LATE NIGHT DINER

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edward hopper pic

 

One of the most respected American artists of the modern era is Edward Hopper (1882-1967). His most famous work Nighthawks. The name misleading. The painting easily recognizable. A diner late at night with three customers and a counterman. All at the counter. Two men and a woman seated. The counterman behind the counter.

The painting an oil on canvas.

It took Edward one and a half months to complete the painting. It was completed January 21, 1942. He then had the painting shown for sale at his dealer’s gallery.

Soon thereafter, Edward and his wife Josephine were were at a gallery showing by another artist. In attendance was Daniel Calton Rich. Rich was Director of the Art Institute of Chicago.

Josephine suggested Rich stop by the gallery showing her husband’s work and look at Nighthawks. She thought he would like it. He did. He purchased it for the Art Institute for $3,000. A lot of money at the time. In today’s dollars adjusted for inflation, $43,200.

The statement reflecting the sale shows that Edward’s net take from the sale was $1,971. The gallery’s commission was one third or $1,000. Out of pocket costs totaled $29.

The Art Institute has never sold the painting.  Its present day value has to be in the millions. A Hopper painting not as popular East Wind Over Weehawken was sold by Christie’s in 2013 for $40.5 million.

Edward and Josephine married in 1924. They kept a journal of each of Edward’s paintings. Edward’s contribution was a pencil sketch of the painting and a precise description of technical details involved. Josephine’s was information about the theme of the painting and any interesting/helpful information.

The name Nighthawks is unusual when one considers the painting is of persons in a diner late at night. Nighthawks are birds.Their beaks are small sharp pointed bills.

In a letter to a relative, Josephine wrote that the name Nighthawks was in reference to one of the men sitting at the bar. The man next to the woman. He has a long sharp nose.

In another letter to Edward’s sister Marion, Josephine wrote that the subject for one customer and the counterman was Edward. He viewed himself in the mirror as he drew them. Josephine was the model for the woman.

The site of the diner is not certain. Experts agree it is in Manhattan. Some say on Greenwich Avenue. Edward at one time said it was the interior of a cheap restaurant which he simplified for the painting.

The diner and figures in Nighthawks are so widely recognized that subsequent works by others include some portions.

Gottfried Helnwein’s Boulevard of Dreams (1984) was somewhat of a replica. A spoof of Hopper’s Nighthawks. The persons in the painting were easily recognizable. The three customers were Humphrey Bogart, Marilyn Monroe and James Dean. The counterman, Elvis Presley.

Nighthawks appears in some form in novels, short stories and poems. Even movies. The movies include Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, Pennies From Heaven, Deep Red, and Blade Runner.

A comic book cover also. Archie cover #649. It showed Archie, Jughead and Hotday eating at Pop Tate’s diner.

Hopper was influenced by early 1930 crime movies such as Scarface and Little Caesar. The darkness in Nighthawks represents that influence.

There is also a feeling of isolation. Represented by the few number of people and the diner having no door. Hopper was attempting to portray the feeling of loneliness one can have in a crowd. Especially in a city like New York. Hopper has been quoted as saying, “Unconsciously, probably I was painting the loneliness of a large city.”

Hopper was inspired by Hemingway’s 1927 short story The Killers. As to the diner setting. In the Killers, there is a corner restaurant scene. Hopper drew loneliness from it.

Musicians have been inspired by Nighthawks. Tom Waits’ Nighthawks At the Diner. Also, the song Masters and Angels whose setting is in a diner reminiscent of the one in Nighthawks.

Television has relied on Nighthawks for various scenes. CST: Crime Scene Investigation being one. Would you believe, the Simpson’s. All at a counter eating.

I love Turner Classic Movies. Watch the old films every day. Turner pays homage to Nighthawks in an introductory sequence. Look for it the next time Turner has the band rolling and scenes moving fast to introduce the next movie.

Why did I opt to write this week about Edward Hopper and Nighthawks?

Jack Baron was a longtime Key West friend. To know him was to love him. He was an artist. When I met him, he was already working out of his gallery in Square One.

Every morning, several of us would get together with Jack and his partner Bob to solve the world’s problems.

I had known Jack for several years. Though a collector, I never bought Jack’s paintings. They were local. Seldom do local paintings take off dollar wise.

One day, Jack handed me a beautifully leather bound book titled America’s Greatest  Artists. He opened the book to the page showing Edward Hopper’s Nighthawk. My thought was everyone knows Hopper. He’s big.

Jack then turned the page. The next page was Jack Baron and his black ladies.

Within two weeks, I purchased fourteen of Jack’s works. My Key West dining room was solely Jack Baron. His works all over the house.

I thought…..Am I going to make money! Someday.

Jack died 7-8 years ago. Unfortunately, the value of his paintings never went up. They went down. Dramatically.

I still love Jack and his paintings, however. I learned a lesson. One I have experienced many times in life and never seem to really learn: All that glitters is not gold.

KISSING

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Kissing.

A pleasant past time. Quite enjoyable.

Anything so popular and good is not without its detractors. There have been persons and institutions who attempted to ban kissing.

At the beginning of civilization, men would sniff and smell each other. People were identified by body odors.

At some point in time, the heads slipped during the smelling process and lips touched. Kissing was born.

Early kissing continued to be part of the identification process. Romantic kissing did not come into existence till around 1,000 B.C. India its birth place.

The first identification of kissing as romantic pleasure was contained in a poem. The poem was written by an Indian poet, Mahabharta. He wrote, “She set her mouth to my mouth and made a noise that produced pleasure in me.”

Alexander the Great conquered the known world at his time. Kissing was a big deal in certain of the Middle East countries he conquered. Romantic and sensual in nature. Alexander and his men enjoyed the experience so much that they introduced kissing through out Europe.

By the time of Julius Caesar, Romans had become big time kissers. Historically described as “kissing fools.” The Romans especially enjoyed “soul kissing.” The soul kissing of Caesar’s time being the French kissing of today.

Emperor Tiberius did not like kissing. Leprosy was a problem during his reign. He believed kissing caused the transfer of leprosy from one person to another. Tiberius banned kissing.

The ban was ineffective. People enjoyed kissing too much.

The biggest romantic kissing killjoys were the Christians. Sex has always had an evil connotation of sorts in the Catholic Church. Pope Clement V in 1312 decreed sensuous kissing a mortal sin: “Kissing done with intent to fornicate is….a mortal sin.”

