The X thing is all full of equivocations and defenses today, as you would expect. That’s the disheartening part: you expect it. The damnations and rejections you expect, because there are decent people in the world who decline to equivocate or bring their steepled-finger cogitations to bear on the images they say. But you also expect the happiness, the rallies, the glee over the deaths of infants - or, since most of these people aren’t completely stupid, a disinclination to dwell on that part of the story. No one should be surprise by the happiness and rallies and student statements of support.

I said it 23 years ago: a nuclear bomb could go off in Times Square and a substantial portion of our Better Thinkers would yes but the death and destruction. Distaste for their country is a fundamental part of their self-conception, because they identify with a free-floating utopian civilization of “transnational values.” (It is a telling fact about the transnational movement is that the only nation they apparently defend is one that does not exist)

One of those values is a stark Manichean dichotomy that groups everyone into oppressor / oppressed camps, and the US of course is the greatest oppressor of all, with its client state Little Satan being second on the list. And so it comes to pass that murderers from the sky who descend on a peace rave in the most progressive country in the region are lionized. I guess the rave was just a Nuremberg rally with better tunes.

The Mayor came out today against the Democratic Socialists in Minneapolis who held rallies for Palestine. Their statement concludes with the ritual dedication to the destruction of Israel:

We are resolved in our commitment to not fear the backlash that comes from being vocally, and boldly, in favor of the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement and Palestinian freedom, for as socialists and internationalists, we are often the only ones willing to take a stand for justice, even when it is unpopular, or even dangerous. We are resolved to proclaim “From the River, to the Sea, Palestine will be free!” today and until liberation.

It was reposted by a local DSA guy, who also posted:

Oh so much to unpack there.

Anyway. A reminder that nothing is set in stone, even the meaning of stone itself:

The Arch of Titus.

The arch contains panels depicting the triumphal procession celebrated in AD 71 after the Roman victory culminating in the fall of Jerusalem and provides one of the few contemporary depictions of artifacts from Herod's Temple.

From another site, answering the question of whether Jews can walk under it:

Roman Jews would always refuse to walk under this archway. It was only after the birth of the State of Israel that they crossed it, but this time in the opposite direction to that of the triumphal procession.

And now it is splashed with the colors of Israel.

History is long and deep, but it is made and shaped, for good or ill, by the impatient.

It’s 1915.

Yes Minnesota, there is a Virginia:

AGOG, I tell you; they’re agog.

I’d forgotten he got married while in office. His first wife died in 1914. Wiki:

Edith Wilson and others in the President's inner circle (including his physician and a few close friends) hid the true extent of the president's illness and disability from the American public. Edith also took over a number of routine duties and details of the executive branch of the government from the onset of Wilson's illness until he left office almost a year and a half later. From October 1919 to the end of Wilson's term on March 4, 1921, Edith, acting in the role of First Lady and shadow steward, decided who and which communications and matters of state were important enough to bring to the bedridden president.

She would live long enough to attend JFK’s inauguration.

War news:

Serbia had kicked the Hungarian-Austrian army’s butt in the first invasion, in 1914.

This would end in defeat.

There’s a term you don’t hear much anymore.

		"A brief early period of wintry weather occurring in the autumn," says the dictionary.

		Important news. Johnson Boot Tredway Kopp Morris if you're taking notes.

I think I found the location of the store.

Looked different in 1915, I suspect.

The important thing to remember is that most everyone knew what they were talking about. And we don't.

Some local rivalry, some pot-shots at some project or corporate iniative - I mean, you could find out, if you had the time. Perhaps I will.

But not this week.

		Now two ways to chip in!

That'll do. Some 60s Euroswank hotel pictures for you now.