Route 66 was recorded for the first time, the introductory edition of the Bobby Troup work by Nat King Cole.
Troup was a songwriter and actor, married to actress Julie London
London and Troup in Emergency, a nighttime television drama of the 1970s.
He was also a graduate of Wharton, which produced the unfortunate Trump and Gray, but that's another matter. He served in the Marine Corps in World War Two, by which time he was already a songwriter. The war did not really interrupt his songwriting.
Route 66 was an absolute masterpiece, and has been recorded an innumerable number of times, and was even used for the basis of a television series that ran from 1960 to 1964.
In some very real ways, Route 66 symbolized the post war world and its sense of youth, indicability, and automotive freedom.
Route 66 itself was one of the original U.S. Highways of the United States Numbered Highway System. It was established on November 11, 1926, with road signs erected the following year. It became a huge factor in Depression Era migration to California, which makes the way its nostaglically remembered somewhat ironic, but as
College basketball player George Mikan, who was hugely popular turned pro.
He was a great player, and notably played with glasses. He struggled with diabetes in his final years, which focused attention on the plight of pre big money players.
He died in 2005 at age 80, a basketball great.
The Rocky Mountain News focused again on gambling.
Let's just admit, by this point, the only people who don't think the Trump Administration is the worst administration in American history are in it, and even some of them probably think that.
I'm a Westerner and an Irish Catholic. That informs my vote pretty heavily.
When I first registered to vote Ronald Reagan was President. Marine Corps Raider veteran Ed Herschler, a Democrat, was the Governor of Wyoming. D-Day veteran Teno Roncolio, also a Democrat, was our Congressman. Republicans Malcolm Wallop and Alan Simpson were our Senators.
That was sort of the political landscape here at the time. More Republicans than Democrats, but there were still Democrats, and those Democrats tended to be pretty tough conservative people. Republicans were already tacking off into batshit crazy economic theories but they weren't completely bathed in them yet.
I registered as a Republican.
I didn't stay a Republican for a really long time. I don't recall when exactly I switched parties, but by the time I was at the University of Wyoming, I had registered Democratic. I stayed in the Democratic Party for a long time. I was still a Democrat when I became a lawyer and I know that I was when I was married. However, sometime after that, I couldn't stand the sea of blood the Democratic Party had become. I became an independent.
As an independent you missed the primaries pretty much, however, and starting in the Clinton era in general Wyoming Democrats began to drift over to the GOP. After all, the mainstream of the Democratic Party wasn't all that different from the traditional mainstream of the local GOP. After awhile, I registered as a Republican.
Little far right Dixiecrats like Chuck Gray like to scream that people like me are "RINOs", when in fact they're the malignant innovation into the GOP. That element hadn't entered the GOP at the time I was first in it, and didn't for a long time. Gray himself, who nobody really knew anything about, was probably the first, followed by Jeanette Ward, who served one term in the legislature before losing a bid to retain her seat. While she lost, that showed the direction things were headed in. Carpetbaggers who knew nothing about their state moved in and wanted to convert it into pre 1964 Alabama.
It's not as if the Democrats stood still. As moderate Wyoming Democrats left the party, it too became delusional. If the Republicans became increasingly fascistic or Dixiecratic, the Democrats lived intellectually in the Greenwich Villages' Stonewall Inn in 1969. It made going back into the Democratic Party an outright impossibility for people like myself, particularly as they lashed themselves increasingly to abortion and perversion.
More recently, I'll note, that seems to be wearing off. The Democrats are still "pro choice", but they don't talk much about it. For that matter Republicans who were really gung ho on being pro life have sort of lost their fire for that as well, following the lead of Orange Mussolini.
What the Republican Party, nationally, has become is flat out insane. No thinking person can be a member of it and be comfortable.
There are still good Republicans here in Wyoming. They began a big fight against the Dixiecrats prior to the legislature and largely prevailed this session, in spite of the fact that the diehard adherents of The Lost Cause were theoretically in control of the solons. That should give local Republicans who aren't literally whistling Dixie some hope.
But with the current national Trumpites in control, the line has been drawn.
For years people like Dixiecrat Chuck Gray, or Dixicrat Bextel, have claimed that the Republican Party here was infiltrated with Democrats. Well, it was. They're the Democrats. Democrats from 1960 Alabama. They just don't know it. But the screaming lunacy that they've espoused does have an effect after awhile. Yell at people that "you are a RINO" for long enough, and they'll take it up.
