Whatever It Is, I’m Against It: Today -100: October 17, 1910: Of Kiddo the wonder cat: Kiddo the cat jumped out of the dirigible America but was fished out of the sea.
Showing posts with label Animals. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Animals. Show all posts
Friday, October 17, 2025
Wednesday, October 17, 1910. The 1910 Cuba Hurricane,
Wednesday, October 8, 2025
Thursday, October 8, 1925. World Series. . . both of them.
October 8 was a Thursday, which makes Life's press date an odd one. Weeklys came out on Saturday typically, and monthlies on the first day of the month.
The Hilldale Club from Philadelphia won the second Colored World Series, beating the Kansas City Monarchs to win the 4 of 7 series.
The Pirates tied up the World Series with the Nationals in Game 2.
And Mitchell's troubles were growing.
Last edition:
Wednesday, October 7, 1925. Christy Mathewson
Saturday, September 27, 2025
Going Feral: The Feral Week.
Going Feral: Lex Anteinternet: Sunday, September 26, 1915. Wab.:
Thursday, September 25, 2025
Wednesday, September 24, 2025
Southern Rockies Nature Blog: These Hunters' Deaths Hit Me Hard
Southern Rockies Nature Blog: These Hunters' Deaths Hit Me Hard: Search and rescue volunteers are briefed before heading out. (Conejos County Sheriff's Office) The search for two missing bowhunters, An...
This is terrible news, to say the least.
When I first heard of these two men dying, it was by way of a headline. As I was extremely busy at the time, I didn't read deeper into the story. I frankly assumed they had succumbed due to hypothermia, and that they were likely inexperienced outdoorsmen.
I learned more about it sage chicken hunting with a companion, who had looked into the story more. He revealed that in fact they were experienced outdoorsmen, but we both assumed that they had died due to hypothermia. We assumed, frankly, that they'd stepped out for what they thought would be a shorter trip and were caught in a bad situation at which point they couldn't address the onset of the condition.
It turns out we were wrong. It was a lightning strike.
I've been afraid of lightning my entire life, and a lot of that is due to living an outdoor life. From my earliest years I can recall being fascinated with lightning, but also fearing it. My earliest recollection of an electrical strike close by was when I was a child, looking out our picture window. and saw a bolt of lightning hit the ground right in front of the house and arc over the street, as a car passed under it.
My mother related that her grandfather had actually been hit by lightning observing an electrical storm out the back window of a house in St. Lambert, Quebec. He was fine, but that might have made an early impression with me. My father, an avid outdoorsman, didn't mess with lightening at all, although he would continue to fish well past the point he should as electrical storms approached. The childhood step father of a friend of mine was killed on the golf course by lightning. The father of a gaggle of girls who where my contemporaries was killed on horseback when struck by lightning.
I had plenty of reasons as a kid to fear lightning.
As an adult, I've seen lightning strike a human occupied thing when I saw a blot strike a boat in Alcova Reservoir. I was far enough away that I don't know what happened to the people in it. While living in Laramie, and going to law school, I had a bolt of lightning strike a power line right above the point I was at as I was hurriedly walking home, hoping to beat the storm. It blew me to the ground, and I was deaf in one ear for about a week. Also in Laramie, I remember being up in the high country elk hunting and briefly conversing with a mounted hunter as a storm started to roll in. The air grew electrick and came in contact, somehow, with the horses steel ringlets on his bridle, causing his ears to shoot up, and a visible electrical current pass between the tips of his ears, just before he reared around and charged down the mountain.
Storms will appear and surprise you.
In the sticks, I watch the weather like a hawk. It's not snow I'm afraid of being caught in, it's an electrical storm. I'll abandon a place early if I think it looks like such a storm is rolling in.
Electrical storms in the high country are particularly dangerous. Due to the terrain, they roll up at you before you can appreciate them, and they are very frequent. High altitude afternoon thunderstorms are a norm in mountainous terrain.