There had to have been a lot of new sinners following Pope Clement’s declaration. Kissing is a prelude to sex. Part and parcel thereof, also. It is difficult to have one without the other. It also makes sex more fun.

From Pope Clement V forward, the Catholic Church sought to ban romantic kissing. Just as some Christians of today would ban pleasurable sex.
Interestingly, the missionaries to the New World are credited with the spread of kissing here. It is humorous to learn that the early missionaries were responsible for spreading kissing, as well as the word of God. For whatever reason, they encouraged those they sought to convert to indulge in kissing. Perhaps as an inducement to conversion.

There is a corollary between yesterday and today. Just as early law makers and the Catholic Church failed to effectively ban kissing, today’s politicians and Catholic Church will similarly fail with regard to pleasurable sex.

Kissing is the All American sport. Actually, a worldwide activity. Pleasure without cost. Both sexes enjoy. Absent any death causing malady spread by kissing, it would be impossible to do away with two pairs of lips meeting. On that, you can make book…

 

STAY OUT OF CIVIL WARS / FIGHT WARS TO WIN

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The title aptly portrays the theme of this column. Stay out of civil wars, fight wars to win.

Modern day warfare involved. Starting with the Russian Civil War 1917-1922.

The following will surprise you. A little known fact. The United States invaded Russia in 1918. Remained through 1920. The United States was part of an Allied Expeditionary Force. At least a dozen other nations involved. Including Britain, France, Japan and Canada.

The United States sent 13,000 U.S.Army troops. Five thousand to North Russia and eight thousand to Siberia. All at one time. Not piecemeal as is done today.

A primary purpose of the Expeditionary Forces was to squelch Communism. The White Russians initially controlled the new government following the overthrow of the Tsar. They were forcefully kicked out In 1917. The Red Russians led by Lenin and Trotsky took over.

Fighting continued through the early 1920s. Civil wars take time. In the end, the Reds were firmly ingrained.

History reports President Wilson was a sneak. The United States Expeditionary Force was put together  in secret. Wilson was clandestine about it. The American people were not interested in sending troops to Russia.

The people of the United States and their leaders were opposed to Bolshevism. Another term for Communism. They feared an influx of immigrants would include Communists. They were also anti-Semitic, feared Jews in large numbers would enter the United States. Even racism came into play. It was feared militaristic American blacks might be motivated to overthrow whites once influenced by Communists.

The name of the game was to keep Communism out of the United States.

The United States withdrew from Russia in 1920. Not much had been accomplished, except a lot of dead. Millions were killed in the Civil War itself. American troops included.

Mass killings / genocide were rampant. Both sides engaging. Each side killing the other in one time numbers of 1,000 and more. Sometimes in excess of 100,000 over a period of time. Jews included. For some reason, Russians on both sides disliked Jews. One hundred thousand were killed in the Ukraine alone.

Typhus took three million.

The United States and the Expeditionary Force were fighting the Reds. The Reds won. Never forgot the nations who fought against them on their way to independence.

The United States had backed the loser.

The Japanese remained to 1922. Japan’s concern was to grab huge amounts of land so as to create a buffer between Japan and Russia. Japan had no success.

Russia initially sided with Germany in World War II. When Hitler sent his Panzer divisions into Russia, Russia joined the Allied side.

The Russians never trusted the Allies. Nor did the Allies trust Russia. It was a game of outfoxing whenever Stalin, Roosevelt and Churchill met.

 

Historians claim the Cold War began almost instantly following the end of World War II. I disagree. I believe it began in the 1917-20 time frame when the United States and Britain sent large numbers of troops to defeat the Reds. The same Reds who became partners with the Allies during most of World War II.

The United States intervened in Russia’s Civil War and Russia never forgot. Except for a few years following 1989-90 when the Soviet government fell, some degree of Cold War has always existed.

Putin is now in power and has been for many years. Russians love him. Russians are having a hard time economically. The people do not care. He is their man. He is returning Russia to its days of former glory.

The two World Wars were wars to end all wars. It never occurred. The United States has been involved in a number of wars since.

The United States either stalemates or has lost subsequent wars or defeats a non entity opponent.

North Korea cannot wait to drop a nuclear device on the United States. Vietnam was unquestionably a humiliating defeat. Lebanon in the early 1980s is difficult to categorize. After 241 Marines were killed in a bombing, Reagan pulled all U.S. forces out saying these people are crazy. Meaning the Lebanese, of course.

The United States has had one victory. No question about it. The first Iraqi War.

Other victories include places too small to consider victories. The United States merely stomped the aggressor under its boot. Places like Grenada, Panama and Haiti.

Now comes the Middle East. Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria. No war with Iran yet.

Can any of the United States’ efforts since 2001 in the Middle East be considered victories? No way.

In the Middle East, the United States has been involved in civil wars. Beware, my admonition continues throughout this article. In none o fthem has it appeared the United States fought to win. World War II was won because there was the commitment to win. A nonexistent virtue in recent times.

The United States fought to win the first Iraqi War. No other war since World War II and since the Iraqi War.

Wars cannot be won sending 50 or 100 men to fight at a time. Wars must be fought to be won. Right away. Full force and equipment. Not years later.

Victory seems an illusion, except for World War II and the first Iraqi War.

There is a study that suggests ninety percent of all wars the United States has been involved in since World War II have been civil wars.

I suspect another reason wars have not been won is that the United States is the greatest power in the world. For shame were the United States to inflict its power on a small country.

 

One step further. The small country involved in a civil war fights as if the war is the most important thing in its life. It is! People with such dedication are hard to beat.

I started this article intending to discuss the United States’ invasion / intervention in the Russian Civil War. Nothing else. No moral to the story. Merely an occurrence in history.

I got carried away. Glad I did, however. Things like stay out of civil wars and fight wars to win are rarely heard these days.

Wake up America!

POLITICAL SEXCAPADES

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People who live in glass houses should not throw stones.

Jesus says…..Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.

The Bible tells us…..As ye sow, so shall ye reap. The good Book comments…..How the mighty will fall.

Justin Timberlake wrote a song titled…..What Goes Around, Comes Around.

From biblical times to every day accepted admonitions to modern-day song, the message is clear. Beware. Bad deeds return to bite you in the ass.

The thrust of this column involves the Bill Clinton impeachment proceedings. Brought about by his sexual affair with Monica Lewinsky in the White House. During times when Lewinsky was a federal intern or employee. The affair involved oral copulation. Never intercourse.

