Subsidiarity Economics. The times more or less locally, Part X. The Camp Stove Edition.

August 28, 2022 

It's always been the case that California has tended to drive a lot of legal developments in the country, simply due to its size and population.  Current environmental trends are not an except.

We mentioned this a couple of days ago.

August 26, 2022

California will require all cars, trucks and SUV's sold in the state after 2035 to be electric or hydrogen fueled after 2035.

Some Republicans at the Federal level are threatening to take away California's ability to independently regulate automobiles in this fashion, but they lack the power at this point to really do anything about this.

Now comes news that Yosemite has banned non-refillable 1 lb propane gas cylinders for use with camp staves, and the State of California is about to.

Shoot, I use those things all the time for camp stoves.

How does this relate to the theme of this tread?  Well, because I use these things all the time, and in spite of what people think, they don't make propane cylinders, or cars, for Wyoming.  What California does, matters.

September 2, 2022

Wyomingites will have the highest percentage of residents in the country with student loans to be completely forgiven under President Biden's plan to do so, assuming that the plan is legal, which it likely is not.  Nearly 40% of Wyomingites who received students loans stand to have them forgiven.

This is not without irony.  In my view, the forgiveness should not be done as it will be inflationary, but the irony would be that this would be a Federal handout just after a primary election, which for all practical purposes determined many of the wider races, in which Wyomingites expressed a "no handout" view.

In another topic, the largest decrease in reading scores in 30 years, and the largest drop in math scores since testing has been conducted, has been experienced. This is no doubt due to the disruption in education caused by COVID-19.

September 3, 2022

The Federal District Court for Wyoming found that Federal postponement of oil and gas lease sales was legal.

September 8, 2022

OPEC is cutting production by 100,000 bbls a day, a symbolic amount really, in an effort to keep oil prices from continuing to decline.

September 11, 2022

The State gave out $6,600,000 in rent relief, funded by the Federal Government, last month.

Project Bison will commence construction in the state.  It's a direct carbon removal from the air project that will remove annually the amount of carbon generated by 1.2 coal-fired power plants annually.

September 16, 2022

A nationwide railroad strike that would have gone into effect on Friday has been avoided.

September 17, 2022

Yvon Chouinard, who has a close association with Teton County, and who is the founder of Patagonia, the clothing company, is converting the shares of the company to be held in trust with the profits, approximately $100,000,000 per year, to support environmental causes.

The Treasury Department is supporting the creation of U.S. digital currency, to be backed by conventional currency.

September 18, 2022

Among the resolutions that the GOP will consider this weekend is one it will pass, providing that it will refuse to recognize those running as independents or in other parties as members of the GOP.  This comes about as some extreme right wing member of the party have become candidates in third parties, and some moderates and others are running as independents.

The resolution will pass, but it won't matter.  A person can make any registration of party affiliation they want for voter affiliation, right up to the polls.

September 20, 2022

In an article penned by the Mayor of Cheyenne, it was announced that Cheyenne may be getting a meat packing plant with a construction value of over $1B.  The plant would be one of the largest in the United States, if constructed, and would employ 2,500 people.  No other details were available.

We've often urged the construction of a plant or two of this type in the state, although on a locally owned basis.  It'll be interesting to see what the details of this plant are, should it advance further.

September 21, 2022

The legislature is looking at solar panels for schools as a means of cutting infrastructure costs for the same.

October 5, 2022

OPEC is cutting production by 2M bbls per day.

October 8, 2022

October 5, 2022

OPEC is cutting production by 2M bbls per day.

This turns out to be "OPEC +" which includes not only the formal OPEC members, but additionally Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Brunei, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Mexico, Oman, Russia, South Sudan and Sudan.

Hmmm. . . . 

Russia.

And Mexico?

Well, in some ways 2M bbls/day isn't that much really, but it will cause prices to rise and that's exactly what it's designed to do.

The OPEC daily target was 44M bbls per day, but they're not meeting that now.  So this is in fact more significant than it might seem.

Now, I know that some politicians from Western states in particular are going to come out with the "unleash" American energy line, but as much in that category as can realistically be done already is being done.  Eventually, the US could more than make up the slack, but at a higher price per gallon pump price.

The turnover rate in state government in Wyoming has doubled from what it was a decade ago.

October 11, 2022

A law which would have fined coal mines in Montana in certain ways designed to keep them in operation were found unconstitutional by the United States Supreme Court.

No surprise there, but this should be of note given similar proposals that have been floated in Wyoming.

October 13, 2022

The Tribune reports various mining activities can be expected to boom in southeastern Wyoming.

October 22, 2022

This year's Federal budget deficit, which should be quite frankly $0, was cut in half, which means that it's still $1.4 Trillion.

That's real progress, but not good. It's sort of like a diehard alcoholic going from one fifth of booze per day, to one fifth every two days.

October 26, 2022

Wyoming has been sponsoring a project to find other uses for coal, such as an element of building materials.  A study of using it for biochar has also been underway.

Apple is requiring all of its suppliers to be carbon-neutral by 2030.

Jennifer Sey, a Democrat, and the former Chief Marketing Officer for Levis, has come out with a book claiming that wokedness has taken over corporate boardrooms.

Ryan Busse, a former executive with Kimber, the firearms' manufacturer, has published a book taking on the combat focused gun culture as it relates to the industry.

The Lancet, the famous medical journal, has published that health is at the mercy of fossil fuels.

November 11, 2022

Inflation has dropped to 7.7%

November 17, 2022

Revenue to the State of Wyoming from oil and gas lease sales is the highest it has been since 2018.

November 22, 2022

A railroad strike is looking increasingly likely.

November 23, 2022

A new Federal oil and gas leasing provision passed under the Inflation Reduction Act requires Federal agencies to offer “the lesser of a ‘sum total’ of either 2,000,000 acres or 50 percent of the acreage for which have been submitted for lease sales during the previous one-year period,” before it offers leases for renewable energy projects.

November 26, 2022

Wyoming is pursuing a $2,000,000 under the Federal infrastructure bill in order to build a hydrogen hub.

Hydrogen is viewed as a potential replacement for vehicle fossil fuels.\

December 1, 2022

The House of Representatives voted to impose the results of negotiations between railroad companies and unions that were reached last September, but rejected subsequently by the unions.

The agreement which was reached, but which was subsequently rejected by the unions increased pay 24%, but did not addressed on call schedules, under staffing and a lack of paid leave.

Last prior edition:  

Subsidiarity Economics. The times more or less locally, Part IX. The Russo Ukrainian War edition.

Monday, November 13, 1922. Disgusting acts and opinions.

The day featured a double header for fascism and racism.

Not good.

Mussolini asked King Victor Emmanuel III for extraordinary authority to enact fiscal and civil service reforms without full parliamentary authority.  The King granted the same through December 31, 1923, which goes to show the stupidity of having a king with actual power.

The United States Supreme Court ruled in Ozawa v. United States that "white persons" were people of European descent, thereby approving California giving the shaft to people of Japanese ancestry.

