Showing posts with label Nevada. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Nevada. Show all posts

Monday, February 26, 2024

The 2024 Election, Part XIII. The storms of never satisfied greed edition.

 

[An elected official] should never put holding his office above keeping straight with his conscience…he should be prepared to go out of office rather than surrender on a matter of vital principle.

Theodore Roosevelt, 1911

If you could show the cabbage that I planted with my own hands to your emperor, he definitely wouldn't dare suggest that I replace the peace and happiness of this place with the storms of a never-satisfied greed.

Diocletian

February 6, 2024

Presidential Race.

Trump has been advancing towards prison, albeit slowly given the current glacial pace of American criminal justice, as he's also been advancing in the polls.

February 6, 2024

No immunity.

Of course, who really thought there was?

Unfortunately, the delay in issuing the opinion has resulted in the postponement of the trial originally scheduled for March.

Cont:

Matt Gaetz and Elise Stephanik have co-sponsored a resolution that Donald Trump did not engage in insurrection or rebellion against the United States on January 6, something that clear is an attempt to address the 14th Amendment in that insurrection may be excused under it.

Having said that, a resolution that it didn't occur will not excuse it, and this will not get through the Senate.

Trump, who has avoided debating his Republican challengers, stated on Monday:

I’d like to debate him (Biden) now because we should debate. We should debate for the good of the country,

Biden responded:

 Immediately? Well, if I were him, I’d want to debate me, too. He’s got nothing else to do,

Biden won the Nevada Primary.  In the GOP Primary, which doesn't decide anything as their caucus does (much like Wyoming in this regard) "None of the above" won, an embarrassing defeat for second place finisher Nikki Haley.

State Races

Republican (yes, I know that this is blue, we're going with the international color standards, not the moronic US ones)

Harriet Hageman.  Only Hageman has announced, and she'll win in the primary and general absent something massively bizarre happening.

No Democrats have announced.

U.S. Senate

Republican.

John Barasso.  He's the incumbent and will win.

Reid Rasner. Ranser is a challenger from the far right whose campaign will go nowhere.

No Democrats have announced.

Some information:

Candidate Filing Period ……………………………………………………………………. May 16-May 31, 2024

Minor and Provisional Party Candidate Deadline ………………………………………… August 19, 2024

Independent Candidate Deadline ……………………………………………………………….. August 26, 2024

3,891 Signatures Required for Statewide Races 

February 8, 2024

While almost nobody cares, Marianne Williamson dropped out of the Democratic race for the Oval Office.

February 9, 2024

Trump won the GOP Nevada Caucus.

Biden will not be charged for retaining classified documents, but the report that was released regarding it calls his mental status into question.

Biden probably does have some cognitive decline.  Trump, I'm guessing (without a medical license) may be showing the early signs of some species of dementia, which is why he forgets, is childish, and mean.  Two candidates in their 80s, effectively, is absurd. And to keep the grip of American power in such an aged group (McConnell and Schumer aren't youngster, nor was Pelosi), seems to be based on the assumption that nobody under 60 years of age is qualified to do anything, which is insulting really (and I'm 60).

The one thing both parties agree on is that, in spite of their pathetic performance, that no voter may ever look at a third part, and that the election is, and must be, binary. No matter what else is the case, the voters must never ever look at any choice other than the Democrats or the Republicans.  Effectively, Democrats would rather have voters look at Trump than a third party, like the American Solidarity Party The GOP holds the same, and would rather have voters look at the Democrats than a third ticket made up of something like Manchin/Cheney, or Christie/Manchin.  Pathetic.

February 10, 2024

In spite of the fact that it's well demonstrated that machines are more reliable than hand counted ballots:

Park County Citizens Push To Ditch Voting Machines In Favor Of Hand-Count Ballots

The angst that's been falsely introduced into elections has to stop. This would be unreliable, result in multiple hand counted recounts, and be slow.

February 11, 2024

Trump is attacking Biden's cognitive status, Biden is defending his, and Haley is attacking both of theirs, even using a "Grump Old Men" theme in a major way.

Trump spoke at an NRA Presidential Forum at the Great American Outdoors Show in Pennsylvania.

