Thursday, November 11, 1926. Coolidge speaks in Kansas City on Armistice Day.

Plans for U.S. Highway 30, replacing the Lincoln Highway but generally along the same route, finalized.

Plans for Route 66 were also finalized.

It was all part of the establishment of the United States Numbered Highway System on this date.

President Coolidge dedicated the Liberty Memorial in Kansas City, Missouri.

Fellow Countrymen:

It is with a mingling of sentiments that we come to dedicate this memorial. Erected in memory of those who defended their homes and their freedom in the World War, it stands for service and all that service implies. Reverence for our dead, respect for our living, loyalty to our country, devotion to humanity, consecration to religion, all of these and much more is represented in this towering monument and its massive supports. It has not been raised to commemorate war and victory, but rather the results of war and victory, which are embodied in peace and liberty. In its impressive symbolism it pictures the story of that one increasing purpose declared by the poet to mark all the forces of the past which finally converge in the spirit of America in order that our country as “the heir of all the ages, in the foremost files of time,” may forever hold aloft the glowing hope of progress and peace to all humanity.

Five years ago it was my fortune to take part in a public service held on this very site when General Pershing, Admiral Beatty, Marshal Foch, General Diaz, and General Jacques, representing several of the allied countries in the war, in the presence of the American Legion convention, assisted in a formal beginning of this work which is now reaching its completion. To-day I return at the special request of the distinguished Senators from Missouri and Kansas, and on the invitation of your committee on arrangements, in order that I may place the official sanction of the National Government upon one of the most elaborate and impressive memorials that adorn our country. It comes as a fitting observance of this eighth anniversary of the signing of the armistice on November 11, 1918. In each recurring year this day will be set aside to revive memories and renew ideals. While it did not mark the end of the war, for the end is not yet, it marked a general subsidence of the armed conflict which for more than four years shook the very foundations of western civilization.

We have little need to inquire how that war began. Its day of carnage is done. Nothing is to be gained from criminations and recriminations. We are attempting to restore the world to a state of better understanding and amity. We can even leave to others the discussion of who won the war. It is enough for us to know that the side on which we fought was victorious. But we should never forget that we were asserting our rights and maintaining our ideals. That, at least, we shall demand as our place in history.

The energy and success with which our country conducted its military operations after it had once entered the war has now become a closed record of fame. The experience of this thriving city and these two adjoining States was representative of that of the country. Soon came the marshaling of the National Guard. From its existing units in Missouri and Kansas the foundation of the Thirty-fifth Division was laid. The Eighty-ninth Division was raised almost entirely in these two States. A portion of the Forty-second, known as the Rainbow Division, came from this city. The whole martial spirit of this neighborhood, which within a radius of 200 miles had furnished the famous Regiment of Missouri Volunteers, commanded by Col. John W. Doniphan when he made one of the most celebrated of marches to the conquest of Chihuahua in the Mexican War, reasserted itself as it had done in sixty-one and ninety-eight. While these divisions were serving with so much distinction on the battle fields of France their fellow citizens were supporting them with scarcely less distinction in patriotic efforts at home. They were furnishing money or Liberty loans, subscribing to the relief associations headed by the Red Cross, turning out munitions from the factories and rations from the fields. The whole community was inspired with a devotion to the cause of liberty. Returning at the end of the war, these divisions have increased their distinction by being represented in high places in civil life. From the Eighty-ninth came the great administrator and colonial governor, Maj. Gen. Leonard Wood, and from the Thirty-fifth Division came a distinguished son of Missouri, the present Secretary of War, Col. Dwight F. Davis.

Under no other flag are those who have served their country held in such high appreciation. It is, of course, impossible for the eyes of the Government to detect all individual cases of veterans requiring relief in every part of our land. But the Veterans’ Bureau is organized into departments and subdivisions, so that if any worthy person escapes their observation it is because the utmost care and attention could do no more. In the last eight years about $3,500,000,000 have been expended by the National Government for restoration, education, and relief. Nearly $3,200,000,000 have been pledged to accrue in future benefits to all veterans. Whenever they may be suffering from illness, whatever may be its cause, the doors of our hospitals are open to them without charge until they are restored to health. This is an indication of praise and reward which our country bestows upon its veterans. Our admiration is boundless. It is no mere idle form; it is no shadow without reality, but a solid and substantial effort rising into the dignity of a sacrifice made by all the people that they might in some degree recognize and recompense those who have served in time of national peril. All veterans should know this and appreciate it, and they do. All citizens should know it and be proud of it, and they are.

