(1944: history from parallel universe) Entertainers to travel U.S. to defeat president Roosevelt

The Book of Parallel Universe | orig. Aug. 1944 | dfu

[The_Macallan]

Nice.

[weegee]

How could we possibly partner up with Joseph Stalin? He is a brutal dictator murdering millions of his own people. < /sarcasm >

[weegee]

Roosevelt Knew!

[doug from upland]

The world of foreign affairs and national interest is very fluid. Yes, it is almost unimaginable that we would ever be pals with Joe Stalin. But, at the time, it was necessary.

[weegee]

Michael Moore is a modern day Lord Haw Haw or Axis Sally. I'd like to see him meet the same court mandated end.

[eleni121]

And yet...there were Hollyweirdos who defended Stalin and did until his death...similar to the dunderheads of today.

[Publius]

Doug, let me tell you why this never would have happened in those days.

When you have a constitutional declaration of war in effect rather than a "congressional resolution authorizing the use of force", the rules change. "In time of war, the laws are silent," goes the expression.

In wartime, all news is propaganda. Take a look at any World War II newsreel to see what that looks and sounds like. No matter how bad the news from the front, you had Ed Herlihy and Lowell Thomas explaining how our latest setback was merely a bump in the road on "our way to total victory."

In wartime, the people are fully mobilized. Gasoline is rationed, people plant victory gardens, and the public service radio announcement begins, "Ladies, bring your fat cans down to the corner butcher." (Referring to cans of rended fat, not oversize buttocks.) Everybody contributes. The Boy Scouts scavenge metal and rubber "for the war plants." People are encouraged to buy war bonds because, "It's bonds or bondage!" (The use of that motto in San Francisco today would cause mass hysteria.)

In wartime, all news is censored. Reporters censor themselves, editors censor reporters, and publishers censor editors. If a publisher publishes something that undermines the war effort, the local FBI field office head pays the publisher a visit. If a broadcast outlet does the same thing, the chairman of the FCC makes a call explaining how licenses are lost.

In wartime, people take matters into their own hands. After Pearl Harbor, you never saw demonstrators from the German-American Bund take to the streets to protest "the fratricidal war against poor, peace-loving Germany". Had such a thing happened, an angry crowd would have lynched the demonstrators before the police could have arrested them for sedition.

Let's put some things in perspective. Had there been a constitutional declaration of war in effect today:

• The demonstrators in Oakland who blocked stevedores from loading a naval ammunition ship would have been greeted by real bullets instead of rubber bullets. The survivors would have been arrested for treason.
• People who put "No Iraq War" signs in their house windows would have been burned out by their neighbors. Those who weren't burned out would have had their houses confiscated under the asset forfeiture laws, and the owners would have been arrested for sedition.
• People who put "No Iraq War" signs in their car windows would have been forced off the road by irate drivers. Police would have pulled them over. Their cars would have been confiscated and the drivers charged with sedition.
• Establishment Media outlets who issued news coverage slanted against the war would have found military officers replacing their editors. The networks would have had the licenses of their owned-and-operated TV stations revoked.
• Congressman Jim McDermott would have been expelled by the House and arrested for sedition.
• Local socialist headquarters, like Seattle's Freeway Hall, would have been burned out by their neighbors if they put up posters critical of the war. Police would have stood by, watched -- and then arrested the people staffing the building! American nationals would have been charged with sedition, and foreign nationals would have been interned.
• Mosques would have been closed down by federal authorities, and Muslims would have been interned in concentration camps. (Because our homegrown Nation of Islam is a firm believer in the 2nd Amendment, the interning of American Black Muslims would have led to an urban civil war.)
• Internet sites like Free Republic and Democratic Underground would have been shut down or staffed with military censors. People with the wrong outlook would be interrogated by Homeland Security.

This just scratches the surface of what governments can and often do during an officially declared war. But in the absence of such a constitutional declaration, the (lack of) rules we have today are what you have to live with.

Damn shame.

[Luis Gonzalez]

Roosevelt says that it's Bush's fault.

Prescott Bush that is.

[finnman69]

Brilliant

[doug from upland]

Good points. It is a shame that the political left does not realize how serious this war is. Hundreds of millions of Islamists want our civilization to end and would kill Barbra Streisand just as soon as they would kill anyone on this forum.

[SandRat]

Your last bullet would be partially correct. Yes the DU would be shut down tight and quick but not FR.

JimRob might get an assigned War Office Censorship Officer Staff but FR would most likely remain up.

[Enterprise]

Clever and entertaining. Good Post.

[swilhelm73]

Good one.

Of course, the hard left *was* opposed to American and British resistance to Hitler in WWII...until Jun 22, 1941

[Bogey78O]

Stalin's an Atheist. America is too religious to deal with him.

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

Interesting parody, but Glenn Miller's name should NOT be included in the group above:

In 1942, at the peak of his civilian career, Glenn Miller decided he could better serve those in uniform by putting one on himself. By doing this, the band gave up a $20,000 weekly income. Too old to be drafted at age 38, Glenn first volunteered for the Navy but was told that they didn’t need his services. Not giving up, Glenn wrote to the Army’s Brigadier General Charles Young on August 12, 1942. Miller persuaded the Army to accept him so he could in his own words, "put a little more spring into the feet of our marching men and a little more joy into their hearts and to be placed in charge of a modernized army band." After being accepted in the Army, Glenn’s civilian band played their last concert in Passaic, New Jersey on September 27th, 1942. It was such a sad event that the band couldn’t finish playing the closing theme song, Moonlight Serenade.

On December 15, 1944, Glenn boarded a single engine C-64 Norseman aircraft to travel to Paris, France where he was to make arrangements for a Christmas broadcast. Tragically, the plane never reached France and was never found.

[doug from upland]

Interesting parody, but Glenn Miller's name should NOT be included in the group above:
==========================================

I would suspect that perhaps none of their names would be there. Those were the days when even Hollywood supported their country while we were at war.

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

I would suspect that perhaps none of their names would be there.

Very true. But Glenn Miller's name literally jumped off the "page" at me.

[doug from upland]

Modern traitors --- CLICK.

[omniscient]

I propose internment camps for seditious scum like Springsteen, the Dixie Chicks, Raitt, Browne, etc. Particularly infectious vermin like Moore and Maher need a good stretch of solitary confinement. Let them work out their issues in the Cooler, with minimum rations.

Sorry, just fantasizing again.