We Will Remember Them ... If It's Dry Out

This may be news to Overt Narcissists but it isn't all about them. When commemorating the 100 years since the end of WWI in France, Trump didn't want to go the 50 miles to the Aisne-Marne American cemetery because it was raining .... no, it was because his helicopter couldn't fly in the alleged zero visibility .... no, it was because he didn't want to cause traffic upsets cos Trump is really thoughtful like that. 

It was the day after the Marine Corp had its 243rd  birthday and of course the Internet trolled Trump as did the French army and also Justin Trudeau.
"As we sit here in the rain, thinking how uncomfortable we must be these minutes as our suits get wet and our hair gets wet and our shoes get wet, I think it's all the more fitting that we remember on that day, in Dieppe, the rain wasn't rain, it was bullets."

Trump sent John Kelly and Gen. Joseph F. Dunford Jr in his place to visit the 2,289 U.S. troops laid to rest there. Trump said, "have a good time, enjoy yourselves and bring me back something nice,"

New Zealand director Peter Jackson took more time honoring those who have served than the US President did. Remember, Trump doesn't like soldiers who get captured so I doubt he holds much regard for those wounded or killed either ... unless the wounded vote for him.  Jackson had family in the Great war for civilisation and colourised old footage and got in forensic lip readers and actors to give the soldiers a voice. 

  

The documentary They Shall Not Grow Old was shown on the BBC and featured the voices of real veterans who were interviewed in the 1960's. 

What amazes most is the attitude of the young men. Eager to join up and take on the Hun. You can see that sometimes never change. 19 was the age they took recruits at but if a 16 year-old and tried to enlist they'd be told to go outside, have a birthday and come back in aged 19. It's a great adventure until the drill and discipline starts. The news has the new soldiers at putting on a stone and growing an inch in height. All with nice shiny buttons. 

60 years on and though the British army had moved on to semi-auto rifles and sub-machine guns, the discipline, procedures and attitude was still quite familiar. Now the military has little pussy guns made out of plastic so the poor dears don't tire themselves out.    

Another amazing thing is the number of smiles there was. Probably a knee-jerk reaction to the novelty of being on camera. Perhaps the cameraman shouted out to smile for the folks back home. 

It's all a big camping exhibition with a bit of danger. The main thing about the military is the boredom as it's always to hurry up to do nothing. The soldiers of WWI were kept as busy as possible fixing trenches and repairing barbed wire and laying wooden duckboards (trench gratings) to walk on. 

After a while the trenches and war becomes the norm. The Germans had a name for it, Dickfelligkeit (thick-skinnedness) ... no rain fearing snowflake pussies allowed!

Losing friends was just something that happened. You could be with a friend you had grown up with and joined up with and as he stands beside you a sniper might blow his head open.  PTSD has been around (recorded) since the times of the ancient Greeks and was only just given the name of Shell Shock in WWI.  

Until it was understood better, those suffering it to the point of curling up in a ball and crying were seen as cowards or lazy, many were shot. 

General Goerge S Patton who had served in WWI mostly in tanks became the focus of attention in WWII when he slapped 2 soldiers suffering from battle fatigue and ordered them back to the front lines, Eisenhower suppressed the incidents in the media and eventually Patton was ordered to apologize to the soldiers and the Doctors who witnessed it. 

In the army you don't want your friends to think you are a coward so there is also the fear of being afraid. 

A German soldier bumps into a wounded Tommy and gets an angry shove in the shoulder. 

WWI was basically a big Royal family feud but you dress it up in patriotism and send plebs to their deaths. The British and Germans didn't hate each other as seen with The Christmas Truce of 1914. British and Germans left their trenches to play football on no man's land. 

The Generals were enraged as that kind of thing isn't good for war and so forbid any further displays of humanity. In Jackson's documentary, the veterans say how the Bavarians were decent blokes as were the Saxons but the Pussians were cruel bastards even disliked by their own side. 

Adolf Hitler, a WWI vet had hoped that the British would join up with the Germans in WWII as they had so much in common .... or why the Royal family changed their name to Windsor. 

