Sculptor Gutzon Borglum arrived in South Dakota at the invitation of historian Doane Robinson to carry out plans to carve an epic statue of four Presidents, Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt in the state's Black Hills.
Last edition:
If a man continually blusters, if he lacks civility, a big stick will not save him from trouble….It is both foolish and undignified to indulge in undue self-glorification, and above all, in loose-tongued denunciation of other peoples.
Theodore Roosevelt, 1901.
August 20, 2024, 7:00 p.m.
And the primary results are in! We're off and running for the general election.
Of course, the biggest race of the year, pitting a meandering, lying, babbling Donald Trump and his National Conservative running mate J. D. Vance against a fairly committed left wing but cogent ticket made up of Kamala Harris and Tim Walz wasn't on the ballot. At one time, in Wyoming primaries, you actually did get to voice your opinion on who should run in the Republican or Democratic Party for President, but it was just that, an opinion vote. The ticket was still chosen at conventions, with the Democratic one being open, and the Republican one being closed.
I guess that was confusing or pointless, so that isn't done anymore.
By way of a full confession, I started typing this out before August 20, and I'm posting right as the polls close, so the first part are predications, but probably fairly safe ones.
John Barrasso, twice endorsed by Trump, will have handily defeated Reid Rasner, who is a genuine Trumpist. At one time it looked like Rasner had a chance, but Barrasso out Trumped him and easily won.
Barrasso will face Democrat Scott Morrow.
At least that's what I think occurred.
Harriet Hageman I'm sure won race against the Quixotic effort of Steve Helling. Hopefully Helling quits these races at this point as this is embarrassing.
Hageman will face Kyle Cameron.
cont:
Senator Barrasso's victory was a total blowout.
So was Harriet Hageman's.
Locally, Senator Anderson beat Bryce Reece, but only barely.
Given the campaign Reece ran, that's disappointing. Reece was backed by what frankly were lies.
The longest serving legislator in the U.S. currently, Sen. Charlie Scott, beat out challenger Rob Hendry handily.
Elissa Campbell took retiring House member Jerry Obermueller's seat, keeping the seat in the rational Republican category.
Julie Jarvis handily defeated incumbent far right controversial populist Jeanette Ward for her House seat. It'll be interesting to see if this trend crosses the state, and it'll also be interesting to see if Ward moves on.
For County Commissioner in Natrona County incumbent Dave North came out on top followed by new candidate Casey Coates.
For Casper City Council veteran former legislator Pat Sweeney came out on top with incumbent Amber Pollock second for Ward I, which makes for an interesting reentry into politics for Sweeney.
The Natrona County Senior District passed, but only barely.
August 21, 2024
The big new of the night is that the Freedom Caucus, while Ward went down in Casper, gained in the House overall and there will now be a populist House of Representatives, a very bad development for Wyoming.
To clarify Ward I for Casper, Pat Sweeney, Amber Pollock, Ken Dockweiler and Julie Collins-Thiel, made it through the primary.
The senior district passed by only 110 votes.
cont:
The effective head of the Democratic Party issued an immediate statement:
Am I the only one kinda floored that the GOP candidate for the United States President, is trolling social media like a disgruntled teenage boy who's girlfriend just dumped him? 🙄😬
Kamala Harris is disgraceful. We’re going to talk about a story out of those 13 brave, innocent Americans who lost their lives, it’s that Kamala Harris is so asleep at the wheel that she won’t even do an investigation into what happened, and she wants to yell at Donald Trump because he showed up. She can…she can go to hell.
Some people don't eat bacon anymore. This was caused by their horrible energy. Wind. They want wind all over the place. When it doesn't blow, we have a problem.
I do the weave. Do you know what the weave is? I’ll talk about 9 different things, and they all come back brilliantly together. And friends of mine that are like English professors say, ‘It’s the most brilliant thing I’ve ever seen, but the fake news say, ‘He rambled.
Well, let's see. First the earth cooled. And then the dinosaurs came, but they got too big and fat, so they all died and they turned into oil. And then the Arabs came and they bought Mercedes Benzes. And Prince Charles started wearing all of Lady Di's clothes. I couldn't believe it. He took her best summer dress, put it on and went to town.