Considering the inspiring record of your soldiers in the field and the general attitude of appreciation which has been constantly reiterated by the whole Nation, it would be but natural to suppose that this mid-western country would give appropriate expression to the honor and devotion in which it holds those who served their country and the ideals for which they were contending. But the magnitude of this memorial, and the broad base of popular support on which it rests, can scarcely fail to excite national wonder and admiration. More than one person out of four in the entire population of this city responded to an appeal for funds, which gave pledges in excess of $2,000,000. It represents the high aspirations of this locality for ideals expressed in forms of beauty. We can not look upon it without seeing a reflection of all the freshness and vigor that marks the life of the broad expanse of the open country and the love of the sciences and the arts and the graces as expressed in the life of her growing towns. These results are not achieved without real sacrifice. They supply their own overpowering answer to those who charge our countrymen with a lack of appreciation for the finer things of life. Those who have observed such criticism can not fail to discover that it results in large part, from misunderstanding. But assuming it to be correct, I am of the firm conviction that there is more hope for the progress of true ideals in the modern world even from a nation newly rich than there is from a nation of chronically poor. Honest poverty is one thing, but lack of industry and character is quite another. While we do not need to boast of our prosperity, or vaunt our ability to accumulate wealth, I see no occasion to apologize for it. It is the expression of a commendable American spirit to live a life not merely devoted to luxurious ease, but to practical accomplishment. Nowhere is this better exemplified than in our great mid-continental basin. It is the spirit which dares, which has faith, and which succeeds. It is not confined to materialism, but lays hold on a higher life.

No one can doubt that our country was exalted and inspired by its war experience. It attained a conscious national unity which it never before possessed. That unity ought always to be cherished as one of our choicest possessions. In this broad land of ours there is enough for everybody. We ought not to regret our diversification, but rather rejoice in it. The seashore should not be distressed because it is not the inlands, and the fertile plains ought not to distracted because they are not the mountain tops. These differences which seem to separate us are not real. The products of the shore, the inlands, the plain, and the mountain reach into every home. This is all one country. It all belongs to us. It is all our America.

We had revealed to us in our time of peril not only the geographical unity of our country, but, what was of even more importance, the unity of the spirit of our people. They might speak with different tongues, come from most divergent quarters of the globe, but in the essentials of the hour they were moved by a common purpose, devoted to a common cause, and loyal to a common country. We should not permit that spirit which was such a source of strength in our time of trial to be dissipated in the more easy days of peace. We needed it then and we need it now. But we ought to maintain it, not so much because it is to our advantage as because it is just and human and right.

Our population is a composite of many different racial strains. All of them have their points of weakness; all of them have their points of strength. We shall not make the most progress by undertaking to rely upon the sufficiency of any one of them, but rather by using the combination of the power which can be derived from all of them. The policy which was adopted during the war of selective service through the compulsory Government intervention is the same policy which we should carry out in peace through voluntary personal action. Our armies could not be said to partake of any distinct racial characteristic; many of our soldiers were foreigners by birth, but they were all Americans in the defense of our common interests. There was ample opportunity for every nationality and every talent. The same condition should prevail in our peace-time social and economic organization. We recognize no artificial distinctions, no hereditary titles, but leave each individual free to assume and enjoy the rank to which his own services to society entitle him. This great lesson in democracy, this great example of equality which came to us as the experience of the war, ought never to be forgotten. It was a resurgence of the true American spirit which combined our people through a common purpose into one harmonious whole. When armistice day came in 1918, America had reached a higher and truer national spirit than it ever before possessed. We at last realized in a new vision that we were all one people.

Our country has never sought to be a military power. It cherishes no imperialistic designs, it is not infatuated with any vision of empire. It is content within its own territory, to prosper through the development of its own resources. But we realize thoroughly that no one will protect us unless we protect ourselves. Domestic peace and international security are among the first objects to be sought by any government. Without order under the protection of law there could be no liberty. To insure these necessary conditions we maintain a very moderate military establishment in proportion to our numbers and extent of territory. It is a menace to no one except the evildoer. It is a notice to everybody that the authority of our Government will be maintained and that we recognize that it is the first duty of Americans to look after America and maintain the supremacy of American rights. To adopt any other policy would be to invite disorder and aggression which must either be borne with humiliating submission or result in a declaration of war.

