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Today in History: September 9, 1776 – United States Officially Named

245 years ago today, the Continental Congress officially names their new union the United States of America.

 “That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be FREE AND INDEPENDENT STATES.”

Meeting in Carpenter’s Hill in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the 56 delegates of the Continental Congress met to find a new for the union of the colonies. Important members of the Congress included Colonel George Washington, Patrick Henry, John Adams, his cousin Samuel Adams, Benjamin Franklin, John Dickinson, Peyton Randolph, and Joseph Galloway. 

1776 – Congress renames the nation … – History Bytez

“That in all continental commissions, and other instruments, where, heretofore, the words ‘United Colonies’ have been used, the stile be altered for the future to the “United States.”

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Ukraine in WWII

 

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[Pictures, as always, taken from goodreads.com]

Description: This is one of those books that follows several main protagonists. For myself, I find that this adds an extra depth and understanding that cannot be achieved with only one point of view. I’ll keep it short: Maria’s father, Ivan, has managed to survive Babi Yar, but is now a broken man. Shortly thereafter, Maria is sent to Germany as a slave worker. Luda, despite abuse from German officers, may have finally found a family and love. And, of course, there is the token arrogant German officer, here Frederick, who is really using his arrogance to cover up his true emotions.

Background: In 1922, Ukraine was unified with Russia, making it part of the Soviet Union. Then, on September 1, 1941, after Operation Barbarossa Ukraine had become a separate civil German entity. Hitler’s Plan? To exterminate, expel, or enslave most or all Slavs from their native lands so as to make living space for German settlers.

On August 14, 1941, Hitler ordered that Kiev be bombed. However, due to insufficient materials, the plan was never carried out. Instead, they decided to starve the city. That being said, Kiev was under siege from August 15 – September 19. During this time 65,000 Soviet troops were captured. [Below, Kiev burning]

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With the arrival of the Germans, some Ukrainians saw their liberation from the Soviets. As a result, some 4,000 operated under the Germans, some even under a German SS unit, the Waffen-SS and the 4. Waffen-Grenadier-Division der SS. There was no true collaboration, however, between the Ukrainians and the Germans, since the Germans saw the Ukrainians as inferior. In fact, Göring suggested that “all Ukrainian men should be killed, and the SS men be sent in to re-populate the land with German blood” (Source).  Conversely, some 4,500,00 Ukrainians served with the Soviet army. 1,400,00 of them killed in service. Ultimately, this meant that Ukrainians were fighting and killing one another in their separate fights for liberation and freedom. 

Atrocities

Atrocities against the Ukrainians are thought to be some of the greatest that took place during the war. For starters, it is estimated that 3-4 million Ukrainians and non-Jews were killed, with another 850,000 to 900,000 (possibly even up to 1,000,000) Jews. Within Hitler’s Generalplan Ost, 65% of the 23.2 million Ukrainians were to be killed through genocide or ethnic cleansing. These tortures included imprisonment, mass shootings, concentration camps, ghettos, forced labor, starvation, torture, and mass kidnapping. In addition, over 2,300,000 Ukrainians were deported for slave labor camps. [A chart can be found of the total percentages of the different Slavic ethnic groups Hitler planned to eliminate here]

Considered to be “the single largest massacre in the Holocaust,” Babi Yar took place in Kiev from September 29-30, 1941 (Source). 33,771 Ukrainians were shot, most of them Jewish. Additionally, the Nikolaev Massacre took place in Mykolaiv from September 16-30, 1941. 35,782 were killed. Again, mostly Jews.

Massacres were “carried out by a mixture of SS, SD, security police, and Ukrainian Auxiliary Police” (Source). This meant, again, that Ukrainians were killing their own people. In total, there were 14 massacres on Ukrainian soil. The list can be found [here: Massacres]. Then, “when the Soviet Army approached in 1943, the Nazis tried to cover their tracks by ordering the concentration camp prisoners to dig up the corpses and burn them, after which the prisoners were killed” (Source).

Although it took place before the war officially began, the Holodomore needs to be counted amongst the atrocities the Ukrainians were forced to endure. The Holodomore or The Ukrainian Genocide of 1932-1933 was a man-made famine planned by Stalin to eliminate the Ukrainian independence movement. It included the “rejection of outside aid, confiscation of all household foodstuffs, and restriction of population movement confer intent, defining the famine as genocide” (Source). The famine killed 2.5-2.7 million Ukrainians.

