Saturday, September 26, 2020

The 2020 Election, Part 9

 

August 18, 2020.

Today is primary election day in Wyoming.

August 19, 2020

And the results of yesterday's primary, which are most significant on the Republican side as those results will almost certainly produce November's winners, were not a surprise in the statewide races.

Cynthia Lummis is the GOP Senatorial candidate and will be the new Senator from Wyoming starting in 2021.  She took fives times the votes of second place finisher Robert Short, who ran as an outsider to her right.  The most interesting thing about the results may be that Bryan Miller, who was a tea party favorite who received pac funding in the race finished behind Short, showing that the concept that the rank and file GOP was now heading in that direction isn't a sure one.

She'll face Marev Ben David, a University of Wyoming professor who took nearly twice the votes of Yana Ludwig, the second place finisher, who barely bested Nathan Wendt.

Liz Cheney took the race for house in a contest that had a challenger, but one that was nearly absent from the campaign.  She'll face Lynette Grey Bull who demolished her competitors in the Democratic field.

The Democratic results produced the two noted candidates who will lose, but who are formidable presences in their own right. Their campaigns will be interesting and the Democrats, in spite of their low representation in Wyoming, managed to field two extremely interesting candidates who will not allow themselves to be ignored.

In other news, Kanye West's backers have a signature gathering effort going on in an effort to have the eclectic figure appear as a Presidential candidate on Wyoming's ballot.

August 20, 2020

In additional election results, the Tribune notes that House majority leader Tyler Lindholm lost in the primary election and therefore will not be returning to the legislature, at least as a Republican.

The Tribune put this in the context of a far right insurgency in the state's GOP, which has been going on for some time, and specifically noted the funding of right wing GOP candidates by wealthy Conservatives who have been backing such candidates for a number of years.  However it might be more notable that eleven incumbent Republicans fended off challenges from such candidates in this year's GOP legislative contest.  If a person expands that out to the Senatorial race, the favorite of the far right, Miller, not only failed by failed by an enormous margin.

And Lindholm had quixotically made opposition to foreign wars a major part of his platform over the last year, which is something that Wyoming's legislature has no role in.  I would have actually thought he was part of the far right in the GOP up until this event.

August 21, 2020

Joe Biden formally accepted the Democratic nomination last night at the electronic Democratic Convention.

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Kanye West failed to gain enough signatures to appear on Montana's ballot in November.  Wisconsin has rejected his big for failing to file his signatures on time.

Nancy Pelosi has endorsed Joe Kennedy over incumbent Massachusetts Democratic Senator Ed Markey.  The move has generated controversy for a number of reasons, one being that a Speaker endorsing a party candidate over an incumbent is unusual.  Additionally, Markey has aligned himself strongly with the left wing "progressive" branch of the party, which has caused figures in that branch, including AOC, to react with dismay.

While little noted, perhaps the most distressing aspect of the endorsement is the retained strange monarchical presence of the Kennedy family when there's little reason to support it.  John F. Kennedy was a poor President and Sen. Edward Kennedy wasn't a great Senator.  In spite of that, and over 50 years passing on the real Kennedy era, Kennedy's seem to get a free pass into Democratic politics in a way that no other American family ever has.

August 25, 2020

Donald Trump was officially nominated by the GOP as its candidate for the 2020 Presidential election last night.

Kanye West failed to submit signatures to appear on Wyoming's ballot by yesterday's deadline.

August 26, 2020

I haven't been listening or watching the conventions, but I have heard some commentary on speeches from NPR's Politics.  Those have analyzed the speeches.

I was really struck by the snippets from Vice President Pence's on "law and order".  Strong shades of the 1970s there.

August 29, 2020

Kanye West has brought suit against Wisconsin in an effort to appear on its ballot.

September 4, 2020

Judges have ruled that West's petitions were defective for Arizona and Virginia and he will not appear on those state's ballots.