While of course our Government is thoroughly committed to a policy of permanent international peace and has made and will continue to make every reasonable effort in that direction, it is therefore also committed to a policy of adequate national defense. Like everything that has any value, the Army and Navy cost something. In the last half dozen years we have appropriated for their support about $4,000,000,000. Taken as a whole, there is no better Navy than our own in the world. If our Army is not as large as that of some other countries, it is not outmatched by any other like number of troops. Our entire military and naval forces represent a strength of about 550,000 men, altogether the largest which we have ever maintained in time of peace. We have recently laid out a five-year program for improving our aviation service. It is a mistake to suppose that our country is lagging behind in this modern art. Both in the excellence and speed of its planes it holds high records, while in number of miles covered in commercial and postal aviation it exceeds that of any other countries.

Although I have spoken of our national defenses somewhat in relation to other countries, I have done so entirely for the purpose of measurement and not for comparison, for our Government stands also thoroughly committed to the policy of avoiding competition in armaments. We expect to provide ourselves with reasonable protection, but we do not desire to enter into competition with any other country in the maintenance of land or sea forces. Such a course is always productive of suspicion and distrust, which usually results in inflicting upon the people an unnecessary burden of expense, and when carried to its logical conclusion ends in armed conflict. We have at last entered into treaties with the great powers eliminating to a large degree competition in naval armaments. We are engaged in negotiations to broaden and extend this humane and enlightened policy and are willing to make reasonable sacrifices to secure its further adoption.

It is doubtful if in the present circumstances of our country the subject of economy and the reduction of the war debt has ever been given sufficient prominence in considering the problem of national defense. For the conduct of military operations either by land or sea three elements are necessary. One is a question of personnel. We have a population which surpasses that of any of the great powers. Not only that, it is of a vigorous and prolific type, intelligent and courageous, capable of supplying many millions of men for active duty. Another relates to supplies. In our agriculture and our industry we could be not only well-nigh self-sustaining, but our production could be stimulated to reach an enormous amount. The last requirement, which is also of supreme importance, is a supply of money. It is difficult to estimate in figures the entire resources of our country and impossible to comprehend them. It is estimated to be approaching in value $400,000,000,000. No one could say in advance how large a sum could be secured from a system of war taxation, but everyone knows it would be insufficient to meet the cost of war. It would be necessary for the Treasury to resort to the use of the national credit. Great as that might be, it is not limitless. To carry on the last conflict we borrowed in excess of $26,000,000,000. This great debt has been reduced to about $19,000,000,000. So long as that is unpaid it stands as a tremendous impediment against the ability of America to defend itself by military operations. Until this obligation is discharged it is the one insuperable obstacle to the possibility of developing our full national strength. Every time a Liberty bond is retired preparedness is advanced.

It is more and more becoming the conviction of students of adequate defense that in time of national peril the Government should be clothed with authority to call into its service all of its man power and all of its property under such terms and conditions that it may completely avoid making a sacrifice of one and a profiteer of another. To expose some men to the perils of the battle field while others are left to reap large gains from the distress of their country is not in harmony with our ideal of equality. Any future policy of conscription should be all-inclusive, applicable in its terms to the entire personnel and the entire wealth of the whole Nation.

It is often said that we profited from the World War. We did not profit from it but lost from it in common with all countries engaged in it. Some individuals made gains, but the Nation suffered great losses. Merely in the matter of our national debt it will require heavy sacrifices extended over a period of about 30 years to recoup those losses. What we suffered indirectly in the diminution of our commerce and through the deflation which occurred when we had to terminate the expenditure of our capital and begin to live on our income is a vast sum which can never be estimated. The war left us with debts and mortgages, without counting our obligations to our veterans, which it will take a generation to discharge. High taxes, insolvent banks, ruined industry, distressed agriculture¬–all followed in its train. While the period of liquidation appears to have been passed, long years of laborious toil on the part of the people will be necessary to repair our loss. It was not because our resources had not been impaired, but because they were so great that we could meantime finance these losses while they are being restored, that we have been able so early to revive our prosperity. But the money which we are making to-day has to be used in part to replace that which we expended during the war.

In time the damage can be repaired, but there are irreparable losses which will go on forever. We see them in the vacant home, in the orphaned children, in the widowed women, in the bereaved parents. To the thousands of the youth who are gone forever must be added other thousands of maimed and disabled. It is these things that bring to us more emphatically than anything else the bitterness, the suffering, and the devastation of armed conflict.