The full opinion is here:

Ozawa v. United States, 260 U.S. 178 (1922)

Ozawa v. United States

No. 1

Argued October 3, 4, 1922

Decided November 13, 1922

260 U.S. 178

CERTIFICATE FROM THE CIRCUIT COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT

Syllabus

1. Section 2169 of the Revised Statutes, which is part of Title XXX dealing with naturalization, and which declares: "The provisions of this Title shall apply to aliens, being free white persons, and to aliens of African nativity and to persons of African descent," is consistent with the Naturalization Act of June 29, 1906, and was not impliedly repealed by it. P. 260 U. S. 192.

2. Revised Statutes, § 2169, supra, stands as a limitation upon the Naturalization Act, and not merely upon those other provisions of Title XXX which remain unrepealed. P. 260 U. S. 192.

3. The intent of legislation is to be ascertained primarily by giving words their natural significance; but if this leads to an unreasonable result plainly at variance with the policy of the legislation as a whole, the court must look to the reason of the enactment, inquiring into its antecedents, and give it effect in accordance with its design and purpose, sacrificing, if necessary, the literal meaning, in order that the purpose may not fail. P. 260 U. S. 194.

4. The term " white person," as used in Rev.Stats. § 2169 and in all the earlier naturalization laws, beginning in 1790, applies to such persons as were known in this country as "white," in the racial sense, when it was first adopted, and is confined to persons of the Caucasian Race. P. 260 U. S. 195.

5. The effect of the conclusion that "white person" means a Caucasian is merely to establish a zone on one side of which are those clearly eligible, and on the other those clearly ineligible, to citizenship; individual cases within this zone must be determined as they arise. P. 260 U. S. 198.

6. A Japanese, born in Japan, being clearly not a Caucasian, cannot be made a citizen of the United States under Rev.Stats. § 2169 and the Naturalization Act. P. 260 U. S. 198.

Questions certified by the court below, arising upon an appeal to it from a judgment of the District Court of Hawaii which dismissed a petition for naturalization.

Page 260 U. S. 189

MR. JUSTICE SUTHERLAND delivered the opinion of the Court.

The appellant is a person of the Japanese race born in Japan. He applied, on October 16, 1914, to the United States District Court for the Territory of Hawaii to be admitted as a citizen of the United States. His petition was opposed by the United States District Attorney for the District of Hawaii. Including the period of his residence in Hawaii, appellant had continuously resided in the United States for 20 years. He was a graduate of the Berkeley, California, high school, had been nearly three years a student in the University of California, had educated his children in American schools, his family had attended American churches, and he had maintained the use of the English language in his home. That he was well qualified by character and education for citizenship is conceded.

The District Court of Hawaii, however, held that, having been born in Japan and being of the Japanese race,

he was not eligible to naturalization under § 2169 of the Revised Statutes, and denied the petition. Thereupon the appellant brought the cause to the Circuit Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, and that court has certified the following questions upon which it desires to be instructed:

"1. Is the act of June 29, 1906 (34 Stats. at Large, pt. 1, p. 596), providing 'for a uniform rule for the naturalization of aliens' complete in itself, or is it limited by § 2169 of the Revised Statutes of the United States?"

"2. Is one who is of the Japanese race and born in Japan eligible to citizenship under the naturalization laws?"

"3. If said Act of June 29, 1906, is limited by § 2169 and naturalization is limited to aliens being free white persons and to aliens of African nativity and to persons of African descent, is one of the Japanese race, born in Japan, under any circumstances eligible to naturalization?"

These questions, for purposes of discussion, may be briefly restated:

1. Is the Naturalization Act of June 29, 1906, limited by the provisions of § 2169 of the Revised Statutes of the United States?

2. If so limited, is the appellant eligible to naturalization under that section?

Firt. Section 2169 is found in title XXX of the Revised Statutes, under the heading "Naturalization," and reads as follows:

"The provisions of this Title shall apply to aliens, being free white persons and to aliens of African nativity and to persons of African descent."

The Act of June 29, 1906, entitled

"An act to establish a Bureau of Immigration and Naturalization, and to provide for a uniform rule for the naturalization of aliens throughout the United States," consists of thirty-one sections, and deals primarily with the subject of procedure. There is nothing in the circumstances leading up to or accompanying the passage of the act which suggests that any modification of § 2169, or of its application, was contemplated.

The report of the House Committee on Naturalization and Immigration recommending its passage contains this statement:

"It is the opinion of your committee that the frauds and crimes which have been committed in regard to naturalization have resulted more from a lack of any uniform system of procedure in such matters than from any radical defect in the fundamental principles of existing law governing in such matters. The two changes which the committee has recommended in the principles controlling in naturalization matters and which are embodied in the bill submitted herewith are as follows: first, the requirement that, before an alien can be naturalized, he must be able to read, either in his own language or in the English language, and to speak or understand the English language, and second, that the alien must intend to reside permanently in the United States before he shall be entitled to naturalization."

This seems to make it quite clear that no change of the fundamental character here involved was in mind.

Section 26 of the Act expressly repeals §§ 2165, 2167, 2168, 2173 of Title XXX, the subject matter thereof being covered by new provisions. The sections of Title XXX remaining without repeal are: Section 2166, relating to honorably discharged soldiers; § 2169, now under consideration; § 2170, requiring five years' residence prior to admission; § 2171, forbidding the admission of alien enemies; § 2172, relating to the status of children of naturalized persons, and § 2174, making special provision in respect of the naturalization of seamen.

There is nothing in § 2169 which is repugnant to anything in the Act of 1906. Both may stand and be given effect. It is clear, therefore, that there is no repeal by implication.

But it is insisted by appellant that § 2169, by its terms, is made applicable only to the provisions of Title XXX, and that it will not admit of being construed as a restriction upon the Act of 1906. Since § 2169, it is in effect argued, declares that "the provisions of this Title shall apply to aliens being free white persons, . . . " it should be confined to the classes provided for in the unrepealed sections of that title, leaving the Act of 1906 to govern in respect of all other aliens, without any restriction except such as may be imposed by that act itself.

It is contended that, thus construed, the Act of 1906 confers the privilege of naturalization without limitation as to race, since the general introductory words of § 4 are: "That an alien may be admitted to become a citizen of the United States in the following manner, and not otherwise."

But obviously this clause does not relate to the subject of eligibility, but to the "manner," that is, the procedure, to be followed. Exactly the same words are used to introduce the similar provisions contained in § 2165 of the Revised Statutes. In 1790, the first naturalization act provided that "[a]ny alien being a free white person . . . may be admitted to become a citizen. . . ." C. 3, 1 Stat. 103. This was subsequently enlarged to include aliens of African nativity and persons of African descent. These provisions were restated in the Revised Statutes, so that § 2165 included only the procedural portion, while the substantive parts were carried into a separate section, (2169) and the words "[a]n alien" substituted for the words "[a]ny alien."

In all of the naturalization acts from 1790 to 1906, the privilege of naturalization was confined to white persons (with the addition in 1870 of those of African nativity and descent), although the exact wording of the various statutes was not always the same. If Congress in 1906 desired to alter a rule so well and so long established, it may be assumed that its purpose would have been definitely disclosed and its legislation to that end put in unmistakable terms.

