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 This is Penelope’s Loom. A place where one can read about and perhaps discuss strange, wonderful, and peculiar historic events

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Ladies and Gentlemen of the Jury...trying the Nazi bastard hierarchy....(2)

Every time I think about WW2, and its' aftermath, I think of this song by Dylan: Dylan lends gravitas to just about anything, don't you find?  And the sixties, when the song was written, were hard times, during which the 'hard rain' fell in the aftermath of World War II. And now back to our regularly scheduled broadcast, the Nurenberg trials. Now, let us further imagine that we had a chance to hold accountable some of the Nazis for the horrors seen at the concentration camps as they were liberated by the Allies   Additionally, the victors of World War II were hard pressed to understand in a cultural sense, both the German and Japanese Prisoners. Is difficult to ascertain how a society could have fallen under Hitler’s spell, but they did. It is also difficult to understand the Japanese response to external industrialisation. In their case, the code of Buchito made it possible for them to conquer so much of the Pacific Rim. As far as the German people are concerned, my ex...
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Into the Minds of Moria: Hitler's good little orc, Reinhard Heydrich

Hannah Arendt, who wrote an account of the trial of Eichmann in Jerusalem, characterized Nazism as "the banality of  evil."  What exactly does that mean? BANALITY:  "the quality of being boring, ordinary, and not original."   https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/banality  At least according to the Cambridge University dictionary.  But, do I agree with Arendt's use of that term? Yes and no.  Hitler's inner circle were extraordinarily ordinary men, not gifted with either intellect or extensive education (excepting perhaps Albert Speer).  And yet, these men were truly gifted in their collective hatred and paranoia ...of just about everything and everyone. But, there were special orcs,  even within the circle of Hitler's closest minions.  This is the story of one of the worst: Hitler’s favorite orc. All right.  You caught me.  That orc is actually from the World of Warcraft. OK. Let me introduce you to this f...
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'Do You Deny then, Mr. Chivington, that you're a vicious psycho hose beast?' No sir, Mr. Congressman sir, I swear I didn't know there was anyone there! The tragic massacre at Sand Creek, 1864.

What images come to your mind, when you dream of the American West, Dear Reader? Something like this? I know that this is one of the more recognized fantasies about the western experience.  Hopefully by now, we all know that this depiction is COMPLETE bulls*&t. THERE WERE ALREADY PEOPLE THERE, FOLKS. When I think of the American western experience, I always have these images in my head: For my druthers, I prefer pictures like the above.  Images that compel impressions of space and wild beauty. Buffalo, coupled (of course) with that endless sky.  Whenever I think about the American West, I think poetically.  I think tectonically.  It's impossible to gage this landscape against the span of a single human life.  But, that is essentially what we have to do here, isn't it Dear Reader? We must create condensed sketches of larger events, even if those happenings are tragic in nature.    Which brings us to Sand Creek. The events surrounding the M...
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