It is not only because of these enormous losses suffered alike by ourselves and the rest of the world that we desire peace, but because we look to the arts of peace rather than war as the means by which mankind will finally develop its greatest spiritual power. We know that discipline comes only from effort and sacrifice. We know that character can result only from toil and suffering. We recognize the courage, the loyalty, and the devotion that are displayed in war, and we realize that we must hold many things more precious than life itself.

‘Tis man’s perdition to be safe

When for the truth he ought to die.

But it can not be that the final development of all these fine qualities is dependent upon slaughter and carnage and death. There must be a better, purer process within the realm of peace where humanity can discipline itself, develop its courage, replenish its faith, and perfect its character. In the true service of that ideal, which is even more difficult to maintain than our present standards, it can not be that there would be any lack of opportunity for the revelation of the highest form of spiritual life.

We shall not be able to cultivate the arts of peace by constant appeal to primal instincts. To the people of the jungle, the stranger was always the enemy. As the race grew up through the family, the tribe, the clan, and the nation, this sentiment always survived. The foreigner was subject to suspicion, without rights and without friends. This spirit prevailed even under the Roman Empire. It would not have been sufficient for St. Paul to claim protection because he was a human being, or even an inhabitant of a peaceful province. It was only when he asserted that he was a Roman citizen that he could claim any rights or the protection of any laws. We do not easily emancipate ourselves from these age-old traditions. When we come in contact with people differing from ourselves in dress and appearance, in speech and accent, the inherited habits of our physical being naturally react unfavorably. Nothing is easier than an appeal to suspicion and distrust. It is always certain that the unthinking will respond to such efforts. But such reaction is of the flesh, not of the spirit. It represents the opportunist, not the idealist. It serves the imperialistic cause of conquest, but it is not found in the lesson of the Sermon on the Mount. It may flourish as the impulse of the day, but it is not the standard which will finally prevail in the world. It is necessary that the statesmanship of peace should lead in some other direction.

If we are to have peace, therefore, we are to live in accordance with the dictates of a higher life. We shall avoid any national spirit of suspicion, distrust, and hatred toward other nations. The Old World has for generations indulged itself in this form of luxury. The results have been ruinous. It is not for us who are more fortunately circumstanced to pass judgment upon those who are less favored. In their place we might have done worse. But it is our duty to be warned by their example and to take full advantage of our own position. We want understanding, good will, and friendly relations between ourselves and all other people. The first requisite for this purpose is a friendly attitude on our own part. They tell us that we are not liked in Europe. Such reports are undoubtedly exaggerated and can be given altogether too much importance. We are a creditor Nation. We are more prosperous than some others. This means that our interests have come within the European circle where distrust and suspicion, if nothing more, have been altogether too common. To turn such attention to us indicates at least that we are not ignored.

While we can assume no responsibility for the opinions of others, we are responsible for our own sentiments. We ought to be wise enough to know that in the sober and informed thought of other countries we probably hold the place of a favored nation. We ought not to fail to appreciate the trials and difficulties, the suffering and the sacrifices of the people of our sister nations, and to extend to them at all times our patience, our sympathy, and such help as we believe will enable them to be restored to a sound and prosperous condition. I want to be sure that the attitude and acts of the American Government are right. I am willing to intrust to others the full responsibility for the results of their own behavior.

Our Government has steadily maintained the policy of the recognition and sanctity of international obligations and the performance of international covenants. It has not believed that the world, economically, financially, or morally, could rest upon any other secure foundation. But such a policy does not include extortion or oppression. Moderation is a mutual international obligation. We have therefore undertaken to deal with other countries in accordance with these principles, believing that their application is for the welfare of the world and the advancement of civilization.

In our prosperity and financial resources we have seen not only our own advantage but an increasing advantage to other people who have needed our assistance. The fact that our position is strong, our finances stable, our trade large, has steadied and supported the economic condition of the whole world. Those who need credit ought not to complain, but rather rejoice that there is a bank able to serve their needs. We have maintained our detached and independent position in order that we might be better prepared, in our own way, to serve those who need our help. We have not desired or sought to intrude, but to give our counsel and our assistance when it has been asked. Our influence is none the less valuable because we have insisted that it should not be used by one country against another, but for the fair and disinterested service of all. We have signified our willingness to cooperate with other countries to secure a method for the settlement of disputes according to the dictates of reason.