Added to that, in spite of Donald Trump and His Confederacy of Clowns, climate change has extended the summer and fall and that's making traditional activities in late fall more dangerous in various ways. I'm not terribly familiar with Southern Colorado, but I can claim some familiarity with Northern Colorado and lots of familiarity with all of Wyoming. This time of year, say thirty or more years ago, storm above 6,000 feet here were snowstorms, not rain storms. We worried about being snowed out, or snowed in, not rain. Now thanks to a desperate belief on the part of some that things aren't changing, or it isn't our fault, things are changing.
Wide Open Spaces reported their cause of death as being surprising. I'm not terribly surprised, as I've had too many close calls with lightning even while being careful. I'll merely note, it pays to be careful out there. . . really careful.
But sometimes, that won't save you.
Regarding the tragic deaths of Andrew Porter and Ian Stasko:
Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them. May the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen.
Wyomingites with deep conservation roots oppose axing Forest Service Roadless Rule
Wyomingites with deep conservation roots oppose axing Forest Service Roadless Rule: Although the state government loathes the Forest Service regulation, many residents value the wild lands and wildlife it protects.
‘Judas elk’ to help target Jackson Hole ‘suburban elk,’ easing pressure on Yellowstone migrants
‘Judas elk’ to help target Jackson Hole ‘suburban elk,’ easing pressure on Yellowstone migrants: Research reveals that animals that summer on ranchland and in residential subdivisions near town pile up on the National Elk Refuge's southern end — a trait that will help wildlife managers steer hunters toward the problematic cohort.
Tuesday, September 23, 2025
Monday, September 22, 2025
Wednesday, September 10, 2025
Monday, September 10, 1945. Eh?
Post war news items were getting a bit weird.
Mike the Headless chicken was ineffectively beheaded, and would go on to become sort of a freak show star for a brief period of time.
Life magazine featured a black and white cover photo of a UAW worker. The contents of the magazine were:
Pg… 29 The Week's Events: U. S. Occupies Japan
Pg… 42 The Week's Events: Editorial: Peace in Asia
Pg… 45 The Week's Events: King Leopold's Family
Pg… 51 The Week's Events: Black Markets Boom in Berlin
Pg… 127 The Week's Events: Lilly Dache Packs for Paris
Pg… 63 Articles: Nijinsky in Vienna, by William Walton
Pg… 112 Articles: As We May Think, by Vannevor Bush
Pg… 103 Photographic Essay: United Automobile Workers
Pg… 57 Modern Living: House for Texas
Pg… 90 Modern Living: The French Look
Pg… 61 Art: Portrait of Sylvia Sidney, by Fletcher Martin
Pg… 82 Art: Hudson River School of Painters
Pg… 75 Movies: "Uncle Harry"
Pg… 97 Sports: Grownups Spin Tops
Pg… 138 Science: Plant Cancer
Pg… 2 Other Departments: Letters to the Editors
Pg… 12 Other Departments: Speaking of Pictures: Germany's Fantastic Secret Weapons
Pg… 16 Other Departments: LIFE's Reports: "Bottoms Up" in China, by Lieut. Thomas P. Ronan
Pg… 132 Other Departments: LIFE Goes Swordfishing
Pg… 142 Other Departments: Miscellany: Seabees Give Waves a Party
Life is often remembered as a great magazine in its heyday, but it featured some pretty vapid articles. This issue's feature on The French Look informed readers that young French women had small breasts and often went braless, depicting a typical bra (on a young French woman), for those occasions in which les mademoiselles wore them. Doing that in the US, UK, or Germany would have been regarded as shockingly indecent, although it was not uncommon in the Southern European Slavic and Romance language speaking countries, which in turn contributed to the American and British views that the Italians were really primitive, and the German view that the Yugoslavians were.
In case you wonder, I ran across the Life magazine item searching this date on Twitter. I haven't pulled up the article.
I'm clueless on the truth or accuracy of that claim and not going to investigate it, but French living conditions were definitely different than American ones, with a significantly different diet. Most people and cultures today are significantly thinner than Americans are and in the 1940s the French had suffered years of near starvation conditions, so they were likely overall less bulky than Americans in every manner. A 20 year old French woman in 1945 had lived her teen years in starvation conditions and had been on pretty thing rations throughout the 1930s. She would have been smaller in every way.
