Tuesday, February 5, 1924. Joseph M. Carey passes away. Burying Wilson, Enjoining Tepot Dome.

Today In Wyoming's History: February 5: 1924  Joseph M. Carey, Governor from 1911 to 1915, and member of the Republican and Progressive parties, died.in Cheyenne.

Carey was born in Delaware in 1845 and came to Wyoming after being appointed United States Attorney for the Territory of Wyoming in 1869.  He was still in his twenties at the time.  In 1871 he became an Associated Justice for the Territorial Wyoming Supreme Court, still at an absurdly young age.  He became mayor of Cheyenne in 1880.  Following statehood, he became a Senator in 1890. In 1895 he was not reelected by the legislature, which elected Senators at the time, due to his opposition to free silver, an opposition which was economically correct.  He was elected Governor in 1910 and served until 1915, joining the Progressive Party with Progressives bolted from the Republican Party.

Staying true to his Progressive views, he endorsed Woodrow Wilson during the 1916 election.  He was a supporter of Prohibition.

In addition to being a lawyer and politicians, he was a rancher, with large ranching interest in Central Wyoming.  In many ways, he's is representative of an era in Wyoming when people could come from out of state and become central in many aspects of the state's economic and political life.

In 1959, he was inducted into the National Cowboy Hall of Fame.

The Winter Olympics concluded.    France, Norway and Finland tied for gold medals.

Mexican rebels retreated from Vera Cruz as Federals won a victory at  Córdoba.

Tuesday, February 29, 1924. Air assisted victory.

Secretary of the Navy Fall was so struck by the Teapot Dome Scandal, which took place, of course, on the Naval Petroleum Reserve, that he had fallen ill.

Mexican Federal forces took Esperanza in Puebla in a hard fought battle.

The counter-attack featured strafing runs by Mexican-born American pilot, Ralph O'Neill.

O'Neill had distinguished service with the US Army as a pilot in World War One and held three Distinguished Service Cross citations.  He lived until 1980, dying at age 83 in California.

Monday, January 28, 1924. Plaintiff Shoeless Joe Jackson, Petition for release, Teapot fallout, Federals seek to retake Vera Cruz, Lenin boxed and warehoused, Far Right Figure gives extreme speech about election, the last King of Sine

Shoeless Joe Jackson's suit against the Chicago White Sox for back pay went to trial on this day in 1924.  The trial was held in Milwaukee.

A delegation headed by Illinois Sen. William B. McKinley and former servicemen present spooled petition to Otto Wiedfeldt, the German Ambassador to the United States in Washington, D.C. to release Hooven Griffis.

Hooven Griffis?

Yes, he was part of a party of men that had sought to kidnap Grover Cleveland Bergdoll, notorious WWI slacker, from a hotel in Germany, take him to Paris and turn him over to authorities so he could be court-martialed for desertion.

The party was caught.

The headlines all speak for themselves.

Mussolini addressed 10,000 Blackshirts in the Palazzo Venezia predicting a complete election victory and stating that they were "ready to kill or die".

Vanity Fair, December 1923.

Hmmm. . . sort of a lot like what we're hearing now.

Mahecor Joof was crowned as the last King of Sine in Senegal, where he'd be allowed limited power until his death in 1969.

Friday, January 25, 1924. The First Winter Olympics.

The 1924 Winter Olympics opened in Chamonix.  It was the first winter games.

The USSR renamed Petrograd, which had been founded by Peter the Great in 1703 and named after St. Peter, Leningrad, thereby substituting the name of a name of a lawyer turned mass murder in place of that of the Christian saint and first Pope.

While Lenin's foul body remains in a specialized mausoleum for worship by the secular, the city regained its rightful name in June 1991, when it appeared that Russia might escape the treachery of its recent past.

Mexican rebels took Morelia.

Czechoslovakia and France signed a mutual defense treaty.

Thursday, January 24, 1924. Different reactions to the use of power.

Oilman Edward L. Doheny testified that he had loaned Senator Albert B. Fall $100,000, when Fall was Secretary of the Interior under Harding, breaking open the Teapot Dome Scandal.