The argument that, because § 2169 is in terms made applicable only to the title in which it is found, it should now be confined to the unrepealed §§ of that title, is not convincing. The persons entitled to naturalization under these unrepealed sections include only honorably discharged soldiers and seamen who have served three years on board an American vessel, both of whom were entitled from the beginning to admission on more generous terms than were accorded to other aliens. It is not conceivable that Congress would deliberately have allowed the racial limitation to continue as to soldiers and seamen to whom the statute had accorded an especially favored status, and have removed it as to all other aliens. Such a construction cannot be adopted unless it be unavoidable.

The division of the Revised Statutes into titles and chapters is chiefly a matter of convenience, and reference to a given title or chapter is simply a ready method of identifying the particular provisions which are meant. The provisions of Title XXX affected by the limitation of § 2169 originally embraced the whole subject of naturalization of aliens. The generality of the words in § 2165, "[a]n alien may be admitted, . . . " was restricted by § 2169 in common with the other provisions of the title. The words "this title" were used for the purpose of identifying that provision (and others), but it was the provision which was restricted. That provision having been amended and carried into the Act of 1906, § 2169 being left intact and unrepealed, it will require some thing more persuasive than a narrowly literal reading of the identifying words "this title" to justify the conclusion that Congress intended the restriction to be no longer applicable to the provision.

It is the duty of this Court to give effect to the intent of Congress. Primarily this intent is ascertained by giving the words their natural significance, but if this leads to an unreasonable result plainly at variance with the policy of the legislation as a whole, we must examine the matter further. We may then look to the reason of the enactment and inquire into its antecedent history and give it effect in accordance with its design and purpose, sacrificing, if necessary, the literal meaning in order that the purpose may not fail. See Church of the Holy Trinity v. United States, 143 U. S. 457; Heydenfeldt v. Daney Gold Mining Co., 93 U. S. 634, 93 U. S. 638. We are asked to conclude that Congress, without the consideration or recommendation of any committee, without a suggestion as to the effect or a word of debate as to the desirability of so fundamental a change, nevertheless, by failing to alter the identifying words of § 2169, which section we may assume was continued for some serious purpose, has radically modified a statute always theretofore maintained and considered as of great importance. It is inconceivable that a rule in force from the beginning of the government, a part of our history as well as our law, welded into the structure of our national polity by a century of legislative and administrative acts and judicial decisions, would have been deprived of its force in such dubious and casual fashion. We are therefore constrained to hold that the Act of 1906 is limited by the provisions of § 2169 of the Revised Statutes.

Second. This brings us to inquire whether, under § 2169, the appellant is eligible to naturalization. The language of the naturalization laws from 1790 to 1870 had been uniformly such as to deny the privilege of naturalization to an alien unless he came within the description "free white person." By § 7 of the Act of July 14, 1870, c. 254, 16 Stat. 254, 256, the naturalization laws were "extended to aliens of African nativity and to persons of African descent." Section 2169 of the Revised Statutes, as already pointed out, restricts the privilege to the same classes of persons, viz., "to aliens [being free white persons, and to aliens] of African nativity and to persons of African descent." It is true that, in the first edition of the Revised Statutes of 1873, the words in brackets, "being free white persons, and to aliens" were omitted, but this was clearly an error of the compilers, and was corrected by the subsequent legislation of 1875, c. 80, 18 Stat. 316, 318. Is appellant therefore a "free white person," within the meaning of that phrase as found in the statute?

On behalf of the appellant, it is urged that we should give to this phrase the meaning which it had in the minds of its original framers in 1790, and that it was employed by them for the sole purpose of excluding the black or African race and the Indians then inhabiting this country. It may be true that those two races were alone thought of as being excluded, but to say that they were the only ones within the intent of the statute would be to ignore the affirmative form of the legislation. The provision is not that Negroes and Indians shall be excluded, but it is, in effect, that only free white persons shall be included. The intention was to confer the privilege of citizenship upon that class of persons whom the fathers knew as white, and to deny it to all who could not be so classified. It is not enough to say that the framers did not have in mind the brown or yellow races of Asia. It is necessary to go farther and be able to say that, had these particular races been suggested, the language of the act would have been so varied as to include them within its privileges. As said by Chief Justice Marshall in Dartmouth College v. Woodward, 4 Wheat. 518, 17 U. S. 644, in deciding a question of constitutional construction:

"It is not enough to say that this particular case was not in the mind of the convention when the article was framed, nor of the American people when it was adopted. It is necessary to go farther, and to say that, had this particular case been suggested, the language would have been so varied as to exclude it, or it would have been made a special exception. The case, being within the words of the rule, must be within its operation likewise unless there be something in the literal construction so obviously absurd, or mischievous, or repugnant to the general spirit of the instrument as to justify those who expound the Constitution in making it an exception."

If it be assumed that the opinion of the framers was that the only persons who would fall outside the designation "white" were Negroes and Indians, this would go no farther than to demonstrate their lack of sufficient information to enable them to foresee precisely who would be excluded by that term in the subsequent administration of the statute. It is not important in construing their words to consider the extent of their ethnological knowledge or whether they thought that, under the statute, the only persons who would be denied naturalization would be Negroes and Indians. It is sufficient to ascertain whom they intended to include, and, having ascertained that, it follows as a necessary corollary that all others are to be excluded.

The question then is: who are comprehended within the phrase "free white persons"? Undoubtedly the word "free" was originally used in recognition of the fact that slavery then existed and that some white persons occupied that status. The word, however, has long since ceased to have any practical significance, and may now be disregarded.

We have been furnished with elaborate briefs in which the meaning of the words "white person" is discussed with ability and at length, both from the standpoint of judicial decision and from that of the science of ethnology. It does not seem to us necessary, however, to follow counsel in their extensive researches in these fields. It is sufficient to note the fact that these decisions are, in substance, to the effect that the words import a racial, and not an individual, test, and with this conclusion, fortified as it is by reason and authority, we entirely agree. Manifestly the test afforded by the mere color of the skin of each individual is impracticable, as that differs greatly among persons of the same race, even among Anglo-Saxons, ranging by imperceptible gradations from the fair blond to the swarthy brunette, the latter being darker than many of the lighter hued persons of the brown or yellow races. Hence, to adopt the color test alone would result in a confused overlapping of races and a gradual merging of one into the other, without any practical line of separation. Beginning with the decision of Circuit Judge Sawyer in In Re Ah Yup, 5 Sawy. 155 (1878), the federal and state courts, in an almost unbroken line, have held that the words "white person" were meant to indicate only a person of what is popularly known as the Caucasian race. Among these decisions, see, for example: In re Camille, 6 F. 256; In re Saito, 62 F. 126; In re Nian, 6 Utah 259; In re Kumagai, 163 F. 922; In re Yamashita, 30 Wash. 234, 237; In re Ellis, 179 F. 1002; In re Mozumdar, 207 F. 115, 117; In re Singh, 257 F. 209, 211, 212, and In re Charr, 273 F. 207. With the conclusion reached in these several decisions we see no reason to differ. Moreover, that conclusion has become so well established by judicial and executive concurrence and legislative acquiescence that we should not at this late day feel at liberty to disturb it in the absence of reasons far more cogent than any that have been suggested. United States v. Midwest Oil Co., 236 U. S. 459, 236 U. S. 472.