Justice is an ideal, whether it be applied between man and man or between nation and nation. Ideals are not secured without corresponding sacrifice. Justice can not be secured without the maintenance and support of institutions for its administration. We have provided courts through which it might be administered in the case of our individual citizens. A Permanent Court of International Justice has been established to which nations may voluntarily resort for an adjudication of their differences. It has been subject to much misrepresentation, which has resulted in much misconception of its principles and objects among our people. I have advocated adherence to such a court by this Nation on condition that the statute or treaty creating it be amended to meet our views. The Senate has adopted a resolution for that purpose.

While the nations involved can not yet be said to have made a final determination, and from most of them no answer has been received, many of them have indicated that they are unwilling to concur in the conditions adopted by the resolution of the Senate. While no final decision can be made by our Government until final answers are received, the situation has been sufficiently developed so that I feel warranted in saying that I do not intend to ask the Senate to modify its position. I do not believe the Senate would take favorable action on any such proposal, and unless the requirements of the Senate resolution are met by the other interested nations I can see no prospect of this country adhering to the court.

While we recognize the obligations arising from the war and the common dictates of humanity which ever bind us to a friendly consideration for other people, our main responsibility is for America. In the present state of the world that responsibility is more grave than it ever was at any other time. We have to face the facts. The margin of safety in human affairs is never very broad, as we have seen from the experience of the last dozen years. If the American spirit fails, what hope has the world? In the hour of our triumph and power we can not escape the need for sober thought and consecrated action. These dead whom we here commemorate have placed their trust in us. Their living comrades have made their sacrifice in the belief that we would not fail. In the consciousness of that trust and that belief this memorial stands as our pledge to their faith, a holy testament that our country will continue to do its duty under the guidance of a Divine Providence.

Cartoon from this day:

Last edition.

Tuesday, November 9, 1926. Queen Marie visits Casper.

Labels: 1920s, 1926, Fascism, Italy, Maryland, Monarchy, Romania, Weather, Wyoming (Casper)

Tuesday, October 31, 1911. Road to be built down Casper Mountain. Glanders in Casper, Plague in Liverpool.

 The Asbestos mine on Casper Mountain was looking to build a road down the face of the mountain.

The mine in fact did put in the first road, which was unimproved and horrifically dangerous.

And the State Veterinarian was putting down nine horses infected with glandes in Casper.

Officials in Liverpool announced that bubonic plague was in the city's ports.

Last edition:

Monday, October 30, 1911. Mistakes were made.

Labels: 1910s, 1911, Army, China, Chinese 1911 Revolution, Conservation, Halloween, Mexican Border War, Mexican Revolution, Puyi (溥儀), Qing Dynasty, Wyoming (Rock River)

CliffsNotes of the Zeitgeist 156th Edition. Name Changes, Go home Cynthia, The Merits of Packing Heat.

What's in a name?

Central Wyoming College Opposes LCCC Rebrand To "Wyoming State College"

I don't blame Riverton's Central Wyoming College for being upset, quite frankly.

Wyoming has a really good group of community colleges.  They are Casper College (Casper), Central Wyoming College (Riverton), Eastern Wyoming College (Torrington), Gillette College (Gillette), Laramie County Community College (Cheyenne, )Northwest College (Powell), Sheridan College (Sheridan), and Western Wyoming Community College (Rock Springs).  The best of them is Casper College, which has crept up over the university status in some things and accordingly offers some four year degrees.  The University of Wyoming, which has always lived in fear of a second four year university being established in the state (it would frankly be quite an undertaking), has a Casper campus at Casper College.

LCCC has always baffled me a bit as its so close to UW that I'm not quite sure why somebody would go there.  But it is actually the second biggest educational institution in Wyoming, second only to UW.  It maintains a campus in Laramie for that matter.

So, the name change might make sense.

Bye, Felicia

Cynthia Lummis has not been in the public radar much since being elected to the Senate.  Most of the time when she surfaces its on the topic of cryptocurrency.

Lummis blasts Democrats after Senate blocks cryptocurrency regulation she long touted

Lummis Slams Senate Democrats For Blocking Huge Crypto Bill

Wyoming doesn't give a rusty rat's ass about cryptocurrency.  We're in a climate change induced drought, diesel fuel is $8,000/gallon, mystery meat is being imported by King Donald into the country.

Just go home Cynthia.  Nobody is really going to notice.

A good reason to pack heat.

I always carry when I'm traveling. Things like this are the reason why.

Truck Driver Accused Of Stabbing Man 17 Times In I-80 Restroom Before Fleeing 

Of course, a person could say what are the odds of being attacked in such a fashion?

Not high, but not nonexistent.