I'm remaining registered in the GOP. Chuck Gray's efforts to disenfranchise voters has been enough for me in and of itself not to change registrations. Frankly, if I was to take a run at the House of Representatives, and I've thought about it, I would switch parties as right now that would give a person a place in the November election no matter what. But I'm not going to do that. I'm old, worn out, and very tired.
So I'm remaining in the GOP in no small part so that I can vote for the decent primary candidates, of which there are some right now.
At this point, merely stating that you are "pro Trump" will be enough to cross my vote for you off the list. At least three House candidates are promising to be Trump's biggest lover, and they're all of the list. I hope I run into some of them during their campaigns. I probably will.
And I've already quit giving MAGAs in my midst slack. Frankly, since the start of the assault on Iran, that's been easy, as the "never war" MAGAs can't explain that one without sounding like hypocrites, and they know it. Even a few have begun to look as if Valentines to Trump weren't a good idea.
But in the Fall. I'm not voting for any Republicans for anything.
That won't exactly be easy. So far here only one candidate from the Democratic Party has signed on to run for a statewide office. He has my vote even though I like the only Republican whose announced for the same position. And just because I'm not voting for a Republican doesn't mean I will vote for Democrats. In my state house district a really decent Republican holds the seat and a young woman from the Democratic Party has announced against him. She's already on the sea of blood ticket. I can't vote for her, but I won't vote for the Republican I've voted for many times before.
To vote for Republicans in 2026 you have to accept that a low IQ, deranged, octogenarian should have complete dictatorial control over the Federal Government, can start major wars on his own, can demolish parts of the White House as he has the tastes of a bordello owner, can cause the hiding of files on a major pedophile ring, and can have a domestic army occupy the streets. It also means you have to be willing to sacrifice the environment of the planet for scientific denial. You have to be willing to endorse lies at a never before seen rate, which makes you a liar yourself if you do.
I can't go there.
On a bright spot, the Confederate dominated legislature went home routed.
This is amusing. Chloe Winters is not unattractive, but the married Galwegian dresses like what she is, a market gardener. It's a dirty job. Her only adornment, normally, is a cross denoting her Christianity.
The fact that she's getting hit on for gardening videos. . . well it's just sad.
It became clear that Donald Trump had committed the nation to war on the concept that the Iranians would just collapse, even though he was warned that they would not.
Frozen french fries were introduced by Maxson Food Systems of Long Island, New York.
From time to time, we'll have these a lot.
American per-capita potato consumption had interestingly declined since 1910, and was not measured at previous levels until 1962, when french fries were a fast-food restaurant staple.
I would not have guessed that, or frankly anything close to that.
Indeed a decline from 1910 to 1962 really surprises me.
I personally used to grow large volumes of potatoes, picking up where my later father had left off. Maybe because its because I'm more Irish than most Irish, but I love them.
The first UN Security Council veto was made by the Soviet Union, killing a resolution concerning the withdrawal of British and French forces from Syria and Lebanon, while it still occupied parts of Iran. Basically, the Soviet Union wanted the British and French out of Syria and Lebanon (which really was a French thing) while they still had their claws in Eastern Europe, North Korea, Sakhalin, and Iran.
They'd leave Iran, and with the fall of the Soviet Union, they'd leave many other places as well. With the Russo Ukrainian War, they're trying to claw their way back in, however ,and they've never left Sakahlian.
The Sikorsky S-51, the first helicopter sold for commercial rather than military use, although it received military use, was flown for the first time.
The chopper would be manufactured until the late 1950s.
By United States Navy - Scanned from Alexander, Joseph H., Fleet Operations in a Mobile War: September 1950-June 1951, Washington, D.C.: Naval Historical Center, Department of the Navy, 2001, p. 39., Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=72961678
There was major news on the strike wave:
A Denver merchant noted the anniversary of Scouting:
I was not aware that this was a 1976 movie, but then, I've never thought of the topic either.
I've actually never seen Taxi Driver all the way through.* It's just too icky for me. But the point raised here, tracking the depictions of New York City from the early 1960s into the 1970s, from "magical" to decline, is a really interesting observation.
Somewhere I have a series photographs of my mother in New York that must date from the late 1940s. She and some friends went down from Montreal to visit. She told me once how "clean" New York was, that being her observation from that trip.
I've been to New York state, but it's been years and years. My exposure to New York City, however, is limited to the airport, a memory which is equally old.
Footnotes:
*Indeed, of the movies mentioned in this thread, the only one I've seen all the way through is Breakfast at Tiffany's.
