The USS Lexington was launched.
She was damaged beyond repair on May 8, 1942.
A conference opened in Buenos Aires to discuss constructing a Pan American Highway.
It was a Saturday.
.webp)
And it was football season.
Last edition:
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:
Let me make this clear, I think Putin is a murderer and I hope that Ukraine wins the war.
But Urals are a cool motorcycle.
Walter P. Chrysler incorporated the company that bears his name.
The Great Syrian Revolt against the French started when representatives of the Jabal Druze State were treated poorly by the French administrator. Syrian rejection of French rule, however, had been smouldering since the end of World War One.
Indeed, this ties right into the events we've been otherwise cataloging regarding France at the end of World War One. Syria and Lebanon had been granted near independence during the war, which France tried to renege on as soon as the Germans were defeated. Only British intervention, which nearly resulted in fighting between the French and British, stopped that from occurring and assured rapid Syrian and Lebanese independence. French insistence on occupying the same territory at the end of the Great War nearly resulted in fighting between the same two European powers then and France had never been welcome by most of the regions inhabitants.
French attachment to the region is hard to really explain, but it is in part cultural and goes all the way back to the Kingdom of Jerusalem,1099–1187, 1192-1291, the long running "Crusader Kingdom" in the same region. Lasting almost two hundred years, the kingdom, which was mostly governed by French Crusaders, formed a strong cultural attachment to the region with the French.
The Saturday magazines hit the stands.
Last edition:
The US adopted the shield symbol for highway routes.
Last edition:
Ford introduced the first factory assembled pickup truck.
This isn't going to do anything, but it throws a bone to Western populist voters who seriously believe that there's some sort of conspiracy against coal.
It's also captioned in Trump-Moron-O-Speech, but that's another matter.
Reinvigorating America’s Beautiful Clean Coal Industry and Amending Executive Order 14241
Executive Orders
April 8, 2025
By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered:
Section 1. Purpose. In order to secure America’s economic prosperity and national security, lower the cost of living, and provide for increases in electrical demand from emerging technologies, we must increase domestic energy production, including coal. Coal is abundant and cost effective, and can be used in any weather condition. Moreover, the industry has historically employed hundreds of thousands of Americans. America’s coal resources are vast, with a current estimated value in the trillions of dollars, and are more than capable of substantially contributing to American energy independence with excess to export to support allies and our economic competitiveness. Our Nation’s beautiful clean coal resources will be critical to meeting the rise in electricity demand due to the resurgence of domestic manufacturing and the construction of artificial intelligence data processing centers. We must encourage and support our Nation’s coal industry to increase our energy supply, lower electricity costs, stabilize our grid, create high-paying jobs, support burgeoning industries, and assist our allies.
Sec. 2. Policy. It is the policy of the United States that coal is essential to our national and economic security. It is a national priority to support the domestic coal industry by removing Federal regulatory barriers that undermine coal production, encouraging the utilization of coal to meet growing domestic energy demands, increasing American coal exports, and ensuring that Federal policy does not discriminate against coal production or coal-fired electricity generation.
Sec. 3. Strengthening Our National Energy Security. The Chair of the National Energy Dominance Council (NEDC) shall designate coal as a “mineral” as defined in section 2 of Executive Order 14241 of March 20, 2025 (Immediate Measures to Increase American Mineral Production), thereby entitling coal to all the benefits of a “mineral” under that order. Further, Executive Order 14241 is hereby amended by deleting the reference to “4332(d)(1)(B)” in section 6(d) of that order and replacing it with a reference to “4532(d)(1)(B)”.
Sec. 4. Assessing Coal Resources and Accessibility on Federal Lands. (a) Within 60 days of the date of this order, the Secretary of the Interior, the Secretary of Agriculture, and the Secretary of Energy shall submit a consolidated report to the President through the Assistant to the President for Economic Policy that identifies coal resources and reserves on Federal lands, assesses impediments to mining such coal resources, and proposes policies to address such impediments and ultimately enable the mining of such coal resources by either private or public actors.