   

WWI was a senseless waste of life and changed those that returned home. Britain not having been touched by war had a struggling economy as like most of Europe and jobs were scarce. The soldiers felt as those they no longer fit in as civilians just didn't understand what had gone on over there. 

A land fit of heroes was a glib phrase used by people and another was  They died that England might live. Older versions of saying Thank you for your service but less personal.  

The soldiers just wanted a job and some respect for their efforts but didn't get much from the clueless civilians or those in charge. Soldiers would get 3 basic medals which caused some resentment.  A paper pusher in a comfortable role away from enemy lines got the same medals as a frontline soldier dodging bullets and many never had their heroic actions acknowledged. 

In WWII the different theatres of war got their own medals such as Africa, Italy and Burma. 

If you can watch the documentary then do so. It tells you the small details of the time. The jingoistic version of war on horseback wrapped in a flag changed as wars got closer to home and was better and more widely documented. 

Killing another human is not natural for most of us so these young men many volunteered and many drafted had to become something they weren't and that the people back home would never have to be or to even see.

Robbing corpses, shooting surrendering soldiers, ignoring your wounded pals as you head towards a hail of bullets over no man's land. Revenge for their fallen friends and the nationalist propaganda helped them to want to kill the enemy. For king and country!  

They didn't have the luxury of worrying about getting their hair wet in the rain or congesting traffic.  

 

Red Summer

In Louisiana they are trying to reduce the amount of people they incarcerate in their prisons. They are releasing some inmates early. 

Caddo Parish Sheriff Steve Prator held a press conference to denounce this move but not for the reasons you'd think. Bearing in mind that in the US black men are 5 times more likely to be imprisoned than white and in a few states that goes up to 10 times. 

White people argue how police shoot white people just as much as blacks in order to belittle any cries of racism or police brutality but the incarceration figures sure speak of discrimination to me. African-Americans make up 72% of Louisiana's prison population. 

Prator complained that any "bad" ones released might be a menace to society .... yeah ok, that sounds reasonable. He then went on to say that "In addition to the bad ones -- in addition to them, they are releasing some good ones that we use every day to wash cars, to change the oil in our cars, to cook in the kitchen."

So let me get this straight, he wants to keep the good black men in prison because he can get work out of them. Who is gonna clean the police cars for fucks sake? I'm sure there is a word for that but I can't quite remember it. I heard it on Roots ... nope it's gone. 

These words and this attitude from Prator brings me to something similar almost 100 years ago. 

In World War One, 380,000 blacks enlisted in the US military to go and fight the Germans. Many of them thought that by joining the segregated army they'd earn some respect back home.

Americans love veterans, they keep thanking them for their service and raising the issue of vet homelessness every time refugees are mentioned. Don't stand for the flag? How dare you insult the military .... wait what? 

Known as the Great White Chief 

Senator James K Vardaman of Mississippi said "Once you impress the negro with the fact that he is defending the flag and inflate his untutored soul with military airs" ... it was a slippery slope to his political rights being respected.

Vardaman was a Democrat. I must point out how Democrat and Republican attitudes have changed in the last couple of centuries. A Democrat now is a different beast to the ones back then. Remember that Lincoln was one of the founders of the Republican party.

Vardaman was a total white Supremacist. When Booker T Washington dined with President Roosvelt at the White House Vardaman said  that the White House was "so saturated with the odor of the nigger that the rats have taken refuge in the stable" ... yeah he was a keeper alright.

Another white guy in politics that never served in the military. The US is always at war so there is always the opportunity to serve your cuntry. 

Vardaman did indeed help whip the white nationalists supremacists into a frenzy and in 1919, 20 cities across the US had race riots and lynchings, this was known as the Red Summer.

There was also  Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer who believed that blacks were more susceptible to the influence of Communists and anarchists because of their subservient status and proceeded to do what is known as the Palmer Raids during the first of the Red Scares.
 

Woodrow Wilson

A US president that never served in the military, loved the ladies, golfing and was aggressive towards Mexico. Also he was bigoted against immigrants and a total racist .... luckily times have improved and a cunt like that would never get into office these days.