Amy Roe Bechtel's killer had tried to gain control of a van driven by a family on I80 some years prior to her murder, they wrestled a rifle out of his hands and left him there.  Of course, he later killed Ms. Bechtel.  I knew one man who was carjacked, briefly, by a hitchhiker (he shouldn't have given the hitchhiker a ride).  A kid that I was in high school with is serving a life sentence for being part of a highway side murder.  I've been stopped once on the Medicine Bow Highway and then waved through as I had a rifle on my dashboard.

Things happen.

Last edition:

CliffsNotes of the Zeitgeist 155th Edition. AI will kill us all.

Labels: 2020s, 2026, 2026 Election, Artificial Intelligence, Chuck Gray, Donald Trump, Golf, Harriet Hageman, Ireland, technology, Technology is ruining everything, Ted Cruz, Warnings, Washington DC, Zeitgeist

The Sycophant Interstate

 My goodness this is utterly moronic.

Lummis Still Backs 'Trump Interstate' Despite Texas Sponsor Losing Interest In It

Rational minds figured that this was an effort on the part of Lummis to dump on the state in order to help John Cornyn, who no longer needs help as he voted early on against Trump, which means that he didn't love the dear leader enough, and didn't get nominated to run again.  Now that Cornyn is political history, and Lummis is leaving the Senate, she doesn't need to crap on us like this any longer, but still is.

We don't want 287 becoming an Interstate.  Cynthia knows that.  

Knock it off, Cynthia.  This idea is dumb.

Saturday, March 16, 1946. Route 66. George Mikan turns pro.

Route 66 was recorded for the first time, the introductory edition of the Bobby Troup work by Nat King Cole.

Troup was a songwriter and actor, married to actress Julie London

London and Troup in Emergency, a nighttime television drama of the 1970s.

He was also a graduate of Wharton, which produced the unfortunate Trump and Gray, but that's another matter.  He served in the Marine Corps in World War Two, by which time he was already a songwriter. The war did not really interrupt his songwriting.

Route 66 was an absolute masterpiece, and has been recorded an innumerable number of times, and was even used for the basis of a television series that ran from 1960 to 1964.

In some very real ways, Route 66 symbolized the post war world and its sense of youth, indicability, and automotive freedom.

Route 66 itself was one of the original U.S. Highways of the United States Numbered Highway System.  It was established on November 11, 1926, with road signs erected the following year.  It became a huge factor in Depression Era migration to California, which makes the way its nostaglically remembered somewhat ironic, but as 

College basketball player George Mikan, who was hugely popular turned pro.

He was a great player, and notably played with glasses.  He struggled with diabetes in his final years, which focused attention on the plight of pre big money players.

He died in 2005 at age 80, a basketball great.

The Rocky Mountain News focused again on gambling.

An intersting service was being offered:

A tryst with a German Madchen went rather poorly.

To popular one panel cartoons of the day:

Last edition:

Friday, March 15, 1946. Soviets in Iran.

Labels: 1930s, 1940s, 1946, Harry S. Truman, Iran, Nazi Germany, Propaganda, Radio, Skiing, United States, USSR, World War Two

Saturday, October 3, 1925. The launch of the USS Lexington.

The USS Lexington was launched.  

She was damaged beyond repair on May 8, 1942.

Friday, May 8, 1942. Strategic victory at Coral Sea, Mutiny in the Cocos, World War One hero commissioned for the Second World War.

A conference opened in Buenos Aires to discuss constructing a Pan American Highway.

It was a Saturday.

And it was football season.

Last edition:

Friday, October 2, 1925. Television.

Labels: 1920s, 1925, Disaster, entertainment, Josephine Baker, Morocco, Railroads, Rif War, Spanish Army, technology, television, Virginia

Monday, September 29, 1975. Driving 55.

Due to a failure on the part of the legislature to address the enabling act, Wyoming Attorney General Frank Mendicino opined that the 55 mph speed limit remained in effect.

Mendicino was only five years out of the UW's law school at the time.

Oops.

The Chicago Tribune abandoned its standard practice of phonetic spelling of certain common words. 

Kissinger sent a memo to President Ford.