Kim Il Sung was elected Chairman of the Interim People's Committee in the Soviet occupied portion of Korea. Originally, the Soviets preferred Cho Man-sik to lead a "popular front" government but Cho, to his credit, refused to support a Soviet-backed entity. Red Army General Terentii Shtykov supported Kim over Pak Hon-yong to lead the Provisional People's Committee for North Korea, and therefore Kim was selected on this date.
He remained subordinate to General Shtykov until the Chinese intervention in the Korean War.
More strike problems on the front page of The Rocky Mountain News.
A person had to read deeper into the News to see the story on Viola Elliot. Page 5, where you need to go, is set out below.
She was accused of the beating death of her stepson, Robert. She denied it, but she was convicted of second degree murder. Her 8 year old son by a previous marriage was a witness for the prosecution at the trial and Mrs. Elliot admitted at the time of arrest that she had hit and kicked the child on the occasion of his death. She later changed her story and claimed he'd tripped on his pajamas.
Her parents and husband said they'd stand by her at the time of her arrest, but I wonder if that was still the case later on. At her sentencing, she stated that Leslie was just as responsible for the death and the judge agreed. Leslie had already been arraigned for assault and battery and assessory after the fact. In April she petitioned the County to make her children wards of the County, to which her husband objected. They were noted to be "estranged" by that time.
Viola was 27 years old and on her second marriage at the time. She would have had her first child, if her son who testified was the first at age 19 in 1937 or 1938. The paper mentioned that there were three children, including the murdered boy. Interestingly, I can find one other reference to a "Miss Viola Elliot" from 1937 indicating that Viola Elliot was employed as an arts and crafts teacher. A 1943 edition mentions a Viola Elliott as being just back in town after visiting her husband in Tennessee, who was probably in the service.
Viola received 15 to 20 years for the murder.
Leslie would receive six months for assault and battery.
Her mother, Alice Faber, testified at the trial, as did her father. Alice died in 1966 and is buried in Denver. Her obituary listed Viola as still living, still with the last name Elliot, and in Denver. The Fabers also had a son named Wilmer, who was alive at the time. The boy who testified at the trial was living in California.
No surprise, had I been at the Olympics, I'd have booed Vance, and I'm an American. Trump has brought the U.S. into universal contempt, so that a symbol of it gets jeered is no surprise.
Vance must go home and cry seeing his chances of being President decline below 0 every day. His only hope in the first place was the application of the 25th Amendment and so far, in spite of my expectations, no luck there.
Trump was asked about the event.
REPORTER: “The vice president got booed during the opening ceremony. What do you make of that frosty reception?”
PRESIDENT TRUMP: “That's surprising because people like him. Well, I mean, he is in a foreign country, you know, in all fairness. He doesn't get booed in this country.”
Truly, Trump is clueless.
Ignoramus at National Prayer Breakfast
I don't see the point of this anymore.
Truth be known, I probably never did. I appreciate prayer, obviously, but this, at least in my memory, has been sort of a lukewarm American Civil Religion event in which the sitting President makes a nod towards religion The same guy could have been chasing skirts all week and then sound like he was really sincere at the breakfast.
Here's JFK's 1963 speech there.
February 07, 1963
Senator Carlson, Mr. Vice President, Reverend Billy Graham, Mr. Speaker, Mr. Chief Justice, gentlemen:
I am honored to be with you here again this morning. These breakfasts are dedicated to prayer and all of us believe in and need prayer. Of all the thousands of letters that are received in the office of the President of the United States, letters of good will and wishes, none, I am sure, have moved any of the incumbents half so much as those that write that those of us who work here in behalf of the country are remembered in their prayers.
You and I are charged with obligations to serve the Great Republic in years of great crisis. The problems we face are complex; the pressures are immense, and both the perils and the opportunities are greater than any nation ever faced. In such a time, the limits of mere human endeavor become more apparent than ever. We cannot depend solely on our material wealth, on our military might, or on our intellectual skill or physical courage to see us safely through the seas that we must sail in the months and years to come.
Along with all of these we need faith. We need the faith with which our first settlers crossed the sea to carve out a state in the wilderness, a mission they said in the Pilgrims' Compact, the Mayflower Compact, undertaken for the glory of God. We need the faith with which our Founding Fathers proudly proclaimed the independence of this country to what seemed at that time an almost hopeless struggle, pledging their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor with a firm reliance on the protection of divine providence. We need the faith which has sustained and guided this Nation for 175 long and short years. We are all builders of the future, and whether we build as public servants or private citizens, whether we build at the national or the local level, whether we build in foreign or domestic affairs, we know the truth of the ancient Psalm, "Except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it."
