fraud, wire fraud and violations of campaign finance law.
Michael Cohen
By IowaPolitics.com (Trump executive Michael Cohen 012) [CC BY-SA 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)%5D, via Wikimedia Commons
On April 9, 2018, the FBI, executing a federal search warrant, raided Cohen’s office at the law firm of Squire Patton Boggs, as well as at his home and his hotel room in the Loews Regency Hotel in New York City.
Agents seized emails, tax and business records and recordings of phone conversations that Cohen had made.
Trump’s response: “Michael Cohen only handled a tiny, tiny fraction of my legal work.”
Thus Trump undermined the argument of Cohen’s lawyers that he was the President’s personal attorney—and therefore everything Cohen did was protected by attorney-client privilege.
Cohen, feeling abandoned and enraged, struck back: He “rolled over” on the man he had once boasted he would take a bullet for.
On August 23, on the Fox News program, “Fox and Friends,” Trump attacked Cohen for “flipping” on him:
“For 30, 40 years I’ve been watching flippers. Everything’s wonderful and then they get 10 years in jail and they—they flip on whoever the next highest one is, or as high as you can go. It—it almost ought to be outlawed. It’s not fair.”
For Trump, as for Hitler, loyalty went only one way—from others to him. No one who served either man—no matter how loyally or how long—could be certain when he would be deemed disposable.
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In Bureaucracy, Entertainment, History, Law, Law Enforcement, Politics, Social commentary on February 5, 2024 at 12:38 am
Republican Governor Ron DeSantis likes to refer to his state as “the free state of Florida.”
But for those who cherish the right to read whatever they want, Florida’s legislative agenda offers anything but freedom.
Among those books pulled from public libraries—temporarily or permanently—are John Green’s “Looking for Alaska,” Colleen Hoover’s “Hopeless,” Margaret Atwood’s “The Handmaid’s Tale” and Grace Lin’s picture story “Dim Sum for Everyone!”
Florida’s Martin County school district removed dozens of books from its middle schools and high schools. Among these: Toni Morrison’s Pulitzer Prize-winning “Beloved,” James Patterson’s “Maximum Ride” thrillers, and numerous novels by Jodi Picoult.
Ron DeSantis
Bill O’Reilly, the former Fox News host, staunchly supported Florida’s book ban laws enacted by DeSantis. Then two of his own books—Killing Jesus and Killing Reagan: The Violent Assault That Changed a Presidency—were temporarily removed from the Escambia County School District.
Suddenly, O’Reilly changed his mind.
“It’s absurd. Preposterous,” O’Reilly told Newsweek. He threatened to “find out exactly who made the decisions … [and] put their pictures on television and on my website … and I’m going to ask them for a detailed explanation of why they did that.
“When DeSantis signed the book law, I supported the theme because there was abuse going on in Florida. There were far-left progressive people trying to impose an agenda on children, there’s no doubt about it.”
So O’Reilly believes it’s OK to censor books promoting a “far-left progressive” view. Censorship is wrong only when it condemns his books to oblivion.
Bill O’Reilly
Bill O’Reilly at the World Affairs Council of Philadelphia.jpg: World Affairs Council of Philadelphiaderivative work: Karppinen, CC BY 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
Under Florida’s HB 1069 bill, affected titles include dictionaries, The Autobiography of Malcolm X, and Anne Frank’s Diary of a Young Girl.