Biden has declined a pre Super Bowl interview for the second time in a year, something that has caused political functionary and sometimes advisor James Carville to comment that Biden's administration doesn't have enough confidence in him to allow him to do an interview.\

February 12, 2024

Trump made a comment late last week that if President, he'd cause the US to dishonor its NATO commitments and refuse to defend any country that was delinquent in its defense contributions.

This provoked a reaction from NATO's Secretary General.

He also in a rally asked where Haley's husband, who is a deployed National Guardsman, was, an odd question for a man whose "wife" is often not present.

In a Truth Social post, Trump claimed that Taylor Swift voting for him would be disloyal, in light of his actions as President having resulted in her making a lot of money.

This may all be an interesting look into a portion of Trump's mind, as it seems that money is central to it, which given his life, from birth to his now, given his age, near death, has been central to it.

Cont:

Nikki Haley's husband posted a reply to Donald Trump's childish "where's her husband" comment with the following:


February 13, 2024

Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.'s Super Bowl advertisement strongly recalling JFK's television ad made members of the Kennedy family and some members of the general public angry.

Kennedy apologized to the family.

Frankly, in an election cycle when the leading GOP candidate says something insulting, and often outright stupid, on a constant basis, this is a bit over the top.  Kennedy stands little chance, but the controversy probably aids him.

February 15, 2024

V. Putin oddly announced that he prefers Biden to Trump as he's "more predictable" but that Russia will work with anyone the US chooses.

The Kremlin is likely concerned that Putin's recent interview with Lord Haw Haw is having negative impacts in the U.S.

February 16, 2024

Donald Trump is attempting to replace Rona McDaniel, who had been a loyal laky, with Lara Trump, his daughter-in-law as Republican National Committee chair.  McDaniel is accused of suddenly showing a spine and no longer being as supportive of Trump as she once was.

McDaniel will likely step down this month.

If this all occurs, one of the interesting things is that McDaniel, a political insider, was an earlier post insurrection supporter of Trump who read the winds correctly.  If she's doing that again, it may mean that Trump's fortunes are flagging according to insiders.

If Trump does cause his daughter-in-law to become the RNC head it's likely that some remaining real Republicans will abandon ship at that point.

Cont:

Manchin bows at, but condemns both parties:

February 18, 2024

From the AP:

PHILADELPHIA -- As he closes in on the Republican presidential nomination, former President Donald Trump made a highly unusual stop Saturday, hawking new Trump-branded sneakers at “Sneaker Con,” a gathering that bills itself as the “The Greatest Sneaker Show on Earth.”

Trump was met with loud boos as well as cheers at the Philadelphia Convention Center as he introduced what he called the first official Trump footwear.

What the crud.

A thought from here:

Why isn't anyone suggesting that Tammy Duckworth replace Joe Biden on the Democratic ticket?



I worry about their safety too. These people, everyone in this room is in great danger. We have a nuclear weapon that if you hit New York, South Carolina is gone

FWIW, and Trump is receiving criticism on this, the yield of a nuclear weapon is sufficient by a long measure to destroy South Carolina from a strike in New York.  Prevailing wind patters, also, would not carry the fallout there.

Anyhow, I'm noting this here as a recent item on NPR's Politics discussed Trump's fear of nuclear war, which apparently is very pronounced. 

I don't give Trump credit for deep thought s on very much.   The Internet has allowed a lot of those in the shallow end of the pool to have voice as if they know what they're talking about, and frankly I'd include Trump in those in the shallow end of the pool.  But apparently nuclear war is one thing he actually thinks about and has opinions on, and he's afraid of it.

That doesn't really surprise me too much.

Trump came of age in in the 1960s which was at a time that the fear of nuclear war was quite pronounced.  It remained that way in the 1970s, and by the early 1980s I recall being forced to read  A Republic Of Grass. which urged that we surrender to the Soviet Union, essentially, right then and there rather than face the prospect of nuclear war, which lefties were certain Ronald Reagan was going to get us into.  I recall some on the right saying "there are worse things than death" in response to such things, which is harsh, but true.

But if your values end at yourself, maybe there aren't.