Also, French clothing had been severely rationed during the Second World War and you can't wear clothes you just don't have. Americans have largely forgotten, indeed never appreciated, the extent to which World War Two causes massive food and material deficits during the Second World War.
Added to that, Americans for some reason think of the French as being Parisians, which most are not. Paris had been the center of the fashion industry since at least the mid 19th Century, but that didn't apply to most of the French. About 50% of the French were rural in 1940, down from 64% in 1920, but still a very large percentage. As late as 1960 about 40% of the French were rural.
This oddly ties into this topic as rural life isn't like urban life, including in terms of the clothing people wear. Starting in the late 19th Century French and British artists began to glamorize the agrarian life and left a fair number of romantic, but fairly realistic, paintings of it. Some British paintings of rural life show farm women working fields in the hot summer months flat out topless, something you would not associate with either the UK or British farming today. French paintings can be a shock to run across while as they're often very well done and beautiful, they also make it relatively apparent that French farm women in hot months were wearing light cotton blouses with nothing underneath them.
European agriculture was much slower to mechanize than American agriculture. The Great Depression had an enormous retarding effect on the mechanization of American agriculture and this is even more so for European agriculture, which remained largely equine or bovine powered before the end of World War Two, another thing contributing to starvation as horses were conscripted for the German Army and cows and bulls just shot and ate them. Here, however, this is significant as French men and women were working the fields largely in the same way as they had in 1918.
Brassiers are actually a French invention, makign their appearance in the 1880s, as we've discussed before, and they received a boost due to World War One, as we addressed here:
As noted, things don't change overnight. So, maybe, young women coming of age in Paris in the 1940s who had an okay income or who had parents who did, might have a more advanced clothing standard then, say, a young woman growing up in rural Normandy, even if that young woman had moved into Paris during the war.
And, shall we noted this, in 1914-1918 Americans had been absolutely charmed by the French, and American men had been charmed by French women. But those men were largely rural and they were meeting women who were largely rural. In 1918, 20% of American homes had full indoor plumbing, meaning most did not. By World War Two most Americans homes did, although quite a few very rural ones did not. Most Americans were no longer rural by 1945.
In 1940 only 5% of French homes had indoor plumbing. The percentage for Italy was lower.
5%.
Perhaps not too surprisingly, therefore, lots of American troops were fairly horrified by the French, contrary to the way we like to remember it, when they started landing on French soil in 1944. The French, to put it mildly, smelled. And if the French smelled, the Italians smelled worse, with Italian women wearing cotton dresses in hot weather in which their upper lady bits flopped out, combined with omitting shoes and going around in bare feet. They were hopelessly primitive, in American eyes (which as noted is how the Germans found the Yugoslavians).
Anyhow, if you don't have indoor plumbing, you aren't going to be able to easily frequently wash your clothes and if you can omit something, you probably are going to.
Additionally, if you live in those conditions, and those of the 30s and early 40s, you are probably 40% underweight, smoke cigarettes constantly, have a large percentage of your caloric intake depending on alcohol, and you smell bad.
That's okay if everyone you associate with also is underweight and unwashed.
Things weren't like imagine them to be back then. Glamorous French women? Sure, on their own terms in the conditions in which they found themselves.
Life today is now a sort of special issue magazine featuring photographs. It's very large size format always existed, but it was originally a weekly and was so until 1972. It's big competitor was Look, which ceased publication in 1971. That both of these magazines took a hit in the early 1970s is really interesting is at long predates the Internet, which would otherwise be blamed for it.
Anyhow, Life was always a photo magazine, of which there were several others. It was a serious one, but right from its onset in 1936 (interesting to note it came out during the Great Depression) it frequently featured cheesecake, running racy photographs of actresses and semi undressed women on the guise of discussing clothing or fashion. Some of the photographs even today are shocking if you are not anticipating them. In 1953 it went full pornography for the first time running a nude of Marilyn Monroe which would be the same photograph used as the very first Playboy centerfold in 1953. The excuse, and probably the actual motivation, for that is that by doing that it was attempting to save the career of Monroe, who would be scandalized if her nude, taken in the late 1940s before she was a well known and up and coming actress, appeared first in a pornographic magazine, but still there's the only difference between the two publications of the image is the purpose the magazines served.
