I realize the media often has to be brief in their talk about a news item but in the case of the Emancipation Proclamation they should get it right.

            When President Lincoln signed the document, he had to bribe the legislators with jobs, infrastructure, and that it did not include the Border States that were not part of the Confederacy. As the Union forces moved into the Confederate states, slaves left their homes and tried to follow the Union troops who didn’t always have supplies for them. An unknown number were killed when they couldn’t keep up or were caught stealing food from white landowners.

            The document took effect January 1, 1863. The last large body of Rebel troops surrendered on May 26, 1865. After the war was over the Union troops were moved around the former Confederate states to impose martial law. Shortly after the troops moved into Southern Texas, Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger signed an order to free the slaves.

            However, the slaves in all of the United States weren’t freed until the XIII amendment was signed on December 12, 1865 by President Andrew Johnson.

            Wouldn’t it be nice if people got their facts straight? Slaves were not legally freed until the XIII amendment freed them.

            As an amateur World War II historian I have wondered why critics and followers of Donald Trump could not see a close comparison of him and Adolph Hitler.

            The invasion of the Capital Building was much like the storming of the Reichstag by Hitler’s brown shirts in his effort to take control of the government. Granted Hitler shared control of the mob he had incited and led instead of going back to the White House to give out Medals of Freedom to his golfing friends. On the other hand, Hitler could not have watched his followers on TV while resisting sending National Guard and Police from outside D.C.

            Trump has followed the teaching of Hitler’s communication minister Goebels. His mantra was called “The Big Lie.” He said if you tell a lie often enough people will believe it. Trump has told tens of thousands lies, many over and over, until his gullible followers believed them. His most egregious one is the root of the violence in D.C., and around the country. He lost the election and the count shows many people voted for all the Republicans except him. It was enough to flip Georgia to Biden.

            During the last few weeks of the war, Hitler decided the Germans weren’t fully committed to holding off the allies in the West and the Russians in the East. Hitler ordered the destruction of what we hadn’t bombed out. This had the effect of leaving little for the next government to work with. Trump has put through a similar policy of rules dealing with the defense, environment, interior, and others making roadblocks for Biden’s effort to normalize America.

            Hitler went to jail after the Reichstag, will Trump? Unfortunately Hitler wrote Mein Kampf in jail and got became powerful.

            Each morning I watch the BBC’s World News to get a picture of what happened around the world yesterday. They devote a minute to the past major events which occurred during that week. Recently it has shown America’s space exploits, Viet Nam, Hurricanes, 1960s Race marches, and other admirable and despicable events.

            I am sure the invasion of the Capital will be one repeated year after year during the week in which January 6 falls. I hope the following week doesn’t reach the status of being a worthy news item. May nothing like the happenings of January 6 ever be repeated on BBC’s “Week in History” ever again?

Remember people who got upset when we bombed someplace in South Vietnam, Iraq, or Afghanistan? Yes, it is extremely unfortunate to all those thousands of innocent civilians killed. Those were tentatively friendly or allies.

We all remember how historically important the Allied bombing was in defeating the German forces in World War II. We seldom bombed Germany until 1944. Before that time we bombed the conquered countries of France, Netherlands, Belgium and Luxemburg. In 1944, before D-Day, we bombed French cities and towns to prevent their use by the Wehermacht in getting to the beachhead. That bombing program alone may have killed over 60,000 French men, women and children. Thousands more died from tactical bombing and artillery. We don’t think about that so we gloss over that part of history.

After the Italians surrendered and the Germans kept going we bombed Italian towns and cities killing innocent people. We didn’t care.

We leveled German cities, killing hundreds of thousands in their homes. We learned how to create a firestorm when the British and we bombed Dresden with incendiaries. The updraft from the fires suffocated people in their cellars. It sucked people off their feet and into the inferno from blocks away. That lesson was the basis for our firebombing of Japan’s cities. The deaths in some cities were greater than Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Oddly the bad guys killed a much smaller percentage of civilians by bombing than we did. When people really dig into history instead of glossing over and seeing what we want go see, it becomes almost worthless. Motivations for actions are a sign of the times. Think slavery and owners.

This is in response to Larry Pottorff’s letter on democracy. The oldest democracy today is in London. In 1649, Charles I was executed by Parliament, starting a civil war, and Cromwell formed a Republic. He was a terrible dictator and after he died Charles II became King by act of Parliament. In 1721, under George I, England became a constitutional monarchy with a “Prime Minister” making the kings figureheads. A complete democracy came with 1918’s representation of the People’s Act tripled the number of voters. A republic didn’t work for England because people like to feel they have some control over their government.

Four democracies that morphed into what Larry would call Republics are Venezuela, Germany, Italy, and Russia. Chavez, Hitler, Mussolini, and Putin were all voted into office, took control of their legislatures through violence, controlled the media through intimidation and murder, and had control over the national police and courts. All four started with a small group of supporters and convinced a vocal and, sometimes violent, super minority of loyalists.

Three used the boogeyman strategy of pointing to an ethnic groups (Hitler-subhumans) (Chavez-foreigners and rich) (Putin-foreign governments) to get control of their people. Today’s nationalists in Europe are using the Syrian refugees as their foil. All required some group to scare their supporters. All convinced their people that they and they alone know what are best for them. All used tremendous egos, a huge thirst for power, and convincing lies to gain total control.

Mr. Pettorff’s hope that my “vast knowledge of History” would support his belief that a Republic is better than a liberal Democracy is not correct. Republics are more likely to go to war, to declare martial law, and to overreach their supporters.