A partial list of the 1,600 books banned in Escambia County, Florida, includes:
- The Guinness Book of World Records
- Ripley’s Believe It or Not
- Biographies of Beyonce, Lady Gaga, Oprah Winfrey, Thurgood Marshall
- The Gods and Goddesses of Olympus
- Titans and Olympians: Greek and Roman Myths
- I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
- The Martian Chronicles
- Van Gough and Gauguin: The Studio of the South
- Invisible Man
- As I Lay Dying
- Light in August
- The Reivers
- The Sound and the Fury
- Tender Is the Night
- Lord of the Flies
- I Never Promised You a Rose Garden
- Catch-22
- For Whom the Bell Tolls
- Heretics of Dune
- Brave New World
- Ulysses
- Dubliner
- A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
- Carrie
- Pet Sematary
- Daniel Boone
- Babbitt
- Doctor Zhivago
- Coping with Date Rape and Acquaintance Rape
- Super Human Encyclopedia: Discover the Amazing Things Your Body Can Do
- HIV infection: The Facts You Need to Know
- King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table
- Malcolm: The Life of a Man Who Changed Black America
- Tess of the D’Urbervilles
- The Fountainhead
Nazi book burning
- The Lizard King: The Essential Jim Morrison
- Black Like Me
- Atlas Shrugged
- Flowers for Algernon
- James Dean: Rebel Life
- The Silence of the Lambs
- Slaughterhouse Five
- The Last Boy: Mickey Mantle and the End of America’s Childhood
- Serial Killers: The Method and Madness of Monsters
- Paul McCartney: The Life
- Augustus Caesar
- Dracula
- Coping As a Survivor of Violent Crime
- Schindler’s List
- Date Rape
- France: A History in Art
- The AIDS Epidemic: Disaster & Survival
- Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood
- The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
- Tupac Shakur
- Hernan Cortes
- Female Serial Killers: How and Why Women Become Monsters
- Native Son
- The Clear and Simple Thesaurus Dictionary
- Illustrated Who’s Who in Mythology
- Black Enough: Stories of Being Young & Black in America
- STDs
- Merriam-Webster’s Elementary Dictionary
- Encyclopedia of World Costume
- The Winds of War
- Early Humans
- Child Abuse
- The Bible Book
- Les Misérables
All of which means: If you want to read something forbidden by the State and can’t meet the high prices of bookstores, you’re not going to read it.
At least, not in Florida.
In 1969, the Young Rascals sang:
All the world over, so easy to see
People everywhere just wanna be free
but this ignores a grim and fundamental truth: Many people don’t want to be free.
Psychoanalyst Erich Fromm noted this in his 1941 bestseller, Escape From Freedom.
Its thesis: People who can’t accept the dangers and responsibilities that come with freedom will probably turn to authoritarianism.
Democracy has freed many people, but it also makes others feel alienated and dehumanized. Many Germans turned to Nazism for a sense of belonging and purpose.
Many people hold a twisted concept of what accounts for freedom. They accuse their enemies of being tyrants, while fiercely supporting a dictatorship of their own. A favorite marching song of Hitler’s SS went:
Clear the streets, the SS marches!
They will take the road from tyranny to freedom!
Such people fervently believe that they are being persecuted if they aren’t allowed to persecute those they hate.
Thus, during the Presidency of Barack Obama, millions of Republicans believed themselves victims because they weren’t allowed to
(1) discriminate on the basis of race or sex; and
(2) deny medical care to millions of poor and middle-class Americans.
The same holds true for the followers of Ron DeSantis.
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In Bureaucracy, History, Law, Law Enforcement, Military, Politics, Social commentary on January 26, 2024 at 12:15 am
On March 19, 1945, facing certain defeat, Nazi Fuhrer Adolf Hitler ordered a massive “scorched-earth” campaign throughout Germany:
“Destroy all German agriculture, industry, ships, communications, roads, food stuffs, mines, bridges, stores and utility plants!”
If implemented, it would deprive surviving Germans of even the barest necessities after the war.
Opposing him was Albert Speer, his favorite architect and Minister of Armaments.
Albert Speer and Adolf Hitler pouring over architectural plans
But Hitler refused to back down. He gave Speer 24 hours to reconsider his opposition to the order.
The next day, Speer told Hitler: “My Fuhrer, I stand unconditionally behind you!”
“Then all is well,” said Hitler, suddenly with tears in his eyes.
“If I stand unreservedly behind you,” said Speer, “then you must entrust me rather than the Gauleiters [district Party leaders serving as provincial governors] with the implementation of your decree.”
Filled with gratitude, Hitler signed the decree Speer had thoughtfully prepared before their fateful meeting.
By doing so, Hitler unintentionally gave Speer the power to thwart his “scorched earth” order.
Trained as an architect, Speer had joined the Nazi Party in 1931. He met Hitler in 1933, when he presented the Fuhrer with architectural designs for the Nuremberg Rally scheduled for that year.
