Showing posts with label South Carolina. Show all posts
Showing posts with label South Carolina. Show all posts

Tuesday, April 18, 2023

The 2024 Election, Part II. What could go wrong?

Donald Trump, who has a really good brain, good genes, leading the GOP into the 2024 election.
 
November 15, 2022

Donald Trump, having lost the popular vote twice before, the electoral vote once before, and whose personality and behavior meant the Senate remained in Democratic hands this election, and the House and Senate went, with the Oval Office, to Democrats in 2020, has announced for the Presidency again.

There is something wrong with Trump.

He will not win, and he stands a good chance of taking the Republican Party into oblivion with him.

November 16, 2022

Apparently none of the major networks carried his entire speech, if they carried any part of it at all, and while it's easy to find this as a news story, it's pretty much impossible to find the entire text of the speech.

That's quite telling.

Trump fed off of the press during his entire Presidency, but now they appear to have grown tired of him.

The Conservative National Review is already out with an editorial, simply captioned:

NO.

Murdoch's tabloid New York Post, not the most admirable newspaper, but one that's reliably Republican, dissed Trump with a page 26 article which on the cover simply has:

Florida Man Makes Announcement.

We'll see, in spite of the looming disaster, my predication is, like Benteen and Reno, the GOP will fall in line and charge into the valley anyhow.  They shouldn't go in there, and quite a few of them know that, but they will anyhow.

November 17, cont:

Keven McCarthy received a visit today from a well known Trump strategist.

For those who may have any doubt, myself included, this probably signals how things this session will go and to whom the House will be working towards.

December 6, 2022


So stated the former President in reaction to the release of information from Twitter.

Trump's call to suspend the Constitution has met with a round of criticism from Republicans, showing the beginnings of a backbone for the first time since the insurrection.  Even at that, however, some would not, as the Republican guest on This Week who struggled not to answer the question about supporting Trump if he was the nominee and then finally stated that he would.

It does seem that, at long last, things may actually be beginning to move away from Trump in the GOP.  Trump's grown more extreme in recent months, and something like this is outright authoritarian.

Trump of course denied that he had called for suspending the constitution, and giving credit perhaps to his statements, his comments are in fact so odd and poorly thought out that it might not really be what he meant.  Most odd of all is the thought that, in 2022, he could be made the President via some odd declaration regarding the 2022 election, which is how I would interpret this really ignorant post.

It appears that the Democrats want to move South Carolina up as the state to cast its votes for the Presidential nominee first.  This would bump Iowa from its first in the nation status.

December 7, 2022

Mr. Trump will not win another election. His most glaring political strength today is his ability to energize Democrats, causing not only historic turnout but attracting gushers of campaign cash – for the opposition.

Fox News. 

February 2, 2023


Nikki Haley, former Governor of South Carolina and Ambassador to the United Nations, is running for the GOP nomination.  She's going to make her formal announcement on February 15.

Haley was born to Indian immigrant parents who are Sikhs.  She's an accountant by training.  She's presently a Methodist, having converted from Sikhism in 1997.  Her views straddle the Republican spectrum.  She makes an interesting contrast to Kamala Harris in that in some ways their story is similar, her parents resided in Canada before immigrating to the US and Harris' mother was Indian, her story fits the more conventional Indian immigrant story.  She's 51 years old, and therefore not a Boomer.

Haley reported called Trump upon making her decision, and Trump reportedly told her that if she felt that way, she should run.  The question now is how long will it be before Trump starts childishly insulting her and calling her by some juvenile nickname.

February 14, 2023

Nikki Haley announced she was running, officially, yesterday.

Oddly, the press just seems to have noticed that she's a bona fide Indian American yesterday, whereas this was widely celebrated in regard to Kamala Harris when she was running.

February 15, 2023

Harriet Hageman endorsed Donald Trump for the 2024 Presidential GOP nomination.

She really had no choice, Trump having endorsed her, and given her constituency, it was a wise move. 