New Mexico Senator Albert B. Fall.

Fall's political career would soon come to an end, and he'd serve a year in prison.

Doheny would be indicted, but acquitted.

Khiva fell to the Red Army.

Sister Marie of the Poor, the former Grand Duchess Marie-Adélaïde of Luxembourg, died of ill health and influenza at age 29.  She had been the last royal of that country to wield real power, which caused her to abdicate after World War One due to her decision to try to steer the country clear of active resistance to the Germans.  Following that, having never married, she had become a nun.

Wednesday, January 23, 1924. Red Dead Relocation.

Mexican rebels decided to forego a blockade, but they took Saltillo and Monterrey.

Lenin's body was transported to the House of Unions.  Architect Alexey Shchusev was given the task of constructing a tomb for Lenin within three days.  He would accomplish the task, with the structure being obviously temporary.

Shchusev was originally a church architect, so his rise in the new Communist establishment is not admirable in any sense.  They should tear the crap he's responsible for after 1917 down, including the ice box that Lenin is kept in.

The US and UK entered into a treaty allowing the US to search British ships suspected of rum running.

Convention between the United States of America and Great Britain, Signed at Washington, January 23, 192437

The President of the United States of America;

And His Majesty the King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and of the British Dominions beyond the Seas, Emperor of India;

Being desirous of avoiding any difficulties which might arise between them in connection with the laws in force in the United States on the subject of alcoholic beverages;

Have decided to conclude a Convention for that purpose;

And have appointed as their Plenipotentiaries:

The President of the United States of America:

Charles Evans Hughes, Secretary of State of the United States;

His Majesty the King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and of the British Dominions beyond the Seas, Emperor of India:

The Right Honorable Sir Auckland Campbell Geddes, G. C. M. G., K. C. B., His Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the United States of America;

Who, having communicated their full powers found in good and due form, have agreed as follows:

Article I

The High Contracting Parties declare that it is their firm intention to uphold the principle that 3 marine miles extending from the coastline outwards and measured from low-water mark constitute the proper limits of territorial waters.

Article II

(1) His Britannic Majesty agrees that he will raise no objection to the boarding of private vessels under the British flag outside the limits of territorial waters by the authorities of the United States, [Page 159]its territories or possessions in order that enquiries may be addressed to those on board and an examination be made of the ship’s papers for the purpose of ascertaining whether the vessel or those on board are endeavoring to import or have imported alcoholic beverages into the United States, its territories or possessions in violation of the laws there in force. When such enquiries and examination show a reasonable ground for suspicion, a search of the vessel may be instituted.

(2) If there is reasonable cause for belief that the vessel has committed or is committing or attempting to commit an offense against the laws of the United States, its territories or possessions prohibiting the importation of alcoholic beverages, the vessel may be seized and taken into a port of the United States, its territories or possessions for adjudication in accordance with such laws.

(3) The rights conferred by this article shall not be exercised at a greater distance from the coast of the United States its territories or possessions than can be traversed in one hour by the vessel suspected of endeavoring to commit the offense. In cases, however, in which the liquor is intended to be conveyed to the United States its territories or possessions by a vessel other than the one boarded and searched, it shall be the speed of such other vessel and not the speed of the vessel boarded, which shall determine the distance from the coast at which the right under this article can be exercised.

Article III

No penalty or forfeiture under the laws of the United States shall be applicable or attach to alcoholic liquors or to vessels or persons by reason of the carriage of such liquors, when such liquors are listed as sea stores or cargo destined for a port foreign to the United States, its territories or possessions on board British vessels voyaging to or from ports of the United States, or its territories or possessions or passing through the territorial waters thereof, and such carriage shall be as now provided by law with respect to the transit of such liquors through the Panama Canal, provided that such liquors shall be kept under seal continuously while the vessel on which they are carried remains within said territorial waters and that no part of such liquors shall at any time or place be unladen within the United States, its territories or possessions.