From then on, Speer became Hitler’s “genius architect” assigned to create buildings meant to last for a thousand years. “If Hitler had been capable of friendship,” Speer said after the war, “I would have been that friend.”
In 1943, Hitler appointed him Minister of Armaments, charged with revitalizing the German war effort.
Nevertheless, Speer now crisscrossed Germany, persuading military leaders and district governors to not destroy the vital facilities that would be needed after the war.
“No other senior National Socialist could have done the job,” writes Randall Hanson, author of Disobeying Hitler: German Resistance After Valkyrie.
“Speer was one of the very few people in the Reich—-perhaps even the only one—with such power to influence actors’ willingness/unwillingness to destroy.”
Despite his later conviction for war crimes at Nuremberg, Speer never regretted his efforts to save Germany from total destruction at the hands of Adolf Hitler.
* * * * *
As the Third Reich came to its fiery end, Adolf Hitler blamed the German people for being “unworthy” of his “genius” and losing the war he had started.
His attitude was: “If I can’t rule Germany, then there won’t be a Germany.”
Fortunately for Germany, one man—Albert Speer—finally broke ranks with his Fuhrer.
Albert Speer
Risking death, he refused to carry out Hitler’s “scorched earth” order. Even more important, he successfully blocked such destruction and persuaded influential military and civilian leaders to disobey the order as well.
As a result, those targets slated for destruction were spared.
Fast forward 75 years: Facing the end of his Presidency, Donald Trump desperately sought to remain in power. Having “joked” about being “President-for-Life,” he now fought to make that a reality.
Unlike his 44 predecessors, he rejected the will of the voters and for almost three weeks denied his successor access to the resources he needed to launch a smooth transition.
Donald Trump
Even worse: Instead of showing concern for the country he claimed to love, Trump sought to relentlessly destroy those institutions that guarantee American freedom and safety:
- The Pentagon
- The CIA
- The FBI
- The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency
His attitude clearly was: “If I can’t rule America, there won’t be an America.”
Meanwhile, House and Senate Republicans embraced his most outrageous lies—or refused to openly refute them—as the COVID-19 pandemic slaughtered about 1,000 Americans a day.
Even Republicans who privately admitted the Trump era was ending realized that 70 million hate-filled Americans voted for him in 2020. And eagerly awaited the coming of the next would-be Fuhrer.
They would also eagerly vote out of office any Republican who dared break with the man they worshiped like a cult leader.
For Congressional Republicans, staying in office—and keeping their power and perks—was their top priority.
On November 25, 2019, CNN political correspondent Jake Tapper interviewed Representative Adam Schiff on Donald Trump’s upcoming impeachment trial for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.
What would it mean if Republicans uniformly oppose any articles of impeachment against Trump? asked Tapper.
“It will have very long-term consequences, if that’s where we end up,” replied Schiff.
“And if not today, I think Republican members in the future, to their children and their grandchildren, will have to explain why they did nothing in the face of this deeply unethical man who did such damage to the country.”
In the end, only one of 53 Republican Senators—Mitt Romney—dared to vote for impeachment. And he became an instant pariah for it.
On March 18, 1945, Albert Speer, opposing Hitler’s plans to destroy Germany’s infrastructure, addressed a memo to his Fuhrer, in which he wrote: “No one has the right to take the viewpoint that the fate of the German people is tied to his personal fate.”
The country is still waiting for a Republican Albert Speer to step forward and save America from the self-destructive intentions of its own would-be Fuhrer.
Bureaucracybuster's Blog 
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FASCISM’S APPEAL–IN HITLER’S GERMANY AND TRUMP’S AMERICA: PART ONE (OF TWO)
In History, Law, Law Enforcement, Military, Politics, Social commentary on March 26, 2024 at 12:26 amSometimes a historical novel can tell frightening truths about not only a past time but the present one.
Such is the case with The Mitford Affair (2023), by Marie Benedict.
The years 1933 through 1939 saw the rise of Nazi Germany and the embrace of Fascism by millions—not only Germans but those outside Germany.
Among these were members of England’s aristocratic Mitford family. As the book’s cover blurb states:
“Between the World Wars, the six Mitford sisters―each more beautiful, brilliant, and eccentric than the next―dominate the English political, literary, and social scenes.
