Two examples of exactly what's wrong with this country.

1.  Standards decayed to the irrelevant level.

I think Nixon's historical legacy is enjoying a bit of a renaissance, and deservedly so. 

If Watergate happened tomorrow, it would be like a 12 hours news story. The idea that it took down a presidency is crazy.

 J. D. Vance.

Vance is probably correct.  Watergate wouldn't have taken down Nixon today.

Watergate was inexcusable.  Nixon should not have been pardoned.  He should have been tried, convicted, and served jail time. That failure, combined with the failure to push traitorous Southerners after the Civil War, have helped give us Donald Trump.

What Nixon did give  us was Jimmy Carter.  Ford couldn't survive his association with Nixon and inflation.  Carter was not a good President, but he was a decent man.  That meant a lot.

And, and James Donald Bowman, James David Hamel, James David Vance, JD Vance should remember this.  While Carter as a one term President, the then youthful Democratic Party swept into power in that election and reset the country's middle meter to the left.  It remained there for decades.  Right now Republicans are pointing towards New York and saying "look, the Democrats are commies!" Well, the swing to the left and the right wing histrionics about it were exactly what occurred in the 1973 time frame, brought about by the corruption of Nixon, the Vietnam War, and economic distress.

A failed war.  A failed economy.  And corruption.  

Sound familiar Republicans?

2.  They actually feel Trump is a prophet

There's a reason why Donald Trump is still here. God's will is that his work is not done. By the way, our president knows that.

House majority whip Tom Emmer.

Hitler survived 42 known assassination attempts.

Nobody knows the mind of God.  As I earlier noted here, Donald may be our Attila, whom early Medieval Christians regarded as the "Scourge of God", Flagellum Dei.  Medieval Christians, whom Protestants latter slandered as being ignorant, were clear eyed enough to attribute Attila with being allowed to proceed in destruction as a punishment for their sins.  If Trump's luck with surviving assassination attempts has been due to the divine, given that he's a completely unGodly man, that possibility should be at least considered.

But beyond that, and this is truly scary, the far right Evangelical branch of American Protestantism is actually treading upon what essentially amounts to a new fringe religion, something that is well within the country's historical culture.  The 19th Century was full of them, with a collection of religions that proclaimed themselves founded on the teachings of Christ but lead by a new latter day prophet whose message departed from the Christian gospel.  In the 20th Century we've seen a few more.

A new book by journalist of the New York Times holds that those in Trump's cabinet believe that he's endowed with nearly an otherworldly foresight and is always right in spite of all the evidence that he's demented and was never very smart.  Like Communists in the mid 20th Century, they'll excuse any failure as temporary or a simple misunderstanding.  Molotov even excused Stalin's imprisoning his won wife.  Hardcore Communist, we might note, have a similar mindset to radical false religious prophets, and their adherents do as well.

Normally the further these movements go, and the longer they last, the more disastrous the fall.  

Tuesday, June 8, 1976. The last primaries of the 1976 season.

The final primaries of the 1976 election season were held.  Gerald Ford came out with a lead of 105 delegates over Ronald Reagan and Jimmy Carter has 1,250 of the 1,505 delegates he needed to secure the election.

Several state conventions remained to be held.

Last edition:

Saturday, June 5, 1976. Teton Dam collapse.

Labels: 1970s, 1976, Disaster, Geology, Idaho, Idaho (Rexburg), Idaho (Wilford), Irish Republican Army, Snake River, Terrorism, The Troubles, Ulster, Ulster Volunteer Force

Monday, January 19, 1976: The Iowa Caucuses

 

January 19, 1976: The Iowa Caucuses Matter for the 1st Time

Last edition:

Saturday, January 10, 1976. The passing of Howlin' Wolf.

Labels: 1970s, 1976, Illinois (Chicago), Music, The Blues

Bush gives Obama a belly tap

Funny. Bush being a guy, Obama being decent, Melania looking completely lost.

President Jimmy Carter Memorial Service at National Cathedral

In Memoriam. Jimmy Carter.

James "Jimmy" Carter died on December 29. He was, of course, the 39th President of the United States.