February 23, 2024

Trump's daughter-in-law who is campaigning for appointment to the RNC declared that Republican voters would likely welcome using RNC funds to support his legal battles.

I'd strongly question if this was legal, and frankly it likely opens the RNC up, in my view, to a Rico charge.

February 25, 2024

Trump took South Carolina yesterday, as he was expected to do.  Absent the intervention of an exterior force, such as the Court (unlikely), perhaps criminal conviction, a really shocking revelation, or old age mortality, he will be the GOP nominee.

NPR ran an interesting pre-election edition of its Politics podcast, in which it was revealed that many South Carolina Republican voters felt Trump was "the only person who can save the Republic". "From What" might be the logical followup.  He seems ill-suited to take on any of the really serious problems of the day, and there are many really serious problems.

What that reveals is the extent to which rank and file Republicans feel that leftward social drift is destroying the Republic, something that's been going on since at least the Civil War, if not the founding of the Republic itself.  Of interest, I read a comment by one of Trump's backers and former staffers who now works at the Heritage Foundation to the effect that governmental developments dating back to Woodrow Wilson need to be more or less fully reversed.

Woodrow Wilson, President from 1913 to 1921.

Of course, Wilson wasn't nearly as left wing as Republican daring, Theodore Roosevelt.

Interestingly, Lindsey Graham was booed by a crowed after being introduced by Trump at a victory rally.

February 26, 2024

The Kochs have ceased funding Haley.

Sen. John Thune, the GOP number two in the Senate, has fallen in line and endorsed Trump.

Authoritarian El Salvadorian President Nayib Bukele received a standing ovataion at CPAC.

Related Threads:

Lex Anteinternet: Why isn't anyone suggesting that Tammy Duckworth r...


Why isn't anyone suggesting that Tammy Duckworth replace Joe Biden on the Democratic ticket?


Last edition:

The 2024 Election, Part XII. The March To Moscow

Wednesday, March 29, 2023

Monday, March 29, 1943 Meat and fat rationing commences in the U.S.


On this day in 1943, rationing in the US of meats, fat and cheese commenced, with Americans limited to two pounds per week of meat.

Poultry was not affected by the order.

This must have been a matter of interest in my family, engaged in the meat packing industry as they then were.

Contrary to popular memory, not everything the US did during the war met with universal approval back home, and this was one such example.  Cheating and black marketing was pretty common, and there were very widespread efforts to avoid rationing.  Farmers and ranchers helped people to avoid the system by direct sales to consumers, something the government intervened to stop and only recently has seen a large-scale return.

While wholesale inclusion of a prior item in a new one is bad form, here's something we earlier ran which is a topic that needs repeating here:

Lex Anteinternet: So you're living in Wyoming (or the West in genera...So what about World War Two?

Some time ago I looked at this in the context of World War One, but what about World War Two?
Lex Anteinternet: So you're living in Wyoming (or the West in genera...: what would that have been like? Advertisement for the Remington Model 8 semi automatic rifle, introduced by Remington from the John Bro...
 Wisconsin deer camp, 1943, the year meat rationing began.

Indeed, a person's reasons to go hunting during World War Two, besides all the regular reasons (a connection with our primal, and truer, selves, being out in nature, doing something real) were perhaps stronger during the Second World War than they were in the First.  During WWII the government rationed meat.  During World War One it did not, although it sure put the social pressure on to conserve meat.

Indeed, the first appeals of any kind to conserve food in the United States came from the British in 1941, at which time the United States was not yet in the war. The British specifically appealed to Americans to conserve meat so that it could go to English fighting men.  In the spring of 1942 rationing of all sorts of things began to come in as the Federal government worried about shortages developing in various areas.  Meat and cheese was added to the ration list on March 29, 1943.  As Sarah Sundin reports on her blog:
On March 29, 1943, meats and cheeses were added to rationing. Rationed meats included beef, pork, veal, lamb, and tinned meats and fish. Poultry, eggs, fresh milk—and Spam—were not rationed. Cheese rationing started with hard cheeses, since they were more easily shipped overseas. However, on June 2, 1943, rationing was expanded to cream and cottage cheeses, and to canned evaporated and condensed milk.
So in 1943 Americans found themselves subject to rationing on meat.  As noted, poultry was exempt, so a Sunday chicken dinner was presumably not in danger, but almost every other kind of common meat was rationed.  So, a good reason to go out in the field.

