05/26 Open Thread - The Birth of the HUAC
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~~ Anti-HUAC slogan
The HUAC, or House Un-American Committee was an extremely Un-American committee of the US House of Representatives. It was created on May 26, 1938 allegedly to investigate forever undefined "un-American" activities; forever undefined "disloyalty" and forever undefined "subversive activities". It's primary investigative methods were accusations, lies, innuendo, subpoenas, along with fines and jail terms for insufficient cooperation. It's primary targets were actual and suspected communists, socialists, labor organizations, Hollywood, the NAACP, SNCC, CORE, the Grange, people like Pete Seeger, and similar groups and individuals. It should be noted that this was before WW II and there was remotely nothing illegal about communism, communists or the communist party until Eisenheimer's Communist Control Act of 1954" outlawed the Communist party and criminalized membership therein (because, that's what two party "democracies" do, I suppose). During that interval they really had no remotely legitimate purpose because there was no suspected criminality involved, they were simply harassing and persecuting people and groups whom they suspected of some sort of wrongthink. Even after 1954, they didn't limit themselves to then current acts and activities, but pressed for people to speak to whether or not they had ever been a "communist" in a feeble attempt to use public opinion to make the 1954 Act into an Ex Post Facto Law, even though such laws violate the US Constitution.
A lot of us organizations, corporations and influential people during that period from 1938 to 1954 and beyond supported the NAZI party, but they were not a target, because there is nothing more "American" than Apfel Strudel, I guess. In exchange, the still perfectly legal American Nazi Party supported and demonstrated in support of the HUAC, which is only fair when you think about it. In it's early days HUAC got people blacklisted, fired, ostracized, shunned and shamed for purported "communist sympathies", in addition to those they fined and jailed, but by the sixties they were pretty much exposed as the laughable farce that they were and were renamed the House Committee on Internal Security, and later folded in to the House Judiciary Committee. For the record, Eisenhower's 1954 Act, like some of his other silliness has never been struck down in its entirety, or legislatively revoked, but a lot of it was struck down and the rest was very seldom enforced. The Attorney General's List of Subversive Organizations no longer exists, so now people can freely go and join the Wobblies or some 300 other organizations without having to go register as a "subversive",.
Be all that as it may, just keep in mind that while History does not repeat itself, it often rhymes.
It is also the Last Monday in May. That makes it Memorial Day, at least in the USA
On this day in history:
946 – England's King Edmund I died in a street fight leaving his brother Eadred in charge as regent
1328 – William of Ockham (Occam) and two other Franciscan leaders secretly left Avignon, fearing a death sentence from Pope John XXII for wrong think.
1805 – Napoléon Bonaparte assumed the title of King of Italy
1864 – Montana was organized as a United States territory.
1865 – Confederate General Edmund Kirby Smith was the last Confederate full general to surrender
1868 – Impeached President Andrew Johnson was acquitted by one vote in the United States Senate.
1869 – Boston University was chartered by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
1879 – Russia and the United Kingdom signed the Treaty of Gandamak establishing an Afghan state.
1896 – Charles Dow published the first edition of the Dow Jones Industrial Average.
1908 – The first major commercial oil strike in the Middle East was made at Masjed Soleyman in southwest Persia. The rights to the resource were quickly acquired by the Anglo-Persian Oil Company.
1923 – The first 24 Hours of Le Mans was held in France.
1937 – Walter Reuther and members of the UAW clashed with Ford Motor Company security guards
1938 – In the United States, the House Un-American Activities Committee began its Fascist first session.
1940 – Allied forces began a massive evacuation from Dunkirk, France.
1966 – British Guiana gained independence, becoming Guyana.
1967 – The Beatles' album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
was released.
1968 – Iceland traffic changed from driving on the left to driving on the right overnight.
1970 – The Soviet Tupolev Tu-144 became the first commercial transport to exceed Mach 2.
1972 – The United States and the Soviet Union signed the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty
.
1986 – The European Community adopted the European flag, allowing them to claim suzerainty over others**
1998 – The first "National Sorry Day" was held in Australia.
2020 – Protests triggered by the murder of George Floyd erupted in Minneapolis–Saint Paul
** See Eddie Izzard on flags, they're a BFD, really, especially in Europe.
Some people who were born on this day:
I want some colleague to be free to come help me when I say the time has come. That's what I'm fighting for, me. Now that sounds selfish. And if it helps somebody else, so be it.
