Patriot Realm

I have been to England and France many times always accompanied by my wife.

We have visited all the famous places in England and played Monopoly in real life terms in London.

When I come across something of interest I like to ponder it in detail.

This usually ends up with a tug on the sleeve and a word in my ear telling me “Come on. You have seen enough of that. I want to look at the shops.”

A while ago, we published an article about Steampunk. It amazes me that since then, many comments on our blog come back to steam power. I suppose it is because steam power played a crucial role in the Industrial Revolution, transforming societies and powering the advancement of technology. My late Uncle was a great fan of steam power and often held court expounding its virtues. 

It marked a significant shift from human and animal labour to mechanisation, revolutionising transportation, manufacturing, and agriculture. People are fascinated by steam power because it represents a pivotal moment in human history, symbolising progress, innovation, and the birth of modernity.

A far cry from today, when we are increasingly told to turn the clock back and return to the dark ages. For dark ages they will be if we don't pull our fingers out and stop with the woke wankery invading our world today. 

Anyway, back to the purpose of this article. Why are we so fascinated with steam power? 

These days, we hear an awful lot about polls. Polls about The Voice, Trans Gender, Abortion, Ukraine. In fact, polls are conducted on all contentious subjects. It is amazing to think that so many people when polled, respond with the third option of "I don't know. " 

I wonder. Is it because they don't know? Or is it because they are too scared to admit their true feelings? Who, these days, is brave ( or foolish ) enough to get off the fence and choose a side? 

Charles de Gaulle and Marshal Philippe Pétain represent contrasting figures in French history during World War II. De Gaulle symbolised resistance, French sovereignty, and national pride, while Pétain's collaboration with the Nazis and authoritarian rule greatly overshadowed his earlier reputation as a World War I hero.

Today, de Gaulle is celebrated as a hero; Petain, a traitor. 

So who was this man who fell from grace so spectacularly? Was he a villain or was he simply a man who had never really changed at all? Was it simply his reaction to the world in which he found himself?

I'm pretty sure I’m not the only one who has wondered why the US Deep State could not come up with a more convincing puppet than Joe Biden.

As one friend asked, “You mean with all the well-credentialed amoral people available in the Democratic Party, this is the best they could do? And to top it off they put the babbling idiot named Kamala Harris in office to serve as his backup?”

It is indeed a rather remarkable thing to behold.

But the more I think about it, I suspect we might be asking the wrong questions.

Those who are not familiar with this title may be excused for thinking that it is the name of a circus troupe. After all, in WW1 the Red Baron’s squadron was popularly referred to as The Flying Circus so such an assumption is reasonable.

Those who are familiar with it will know that it was a name given to a group of American airmen fighting with the Chinese forces against the Japanese during and before WW2.

In Australia most knowledge of this group is pretty thin and the full impact of their efforts on the outcome of the Pacific war is largely unknown. Their persistence in the face of impossible odds had a significant impact on the Pacific war in that they kept China fighting and by that means tied up somewhere between 500,000 and 750,000 Japanese troops that would have been otherwise available to fight the allies elsewhere.