But World War Two was distinctly different in all sorts of ways from World War One, so hunting by that time was also different in many ways, and it was frankly impacted by the war in different ways.

For one thing, by 1941 automobiles had become a staple of American life.  It's amazing to think of the degree to which this is true, as it happened so rapidly.  By the late 1930s almost every American family had a car.  Added to that, pickup trucks had come in between the wars in the early versions of what we have today, and they were obviously a vehicle that was highly suited to hunting, although early cars, because of the way they were configured and because they were often more utilitarian than current ones, were well suited as a rule.  What was absent were 4x4s, which we've discussed earlier.

This meant that it was much, much easier for hunters to go hunting in a fashion that was less of an expedition.  It became possible to pack up a car or pickup truck and travel early in the morning to a hunting location and be back that night, in other words.


Or at least it had been until World War Two. With the war came not only food rationing, but gasoline rationing as well.  And not only gasoline rationing, but rationing that pertained to things related to automobiles as well



Indeed, the first thing to be rationed by the United States Government during World War Two was tires.  Tires were rationed on December 11, 1941.  This was due to anticipated shortages in rubber, which was a product that had been certainly in use during World War One, but not to the extent it was during World War Two.  And tire rationing mattered.


People today are used to modern radial tires which are infinitely better, and longer lasting, than old bias ply tires were.  People who drove before the 1980s and even on into the 80s were used to constantly having flat tires.  I hear occasionally people lament the passing of bias ply tires for trucks, but I do not.  Modern tires are much better and longer lasting.  Back when we used bias ply tires it seemed like we were constantly buying tires and constantly  having flat tires.  Those tires would have been pretty similar to the tires of World War Two.  Except by all accounts tires for civilians declined remarkably in quality during the war due to material shortages.

Gasoline rationing followed, and it was so strict that all forms of automobile racing, which had carried on unabated during World War One, were banned during World War Two.  Sight seeing was also banned.  So, rather obviously, the use of automobiles was fairly curtailed during the Second World War.

So, where as cars and trucks had brought mobility to all sorts of folks between the wars in a brand new way, rationing cut back on it, including for hunters, during the war.

Which doesn't mean that you couldn't go out, but it did mean that you had to save your gasoline ration if you were going far and generally plan wisely.

Ammunition was also hard to come by during the war.

It wasn't due to rationing, but something else that was simply a common fact of life during World War Two.  Industry turned to fulfilling contracts for the war effort and stopped making things for civilians consumption.

Indeed, I've hit on this a bit before in a different fashion, that being how technology advanced considerably between the wars but that the Great Depression followed by the Second World War kept that technology, more specifically domestic technology, from getting to a lot of homes. Automobiles, in spite of the Depression, where the exception really.  While I haven't dealt with it specifically, the material demands of the Second World War were so vast that industries simply could not make things for the service and the civilian market. 

Some whole classes of products, such as automobiles, simply stopped being available for civilians.  Ammunition was like that.  With the services consuming vast quantities of small arms ammunition, ammunition for civilians became very hard to come by.  People who might expect to get by with a box of shotgun shells for a day's hunt and to often make due with half of that.  Brass cases were substituted for steel before that was common in the U.S., which was a problem for reloaders. 

So, in short, the need and desire was likely there, but getting components were more difficult. And being able to get out was as well, which impacted a person to a greater or lesser extent depending where they were.

And, as previously noted, game populations are considerably higher today than they were then.

New Zealanders entered the Tunisian city of Gabès.

Hitler rejected the recommendations of the German Army to place V-2 rockets on mobile launchers and opted instead for them to have permanent launching installations at Peenemünde.

Life issued a special issue on the USSR.

Nevada joined those states, such as Wyoming, which would no longer recognize Common Law Marriage.

Chapter 122 - Marriage

NRS 122.010 - What constitutes marriage; no common-law marriages after March 29, 1943.