The determination that the words "white person" are synonymous with the words "a person of the Caucasian race" simplifies the problem, although it does not entirely dispose of it. Controversies have arisen and will no doubt arise again in respect of the proper classification of individuals in border line cases. The effect of the conclusion that the words "white person" means a Caucasian is not to establish a sharp line of demarcation between those who are entitled and those who are not entitled to naturalization, but rather a zone of more or less debatable ground outside of which, upon the one hand, are those clearly eligible, and outside of which, upon the other hand, are those clearly ineligible for citizenship. Individual cases falling within this zone must be determined as they arise from time to time by what this Court has called, in another connection (Davidson v. New Orleans, 96 U. S. 97, 96 U. S. 104), "the gradual process of judicial inclusion and exclusion."

The appellant in the case now under consideration, however, is clearly of a race which is not Caucasian, and therefore belongs entirely outside the zone on the negative side. A large number of the federal and state courts have so decided, and we find no reported case definitely to the contrary. These decisions are sustained by numerous scientific authorities which we do not deem it necessary to review. We think these decisions are right, and so hold.

The briefs filed on behalf of appellant refer in complimentary terms to the culture and enlightenment of the Japanese people, and with this estimate we have no reason to disagree; but these are matters which cannot enter into our consideration of the questions here at issue. We have no function in the matter other than to ascertain the will of Congress and declare it. Of course, there is not implied -- either in the legislation or in our interpretation of it -- any suggestion of individual unworthiness or racial inferiority. These considerations are in no manner involved.

The questions submitted are therefore answered as follows:

Question No. 1. The Act of June 29, 1906, is not complete in itself, but is limited by § 2169 of the Revised Statutes of the United States.

Question No. 2. No.

Question No. 3. No.

It will be so certified.

Thursday, October 15, 1942. Woof.

The San Carlos War Dog Training Center was opened in San Carlos, California.  It'd train a substantial number of dogs for military service before being closed in 1944.

Marine Raiders with dogs on Bouganville in 1943.

Wednesday, August 30, 1922. The End of Greek Anatolia.

Young women photographed on this day in 1922.

A press photographer photographed a group of young women on this day in 1922.  None of them appeared as flappers.

The Turks won the Battle of Dumiupinar, bringing the Greco Turkish War effectively to a close.  As a result, this day is celebrated as Victory Day in Turkey.

This brought about the millennia long presence of a significant Greek population in Anatolia, one which had persisted even in spite of the Ottoman Conquest.  In no small part, it came about due to Greek greed which had sought to expand Greek control beyond what was initially logical, during the immediate post World War One period during which such efforts were effectively supported by nearly all of the Allied powers, and during which France, the UK, and Italy contributed troops to the effort.  Indeed, Italy seized islands for its own from Turkey.

Had the Greeks not overreached, they likely would have been supported longer by the Allies, which grew tired of the war and ultimately pulled its combat troops out of it.  Greece proved insufficiently strong to hold what it had taken against the revolutionary Turkish forces which had overthrown their own government, which had entered into a putative peace, and which fought the war well against long odds.

The war would result in a tragic mass population transfer of Greeks from Turkish lands, many of whom would relocate far from their homes in other lands, such as the United States and Australia.

In Ireland, the results of a recent peace continued to operate oddly.

Due to the odd nature of the treaty between the UK and the Irish Free State, a Second Irish Provisional Government was set up due to the assassination of Michael Collins, even though power was being transferred to the Dail.

Wisconsin Governor John J. Blain urged President Harding to ask Congress to take over the coal mines in order to abate the problems the long-running coal mine strike was causing and threatened to cause.

In Pennsylvania, a monument to George Washington was dedicated.

 Taft College was founded in California.

Sunday, August 27, 1922. Horrible Events

A fire at California's Argonaut gold mine killed 47 immigrant men who worked there.  It's the worst mine disaster in California's history.

The fire could not be extinguished.  An exact cause was never determined.

As these photos show, the Red Cross reported to assist at the mine.

Greek Orthodox Bishop Chrysostomos of Smyrna was lynched by a mob after the Turks took the city.  What exactly occurred is not known, but the Bishop, who was a Greek nationalist, refused to evacuate and reported to congratulate the Turks on their victory.  He was horribly murdered and is regarded as a Saint by the Greek Orthodox.

Sunday, May 31, 1942. Memorial Day Celebrations at Manzanar Internment Camp.

Lots of submarine action this day, including German submarines in the Atlantic, and a Soviet one, which sank a Turkish vessel, in the Black Sea, and a British one in the Mediterranean.

Perhaps the most interesting ones were the Japanese launch of a float plane from the I9 to survey damage from midget submarine raids on Diego Suarez Harbor in Madagascar.  Three Japanese midget submarines also tried to enter Sydney Harbor, with all three lost in the process.  One was caught in torpedo nets and scuttled by the crew, which went down with it, another by depth charges.  A third escaped but was abandoned, with the fate of its crew unknown.

The Luftwaffe bombed Canterbury in reprisal for the RAF bombing of Cologne.

Sunday, May 3, 1942. A gloomy Sunday poster.

Versions of the poster above seem to have been issued on a nearly constant basis, rather than one being issued at one time.  We posted a version of this just the other day, and then here's this one dated with today's date.

On the same day, the Japanese invaded Tulagi, north of Guadalcanal.  They also took Bhamo in Burma.

Left leaning Alfonso Lopez Pumarego was returned to the office of the Presidency in Columbia.

Monday, February 23, 1942. The Japanese bombard Ellwood, California.

A Japanese submarine shelled Ellwood, California.

The event was directly tied to a scheduled radio address by Franklin Roosevelt, which the Japanese were oddly concerned about.  

That address was a fireside chat on the progress of the war.  In it, Roosevelt stated:

My fellow Americans:

Washington's Birthday is a most appropriate occasion for us to talk with each other about things as they are today and things as we know they shall be in the future.

For eight years, General Washington and his Continental Army were faced continually with formidable odds and recurring defeats. Supplies and equipment were lacking. In a sense, every winter was a Valley Forge. Throughout the 13 states there existed fifth columnists – and selfish men, jealous men, fearful men, who proclaimed that Washington's cause was hopeless, and that he should ask for a negotiated peace.

Washington's conduct in those hard times has provided the model for all Americans ever since – a model of moral stamina. He held to his course, as it had been charted in the Declaration of Independence. He and the brave men who served with him knew that no man's life or fortune was secure without freedom and free institutions.

The present great struggle has taught us increasingly that freedom of person and security of property anywhere in the world depend upon the security of the rights and obligations of liberty and justice everywhere in the world.