September 29, 1975

MEMORANDUM FOR: THE PRESIDENT

FROM: HENRY A. KISSINGER

SUBJECT: Information Items

CIA Summary: Vietnam After the Fall: Nearly five months after the fall of Saigon, South Vietnam remains under a form of martial law in which North Vietnamese military personalities make all day-to-day political, administrative, and economic directives. The primary authority, however, appears to be Pham Hung, fourth-ranking member of the North Vietnamese Politburo, who is in charge of party and military affairs in the South. The South Vietnamese Provisional Revolutionary Government, which ostensibly serves as a national government, has no meaningful authority over either Pham Hung or the military management committee. Immediately after the take-over, the communists moved to offset the lack of capable and trustworthy administrators by importing large numbers of officials from the North. Many of these appear to have been former southerners who had come north at the time of the 1954 Geneva accords.

Communist policies to date have been aimed primarily at restoring order and the economy. The communists early adopted a relatively conciliatory approach in order to mobilize support. But given the long and bitter nature of the conflict and the abundance of firearms in the country, they are now admitting to opposition from a variety of sources, including former government soldiers, religious sects, and ethnic minorities in the highlands. The continued presence of 18 of the 20 North Vietnamese divisions in the south attests to the fact that security remains a problem. The economy is probably far more worrisome. The communists admit that it is still in bad shape. Low production and high unemployment have reduced the level of living throughout the country. Considerable help from Hanoi’s foreign allies will be required to get the economy on its feet. So far the communists have not attempted to make fundamental or sweeping changes in the South’s economic structure and they are depending heavily on private enterprises to revive the economy.

Vietnamese officials, both North and South, proclaim formal reunification as their foremost objective. At the same time, they make it clear that the process will be gradual, following progress in developing an acceptable communist administrative structure and in restoring order and economic stability. Although the communists are maintaining the fiction of an independent South Vietnamese state, there is no question that Vietnam is now one country with one policy.

Casey Stengel died at age 85.

Last edition:

Friday, September 26, 1975. Petroleum and The Rocky Horror Picture Show.

Labels: 1970s, 1975, 1975 at the movies, 94th Congress, Gerald Ford, inflation, Movies, Petroleum, The Great Inflation

Monday, April 20, 1925. Route shields

The US adopted the shield symbol for highway routes.

New York police raided Minsky's Burlesque for featuring striptease acts.  Not really newsworthy at the time, the event was later made famous due to a 1960 novel that was turned into a film.

Burlesque shows are mostly a thing of the past, although there are odd efforts to reenact them.  Sort of remembered in a cutesy fashion, they were really much raunchier in some ways than recalled, and indeed many stage shows in general featuring women through the 1920s were fairly pornographic.

Last edition:

Saturday, April 18, 1925.

Labels: 1920s, 1925, Art, Health, Norman Rockwell, Photography

Socialism is okay as long as its your own special socialism. . .

 apparently.

Lummis Wants To Pull $7.5B From Biden’s EV Mandates For Improving Highways

Let's be honest.  Socialized highways are socialist.  EV mandates aren't.  

We like highways, so in our view, socialized highways, which benefit us disproportionally, and which stiff railroads and regular motorists for the benefit of the trucking industry, are okay.

There's really no arguing this at all.  Under the MAGA view of the economy, states should pay for their own freaking highways, and certainly an industry, like the trucking industry, should not be subsidized.

But we don't see building highways for the trucking industry as bad or socialist, because we like them.  And we only saw a requirement to buy EV cars as bad because the Biden Administration believed in climate science and we don't like that as it hurts our wallets, although now that King Donald likes Tesla and Elon, this is getting confusing.

Socialism is when the government does stuff. And it's more socialism the more stuff it does.

Richard D. Wolff.

Cliffnotes of the Zeitgeist. 74th Edition. Surgery by butchers, MAGA Concubines, the Gualieter of Ohio, Portents, and the blind and deaf.

It's been a weird and horrific week for the Republic.

Surgery with a cleaver.

"DOGE" persists in making cuts that are inefficient based on Elon Musk's management style.  One of the things they did this past week was to axe a buch of employees who provide nuclear security.  They, and the Dear Leader, didn't know what they did. They had to scramble to hire them back.

They should have unionized in the meantime and asked for employment contracts, with one being that if they were terminated without cause for the next four years Elon Musk has to surrender his cash, along with Trump, assuming Trump has much.

Trump supporters, I'd note, are cheering on his actions, or rather Elon's, while the disaster looms.  The Forest Service, which only had about 34,000 employees to start with, is losing 10% of them. That's going to hit Wyoming like a ton of bricks as campgrounds close and the like this summer, and the State has to learn to fight fires with its own money and resources, none of which we're doing the slightest thing about.

That ain't conservative

Regarding Musk, Ashley St. Clair, whom I was previously unaware of, announced herself as another one of Musk's concubines who has produced a child.

