Well behaved women, chapter 18

Once again we are back after a brief hiatus due to varied difficulties last weekend.  Seeing as how we’re a long ways into this project and I have had some new readers lately (hi guys), I thought it might be useful to pause for a moment before delving into this week’s post and revisit what the purpose of this series is.  I’m sure we have all seen or heard this ridiculous bumper-sticker expression “Well behaved women seldom make history,” implying that women who do things they’re not supposed to DO make history and that in itself is a good thing that women ought to be doing.  Not only is it ignorant of the fact that “making history” is, more often than not, a very bad thing (Hitler, for example, made history), but it’s flat-out untrue.  This series is dedicated to giving examples of women in history who were not held back by “the patriarchy” and accomplished some incredible things just like men did, by behaving well and working to better their world rather than knitting dumb pink hats and throwing feces and trying to invoke the devil against their opponents.  It is also dedicated to showing that women who did NOT behave well quite frequently made history that history would rather forget.

This week we’re on to an example out of the latter category, and since the whole “Russians hacked the election and own Trump” thing has been rumbling about the news again lately, I think it’s a good week to discuss an actual Russian collaborator and spy: Ethel Rosenberg.

Ethel, together with her husband Julius, were starry-eyed young Communists in an era when people already ought to have damned well known better.  Julius worked for the United States military for several years during World War II and as an NKVD (predecessor to the KGB) agent for most of that time.  Working together, these two slimeballs transmitted thousands of classified documents and schematics to the Soviet Union and worked to recruit people in sensitive areas as sympathizers if not outright agents themselves.  One area of focus was, obviously, the Manhattan project, although that was hardly the only weapons or hardware information the Rosenbergs gave to the Soviets.  After the conclusion of World War II, American nuclear scientists estimated the amount of time it would take for Stalin’s Soviet Union to produce their own atomic weapons, and when they did it in a much shorter period of time, it became clear that someone on the inside had given them our research.

Let’s be damned clear about a few things here.  One, we are talking about people who gave our mortal enemies nuclear weapons.  This is treason of the highest degree and led directly to the Cold War, multiple proxy wars, and very nearly resulted in untold devastation (which was the admitted goal of Castro during the Cuban Missile Crisis), nevermind the prolonged enslavement of half of Europe.  These monsters were giving these weapons to a country that was aiming them right back at us.  And two, we’ve learned a lot about the Soviet Union since the Cold War ended, including that their technology was laughably backward.  Without stealing our secrets, not only would it have taken much longer for the Soviets to catch up in the atomic race, but it’s questionable whether it would have ever happened at all.  The Cold War ended and the Iron Curtain fell because the Soviets couldn’t keep up with SDI (“Star Wars”), and without traitors like these two, it could have happened in the ’50s or ’60s at the latest.  Vietnam didn’t have to happen.  This is all on them.

But hey, can’t make a Bolshevik omelet without breaking a few million eggs, right?  Along with many co-conspirators, Julius and Ethel were found, tried, and convicted of espionage, and they themselves were sentenced to death and executed.  The sentencing judge placed the blame for every death in the Korean War on their heads–and rightly so.  Millions more belong there.

In the years since there have been efforts to claim the Rosenbergs, Ethel in particular, were framed, or not as guilty as first thought, or some other method to try to exonerate them.  The facts, however, say otherwise.  Nikita Khrushchev’s own memoirs reveal that Stalin credited the Rosenbergs with tremendous help towards development of their atomic bomb, and the Venona reports prove that Ethel was not merely present and aware but was an active participant and partner in Julius’ horrific crimes and was instrumental in recruiting a member of the Manhattan Project itself to provide them with information.  He happened to be Ethel’s brother.  Some bombastic Soviet apologist has claimed that they got “nothing” from the Rosenbergs, which is less than credible, and other apologists have claimed Ethel’s notes contained “little of value” about the atomic bomb–who cares what her notes said?  No one said she was the one generating the research for pity’s sake!  The facts are crystal clear despite what Communists and their pals have tried to claim since the trial, and these sick bastards’ utter lack of self-awareness or any form of decency is reflected in the words of the Rosenbergs’ lawyer at their funeral, where he proclaimed them “sweet” and “intelligent” and declared what they did was an act of “courage and heroism.”

This is the Communist mindset.  Condemn millions to death or slavery or decades of fear, force us to waste untold billions of dollars because you gave a mean drunk a loaded weapon with armageddon in the chamber, but because it’s in the name of “equality” and Marxism and destroying capitalism (the real engine of human progress) it’s “brave and heroic.”  No.  Ethel and Julius deserved to die, her every bit as much as him.  She made history all right.  Countless millions have suffered as a result.  We’re still feeling it today.  They’re signed up for the executive suite in hell.

The next time someone has a canary about “Russian influence” on the election, ask them what they think of the Rosenbergs.  Just going to leave that there.

Tune in next week for a brighter example.  That ain’t sayin’ much at this point I know.