Clinton was impeached by the House of Representatives and following trial by the Senate acquitted.

Certain elected officials pursuing Clinton’s impeachment were adulterers or guilty of other deviant sexual behavior. Prior to, during and subsequent to Clinton’s acquittal.

This column examines the conduct of such persons. Elected officials dirty themselves. Perfect examples of the pot calling the kettle black.

All to be discussed were Republicans. Clinton a Democrat.

Newt Gingrich was the leader of the Republican revolution in 1994. The Republicans took control of Congress for the first time in 44 years. Gingrich soon became Speaker.

Gingrich led the impeachment drive. He thought it despicable that the President, a federal official, would have sex in a federal building, the White House, with a federal intern/employee.

While the drive to impeachment was going on, Gingrich was having an affair with Callista Bisek, a House of Representative staffer. She was 23 years his junior. The sexual relationship ran 1993 to 1998 at which time Gingrich resigned from the House of Representatives. He admitted to the affair.

Gingrich was married to his second wife during the time of the affair. Divorced the second wife and married Bisek after his resignation.

Robert Livingston was a Louisiana Congressman.  He called for the resignation of Clinton. The Republican conference voted for Livingston to succeed Gingrich as Speaker.

Soon after the conference vote and before the official vote, it was discovered Livingston had multiple extramarital affairs. His wife encouraged him to resign from Congress and urge Clinton do the same. Livingston resigned. Clinton did not.

Dennis Hastert of Illinois voted for Clinton’s impeachment. He was elected Speaker following the Gingrich and Livingston resignations.

Hastert served eight years as Speaker. Then resigned. Resigned because he wanted to. He was not forced to do so for any reason.

Last year, Hastert was indicted for violation of federal banking rules.

In his early years, Hastert was a school teacher and coach. It was discovered he had sexually abused three of his students. One of the students wanted Hastert to pay him to not publicly reveal the matter. Hush money.

Hastert paid this individual $1.7 million over a period of time. It was how Hastert made the payments that violated federal law.

Bob Barr of Georgia was one of the leaders in the move to impeach Clinton. He was the first lawmaker to publicly call for Clinton’s resignation because of the Lewinsky matter. He was one of the managers (prosecutors) during the impeachment trial itself before the Senate.

It was discovered Barr had an affair while married.

Dan Burton was another holier than thou.

He too was a leader in seeking Clinton’s impeachment. He said, “No one…..should be allowed to get away with sexual improprieties.”

In 1998, Vanity Fair revealed Barr had an affair in 1983. The affair produced a child. Barr admitted fathering a son with a former state employee.

Helen Chenoweth-Hage was a Congressperson from Idaho. She called and voted for Clinton’s impeachment. In 1998, she admitted to having an affair with a married man for six years. This was before her entering Congress. She was single at the time.

Henry Hyde was a major Congressional figure during impeachment time. He was one of those pushing for Clinton’s impeachment. He was Chairman of the Managers (Chief Prosecutor) who presented evidence against Clinton during the Senate trial.

His affair came to light in 1998, also. It was claimed he had an affair from 1965-1969. Before his election to Congress. The affair was with a married woman who had three children. Hyde was 41 at the time the affair began. He was married.

Hyde admitted to the affair in 1998. He blamed it on “youthful indiscretion.”

News of Hyde’s affair broke while Hyde was spearheading impeachment proceedings.

Stephen C. La Tourette voted to impeach Clinton. He was having an affair at the time with his Chief of Staff, Jennifer Laptook. La Tourettewas married at the time.

David Vitter’s story is interesting. Both Vitter and Livingston were from Louisiana. Vitter took over Robert Livingston’s seat when Livingston resigned because of his extra marital affair.

Vitter said at the time, “I think Livingston’s stepping down makes a very powerful argument that Bill Clinton should resign as well.”

Vitter went on to become a U.S. Senator.

In 2007, Vitter was seeking the Republican nomination for President. His campaign came to an immediate halt when Vitter’s name was discovered in the address book of DC Madam Deborah Jane Palfrey.

You may ask why this article at this time. The reason is the present state of the smoldering Trump/Clinton war.

Clinton charges Trump is a sexist. Probably so. Trump responds with a warning. Saying in effect if you’re going to get into sex, BE CAREFUL.

Neither is Simon pure. There appears to be checkered activities by both in years gone by.

I fear the election is going to get down and dirty. Perhaps the dirtiest Presidential campaign ever. Gutter politics at its worst.

No one will come out clean.

Nor will the American people benefit.

It bothers me that sex continues to be so important in the United States. European nations laugh that we give sex such importance.

I believe we may be at that time when we give less importance to the sexual lives of people. We live in an age where same sex marriage is legal. Transgenderism is accepted In many states. California has laws protecting transgender in certain situations.

People cohabit and live many years or all their years as a family. Bearing children. Never marrying.

Heterosexual divorce is no longer a bar to the Presidency.

Bisexuality does not seem to faze anyone. Homosexuality in the military no longer a problem.

It is a new world. It may be anti-religious. It may not be what all of us like.That is the way it is, however.

So when the dirt starts flying in this campaign, take it in stride. I suspect the two major candidates have skeletons hidden in their closets.

AN AMERICAN CHRISTMAS

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Christmas today and Christmas yesterday are as different as day and night.

The precursor of today’s Christmas is rooted in paganism. Paganism involving debauchery, drinking, rape, murder, and anti-Semitism. Paganism that  preceded the birth of Christ by centuries.

The early Christians did not celebrate Christmas. No one was even sure if December 25 was the day Jesus was born.

Roman pagans celebrated the earliest event. A week-long party. Ended on December 25. Where the forces of darkness prevailed. Sex, food and drink in abundance. Many murders, for the fun of it.

The Greeks enjoyed a holiday made famous in Lucian’s Saturnalia. More despicable. In addition to drinking, rape and sexual license, human sacrifice.

Saturnalia is the predecessor of Christmas.

The Catholic Church wanted to convert the pagans. Actually, the Catholic Church wanted to increase its numbers. The Church offered the pagans a deal. You join us and you can still celebrate all those Saturnalia things you are accustomed to doing. The pagans agreed and the Saturnalia Carnival came into being.