1. Marriage, so far as its validity in law is concerned, is a civil contract, to which the consent of the parties capable in law of contracting is essential. Consent alone will not constitute marriage; it must be followed by solemnization as authorized and provided by this chapter.

2. The provisions of subsection 1 requiring solemnization shall not invalidate any marriage contract in effect prior to March 29, 1943, to which the consent only of the parties capable in law of contracting the contract was essential.

John Major, British Prime Minister from 1990 to 1997, was born, as was English comedian Eric Idle.

Saturday, August 31, 2019

August 31, 1919. The Motor Transport Convoy gets a day of rest, no rest in Kiev, turmoil in Chicago

Railroad station, Carson City, 1940.  It likely didn't look much different in 1919.  The man is waiting for the mail, which was moved by train at the time.

On this day in 1919, the Sunday day of rest returned to the command.


It darned near had to. The command was behind, by several days, in its original anticipated schedule, but it had taken it 20 hours across the dust and muck of the Nevada desert to travel the stretch before Carson City, and this on a road that was theoretically a designated highway, although the designation at that time was just that, a designation.  Very little of the Lincoln Highway, as we've seen, was improved in any fashion whatsoever.  There had been problems with teh road the entire way, but after the column hit Nebraska the road became worse with each mile, with Utah's and Nevada's roads being particularly bad.

Speed, of course, in the era was relative. . . .


The command was provided "Union religious services".  I have no idea what that actually means.  General ecumenical perhaps?  Non protestant soldiers with Sunday obligations, which at this time would have largely been Catholics, but perhaps some Greek Orthodox, would have had to hike into town to see what was available for them.

And there was transportation to Hot Springs for bathing, which was no doubt welcome.

And some worked, including the operator of a tractor.

Emblem of the former Socialist Party of America

Meanwhile, in Chicago, a city the convoy  had passed through some weeks earlier, day two of the Socialist Party of America's Emergency National Convention saw the bolting left wing of the party.  The English speaking bolters, on this day, formed the Communist Labor Party in its own convention.

This was addressed a bit yesterday when it was related that the emergency was the rise of a radical, or rather more radical, left wing of the party that was hearing the siren song of Communism.  In this, the US Socialist Party was going through the same struggle that Socialist parties everywhere were.  Nearly all of them had started out as hardcore radical parties, but over the years as their fortunes had risen, their positions became less radical as they moved towards accepting democratic forms of government.  Ironically, World War One, during which it had been supposed that Socialist would take the position that all worker should be united in opposing the war in favor of the solidarity of labor, in fact saw the opposite development and the movement of mainstream Socialist towards accepting representative democracy.  At the same time, all the same parties saw movements within them that were extremely radical.  As this process occurred, these parties split.  In Russia, the split saw the rise of four different Socialist parties, with the Communist Party being the most radical.  Germany saw a succession of splinter parties that eventually saw two parties, the Social Democratic Party and the Communist Party emerge.

In the U.S. the Russian Revolution gave rise to the Communist Party of America in May, 1919.  The Socialist Party continued on but radical elements within it were attracted to Communism. The Emergency National Convention was called to address this, and to put an end to it.  By that point, however, the right wing Socialist were a minority in the party.  While they seized control of the convention, they could not keep the left wing from walking out, which it did and on this day, in their own convention, the English speaking radicals formed the Communist Labor Party.  Ironically, the Emergency Session had come about due to the left wing demanding that it occur in order to move the Socialist Party towards Communism.

The Communist Labor Party was not to be long lived as it merged with the Communist Party of America the following year, which then became the Communist Party of the USA.  The Socialist Party of the USA would continue on, with various swings and splinters, until 1972 when it changed its name to the Social Democrats, USA, reflecting the evolution of the party.  Ironically, the Social Democrats have not seemed to really benefit from the current flirtation in some circles in the US with social democracy.  The Communist Party USA still exists as well, with its high water mark really having come during the 1930s.

Elsewhere, the fights brought by Communism saw dramatic events take place in Ukraine where the Whites entered the city, taking it without a fight from the Reds during the Russian Civil War but ending up fighting, slightly, forces of the Ukrainian People's Republic that entered the town simultaneously.