~~ Jack Kevorkian
1667 – Abraham de Moivre, mathematician and theorist
1669 – Sébastien Vaillant, botanist and mycologist
1880 – W. Otto Miessner, composer and educator
1883 – Mamie Smith, singer, actress, dancer, and pianist
1886 – Al Jolson, singer and actor
1895 – Dorothea Lange, photographer and journalist
1898 – Ernst Bacon, pianist, composer, and conductor
1904 – George Formby, singer, songwriter, and actor
1904 – Vlado Perlemuter, pianist and educator
1907 – Jean Bernard, physician and haematologist
1911 – Maurice Baquet, actor and cellist
1915 – Vernon Alley, bassist
1919 – Rubén González, pianist
1920 – Peggy Lee, singer, songwriter, and actress
1921 – Inge Borkh, soprano
1926 – Miles Davis, trumpet player, composer, and bandleader
1928 – Jack Kevorkian, pathologist, author, and assisted suicide activist
1929 – Hans Freeman, bioinorganic chemist and protein crystallographer
1929 – Catherine Sauvage, singer and actress
1938 – William Bolcom, pianist and composer
1938 – Teresa Stratas, soprano and actress
1940 – Levon Helm, singer, songwriter, drummer, producer, and actor
1946 – Mick Ronson, guitarist, songwriter, and producer
1948 – Stevie Nicks, singer and songwriter
1949 – Ward Cunningham, computer programmer, developed the first wiki
1949 – Hank Williams Jr., American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1951 – Lou van den Dries, mathematician
1951 – Sally Ride, physicist and astronaut, founded Sally Ride Science
1957 – Diomedes Díaz, singer and songwriter
1962 – Black, singer and songwriter
1964 – Caitlín R. Kiernan, paleontologist and author
1964 – Lenny Kravitz, singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, producer, and actor
1975 – Lauryn Hill, singer, songwriter, producer, and actress
1976 – Justin Pierre, singer, songwriter, guitarist, and producer
1980 – Louis-Jean Cormier, singer and songwriter
Some people who died on this day:
Strange to see how a good dinner and feasting reconciles everybody.
~~ Samuel Pepys
735 – Bede, monk, historian, and theologian
1703 – Samuel Pepys, author and politician
1902 – Almon Brown Strowger, soldier and inventor
1924 – Victor Herbert, cellist, composer, and conductor, founded ASCAP
1933 – Jimmie Rodgers, singer, songwriter and guitarist
1939 – Charles Horace Mayo, physician, co-founded Mayo Clinic
1976 – Martin Heidegger, philosopher and academic
1984 – Elizabeth Peer, journalist
1994 – Sonny Sharrock, guitarist
1995 – Friz Freleng, animator, director, and producer
2004 – Nikolai Chernykh, astronomer
2005 – Ruth Laredo, pianist and educator
2015 – Robert Kraft, astronomer and academic
2022 – Andy Fletcher, musician
2022 – Alan White, drummer
Some Holidays, Holy Days, Festivals, Feast Days, Days of Recognition, and such:
National Paper Airplane Day (United States)
National Sorry Day (Australia)
National Blueberry Cheesecake Day (United States)
National Cherry Dessert Day (United States)
Floaters:
Last Monday in May, aka Memorial Day
Today's Tunes
Sgt Pepper
W. Otto Miessner
Mamie Smith
Al Jolson
Ernst Bacon
George Formby
Vlado Perlemuter
Vernon Alley
Rubén González
Peggy Lee, American
Inge Borkh
Miles Davis
Jack Kevorkian
Catherine Sauvage,
William Bolcom
Teresa Stratas
Levon Helm
Mick Ronson
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Stevie Nicks
Hank Williams Jr.
Diomedes Díaz
Black
Lenny Kravitz
Lauryn Hill
Louis-Jean Cormier
Victor Herbert
Jimmie Rodgers
Sonny Sharrock
Ruth Laredo
Alan White
Ok, it's an open thread, so it's up to you folks now. What's on your mind?
i want to
Cross posted from http://caucus99percent.com
Open Thread, HUAC, Memorial Day, Jimmie Rodgers, Stevie Nicks, Mick Ronson, Miles Davis, Peggy Lee, Jack Kevorkian
Comments
This vague concept of "Americanism"
.
Of the past was perhaps the forerunner of our current
equally vague notions of "democracy" or "Liberty" or "Justice".
Conformity is a more descriptive term.
And the only way to honor the dead soldiers on 'Memorial Day'
would be to make peace and stop the wars IMO.
Thanks for the Monday morning mental workout!