Nonetheless, while I am on the outside of this, I don't expect Trump, or Biden, to be the nominees.  Frankly, given their ages, as I've noted before, I'd put there being well over a 50% chance that neither of them will still be with us, due to natural causes, by the November 24 election. They're basically at the upper edge of the male life span right now, and certainly Trump doesn't appear to be a model of health.

Added to that, I don't expect Trump to prevail in the process of choosing a GOP nominee this time, although I've been wrong on that before.

February 17, 2023

Well, this got weird quickly.

First, Nikki Haley called for politicians obtaining the age of 75 to receive a competency test.

Then, on CNN, this exchange happened.

Don Lemon: "Nikki Haley isn’t in her prime. Sorry, when a woman is considered to be in her prime in her 20s, and 30s, and maybe 40s…"

Poppy Harlow: "Are you talking about prime for like child bearing?"

"Don’t shoot the messenger! I’m just saying what the facts are! Google it!"

Ummm. . . eh?

February 23, 2023

Marianne Williamson has announced for the Democratic ticket.

Williamson is a left wing Democrat, 70 years of age, so another of the Boomer crowd of candidates.  She stands no chance.

March 3, 2023

Initiatives to legalize marijuana in Wyoming failed to gather enough signatures to be on the 2024 ballot.

Liz Cheney has joined the faculty of the University of Virginia.

March 5, 2023

CPAC's conference is on, or as it might be more appropriately called, the Tour De Wackadoodle.

Conservatives used to be serious, and this conference, sort of a rarefied meeting of Conservative eggheads.  Now it's the Comiccon of political events.  

Marjorie Taylor Green, Lauren Boebert and Donald Trump as speakers?  Come on.

March 20, 2023

This Week had an interview with Mike Pence on which demonstrates the extent to which a politician is willing to be a craven wussy in order to run for office.  In spite of being the target of the January 6 protesters, he's really hedging his bets on whether he'll support Donald Trump if Trump is nominated, and that's because, probably, he doesn't want to alienate that base.

You really can't have it both ways on this one.

On all the weekend shows, Ron Desantis took a lot of criticism for his unwillingness to fully back Ukraine, a new position on his part that was likely also a misstep in casting for Trumpist ballots.

Pence really stands no chance of getting the nomination. Desantis did, but those chances look weakened.

April 13, 2023

South Carolina's Tim Scott has formed an exploratory committee.


I know little about Scott, but the Republican Senator can't be disregarded, and would be harder for Trump to routinely childishly insult the way he normally does his opponents.

April 15, 2023

A recent edition of NPR's politics discussed everyone in the GOP now running, which is more people than I thought, although in some ways its because some of the names are those testing the waters, and not really running, yet.

The list of suspects and running is, starting with the openly declared:

Donald Trump. We all know who he is.

Announced: Nov. 15, 2022

Nikki Haley, who is discussed above.

Announced: Feb. 14, 2023

Vivek Ramaswamy.  Ramaswamy is a conservative businessman and well known, apparently, in conservative circles.

Announced: Feb. 21, 2023.

Asa Hutchinson. He's a well known former Arkansas Governor who is an outright opponent of Trump's.

Announced: April 2, 2023

Tim Scott, discussed above.

Turning to the testing the water, the names are.

Ron DeSantis.  He's been in the news a lot lately as the non Trump, Trump.

Mike Pence.  Vying for hte role of the world's most boring man, he's clearly on the edge of announcing.

Chris Sununu.  Well known Governor of New Hampshire and an anti-Trumper.

Glenn Youngkin.  Somewhat known Governor of Virginia.

Kristi Noem.  South Dakota right wing Governor.

Liz Cheney.  We all know who she is.  She's been mentioned, but I doubt she'll run.

John Bolton.  Also a known name, but I'd bet Trump's former National Security Adviser turned Trump opponent won't run.

Chris Christie. Former Governor of New Jersey and clearly thinking of running.

On Trump, he spoke at the NRA convention, effectively linking the NRA, again, to Trump's brand of anti-democratic authoritarianism.  This will ultimately come to be a mistake for the NRA which is branding itself as a force in opposition to the majority of residents of the republic in an extra legal fashion, rather than as a defender of legal rights.