Russian White victory parade on this date in 1919 in Kiev.

The entire event in some ways is emblematic of the confusing nature of the Russian Civil War.

The Ukrainian People's Republic was an Ukrainian effort to create an independent government for the region following the collapse of the Russian Empire and the withdraw of the Germans from the region.  During that period various forces contested for control of the new country with a directorate emerging that had the most support. At the same time, the country found itself facing a Soviet invasion in January 1919 and it also found itself at war with Poland to its west.  To compound matters, White Russian forces contested with the Red Army for control of the region, and Ukrainian Greens sought to bring anarchy to the country, fielding an army of their own.

Under these conditions the independence of Ukraine was unlikely to occur but the region did manage to survive surprisingly long.  On this day the re emergent Whites took Kiev but the Ukrainian government sought to as well, not appreciating the ability of the Whites to move as quickly as they did.  The Whites retained control of the city.  The Ukrainian People's Republic effectively came to an end in 1921 with its territory divided between the Soviet Union and Poland, although it would amazingly maintain a government in exile up until the country was able to form its own government again following the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Friday, August 30, 2019

August 30, 1919. Fallon to Carson City, through the night, Knoxville riots, Socialist emergency.

The Motor Transport Convoy had a long day, starting at 6:30 a.m on August 30 and ending at 2:30 a.m. on August 31.  During that 20 hours they went 66 miles.  Conditions were so bad that the soldiers had to push the vehicles through some stretches of road.
Keep in mind that this was a road that was otherwise open for civilian use. . . but without the aid of soldiers to push.

The convoy was met by Nevada's Governor, reflecting the fact that the city on the far western edge of the state is the state's capital.

The Red Summer continued on when Knoxville, Tennessee, erupted into violence.  A start of the riots was the arrest of Maurice Mays, a biracial politician, for the murder of a white woman even though there was no basis to believe that he was the killer.  This resulted in a lynch mob developing that ultimately rioted.  This in turn caused black residents to arm themselves for their own protection and to seal off part of the city.  Violence later developed.

Mays was later tried and in spite of a lack of evidence, convicted.  His conviction was overturned by the Tennessee Supreme Court and he was re-tried, found guilty again,and sentenced to death.  His suspected father, the former white mayor of Knoxville, with whom he had a friendly relationship, committed suicide a few years thereafter.

In Chicago the Socialist Party convened an Emergency Session.

The Socialist Party of America was a rising political party at the time, it's boat rising with the rising tide of radical political parties everywhere.  The emergency was the invitation by Lenin for certain Socialist elements to join the Communist International which was causing a rift in the party.  The party was dominated by its "right wing", which on this day achieved control of the convention on its opening day, bringing the rift with the "left wing" to an immediate head.

The Country Gentleman came out featuring an article on "counterfeit farms".  I wish the article was available so I could learn what they were writing about.

And the movies saw the first release of Dangerous Nan McGrew, which would be re-released in the 1930s in the form of a Betty Boop cartoon.


And the Gasoline Alley gang, which seemed to be on vacation, went golfing.


Thursday, August 29, 2019

August 29, 1919. Eastgate to Fallon with the Motor Transport Convoy, dark beers in Belgium.

Motor Transport Co. 554 en route to Santa Cruz, August 29, 1919 to escort the Pacific fleet to San Francisco.  Motor Transport Co. 554 was making this trip in California at the same time that the transcontinental Motor Transport Convoy was struggling to get to California.

The Motor Transport Convoy trucked from Eastgate to Fallon, Nevada, in desert conditions, making 66 miles in 9.25 hours.


In Belgium, a Socialist effort at banning the public consumption of alcoholic spirits was passed which ironically spurred the development of heavy Belgium beers and ales by religious communities, giving us Belgian beers as we know them today.


Wednesday, August 28, 2019

August 28, 1919. Austin to Eastgate, Nevada. 80 miles in 12.5 hours.

Mechanical failures continued to take a toll, but the Motor Transport Convoy picked up some speed on this day in 1919.
On the same day, the Germans put down a Polish rebellion in Silesia.

Gasoline Alley for August 28, 1919:


Tuesday, August 27, 2019

August 27, 1919. End of the trail for the Trailmobile.