St. Clair is supposedly a "conservative influencer", but whelping children out of wedlock isn't conservative.  This lays bear the whole hypocrisy of contemporary American conservatism. . . there isn't any in the US.  Spreading your legs for Elon doesn't boost your street cred with real conservatism and it certainly doesn't make you Eva Vlaardingerbroek.  It just makes you gross.

It does interestingly cast back to an earlier era, however, when men of royalty engaged in concubinage, because they could.  Both Trump and Must exhibit that trait.  They're not moral men at all, and yet somehow the peasantry attributes nobility to them.

It's interesting that the super genius Musk doesn't chose plain jane girls for his concubines.  They're all not bad looking.  Courtesans were often chosen for their looks and wits.  Maybe these were too.

Of course, this assumes that St. Clair is telling the truth.  She might not be.

It also show the weird Calvinism that prevails in the American Civil Religion, as well as, interestingly, the Boers.  Musk is from a Canadian family that moved to South Africa.  Calvinist, in their pure form, believe that God foreordained who goes to Heaven or Hell and there's nothing you can do about it.  They were heavily represented in the Roundheads who fought the crown in the English Civil War.  Anyhow, I recall reading a letter from one imprisoned Roundhead figure who asked if the Crown could send his mistress to him.  His mistress, not his wife.

Calvinism, we might note, is also responsible for the warped "Protestant Work Ethic", but more on that in some other post.

Anyhow, it's funny how the Evangelical Protestants who find Trump "Godly" don't mind his sexual behavior, or that of Elon Musk's, neither of whom behave particularly Christian.  Indeed, Musk has claimed in the past to be an atheist.

I'd like Evangelicals to explain this.

Vance lecturing the lumpenproletariat

J. D. Vance lectured Europeans, Germans in particular, on how neo Nazis really ain't that bad.

Telling.

Pete Hegseth tried to lecture people on something, but it was so spastic its hard to know what he was saying, if he knows.  That he's a small man in a big job is pretty evident.  He's not going to last in this position.

The Pentagon is bracing for defense cuts, fwiw.  They ought to be bracing for women to be removed from combat MOS's, which is one of the few things this interregnum could do at this point which I'd support.  What I don't support, however, is the elimination of education on sexual assault in the military, which the Navy and Marine Corps have done, following what they believe to be orders from up the hill.  The Service has a huge problem with sexual assault, and it'll get worse.  

In some ways, I wonder if the current leadership doesn't care about that.  It'd drive women from the service, which they may be wishing for.

Portents

It's easy to see signs that aren't there, but since Trump came into office there have been a pile of local and national oddities.

One thing has been the number of airplane crashes.  There's been a lot.  A small private plane went down in Sweetwater County a couple of weeks ago, and one went down on the highway near Rawlins last week.

Yesterday there was a massive accident in one of the Interstate Highway tunnels near Green River that killed at least two.

Wyoming can't afford its highways, fwiw, which is one of the things that it is seemingly unaware of.  Starting this year, probably, we're going to have to figure out how to.  My guess is that we just will let them decay.  There's remnants all over the state of old state highways before there was Federal money, and they're, well, bad roads and were pretty much from day one.

There's been a lot of shootings in Wyoming over the past year, not all of which hit the news.  This past week two did, one in which a mother killed three of her four children and herself.  Another occurred when a teenager playing with a handgun killed another teenager.  I"m pretty convinced, as I'll post in another thread, that gun control is coming, and Trump will be the one who brings it in.

The Gulf of Mexico and the Press

Trump has excluded the AP from press briefs as they continue to call the Gulf of Mexico the the Gulf of Mexico.

Everyone on earth except for the Trump besotted calls the Gulf of Mexico by that name, and the second Trump leaves office by any means, it's going back to that name and he'll be derided for thinking he could change it.

Time, I might note, is apparently not afraid of Trump. Their current cover:

Good for them.

You can't save everyone

I had a friend I went to grade school with who was in real personal trouble by the time we were high school.  It got worse afterword.  He died in his 30s down in Louisiana at work, of a massive heart attack, but in actually from a lifetime of booze and alcohol.

There was no saving him.

I note that as it was obvious where his life was headed, just as its obvious where the country is headed. We're headed for a real disaster, but you can't tell the MAGA people that.  They're incapable of believing it.

Last edition:

Cliffnotes of the Zeitgeist. 73d Edition. Long outages and Donny wasting the taxpayers money.