Of all the things that happened on July 28th in past years — “Animal House” hitting the theaters in the U.S. (1978), Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy being born (1929), a dreadful earthquake in China (1976), Austria-Hungary declaring war on Serbia (1914), and Hillary Clinton accepting the Democratic nomination for president (2016) — two jumped out at me as being of particular interest this year:

The 14th Amendment to the Constitution Is Adopted (1868). For those who have been asleep for the last couple of years, or simply have their heads stuck in the sand (or elsewhere), let me remind you that the 14th Amendment grants citizenship to all persons born or naturalized in the United States.

Need I say more?

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And next, to borrow the actual headline from my source: “Stalin issues Order No. 227 — outlawing cowards.”

That is not as funny as it sounds. On July 28, 1942 — in the midst of World War II, with both Leningrad and Stalingrad under siege by Hitler’s forces — Premier of the Soviet Union Joseph Stalin issued what became known as the “Not one step backward” order, which declared:

“Panic makers and cowards must be liquidated on the spot. Not one step backward without orders from higher headquarters! Commanders . . . who abandon a position without an order from higher headquarters are traitors to the Motherland.” [“This Day In History,” History.com, July 28, 2026.]

No one thought for a moment that Stalin was joking. It took six months to defend Stalingrad, and 872 days and a million deaths in the hell that was Leningrad, but the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union was ultimately repulsed.

Lest anyone try to compare those events with Vladimir Putin’s current war against Ukraine, I would remind you that Stalin’s armies were defending their nation against Nazi Germany, and were thus motivated by genuine patriotism and love of country.

The poorly-trained soldiers being sent into Ukraine as cannon fodder in support of Putin’s offensive (in every sense of the word) war of attrition have no such incentive. But the same threat — though perhaps not set out in an official order — hangs over them.

Some things never seem to change.

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
7/28/26