Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier de La Fayette, Marquis de La Fayette, called by Americans "Layfayette" landed in Sandy Hook, New Jersey, for his "farewell" tour of the United States. It was the first time he had been in North America in forty years.
He would see all of the then 24 American states and Washington, D.C. over a 13 month, 6,000 mile, journey, traveling with his son, George Washington Lafayette.
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The Nixon Nitration Works disaster occured in which an explosion of ammonium nitrate killed at least 18 people, destroyed several miles of New Jersey factories, and demolished Nixon, New Jersey.
While a very famous industrial disaster, the Nixon Nitration Works and Nixon New Jersey are remembered now principally for being mentioned in Band of Brothers as Cpt. Lewis Nixon III, a major character Ambrose's depiction of the 506 Parachute Infantry Regiment, mentions it. Lewis Nixon was in fact a member of the family that owned the plant, and it was the case that Richard Winters, his close friend and for most of his service in Europe his superior, worked there for a time after the war.
The Nixon's were troubled in general, and Lewis Nixon III was no exception. His marriage contracted just after the start of the war failed during it, as did a subsequent one. A third marriage to Grace Umezawa, formerly a Japanese internee, was successful. She helped him overcome the alcoholism depicted during the series.
The KDP, the Communist Part of Germany, was reinstated. The KDP, together with the NADSP, the Nazi Party, would figure enormously in the destruction of German democracy as the extremes grew increasingly powerful in the remaining years of the Weimar Republic.
Alice's Day at Sea, the first of 57 Alice comedies produced by Walt Disney, appeared. They were short films meant to be shown before the feature, something at one time common.
White rats paraded in San Pedro, California.
Not a hack, but on this day, an Irish Traveler feeding his pony on this day in 1924.
A 20-year-old marrying a 15-year-old?
And she was in 6th Grade?
October 2, 2023.
And some of them will have interesting topics on their ballots. We start with this one, a Texas right to farm act, that will be on the ballot in Texas.
November 8, 2023
Following the trend of voting to make Americans even more intoxicated and dim than they already are, Ohio voted to legalize recreational marijuana. It also voted in favor of opening up abortion, unfortunately.
Houston is going to have a mayoral runoff.
cont:
Democrats gained control of both houses of the Virginia legislature.
Republicans only barely held the House of Delegates before this, but this can legitimately be regarded as another example of the Trump GOP losing power in an election.
Democrats took the Governor's race in Kentucky.
None of this may be dramatic, but the GOP has a demographic problem, and Trump isn't helping it. Therefore, ironically, there's a fairly good chance that he'll be elected as the next President, but the House and the Senate will go Democratic.
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Democrats won big in New Jersey.
For some reason, apparently it was thought they would not, which is odd.
November 9, 2023
Regarding ballot initiatives in Maine; Maine passed a resolution prohibiting election funding by foreign governments, including entities with partial foreign government ownership or control.
The Pine Tree Power Company initiative decisively failed.
A right to repair initiative requiring vehicle manufacturers to provide access to vehicle on board diagnostic systems to owners and repair facilities passed.
An attempt to allow out of states to gather initiative signatures failed.
Texas, not too surprisingly, had a bunch of initiatives on its ballot. Some of interest here:
A right to farm, ranch, harvest timber, practice horticulture and engage in wildlife management was added to the State Constitution. The vote was overwhelmingly in favor.
Voters authorized an ad valorem tax exemption on medical and biomedical equipment.
An effort to raise judicial retirement age from 75 to 79 (what the heck?) failed, thank goodness.
A resolution to prohibit a tax on net wealth passed.
Having learned utterly nothing, apparently, from World War One, Italy was having a massive overreaction, or perhaps fascism, thinking it was immune from history, was taking advantage of Greek weakness.
A mob attacked a Ku Klux Klan meeting at Perth Amboy, New Jersey.
Galeazzo Ciano, Mussolini's son-in-law and a prominent figure in the Italian government, was dispatched to the Wolf's Lair with a message from Mussolini urging Hitler to make a separate peace with the Soviet Union.
Ciano only rose to power via his marriage to Edda Mussolini, but starting in 1939 he began to pull away from the dictator over the war, which he opposed. He was sidelined by being appointed Ambassador to the Holy See in 1943. He voted with the Fascist Grand Council to remove Mussolini in July 1943, but was removed from his office by the government, after which he fled to Germany. The Germans in turn handed him over to Mussolini's rebel fascist Italian Social Republic, which would have him executed.
Ciano's diaries are an important source of inside information regarding the Italian fascist government as well as the Axis alliance.
The British prevailed at El Agheila.
"The Isles", Lake Hopatcong, N.J. August 9, 1909.
Alabama became the first state to ratify the Sixteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution providing for an income tax.
The U.S. mint halted the production of the Lincoln head VDB marked pennies, with the initials of designer Victor David Brenner, on them. 22,350,000 of the pennies had been put into circulation.
Production had only been ongoing for one week.
He was executed on August 26, 1944, for his role in the plot.
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