On this day in 1919, the Trailmobile kitchen had an accident that there was no recovering from.

The Red Summer resumed as white rioters attacked the black community in Laurens County, Georgia.  The attacks seemed to be related to white fears about rioting that had happened earlier in the summer in the neighboring county.  The event lasted two days and featured a lynching of a man presumed to be a leader in the black community on the first day.

Louis Botha, a Boer commander of the Boer War and the first Prime Minister of South Africa.  Botha had been a leader of the Boer community during the war and shepherded it into the peace with the British.  By some measures, his actions may be regarded as having converted the Boer defeat into a type of victory as South Africa obtained dominion status in 1910 and the Boers effectively governed the new state, with Both as its P.M.

Botha as a Boer commander.

Much of Botha's post Boer War effectiveness was due to his ability to unite Boer aspirations with the larger British Empire, something that was not only difficult but not always popular. During World War One Botha acted to commit troops to the British Empire cause which was enormously unpopular among the Boers and resulted in the Boer Rebellion.  None the less, he generally persisted and can be credited with effectively snatching a type of victory out of the jaws of defeat.

He effectively died of the Spanish Flu, which he'd survived, but which had weakened his heart.  Like many Spanish Flu victims, he died of the collateral effects of the disease.

The Soviets nationalized its film industry on this day in 1919.

Gasoline Alley for August 27, 1919.

Monday, August 26, 2019

August 26, 1919. Pinto House to Willow Springs on the Motor Transport Convoy.

As the 1919 transcontinental Motor Transport Convoy was being received in Willow Springs, Nevada, the crew of an Italian warship was being received in Boston Commons.

On this day in 1919, the Motor Transport Convoy traveled from Pinto House to Willow Spring, making 44 miles in 8.25 hours.

Mention is made of the Mack "chain drive".  During this period, and for quite some time thereafter, some vehicles used chain drives, like bicycles, rather than drive shafts, to convey the rotation of the engine to the axle.

By and large, however, the vehicles held up that day in spite of the conditions.

Saturday, August 24, 2019

August 24, 1919 "That this pass was successfully negotiated without accident considered remarkable". Ray Caldwell remarkably continues pitching after being hit by lightening. U.S. "Invasion" of Mexico continues

On this day in 1919 the Motor Transport Convoy negotiated Shellbourne Pass.
Not too surprisingly, four wheel drive FWDs came through the best on this days' travel. 

The unit made it to Ely, Nevada, after 77 miles over 8 hours, fairly good time by the standards of the convoy.  They arrived mid afternoon after once again failing to to take a Sunday's day rest, and camped in a municipal campground that was already a destination for tourists, showing how quickly motor tourism was advancing in spite of the poor state of the roads and the primitive condition of the cars.  Shoshone Indians, who have a very small reservation near Ely (which is not noted by the diarist) visited.

On the same day, pitcher Ray Caldwell was hit by lightening while pitching for the Cleveland Indians in a game against the Philadelphia Athletics.  Caldwell was knocked unconscious for five minutes but upon being revived asked for the ball back and resumed playing.


He completed the game, having pitched 8.2 innings and threw the winning pitch.  The blast of lightening knocked the hat off of the catcher and players and spectators at first thought that Caldwell might have been killed.

Caldwell was a great pitcher but was notoriously personally erratic, being an alcoholic and having, a self destructive streak. That would result in his having a shortened major league career, after which he played in the minors.  His reputation as a drinker and a partyer was a deterrent to teams picking him up.  He became a farmer, railroad employee and bartender in his later years and, in spite of his early life, lived to age 79.

Caldwell worked as a shipbuilder during World War One, an occupation taken up by a variety of baseball players as it allowed them to continue playing baseball rather than being conscripted into the Army.

In other news, American cavalry continued on in Mexico in search of bandits.  Mexican Federal troops were reported to be engaged in the same activity.


The intervention was apparently causing speculation in Mexican newspapers about various ways that the U.S. might more fully intervene in Mexico.

This Sunday edition of the Cheyenne State Leader also featured an article about "Jap" immigration.  A current newspaper would never use this pejorative slang term, but this was extremely common for newspapers of the era.

