Winston Churchill's 1941 Christmas Speech from the White House

Pearl Harbor

 

FDR declares war on Japan after Pearl Harbor (via CDR Salamander). 

Old AF Sarge remembers.

Linky Links

Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- Darth Vader goes to Walmart (completely scripted and produced by AI)

-  Oliver Stone coming out with pro-nuclear energy film, "Nuclear Now"

- Satoshi, Bitcoin, and FDR's Executive Order 6102

- Which countries hold the most US debt?

Banking, Beer and Taxes

Have a new post up on Substack on the interesting parallels between today and 90-years ago.

Find it amusing that FDR, who was known for his White House cocktail parties during Prohibition, used a loophole in the Volstead Act to help solve the banking crisis he was faced with as he entered office.

As always - please Subscribe to my Substack, hit the Like button, or share with others. Cheers!

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

Admit I did not see this coming - New England releases QB Cam Newton. That means rookie Mac Jones is the starter. Hats off to Patriots beat reporters Mike Reiss and Phil Perry who speculated months ago that Jed Hoyer may have been signed as the back-up specifically if this situation ever came to pass...  If Elon Musk put his mind to work on a competitor to Twitter I imagine, once launched, it would be a huge success. I'd certainly subscribe right away... Alan Sepinwall's appreciation of Ed Asner... Ilhan Omar (probably) on the Kabul airport bombings,  "Some people did something"... Remember wondering how the fact that FDR was crippled and confined to a wheelchair could have been kept hidden from the American people by a willing and complicit US press for all of FDR's Presidency? Well future generations will wonder the same thing about Joe Biden's cognitive decline... 

FDR's D-Day Prayer

Flotsam and Jetsam

 Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

Like most Americans you are probably unaware that the Lakers won the NBA championship last night. I know - I forgot they were playing too... Urban Irish would be a good name for a band, a sports bar or a line of T-shirts and hats... You may also be unaware that MLB playoffs are going on as well. I'd guess that only 1 in 20 American adults could even name half of the teams that are left in the baseball playoffs. We aren't angry with the NBA or MLB. It's just that their antics have made us apathetic to their very existence... "Success is never final. Failure is never fatal. It is courage that counts." - John Wooden...  I can recall just a short time ago when historically FDR's two biggest sins were interning Japanese American citizens and trying to pack the Supreme Court. Now that packing the Supreme Court seems to be gaining Joementum momentum from the Left I have to wonder if they also support putting Americans who disagree with them into internment camps. Scarily I think we all know the answer to that one... 

Linky Links

Stuff I found interesting and thought I'd share.

The time Russia ran out of Vodka

FDR's Executive Order 9250 which tried to limit incomes to $25,000 per year

Interesting piece on Tim Tebow in NYC. It will be interesting to see how Tebow effects popular culture and morals in the city and vice versa.

I laugh at this hockey highlight every time

Cool - Voltron chess set

Real or photoshop? Scary either way. 

Chevy Chase vs Community show-runner Dan Harmon

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

Just a reminder but when President Obama took office he was boasting about being able to stop the oceans from rising. Now three years in he's down to bragging about making it easier to clean up milk spills... Canadian teens launch Lego man into (near) space... Paul Newman would have been 87 today... Just saying but Boston College will have more players in the Super Bowl (6) than any other college... As a reminder - Rex Ryan will have to go 7-9 next season to equal Herm Edwards record in his first 4 years as New York Jets coach (35-29)... Very cool - FDR's 52nd birthday party was a Toga Party... The world's largest feet belong to Brahim Takioullah who sports a size 58 shoe (making my size 13's look pretty puny in comparison)... On this day in 1978 - New England was buried in snow as the great Blizzard of 78 was underway... Tweet of the Day from @pourmecoffee - "Goodnight Moon. Goodnight Newt colonizing the moon." I just find that so very clever and funny... Happy 51st birthday to Wayne Gretzky - the best hockey player who ever lived...

Franklin and Winston

Finished this very interesting look at the relationship of two of the 20th century's great men - Franklin and Winston: An Intimate Portrait of an Epic Friendship.

The book was an unflinching history of the relationship between Winston Churchill and Franklin Roosevelt. I came away from the reading with a much different picture of the two men. Even though he was the younger of the two, Roosevelt played what best seemed to fit the role of the older brother in the relationship. He could be patronizing and dismissive but at the same time patient and encouraging. However, also like a big brother he could be mean spirited when trying to impress someone he wanted to befriend (in this case Roosevelt was often awful to Churchill when he was with Joseph Stalin).

Churchill for his part did seem to play the role of a younger brother who badly wanted the approval and friendship of Roosevelt. Churchill easily forgot slights at the hands of Roosevelt and choose just to remember the high points and good times. That's certainly not how I pictured Churchill before reading the book.

If you are a fan of history or a World War II buff - I'd highly recommend this most readable of books.