According to the Atlantic, when President Trump was in France to commemorate the 100th Anniversary of the End of World War One:

In a conversation with senior staff members on the morning of the scheduled visit, Trump said, “Why should I go to that cemetery? It’s filled with losers.” In a separate conversation on the same trip, Trump referred to the more than 1,800 marines who lost their lives at Belleau Wood as “suckers” for getting killed.

According to the Washington Post:

In one account, the president told senior advisers that he didn’t understand why the U.S. government placed such value on finding soldiers missing in action because they had performed poorly and gotten caught and deserved what they got.

It'll be interesting to see what the results of this will be.  In almost any prior era this would result in a massive loss of support if it proved to be true. Right now, the veracity of the claims seems well established and it would be incumbent upon the accusee to support a denial.  I can't think of any prior instance in American history when anyone has said anything remotely similar to this and indeed American politicians have been so careful regarding the nation's war dead that even Confederate troops, who were in open rebellion against the United States, have generally not been criticized at high levels. 

September 4, 2020, part two.

Perhaps not surprisingly, President Trump has denied claims that he called U.S. troops who died at Belleau Woods losers and suckers, accordingly to press stories breaking even after I posted the first item this morning.

Again, we'll see where this goes, but the Atlantic is a respected journal and in normal times this would be almost impossible to live down.  Americans may not remember World War One well, but honoring veterans is nearly a universal American norm and deeply ingrained in the culture.  It's difficult to see how Trump's most ardent supporters will be able to excuse what he said and frankly an outright denial and acceptance that denial is sincere and correct would seem to be their only options.

September 9, 2020

Kanye West will appear on the Mississippi ballot.

September 11, 2020

President Trump, for reasons that can hardly be imagined, allowed himself to be interviewed by Bob Woodward for a book on Trump. What sort of hubris goes into a decision like this can hardly be imagined.

Since the Biden nomination Trump supporters have claimed, not without reason, that Biden appears to do well in campaigning as long as he stays home and says nothing.  Recently, however, he's been giving speeches and they've been remarkable for their clarity.  In contrast, things Trump said or is alleged to have said are breaking out in ways that can only be regarded as damaging.

The first item, of course, was the one addressed above regarding American war dead.  The Trump administration and some of his supporters are denying the statements were said and are using the fact that they're attributed to anonymous sources as support for their claims  Here, however, no denials can be made as the Woodward interviews were taped.

As Woodward has a book to sell, they're coming out piecemeal, with the first one to be released being Trump's statement that he downplayed the Coronavirus as he didn't want to create panic. That an administration might downplay such an event while trying to react to it frankly isn't surprising at all, but to admit to it on tape while, at the same time, there are plenty of early administration pronouncements about the disease to play in contrast is doing something so bewildering the logic behind it simply can't be imagined.

Normally, of course, this would hurt a candidate, but at this point it appears that voter positions going into the fall are largely fixed.  That's not a good thing for Trump, however, as support in the middle has swayed against him and it seems very unlikely that he can recover from that at this point.  This recent series of events only serve to cement what appears to have been a significant loss of Trump support in the electorate.  Biden would have to have a really dramatic failure of some sort to change that now.

In some slight evidence of a reemergence of a Catholic vote, something that's been more imaginary than real since Kennedy's 1960 election, there's some discussion going on regarding Pamela Harris' grilling of a judicial candidate some time ago for being a Knight of Columbus. There's really no way to play the story down in that it was pretty clear that Harris' questions took the position that a dedicated Catholic was unfit for the judiciary as that would mean, and in fact it would mean, that the person was opposed to abortion.  Trump supporters are attempting to exploit this, and they may have grounds to do so in that for the last several election cycles Catholic lay organizations, followed by some clerics, have taken the position that support for abortion crosses a line such that voting for a person who supports it is a mortal sin.

This came to a head recently when a Wisconsin Priest criticized Ft. James Martin, a controversial Jesuit cleric who is known for his support of LGBTQ issues, for speaking at the Democratic Convention. The Wisconsin Priest stated that a Catholic couldn't be a Democrat and that those Catholics who are in it are in danger of losing their salvation.  This was followed up by an endorsement by Bishop Joseph J. Strickland of Texas, who endorsed what had been said.  Of note, a Catholic nun spoke at the Republican Convention on the issue of abortion, calling the unborn "the largest marginalized group".