Anyhow, this is interesting in that Life and Look were general publication magazines that were outright flirting with cheesecake very early on, showing an (unfortunate) evolution on community standards. We've looked at this in the past, but this is certainly good evidence that whatever was going on in the culture was going on before World War Two and before the 1950s.
The Allied Control Commission decided to transmit to all neutral states a request for the return to Germany of "all German officials and obnoxious Germans".
Sweden resumed allowing foreign warships to enter its territorial waters.
MacArthur ordered the dissolution of the Imperial general headquarters and imposed censorship on the press.
The Shangdang Campaign began in the Chinese Civil War between the Eighth Route Army and Kuomintang troops led by Yan Xishan in what is now Shanxi Province, China.
The Indonesian Navy was founded.
The USS Midway was Commissioned
José Feliciano was born in Lares, Puerto Rico.
Related threads:
Clothing: It was because of World War One.
Labels: 1910s, Clothing, It was because of World War One, It was because of World War Two, Men, Standards, The roles of men and women, Women, World War One, World War Two, Yeoman's Fourth Law of History
Last edition:
Friday, September 7, 1945. Green River Railroad Bridge Fire. A final and unnoticed parade.
Monday, August 25, 2025
Court Watch, Part II.
August 5, 2025
Texas Governor Abbot has ordered the arrest of absentee Democratic Texas legislators.
cont:
The House Oversight Committee subpoenaed Bill and Hillary Clinton to testify on matters Epstein.
Here's the thing, however. Nobody really knows what they'll have to say, but one of the questions is going to be "who all did you see at . . . "
I suspect as many Republicans as Democrats are hoping he doesn't answer that.
August 11, 2025
It seems clear that the Trump administration is going to make some sort of a move on the homeless population of Washington, D.C.
There's also a move to take back Federal control of the enclave.
As anyone here can tell, I'm not a fan of the Trump administration, but I'll at least acknowledge that American cities have a huge homeless problem and it detracts from American society overall. Something needs to be done about it. Something humane, but something.
Also, frankly, D.C. should have gave been given home rule. It hasn't been a well run city in many instances. It's a Federal enclave for a reason.
A case involving a county clerk may go to the S.Ct, and if it does, it would allow the court to review the Obergefell decision if it wishes to.
It doesn't have to take the case, and if it did, it wouldn't have to revisit Obergefell. Obergefell was clearly wrongly decided, so it'll be interesting to see what the Court does.
Cont:
DECLARING A CRIME EMERGENCY IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including section 740 of the District of Columbia Self-Government and Governmental Reorganization Act (Public Law 93-198), as amended (section 740 of the Home Rule Act), and section 301 of title 3, United States Code, it is hereby ordered:
Section 1. Crime is out of control in the District of Columbia. Washington, District of Columbia, is our Nation’s capital and home to the central institutions of American governance. Yet rising violence in the capital now urgently endangers public servants, citizens, and tourists, disrupts safe and secure transportation and the proper functioning of the Federal Government, and forces the diversion of critical public resources toward emergency response and security measures. The city government’s failure to maintain public order and safety has had a dire impact on the Federal Government’s ability to operate efficiently to address the Nation’s broader interests without fear of our workers being subjected to rampant violence.
The increase in violent crime in the heart of our Republic has consequences beyond the individual tragedies that have dominated media coverage. Such lawlessness also poses intolerable risks to the vital Federal functions that take place in the District of Columbia. Violence and crime hamper the recruitment and retention of essential Federal employees, undermine critical functions of Government and thus the well-being of the entire Nation, and erode confidence in the strength of the United States. These conditions are disgraceful anywhere, but particularly in the capital of our Nation and the seat of the Federal Government. Citizens, tourists, and Federal workers deserve peace and security, not fear and violence. The smooth functioning of executive departments and agencies, courts, diplomatic missions, and the Federal Government demands an effective law-enforcement mechanism capable of halting the precipitous rise in violent crime, not one that permits Government workers to be violently attacked by mobs or fatally shot close to the Federal buildings where they work.