Zionism is a social disease
Good morning cap'n Q. The very idea that there could be
such a thing as americanism, or that things, thoughts or acts could be un-amereican always grated. Indeed, ti really does boil down to conformity, but conformity to what? Witch trials and puritanism? Anti-labor class warfare? Wanton use of force to get one's way?
As you note, the only fitting memorial to fallen soldiers would be peace or peace actions. While our "leaders" always claim that the US is a leader in all things, that is certainly very far from the truth when it comes to peace.
be well and have a good one
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
Conformity to what? The Byrds sort of gave one possible answer…
My thoughts exactly
I read about the local community mourning their war dead and saying patriotic things about how they gave their lives to defend their country…
Not one of our foreign wars have been in defense of our country, but usually for resource extraction and manipulation of governments. Why can’t people see that?
Smedley Butler told us that almost 100 years ago, but his message has been stifled by the PTB. People should be asking why exactly their loved ones died.
The message echoes from Gaza back to the US. “Starving people is fine.”
"So What" is one of my very favorite
Miles Davis tunes.
Sure am sick and tired of the same old, same old, FRightwingnut crap! Man, Appreciate all the time and effort you put into this OT, el. Nope, no patriotic feelings here. Rec'd!!
Inner and Outer Space: the Final Frontiers.
Good morning orlbucfan. So What is indeed a very fine work.
My 3 favorite Miles Davis Albums are Sketches of Spain, a very special work in a special unique class all by itself, Kind of blue (original version) and Milestones. The man was a revolutionary.
be well and have a good one
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
Apfelstrudel
Pascal discusses proposed violation of armed forces limits on Germany agreed to incident to unification:
Also from Pascal- New Russiagate wave in Germany? Trump as the Kremlin's agent 2.0:
CRAZY: State TV Pushes New Russiagate Hysteria | Patrik Baab
UK Eminence Grise associated with Oxford, Hoover Institution and Kiev pushes EU into the Ukraine sacrificial fire:
I noticed Ash has a Polish connection. Timothy Garton Ash
Another unreliable journalist in this regard, who's on the warpath: Anne Applebaum holds Polish citizenship. Her husband is the foreign minister of Poland.
Timothy Snyder. He also has the Stanford and Oxford connections. He's a student of Timothy Ash. Snyder's wife, Marci Shore, who has a teaching position at Yale, wrote an "award winning" book, Caviar and Ashes: A Warsaw Generation's Life and Death in Marxism, 1918-1968. The foregoing are the voices of UK/Polish Russia hating war propaganda. They're leaving the US, "because Trump."
Getting wrapped up in the old and bitter grievances of Eastern European history is an Anglo inspired trap for the unwary. Manipulating German-Polish-Russian politics was the immediate trigger for WWII. imo.
Germany Is Rethinking Everything Nuclear
Thanks for the OT, EL!
語必忠信 行必正直
Good morning Soryang. Thanks for the videos.
Germany is indeed at it again, but this time it is being pushed and encouraged by most if not all of Europe. "... When will they ever learn, or when will they ever learn?..." For grins one can use google maps, or similar, to plot a walking trip from Lake Peipus to Borodino Village. to Kursk to Poltava Toss in Odessa after Poltava and a most interesting picture arises, especially if you omit Borodino.
be well and have a good one
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
Memories……
Thanks for the music this morning. Lot of great tunes!
When I was still teaching, I did expose my students to the HUAC. I did have a recording of the trials of the “supposed” unAmericans and we did have a lively discussion in class about what should be considered free speech and what should be restricted.
I was also honored to have John Henry Faulk come and speak to my students about being blacklisted by the HUAC. One of the crimes he had committed was attending a United Nations party for the former Soviet Union which of course was Communist! Horrors. I don’t think the students really understood how dangerous those times were to the people being accused. My Social Studies supervisor was teaching at the time and students were told to tell their parents if any of their teachers said anything against the government. Not a good time to be teaching history!
Have a wonderful day!
Life is what you make it, so make it something worthwhile.
This ain't no dress rehearsal!
Once they slipped into the *inform the state*
.
to rat-out their freaking parents
something was warped into the weave
to cause the demise of the social fabric.
Glad you survived those times.
Zionism is a social disease
Good morning JB. That was a good and brave thing to do
and a really great teaching method. Hope that the students got it and that it stayed with them. Ratting people out was a big part of what the HUAC was trying to push, which, when done bo "totalitarian" states was proof that they were pure evil. Heh.
be well and have a good one
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
Government required us to watch this film, “Operation Abolition“
back when I was in intermediate school in Honolulu.
https://archive.org/details/HUAC-Operation-Abolition-Film
How does this stack up compared with “January 6”? Would the San Francisco police have been justified in killing someone, as Ashli Babbitt was shot?
