Fun (definitely not at the time but now fascinating from a historical perspective) fact: Hawaii was a sovereign nation until “annexed” by the US in 1893 via an illegal invasion of U.S. Marines (hoo-ah!) that deposed the queen \/ overthrew the government. Something about sugar. And money. Lots of money. And strategic defense. Something<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Another fun (definitely<\/em> not really) fact: Around 50 years later, early on the morning of Sunday, December 7, 1941, the Imperial Japanese Army attacked the U.S. military base at Pearl Harbor on Oahu. A smidge fewer than 2500 people died during the attack, with 1,177 dying on the USS Arizona. That\u2019s \u2026 a lot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Facts not fun even in retrospect:\u00a0 On Monday August 6, 1945, and again on Thursday, August 9, 1945, the US dropped atomic bombs \u2013 affectionately called \u201cLittle Boy\u201d and \u201cFat Man\u201d \u2013 on Japanese cities Hiroshima and Nagasaki.\u00a0 Estimated body count?\u00a0 Somewhere around total 150,000 in the initial blast. Increased radiation levels worldwide make it impossible to determine how much cancer was caused by America\u2019s retributive show of force (mur-CAH \/ truckyeh!) \u00a0‘cuz Cesium 137 didn’t exist on our planet until then (can detect art\/wine fakes by radiation levels that shouldn’t be) so that\u2019s there<\/p>\n\n\n\n Welp, the Lord did say something about vengeance, about how that was His {Romans 12:19<\/em>} so maybe nuclear bombs detonated on\/near\/about earth (we only got one!) aren\u2019t the best idea. Just sayin\u2019 \u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n Rumor Has It: FDR knew about the impending attack; specifically, he ordered the Red Cross to bring additional workers and medical supplies to Hawaii back in November 1941. Apparently, at the time WWII was raging in Europe and Hitler was doing all his Hitler stuff, most of the US wanted to mind its collective business, let Hitler do Hitler \u2026 over there \u2026 and really was not interested in getting involved in a global conflict happening \u2026 over there. Supposedly, FDR\/US was already strangling Japan\u2019s trade routes via embargos & such \u2013 trying to shut down Japan\u2019s OMG invasion of China \u2013 so there was some<\/em> indication that the Emperor might be a bit testy towards Uncle Sam but no one actually thought Japan would attack the US. So, yah, FDR knew, \u2026 aaand<\/em> he kinda didn\u2019t, so it\u2019s really nice that it doesn\u2019t matter moving on<\/p>\n\n\n\n Another (absolute) fact: About 60 years later, another attack on American soil killed another almost roughly 3000 people, and there was some indication that the Gub\u2019mnt had forewarning about that, too. Something about buncha tourists paying to learn to fly planes but wholly disinterested in learning to land. Yehuhn-huhnrite<\/p>\n\n\n\n In response, the US invaded, well, everyone \u2026 over there in the sandy places \u2026 and still not sure what the objective is\/was \u2026 Saddam-something-something \u2026 Qaddafi-something-something \u2026 but I know we got it done. Hoo-mkfn-ah <\/p>\n\n\n\n So, here we have two attacks on US soil that maybe could have perhaps been forewarned received some notice been somewhat aware but chose not. And lots of Americans died. Lots of other people, too, but they don\u2019t live here, so. <\/p>\n\n\n\n BUT! At the conclusion of those two attacks on US soil the US went pretty much wherever it wanted and did whatever wanted to do, and in both instances, a whole lotta money has been made (war is pricey!)<\/p>\n\n\n\n I guess my point is that the masters of mankind are busy-busy bees, have been for a very, very long time, and it seems like they have a base right here in the homeland \u2026 hmmm-mmm-mmm \u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n Guess the real task to become a master of oneself, and those who wish to master mankind will have one less man of this kind to master. <\/p>\n\n\n\n I like it. I like it a lot. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Fun (definitely not at the time but now fascinating from a historical perspective) fact: Hawaii was a sovereign nation until “annexed” by the US in 1893 via an illegal invasion of U.S. Marines (hoo-ah!) that deposed the queen \/ overthrew the government. Something about sugar. And money. Lots of money. And strategic defense. Something Another … <\/p>\n