The Catholic Church participated in and permitted Jews to be ridiculed and suffer. Pope Paul II was head of the Catholic Church in 1466. Part of the celebration involved Jews being force-fed/overfed and then compelled to run along the streets of Rome. Difficult with a full belly. People pelted the Jews with rotten fruit, vegetables and stones. The Pope reportedly watched and laughed.

The Saturnalia Carnival continues through the 18th and 19th centuries. Relatively recent times. Jews continued to be persecuted. They were murdered, women raped, their property destroyed. Rabbis were made to don clownish attire and run the streets. While running, they were jeered and pelted.

Jews asked the Papacy to stop such activities. Pope Gregory XVI refused.

Many of today’s Christmas customs find their origins in the pagan celebrations.

The Christmas tree is one. Pagans for whatever reason worshiped trees in the forest. Eventually, the trees found their way into pagan homes and were decorated.

The mistletoe. Kiss me under the mistletoe. Druids used the mistletoe to poison human sacrificial victims. Norse mythology spoke of two Gods fighting over the female Wanna. The two synthesized to become reflective of the sexual lives of Saturnalia and the Druid’s sacrificial cult.

Christmas presents. In pre-Christian Rome, emperors compelled Rome’s most despised citizens to bring offerings and gifts during Saturnalia. With the advent of Christianity, the Catholic Church gave gift giving a Christian flavor by bringing St. Nicholas into the picture.

St. Nicholas initially was a combination of good and evil.

St. Nicholas himself was saintly. Of Turkish origin. Died in the mid 300s AD. In 1087 AD, his bones were moved from Turkey to Bari, Italy. He was interred in the burial-place of a traditional Italian woman who had been famous for bringing gifts to children on December 6. St. Nicholas assumed her gift giving qualities merely by burial in her place.

The Catholic Church pushed the pagans to adopt St. Nicholas. Such began gift giving in what finally became Christmas.

Santa Claus as he is visualized today in his bright red clothes and rosy cheeks can be attributed to Coca Cola. In 1931, Coke wanted a “Coke Drinking Santa.” Coke ordered its advertisers to give them such. The result is the Santa Claus of today.

Christmas today is the combination of Christian carnival, pagan gods and a modern-day commercial.

As to America itself, let’s see how the preceding played out.  Starting with the first settlers, the Puritans.

On this wonderful Christmas Day 2015, most of us will be sitting back happy with ourselves. In a joyous festive mood. Thankful for family and friends. Pleased by gifts and food.

And we might believe that Christmas in the United States has always been such. That Christmas as we know it always existed.
Shockingly, it did not!
We start with the Puritans. Those hearty immigrants from England to the shores of Massachusetts. Those who gave us Thanksgiving.

Christmas they did not give us. In fact, they took Christmas away from us. The earliest Scrooges of record!
From 1659 to 1681, Christmas was outlawed in Boston. By the Puritans. They believed that Christmas was not consistent with their Puritan ideas and religious reforms. So they abolished Christmas!

The Puritans were descendant from the Reformation. Certain Protestant groups opposed Christmas celebrations. They firmly believed the holiday was rooted in paganism. It was. Oliver Cromwell banned Christmas in England.

Christmas remained a no no through the American Revolution. The English influence in the colonies prevailed. Christmas could not gain a foothold.

A few years after the Revolution, the colonists, rid of English influence, started celebrating Christmas. But it was not Christmas as we know it.

The early 1800s found Christmas being celebrated in a bit of a rowdy fashion. Much like Mardi Gras and Fantasy Fest.

Then came a couple of books which influenced the situation.

The first was by Washington Irving. In 1809, he wrote The Sketchbook of Geoffrey Crayon. It portrayed Christmas as a peaceful loving holiday. Many attribute Irving’s novel as setting the mood for present day Christmas.

Irving actually created with words Christmas Day as we know and celebrate it. He mentally conceived his concept of Christmas and wrote it on paper. Christmas to that point had not been as he portrayed it.

About the same time, there was another writing. A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. This, too, captured the American imagination.

During the 1830s, several southern states legalized December 25 Christmas Day as a holiday. The first was Alabama in 1836.

The South continued to favor and celebrate Christmas up to the time of the Civil War. Whereas, the North basically paid little attention to the day. Christmas had become a Southern thing.

Now comes the Civil War. Lincoln wanted to demoralize the Confederate troops. He wanted to show that the South’s Santa Claus was on the side of the North. He authorized a famous artist late in 1862 to do a drawing of Santa Claus watching over Union troops. The picture was the front cover on January 3, 1863 of a prominent national magazine. It was sort of God is on our side thing. Some believe it achieved Lincoln’s desired effect.

President Ulysses S. Grant is given credit for making Christmas a national holiday. I question the accuracy of the representation. In 1870, Grant signed a bill into law regarding Christmas Day. The new law read that Christmas “…shall be a holiday within the District of Columbia.” The  District of Columbia is not the whole of the United States. However, Grant is usually given credit for making Christmas a national holiday by that act.

The last state to legalize Christmas as a legal holiday was Oklahoma in 1907.

I suspect that it was the combination of Grant’s signing regarding the District of Columbia and all of the states legalizing the holiday that finally made Christmas Day a national holiday.

Christmas Day received a further boost by the 1897 editorial in the Sun of New York. We all know it. “Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus.”

Christmas was practiced and recognized as a holiday through World War II. For whatever reason, it received its most gigantic step forward recognition and celebration wise following World War II. Everyone got into the act after the war! Maybe because people were happy and grateful to have won.

Such is the story of Christmas and especially America’s Christmas from its earliest times to today.

Merry Christmas!

THE PRESIDENT COULD NOT SPELL

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Theodore Roosevelt was the twenty sixth President of the United States. His accomplishments many. Before, during and following his Presidency.

Roosevelt became known as the phrase maker. He was the first to call the White House “a bully pulpit.” He recognized the White House was a great stage to be heard from around the world.

Regarding trusts and corporations, his attitude was to “speak softly and carry a big stick.”

He viewed political extremists as the “lunatic fringe.”

When asked if he was going to run for President, he said “my hat’s in the ring.” A statement out of the old west. A boxer would throw his hat in the ring signifying he would take on all comers.

Roosevelt was visiting The Hermitage in Tennessee, the home of Andrew Jackson. He was given a cup of coffee. Finishing it, he exclaimed “good to the last drop.” The coffee was generally served at the Maxwell House in Nashville. Turned into a national coffee brand with a great advertising component: Maxwell House….Good to the last drop.

