I have no intention of listening to the debates, not any of them. As for these
first two, this is just a show put on by the NDC to pretend that there is going
to be a contest for the nomination. In the end, listening to politicians'
talking points is like listening to TV commercials and I never did that back in
the days when I watched TV. But all I need to do in oder to know what's
happening, is to listen to my favorite podcasts and read a few articles, and
that's more than enough.
But reading this article that I posted, reminds me of a novel I just finished
called, Paris Echoes. I'll paste my review of it below so you'll know what I
mean.
Paris echo: a novel DB93405
Faulks, Sebastian. Reading time: 9 hours, 11 minutes.
Read by Deborah McBride.
Human Relations
Psychological Fiction
American historian Hannah is working in Paris, researching the lives of women
during World War II. When she encounters Moroccan teenager Tariq, she takes him
in as a lodger. The bond they form and a surprise in her research have her
reassessing her life. Unrated. Commercial audiobook. 2018.
Paris, in the present, haunted by ghosts of its past, is the focus of this
story. When we hear the word, "Paris", we think of a glamorous city the center
of fashion, or we think of the gathering place of artists. We envision the
Seine, the Louvre, or the wonderful restaurants. And because of all the World
War 2 propaganda we've been fed in movies and novels, we see the French as our
great allies, fighting against the Nazis to make the world free for Democracy.
But then there's reality, glimpses of which, appear in the book. During most of
the war, the French government was allied with Hitler. Jews were rounded up and
held in a mass imprisonment, then sent to concentration camps in Germany.
French women fraternized with German soldiers. A minority of French people
joined the resistance. Anbd then there were the years that followed: the French
treatment of Algerians, and finally, the response to the present day migrants
from the Middle East. But the book isn't a history book, nor is it a lecture in
the form of a novel. It's the story of how two people, Hannah, an American
historian, and Tariq, a young man who has rebelled against his father by
running away to Paris to feel independent, encounter whisps of the past and
present in their lives. Past and present comingle, sometimes, in a confusing
way, but it's worthwhile reading.
Miriam
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
<blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> On Behalf Of Carl Jarvis
Sent: Thursday, June 27, 2019 2:21 PM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: What Russia Rightfully Remembers, America Forgets
Here's a good example of why I skipped the first Democratic debate, and may
skip tonight's, too. Wasn't it Jesus who said, "By their BS Ye shall know
them"?
And by the way, the only mention I heard regarding Jay Inslee was on this
morning's Democracy Now. I'm betting that he will be out of the race by this
Fall.
Carl Jarvis
On 6/27/19, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
What Russia Rightfully Remembers, America Forgets Scott Ritter
What Russia Rightfully Remembers, America Forgets
From left, first lady Melania Trump, President Trump, French President
Emmanuel Macron and first lady Brigitte Macron during a ceremony to
commemorate the 75th anniversary of D-Day. (Alex Brandon / AP)
On June 6, President Trump commemorated the 75th Anniversary of Operation
Overlord, popularly known as D-Day, when approximately 160,000 U.S.,
British, Canadian and Free French soldiers landed in and around the beaches
of Normandy, France. Speaking at the Normandy American Cemetery and
Memorial
in Colleville-sur-Mer, where the remains of 9,388 American fighting men,
most of whom perished on D-Day, are interned, Trump promoted the mythology
of American omniscience that was born on the beaches of Normandy. "These
men
ran through the fires of hell, moved by a force no weapon could destroy,"
Trump declared. "The fierce patriotism of a free, proud and sovereign
people. They battled not for control and domination, but for liberty,
democracy and self-rule. Those who fought here won a future for our nation.
They won the survival of our civilization."
For Americans, D-Day stands out among all others when it comes to
celebrating the Second World War. Immortalized in books, a movie starring
John Wayne, and in the HBO series titled "Band of Brothers," the landings
at
Normandy represent to most Americans the turning point in the war against
Hitler's Germany, the moment when the American Army (together with the
British, Canadian and Free French) established a foothold in occupied
France
that eventually led to the defeat of Germany's army.
What Trump overlooked in his presentation was the reality that the
liberation of Europe began long before the D-Day landings. And the burden
had almost exclusively been born by the Soviets.
In his defense, Trump is not alone in promoting an America-centric version
of history; his speech was simply the latest in a series of historically
flawed remarks delivered by a succession of American presidents ever since
they began giving speeches at Normandy in commemoration of D-Day. President
George W. Bush's address on the 60th anniversary of the D-Day landings was
typical of the genre, maximizing American glory while ignoring that of the
Soviets. "Americans wanted to fight and win and go home," Bush said. "And
our GIs had a saying: 'The only way home is through Berlin.' That road to
VE-Day was hard and long and traveled by weary and valiant men. And history
will always record where that road began. It began here, with the first
footprints on the beaches of Normandy."
But Bush was wrong; the road to Berlin had its origins at the approaches to
Moscow, where the Soviet army turned back German invaders in December 1941.
It was paved at Stalingrad in 1942 with the blood and flesh of 500,000 dead
Soviet soldiers, who had killed more than 850,000 Nazi soldiers and their
allies; and it was furthered in the bloody fields of Kursk, in 1943, where
at the cost of more than 250,000 dead and 6,000 tanks destroyed, the Soviet
army defeated the last major German offensive on the Eastern front, killing
110,000 Germans and destroying more than 1,200 irreplaceable tanks (the
total number of U.S. and British tanks lost in Europe from D-Day until
VE-Day numbered around 11,500; the total number of tanks lost by the Soviet
Union while fighting Germany was more than 85,000, while the Russians
destroyed more than 40,000 German tanks from June 1941 to November 1944).
By
the time the U.S., British, Canadian and Free French forces came ashore at
Normandy, the Germans had already lost the war.
That didn't mean there wasn't some serious fighting left to do. "The Nazis
still had about 50 divisions," Bush noted, "and more than 800,000 soldiers
in France alone. D-Day plus one, and D-Day plus two and many months of
fierce fighting lay ahead, from Arnhem to Hurtgen Forest to the Bulge."
The road to Berlin described by Bush was one where the Soviets simply did
not factor into the equation. "The nations that liberated a conquered
Europe
would stand together for the freedom of all of Europe," Bush said. "The
nations that battled across the continent would become trusted partners in
the cause of peace. And our great alliance of freedom is strong, and it is
still needed today." The "trusted partners" Bush referred to was NATO, and
the "cause of peace" contained first the Soviet Union, and later Russia.
