The Bishop and the Butterfly: Murder, Politics, and the End of the Jazz Age

    so what happened

     

    When social distancing was recommended  six states announced they wouldn´t participate

    and I listed them here.How have they done  since then?

                           Repeated.......................

                            April 10                     20th               Today

    Nevada              2571                        3800              5695

    North Dakota       293                          600               1266

    South Dakota      528                         1140               2721

    Nebraska             635                        1600               6400

    Iowa                   1388                         3100              10111

    Arkansas            1146                         1900               3525

     

    The Times ranks states as to their growth of cases .

    Compared wth the rest of the country  Nevada has been down 

    proportionately  and Iowa has been up( because of   meat packing. 

    The other 4 were normal.

     

    Overall , deciding to downplay social distancing  seemed to

    have worked.. For them.

     

     

    Comments

    Doubling infections every 10-12 days is "working"? Sure, could be worse - and probably is due to lack of tests to know for sure.


    I think he is employing "sarcasm."

    It is a Boomer thing, you wouldn't understand.

    /sarcasm


    I'll cross that drawbridge when I come to it. #HumorDeprivedPleaseDonate

    Btw, is there an "ok greatest Gen" snappy meme comeback? Asking for a friend.


    I, too, have a friend who could use one of those.


                     Repeated.......................

                            April 10      20th        5th    Today

    Nevada              2571        3800    5695   5766

    North Dakota       293        600     1266   1371

    South Dakota      528       1140     2721   2905

    Nebraska             635       1600     6400   7190

    Iowa                 1388       3100      10111 11059

    Arkansas            1146     1900      3525    3694


    John has a reminiscence. He accompanied bombers north until   handing them over some place.

    What he most remembered was seeing the colored umbrellas on the Lido . And his mixed reactions.


    Sorry, who's John?


    Roger ´s  Normand ś                  friend.  He had the sort of opposite experience  Plane hit and wasn ´t going to make the border. He knew what he preferred but since he was the only Jew  he went on the intercom and took a vote..  They all said¨go for it and he did..


    Odd, in a time of such madness there was such sanity and personal character. Now with so much less on the line it seems we crumble.

    PS - Happy V-E Day - 75 yrs, seems like yesterday.


    My father flew in bombers out of Italy during WW2. He did not want to make it a badge of honor because of the suffering it caused.


    Yeah, my Dad had some funny/scary tasks in the Cold War as well - more the shared relief that it was all over.  Imagine cllebrations will be muted today with the pandemic, but somehow satisfying to be in Europe for this day - a pretty decent turn-in the last 75 overall. Shame the Brits didn't stick around, but they might be back.


    one way or another, that's like exactly the same attitude I got from all the WWII vets in family. It's was always like:well we did this stuff but it was nothing to crow about. Being old myself now I think about us asking them about it. And then I think: they were mostly kids, twenty-somethings, when that happened to them; they just did what they were told, what they were expected to do at the time, and thought about it all much later. Or not in some cases, just blank it out.


    I asked mine about The Right Stuff (great book, crappy movie from what I remember), and his response was pretty much "yeah, you could have made the biggest cockup in the world, but you're just sitting there going 'you dummy, look what you've gone and done'" - surprisingly little drama. This was outside of combat, but I'm sure a lot of battle stuff was same - just doing a job, and looks a lot different from outside than what the soldiers actually feel and go through. One description was how slow his response was, pissed and frustrated it was all taking so long - while those observing said they've never seen someone scramble so fast.


    on more thought after my above comment and yours.

    I said many of the WWII guys were just doing what they were told maybe thought a bit on it much later. Well, doh, many of them didn't even know how to think, they were just out of high school and didn't go to college until AFTER,  courtesy of the G.I. Bill. Many the first in their family to be taught to actually think about what they were doing in life, and to have a little bit of extra time to do so (until they produce so many more mouths to feed, without extended family to help, that is.)

    We often presume too little change has happened.

    Just with education level, there has been a incredibly recent revolution as far as "masses" are concerned. Is like all of a sudden, a college education is a birthright. This wasn't the case not so long ago.


    Sorry , instead of responding to any of your several leads  I ll return . To late 1944 in a field on the safe side of  the Swiss border.

    Where he didn´t remain long.

    Perhaps incorrectly  Norman (I corrected the name) instead of honoring the   ¨ pledge ¨ to remain in Switzerland, didn ´t . Crossed into France and rejoined the Allied forces.

    And then , years later,   spent a   certain   amount  of time playing golf with John.


    The Norman conquest looked more impressive on big screen.

    +Didn't even know Jean D'Arc played golf - turns out a terror on the back nine. "Playing thru!!!" Had the Axis on the run. Drinks on me in the clubhouse.


    You won 't be surprised I ´m sure that Norman , whom I only knew from his sisterś  occasional  party  was very low key. His story I mostly know from the  family. 

    I agree wth your comment above . What grace under pressure !And not just on his part. The other members of the crew at some points in the descent , could see the german air strips and  knew that whatever else the ultimate consequences for  him , Norman could have just gone down there. 

     Whereas the swiss border  might or might not be  achievable,  It would have enough for any one of them to have said  "Ohne mich baby , my vote is for getting this thing down ¨.

    1940 Anti semitism  wasn t confined to the Vaterland as was evidenced at the  America First ( sound familiar?) rallies almost till Pearl Harbour.

    But not on that one way flight 100 yards  into Switzerland.

     


    Yep, there they spoke Schweizerdeutsch (fortunately for Norman), a much freer & more melodic variant.
    Yo-de-lay-dee-who!