Article IV

Any claim by a British vessel for compensation on the grounds that it has suffered loss or injury through the improper or unreasonable exercise of the rights conferred by Article II of this Treaty or [Page 160]on the ground that it has not been given the benefit of Article III shall be referred for the joint consideration of two persons, one of whom shall be nominated by each of the High Contracting Parties.

Effect shall be given to the recommendations contained in any such joint report. If no joint report can be agreed upon, the claim shall be referred to the Claims Commission established under the provisions of the Agreement for the Settlement of Outstanding Pecuniary Claims signed at Washington the 18th August, 1910, but the claim shall not, before submission to the tribunal, require to be included in a schedule of claims confirmed in the manner therein provided.

Article V

This Treaty shall be subject to ratification and shall remain in force for a period of one year from the date of the exchange of ratifications.

Three months before the expiration of the said period of one year, either of the High Contracting Parties may give notice, of its desire to propose modifications in the terms of the Treaty.

If such modifications have not been agreed upon before the expiration of the term of one year mentioned above, the Treaty shall lapse.

If no notice is given on either side of the desire to propose modifications, the Treaty shall remain in force for another year, and so on automatically, but subject always in respect of each such period of a year to the right on either side to propose as provided above three months before its expiration modifications in the Treaty, and to the provision that if such modifications are not agreed upon before the close of the period of one year, the Treaty shall lapse.

Article VI

In the event that either of the High Contracting Parties shall be prevented either by judicial decision or legislative action from giving full effect to the provisions of the present Treaty the said Treaty shall automatically lapse, and, on such lapse or whenever this Treaty shall cease to be in force, each High Contracting Party shall enjoy all the rights which it would have possessed had this Treaty not been concluded.

The present Convention shall be duly ratified by the President of the United States of America, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate thereof, and by His Britannic Majesty; and the ratifications shall be exchanged at Washington as soon as possible.

In Witness Whereof, the respective Plenipotentiaries have signed the present Convention in duplicate and have thereunto affixed their seals.

Done at the city of Washington this twenty-third day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand nine hundred and twenty-four.

Charles Evans Hughes

A. C. Geddes

Heritage of the Dessert was released.  The film featured some technicolor footage.

Monday, January 21, 1924. Death claims bloody Lenin.

 

Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov, better known to history as Vladimir Lenin, the illegitimate leader of a "soviet" state the Russian people had not wished to come into existence, died, having brought untold misery to millions.

The monster was 53 years of age.

His father had died at 54, so there's likely a genetic component to his "stroke", but in actuality, the exact cause of his death is not really known.

Parliament passed a no confidence motion in the government of Stanley Baldwin.

British railway workers went on strike the same day.

Mexican Federal troops crossed the US into Mexico, repeating the event which had lead Pancho Villa to attack Columbus, New Mexico, in March 1916.

Sunday, January 20, 1924. Ships ordered to Vera Cruz, Sheridan County Sheriff to be ousted.

US warships were ordered to Vera Cruz.

On the same day, rebel forces took Villahermosa, capital of the Mexican state of Tabasco.

And Sheridan County's Sheriff had been served with an Order To Show Cause by the Governor.  The Sheriff was accused of being drunk on duty, which is bad enough, but this was of course during Prohibition.

This power is little known, but it still exists. The Governor can remove a sheriff, or any county officer, for cause.  A sheriff has been removed by a Governor as recently as 2014.

Friday, January 18, 1924. Corn husking bee, Transiting Mexican Federals, Convalescing Commie.

 

A corn husking bee, January 18, 1924.

The news recalled 1916.

Mexican troops looked to be about to get US transit.

Calvin Coolidge gave a press conference.  He addressed that topic, and others.  On the transit, he stated:

An inquiry also about the passage of Mexican troops across American territory. It is my information that New Mexico and I think Arizona have given consent of their Governments to the passage of Mexican troops, but that the Acting Governor of Texas thought that such passage through Texas territory might incur some danger. Of course, the opinion of the Governor there would be respected, and unless the local authorities, I mean by that the Government, state authorities, want to give their consent, our Government would notify the Government of Mexico that it seemed expedient to have troops pass through Mexico. Whether that would be refused, or changed at all, when the Governor gets home, I don’t know. It may be that the Acting Governor simply didn’t want to take the responsibility of making an affirmative decision, and is awaiting the return of the Governor.