“Proposition 1: $7,300,000 and interest earned thereon to the City of Casper to reconstruct the aging, failing, and undersized Metro Animal Shelter to better provide for animal health and safety.” (The current shelter is located at 2392 Metro Road.)“Proposition 2: $5,000,000 and interest earned thereon to the City of Casper to fund a portion of the total construction costs of a second sheet of ice adjacent to the existing Casper Ice Arena.” (The arena is located at 1801 E. 4th St.)“Proposition 3: $4,200,000 and interest earned thereon to the City of Casper to install a new quad capacity chair lift to replace the aging and outdated lift and add lighting at Hogadon Ski Area.”“Proposition 4: $4,000,000 and interest earned thereon to the City of Casper to construct two fastpitch softball fields for league competition and high school use.”“Proposition 5: $4,400,000 and interest earned thereon to the City of Casper to partially fund costs associated with the replacement of the City Casper’s outdated Fire Station #1.”“Proposition 6: $5,000,000 and interest earned thereon to the City of Casper to fully replace the outdated and obsolete equipment for the 911 Dispatch Center.”“Proposition 7: $3,600,000 and interest earned thereon to the City of Casper to build a new auxiliary gym to provide much needed space for programming at the Casper Recreation Center.” (The Center is located at 1801 E. 4th St.)“Proposition 8: $1,500,000 and interested earned thereon to the City of Casper to design, reconstruct, and preserve the historic Washington Park Bandshell.”
September 5, 2024
Liz Cheney endorsed Kamala Harris for President.
September 6, 2024
Donald Trump proposed giving Elon Musk a government role as an efficiency expert.
He also proposed to cut the corporate tax rate to 15%. The corporate tax rate should be hiked, not cut.
Ugh.
I am promising low taxes, low regulations, low energy costs, low interest rates, secure borders, low, low, low crime.
Americans seem incapable of grasping the fact that they are grossly undertaxed, which is a big part of the reason the US deficit is out of control. Rates in the past have been much, much higher than they currently are, particularly on the upper income tax bracket Trump and Musk are part of.
Also, energy costs, interest rates and crime is all low when judged by almost any historical standard.
In a meeting of businessmen Trump was asked a question about health care costs and then went into tariffs.
?
Some good political news:
Gadfly candidate Rammell says he's giving up on politics and his interview with the Cowboy State Daily is his last.
cont:
Former Vice President Dick Cheney has endorsed Kamala Harris.
September 8, 2024
George and Laura Bush will not be endorsing anyone this election cycle.
In doing so, a spokesman noted that President Bush had retired from politics "years ago".
He's one month younger than Donald Trump. . .
cont:
Donald Trump has indicated that in Florida he intends to vote yes on a ballot measure to legalize marijuana.
September 10, 2024
The White Stripes have sued the Trump campaign over its use of the song Seven Nation Army.
cont:
I would have asked the states to submit alternative slates of electors and let the country have the debate about what actually matters and what kind of an election that we had,
J. D. Vance.
Absolutely shameful.
Related threads:
And:
President Roosevelt addressed the French people on it being Bastille Day:
July 14, 1944
Once again I salute, on Bastille Day, the heroic people of France.
July 14 this year is different, for we hope that it is the last fourteenth of July that France will suffer under German occupation. With full confidence, I look forward that the French people on July 14, 1945, will celebrate their great national fete on French soil, liberated alike from the invader and from the puppets of Vichy.
For the great battle of liberation is now engaged. It is a battle resolutely waged by the American, British, and Canadian forces, together with the valiant fighters of the home French, who have already contributed so greatly to the success of the operations. At the same time gallant French fighting forces are carrying on the victorious struggle in Italy, joined in traditional unity with their comrades of the American Fifth Army and the British Eighth Army.
Here, on this side o.[ the Atlantic, the fourteenth of July, 1944, offers an equally great spectacle of the indissoluble unity and the deep friendship of the American and French peoples.