This war is a new kind of war. It is different from all other wars of the past, not only in its methods and weapons but also in its geography. It is warfare in terms of every continent, every island, every sea, every air-lane in the world.

That is the reason why I have asked you to take out and spread before you (the) a map of the whole earth, and to follow with me in the references which I shall make to the world-encircling battle lines of this war. Many questions will, I fear, remain unanswered tonight, but I know you will realize that I cannot cover everything in any one short report to the people.

The broad oceans which have been heralded in the past as our protection from attack have become endless battlefields on which we are constantly being challenged by our enemies.

We must all understand and face the hard fact that our job now is to fight at distances which extend all the way around the globe.

We fight at these vast distances because that is where our enemies are. Until our flow of supplies gives us clear superiority we must keep on striking our enemies wherever and whenever we can meet them, even if, for a while, we have to yield ground. Actually, though, we are taking a heavy toll of the enemy every day that goes by.

We must fight at these vast distances to protect our supply lines and our lines of communication with our allies – protect these lines from the enemies who are bending every ounce of their strength, striving against time, to cut them. The object of the Nazis and the Japanese is to of course separate the United States, Britain, China and Russia, and to isolate them one from another, so that each will be surrounded and cut off from sources of supplies and reinforcements. It is the old familiar Axis policy of "divide and conquer."

There are those who still think, however, in terms of the days of sailing ships. They advise us to pull our warships and our planes and our merchant ships into our own home waters and concentrate solely on last ditch defense. But let me illustrate what would happen if we followed such foolish advice.

Look at your map. Look at the vast area of China, with its millions of fighting men. Look at the vast area of Russia, with its powerful armies and proven military might. Look at the (British Isles) Islands of Britain, Australia, New Zealand, the Dutch Indies, India, the Near East and the Continent of Africa, with their (re)sources of raw materials – their resources of raw materials, and of peoples determined to resist Axis domination. Look too at North America, Central America and South America.

It is obvious what would happen if all of these great reservoirs of power were cut off from each other either by enemy action or by self-imposed isolation:

(1.) First, in such a case, we could no longer send aid of any kind to China – to the brave people who, for nearly five years, have withstood Japanese assault, destroyed hundreds of thousands of Japanese soldiers and vast quantities of Japanese war munitions. It is essential that we help China in her magnificent defense and in her inevitable counteroffensive – for that is one important element in the ultimate defeat of Japan.

(2.) Secondly, if we lost communication with the southwest Pacific, all of that area, including Australia and New Zealand and the Dutch Indies, would fall under Japanese domination. Japan in such a case could (then) release great numbers of ships and men to launch attacks on a large scale against the coasts of the Western Hemisphere – South America and Central America, and North America – including Alaska. At the same time, she could immediately extend her conquests (to) in the other direction toward India, (and) through the Indian Ocean, to Africa, (and) to the Near East and try to join forces with Germany and Italy.

(3.) Third, if we were to stop sending munitions to the British and the Russians in the Mediterranean area, (and) in the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea, (areas) we would be helping the Nazis to overrun Turkey, and Syria, and Iraq, and Persia – that is now called Iran – Egypt and the Suez Canal, the whole coast of North Africa itself and with that inevitably the whole coast of West Africa – putting Germany within easy striking distance of South America – 1,500 miles away.

(4.) Fourth, if by such a fatuous policy, we ceased to protect the North Atlantic supply line to Britain and to Russia, we would help to cripple the splendid counter-offensive by Russia against the Nazis, and we would help to deprive Britain of essential food supplies and munitions.

Those Americans who believed that we could live under the illusion of isolationism wanted the American eagle to imitate the tactics of the ostrich. Now, many of those same people, afraid that we may be sticking our necks out, want our national bird to be turned into a turtle. But we prefer to retain the eagle as it is – flying high and striking hard.

I know (that) I speak for the mass of the American people when I say that we reject the turtle policy and will continue increasingly the policy of carrying the war to the enemy in distant lands and distant waters – as far away as possible from our own home grounds.

There are four main lines of communication now being traveled by our ships: the North Atlantic, the South Atlantic, the Indian Ocean and the South Pacific. These routes are not one-way streets, for the ships (which) that carry our troops and munitions out-bound bring back essential raw materials which we require for our own use.

The maintenance of these vital lines is a very tough job. It is a job which requires tremendous daring, tremendous resourcefulness, and, above all, tremendous production of planes and tanks and guns and also of the ships to carry them. And I speak again for the American people when I say that we can and will do that job.

The defense of the world-wide lines of communication demands – compel relatively safe use by us of the sea and of the air along the various routes; and this, in turn, depends upon control by the United Nations of (the) many strategic bases along those routes.

Control of the air involves the simultaneous use of two types of planes – first, the long-range heavy bomber; and, second, the light bombers, the dive bombers, the torpedo planes, (and) the short-range pursuit planes, all of which are essential to (the) cooperate with and protect(ion) (of) the bases and (of) the bombers themselves.

Heavy bombers can fly under their own power from here to the southwest Pacific, either way, but the smaller planes cannot. Therefore, these lighter planes have to be packed in crates and sent on board cargo ships. Look at your map again; and you will see that the route is long – and at many places perilous – either across the South Atlantic all the way (a)round South Africa and the Cape of Good Hope, or from California to the East Indies direct. A vessel can make a round trip by either route in about four months, or only three round trips in a whole year.

In spite of the length, (and) in spite of the difficulties of this transportation, I can tell you that in two and a half months we already have a large number of bombers and pursuit planes, manned by American pilots and crews, which are now in daily contact with the enemy in the Southwest Pacific. And thousands of American troops are today in that area engaged in operations not only in the air but on the ground as well.

In this battle area, Japan has had an obvious initial advantage. For she could fly even her short-range planes to the points of attack by using many stepping stones open to – her bases in a multitude of Pacific islands and also bases on the China coast, Indo-China coast, and in Thailand and Malaya (coasts). Japanese troop transports could go south from Japan and from China through the narrow China Sea, which can be protected by Japanese planes throughout its whole length.

I ask you to look at your maps again, particularly at that portion of the Pacific Ocean lying west of Hawaii. Before this war even started, the Philippine Islands were already surrounded on three sides by Japanese power. On the west, the China side, the Japanese were in possession of the coast of China and the coast of Indo-China which had been yielded to them by the Vichy French. On the North are the islands of Japan themselves, reaching down almost to northern Luzon. On the east, are the Mandated Islands – which Japan had occupied exclusively, and had fortified in absolute violation of her written word.

The islands that lie between Hawaii and the Philippines – these islands, hundreds of them, appear only as small dots on most maps, but do not appear at all. But they cover a large strategic area. Guam lies in the middle of them – a lone outpost which we have never fortified.

Under the Washington Treaty of 1921 we had solemnly agreed not to add to the fortification of the Philippines (Islands). We had no safe naval bases there, so we could not use the islands for extensive naval operations.

Immediately after this war started, the Japanese forces moved down on either side of the Philippines to numerous points south of them – thereby completely encircling the (Islands) Philippines from north, and south, and east and west.

