Sir Humphrey Appleby:I strongly advise you not to ask a direct question.
James Hacker: Why?
Sir Humphrey Appleby: It might provoke a direct answer.
Yes Minister: The Moral Dimension 1982
Were the sacrifices of World War 2 worth it?
My father who served in the pacific braving Kamikazes & Subs to keep capital ships & carriers supplied died would have turned 104 last week on Halloween but died just after I was engaged but before I was married at the age of 65 so while I have an opinion of what he might think of this subject I can’t state it as fact.
However Alec Penstone who served in the Royal Navy is still with us at the age of 100. As soon as he was of age he left his factory job for the Royal Navy braving U-Boats and Air attacks to protect Great Britain from actual Nazis (as opposed to the phony Antifa cosplayers of today) and saw many of his friends lose their lives doing so.
Thus is was an awful shock to the British TV show when on Good Morning Britain he was asked what Remembrance Day (Veterans day for us) means to him and he answered thus:
However the moving segment took a turn when Kate asked him what Remembrance Sunday means to him. He said he felt that winning the war was “not worth” how the country had turned out today. “My message is, I can see in my mind’s eye those rows and rows of white stones and all the hundreds of my friends who gave their lives, for what? The country of today?” he said sadly.
“No, I’m sorry – but the sacrifice wasn’t worth the result of what it is now. What we fought for was our freedom, but now it’s a darn sight worse than when I fought for it.”
It’s one thing for a blogger like myself online or even a Tommy Robinson during a protest to say that The Few, the term used to describe the pilots in the battle of Britain who defeated the German Luftwaffe, would be ashamed of what the Brits have done with the freedom they bought for them. It’s very easy for the powers that be to dismiss us.
It’s quite another thing for a man who fought and saw his friends die enduring all the Nazi Kriegsmarine could throw at him saying so on live television to an entire nation.
Here is the full interview:
What was really interesting however was his response when one of the hosts Aldi Ray followed up with a question concerning what he had just said:
“What do you mean by that, though?” the GMB host probed, prompting the WWII veteran to reply: “What we fought for, and what we fought for was our freedom.
“We find that even now it’s downright worse than when I fought for it.”
Ms Garraway intervened to bring the discussion to a close before Mr Penstone could face any further questions from Mr Ray. “Oh, Alec, I’m sorry you feel like that,” she said.
Ray is ironically getting hit for asking that follow up question because even those who have been so determined to Bring down the Britain that Mr. Penstone fought for dare not publicly attack him for giving that honest answer. As the Irish Sun put it:
It was a heartbreaking admission from a war hero and a damning indictment on the state of Britain today.
'What we fought for was our freedom, even now [the country] is worse than it was when I fought for it,' says 100-year-old World War II Veteran Alec Penstone. pic.twitter.com/M9HSsS5sIW
Alec Penstone may not realize it but he just preformed one last great duty for his country speaking the truth outloud for the entire country to hear. Giving one final warning concerning the path that those he fought to protect have taken.
How the nation reacts to that warning will determine if Britain falls.
“First we must cross the river,” Benito was saying. “Do you believe me now when I tell you that you must not attempt to swim it, or even get wet from it, or must you try that too?”
“What happens if I just dive in?”
“Then you will be as you were in the bottle. Aware and unable to move. but it will be very cold, and very uncomfortable, and you will be there for all eternity knowing that you put yourself there.”
Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle Inferno 1976
Looking at the results of last nights elections in VA & NJ and particularly NYC two truths are apparent.
“Republicans can’t be surprised that they aren’t winning races in places that they are also leaving in droves.”
Before I list the 2nd and more important quote you need some background:
The quote comes from the SABR site, a baseball analytics group which reprinted a piece about first baseman Hal Chase by Jacob Pomrenke about Hal Chase, a first baseman who played from 1905 to 1919.
Chase was universally considered the best defensive first baseman anyone to that time had ever seen. Both Babe Ruth and Walter Johnson named him the best first baseman of all time.
But Chase was also known from the very start of his career as a man who fixed games. For years in every city where he played allegations had been out there that he threw games or arranged them to be thrown. Allegations that he loudly denied. Then in 1916 he joined the Cincinnati Reds managed by Christy Matterson the great pitcher considered one of the gentleman of baseball. A man so honest that umpires would consult him on close calls. Matterson suspended Chase for trying to bribe players to fix games, as Pomrenke noted:
The suspension by Mathewson was the first time any baseball official had seriously punished Chase for his transgressions. As usual, it didn’t stick. NL president John Heydler reluctantly exonerated Chase after Mathewson joined the military and could not testify against Chase while serving overseas.
Chase would go on to have a part in the fixing of the 1919 World Series. When He heard about this Mathewson said the quote I find relevant to this election:
“Damn them, [baseball officials] deserve it. They whitewashed two players after I caught them with the goods.”
The swearing was VERY out of character for Christy Mathewson but he was pissed.
And that brings us to the night after the 2025 elections in California, Virginia, New Jersey and New York:
Just 11 months ago, LA had the most rainfall in the past 25 years, and several extra feet of snowpack in the Sierras. Since CA is too busy destroying dams to build new reservoirs, the majority of that precipitation drained into the ocean. Newsom's Democrats own this. https://t.co/yxIYaNcE0x
In New Jersey the Democrat running for Governor was involved in a scandal concerning her time at the Navel Academy. It didn’t matter, the state that Trump lost by only 5 points elected her by 13 points.