Together, the French and American peoples stand today, united as they have always been when the cause of freedom was endangered.
Together, we shall win, and France shall be free!
U.S. Navy frogman began to recon Guam.
The Red Army captured Pinsk. Vilnius was fully occupied, and Operation Ostra Brama by the Polish Home Army concluded. Internment of the Polish partisans would start on July 15.
Sarah Sundin's blog has some interesting entries today, including that Japan started conscripting women and girls down to age 12 for war work.
The funeral of Theodore Roosevelt, Jr. occured in France.
The 10th was still training in the US at the time.
Druze actress and singer Amal al-Atrash (آمال الأطرش) known by her stage name Asmahan (أسمهان) died in a tragic car wreck when the car in which she was a passenger crashed into the Suez Canal. Her professional life had been spent in Egypt.
Last edition:
Theodore Roosevelt, Jr., age 56, veteran of World War One and Two, politician, notable businessman, and son of the President by the same name, the only U.S. general to land with the first wave of U.S. troops during Operation Overlord, died of a heart attack.
For gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty on 6 June 1944, in France. After two verbal requests to accompany the leading assault elements in the Normandy invasion had been denied, Brig. Gen. Roosevelt's written request for this mission was approved and he landed with the first wave of the forces assaulting the enemy-held beaches. He repeatedly led groups from the beach, over the seawall and established them inland. His valor, courage, and presence in the very front of the attack and his complete unconcern at being under heavy fire inspired the troops to heights of enthusiasm and self-sacrifice. Although the enemy had the beach under constant direct fire, Brig. Gen. Roosevelt moved from one locality to another, rallying men around him, directed and personally led them against the enemy. Under his seasoned, precise, calm, and unfaltering leadership, assault troops reduced beach strong points and rapidly moved inland with minimum casualties. He thus contributed substantially to the successful establishment of the beachhead in France.The U.S. 88th Division took Lajatico, Italy
Experience shows that the day of rest is essential to mankind; that it is demanded by civilization as well as by Christianity.
President Roosevelt in a note to Jacob Riis,
On this day…we call to mind the deaths of those who died that the nation might live, who wagered all that life holds dear for the great prize of death in battle.
President Roosevelt at Arlington National Cemetery, Memorial Day, 1902.
I have to say, I wouldn't have referred to death as a "prize" in this context.
Forty armed Irish soldiers assembled at a hotel in Dublin to plan the next move in the Irish Army Mutiny. A possible coup d'état against the Irish government was on the table.
Loyal Irish troops surrounded the hotel and there was a standoff. The result was that the young Irish government responded by securing the resignation of Irish Army Council members, along with that of Defense Minister Richard Mulcahy.
A soldier bonus bill was passed in the US.
St. Mark's is a major downtown church in Casper today.
St. Mark's Episcopal Church, Casper Wyoming
This traditionally styled Episcopal Church includes the office buildings for the church a meeting room, kitchen and a day school, so the interior space used for services is smaller than the large exterior might suggest.
The view featured on the bottom photograph could not be seen until recently, as a large house once stood in what is now an open area. The church is across the street from the former St. Anthony's Catholic School, which has moved to a new location across town. The church was built in 1924.
It's stunning to think it was built for $120,000.
The Douglas Fairbanks film, The Thief of Baghdad, was released.
I have never in my life envied a human being who led an easy life; I have envied a great many people who led difficult lives and led them well.
Theodore Roosevelt, 1910
Well. . . having lived a relatively difficult life, but perhaps not well, I don't know that I can endorse this one.
Perhaps no American, and indeed perhaps no human, has done more for the cause of wildlife conservation than was done by President Theodore Roosevelt.
A great naturalist, a great man, and a great President, he was also an avid hunter and fisherman.
Henri Giraud was appointed Commander In Chief of the Free French Forces.
Giraud was a career French Army officer, as we would of course expect, who had entered the army in 1900. He was serving with the Zouave's in North Africa when World War One broke out and was badly wounded leading a Zouave charge earlier in the war, resulting in his capture by the Germans after he'd been left for dead. He'd escaped German captivity posing as s circus roustabout after his recovery.