The paper also had an odd line about a woman whose "husband brings home the bacon" being "the better half of a good provider".  That's is hard to discern now, but what it referred to was the reluctance of a lot of women to leave their wartime jobs and resume to traditional pre war roles.  This was an issue at the time as it was felt that it was keeping men out of work, their traditional role.

Friday, January 12, 2018

Salt Lake Tribune: Cliven Bundy may be a free man, but he is also a cheat and a thief

Pretty strong words from the Salt Lake Tribune.

And well deserved words as well.

As a Western stockman, I detest Bundy's actions.  Sooner or later somebody from outside this region is going to say something like "well, he really stuck it to the Feds, eh?".  Well, the Feds treated him with kit gloves and this disaster only makes the moronic "take the land back" movement that much stronger by default.

The blame for this idiocy here goes straight to the Federal Prosecutors who withheld evidence.  They're not supposed to do that, and now the public has paid the price.

Unlike civil procedure, in criminal procedure the prosecution doesn't have to turn over everything that might be asked for.  Rather, it only has to turn over "exculpatory evidence".  The problem is that what consists of "exculpatory evidence" is basically left up to the prosecutors. Defense lawyers will be lucky if they ever learn of it even existing, should it be withheld.  Well, here's what happened here:
But on Monday, a federal judge — who had declared a mistrial last month — tossed out the case against craven Cliven and his band of dimwits, citing blatant misconduct by the federal prosecutors, specifically the failure to turn over 3,000 pages of material to the defense team.
“The court finds that the universal sense of justice has been violated,” U.S. District Judge Gloria Navarro said of what she characterized as “flagrant misconduct.”
The prosecutors basically argued they weren’t nefarious, just stupid, and the documents wouldn’t have affected the case against the Bundys. The evidence included video taken by an informant inside the ranch during the standoff and evidence the FBI took part in the incident.
So the Feds really blew it.

Somebody ought to be getting fired.

Somebody ought to also look at the peculiar demographic element of this movement.  Bundy was a rancher in Nevada, but this article ran in Salt Lake. That's not a mere coincidence.,  This movement is strongest in Utah and I think there's an historical reason for that which has almost nothing to do with other Western states, but which laps into them for demographic reasons.  I've been pondering that due to this coming up in the early Wyoming gubernatorial race, and falling down dead in Colorado last year.  I may post more on that later.

Monday, December 5, 2016

Jarbridge Stage Robbery.

While the last train robbery was yet to come (and would come in Wyoming) the last stage robbery found itself occurring on this date in 1916.

On this day a two horse mail wagon was robbed, and the driver killed, so that the stage could be robbed, resulting in a very brief $4,000 gain to the thieves.  The advance of technology intersected with the antiquated nature of the crime as one of the perpetrators was convicted on the bases of his palm prints, the first person in the United States to meet their fate by that means.

Ben Kuhl, whose palm prints would convict him.

The location of the robbery, Jarbridge Nevada, was remote in the extreme and was nearly in Idaho.  Snowy weather aided the criminals in their endeavor.  The luck of the criminals, three in number, soon ran out however and they were rapidly apprehended.  One turned state's evidence, and Kuhl received the death sentence which as later commuted to a live sentence.  He was released in 1945.

Thursday, February 5, 2009

Friday, February 5, 1909. Plastic's and crimes.

At a meeting of the American Chemical Society at the Chemists' Club, Dr. Leo Baekeland announced his synthesis of a new chemical, obybenzyl-methylenglycolanhydride, which he called Bakelite, the first plastic.  It became a huge commercial success.

Clark County, Nevada, where Las Vegas is located, was created from the southern half of Lincoln County.  The legislative act was today, but it took effect on July 1.

The German embassy in Chile was destroyed by fire, and a body thought to be that of Ambassador Wilhelm Beckert was found therein.  Following the discovery of a large amount of money being embezzled and that the corpse was not Beckert's, a manhunt ensued, and he was caught in Chillán,

The deceased was Exequiel Tapia, a Chilean porter employed at the legation. 

Germany waived judicial immunity and turned Beckert over to Chile, who executed him on July 5.