Interesting how it was viewed as a state first matter.

One of the other topics addressed was the Teapot Dome Scandal.

While Trotsky was convalescing on the Black Sea, getting a little respite from being an agent of murderous armed agency, Stalin denounced him in a blistering speech.

1924  Douglas bank closes in failure, part of a waive of bank failures.  Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society. 

Wednesday, January 16, 1924. Blockade breaking.

Oh, oh, history was repeating itself.

Raúl Pateras Pescara kept his model 2F helicopter aloft in the air for 8 minutes and 13.8 seconds at Issy-les-Moulineaux near Paris. That was a helicopter record.

Gonzalo Córdova was elected President of Ecuador with over 93% of the vote.

María Cristina Estela Marcela Jurado García, better known as Katy Jurado, famous for High Noon, was born in Guadalajara.  I don't care for High Noon much, but I do like her performance in it.

Jurado was married twice, once to Víctor Velázquez and then to Ernest Borgnine, and had a number of affairs with notables ranging from Marlon Brando to Louis L'amour.  She died in 2002 at age 78.

Saturday, January 12, 1924. Taking Oaxaca.

Mexican mountaineer irregulars loyal to the government took Oaxaca.

France rejected a British proposal in the League of Nations to investigate separatism in the Rhineland.

Friday, January 11, 1924. Federals Advance, Coolidge speaks.

Mexican Federals retook Pachuca and advanced on Tuxpan.

President Coolidge held a press conference:

Here is a small rumor, I don’t generally pay much attention to the rumors because I know the press isn’t interested in rumors, about Mr. Olsen of North Dakota resigning in favor of Mr. Roy Frazier. That is a rumor that never came to my attention. I guess you will be perfectly safe in saying it has no foundation. It is nothing I ever heard of. Mr. Frazier I met when he was down here. He is interested in securing some agricultural legislation. I think he has gone back, Mr. Olsen I never happened to hear of. He is an internal revenue commissioner. I have no doubt he is a good one.

I don’t know anything about Governor General Wood returning to the U. S. I don’t think he has any intention of coming here, and I know of no reason why he should come. I think any information that would be required from him could be sent by him very easily, if any were needed.

I think nothing has been done about selecting a Director of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing to succeed Mr. Hill. That is being looked after by Mr. Mellon, and I don’t really know whether Mr. Hill’ s resignation is final or not. I don’t know that it isn’t, nor do I know that it is. So I can’t give you much of any definite information about that.

I have three or four inquiries here about the Tariff Commission. I like to keep in touch somewhat with the work of the Commissions, now that I have my message out of the way, and I am giving a little more attention to administrative features. I have had several conferences, as you know, with the Shipping Board to try and see what we could do in the way of adopting a policy for them, and yesterday I had a long conference with the Tariff Commission, in order that I might get a better idea of their problems. They have pending before them a good many different questions that go there from my office, and I wanted to see how they were getting along, what progress they were making, and what their problems are. I do not feel like giving out any information about that now. I think you can depend upon the Tariff Board to make disinterested reports, and so to conduct their hearings and make their decisions, that the results will meet with the approval of those acquainted with the circumstances. I don’t know of any member of the Board, I will say here, that is financially interested in anything pending before the Board. I don’t know that there aren’t several of the Board that may be. But I don’t know of any that are.

Mr. President, is it your plan to have similar conferences with other Boards?

I think I shall from time to time. I haven’t adopted that as a definite policy any more than I have stated before, that very likely as the work of legislation comes on I shall want to give considerable attention to that. I just had a conference with Senator Smoot relative to financial legislation – to see what the prospect is. He reports it is encouraging, and I shall undoubtedly be in conference with different members of the House and Senate to keep myself informed, and in that way to see what I can do that might be of assistance; also any of the other Boards, as their problems are brought to my attention.