He was captured by the Germans a second time in May 1940, and escaped again in November 1942, as we discussed here:
Saturday, November 7, 1942. Giraud escapes France.
The British submarine Seraph smuggled French general Henri Giraud out of France.
Giraud was an opponent of the Vichy regime and had escaped German captivity, for Switzerland, back in April. Vichy tried to lure him back, but he demurred.
While all in anticipation of Torch, the submarine took Giraud to Gibraltar, where he remained until November 9. Relationships between the Free French officers were always highly complicated and tense, in part because their legitimacy was really legally questionable, which their organization, supported by the Allies, reflected. The Allies always tried to split the difference between outright firebrand rebels, like DeGaulle, and those who still held some ties to Vichy as the legal government. Those in a position in between, like Giraud, were in an odd spot.
He received Allied support as the leader of the Free French following the assassination of Admiral Darlan. At the time, the Allies were trying to balance the personalities in the French leadership which varied from DeGaulle, who had gone into rebellion against Vichy from the onset, to individuals like Darlan who had not been sympathetic with the Nazis but who were unwilling, at first, to rebel against the established legal government. Giroud appeared to be a good compromise between the two. In that, he may have been misread. An early sign of that was when Gen. Eisenhower asked him to take command of French troops in North Africa during Operation Torch, and he declined at first as he felt his honor demanded command of Torch itself, although he soon relented.
As it was, French forces in North Africa refused to recognize Giraud and instead continued to follow the orders of Admiral Darlan. Darlan was accordingly recognized by the Allies as the head of French forces in North Africa, in spite of his association with Vichy. Giraud's position was thereafter under Darlan. Upon Darlan's assassination, Giraud's overall leadership of the French forces was forced through by the Allies.
Giraud had not been, however, a perfect choice, as he wished to retain French racial laws and he had made comments sympathetic to the accomplishments of Nazi Germany. He'd ultimately fell when he acted independently of the Allies in sending French ships to help French resistance movements in Corsica in September without informing the Allies. At this point, it was learned that he was maintaining an independent intelligence service. This led to his wartime retirement.
He served in the Assembly after the war, and died in 1949 at age 70.
Argentina's government fell in a coup d'etate which removed Ramon Castillo, who had maintained a strict neutrality position over World War Two, in favor of Gen. Arturo Rawson, who yielded nearly immediately to Gen. Pedro Ramirez, who continued the neutrality policy. As this might demonstrate, the coup and Argentine politics were in a highly confused state, and would remain that way for many years. Its military was clearly a danger, however, to civilian leadership of the country.
Kermit Roosevelt, serving as a Major in the U.S. Army, but also suffering from years of illness and alcoholism, committed suicide in Alaska. He was 52 years old.
Adventuresome, like his father, but subject to alcoholism like his uncle. He served in the British and American armies during World War One. He'd accompanied his father on the legendary River of Doubt expedition in South America before the war, an event which contributed to Theodore Roosevelt's late in life declining health. Like his father, Kermit Roosevelt nearly died during the expedition and also like his father, a branch of the river was named for him.
He served a second hitch in the British Army early in World War Two, participating in the Battle of Narvik. He resumed heavy drinking after an injury in that battle, which he had previously given up, and was plagued by liver problems that was compounded by malaria. He was subsequently medically discharged from British service. His drinking was so bad that Archie Roosevelt sought to place him in a sanitarium for a year upon his return, and he agreed to a four-month stay. He took a commission in the U.S. Army as a major at that time and was stationed at Ft. Richardson, Alaska.
The Army Medical Corps cleared the release of penicillin. It would be administered for the first time two days later to an unidentified soldier.
Penicillin's possibilities had been known for fifteen years, but it wasn't until 1942 when a particularly potent strain of the mold it is from was discovered in Peoria, Illinois, the critical sample of which was donated by an unknown woman who brought in a moldy antelope.
Churchill addressed Congress.