It is that complete encirclement, with control of the air by Japanese land-based aircraft, which has prevented us from sending substantial reinforcements of men and material to the gallant defenders of the Philippines. For forty years it has always been our strategy – a strategy born of necessity – that in the event of a full-scale attack on the Islands by Japan, we should fight a delaying action, attempting to retire slowly into Bataan Peninsula and Corregidor.

We knew that the war as a whole would have to be fought and won by a process of attrition against Japan itself. We knew all along that, with our greater resources, we could ultimately out-build Japan and ultimately overwhelm her on sea, and on land and in the air. We knew that, to obtain our objective, many varieties of operations would be necessary in areas other than the Philippines.

Now nothing that has occurred in the past two months has caused us to revise this basic strategy of necessity – except that the defense put up by General MacArthur has magnificently exceeded the previous estimates of endurance, and he and his men are gaining eternal glory therefore.

MacArthur's army of Filipinos and Americans, and the forces of the United Nations in China, in Burma and the Netherlands East Indies, are all together fulfilling the same essential task. They are making Japan pay an increasingly terrible price for her ambitious attempts to seize control of the whole (Atlantic) Asiatic world. Every Japanese transport sunk off Java is one less transport that they can use to carry reinforcements to their army opposing General MacArthur in Luzon.

It has been said that Japanese gains in the Philippines were made possible only by the success of their surprise attack on Pearl Harbor. I tell you that this is not so.

Even if the attack had not been made your map will show that it would have been a hopeless operation for us to send the Fleet to the Philippines through thousands of miles of ocean, while all those island bases were under the sole control of the Japanese.

The consequences of the attack on Pearl Harbor – serious as they were – have been wildly exaggerated in other ways. And these exaggerations come originally from Axis propagandists; but they have been repeated, I regret to say, by Americans in and out of public life.

You and I have the utmost contempt for Americans who, since Pearl Harbor, have whispered or announced "off the record" that there was no longer any Pacific Fleet – that the Fleet was all sunk or destroyed on December 7th – that more than a thousand of our planes were destroyed on the ground. They have suggested slyly that the government has withheld the truth about casualties – that 11,000 or 12,000 men were killed at Pearl Harbor instead of the figures as officially announced. They have even served the enemy propagandists by spreading the incredible story that shiploads of bodies of our honored American dead were about to arrive in New York harbor to be put into a common grave.

Almost every Axis broadcast – Berlin, Rome, Tokyo – directly quotes Americans who, by speech or in the press, make damnable misstatements such as these.

The American people realize that in many cases details of military operations cannot be disclosed until we are absolutely certain that the announcement will not give to the enemy military information which he does not already possess.

Your government has unmistakable confidence in your ability to hear the worst, without flinching or losing heart. You must, in turn, have complete confidence that your government is keeping nothing from you except information that will help the enemy in his attempt to destroy us. In a democracy there is always a solemn pact of truth between government and the people, but there must also always be a full use of discretion, and that word "discretion" applies to the critics of government as well.

This is war. The American people want to know, and will be told, the general trend of how the war is going. But they do not wish to help the enemy any more than our fighting forces do, and they will pay little attention to the rumor-mongers and the poison peddlers in our midst.

To pass from the realm of rumor and poison to the field of facts: the number of our officers and men killed in the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7th was 2,340, and the number wounded was 940. Of all of the combatant ships based on Pearl Harbor – battleships, heavy cruisers, light cruisers, aircraft carriers, destroyers and submarines – only three (were) are permanently put out of commission.

Very many of the ships of the Pacific Fleet were not even in Pearl Harbor. Some of those that were there were hit very slightly, and others that were damaged have either rejoined the Fleet by now or are still undergoing repairs. And when those repairs are completed, the ships will be more efficient fighting machines than they were before.

The report that we lost more than a thousand (air)planes at Pearl Harbor is as baseless as the other weird rumors. The Japanese do not know just how many planes they destroyed that day, and I am not going to tell them. But I can say that to date – and including Pearl Harbor – we have destroyed considerably more Japanese planes than they have destroyed of ours.

We have most certainly suffered losses – from Hitler's U-Boats in the Atlantic as well as from the Japanese in the Pacific – and we shall suffer more of them before the turn of the tide. But, speaking for the United States of America, let me say once and for all to the people of the world: We Americans have been compelled to yield ground, but we will regain it. We and the other United Nations are committed to the destruction of the militarism of Japan and Germany. We are daily increasing our strength. Soon, we and not our enemies, will have the offensive; we, not they, will win the final battles; and we, not they, will make the final peace.

Conquered nations in Europe know what the yoke of the Nazis is like. And the people of Korea and of Manchuria know in their flesh the harsh despotism of Japan. All of the people of Asia know that if there is to be an honorable and decent future for any of them or any of (for) us, that future depends on victory by the United Nations over the forces of Axis enslavement.

If a just and durable peace is to be attained, or even if all of us are merely to save our own skins, there is one thought for us here at home to keep uppermost – the fulfillment of our special task of production – uninterrupted production. I stress that word "uninterrupted."

Germany, Italy and Japan are very close to their maximum output of planes, guns, tanks and ships. The United Nations are not – especially the United States of America.

Our first job then is to build up production – uninterrupted production – so that the United Nations can maintain control of the seas and attain control of the air – not merely a slight superiority, but an overwhelming superiority.

On January 6th of this year, I set certain definite goals of production for airplanes, tanks, guns and ships. The Axis propagandists called them fantastic. Tonight, nearly two months later, and after a careful survey of progress by Donald Nelson and others charged with responsibility for our production, I can tell you that those goals will be attained.

In every part of the country, experts in production and the men and women at work in the plants are giving loyal service. With few exceptions, labor, capital and farming realize that this is no time either to make undue profits or to gain special advantages, one over the other.

We are calling for new plants and additions – additions to old plants. We are calling for plant conversion to war needs. We are seeking more men and more women to run them. We are working longer hours. We are coming to realize that one extra plane or extra tank or extra gun or extra ship completed tomorrow may, in a few months, turn the tide on some distant battlefield; it may make the difference between life and death for some of our own fighting men. We know now that if we lose this war it will be generations or even centuries before our conception of democracy can live again. And we can lose this war only if use slow up our effort or if we waste our ammunition sniping at each other.

Here are three high purposes for every American:

1. We shall not stop work for a single day. If any dispute arises we shall keep on working while the dispute is solved by mediation, or conciliation or arbitration – until the war is won.

2. We shall not demand special gains or special privileges or special advantages for any one group or occupation.

3. We shall give up conveniences and modify the routine of our lives if our country asks us to do so. We will do it cheerfully, remembering that the common enemy seeks to destroy every home and every freedom in every part of our land.

This generation of Americans has come to realize, with a present and personal realization, that there is something larger and more important than the life of any individual or of any individual group – something for which a man will sacrifice, and gladly sacrifice, not only his pleasures, not only his goods, not only his associations with those he loves, but his life itself. In time of crisis when the future is in the balance, we come to understand, with full recognition and devotion, what this nation is and what we owe to it.