Mr. President, will it be in order to ask whether Senator Smoot brought any more encouraging report about the bonus, about the possibility of the Senate supporting a veto?

I don’t know that I would want to anticipate what I might do with legislation that was brought to me. I have stated my position in relation to bonus legislation in my message, – –

Mr. President, I was thinking more of what Senator Smoot brought in – –and I have enlarged somewhat on that in my budget message. I don’t believe it is quite the thing for the executive to make public announcements that he would veto certain legislation that might come to him in advance of its arrival here – though there are certain inferences always of what might be done. You gentlemen are very adroit at that.

We might speculate on that, Mr. President.

I don’t need to stimulate you.

I haven’t decided on the Chairmanship of the Tariff Commission for the coming year. There are several very good men on the Commission. I think any one of them is well qualified to be Chairman. I believe they have adopted, on the Interstate Commerce Commission, the plan of rotation. One man is Chairman one year, and another man the next year. It is a practice that has more or less merit in it, and oftentimes might be a very helpful solution.

Mr. President, would you care to say what the Cabinet discussed today?

We discussed almost nothing this morning. I was taken up taken up considerably in time by people that wanted to see me, so that I was about twelve minutes late getting in, I don’t think we stayed in session very long.

Any resignations, Mr. President?

No, no Cabinet resignations. Hone of the Cabinet resigned this morning. Several of them were absent, and that was the reason why the session was so short.

Wednesday, January 9, 1924. Oil.

 Oil in Mexico, oil at Teapot Dome, Oil prices.

Oil.

The intersection of N40th St and Meridian Ave N, Seattle, Washington, January 9, 1924.

The market capitalization of Ford Motor Company exceeded $1 billion for the first time. 

Palatine seperatist Franz Josef Heinz was murdered by member sof the Viking League with the permission of the Bavarian government.

The Bishop of Speyer, Ludwig Sebastian, would refuse to give Heinz a church burial.

Monday, January 7, 1924. Rebels take Tampico.

Mexican rebels took Tampico.  The city is an important oil port.

The Fédération Internationale de Hockey (FIH) was founded in Paris by representatives of field hockey organizations of Austria, Belgium, Czechoslovakia, France, Hungary, Spain, and Switzerland.

Ice Skating near the Lincoln Memorial, January 7, 1924.

A Catholic organization protested the current immigration policy.

Sunday, January 6, 1924. Frigid weather and Rebel offensives.

A cold wave was causing grief, and rebels were trying to take the offensive in Mexico.

A story that would repeat many times in Casper was playing out, with oil companies moving their headquarters from Casper to Denver.  By 2000 it had pretty much set in that headquarters were no longer in Wyoming, with Marathon being perhaps the last major producer to relocate.  Denver remains a major oil headquarters city, but Houston has eclipsed it.  Presently, all that really remains of the major petroleum headquarters that were once in Casper are three office buildings, The Ohio Building, the Pan American Building and the Consolidated Royalty Building. 

Atatürk survived a bomb attack on his home by an uninvited visitor which did, however, injury his wife Latife Uşşaki. 

The Catholic Church in France was allowed to reoccupy former Church property under the "diocesan associations" system.

On the same day, the flood of the Seine peaked at over 7 meters.

Friday, January 24, 1924. Claiming control of the oilfields.

 De la Huerta's confederates claimed control of Mexico's oil.

The German government issued the Emminger Reform abolishing juries in favor of a mixed system of professional and lay judges as a cost savings measure.  Lay judges were in turn abolished by the Third Reich on September 1, 1939.

The jury system is uncommon in continental Europe, in any event.  It was briefly restored in Germany between 1948 and 1950, but upon formation of the Federal Republic of Germany it was again removed save for Bavaria, which adopted the system as it existed prior to this date.

Conclusions were being drawn about French inflation.

Thursday, January 3, 1924. The murder of Puerto.

 

Puerto.