This morning we pray together; this evening apart. But each morning and each evening, let us remember the advice of my fellow Bostonian, the Reverend Phillips Brooks: "Do not pray for easy lives. Pray to be stronger men! Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers. Pray for powers equal to your tasks."
[The President spoke first to the gentlemen in the hotel's main ballroom and then to the ladies in the east room.]
Ladies:
I'm glad to be with you again this morning with the Vice President, Reverend Billy Graham, Dr. Vereide, Senator Carlson, the same quartet that was here last year and the year before.
I think these breakfasts serve a most useful cause in uniting us all on an occasion when we look not to ourselves but to above for assistance. On our way from the last meeting to this, we met two members of Parliament who carried with them a message from Lord Home to this breakfast, in which Lord Home quoted the Bible and said that perhaps the wisest thing that was said in the Bible was the words, "Peace, be still."
I think it's appropriate that we should on occasion be still and consider where we are, where we've been, what we believe in, what we are trying to work for, what we want for our country, what we want our country to be, what our individual responsibilities are, and what our national responsibilities are. This country has carried great responsibilities, particularly in the years since the end of the Second War, and I think that willingness to assume those responsibilities has come in part from the strong religious conviction which must carry with it a sense of responsibility to others if it is genuine, which has marked our country from its earliest beginnings, when the recognition of our obligation to God was stated in nearly every public document, down to the present day.
This is not an occasion for feeling pleased with ourselves, but, rather, it is an occasion for asking for help to continue our work and to do more. This is a country which has this feeling strongly. I mentioned in the other room the letters which I receive, which the Members of Congress receive, which the Governors receive, which carry with them by the hundreds the strong commitment to the good life and also the strong feeling of communication which so many of our citizens have with God, and the feeling that we are under His protection. This is, I think, a source of strength to us all.
I want to commend all that you do, not merely for gathering together this morning, but for all the work and works that make up part of your Christian commitment. I am very proud to be with you.
Kennedy, who was a (bad) Catholic, was only able to get elected by promising not to be really Catholic, an act of betrayal to his faith that has hurt Catholics ever since. At least with Trump we don't have that, as he's some sort of undeclared Protestant, he says. Crediting that claim, which I don't think deserves much credit, he's a really bad Christian.
None of which stops people like Franklin Graham and Paula White-Cain from praising him.
White Cain was pretty restrained in her opening remarks there. She isn't always so restrained. Trump wasn't restrained in his babbling remarks, which departed greatly from Christianity.
I'm pretty skeptical about any real attachment, or perhaps understanding, of Trump to religion. Indeed, I'm firmly convinced the damage he's doing to Evangelical Christianity is deep.
Trump announced a May 17, 2026 national prayer gathering on the National Mall as part of the White House's 'America Prays' initiative, which encourages one million people to dedicate weekly prayer time. Such prayer would be beneficial no doubt, but a big gathering on the National Mall is a mistake. It's going to gather a counter prayer demonstration for sure by Christians who see through Trump, and it'll likely generate a mass protest. It'll be difficult to keep it from getting out of hand.
That's a Sunday. Maybe J.D. can note that he has to go to Mass and skip out.
Drip
For the 2026 US Olympic drip, the teams has white duffle coats and a sort of winter themed sweater with the flag on it. It looks nice, but Norway has accused the US of stealing the star motif on the sweater.
I have a duffle coat I wear as a winter overcoat. I really like it. I've had it for years and year, but oddly suddenly I'm getting compliments while wearing it. It always catches me off guard as it is getting long in the tooth, but still I get a fair number of them.
The same is true with a Hanna Hats panel cap I've been wearing for about 25 years or so. I've always received some compliments on it, but I"m getting a lot all of a sudden. A guy actually interrupted a conversation he was having with a woman at a store just to ask me "what's that sort of cap called"?
In other somewhat surreal conversations, I picked up pizza on my way home from an unsuccessful goose hunt the other day and went into the joint in a heavy surplus European camouflaged coat. I'm too cheap to buy the designer camo that other people do. Anyhow, I parked my Jeep right in front of the place and when I went in the girl waiting the counter said "What kind of a car is that?"
It was a Jeep.
That was a surprising question as Jeeps look like Jeeps and they have since the very first Jeep.
Probably because of my coat she then asked, after getting my pizza, "where you in the military"? I affirmed and she thanked me for my service.
I note this as this sort of somewhat awkward but ready engagement seems common for people in Generation Alpha. Indeed, back to the hat, I've had some young women, probably 20 years old or less, just look at me and say "I like your hat" in passing. It's a little awkward and surprising.
When I was 20 myself, young women never told me that, darn it.