(b) The Secretary of Energy shall include in the report described in subsection (a) of this section an analysis of the impact that the availability of the coal resources identified could have on electricity costs and grid reliability.
Sec. 5. Lifting Barriers to Coal Mining on Federal Lands. (a) The Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Agriculture shall prioritize coal leasing and related activities, consistent with applicable law, as the primary land use for the public lands with coal resources identified in the report described in section 4(a) of this order and expedite coal leasing in these areas, including by utilizing such emergency authorities as are available to them and identifying opportunities to provide for expedited environmental reviews, consistent with applicable law.
(b) The Secretary of the Interior, pursuant to the authorities in the Mineral Leasing Act of 1920, as amended and supplemented (30 U.S.C. 181 et seq.), the Mineral Leasing Act for Acquired Lands of 1947, as amended (30 U.S.C. 351-359), and the Multiple Mineral Development Act of 1954 (30 U.S.C. 521-531 et seq.), shall acknowledge the end of the Jewell Moratorium by ordering the publication of a notice in the Federal Register terminating the “Environmental Impact Statement Analyzing the Potential Environmental Effects from Maintaining Secretary Jewell’s Coal Leasing Moratorium”, and process royalty rate reduction applications from Federal coal lessees in as expeditious a manner as permitted by applicable law.
Sec. 6. Supporting American Coal as an Energy Source. (a) Within 30 days of the date of this order, the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, the Secretary of Transportation, the Secretary of the Interior, the Secretary of Energy, the Secretary of Labor, and the Secretary of the Treasury shall identify any guidance, regulations, programs, and policies within their respective executive department or agency that seek to transition the Nation away from coal production and electricity generation.
(b) Within 60 days of the date of this order, the heads of all relevant executive departments and agencies (agencies) shall consider revising or rescinding Federal actions identified in subsection (a) of this section consistent with applicable law.
(c) Agencies that are empowered to make loans, loan guarantees, grants, equity investments, or to conclude offtake agreements, both domestically and abroad, shall, to the extent permitted by law, take steps to rescind any policies or regulations seeking to or that actually discourage investment in coal production and coal-fired electricity generation, such as the 2021 U.S. Treasury Fossil Fuel Energy Guidance for Multilateral Development Banks rescinded by the Department of the Treasury and similar policies or regulations.
(d) Within 30 days of the date of this order, the Secretary of State, the Secretary of Agriculture, the Secretary of Commerce, the Secretary of Energy, the Chief Executive Officer of the International Development Finance Corporation, the President of the Export-Import Bank of the United States, and the heads of all other agencies that have discretionary programs that provide, facilitate, or advocate for financing of energy projects shall review their charters, regulations, guidance, policies, international agreements, analytical models and internal bureaucratic processes to ensure that such materials do not discourage the agency from financing coal mining projects and electricity generation projects. Consistent with law, and subject to the applicable agency head’s discretion, where appropriate, any identified preferences against coal use shall immediately be eliminated except as explicitly provided for in statute.
Sec. 7. Supporting American Coal Exports. The Secretary of Commerce, in consultation with the Secretary of State, the Secretary of Energy, the United States Trade Representative, the Assistant to the President for National Security, and the heads of other relevant agencies, shall take all necessary and appropriate actions to promote and identify export opportunities for coal and coal technologies and facilitate international offtake agreements for United States coal.
Sec. 8. Expanding Use of Categorical Exclusions for Coal Under the National Environmental Policy Act. Within 30 days of the date of this order, each agency shall identify to the Council on Environmental Quality any existing and potential categorical exclusions pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act, increased reliance on and adoption of which by other agencies pursuant to 42 U.S.C. 4336c could further the production and export of coal.
Sec. 9. Steel Dominance. (a) The Secretary of Energy, pursuant to the authority under the Energy Act of 2020 (the “Act”), shall determine whether coal used in the production of steel meets the definition of a “critical material” under the Act and, if so, shall take steps to place it on the Department of Energy Critical Materials List.