Yucatán's governor, Filipe Carrillo Puerto, was executed by de la Huerta rebels for failing to support their revolution.  Eleven others were murdered with him, including three of his brothers.  He was 49 years old.

Wednesday, January 2, 1924. Kings in Exile.

Bulgaria gave former King Ferdinand, who had been in exile since 1918, permission to return to Sofia.

He had been living in Coburg, Germany, oddly enough, given that the German monarch was also in exile.  He noted, while there:

Kings in exile are more philosophic under reverses than ordinary individuals; but our philosophy is primarily the result of tradition and breeding, and do not forget that pride is an important item in the making of a monarch. We are disciplined from the day of our birth and taught the avoidance of all outward signs of emotion. The skeleton sits forever with us at the feast. It may mean murder, it may mean abdication, but it serves always to remind us of the unexpected. Therefore we are prepared and nothing comes in the nature of a catastrophe. The main thing in life is to support any condition of bodily or spiritual exile with dignity. If one sups with sorrow, one need not invite the world to see you eat.

Yugoslavia issued an ultimatum objecting to his return.

He in fact did not return, and having taken steps to secure his fortune, lived a quasi bucolic life, marked by family tragedy, and carried on in Germany, dying in 1948.  The prior year, he married a third time, to his secretary, age 26.  

Simon & Schuster, the legendary publishing house, was formed.

The U.S. Winter Olympic team left for the first Winter Olympics.

1924 Winter Olympics including Beatrix Loughran, Joe Moore, Valentine Bialis, Richard Donovan, Harry Kaskey, Charles Jewtraw, and William Steinmetz aboard the ship SS President Monroe on January 2, 1924. 

The Constitutionalist government of Mexico reported that is forces had achieved a victory over the rebels of Adolfo de la Huerta at Zacualpan.

The war in Mexico, and other age-old lethal vices, were making headlines far away:

Flooding in Paris closed the railroads.

Sabine Baring-Gould, composer of "Onward, Christian Soldiers", died at age 89.  Clara Abbott, American businesswoman who had been the first woman to serve on the board of a major American corporation, Abbott Laboratories, died at age 66.

United States Senators Frazier and Johnson were photographed working.

A new flag for Iowa was unveiled.

It is, frankly, ugly.

It had been adopted in 1921. Iowa had lacked one before that.

Wars and Rumors of War, 2023, Part XII. γλυκύ δ᾽ἀπείρῳ πόλεμος. πεπειραμένων δέ τις ταρβεῖ προσιόντα νιν καρδία περισσῶς.

You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.

Matthew, Chapter 24.

γλυκύ δ᾽ἀπείρῳ πόλεμος.

πεπειραμένων δέ τις ταρβεῖ προσιόντα νιν καρδία περισσῶς.

War is sweet to those who have no experience of it. But the experienced man trembles exceedingly in his heart at its approach.

Pindar

I'd hoped not to have a new edition of this, this year.  This one shall surely close the year out..

When I should have started this edition:

December 1, 2023

Hamas v. Israel

Fighting has resumed.

December 3, 2023

Hamas v. Israel

Israel's offensive has expanded south.

December 5, 2023

Hamas v. Israel.

It's become increasing clear that not only was the Hamas assault on Israel the largest act of violence against civilian Jews since the Holocaust, but the largest example of militaristic armed rape since the Red Army's late stage World War Two actions in Germany (and Eastern Europe).

Like Red Army soldiers, Hamas combatants gang raped Israeli women to the point of death, or raped them and then killed them.  There's no excusing it, or denying it.

There is a question about it, however.  In the case of the Red Army, the organization was officially theist, which in fact gives license to such behavior.  In the case of Hamas, the organization is officially Islamic, and while the Koran does sanction taking female sex slaves, it doesn't condone rape outright or rape and murder.  This probably explains the official Hamas denials, but it would seem that an explanation from some other quarter is necessary, even if it will not be exculpatory.

December 6, 2023

Hamas v. Israel.

The US banned extremist Israeli settlers on the West Bank from entry into the U.S.