Woodrow Wilson #28 said, "Black American soldiers were being treated as equals by the French, and it has gone to their heads."

Immigrants from Italy were from the lowest class and a meaner sort and those from Hungary and Poland were stupid and lazy. So this cunt was an all round hater. He later had to back pedal on these remarks and apologize, probably when the elections came around. 

The violence and lynchings upset him as he was worried about how it would look internationally. Like modern day Nazis Wilson did get sucker punched by African-American leader named William Monroe Trotter as Afican-Americans had been tricked into voting for him as he was touted as being the second Lincoln. 

Only one African-American was awarded the Medal of Honor in WWI. Cpl Freddie Stowers led an assault on German trenches despite being wounded twice. He died from his wounds and his Medal of Honor nomination was "misplaced" and in 1991 George HW Bush presented it to his 2 sisters 73 years after he had died. 

The UK also has its forgotten black heroes of WWI.  

After Stowers there was an investigation and 6 African Americans were posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor with Vernon Baker being the only living recipient for WWII. 

Even though black soldiers had fought for their cuntry in WWI and were treated even more like shite when they returned home 1.2 million enlisted for WWII. 

Still segregated the black soldiers and sailors were only allowed to do grunt work and cleaning jobs. You had to get special permission to be allowed to risk your life for your cuntry. The Tuskegee Airmen, The 761st Tank Battalion and the The 452nd Anti-Aircraft Artillery battalion. 

General Patton looking important

In 1944 during the Battle of the Bulge the Germans kept killing the white troops which was very uncool so General Eisenhower kindly allowed 2000 black servicemen volunteers to serve in segregated platoons under the command of white lieutenants to replenish these companies. 

The overall majority of white soldiers and officers that served with them spoke highly of their valor and abilities but at the end of the war they were returned to non-combat roles again. 

President Harry S. Truman may have used the words nigger and kikes in his everyday language but in 1948 he desegregated the US military. 

Those African-American troops that returned after WWII sound found out that the GI bill was constructed in a way that did not help them. More violence erupted, sometimes it's the only option, Nelson Mandela, MLK jr and even Gandhi knew this.  Be peaceful but don't stop others being violent on your behalf.

From interacting with Europeans during WWII the African-Americans did see that they were equal to any white person and deserved basic human rights too. This sense of rightful entitlement that we take for granted was new to them but it helped go on to spark the US civil rights era.  

Trump and Pence would demand you stand for the national anthem and demand that you show respect ... their version of respect. Kim Jong Un demands you cry on cue at the funeral for his dead father. Putin demands you show respect for the statues of Stalin. 

The Constitution gives Americans freedom of speech, expression and peaceful protest, it is un-American to force people to give that up just because you don't like or agree with it. 

Some people mistakenly thing that free speech is the right to make others listen to you but it isn't. 

Racism is still a big thing in the world, not just against blacks. However in the US it has been one of those things that lost steam when Martin Luther King jr was murdered. It has been ignored and not talked about for fear of appearing racist for merely talking about it. 

The incarceration rates speaks of a larger problem. The overwhelming white glow of the government speaks of a larger problem. Perhaps US police should just try to stop shooting all people, grow some balls for fucks sake. 

I've found that it's mostly white people that complain about the racism that they don't get or have never had to live with. Fox News does manage to find a few tokens that think they are white. How you you defeat the Apache? ... you use Apaches to track em down. 

No matter what color you are if it's wrong you must speak out against it. Sexual assault, sexism, sectarianism, homophobia you must never allow racism and bigotry to become normal or everyday. 

Master race reporting in

People have served and died for the freedom to kneel in protest. They have blown the inferior race crap out of the water by serving with honor and valor.  

You tell Captain Frederick Clinton Branch of the USMC who received a bachelor's degree in physics that he's inferior to some Confederate flag loving cousin fucking trailer dweller that don't reed too gud that's he's inferior to him based on skin pigmentation. 

It is a slippery slope releasing the "good" prisoners, helping Puerto Ricans survive a hurricane, letting Transgender people serve in the military. Before you know it their political rights being respected ... good. 