(b) The Secretary of the Interior, pursuant to the authority under the Act, shall determine whether metallurgical coal used in the production of steel meets the criteria to be designated as a “critical mineral” under the Act and, if so, shall take steps to place coal on the Department of the Interior Critical Minerals List.
Sec. 10. Powering Artificial Intelligence Data Centers. (a) For the purposes of this order, “artificial intelligence” or “AI” has the meaning set forth in 15 U.S.C. 9401(3).
(b) Within 60 days of the date of this order, the Secretary of the Interior, Secretary of Commerce, and the Secretary of Energy shall identify regions where coal-powered infrastructure is available and suitable for supporting AI data centers; assess the market, legal, and technological potential for expanding coal-based infrastructure to power data centers to meet the electricity needs of AI and high-performance computing operations; and submit a consolidated summary report with their findings and proposals to the Chair of the NEDC, the Assistant to the President for Science and Technology and the Special Advisor for AI and Crypto.
Sec. 11. Acceleration of Coal Technology. (a) The Secretary of Energy shall take all necessary actions, consistent with applicable law, to accelerate the development, deployment, and commercialization of coal technologies including, but not limited to, utilizing all available funding mechanisms to support the expansion of coal technology, including technologies that utilize coal and coal byproducts such as building materials, battery materials, carbon fiber, synthetic graphite, and printing materials, as well as updating coal feedstock for power generation and steelmaking.
(b) Within 90 days of the date of this order, the Secretary of Energy shall submit a detailed action plan to the President through the Chair of the NEDC outlining the funding mechanisms, programs, and policy actions taken to accelerate coal technology deployment.
Sec. 12. General Provisions. (a) Nothing in this order shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect:
(i) the authority granted by law to an executive department or agency, or the head thereof; or
(ii) the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals.
(b) This order shall be implemented consistent with applicable law and subject to the availability of appropriations.
(c) This order is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person.
DONALD J. TRUMP
I don't usually repost an entire thread, but it's warranted here. What's really going on with coal:
Coal: Understanding the time line of an industry
Whale oil chandelier, photo from the Library of Congress. Up until the Will entry, I'd never even considered there being such a thing as a whale oil chandelier.And then things began to change.
It really started with navies in some ways, although some might argue that it started with hydroelectric. We'll start with navies.
Navies had been powered by sail up until the mid 19th Century but already by the time of the American Civil War that was changing. The U.S. Navy may have had its grandest ships under sail during that war, but coal fired wheels were being introduced even then. And the scary smoke belching squat "monitors" that signaled the end of the age of sail were coal (and perhaps wood) burning beasts. Slow, hardly seaworthy, but iron clad. It was pretty clear by 1865 that the age of militarized wind was ending.
And indeed the Naval reformation that occurred after the American Civil War is incredibly stunning. Everything about navies soon changed. By the 1890s every major navy in the world was building ships that look odd to our eyes, but which still look familiar . Big guns on big ships powered by coal replaced sailing vessels, and the general purpose yeoman sailor was replaced by the specialist. At about this time, in fact, the U.S. Navy started to switching from a navy drawing its recruits mostly from port towns, and which was in fact an integrated navy, to one which was segregated which drew its recruits from the interior of the country. A wood and sail navy required men who had grown up near, or even on ships, and who knew the ins and outs of sail. That was a multi ethnic, polyglot group of men who in some way resembled the men in every port town around the world more than they did the men in the interior of their own countries. It's no accident that the first Congressional Medal of Honor to go to a foreign born serviceman went to a sailor, in action during the American Civil War fighting a naval battle in. . . . .Japan.Their smoke was visible all the way over the edge of the horizon.
This is something that people who are more familiar with ships of the World War Two era don't instantly recall about earlier steel ships, but coal fires smoke and hence coal fired boilers likewise smoke, or rather the coal fires smokeThe next danger was rarer, but not so rare as to not be a serious problem. Spontaneous combustion.