The magnitude of the violent crime crisis places the District of Columbia among the most violent jurisdictions in the United States. In 2024, the District of Columbia averaged one of the highest robbery and murder rates of large cities nationwide. Indeed, the District of Columbia now has a higher violent crime, murder, and robbery rate than all 50 States, recording a homicide rate in 2024 of 27.54 per 100,000 residents. It also experienced the Nation’s highest vehicle theft rate with 842.4 thefts per 100,000 residents — over three times the national average of 250.2 thefts per 100,000 residents. The District of Columbia is, by some measures, among the top 20 percent of the most dangerous cities in the world.
As President, I have a solemn duty to take care that our laws are faithfully executed, and a sacred responsibility to protect the safety and security of United States citizens who live in and visit our Nation’s capital, including Federal workers who live or commute into the District of Columbia. These conditions cannot persist. We will make the District of Columbia one of the safest cities in the world, not the most dangerous.
Sec. 2. Services of the Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia. I determine that special conditions of an emergency nature exist that require the use of the Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia (Metropolitan Police force) for Federal purposes, including maintaining law and order in the Nation’s seat of Government; protecting Federal buildings, national monuments, and other Federal property; and ensuring conditions necessary for the orderly functioning of the Federal Government. Effective immediately, the Mayor of the District of Columbia (Mayor) shall provide the services of the Metropolitan Police force for Federal purposes for the maximum period permitted under section 740 of the Home Rule Act.
Sec. 3. Operational Control of the Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia. (a) The authority of the President conferred by section 740(a) of the Home Rule Act to direct the Mayor with respect to the current special conditions of an emergency nature is delegated to the Attorney General.
(b) In accordance with section 740(a) of the Home Rule Act, the Mayor shall provide such services of the Metropolitan Police force as the Attorney General may deem necessary and appropriate.
Sec. 4. Monitoring and Recommendations. (a) The Attorney General shall monitor and regularly consult with any senior official the Attorney General deems appropriate on the special conditions of an emergency nature that exist in the District of Columbia that require the use of the Metropolitan Police force for Federal purposes.
(b) The Attorney General shall regularly update me on the status of the special conditions of an emergency nature that exist in the District of Columbia that require the use of the Metropolitan Police force for Federal purposes.
(c) The Attorney General shall inform me of any circumstances that, in the Attorney General’s opinion, might indicate the need for further action by the President or that the action in this order is no longer necessary.
Sec. 5. Severability. If any provision of this order, or the application of any provision to any individual or circumstance, is held to be invalid, the remainder of this order and the application of its other provisions to any other individuals or circumstances shall not be affected thereby.
Sec. 6. General Provisions. (a) Nothing in this order shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect:
(i) the authority granted by law to an executive department or agency, or the head thereof; or
(ii) the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals.
(b) This order shall be implemented consistent with applicable law and subject to the availability of appropriations.
(c) This order is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person.
(d) The costs for publication of this order shall be borne by the Department of Justice.
DONALD J. TRUMP
THE WHITE HOUSE,
August 11, 2025.
There is no emergency.
Trump's use of executive orders is completely out of control.
Cont:
Attorney who backed Trump on Jan. 6 now urging Supreme Court to hear corner-crossing case: John Eastman says high court should hear matter “because it affects so much private property.”
August 13, 2025
Wyoming Senate panel rebuffs effort to give lawmakers more control over judicial nominations: The Wyoming Freedom Caucus began criticizing the court’s judiciary after rulings against its initiatives. A narrow vote Tuesday indicated debate is likely to continue.
August 20, 2025
California Republicans have filed suit to stop California Governor Newsome's retaliatory redistricting plan.
Apparently the GOP never grasped the Democrats would punch back over the Texas gerrymandering grab.
August 21, 2025
Grand jury indicts Cody Roberts, infamous Wyoming wolf captor, on felony animal cruelty
Grand jury indicts Cody Roberts, infamous Wyoming wolf captor, on felony animal cruelty: Eighteen months after Roberts’ actions incited global outrage, a grand jury decided the Daniel resident should face felony charges.
August 23, 2025
The FBI raided the house of former Trump official and current Trump critic John Bolton.