From 1932-1933, Stalin murdered 7 million Ukrainians and sent 2 million more to concentration camps. “Ukraine was sealed off. All food supplies and livestock were confiscated. NKVD death squads executed ‘anti-party elements.’ Furious that insufficient Ukrainians were being shot, Kaganovitch – virtually the Soviet Union’s Adolf Eichmann – set a quota of 10,000 executions a week. Eighty percent of Ukrainian intellectuals were shot. During the bitter winter of 1932-33, 25,000 Ukrainians per day were being shot or died of starvation and cold. Cannibalism became common. Ukraine, writes historian Robert Conquest, looked like a giant version of the future Bergen-Belsen death camp. The mass murder of seven million Ukrainians, three million of them children, and deportation to the gulag of two million more (where most died) was hidden by Soviet propaganda.” (Source). Reports about Stalin’s atrocities did not start coming out until the 1990′s. More on that later.

Because of being hit from both sides as well as being occupied by two separate oppressors, after the war, Ukraine saw 700 cities and towns and 28,000 villages destroyed. However, despite their large death toll and their destruction, 2,544 Ukrainians helped save Jewish lives. [Below, the Lvov Ghetto]

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WWII in Ukraine

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[Pictures, as always, taken from goodreads.com]

Description: This is one of those books that follows several main protagonists. For myself, I find that this adds an extra depth and understanding that cannot be achieved with only one point of view. I’ll keep it short: Maria’s father, Ivan, has managed to survive Babi Yar, but is now a broken man. Shortly thereafter, Maria is sent to Germany as a slave worker. Luda, despite abuse from German officers, may have finally found a family and love. And, of course, there is the token arrogant German officer, here Frederick, who is really using his arrogance to cover up his true emotions.

Background: In 1922, Ukraine was unified with Russia, making it part of the Soviet Union. Then, on September 1, 1941, after Operation Barbarossa Ukraine had become a separate civil German entity. Hitler’s Plan? To exterminate, expel, or enslave most or all Slavs from their native lands so as to make living space for German settlers.

On August 14, 1941, Hitler ordered that Kiev be bombed. However, due to insufficient materials, the plan was never carried out. Instead, they decided to starve the city. That being said, Kiev was under siege from August 15 – September 19. During this time 65,000 Soviet troops were captured. [Below, Kiev burning]

image

With the arrival of the Germans, some Ukrainians saw their liberation from the Soviets. As a result, some 4,000 operated under the Germans, some even under a German SS unit, the Waffen-SS and the 4. Waffen-Grenadier-Division der SS. There was no true collaboration, however, between the Ukrainians and the Germans, since the Germans saw the Ukrainians as inferior. In fact, Göring suggested that “all Ukrainian men should be killed, and the SS men be sent in to re-populate the land with German blood” (Source). 

Conversely, some 4,500,00 Ukrainians served with the Soviet army. 1,400,00 of them killed in service. Ultimately, this meant that Ukrainians were fighting and killing one another in their separate fights for liberation and freedom. 

Atrocities

Atrocities against the Ukrainians are thought to be some of the greatest that took place during the war. For starters, it is estimated that 3-4 million Ukrainians and non-Jews were killed, with another 850,000 to 900,000 (possibly even up to 1,000,000) Jews. Within Hitler’s Generalplan Ost, 65% of the 23.2 million Ukrainians were to be killed through genocide or ethnic cleansing. These tortures included imprisonment, mass shootings, concentration camps, ghettos, forced labor, starvation, torture, and mass kidnapping. In addition, over 2,300,000 Ukrainians were deported for slave labor camps. [A chart can be found of the total percentages of the different Slavic ethnic groups Hitler planned to eliminate here]

Considered to be “the single largest massacre in the Holocaust,” Babi Yar took place in Kiev from September 29-30, 1941 (Source). 33,771 Ukrainians were shot, most of them Jewish. Additionally, the Nikolaev Massacre took place in Mykolaiv from September 16-30, 1941. 35,782 were killed. Again, mostly Jews.

Massacres were “carried out by a mixture of SS, SD, security police, and Ukrainian Auxiliary Police” (Source). This meant, again, that Ukrainians were killing their own people. In total, there were 14 massacres on Ukrainian soil. The list can be found [here: Massacres]. Then, “when the Soviet Army approached in 1943, the Nazis tried to cover their tracks by ordering the concentration camp prisoners to dig up the corpses and burn them, after which the prisoners were killed” (Source).