December 7, 2023

Venezuela v Guyana

Venezuela has dispatched troops to its border with Guyana in support of its claim to Essequibo.

This is a long-running dispute which first erupted in 1841, and it involves half of Guyana.

War is likely.

December 11, 2023

Russia v. Ukraine

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is globe-trotting seeking support for his country's cause.  He was in Argentina over the weekend to witness the new Argentine President being sworn in, and is traveling to the United States today.

December 13, 2023

Russia v. Ukraine

President Zelenskyy addressed Congress yesterday.  It's becoming increasingly clear that Congress will not pass a new aid package this year due to linkage of aid to Ukraine to getting something addressed on the US border, the latter of which is a genuine crisis.

Hamas v. Israel

Israel is flooding Hamas tunnels with seawater in Gaza.

The United Nations voted 153 to 10 with 23 abstentions in favor of a ceasefire in Gaza.

President Biden termed Israeli bombing in Gaza as "indiscriminate".

US National Guard units are being called up for deployment to the Horn of Africa.

December 16, 2023

US/Mexican Border Crisis

Arizona's Democratic Governor, Katie Hobbs, activated elements of the Arizona National Guard in order to deploy them to the state's border with Mexico.  In doing so she stated that the Federal Government's decision to close a legal port of entry in Arizona "has led to an unmitigated humanitarian crisis."

Her activation order reads:

At this point, this is completely out of hand and is in fact a major failure by the Administration.

Russo Ukrainian War

German outlet BILD stated on December 14 that unspecified intelligence findings and sources indicate that Russia plans to occupy Ukrainian territory beyond the four (illegally) annexed Ukrainian oblasts throughout 2024-2026. BILD stated that Russia plans to capture the entirety of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts and up to the Oskil River in Kharkiv Oblast by the end of 2024

ISW.

December 26, 2023.  Boxing Day

Russo Ukrainian War

Ukraine damaged the landing ship Novocherkassk in a missile strike on a Crimean Port yesterday.

December 27, 2023

Russo Ukrainian War

It's being reported that Russia is making back channel communications that it's open to a cessation of the war, provided a cessation leaves Russia with the ability to assert it achieved its goals.

The Russians have taken Marinka in Donetsk Oblast.

Hamas v. Israel.

Israel has expended its operations to Central Gaza.  

It's reported that 20,000 Palestinians have been killed to date in the war.

December 28, 2023

Russo Ukrainian War

From the Department of Defense:

DOD Announces Aid Package for Ukraine

Dec. 27, 2023 | By Joseph Clark

The Defense Department today announced a security assistance package for Ukraine valued at up to $250 million. 

The package includes air defense capabilities, artillery and antitank weapons and other equipment to help Ukraine in its continued fight to counter Russia’s unprovoked invasion.  

The latest round of assistance marks the 54th drawdown of military equipment for Ukraine from DOD inventories since August 2021. 

It comes amid negotiations on Capitol Hill over President Joe Biden’s supplemental request to Congress to continue critical funding for military and humanitarian aid for Ukraine.  

Defense officials have warned that, without action from Congress, further U.S. assistance for Ukraine could be in jeopardy at a critical time as Russia’s war approaches the two-year mark.  

"We would, again, continue to urge the passage of the supplemental that we've submitted," Pentagon Press Secretary Air Force Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder said in a briefing last week. 

"As you look at the situation that Ukraine finds itself in, we will obviously continue to support them," Ryder said. "But it is imperative that we have the funds needed to ensure that they get the most urgent battlefield capabilities that they require." 

Spotlight: Support for Ukraine

In a recent letter to lawmakers, DOD comptroller Michael J. McCord said the department would be obligating the remaining $1 billion in funds authorized by Congress to replace U.S. inventories of weapons provided to Ukraine by the end of this month. 

The security assistance package announced today is likely the last until Congress authorizes additional funds. 

Earlier this month, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy traveled to Washington to meet with Biden, defense officials and lawmakers. During those talks, Zelenskyy extended his gratitude for the United States' support and underscored his country’s urgent need for that support to continue. 