August 25, 2025
More fascist behavior:
ADDITIONAL MEASURES TO ADDRESS THE
CRIME EMERGENCY IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered:
Section 1. Crime Emergency. Two weeks ago, I declared a crime emergency in the District of Columbia to address the rampant violence and disorder that have undermined the proper and safe functioning of the Federal Government, and therefore, the Nation, and that have led to disgraceful conditions in our Nation’s capital. In furtherance of Executive Order 14333 of August 11, 2025 (Declaring a Crime Emergency in the District of Columbia), I am now ordering further actions to address the conditions described in that Executive Order.
Sec. 2. Operational Actions. (a) The Director of the National Park Service shall, subject to the availability of appropriations and applicable law, hire additional members of the United States Park Police in the District of Columbia to support the policy goals described in Executive Order 14333. The United States Park Police shall ensure enforcement of all applicable laws within their jurisdiction, including the Code of the District of Columbia, to help maintain public safety and proper order.
(b) The United States Attorney for the District of Columbia shall, subject to the availability of appropriations and applicable law, hire additional prosecutors to focus on prosecuting violent and property crimes.
(c) The D.C. Safe and Beautiful Task Force established in Executive Order 14252 of March 27, 2025 (Making the District of Columbia Safe and Beautiful), shall establish an online portal for Americans with law enforcement or other relevant backgrounds and experience to apply to join Federal law enforcement entities to support the policy goals described in Executive Order 14333. Each law enforcement agency that is a member of the D.C. Safe and Beautiful Task Force, as well as other relevant components of the Department of Justice as the Attorney General determines, shall further, subject to the availability of appropriations and applicable law, immediately create and begin training, manning, hiring, and equipping a specialized unit that is dedicated to ensuring public safety and order in the Nation’s capital that can be deployed whenever the circumstances necessitate, and that could be deployed, subject to applicable law, in other cities where public safety and order has been lost.
(d)(i) The Secretary of Defense shall, subject to the availability of appropriations and applicable law, immediately create and begin training, manning, hiring, and equipping a specialized unit within the District of Columbia National Guard, subject to activation under Title 32 of the United States Code, that is dedicated to ensuring public safety and order in the Nation’s capital. As appropriate and consistent with applicable law, the Attorney General, the Secretary of the Interior, and the Secretary of Homeland Security, in coordination with the Secretary of Defense, shall each deputize the members of this unit to enforce Federal law.
(ii) The Secretary of Defense shall immediately begin ensuring that each State’s Army National Guard and Air National Guard are resourced, trained, organized, and available to assist Federal, State, and local law enforcement in quelling civil disturbances and ensuring the public safety and order whenever the circumstances necessitate, as appropriate under law. In coordination with the respective adjutants general, the Secretary of Defense shall designate an appropriate number of each State’s trained National Guard members to be reasonably available for rapid mobilization for such purposes. In addition, the Secretary of Defense shall ensure the availability of a standing National Guard quick reaction force that shall be resourced, trained, and available for rapid nationwide deployment.
(e) The Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) shall investigate any non-compliance with the crime-prevention and safety requirements of HUD agreements by the District of Columbia Housing Authority or any landlord in the District of Columbia. These investigations shall include consideration of the provisions of such agreements that require housing providers to maintain safe, decent, and sanitary conditions or to restrict tenants who engage in criminal activity that threatens health, safety, and the right to peaceful enjoyment for other tenants, including engaging in drug distribution, violent criminal activity, and domestic violence. The Secretary of HUD shall refer any findings of non-compliance to the Attorney General, Federal law enforcement authorities, the District of Columbia Housing Authority Police Department, and the Metropolitan Police Department, as appropriate.
(f) The Secretary of Transportation shall conduct additional inspections, audits, and examinations to determine whether conditions exist in federally-funded transit services in the District of Columbia that endanger transit workers, and take appropriate remedial action that is within the Department of Transportation’s authority.
Sec. 3. Potential Amendments to Metropolitan Police Department General Orders. (a) The Attorney General shall review the Metropolitan Police Department General Orders and shall request that the Mayor of the District of Columbia make such updates and modifications to such orders as the Attorney General determines are necessary to address the crime emergency and ensure public order and safety.