Afraid of getting in trouble if they said the wrong thing, none of the teachers provided any comment or explanation, so all of us kids were totally mystified. What the hell was the whole thing about? What were we supposed to conclude, having watched it?
Well, not quite all us kids — my friend Geraldine* probably knew what was up, being Canadian-born and her dad being a peacenik British socialist and all.
* I missed her after her whole family moved to Australia. It seems in those days a British subject’s citizenship rights including freedom of movement held throughout the whole empire, which in those days for some legal purposes was still regarded as one huge world-spanning country.
Now a link to some contemporary British communists — what’s with the Buddhist terminology, I wonder? Tankies with thangkas?
https://thesanghakommune.org
Good morning Lotl.
Fear was the order of the day, very american as it were.
Officials and leaders, governmental and social all had many things they wished you to fear, mostly variations of "the other", and their actions and behavior made observant folks fear them most of all. It was also, as I recall, a resurgence of the push to fear or distrust "intellectuals", those ivory tower thinkers and dreamers. I remember all the attacks on Adlai Stevenson basically for being intelligent and educated - madness that has largely stuck with us.
be well and have a good one
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
I was just thinking about HUAC
as I was watching Fox News push the idea that anti-genocide demonstrations are acts of Anti-Semitism AND terrorism.
New nouns to refer to wrongthink.
I cried when I wrote this song. Sue me if I play too long.
Good morning fire. I've been thinking about them since
all the censorship surrounding all things Covid, but very much lately with this latest over the top madness of totally redefining language so as to be able to rhetorically support outre' actions and reactions to criticisms of select sacred cows. I know exactly what you mean. Thousands of self-righteous Joe McCarthys running around (though he was Senate, a separate but equally disturbing pile of shit.)
be well and have a good one
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
Good afternoon, el!
Memorial Day always pisses me off. We are remembering and honoring the wrong things about the valiant dead.
We didn't really grasp the horrors of HUAC, or else we wouldn't be doing the same damn thing with antisemitism.
Oh, well, maybe I just feel guilty for having a day off work while the dead soldiers got their lives off, as it were.
It is raining today, plans for grilling a steak got scrapped. Plan B meal involves me staying our of Dear One's way while he does the cooking. Cool!
Interesting read, lovely music in this OT, dear friend.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
Good morning otc. Each year gets harder and harder.
Where I live I still see a goodly number of assorted "Got Freedom? Thank a Veteran" stickers of various types. I find these aggravatingly self-righteous and presumptuous. The last I looked, there were fewer than 70,000 WW II vets estimated to be alive. They are the last ones who arguably had anything to do with our freedom(s). Some of the rest were forced intop the service and some were conned, and I feel sorry for them, but thanking them for my freedom is a bit over the top. Viet Nam, Iraq, Kossovo and all the rest had no intention whatsoever of invading or attacking us and we the people benefitted not one whit from the US wars on them.
be well and have a good one
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
Yeah, I feel the same way
and choke trying to say "thank you for your service".
They didn't make a sacrifice. They were sacrificed by the oligarchs.
The last 'good war" is WWII, but we don't always get it into proper perspective. Oligarchs supported the Nazis that our farm boys had to fight. The real winners here were the MIC. And now, they are making bank off the Nazis in Ukraine.
If we get into the fray in Ukraine, which the video below suggests is a real possibility, we have no farm boys anymore. What poor class guys will be sacrificed? Fast food workers?
The doe has come to graze and might be thinking about jumping the fence and crossing a road. Hope she looks both ways!
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
According to the MSM there is little or no difference between
the two developments.
Good afternoon humphry. That pretty much tells
you all that you need to know about the MSM.
be well and have a good one
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
Is the MSM discussing
Bridgette smacking Macron? X is having too much fun!
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
Yep. LOL
I love this:
"It was a moment of closeness."
Such moment in Texas often results in going to jail, but the French have their eccentricities.
The ass holes can keep that one. One culture calls it closeness, another calls it the start of a bar room brawl.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
I think there is
My local rag posted the story about Russia killing 12 people, but it didn’t post the story about Israel killing 33 people in Gaza. That’s on top of the nearly 100 people being killed in just the last few days.
At the beginning of this video it shows the massive bombings in Ukraine. We have seen the massive bombings Israel has done where hundreds have been killed with each bomb dropped. And then there was our shock and awe when we killed who knows how many people in Iraq?
Effing hypocrites!
The message echoes from Gaza back to the US. “Starving people is fine.”