Although it took place before the war officially began, the Holodomore needs to be counted amongst the atrocities the Ukrainians were forced to endure. The Holodomore or The Ukrainian Genocide of 1932-1933 was a man-made famine planned by Stalin to eliminate the Ukrainian independence movement. It included the “rejection of outside aid, confiscation of all household foodstuffs, and restriction of population movement confer intent, defining the famine as genocide” (Source). The famine killed 2.5-2.7 million Ukrainians.

From 1932-1933, Stalin murdered 7 million Ukrainians and sent 2 million more to concentration camps. “Ukraine was sealed off. All food supplies and livestock were confiscated. NKVD death squads executed ‘anti-party elements.’ Furious that insufficient Ukrainians were being shot,  – virtually the Soviet Union’s Adolf Eichmann – set a quota of 10,000 executions a week. Eighty percent of Ukrainian intellectuals were shot. During the bitter winter of 1932-33, 25,000 Ukrainians per day were being shot or died of starvation and cold. Cannibalism became common. Ukraine, writes historian Robert Conquest, looked like a giant version of the future Bergen-Belsen death camp. The mass murder of seven million Ukrainians, three million of them children, and deportation to the gulag of two million more (where most died) was hidden by Soviet propaganda.” (Source). Reports about Stalin’s atrocities did not start coming out until the 1990′s. More on that later.

Because of being hit from both sides as well as being occupied by two separate oppressors, after the war, Ukraine saw 700 cities and towns and 28,000 villages destroyed. However, despite their large death toll and their destruction, 2,544 Ukrainians helped save Jewish lives. [Below, the Lvov Ghetto]

image

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Janowska Concentration Camp

In September of 1941, the Nazis set up a factory on Janowska Street in Lvov, Poland for forced labor. This was just the beginning of a network of factories, known as the German Armament Works (DAW). Operated by the SS, Jews and Poles were rounded up and forced into hard labor for the Nazi party, often doing carpentry and metalwork. Some were given the bizarre task of spending 12 hours destroying Jewish graveyards. Still others scrubbed locomotives. In the very early days of the camp – when it was still a “workshop” and not yet a camp – many Jews actually wanted to work here, largely because it meant food and the coveted certificate and pay, meager though it was. What these poor victims did not realize, however, is what they were voluntarily signing themselves up for.

Though the exact date for the opening of Janowska isn’t known, roughly a month later in October 1941, Commandant Fritz “Choker” Gebauer announced that the laborers would permanently stay at the camp. Worse yet, in October, there were not yet any barracks, so the prisoners were forced to sleep in the factories themselves, or in the streets.

Janowska was divided into three separate sections. The first section consisted of things such as the factories, offices of the staff and guards, and garages. The Second section held the barracks. And, finally, the third held the DAW factories. There were no official toilets or baths. Surrounding all of this was two rows of barbed-wire fence, illuminated by searchlights. Watchtowers were placed at 50 meter intervals around the entire camp. Each barrack housed 2,000 inmates. The conditions were absolutely horrific. Sanitation was abysmal. Prisoners that were “lucky” enough to sleep in the bunks, actually slept on planks, and the rest slept on the floor. Disease and epidemics were common, as was starvation. Like other concentration camps, the food was usually watery soup with maybe a pice or two of potatoes, carrots, or beets. Sometimes, the food was so bad, even though they were starving, prisoners refused to eat it. Worse yet, Janowska actually experienced fatalities from the food.

Commandant “Choker” got his name from his horrible habit of suddenly grabbing men’s necks and choking them. But this was hardly the extent of his forms of killing nor torture. “Gebauer buried prisoners alive, and he forbade prisoners to wash but demanded ideal cleanliness of them. According to testimony dating to the winter of 1941–42, he forced naked prisoners during a severe cold spell to wash in a barrel filled with water; they died after this” (https://ukrainianjewishencounter.org/en/the-janowska-concentration-camp-what-we-know-and-dont-know/).