Sec. 4. Severability. If any provision of this order, or the application of any provision to any individual or circumstance, is held to be invalid, the remainder of this order and the application of its other provisions to any other individuals or circumstances shall not be affected thereby.
Sec. 5. General Provisions. (a) Nothing in this order shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect:
(i) the authority granted by law to an executive department or agency, or the head thereof; or
(ii) the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals.
(b) This order shall be implemented consistent with applicable law and subject to the availability of appropriations.
(c) This order is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees or agents, or any other person.
(d) The costs for publication of this order shall be borne by the Department of Justice.
DONALD J. TRUMP
PROSECUTING BURNING OF THE AMERICAN FLAG
By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered:
Section 1. Purpose. Our great American Flag is the most sacred and cherished symbol of the United States of America, and of American freedom, identity, and strength. Over nearly two-and-a-half centuries, many thousands of American patriots have fought, bled, and died to keep the Stars and Stripes waving proudly. The American Flag is a special symbol in our national life that should unite and represent all Americans of every background and walk of life. Desecrating it is uniquely offensive and provocative. It is a statement of contempt, hostility, and violence against our Nation — the clearest possible expression of opposition to the political union that preserves our rights, liberty, and security. Burning this representation of America may incite violence and riot. American Flag burning is also used by groups of foreign nationals as a calculated act to intimidate and threaten violence against Americans because of their nationality and place of birth.
Notwithstanding the Supreme Court’s rulings on First Amendment protections, the Court has never held that American Flag desecration conducted in a manner that is likely to incite imminent lawless action or that is an action amounting to “fighting words” is constitutionally protected. See Texas v. Johnson, 491 U.S. 397, 408-10 (1989).
My Administration will act to restore respect and sanctity to the American Flag and prosecute those who incite violence or otherwise violate our laws while desecrating this symbol of our country, to the fullest extent permissible under any available authority.
Sec. 2. Measures to Combat Desecration of the American Flag. (a) The Attorney General shall prioritize the enforcement to the fullest extent possible of our Nation’s criminal and civil laws against acts of American Flag desecration that violate applicable, content-neutral laws, while causing harm unrelated to expression, consistent with the First Amendment. This may include, but is not limited to, violent crimes; hate crimes, illegal discrimination against American citizens, or other violations of Americans’ civil rights; and crimes against property and the peace, as well as conspiracies and attempts to violate, and aiding and abetting others to violate, such laws.
(b) In cases where the Department of Justice or another executive department or agency (agency) determines that an instance of American Flag desecration may violate an applicable State or local law, such as open burning restrictions, disorderly conduct laws, or destruction of property laws, the agency shall refer the matter to the appropriate State or local authority for potential action.
(c) To the maximum extent permitted by the Constitution, the Attorney General shall vigorously prosecute those who violate our laws in ways that involve desecrating the American Flag, and may pursue litigation to clarify the scope of the First Amendment exceptions in this area.
(d) The Secretary of State, the Attorney General, and the Secretary of Homeland Security, acting within their respective authorities, shall deny, prohibit, terminate, or revoke visas, residence permits, naturalization proceedings, and other immigration benefits, or seek removal from the United States, pursuant to Federal law, including 8 U.S.C. 1182(a), 8 U.S.C. 1424, 8 U.S.C. 1427, 8 U.S.C. 1451(c), and 8 U.S.C. 1227(a), whenever there has been an appropriate determination that foreign nationals have engaged in American Flag-desecration activity under circumstances that permit the exercise of such remedies pursuant to Federal law.
Sec. 3. Severability. If any provision of this order, or the application of any provision to any person or circumstance, is held to be invalid, the remainder of this order and the application of its provisions to any other persons or circumstances shall not be affected thereby.
Sec. 4. General Provisions. (a) Nothing in this order shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect:
(i) the authority granted by law to an executive department or agency, or the head thereof; or
(ii) the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals.
(b) This order shall be implemented consistent with applicable law and subject to the availability of appropriations.
(c) This order is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person.
(d) The costs for publication of this order shall be borne by the Department of Justice.
DONALD J. TRUMP
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