An author, his first work The Naval War of 1812 was acclaimed.

A war hero. Roosevelt led the charge up San Juan Hill in Cuba during the Spanish-American War. He later said it was “the greatest day in my life.”

He served as assistant Secretary of the Navy under President McKinley. He later was Vice President of the United States when McKinley died from an assassin’s bullets.

Roosevelt was for a time a cattle ranger in the Dakotas. He also was an African hunter and an Amazon explorer.

Trusts/corporations had become too strong by the time Roosevelt became President. He curbed their power.

He is known as the man who saved football. College football had become dangerous. By the time Roosevelt became President, more than one hundred players had died from football incurred injuries. The public called for an end to college football.

Roosevelt was a sport enthusiast. He called a meeting in Washington of those who ran college football. He told them shape up or he was going to ban football. He wanted football made a clean game.

They listened.  New rules came into being. One, the forward pass. It was thought the forward pass would lessen the power crunch in the center. The forward pass was adopted, even though many considered it a radical idea.

Roosevelt’s face adorns Mount Rushmore, together with those of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln.

He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in recognition of his efforts in ending the Russo-Japanese War. Some were against his receiving the award. They said Alfred Nobel was probably turning over in his grave. The reason being that Roosevelt had completed the conquest of the Philippines. Many felt his actions in that regard militaristic and imperialistic.

Roosevelt was obviously a great man. He had one short coming, however. He could not spell.

There was no word check to help him.

Roosevelt issued an Executive Order in 1906. Henceforth, all White House documents would be printed with the revised spelling of three hundred words. The words having been proposed by spelling reformers.

Roosevelt’s Order required words to be spelled as spoken. Simple. Through became tru. Dropped, dropt.

Congress went crazy. The House voted 142-24 to repeal Roosevelt’s Order. British newspapers were outraged at the mockery being made of the English language.

The London Sun responded to Roosevelt’s actions by writing an editorial containing the new spelling espoused by Roosevelt: “We ventur to  think that even Prezident Ruzvelt mite manage to get along very wel with the language that was gud enuf for Shakespeare and Milton.”

Roosevelt saw the handwriting on the wall. The whole world was against him. He backed off. The issue never to be heard again, except in historical perspective.

HELEN SPERLING…..HOLOCAUST SURVIVOR

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Helen Sperling died last week at the age of 95. She survived Buchenwald. A significant portion of her life thereafter was devoted to reminding others of what occurred during those World War II days.

Helen lived most of her free adult years in Utica, my home town. A close friend Sharon Smith knew her well. I did not. Sharon frequently spoke of her.

I met Helen only once at some gathering. We were introduced. It was a hello, how are you, and on our separate ways.

Helen’s story sad. Hard to believe, unless a person shared her death camp experiences.

Helen lived with her parents and brother in a small Polish town near Warsaw. Her father an architect. Her family middle class.

As a child, Helen was spoiled, pampered and imaginative. She was at home on vacation from college when the Germans marched in. Her first recollection is that of “boots…..the ugly, ugly black boots” the Nazis wore.

The Nazis stormed into her home. They emptied the drawers and closets. One sat in her father’s chair. He shoved his booth in her mother’s face. He then threw some of the family’s fine linens at her. The German yelled…..”Polish them!” Helen helped her mother.

That day was the beginning of six years of helplessness, humiliation and degradation.

The family was first sent to a ghetto. Then to prison camps or death. Her parents were sent to their deaths. Helen was transferred to Ravensbruck, a transition camp. The last stop before a death camp. She was subjected to manual labor. The purpose of the labor was to break the prisoners’ spirits. Her time there she describes as demeaning. She lived in squalor, hunger and fear.

Helen says, “You did not realize who your friend was and who was your enemy.” She had a close girl friend before the Nazis arrived. Her closest girl friend. It was her girl friend’s birthday. Helen escaped from the ghetto for a short time. Her purpose to wish her girl friend a Happy Birthday. Her girl friend was a gentile.

She telephoned her girl friend. Helen was received with all kinds of racial slurs. At that moment, Helen says “…..something dreadful happened to my soul.”

Helen was transferred to Buchenwald. A death camp.

She has memories of the cattle cars and sorting. The sorting involving a German officer telling her when she arrived at Buchenwald which of two lines she was to get into. One you lived, the other you died.

Helen was selected for the live line. She was young and strong. She was able to avoid the death part of Buchenwald for that reason. She was directed to the work phase of Buchenwald.

She was made to work in a munitions factory. She and other prisoners produced artillery shells.  When the guards were not looking, they did whatever to produce a defective shell. If caught, it meant death. Fortunately, Helen was not caught. She describes the destructive activity as revenge. It kept their spirits up.

Living quarters at Buchenwald were terrible. Filthy, cold, crowded. Food was limited. One piece of bread a day and whatever other slop was provided.

Each barracks/living quarters had a “block supervisor.” Also a prisoner. A trustee of sorts. The block supervisors had all kinds of privileges, including beating the other prisoners. Which was done frequently. In some instances to the same prisoner daily.

Helen’s block supervisor was a prostitute and murderer in her former life. She frequently stole Helen’s bread. The block supervisor did treat Helen good in one respect. Helen wrote poetry. She needed paper to write on. The block supervisor at great risk to herself would steal paper for Helen to write on.

Helen recalls the block supervisor thusly: “She still owes me the bread, but I owe her my humanity.”

Beatings by block supervisors and Nazi guards were constant. Helen owed her life to her fellow prisoners. On several occasions, she was beaten so badly that she was still bleeding at roll call time in the morning. Her fellow prisoners would hide her in the back row. In winter, red blood was obvious on white snow. Bleeding was not tolerated. The Germans would put such a bleeding Jew to death immediately. Then and there on the roll call field.

Helen says she constantly wondered while in Buchenwald why no one came to save her and the others.

Buchenwald was liberated in April 1945.

Helen was going nowhere. Except to a hospital. She was too sick. She was hospitalized for three years. When liberated, Helen was suffering from kidney cancer, pneumonia and malnutrition. She weighed sixty pounds. She also was infertile. No longer capable of bearing children.

At some point, her brother found her.

Helen immigrated to the United States. She met Leon. Leon was another Holocaust survivor. They married. Lived in different parts of the United States before settling in Utica. They adopted two children.

