Auschwitz Liberated

January 27, 2025 | Posted by Peter Jakobsen | HISTORY, LIFE, WW2 |

(27 January, 1945: the liberation of the Nazi’s most infamous extermination camp) Blood libels against the Jews are nearly as old as the hills. They were stirred during the First Crusade (1096), but reached the nadir (at least, one hopes) during the Second World War, in the form of Hitler’s “Final Solution.” “At camps maintaining labour installations, like Auschwitz, 10 per cent of the arrivals – those who looked fittest – were selected for work. The remainder were consigned to the gas chambers. They were instructed to undress; the women and girls had their hair cut. They were then marched…

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The Pardoner’s Tale

January 27, 2025 | Posted by Peter Jakobsen | American Politics, POLITICS |

20 January 2025: President un-elect Joe Biden pardons family and friends President Joseph Robinette Biden, Jr, son of a Wilmington car salesman, issued this statement minutes before his successor was inaugurated, in fact, as all were gathered in the Capital Rotunda: “My family has been subjected to unrelenting attacks and threats, motivated solely by a desire to hurt me—the worst kind of partisan politics.  Unfortunately, I have no reason to believe these attacks will end. I believe in the rule of law, and I am optimistic that the strength of our legal institutions will ultimately prevail over politics.  But baseless…

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Heretic

January 16, 2025 | Posted by Lesley Jakobsen | Drama Film, FILM |

"The wife is shy, but the pie is nigh!"

(Directed by Scott Beck and Bryan Wood, 2024) We who do not live in horror-film-land know that no young woman should ever go into the isolated, charming house at the bottom of a wind-strewn garden during a rainstorm. Unfortunately for them, LDS missionaries Sister Paxton (Chloe East) and Sister Barnes (Sophie Thatcher) do live in that land and did not get the memo.  In non-horror-film-land the missionaries would be young men but of course, women are the proper victims of imprisonment, slashings and creepy things in horror-film-land so there it is.  Mr. Reed (Hugh Grant) lives in that house and…

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Jimmy Carter

January 13, 2025 | Posted by Peter Jakobsen | American Politics, HISTORY, POLITICS, USA History |

President Carter with a dangerous friend

(1 October, 1924 – 29 December, 2024) Jimmy Carter seems by popular acclaim to have been a very nice guy, choc-full of honesty and integrity. It just goes to show that such qualities are not necessary or sufficient to be a good President of the United States. Carter was not a good President, but he was liked and respected for the human qualities that bloomed post-office, notably in the fields of diplomacy and philanthropy. His presidential legacy would seem to be the 1978 Camp David Accords, where his tendency to micro-manage and his own personal bona fides got two enemies…

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Social Justice Fallacies

January 11, 2025 | Posted by Peter Jakobsen | HISTORY, LIFE, Non-Fiction, POLITICS, THUMBNAIL REVIEWS |

(By Thomas Sowell, 2023) Described by economic historian Niall Ferguson as a tour de force, Social Justice Fallacies arrives, like Spiderman, just in time, the imminent end of Peak Woke (aka Peak Stupid). Wikipedia defines Social Justice thus (footnote omitted): “Social justice is justice in relation to the distribution of wealth, opportunities, and privileges within a society where individuals’ rights are recognized and protected. In Western and Asian cultures, the concept of social justice has often referred to the process of ensuring that individuals fulfill their societal roles and receive their due from society. In the current movements for social…

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