The Axis propagandists have tried in various evil ways to destroy our determination and our morale. Failing in that, they are now trying to destroy our confidence in our own allies. They say that the British are finished – that the Russians and the Chinese are about to quit. Patriotic and sensible Americans will reject these absurdities. And instead of listening to any of this crude propaganda, they will recall some of the things that Nazis and Japanese have said and are still saying about us.

Ever since this nation became the arsenal of democracy – ever since enactment of Lend-Lease – there has been one persistent theme through all Axis propaganda.

This theme has been that Americans are admittedly rich, (and) that Americans have considerable industrial power – but that Americans are soft and decadent, that they cannot and will not unite and work and fight.

From Berlin, Rome and Tokyo we have been described as a nation of weaklings – "playboys" – who would hire British soldiers, or Russian soldiers, or Chinese soldiers to do our fighting for us.

Let them repeat that now!
Let them tell that to General MacArthur and his men.
Let them tell that to the sailors who today are hitting hard in the far waters of the Pacific.
Let them tell that to the boys in the Flying Fortresses.
Let them tell that to the Marines!

The United Nations constitutes an association of independent peoples of equal dignity and equal importance. The United Nations are dedicated to a common cause. We share equally and with equal zeal the anguish and the awful sacrifices of war. In the partnership of our common enterprise, we must share in a unified plan in which all of us must play our several parts, each of us being equally indispensable and dependent one on the other.

We have unified command and cooperation and comradeship.

We Americans will contribute unified production and unified acceptance of sacrifice and of effort. That means a national unity that can know no limitations of race or creed or selfish politics. The American people expect that much from themselves. And the American people will find ways and means of expressing their determination to their enemies, including the Japanese Admiral who has said that he will dictate the terms of peace here in the White Mouse.

We of the United Nations are agreed on certain broad principles in the kind of peace we seek. The Atlantic Charter applies not only to the parts of the world that border the Atlantic but to the whole world; disarmament of aggressors, self-determination of nations and peoples, and the four freedoms – freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom from want, and freedom from fear.

The British and the Russian people have known the full fury of Nazi onslaught. There have been times when the fate of London and Moscow was in serious doubt. But there was never the slightest question that either the British or the Russians would yield. And today all the United Nations salutes the superb Russian Army as it celebrates the 24th anniversary of its first assembly.

Though their homeland was overrun, the Dutch people are still fighting stubbornly and powerfully overseas.

The great Chinese people have suffered grievous losses; Chungking has been almost wiped out of existence – yet it remains the capital of an unbeatable China.

That is the conquering spirit which prevails throughout the United Nations in this war.

The task that we Americans now face will test us to the uttermost. Never before have we been called upon for such a prodigious effort. Never before have we had so little time in which to do so much.

"These are the times that try men's souls."

Tom Paine wrote those words on a drumhead, by the light of a campfire. That was when Washington's little army of ragged, rugged men was retreating across New Jersey, having tasted (nothing) naught but defeat.

And General Washington ordered that these great words written by Tom Paine be read to the men of every regiment in the Continental Army, and this was the assurance given to the first American armed forces:

"The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered, yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the sacrifice, the more glorious the triumph."

So spoke Americans in the year 1776.

So speak Americans today!

The attack on Ellwood's oil facility, which is located near Santa Barbara, was about 20 minutes in length.  It didn't achieve much actual damage, but it did serve to make Californian's nervous.

Cliffnotes of the Zeitgiest Part XXVIII. The juvenile or nearly so femme fatale edition. Plus, the example of monarchy, Robbing trains, Expats and politics, M&M's, Tucker Carson and Carson Tucker.

Prince Andrew stripped of military titles and duties

I don't really know what his duties actually were, but whatever they were, he no longer has them.  Nor does he have his military titles any longer.

This, of course, because he's been sued by Virginia Giuffre who alleges that he sexually abused her, when she was a minor, age 17, and part of the creepy sexual net that Jeffrey Epstein had going.

By all accounts, Giuffre lead a horrific early life, having been a sexual abuse victim before that period even.  Following prior horrors at age 14, she was reunited with her father, who worked at Mar-A-Lago. . . yes that Mar-A-Lago. She was found there by Ghislaine Maxwell, who was Epstein's procurer.  She claims she was supplied by Epstein to Prince Andrew.

We should be careful not to assume that Giuffre is telling the truth.  Her story has changed over time, and she also claims that Epstein supplied her to Alan Dershowitz, which I find unlikely for some reason.  Anyhow, she does show up in a photo with the Prince, and the fact that he wasn't able to get the lawsuit she's filed in New York dismissed was apparently the last straw for the Royal Family.

Anyhow, this story is interesting for a couple of reasons.

One thing is, I think, that it shows the Royal Family, indeed all Royal Families, just need to go. They're beyond being an anachronism. What purpose do they really serve?  Wrapping the whole thing up with the UK, which itself is becoming a bit frayed at the margins, upon the death of Queen Elizabeth II seems like a fitting and dignified ending to an institution that, frankly, has frequently been undignified.

On that, followers of certain lines of thought on Reddit will frequently find really radical traditionalist arguing for the return of monarchy pretty much everywhere, often stating that it establishes as set of (Christian) values for a nation.  Apparently, such people are wholly ignorant of real monarchies.

If Prince Andrew did bed Virginia Giuffre, and I don't know that he did, it would have been wrong on every level, but it would have been pretty much par for the course for the male members of royal families throughout history.  Finding a King, for example, that didn't have courtesans in addition to a wife is, well, difficult.  The upper classes always knew this.  The peasantry didn't, all the time, except when they did, and then they tended not to care too much, as monarchy was relatively irrelevant to their real lives.

What would Alfred the Great think?  Well, while Alfred married once and had all legitimate children, he probably would have found Andrew's conduct rather the norm for princes.

Other creepy groomers

I've never heard of Sondra Theodore, but apparently she was one of Hugh Hefner's various concubines, oops, um, prostitutes, . . . um, oh, uh "girlfriends". That's right, girlfriends.

Oh heck, concubines.

It's sort of the Epstein story, and sort of not.  Basically, he started . . . well. . .when she was 19.  He was 50.

That's creepy, but she was an adult.  She can't really complain that much, as basically, well, she was prostituting herself to Hefner, like many others. She was an adult, albeit a young one, which Giuffre was not.

It does get creepier, however, as apparently Hefner, one of the architects of the destruction of the moral society, used her as a procurer for additional concubines. . um, prostitutes, or whatever, um bedmates, for her perversions.

Should we feel sorry for her?

As a human, certainly.  Indeed, we should pray for her redemption, which hopefully has arrived.  And, in the Catholic tradition and moral thought, even for Hefner's, which in no way reduces the path of destroyed lives, and indeed destroyed souls, he left in his disgusting wake.  We may be in a period of reckoning, but we have a long ways to go before Hefner's damaging legacy is in the historical dustbin, as opposed to Hefner himself, who is, and his instrument of destruction, the print edition of Playboy.

Speaking of self-promotion through photographic concubinage. . . 