One day, Helen’s daughter came home from school crying. The other children had called her “…..a dirty Jew.”

Helen was incensed. She hurried to the school and confronted the principal. Helen insisted that she be given the right to speak to her daughter’s classmates the next day about anti-Semitism. She was given permission.

Not knowing exactly what to say, Helen decided to simply tell her story as told herein thus far. The impact on the class was astounding. She was invited to return every year thereafter to speak to the succeeding class.

The name calling and her first talk to a class took place sometime in the mid 1970s. Helen was not a public speaker. Her words made an impact, however.

Helen caught hold. Word spread. She was asked to speak everywhere. She gave the same talk three times a week for years. At colleges, universities, public and private high schools, police academies, monasteries, and churches. She gave these talks into her ninety’s. In central New York and through out the northeast.

It is seventy years since the end of World War II. Helen’s basic thrust was her concern that despite the lessons of the Holocaust, genocide has been ongoing. The story of the six million Jews has not taught man a lesson. The world stood by quietly while the Jews were being exterminated. Such conduct can never be permitted again. Speak up, yell!

Helen told her audiences that there was an Eleventh Commandment: Thou Shall Not Be a Bystander. No longer remain silent.

We talk about the genocides worldwide. Do we really do anything about them?

Some of Helen’s words I would like to share with you.

Helen started each of her talks with “Hello, my name is Helen Sperling. I am a Jew and a survivor of the Holocaust.”

Regarding those who stand by and do nothing as genocides occur: “…..a mistake. You cannot be a bystander. A bystander is someone who helps the evil.”

“There is no closure for a survivor. I tell the stories of what happened because they help me to survive.”

“Ninety nine percent of survival was sheer luck.”

Regarding survival: “A little bit of it was hanging on to dignity. Once you lost that, you didn’t have a chance.”

At the end of one Helen’s talks, a student asked whether she could forgive the Nazis. Helen’s answer: “The issue is not whether we can forgive the Nazis, the issue is whether we learned the lesson – genocide continues to occur in our world…..we have not learned our lesson.”

Helen challenges students to “Go and save the world!”

“I still don’t believe it happened.”

The memory “never stops hurting.”

“The days are mine, but the nights still belong to Hitler.”

Regarding hope and dignity: “You can live without food for a long time and without drink or anything. But you cannot live without hope and without dignity…..the Germans were trying all the time to take it away from us.”

“We do not have the right to be silent. The Eleventh Commandment is Thou Shall Not Be A Bystander.”

Rest in peace Helen Sperling. The first true peace since that day the Germans entered your home.

THE EIFFEL TOWER

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Paris is much in the news these days because of the terrorist bombing. I thought it appropriate to write about something of a French nature which especially symbolizes Paris.

The Eiffel Tower.

The Eiffel Tower was built for the 1889 Paris Centennial Exhibition. The World’s Fair. Its purpose to commemorate the French Revolution 100 years earlier. The Tower was to remain for only 20 years. Then to be torn down.

Most Parisians were opposed to the Tower. They thought even 20 years too long. The Tower was referred to by them as a lamp post stuck in the belly of Paris, an odious column of bolted metal.

A public campaign ensued to prevent the Tower’s construction. Called the Committee of the Three Hundred. Composed of important French art figures. Architects, artists and writers. The Committee considered the proposed Tower useless and monstrous. A barbarous mass overwhelming and humiliating other monuments. An eyesore.

The Committee failed. The Tower was built.  Took 2 years to complete. Not torn down after 20 years. Stands to this day.

Tourists liked the Tower from day one. Two million visited the Tower its first year. Millions more in subsequent years. The Tower today averages 7 million visitors a year.

Radio saved the Tower. Note the Tower was built for the 1889 World’s Fair. Radio was invented and developed in the 20 years between 1890 and 1910.

The Tower was nearly 1,000 feet tall. It became a state of the art wireless facility. Capable of transmitting messages initially to London, Berlin and North Africa. Then the United States when the Tower became part of the U.S. Army’s wireless telegraph system.

The Tower had a war time value. During World War I, the radio tower intercepted enemy communications, relayed Zeppelin alerts, and was used to dispatch emergency troop reinforcements.

During World War II, Hitler ordered the Tower destroyed when it was apparent Paris would fall to the Allies. Fortunately, the scheme was not carried out. Also during World War II, French resistance fighters cut the elevator cables so the Nazis had to climb the stairs. The fighters kept the cables cut throughout the occupation.

The Tower’s infancy began with a competition to build a monument for the World’s Fair. More than 100 competed and submitted plans. Alexandre-Gustave Eiffel’s company Eiffel de Compagnie received the commission. The company had a solid reputation as an architectural, consulting, bridge building, and construction firm.

Eiffel had a valued employee, the structural engineer Maurice Koechlin. Eissel and Koechlin worked as a team regarding the Tower. The two had collaborated earlier on the Statue of Liberty’s armature.

The Tower was constructed of puddle iron. Another name for wrought iron. The Tower consists of 18,000 pieces of puddle iron and 2.5 million rivets. It stood nearly 1,000 feet tall when completed. One thousand feet tall being comparable to an 81 story building.

The Tower consisted of 3 platforms/floors. Initially, only 2 were open to the pubic. Later, all 3. Today serviced by 9 elevators. Restaurants among present day tenants.

The Tower is repainted every seven years. At the beginning, 3 colors. Lighter at the top. Gradually getting darker as the bottom was reached. The purpose to make the Tower compliant with the Parisian sky. In 2013, the Tower was painted bronze.

The Tower received a major face lift in 1986.

The Tower is owned by the City of Paris.

The top floor had a small apartment reserved for Eiffel himself.  Eiffel used the apartment to entertain. The apartment remains today even though Eiffel is long gone. It has been decorated in the period style as when constructed. Lifelike mannequins of Eiffel and notable guests are part of the apartment. The rooms are open to the public.

Charles de Gaulle could be hard to live with. History tells us of Eisenhower’s trials and tribulations with the man. His ideas did not always make sense.

In 1967, de Gaulle was President of France. He secretly arranged with Montreal Mayor Jean Drapeau to dismantle the Tower and relocate it to Montreal for Montreal’s Expo 67. When the plan was discovered, all of Paris and France went crazy. The French people feared the Tower would never return. The plan was dropped.

The Eiffel Tower…..one of the Seven Wonders of the World.