The speech is a famous one, but I cannot find a written transcript of it, which is unusual for his speeches. There are some well known exerts of it, including:
Sure I am that this day, now, we are the masters of our fate. That the task which has been set us is not above our strength. That its pangs and toils are not beyond our endurance. As long as we have faith in our cause, and an unconquerable willpower, salvation will not be denied us.
And:
All this gives the lie to the Nazi and Fascist talk that the parliamentary democracies are incapable of waging an effective war. We will punish them with further examples.
Joseph Goebbels declared Berlin to be free of Jews.
He was incorrect.
Berlin had certainly suffered an enormous decline in its Jewish population, and there had been a large effort to detain and expel (to fatal consequences) Jewish Berliners in the Spring of 1943. 8,600 Jews were expelled in the early months of hte year. However, 6,790 Mischlinge (half Jews), members of Mischehen (mixed marriages), Jewish widows and widowers of non-Jews, and Jewish citizens of neutral countries or German allies still resided in the city in the summer of the year. Over the course of the war, 55,000 Jewish Berliners would be reduced down, however, to only about 1,000 by the war's end.
The U-954 was sunk off of Greenland, taking down with it Peter Dönitz, a son of the head of the German Navy, Karl Dönitz. Of Dönitz's three children, only his daughter would survive the war, dying in 1990, outliving her father by only a decade. His son Klaus had been withdrawn from combat duties under a Nazi policy regarding the deaths of other sons of leading figures, but was killed on an E-boat after persuading friends to allow him to ride along on a raid.
Pope Pius XII wrote to Franklin Roosevelt
Your Excellency,
Almost four years have now passed since, in the name of the God the Father of ail and with the utmost earnestness at Our command, We appealed (August 24, 1939) to the responsible leaders of peoples to hold back the threatening avalanche of international strife and to settle their differences in the cairn, serene atmosphere of mutual understanding. «Nothing was to be lost by peace; everything might be lost by war». And when the awful powers of destruction broke loose and swept over a large part of Europe, though Our Apostolic Office places Us above and beyond ail participation in armed conflicts, We did not fail to do what We could to keep out of the war nations not yet involved and to mitigate as far as possible for millions of innocent men, women and children, defenceless against the circumstances in which they have to live, the sorrows and sufferings that would inevitably follow along the constantly widening swath of desolation and death cut by the machines of modern warfare.
The succeeding years unfortunately have seen heart-rending tragedies increase and multiply; yet We have not for that reason, as Our conscience bears witness, given over Our hopes and Our efforts in behalf of the afflicted members of the great human family everywhere. And as the Episcopal See of the Popes is Rome, from where through these long centuries they have ruled the flock entrusted to them by the divine Shepherd of souls, it is natural that amid all the vicissitudes of their complex and chequered history the faithful of Italy should d feel themselves bound by more than ordinary ties to this Holy See, and have learned to look to it for protection and comfort especially in hours of crisis.
In such an hour today their pleading voices reach Us carried on their steady confidence that they will not go unanswered. Fathers and mothers, old and young every day are appealing for Our help; and We, whose paternal heart beats in unison with the sufferings and sorrows of ail mankind, cannot but respond with the deepest feelings of Our soul to such insistent prayers, lest the poor and humble shall have placed their confidence in Us in vain.
And so very sincerely and confidently We address Ourselves to Your Excellency, sure that no one will recognize more clearly than the Chief Executive of the great American nation the voice of humanity that speaks in these appeals to Us, and the affection of a father that inspires Our response.
The assurance given to Us in 1941 by Your Excellency’s esteemed Ambassador Mr. Myron Taylor and spontaneously repeated by him in 1942 that «America has no hatred of the Italian people» gives Us confidence that they will be treated with consideration and understanding; and if they have had to mourn the untimely death of dear ones, they will yet in their present circumstances be spared as far as possible further pain and devastation, and their many treasured shrines of Religion and Art, – precious heritage not of one people but of ail human and Christian civilization – will be saved from irreparable ruin. This is a hope and prayer very dear to Our paternal heart, and We have thought that its realization could not be more effectively ensured than by ex- pressing it very simply to Your Excellency.
With heartfelt prayer We beg God’s blessings on Your Excellency and the people of the United States.