In Virginia not only did Abagail (duck and run) Springer win by double digits but the man made famous for wanting GOP kids dead won by over six points.
But the real thing is New York City:
You have a open socialist, an open communist, an open antisemite. A person whose opinion on all these things have been well documents and are even available in his own words online for years. A rich kid who never did or ran anything in his life and he not only won the election in NYC but he took over 50% of the vote in a three way race.
What’s the bottom line? Just this: In all of these elections particularly in NYC people in their respective states KNEW who and what these people were and what they supported and STILL not only voted for them, but voted for them overwhelmingly winning margins, with apologies to Sarah Hoyt, well beyond the margin of fraud.
Now it’s very possible that this might hurt the Democrats nationally in states where people have not gone insane as Scott Jennings notes:
NEW: CNN's Scott Jennings fires back after CNN panel starts laughing at him after he claimed Zohran Mamdani was the new leader of the Democratic Party.
Jennings: Mamdani is an avowed socialist… He's now the leader of the Democratic Party.
I think we’re at the point where we have to stop pretending that Democrat voters don’t understand what Communism is, or antisemitism is or violence is or corruption is. I think we have to stop pretending that they are being decieved.
This is what the Democrat/left is. This is what they believe in and what they support this is the government that they want and by golly they’re going to get the government they deserve.
The only question left in my mind is will they be surprised when they get it?
And if you read this page you’ll know that for the next eight days there are special plenary indulgences available:
Visiting a cemetery and praying for the dead always carries a partial indulgence but carries a Plenary Indulgence if done from today Nov 1st through Nov 8th
Furthermore there is a Plenary Indulgence for visiting ANY church on all souls day (Nov 2)
And to top that off, because of the jubilee year you can earn TWO plenary indulgences a day rather than the normal 1
So you are in a position to earn a plenary indulgence for a loved one AND for yourself every single day this week through next Saturday.
And remember a plenary indulgence removes ALL temporal punishment for sins already forgiven so if applied to a soul in purgatory it finishes the job and gets them to heaven and if applied to yourself removes (from that point) any time due in Purgatory for sins already confessed and forgiven.
Remember God’s mercy keeps you from Hell (That’s being saved) God’s justice requires restitution for your sins and purification from the effects of those sins as something imperfect can’t enter heaven (Thus Purgatory) or as Christ himself put it:
If you are to go with your opponent before a magistrate, make an effort to settle the matter on the way; otherwise your opponent will turn you over to the judge, and the judge hand you over to the constable, and the constable throw you into prison.
I say to you, you will not be released until you have paid the last penny.”
Posted: October 31, 2025 by datechguy in Uncategorized
If I was EWTN I’d market displays and inflatables of the Saints for lawn display so a Catholic like me can decorate his house at Halloween and when people ask I can remind them that All Hallows Eve is about it being the Eve of All Saints Day celebrating those in heaven & love of God.
Now THAT would be a radical display
Today Halloween would have been my father’s 104th birthday. He didn’t live to see his 66th birthday nor my wedding (although he rather unexpectedly turned up at the rehearsal the night before which is a story I’ll tell another time). He had managed a single social security check before dying and had bought my mother a car that he didn’t live to drive in once. She kept that car running till her death 25 years later.
It’s very hard to be the son of a great man. My father was a great man who you likely never heard of. He was the living example of Christ’s charge to not let your right hand know what your left hand is doing when doing good.
I’ll likely outlive him in years but never in honor or goodness, although my sons are well on their way to being his equal and have easily surpassed me both in honor & goodness.
That’s a great comfort.
I was listening to the Screwtape letters at work yesterday and noted Screwtape’s dream of the materialist magician who believes in “forces” and “demons” but not in God.
Looking at his words from 84 years ago and society today all I can say is: Boy did Lewis call it or what?
The most amazing thing about the modern left is their total obsession with Donald Trump.
While I understand that there are a fair amount of people who make a living off of this the sheer number of folks who carry an obsessive hatred of a man who they will never meet and has at best a tangential effect on their lives is astounding. One would think that they would consider actually living their own lives.
Its hard to imagine a life that empty and devoid of purpose but then again I find it hard to imagine parents spaying their children to gain social status so what do I know.
Finally watching the left unable to sell the media on the idea that they are not responsible for the government shutdown & media members calling them out of it brings me to mind on of my favorite movements from Matt Smith’s excellent run as Doctor who:
Young Kazran Sardic: Are you really a babysitter? 11th Doctor:I think you’ll find I’m universally recognized as a mature and responsible adult. (He shows Kazran the psychic paper which makes people see what he wants) Young Kazran Sardic: It’s just a lot of wavy lines. 11th Doctor: (looks at the paper) Yeah, it’s shorted out. Finally, a lie too big.
Doctor Who: A Christmas Carrol 2010
There are a fair amount of Trump haters who still buy this line but nobody outside of the bubble does and the bubble has been getting smaller and smaller.
Da Techguy's (no longer backup) Blog 