MUSLIM REFUGEES…..NO

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Syria has opened the door to  a serious discussion of Muslim immigration. Whether the United States should accept any of the Muslims who have escaped Syria.

Those opposed are fearful of terrorists being able to easily sneak into the U.S. disguised as immigrants. A valid concern. However, not the real problem.

Republicans and some Democrats are using the terrorist argument to adopt more stringent vetting laws. Such persons fail to realize that the vetting process already in place works well.

A vetting process that takes 1.5 to 2 years.  As regards the thousands of immigrants granted entry in recent years, only three turned out to be terrorists.

Typical of political leaders the past quarter century, the blind cannot see. They have failed and continue to fail to see what would occur if a large number of Muslim immigrants were permitted entry.

I do not believe that Congress pays close attention to what is going on in the world. Congress fails to understand or take the time to understand the niitty gritty of most issues.

Xenophobia is the intense or irrational dislike or fear of people from other countries. Islam phobia is the dislike/fear of Muslims.

I am guilty of both phobias. Except, my xenophobia is not irrational.

The ultimate goal of Islam is world domination. A step at a time. Immigrate to countries. Join each other in living in specific neighborhoods. Keep local authority out. Rule yourselves. Apply Sharia law. The ultimate goal over a long period of time being to take control of host countries. One by one.

Conversion a part of the program. Convert Christians to Islam. If they refuse, kill them. The same as ISIS is doing to Christians in the Middle East. Jews kill outright. They should not be provided the conversion option.

Muslims who settle in another country want their Muslim culture and customs adopted. They do not want to assimilate. The Koran prohibits it. Conversion the key and not assimilation.

Keep in mind the goal is world domination.

Muslim immigrants want to live as they have in their previous homeland as regards the Koran. Things like child marriage, lashings, stonings, honor killings of women, anti-Semitism, special rights for Muslim workers, demand that Sharia law be substituted for existing civil law, and more.

Muslim experiences in European countries provide clear definitive proof.

Britain already has in excess of 85 Sharia courts. Britain gave in to Muslim demands in this regard. Britain also has no-go zones across the country. Areas too dangerous for non Muslims to enter. These no go zones are microstates in effect ruled under Sharia law, the Muslims having rejected Britain’s legal system.

There is a campaign to turn 12 British cities into independent Islamic states. The cities include Birmingham, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester and Londonistan.

There are Tower Hamlets in East London. They are referred to by Muslims as Tower Hamlets Taliban. The Muslims control the Hamlets. They issue death threats to unveiled women and attack gays. Leaflets are distributed: “You are in a Sharia controlled zone”. Islamic rules enforced.”

John Reid, Britain’s Home Secretary, visited East London. He was challenged by a leading Islamist: “How dare you come to a Muslim area?”

Britain made a grave error when Muslims started showing up in numbers. They acceded to what was demanded. They protected what they viewed as the rights of Islamists. Britain tried to be the good guy, the fair one. To Britain’s detriment. Now it is thought to be too late to do anything about the problem.

France is in the news big time these days. No wonder. France has the largest Muslim population in Europe. Six and a half million. The French Muslim population has reached the point where it wants a parallel Muslim society with the French. A parallel society ruled by Sharia law.

The Muslims have created neighborhoods/zones that they control. To the exclusion of those of other faiths and the French government. They are called Sensitive Urban Zones (ZUS). There are 751 such zones in France.

Disturbances a nightly thing. Burning of cars, blocked streets and sidewalks for Friday prayers, mosques broadcasting sermons and chants via street loudspeakers, etc.

The activities are downplayed in the French media. The reason being the press does not want to be accused of racism or Islamophobia. Local authorities do nothing. They do not want to confront what is in actuality an occupation of their cities. Tanks and soldiers would be required.

The Dutch government reports 40 no-go zones exist in the Netherlands. Twenty percent of the population is Muslim.

Police send two patrol cars on calls. Each to protect the other. Hostile Muslims throw rocks at the police cars. The police do nothing. They are so ordered.

During the Islamic month of Ramadan, the police were ordered by their superiors not to drink coffee or eat in public places for fear of offending the Muslims.

Sweden is considered by the Muslims as “…..the best Islamic state.”

The City of Malmo has a 25 percent Muslim population. Whole patches of the city are no-go zones. In Malmo and Gothenberg, Muslim teenagers burn cars, attack emergency services, throw stones at patrolling officers, and temporarily blind police officers with green lasers.

Germany is no different. The same problems as Britain, France, the Netherlands and Sweden. Such being the case, I can not understand why Merkel wants to accept a million more Muslim refugees.

Germany is confronted with zone type neighborhoods. Intimidation and violence common place. Muslims push all infidels whose secular values are different form theirs out. The Muslims in many instances refuse public services such as police, firefighters and ambulances. Stones, bottles and bullets meet any public service entity seeking admission.

The result is the German zones are war zones. The government has retreated. Germany’s Chief Police Commissioner Bernhard Witthaut said, “The power of the state is completely out of the picture.”

Italy is not yet as bad as the previous countries mentioned. The process is underway, however.

The Muslims have commandeered Rome’s Piazza Venegia for public prayers. In Bologna, Islamists repeatedly threaten to bomb San Petronio Cathedral. The Cathedral contains a fresco which depicts the prophet Mohamed being tormented in hell.

The proof of the pudding is what has been represented. Muslim immigrants want to create parallel societies. They want to remain segregated from other people in the host nation. Integration is not an option for them.

Islamic scholar Robert Spencer said it best. He believes what Islamic supremacists want is not merely a place at the table–equal rights under the law as previous minority groups have sought in civil rights movements….they want their own table, utterly distinct from the man made laws of infidels.

We are the infidels.

The U.S. is beset with enough of its own internal problems. There is no need to foist another on top of it all by accepting Muslim immigrants. They do not want our way of life.

Previous immigrants came and learned to be Americans. They wanted to be Americans. The Italians, Irish, Poles, Germans, and more recently the Bosnians.

My position a simple one. If you do not like us or want to be like us, do not come here. Stay where ever you are or somewhere else in the world. We betray ourselves and our heritage if we take any number of them in.

I can see the uproar my words will cause with some. Anti-religious the cry. Lacking in charity. Un-American. I do not buy it. Primary importance is to preserve our way of life for ourselves, our children and grandchildren.

Two closing observations.

The Middle East countries of affluence such as Saudi Arabia have refused to take any of the Syrian immigrants in. The immigrants are their people. Such says something.