Not Theodore, or Jenner.

Kylie Jenner reaches 300,000,000 viewers on Instagram

That's a lot of  views.

They aren't viewing her for her vast intellect, although I don't doubt that she has one.

More particularly, that's a lot of cheesecake views.  Jenner is, really, a modern pinup and a famous one.

At least she isn't 17.

Or 19.

But the image she portrays isn't exactly of a mature women either, now is it.

This cast of characters

May we say it?

Ooo, ick.

Hefner, Trump, Cosby, Prince Andrew.  

Blech.

All men with reprehensible relationships with women to some degree, although in fairness Prince Andrew, at least so far, has the least icky, assuming the latest accusations do not prove to be true.

And all celebrated and powerful, and to some degree, save for Andrew, still celebrated.

The Train Robbers

Thieves are robbing Union Pacific trains in Los Angeles to such an extent that . . .

 the railroad is considering ceasing to serve the city.

News footage shows the rail line littered with the packages of thousands of stolen items.

Let's admit it, Los Angeles is simply beyond repair.

California darned near is.  The Golden State, after decades of financial problems and after decades of unrestrained population growth, ended up just where you'd think a locality featuring those things would.

Los Angeles, as we recognize it, dates back to a Catholic mission founded there in 1771, which was founded by St. Junipero Serra.  Like all things moral, he's under attack in California today, which is part of the reason that California in general is the titanic mess it is.  In 1841 it was made the capital of Alta California.  It was one of California's premier cities for decades.

World War Two victory parade featuring Californian George S. Patton.

Hollywood is one of its suburbs.

It's all a mess now, as is California in general. And because California is an overgrown bloated festering sinkhole, its population with means, which is much of it, is leaving the state.  In the last census, California lost population.  This is a problem for the rest of the country, as its fleeing residents tend to bring California with them, wherever they go.

Expats and politics

In  the state's politics, I frankly wonder to what extent that we're hearing the voice of expats.  More specifically, a lot of the current political tone doesn't resemble the sort of tone Wyoming used to have.

Wyoming's politics have traditionally been unique.  They've been conservative in a quasi libertarian way but not populist.  The state had a strong, if minority, Democratic Party up until the 1990s.  The ethos of the state tended to be "I don't care what you are doing as long as you don't ask me to approve of it".

Things have really changed.

The state's politics always tend to show some influence of recent migrants when they swing in, in numbers.  Usually they swing back out, in numbers as well.  It'll be interesting to see what happens as oil starts to wind down here, which it will, but at any rate, you would think we'd be seeing some result of that exodus now. 

Of course, we're really not for a variety of reasons, one of which was COVID.  While I hate to admit it, the pandemic brought in a population that sort of followed in the wake of and added to the strong southern influences that oil booms have tended to.  This has brought in the new populist politics and it's taken over the local GOP.

Or maybe it's just the times.

The state has always featured a lot of near state immigration.  You don't have to go too far to find people who are from the neighboring states.  But it is the case that in recent years things have been different.  You'll run into people who will proudly proclaim, "I'm from California and . . . " emphasizing how they left the state where they made their money and lives, and fled it to come here.  

Economic boosters often fail to realize what this sort of thing can mean.  People like to complain about what Colorado has become, for instances, but Colorado campaigned to become that.

One interesting undercurrent to this is that the state has experienced its third wave of Hispanic immigration, or fourth really.  The first Hispanic immigrants came into the state from New Mexico in the 1840s to work for the Army as builders near Ft. Laramie.  They stayed and farmed, but for some reason their farms on the Mexican Hills near there didn't establish a permanent population.  

The second wave did, however, with that brining in a group of New Mexican Hispanics who worked in the rail industry and shepherding in from the 30s through the 50s.  Their descendants are still here.  The next group came in during the 70s during the first big wave of illegal immigration, although not all of them were illegal by any means.  Many of them left, but some stayed.  And then there's the current wave that has been going on for the past fifteen years or so.

This population is demographically significant, and there's no reason to believe that its Republican.  It'd be a natural Democratic demographic, but the Wyoming Democratic Party has become so small that it tends to be populated only by WASP leftists anymore, who can't really seem to actually see Hispanic voters.  They instead tend to imagine the entire world as if it's Greenwich Village for some reason.  This will become obvious, again, when the Democrats finally start to nominate some candidates for the 2022 election, as they'll all be white, probably, and at least one of them will surely check all the current WASP Left boxes.

A smart Democratic Party would pick up where Lynette Grey Bull left off and try to test the field a bit with a candidate who reflects a broader base.  Fremont County, due to the Reservation, retains a real Democratic Party.  If that party reached out to the now statistically significant Hispanic community, which probably is a little scared with all the rhetoric it may be hearing from the more hard right elements of the  GOP, it might be able to capture a surprising number of voters.  The candidate would have to cross over to capture moderate Republicans as well, but the GOP might aid it in doing that. A party that claims Liz Cheney is a "RINO" is doing a good job of that already.

Cement structures at Ft. Laramie, built by migrants from New Mexico.

M&M's

The Mars candy of fame, which was battle born, has caused a flap by changing the footgear of its cute cartoon version of itself.  Or at least the footgear of one of the cartoon figures.

Forrest Mars Sr. got the idea for M&M's from Smarties, a British candy that was popular in the Spanish Civil War for the same reason that M&M's are, their shell keeps them from being a gooey mess.  The first big customer for the 1940 introduced candy was the U.S. Army.

At some point in the last few decades, the company introduced advertising that featured talking cartoon M&M's.  A female M&M was among them, wearing go-go boots.  Now she's going to wear tennis shoes, in an effort to update the character and be more inclusive.

Of course, in an era when everything is deemed to have a massive sexual and political meaning, this has caused a flap.  It's been commented on by, who else, Tucker Carson.

American soldier giving candy to French girls, July 4, 1944, when candy had no overt gender or political message.

Journalism?

I had to look up Tucker Carson to try to figure out why he's such a big deal.  I still don't know, although his bio read is a little wild.

Journalism, and by that I mean journalism everywhere, has always had its personalities and wild characters, so much of the "decline in journalism" commentary is actually wrong.  It's a return to its status quo ante.  After all, it isn't as if the drawing that Frederic Remington submitted of a Spanish officer detaining a stripped Cuban woman was drawn from life.

In this, however, I think the Press has followed the same track as the law.  By the early 20th Century the institution was disgusted with its own conduct, as the law was with it, and worked to reform itself. By the teens, it was already doing better than it had in the late 19th Century. By World War Two it very much was, and when television came on, and we had only three networks, the news was presented in a very dignified manner.

Well, cable television and then the internet ended that, and we returned to the days when you bought your journalism from somebody who you know is reliably likely to have a more extreme version of your own opinion.  The Carson's and Maddow's are good examples of that.  And it dovetails the decline in legal professionalism perfectly.

Pitty poor Carson Tucker, an individual with the same names, but in reverse order.  He's a baseball layer with the Arizona Complex League Guardians.

Carson's father was, for a time, a gonzo journalist, of which this is the symbol.