After meeting with Zelenskyy at the White House, Biden pledged that the U.S. "will not walk away from Ukraine," as he implored lawmakers to authorize additional funding. 

"The brave people in Ukraine have defied Putin's will at every turn, backed by the strong and unwavering support of the United States and our allies and partners in more than 50 nations in Europe and the Indo-Pacific," Biden said. "Ukraine will emerge from this war proud, free and firmly rooted in the West unless we walk away." 

He said he would continue to provide U.S. military assistance for as long as congressionally approved funds are available.  

"Without supplemental funding, we are rapidly coming to an end of our ability to help Ukraine respond to the urgent operational demands that it has," he said. 

"Putin is banking on the United States failing to deliver for Ukraine," he continued. "We must prove him wrong."   

In introductory remarks ahead of Zelenskyy's address at National Defense University in Washington, Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III also underscored the United States' "unshakable" commitment to supporting Ukraine as it defends itself against Russian aggression. 

"Ukraine matters profoundly to America's security and to the trajectory of global security in the 21st century," Austin said. "That's why the United States has committed more than $44 billion in security assistance to Ukraine's brave defenders." He added that the U.S.-led coalition of allies and partners have also contributed more than $37 billion in security assistance to Ukraine.  

Austin said those contributions include capabilities that "are making a crucial difference on the battlefield" and have helped Ukraine retake more than half of the territory seized by Russia since February 2022. 

He said the U.S. and its allies and partners remain "determined to help Ukraine consolidate and extend its battlefield gains and to build a future force that can ward off Russian aggression in the years ahead."

From ISW:

Ukrainian drone footage published on December 27 showed another Russian execution of Ukrainian prisoners of war (POWs) near Robotyne in western Zaporizhia Oblast.[1] The geolocated video shows Russian servicemen shooting three Ukrainian soldiers whom Russian forces captured in a tree line west of Verbove (east of Robotyne). The video later depicts one Russian soldier shooting an already dead Ukrainian serviceman again at close range.[2] The Ukrainian Prosecutor General‘s Office announced that it opened an investigation into Russian forces violating the laws and customs of war in addition to premeditated murder.[3] The Ukrainian Prosecutor General’s Office stated this incident occurred on an unspecified date in December 2023.[4] ISW previously reported observing drone footage of Russian servicemen using Ukrainian POWs as human shields near Robotyne on December 13.[5] The killing of POWs violates Article III of the Geneva Convention on the laws of armed conflict.[6]

December 29, 2023

Iraq

From ISW: 

Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al Sudani announced that his administration will begin procedures to remove International Coalition forces from Iraq during a press conference on December 28, likely due to pressure from Iranian-backed Iraqi militias. These militias have used legal, military, and political pressure in recent weeks to expel US forces, as CTP-ISW previously assessed. 

December 31, 2023

Russo Ukrainian War

The Ukrainians shelled and struck with drones the Russian city of Belgorod with artillery, killing 21 people, including three children. The raid was likely a retaliatory raid for recent, and ongoing, missile and drone strikes on Ukrainian cities.

US Mexico Board Crisis

From the AP:

Mexico and Venezuela announced Saturday that they restarted repatriation flights of Venezuelans migrants in Mexico, the latest move by countries in the region to take on a flood of people traveling north to the United States.

The move comes as authorities say at least 10,000 migrants a day arrived at the U.S.-Mexico border, many of them asylum seekers, and a migrant caravan of thousands of people from across the region — largely Venezuelans — trekked through southern Mexico this past week.

Hamas Israeli War

Also from the AP:

BEIRUT (AP) — The U.S. military said Sunday it shot down two anti-ship ballistic missiles fired toward a container ship by Yemen’s Houthi rebels in the Red Sea. Hours later, four boats tried to attack the same ship, but U.S. forces opened fire, killing several of the armed crews, the U.S. Central Command said. No one was injured on the ship.

Last Prior Edition:

Wars and Rumors of War, 2023, Part XI. Our Sins coming back to haunt us edition.

Sunday, December 30, 1923. The Arms Trade.