April 16, 2023

The Wyoming Freedom Caucus has formed a Political Action Committee.

It also held a convention in Casper over the weekend, which is somewhat ironic in that the county's GOP organization has gone in the other direction, although in the last election it did elect two members of the caucus.  At any rate, it was noted that it "just" needed ten more members to control the House, which is actually a really tall order.

April 18, 2023

According to the Cowboy State Daily, Chuck Grey has vowed to go after residence requirements and strengthen them before the next election.

Wyoming's requirement had been 60 days prior to the Supreme Court striking it down, at which point the Court suggested 30 days was reasonable.  Wyoming simply went to no residency requirement in order to vote at that time.  

Grey also went after the media in his speech on Saturday.

It's clear he intends to keep his name in the news in this fashion, rather than on the clerical duties associated with his elective office.

The Daily also reports the head of the Wyoming Democratic Party gave a speech in which the leader proclamed he was "proud to be woke", thereby giving an example of why the Democrats can't win anything in the state.

Indeed, that declaration was an example of why more and more people nationwide register as independents.  The more extreme the parties become, the less people wish to be associated with them, left and right.

And with Grey obviously vying for a futurue office, by campaigning from the far right, and the Democrats having once again jumped off the electoral building, we'll close this chapter.

Last Prior Edition:

The 2024 Election, Part I. Early adopters.


Related Threads:

Thursday, March 30, 2023

Tuesday, March 30, 1943. The Martyrdom of Sister Maria Restituta. Patton and his B-3. UW wins the NCAA. The 505th Jumps.

Sister Maria Restituta, age 48, was beheaded under orders of Martin Bormann.  An absolute vocal critic of Hitler and Nazism, she refused to be quiet about her opinions, no matter the cost.

Sister Restituta.

Sister Restituta had been born in Austria, and was of Czech desecent.  Her full name, after becoming a nun, was Maria Restituta Kafka.  She had been born Helene Kafka and had joined the order in her 20s, having first been a nurse.  She was a member of the Franciscan Sisters of Christian Charity.

She was beatified in 1998.

One of the most iconic photographs of George S. Patton to be taken, was taken on this day in Tunisia.


This photo is justifiably famous, but it's sometimes a bit misinterpreted.  It really doesn't show anything that unusual for a senior officer of the period.

Patton is wearing a B-3 flight jacket, the heavy sheepskin jacket that was issued to aviators who flew at altitude until synthetics and electrically heated flight suits started to replace it mid-war.  It would not be fully replaced during the war.  Both the heavy B-3 and the light A-2 saw widespread use beyond airmen, however.

A-2s were issued as a semi dress item to airborne officers (and perhaps enlisted men, although I'm not completely certain on that), signifying that 1) they were an airborne service and 2) there were a lot of them.  A-2s made their way into the Navy in some roles as well.  They were also widely worn by officers.

B-3s were issued not only to air crewmen, but to ground crews as well, as there were a lot of them.  They were a private purchase item with officers, and senior officers sometimes favored them as they were warm.  

Patton's B-3 here has had some alterations made to it, including at least one front pocket.  You can see his reading glasses held in the visible pocket.  You'll frequently see it claimed on websites that Patton had epaulets added to this coat, but that's completely incorrect, at least at the time this photograph was taken. His general's stars are visible, but they are neither pinned nor sewed on epaulets.  Indeed, the seam that's visible is simply a coat seam.  Other, sometimes later, photos do show Patton wearing a B-3 with epaulets, but that probably actually depicts a different coat, or that this one was subsequently altered as he was promoted.

Patton, perhaps with same B-3 as it has reinforced upper sleeves, but now featuring also epaulets, with the coat featuring the 1st Armored Corps patch.  The other figure is Major General Geoffrey Keyes, whose coat features II Corps insignia.  This photograph was taken in January, 1944.