After Majdanek (the next entry), Janowska was second-largest forced labor camp. Upon returning to camp after 12-14 hours of hard labor, it was not uncommon for prisoners to be seen carrying back the bodies of those who died on the job. 130 deaths from one “victim taking” meaning prisoners were tasked with carrying out meaningless tasks such as hauling boards, bricks, or logs.  Janowska has been described by historians as a “university of violence, a higher school of sadism” (https://ukrainianjewishencounter.org/en/the-janowska-concentration-camp-what-we-know-and-dont-know/). The phrase “hell on earth” appears in many memoirs of Janowska victims.

Nazis tried outdoing each other in each discovering his own form of absurd punishment, thus, Janowska prisoners saw diverse and bizarre forms of killing. Random killings were normal, as were brutal beatings for no apparent reason. Memoirs of Janowska confide that several prisoners were thrown into a cauldron of boiling soup. Some were even shot for not dressing fast enough after showering. Still more were drowned in barrels of water to freeze in the winter. Life in the camp only got worse with Gebauer’s successor, Gustav Willhaus. Willhaus was actually known for standing on the balcony of his camp villa, shooting at prisoners. Willhaus was also known for placing fatigued prisoners between wire rows and leaving them there to die. It grew still worse under Willhaus’s successor, Erwin Richard Rokita. “Rokita’s notoriety rested on his sadistic invention, known as the ‘Tango of Death’ . . . He organized a camp orchestra that was composed of Lviv’s finest musicians and composers” (https://ukrainianjewishencounter.org/en/the-janowska-concentration-camp-what-we-know-and-dont-know/). If any musician played even a single wrong note, said musician was put to death. But what the “Tango of Death” was, officially, Janowska’s execution melody. During roll calls, both Willhaus and Rokita were known to shoot prisoners at random.

The manner in which a Jew was killed varied, depending on the executioner; shooting, flogging, choking, hanging, fixing to crosses with the head down, cutting to pieces with knives or axes. Distinctive procedures were adopted when killing women. They were mostly flogged to death or killed by stabbing. The Nazis conducted their tortures, beatings and shootings to the accompaniment of music. (Link).

One notorious moment in Janowska’s history came on 16 March 1943, following the shooting of SS man. Punishment came in the form more than 1,000 Jews being shot and 11 Jewish policemen being hanged.

As of March 1942, Janowska began serving as a transition camp, usually for those heading to places such as Bełźec, for gas chambers. In March 1942, fifteen thousand passed through for Bełźec, in August 1942 another sixty thousand, and, finally, in November 1942 another ten thousand. Then, in 1943, Janowska became an extermination camp, itself. The majority of its victims were Jews, Poles, Russians, and Ukrainians. Finally, in the spring and summer of 1944, the camp was fully liquidated when prisoners were forced on a death march. Most died.

[Below: Villa of Commandant Gustav Willhaus]

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60 years ago, during the night of August 12-13, the Soviet Union built the Berlin Wall, dividing a beautiful city, to keep East Berliners escaping Communist tyranny into West Berlin to freedom. 

Families were torn apart. Friends and neighbors now found themselves on opposite sides of the wall. Every window that faced the West was sealed, to prevent citizens from escaping. Barbed wire was put up on roof tops. Minefields were built in the countryside. Watchtowers were built. Those who tried to escape were shot on sight. Over time, the wall became more heavily armed and security became tighter. 

In June 1961, some 19,000 people fled to freedom. In July, 30,000. From August 1-11, another 16,000.  On August 12 alone, 2,400. That very night, Premier Khrushchev decided to act. He wanted to prevent the flow of immigrants from his communistic stronghold, into the Western sector. They began work immediately. Two weeks later, a makeshift barbed-wire and concrete block wall was complete.

Kennedy, alerted by the wall, was furious. But, he later had to concede that “A wall is a hell of a lot better than a war.” He had, just 2 1/2 weeks prior, on July 25th, addressed the nation on the Berlin Crisis. Speech can be found here

The Brandenburg Gate is shrouded in fog as a man looks from a watchtower over the Wall to the Eastern part of the divided city on November 25, 1961. The tower was erected by the West German police to observe the Inner-German border.

Recommended Books:

• The Berlin Wall: A World Divided, 1961-1989 by Frederick Taylor

• Forty Autumns: A Family’s Story of Courage and Survival on Both Sides of the Berlin Wall by Nina Willner

• The Girl Behind the Wall by Mandy Robotham

• A Night Divided by Jennifer A. Nielsen

Recommended Documentaries:

The Building of the Berlin Wall in 1961

Germany – Berlin Wall Short Documentary

Walled In: The Inner German Border

Typical of East Berlin measures to halt the escape of refugees to the west are these bricked-up windows in an apartment house along the city's dividing line October 6, 1961. The house, on the South side of Bernauerstrasse, is in East Berlin.