“Though they’ve weathered scandals before, the family falls into disarray when Diana divorces her wealthy husband to marry a fascist leader and Unity follows her sister’s lead all the way to Munich, inciting rumors that she’s become Adolf Hitler’s mistress.
“As the Nazis rise in power, novelist Nancy Mitford grows suspicious of her sisters’ constant visits to Germany and the high-ranking fascist company they keep. When she overhears alarming conversations and uncovers disquieting documents, Nancy must make excruciating choices as Great Britain goes to war with Germany.”
From 1933 to 1939, Adolf Hitler moved from triumph to triumph—rearming Germany, largely eliminating unemployment, lifting the morale of the vast majority of Germans. And as he did so, Fascism became increasingly popular, even chic.
Millions saw Fascism as their only protection against Communism. Democracy was widely regarded as too weak to compete with the Soviet Union and Joseph Stalin’s legions.
While England was plagued by widespread unemployment and continuing disillusionment over the traumas of World War 1, Hitler’s Germany radiated a newfound pride and purpose.
Sisters Diana and Unity Mitford had their own private reasons for their attraction to Deutschland. Diane had married Oswald Mosley, leader of the British Union of Fascists (BUF). From Hitler, she hoped to gain funding for the BUF, and eventually did.
Jessica, Nancy, Diana, Unity and Pamela Mitford in 1935
Later, she and Mosley sought the creation of a German-financed ratio station to aim propaganda at their fellow Britons. Both expected—and celebrated—the future conquest of England and its total domination by Hitler.
Unity, meanwhile, became obsessed with Hitler the man. She studied German to speak conversationally with him, and for 10 months staked out his favorite restaurant in hopes of meeting him.
Adolf Hitler
Her patience bore fruit when, after repeatedly noticing her, Hitler, through an adjutant, invited her to his table. He was charmed by her knowledge of German—and her middle name: “Valkyrie.”
In Norse mythology, Valkyries were maidens sent by the god Odin to choose the dead warriors who merited a place in Valhalla.
She won even greater favor from Hitler by giving an anti-Semitic speech at a Hitler Youth festival at Hesselberg and posting an open letter in Der Sturmer (“The Daily Stormer”), the rabidly anti-Semitic newspaper run by Julius Streicher:
“The English have no notion of the Jewish danger. Our worst Jews work only behind the scenes. We think with joy of the day when we will be able to say England for the English! Out with the Jews! Heil Hitler. P.S. please publish my name in full, I want everyone to know I am a Jew hater.”
Unity Mitford
Eva Braun, Hitler’s secret mistress, saw Unity as a rival and attempted suicide with an overdose of sleeping pills. She survived, and this led Hitler to bestow greater attention on her.
For five years—at dinners, concerts, party rallies and private meetings–-Hitler remained charmed by Unity and Diana. He reveled in the company of two beautiful women who were members of the British aristocracy—and proudly and openly Fascist.
And they, in turn, remained charmed by him—and excited at their proximity to his lethal power.
Yet, in the end, all three met with disaster.
Diana never got the German radio station for her husband. Instead, she and Mosley found themselves imprisoned as German collaborators after England declared war on Germany on September 3, 1939.
Oswald Mosley
Unity, devastated that the two countries she most loved were now at war, shot herself in the temple with a small pistol Hitler had given her for protection. She survived, but remained a vegetable for the rest of her life.
Hitler paid her doctor bills, and when she was able to speak asked her if she wanted to remain in Germany or return to England. She chose England, so Hitler arranged her transportation by ambulance to neutral Switzerland. Her mother and youngest sister, Deborah, met her there and escorted her back to England.
She died on May 28,1948, of meningitis caused by the cerebral swelling around the bullet.
On April 30, 1045, having lost the war he had unleashed, Hitler shot himself in his underground bunker.
The Mitford Affair ends in April, 1941, so there is no mention of the death of Unity or Hitler, or the release of Diana and Oswald Mosley from prison in 1943 due to Mosley’s ill health. They were placed under house arrest until the end of the war and denied passports until 1949.
Although the novel centers on characters and incidents that reach back almost a century ago, it’s packed with truths increasingly relevant to America as it nears the 2024 Presidential election.
Those truths will be explored in Part Two of this series.
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