  

Poppy Fascists

To be be fair it was your lot that started it so wear a fucking poppy!

Every year without fail we have the old, 'I refuse to wear a poppy' or 'my place of work told me to remove mine' .... you don't care about the war dead any other time so why now? Stop being an attention seeking cunt.

The poppy was used as a symbol of respect by an American woman who was moved by the poem In Flanders Fields written by a Canadian. The Royal British Legion sell poppies and other products to help soldiers who need emotional and financial support and for their dependents.  While the RBL are not political and have refused to become so their cause and campaign is often hi-jacked by Neo-Nazi organizations such as the BNP and Britain First and in Northern Ireland it is seen as a predominantly Protestant symbol because it's about soldiers.

I do get tired pointing out how both Protestants and Catholics have died in all the wars and if their religion bothers you then that is yer problem. They answered the call for service which is more than those who complain about poppies have ever done.  

James McClean who is some soccer player in an English team was the only one of the players to refuse to wear a poppy. He comes from Londonderry/Derry/DerryLondonDerry/Rape City and doesn't like the fact that it pays respect to all soldiers who died in conflict. 

He says he has respect the WWI and WWII war dead but after that he has a problem. I guess then after that he doesn't respect them. Another fuck you to the brave Irishmen of the Royal Ulster Rifles who fought in Korea. McClean blamed Bloody Sunday for how he felt even though he wasn't even born then and that hating British soldiers is a part of who we are, 'ingrained' was the word he used.

 

Ach like he has a clue, who cares what a football player thinks anyway? Just do yer job and kick the fucking ball, going by how much you get paid compared to a soldier it's socially acceptable to shit on soldiers anyway.  

So because we've always done it and have always felt this way then that is a good excuse, fuck off you dick! 

It's tradition for the Orange Order to walk certain routes which are now Catholic areas, does that mean they should keep doing it? What about slavery or weemen voting? If it was up to wankers like this then nothing would change for the better. 

It's sad that so many people actually think this way ... not too deep are ya?  

McClean had gotten quite a bit of support for deifying the poppy fascists but this cunt is just as bad since he wears the peace lily badge, you usually see that being worn by IRA assholes shooting over coffins. 

Different symbols, same mindset and same excuses. 

Yes organizations do try to hi-jack symbols, patriotism and pride to use as a weapon or a tool of intimidation. I can no longer look at my Union flag without thinking about the idiot fleggers, especially now as I see the rotting remnants of the flags they claim to love left up to rot on lamp posts, these people have no pride. 

On the TV politicians had better wear a poppy or the public will want to know why. TV presenter Jon Snow has coined the term Poppy Fascism to describe the backlash when you aren't wearing one. This is very real, 'what will people think?' says the old woman handing out poppies when you don't want one you just want to put in some money. 

Old Knudsen being more enlightened than some ball kicker will not be thinking of all the trendy atrocities carried out during times of war or conflict that only affected things locally, instead he'll be thinking about all of those who were brave enough to leave the trenches and go towards the enemy, he'll be thinking about those who served with bravery and honour, whether they survived it or not, he'll be thinking of the civilians caught up in the fighting when all they wanted was to live in peace and he'll be thinking of the family, spouses and children who were told that their loved one will never return. 

I would think more of Mr McClean's stand against peer pressure if he was not a supporter of the Republican cause but he is and that makes him as bad as any bigoted flegger. 

One of the people I'll be thinking about was a young man aged 21 who was killed in action on 31st January 1915 at around 10am when wounded in the thigh. A relative of mine mostly forgotten about since he didn't get the chance to live and start his own family, his mother got his medals in 1921 which is of no consolation. A wreath will no doubt be laid at the small monument that has his name on it as he lies buried in France, he never got to come home.        

Remembrance Sunday (today) is bigger than fleggers, poppy facists and spides from the bogside. It's up to each of us if we are to care because if we get distracted by all this stupidity then those people died for nothing. It was important to them and it should be to you, maybe such loss of life is difficult for some to grasp, maybe their own selfish issues stop them from caring. 

The Great war for Civilisation indeed ..... I've seen better.