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Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire

 

The Santa Maria Fire and its Aftermath Real Change or Lost Opportunity? Marcelo Lima – FM Global EFSN - Fire Sprinkler International ppt download

On Saturday, March 25, 1911, a fire broke out on “the eighth, ninth and tenth floors of the Asch Building,  at 23–29 Washington Place in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Manhattan” – these three floors housed the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory (Source). This factory, like many others, was known for it’s poor conditions, long hours, and poor treatment of the young women who worked there making shirtwaists  (slightly different from what we know as shirtwaists today).

Though textbooks site the fire as the event that led to workplace safety as we know it today, this is not entirely true. In all actuality, the fire “brought attention to the events leading up to the fire” – such as the locked fire exits, flames and flammable objects in close proximity (one story talks about a heaters being brought in), too long hours, inadequate heating, etc (Source).

Background:

Girls as young as 15 “worked seven days a week from 7 am to 8 pm with a half-hour lunch break” (Source). They were paid from $7-12 a week. Some factories required them to bring their own needles, thread, irons, and even sewing machines. The factories were unsanitary, at best. The exits were locked because the management did not want the girls’ work days to be interrupted, even by using the restroom. [Below: The building in use by the Triangle Factory works & the building on fire.]

kimberlohman06 – U.S. Women's History

More about the Fire:

The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire was “the deadliest industrial disaster in the history of the city and one of the deadliest in U.S. history” (Source). It caused the deaths of 146 garment workers – “who died from the fire, smoke inhalation, or falling or jumping to their deaths” (Source). 

“The fire flared up at approximately 4:40 pm in a scrap bin under one of the cutter’s tables at the northeast corner of the eighth floor… . The Fire Marshal concluded that the likely cause of the fire was the disposal of an unextinguished match or cigarette butt in the scrap bin, which held two months’ worth of accumulated cuttings by the time of the fire. Beneath the table in the wooden bin were hundreds of pounds of scraps which were left over from the several thousand shirtwaists that had been cut at that table. The scraps piled up from the last time the bin was emptied, coupled with the hanging fabrics that surrounded it; the steel trim was the only thing that was not highly flammable. Although smoking was banned in the factory, cutters were known to sneak cigarettes, exhaling the smoke through their lapels to avoid detection. A  New York Times  article suggested that the fire may have been started by the engines running the  sewing machines.” (Source). 

A bookkeeper on the 8th floor was able to alert those on the 10th floor via telephone, but otherwise, there was no form of alarm. Additionally, the man who held the key to the locked exits had already escaped!

The building that housed Triangle was not actually up to code in that it did not have the required three sets of stairways, only two. Additionally, one of the two usable stairwells was locked, as were the fire escapes – although the stairwells were impassable with fire after just three minutes. However, some girls were able to escape via the single exterior fire escape – this, however, was “a flimsy and poorly anchored iron structure which may have been broken before the fire. It soon twisted and collapsed from the heat and overload, spilling about 20 victims nearly 100 feet (30 m) to their deaths on the concrete pavement below” (Source). Other girls were able to escape by climbing to the roof before the Greene Street stairwell became impassable. Still more girls were rescued by elevator operators Joseph Zito and Gaspar Mortillalo, who travelled up to the 9th floor three times to rescue girls before the rails of Mortillalo’s elevator collapsed under the heat. Some girls attempted prying open the door and jumping down the empty shaft of Zito’s elevator, “trying to slide down the cables or to land on top of the car. The weight and impacts of these bodies warped the elevator car and made it impossible for Zito to make another attempt” (Source). 

The rest of the girls, however, were trapped. Even though firefighters did arrive on the scene quickly, their ladders were not nearly tall enough to reach the top floors – leaving the girls to jump to their deaths. Firefighters did try catching them, but the height was so great that they broke through the fabric of the life nets. “Occasionally a girl who had hesitated too long was licked by pursuing flames and, screaming with clothing and hair ablaze, plunged like a living torch to the street” (Source).  In total, 146 garment workers died that day, most of whom were recent Jewish and Italian immigrant women aged 16-23.