The American media has failed to inform us of much which is contained herein. Why? Another example of the press’ failure to keep us advised. It is referred to as selective news reporting.

SEX TALES OF OLD

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Sex has been part and parcel of man’s existence since Adam and Eve. It has influenced decisions, made some happy, others unhappy. Whatever, sex in some form permeated yesterday’s society and continues to so today.

I am taking you on a trip back in time. Some of the stories will shock/revolt you. Some you will take in stride.

Julius Caesar was a known ladies’ man. Besides his wife, he had Cleopatra. He also had a mistress for twenty years in Rome. His mistress while he was married.

Recall “Et te, Brute.” Shakespeare’s words attributed to Caesar when he observed Brutus plunging a knife into him.

Most think the reason for Brutus turning on his friend Caesar was the good of Rome. There was more involved.

Caesar’s twenty year mistress was Servilia Caepionis. Brutus’ mother.

Caesar was very fond of Servilia. Over twenty years however, his love waned. To keep Caesar close, Servilia offered her youngest daughter Tertia to him. Caesar declined.

The worm turned. Servilia was upset that Caesar had abandoned her and refused the offer of her daughter. She had to get even.

Servilia became a driving force in the plot to assassinate Caesar. She convinced Brutus, who loved Caesar, that for the good of Rome, Caesar had to die. Servilia was  a woman scorned and in the end got her revenge.

Christopher Columbus is revered in history for having discovered America. He is always portrayed as a good man. He was not.

Columbus sold nine and ten year old girls into sexual slavery. Young girls from the New World. His own diary speaks of the sales. Columbus writes “…..there are plenty of dealers who go about looking for girls; those from nine to ten are now in demand.” In demand in the islands and back home in Europe.

Columbus also engaged in the slave trade. Immediately. In his own words “Let us in the name of the Holy Trinity go on sending all the slaves that can be sold.”

Spain’s King and Queen were happy. They benefited big time from the wealth and slaves Columbus transported to them.

Genocide was part of Columbus’ make up. The natives of the islands. Haiti for example went from 250,000 to 50,000 people during Columbus’ time.

Columbus’ crew would cut off the legs of children to determine how sharp their swords were. They also waged among themselves to see who could cut a live person in half the fastest.

Unfathomable cruelty during Columbus’ time. Death, rape and slavery.

The early colonists in the new world had zero tolerance for bestiality. A crime against nature not accepted under any circumstance.

There was a lot of bestiality.

The anti-bestiality basis was not a moral one necessarily. It had to do with the animal giving birth to a monster. The monster being a deformed fetus. It was feared the monster would become alive and be a danger to the populace.

Such went on in New England during the 1600s and 1700s.

Conviction of the man resulted in both the man and animal being burned at the stake. If a woman was involved, the woman and animal were hung from a gallows next to each other and burned. The time is described by historians as the “other” witch hunt.

Pigs were popular. Persons during that time thought a pig’s ass was as lovely as a human one. The man was in trouble if the pig delivered a deformed fetus thereafter. The monster thing. Sheep and donkeys were popular also.

Ben Franklin is described as one of the Fathers of our country. Historians say he may very well have been. Unmarried. His sexual prowess till the day he died put most men to shame.

Franklin in his earlier years especially liked older women. He would recommend them to his friends. His reasons included they were knowledgeable and therefore good conversationalist. There was no need for safe sex as the women had already experienced menopause. Older women were more grateful since they did not have sex that often. He also was of the opinion that the sin was less. Older women had already had sex and this lessened the Lord’s displeasure.

Franklin was a steady customer at the brothels. Almost nightly. He loved harlots. He was a member of a sex club. There was no Internet to meet people in those days. Sex was as popular then as now. They were “gentlemen’s clubs.”

Franklin’s club was the Brotherhood of St. Francis of Wycombe. Popularly referred to as The Hellfire Club. The club met two times a month and for one week in the summer. The menu consisted of orgies, rituals, wrenching and drinking.

Franklin was a printer early in life. He is known to have had the largest collection of print porno-sets.

Even the Papacy was involved in debauchery. The Church was not always good. Popes sometimes bad.

Alexander VI was one of the bad ones. He was a Borgia. Corrupt. Loved women. He had a number of mistresses, some of whom he married. He fathered 12 children while Pope.

Alexander’s sexual exploits were open. Everyone knew. Everyone could see. He was a known pervert.. He even had sex with one of his daughters.

His best remembered sexual event was the Banquet of Chestnuts in 1501. Alexander invited fifty of the most beautiful prostitutes to a party. They were ordered to disrobe. Candles had been placed on the floor. The better to see. Chestnuts were strewn on the floor among the candles.

The naked ladies were required to pick up the chestnuts with their mouths. Alexander and his guests were rewarded with female charms exposed in every possible way.

Betsy Ross. She made the first American flag. Sorry. Such is doubted. Extremely so.

Betsy was not a seamstress. She was an upholsterer. She never met George Washington.

No one spoke of or knew of Betsy as the woman who purportedly sewed the first American flag till 1876. The U.S. hundred year Centennial was being planned. Someone somehow said Betsy Ross made the first flag. No one before had ever uttered such. Her name came up out of nowhere.

The Centennial was a huge success. Betsy’s popularity exploded. So much so that she is in the history books and has become part of the fabric of American history.

Betsy was helpful during the Revolution in a different fashion. Recall the Battle of Trenton. Washington crossing the Delaware in the dead of night and surprising the Hessian troops. A major American victory.

Betsy was partially responsible.

Colonel Carl von Donop was head of the Hessian forces. He was to lead reinforcements to Trenton. He and Betsy were in bed. The Colonel was having so much fun that he decided to spend the night and lead the troops to Trenton the next morning.

Had the reinforcements left when scheduled, they would have been at Trenton before Washington. Washington would probably have lost the battle.

Betsy had in her employ other young ladies. Upholsterers of sorts. Rather than dress, they undressed. They were prostitutes. Betsy was running a house of ill repute out of her store.

The ladies were a huge help to the Colonial cause. They bedded down with British and Hessian soldiers. When they picked up some information that might be helpful, they would report it to Betsy. Betsy in turn would see that the information got to Colonial troops.

There are many instances of sex intentionally or unintentionally playing a part in history. Why not. Sex is one of man’s greatest drives. The record is long. The few shared here evidence of such.