Coal has a well known propensity to self heat and to make it worse, the better the coal grade the bigger the problem. Exposed to air and moisture coal begins to engage in an exothermic reaction and can relatively easily self heat to the point where it ignites. Moreover, as it self heats and heads towards ignition it drives off highly flammable hydrocarbon gases. Indeed, heating coal intentionally in a controlled environment is a means of producing those gases and has sometimes been thought of as a method of producing them, although its never proven to be an efficient means of doing so.
Coal is so prone to spontaneous combustion that coal self ignition is a natural phenomenon. It simply happens where coal gets exposed to sufficient oxygen and moisture. Anyone who has ever spent any time in an open pit coal mine has seen coal simply burning on its own, as I have.
There are ways to combat this, of course, but the problem is uniquely acute for ships. Ships must store coal in large bunkers and must taken on a lot of coal at certain points. Ships are wet by their very nature. So any coal burning ship has, at some point, a lot of coal with just enough oxygen and moisture to create a problem.
This proved to be a real problem for ships and of course there were extreme catastrophic occurrences, the most famous of which is the explosion of the USS Maine. The Maine is an extreme example of what could occur, but any coal burning ship could experience what the Maine did. Basically, in the case of the USS Maine, the coal self ignited and the coal bunkers had sufficient liberated gas to create a massive explosion. Not quite as dangerous, but still a huge problem, a simple self ignition of the coal without an explosion was a disaster, quite obviously, of the first rate requiring sailors to put the coal fire out under extreme danger.The USS Cheyenne was illustrative of something else that was going on, however, that being the increased presence of heavy internal combustion engines for various uses. The USS Cheyenne had been built as a monitor, a type of proto battleship (and had been named the USS Wyoming originally) but after its conversion to oil it would become a submarine tender in a few short years. Submarines of the era were light vessels and, like a lot of light naval fighting ships ,they were diesels. Marine diesel engines were replacing boilers completely in lighter vessels and of course diesel fuel is a type of oil.
Diesels in that application show that industrial diesel engines had arrived.
By World War Two every navy in the world was an oil burning, not a coal burning, navy. And it wasn't just navies. Merchant ships had followed in the navies' wakes. They were now oil burning too for the most part. Coal at sea had died.The demise of coal at sea did not equate, of course, with the universal demise of coal, and this is very important to keep in mind. Entering into the period of history we've been discussing, roughly 1900 to 1920, coal may have lost its crown at sea, but it remained hugely important, arguably increasingly important, elsewhere. It continued to be the fuel of heavy transportation, IE., for trains, it continued to heat homes and it fired an ever growing number of power plants. Indeed that last application can't be overstated as in this same period the Western world was electrifying. So whatever position it may have lost on the waves it was likely more than making it up on land.
Still, the trend line had been set.
And it would next show itself with transportation.
At least according to one source written in 1912 coal fueled 9/10s of all locomotive engines at that time. The other 1/10th would have been fired by wood or, yes, oil.
Either blistering ignorance, or the worst kind of cynicism and hypocrisy, or both, are at work here. Long term market trends such as this are really irreversible. This would be much like trying to mandate horse and carriage use after 1903. You could, but that wouldn't have stopped the automobile.
Indeed, resource reversals really only occur in dire emergencies resulting in extreme shortages. That's why the Germans and South Africans worked on converting coal to a liquid fuel. It wasn't cheap, it was necessary. Trump is creating an artificial crisis right now, but it's unlikely to result in a need for coal. Natural gas is still there and his trade policies are likely to torpedo a recent effort to export liquified natural gas. And more than that, the one thing his administration might actually accomplish in this area is a revival of nuclear, which is already going on anyhow.
One further good, it might be noted, might come of this. Democratic administrations have been hostile to coal, although they've done little about it, due to its strong association with Global Warming. That's given leeway in the coalfields to allow for it to be imagined that the century plus decline in coal is the government's fault, when its economic and technology. Trump's stroke of the pen isn't going to revive coal and believing in the myth will be impossible, except for those who simply willfully choose to deny all reality to their detriment.