“Bodies of the victims were taken to Charities Pier (also called Misery Lane), located at 26th street and the East River, for identification by friends and relatives. Victims were interred in sixteen different cemeteries. Twenty-two victims of the fire were buried by the Hebrew Free Burial Association  in a special section at Mount Richmond Cemetery. In some instances, their tombstones refer to the fire. Six victims remained unidentified until Michael Hirsch, a historian, completed four years of researching newspaper articles and other sources for missing persons and was able to identify each of them by name. Those six victims were buried together in the Cemetery of the Evergreens in Brooklyn. Originally interred elsewhere on the grounds, their remains now lie beneath a monument to the tragedy, a large marble slab featuring a kneeling woman” (Source). 

A week after the fire, wealthy suffragists, Ann Morgan and Alva Belmont, hosted a meeting at the Metropolitan Opera House, demanding “action on fire safety” (Source). Days later, “more than 350,000 people participated in a funeral march for the Triangle Dead” (Source).

Thanks to pressure from the activists, three months later, the Factory Investigating Commission was created. The building is now designated a National Historic Landmark. [Below: The charred remains of the 10th floor.]

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120 years ago, after the first electoral tie in American history, Thomas Jefferson is elected the 3rd president of the United States. 

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The 1800 election was the first vicious election in American history. Thomas Jefferson, c0-founder of the Democratic-Republican party, announced a run against then Federalist president, John Adams. This election foreshadowed what future American elections would look like: highly partisan jabs, high contentious electoral cycles, and bitter feelings of the losing party. 

Thomas Jefferson was very popular candidate, and no stranger to high office. After all, he’d been the first Secretary of State under George Washington, and the 2nd Vice President under John Adams. He’d also served in two Continental Congresses. Not only this, but Jefferson had much to offer the young country: Limited government, for staters. He also was in favor of State’s Rights, in great opposition to a federal bank, and a very strong supporter of an agrarian economy. All of these aspects are still highly viewed in today’s country. So, it’s no wonder he was popular in 1801, before the unset of too much federal government and too many unelected bureaucrats. 

At the end of a bloody election cycle, Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr emerged tied at 73 electoral votes each, with poor John Adams coming in at 65. For the very first time, Congress would have to decide would would rule the country. Mercifully, our Founding Fathers foresaw such a situation, and wrote the rules clearly into the Constitution. The House of Representatives voted from Jefferson, thanks to Alexander Hamilton’s slightly uncouth insistence. 

In his Inaugural Address two weeks later, Jefferson declared: “We are all Republicans, we are all Federalists,” a call that would be mimicked throughout history by American leaders in times of great distress, even abroad.  

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The Sabbath Day seems like a good day for a parable.

Now, no one on the Right believes that Donald J. Trump is the “savior” of the world. What many do believe, though, is that he was hand-picked by God to serve this country and protect His people.

Donald J. Trump lived in the lap of luxury. He had everything he wanted or needed. And whatever he didn’t have, he could probably buy. He had a good job, he had a gorgeous wife, loving children, and adorable grandchildren. What about this luxurious lifestyle would he want to give up to have the worst job in history?

The job of President of the United States is the hardest, loneliest job in the world. President Eisenhower once explained that only the hardest problems make their way to the desk of the US President. Anything easier is solved further down the line.

And from day one, Donald J Trump (DJT to his most loyal supporters) was mocked and ridiculed. From that day he came down the elevator, newscasters and commentators around the global laughed at him. Declared that he couldn’t possibly be serious about running for president. Exclaimed that he’d never win.

But they greatly underestimated him, for Donald J Trump is not one to be hindered by the thoughts or words of others. And he always plays to win.

So, he set off on his journey around the country, visiting states long neglected by politicians. Speaking to crowds the size Americans hadn’t seen since Ronald Reagan, his predecessor. He spoke to Americans who had spent their lifetime feeling neglected by The Capitol. Flyover states, who had never benefited from Government Aide. He showed Americans in Flyover Country that they were loved. That they did have a voice. That they mattered. Their vote mattered. Their voice mattered. Their needs mattered. Maybe not to Washington D.C., but they did matter to him.

And that is why Donald J. Trump won on election night 2016. Because he reached out to people who needed to be reminded that they were loved and that they mattered. He spoke to their greatest needs – and, yes, even their wants. He wanted to touch their lives and make life easier for them.