I'm late to noting his passing and therefore everyone has already read tributes to him.  Even Donald Trump, to my surprise, lauded him and indicated he'd attend his funeral. Carter did, it might be noted, feel that the early criticism of Trump was unfair.  I don't know what he thought about Trump later.

I've listed to a lot of the audio obits and read a few, and what I'll note is that, as so often, they approach being hagiography and tend to omit somethings that should be of real interest.

I'll start with the biggest.  Carter was a failure as a President.  Coming into office with an American public sick of inflation (sound familiar?) and disgusted with the Republicans due to Watergate (sound unfamiliar?), and also fatigued by the Vietnam War, he really didn't accomplish much.  He proved incapable of tackling inflation, which would fall to Reagan, and the US military, probably not surprisingly, lapsed into a weakened state, which Reagan also would address.  

While he was not a success as a President, he was one in life, however.

Carter, it was often noted, was from a peanut farm in Georgia.  What's oddly less often mentioned is that he was a Naval Academy graduate and a submariner.  To enter the submarine service you must be an engineer and a genius.  He was both.  He may be the smartest man to occupy the office since the Second World War. 

He was certainly the most moral.

He was a dedicated Baptist Christian, which nobody could rationally doubt.  The degree of his devotion was such that its almost surprising that he was elected, particularly as he gave an interview to Playboy during the height of its influence, noting how deeply Christian he was.  After he lost his bid for reelection, he devoted his remaining long life to public service, often to the poor.

Like the law, politics is an occupation that frequently initiates people into compromising their morals and attracts a certain percentage of people who are willing to do so.  And power, as is so often noted, corrupts.  Carter was unique in that he was a deeply moral man and the office did not change him.

Wednesday, October 1, 1924. Jimmy Carter born, William B. Ross starts to pass.

Jimmy Carter, 39th President of the United States, and the only President to live to age 100, was born in Plains Georgia.

Widely admired personally, he was not a terribly successful President and served one term.

Governor Ross was dying.

Ireland's Defence Forces (Óglaigh na hÉireann) were formed by the unification of the Irish Army, the Irish Naval Service, the Irish Air Corps and the Reserve Defence Forces,'

Baseball Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis banned New York Giants player Jimmy O'Connell and coach Cozy Dolan due to a bribery scandal.

From Michaelnoir on Reddit's 100 Years Ago today:

Last edition:

Tuesday, September 30, 1924. Big Train boards the Train, and the condition of Governor Ross.

Labels: 1920s, 1924, baseball, Health, Personalities, William B. Ross, Wyoming

Monday, September 16, 1974. Letting the evaders and deserters off, somewhat.

President Ford issued a conditional amnesty to American draft evaders and military deserters provided that they agree to work for 24 months in alternative service.

In my view, this was a mistake.

President Carter would compound the mistake in 1977 by issuing a general pardon to most evaders, but not deserters.

None of this should have been granted.  People died in the place of those who deserted and evaded. If a person had a genuine objection, and more than a few did, the honorable thing would have been to refuse to serve and to take the consequences.  Muhammed Ali provides an example of this, as does Walt Whitman from an earlier era.

The legacy of the Vietnam War in this regard continues to haunt us.  The same generation that reviled their parents, went on to brand their parents "the Greatest Generation", and never made peace with the largescale evadence of the call of duty.  Examples of course, abound, including Donald Trump, who was excused priority in the draft due to shin splints, and Joe Biden, who had multiple deferments including health related ones.

The first female Royal Canadian Mounted Police began training.

The Provisional IRA assassinated Martin McBirney QC, 56, and Rory Conaghan, 54, both judges in Northern Ireland.

Argentinian terrorist set off fifty bombs, killing four people.

The Bay Area Underwater Rapid Transit Tube, the first tunnel underneath the San Francisco Bay, opened to the public.

Last edition:

Tuesday, September 19, 1974. Recognizing independence.

Labels: 1970s, 1974, Africa, Colonialism, Guinea-Bissau, Portugal, Portugese Guinea, Portuguese Empire