The odd things about those photographs are that they show that Patton had that coat at the time that he was the commander of the 1st Armored Corps, which he had relinquished prior to March 1943 when he took over II Corps.  Patton was a bit of a stickler about uniforms being correct, but at least in that case his having had the 1st Armored Corps patch put on an expensive coat probably proved to be a mistake, as it couldn't be removed, so he therefore kept wearing it.

The stars on this one, or this coat at this time, are probably painted on.

This coat does have a reinforced upper arm, which is also an alteration, but not one that's as uncommon as might be supposed.  I've seen at least one photograph of a conventional aviator with the same alteration.  Alterations, often done at the local level, were very common.  The location of the unit patch on the reinforcement probably explains why the patch was never replaced.  Subsequent promotion probably explains why epaulets were later added.

Sailors in 1950.

Today In Wyoming's History: March 301943  Led by legendary UW basketball player Kenny Sailors, UW beat Georgetown 46 to 34 in Madison Square Gardens.  Sailors would enter the Marine Corps as an officer at the conclusion of that year.  UW would suspend basketball due to the war after that year.  Sailors eventually became a hunting guide in  Alaska, but returned to Wyoming in his old age, where he still lives, following the death of his wife.

Note: that item was originally penned, Sailors was in fact alive.  However, he subsequently passed on January 30, 2016, in Laramie, Wyoming.  Sailors remains a Wyoming basketball legend.

The 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment made a 2,000 trooper jump, the first such mass jump in US history.


The 505th had been formed in July 1942 and was originally under the command of James Gavin.  It had been assigned to the 82nd Airborne Division only a month prior to its first mass jump.

The jump took place near Camden, South Carolina.

Friday, May 10, 2019

May 10, 1919. Homecomings, Mourning, Occupations, and Race Riots


A J. C. Leyendecker illustration was on the cover of The Saturday Evening Post this day in 1919, with a veteran recounting his service to two youngsters.

It's a bit odd to see an illustration of this type now, although they were common in the World War One and World War Two time frame.  The celebration of military service still occurs, but it tends to occur in movie form much more now, as opposed to illustrations, which was very common then.









Service went on, of course, for troops on occupation duty in Germany.

Germany itself declared a national week of mourning over the terms of the proposed treaty to officially end World War One.  The Germans were shocked by the terms.  Even some of the press in the United States was a bit shocked for that matter, and acknowledged the terms as severe.

In Charleston, South Carolina, a horrible race riot occurred when sailors from the Charleston Navy Yard went on a rampage directed against blacks in the town. The initial cause was that five sailors felt that they'd been cheated by a single black man, which developed to an all out assault by sailors, and then some white residents, of the town against blacks.  The Navy was forced to send in Marines and blue jacket Sailors to put down the riot, which involved over 1,000 sailors and some white civilians.  While there were some criminal charges that were filed shortly after the event, they came to nothing as the event had so overwhelmed the police that they were unable to treat the event as a conventional criminal one in their effort to address it.

The Charleston riot was the first of a series of race riots across the United States that year, contributing to the summer of 1919 being called the Red Summer.  The country was slipping into a recession which was in turn causing racial tension to rise.

Friday, December 7, 2018

December 7, 1918. Doughboy Santa on the Saturday Evening Post, British Day in the US, POWs on their way home through Switzerland,


Christmas was coming. . . something that was always featured on the cover of the Saturday Evening Post with family oriented or whimsical illustrations.  This year, however, the covers still reflected a martial aire, as in this illustration of Santa Clause by Leydecker in which Santa sports a M1917 helmet, Army breeches (wrong color again. . .but I think I've determined that was due to the Saturday Evening Post, not Leydecker, and a Sam Brown Belt.

Christmas wasn't the only holiday that 1918.  British Day, an event called to honor the UK's role, or perhaps the entire British Empire's role, in the Great War was also observed in the United States.



British Day Celebration,  Columbia South Carolina. December 7, 1918.



Elsewhere, it was get out of POW camp day.

Crowd at Basle, Switzerland, waiting to view released American POWs.

Released American POWs.