But all along the way, he was taunted and scorned. He was called names. He was misrepresented. He was slandered. He was despised.

And when he won, the ridicule and hatred only grew in those who despised him. They upped their game of lying and sneering. They tried to impeach him. They probably even tried to take his life.

But his supporters never wavered. They ignored the lies and the hatred, even when it was directed at them, his supporters. Finally, for the first time in 30 years (for the first time in some of their lives), they had someone in the White House who cared about them. Who put them first. Who loved them.

He fought for them. Not just at home, but across the sea. He negotiated trade deals that would benefit the lives of every American. He created jobs. Brought jobs home from foreign countries. He made sure they were safe from both foreign and domestic threats. He fought for better schools. He fought for religious liberty. He fought for free speech and liberty for all.

In short, he loved them. He loved America and, more importantly, he loved the American people. That’s why he did it. To see their lives improved. To give them hope.

And, in return, his supporters loved him back. Unconditionally. They saw his flaws, but loved him anyways. Because he was willing to sacrifice; to give of himself for them.

They understood that he did it for them. Stepped down and gave up the life of luxury. He was willing to sacrifice for them. He was willing to be mocked and scorned and despised for them. He was even willing to be their human shield against the hatred of The Capitol. They understood that he did it and endured it because of his love for them.

But then the 2020 election rolled around. The people who hated him upped their game of lying and jeering even more. They did everything in their power to stop him. They tried to impeach him. They created rules that would trip him up and cause his supporters to hate him.

But even that couldn’t stop him. On election night, Donald J. Trump won in a landslide. But the American people knew something was wrong. States were called for his opponent while Trump was winning. Vote tallies switched. Then, the counting stopped all together. And, in the middle of the night, massive vote dumps that took away his lead in numerous states.

But he didn’t give up.

He continued to fight for the American people. He sought lawyers, but they, too, were mocked and ridiculed. No one would listen to them.

The American people tried to make their voices heard. But The Capitol insisted on taking it away. Finally, in a desperate move, The Capitol staged an event to silence them all for good. Blamed the violence on Trump’s supporters.

They’d stolen the election and removed him from office, sent him off into exile, cutting him off from his supporters for good.

But here’s the part of the story The Capitol can’t control. God’s not finished yet. He chose a flawed men. A flawed man who was willing to step down from a life of luxury and sacrifice everything. Helped him reach tens of millions of people. Put him in the White House.

Along the way, this man was mocked and ridiculed. He was lied about. He was slandered. He was hated. His life was threatened. His family’s lives were threatened. But he continued to put the lives of others first. He continued to fight and speak the truth. And he went down fighting.

Sound familiar?

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60 years ago today, President Dwight D. Eisenhower gave one of the most famous Farewell speeches in American history. Ike – like his predecessors Washington and Grant – won office because of his military status. He was one of the most beloved men in the world. And, although Ike was hated by Washington for not being a “politician” he was still loved by the American people after presiding over 8 peaceful and prosperous years.

On Tuesday, January 17th, at 8:30PM, Americans tuned in to watch their beloved Ike give his last speech as president. They willingly decided to forgo episodes of The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis, The Red Skelton Show, and Alfred Hitchcock Presents. Today, Eisenhower’s speech is mostly remembered for his warning of the military-industrial-complex. Though those weren’t the words he wanted to use. Initially, his plan was to warn of the military-industrial-scientific-complex, but his scientific advisors warned against it. So, he changed it to the military-industrial-congressional-complex. Again, certain parties objected, so Ike was forced to settle for the military-industrial-complex, a term we still use (and warn against) today.

Eisenhower Farewell Address - The 'Military Industrial ...

Eisenhower’s Speech: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OyBNmecVtdU&feature=youtu.be

Recommended Book: Three Days in January: Dwight Eisenhower’s Final Mission

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245 years ago today, Thomas Paine published his 47-page pamphlet, Common Sense, advocating the independence from Great Britain as not only achievable but inevitable. Descent had already been growing for some time, but Common Sense served to unite Patriots in the common cause of Independence. 

American History Study Guide (2013-14 Kogelschatz ...

Even George Washington praised it: “I find that Common Sense is working a powerful change there in the minds of many men. Few pamphlets have had so dramatic an effect on political events.” 

Common Sense is still considered one of the most important documents in American history.

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