Locally, i.e., in the state, a surprising minor story has developed in that Democratic candidates emerged in several races during the primary due to write in campaigns.  Given that this is so unusual a person has to suspect that there was a bit of an organized effort behind it. This has left Republican candidates who emerged from the general election feeling that they'd won their races now facing a contested race in the fall. 

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September 14, 2020

The State's GOP has decided to withhold funding from candidates who do not agree with 80% of the party's platform.

The Party's platform is actually fairly brief, and would not really seem to be a source of the recent fights within the party on this matter.  It states:

Platform of the Wyoming Republican Party

Unanimously adopted June 27, 2020 Wyoming Republican Party State Convention

WE believe there are Timeless Truths that will always inform and direct our party and our country regardless of current events and circumstances, changing strategies, goals, and leadership. These Truths, put into action, maintain, protect, and defend our unalienable rights to Life, Liberty, Property and the Pursuit of Happiness.

 

Life

1. All individuals are endowed by their Creator from the moment of conception to the moment of natural death with the rights to Life, Liberty, Property, and the Pursuit of Happiness. The only purpose of government is to protect these rights for all.

Equality

2. Every citizen is equal before, equally protected by, and equally subject to, the law.

Second Amendment

3. The right of individuals to keep and bear Arms and ammunition shall not be infringed, restricted, or denied. Individuals must never be prevented from defending life, liberty, or property.

Private Property Rights

4. The pursuit by an individual to rightfully acquire, keep and enjoy his own property is foundational. Every individual has the right to develop his own potential, to use and enjoy his own property, tangible or intellectual, and pursue his own interests, free from the restrictions of arbitrary force. Individuals are always presumed to be the best stewards of their property.

5. The Wyoming Republican Party supports the protection of private property from the use of eminent domain, civil asset forfeiture, amortization or inverse condemnation.

Religious Freedom

6. The freedom to practice one’s faith is a fundamental natural right secured by our Constitution. The First Amendment does not require the expulsion of religion from public life. We must keep in mind the Judeo-Christian principles of the Founding Fathers when they wrote it; the practice of faith under this tradition encourages good moral behavior and the development of character that helps secure the other fundamental bases of our national citizenship. Freedom of religion includes the right to abstain from actions contrary to one’s religious beliefs.

Family Values

7. The Wyoming Republican Party believes that the definition of marriage is the union of one man and one woman.

8.  The traditional family, based on the foundation of marriage between one man and one woman, is the best institution and is the authority on how to provide children with the education and training to develop their potential and prepare them to participate in society and in our government.

Liberty

9. Liberty is indivisible from economic freedom. The free market economy is the economic system most compatible with the requirements of personal freedom and constitutional government. Government’s undue interference in the market, as well as the fiscal irresponsibility of government, results in economic inequity. There exists no fundamental right to the fruits of another person’s labor.

Citizenry Government By the Constitution

10. The citizens of the United States are the ultimate authority. Governments possess powers derived only from the consent of the governed.

11. Our constitutional representative republic remains the best political system, derived from history and knowledge of human nature, to prohibit tyranny, assure equality of opportunity and protect our individual rights.

12. The Constitution of the United States establishes a more perfect union of sovereign states, not a group of subordinate subsidiaries. Neither the judiciary nor the executive may effectively change the document via decisions, judicial opinions, or executive actions. The Constitution of the United States may only be altered by the processes of amendment as provided therein. The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the land. Under the Tenth Amendment, powers not enumerated in it are reserved to the States and the People. The most effective, responsible, and responsive government is the government that is closest to the People. Government that governs least governs best.

American Exceptionalism 

13. The United States must maintain its national sovereignty free from foreign influence that would infringe on the rights of the American People guaranteed by the Constitution. Foreign policy must serve the just interests of the United States.

Military

14. It is incumbent on the federal government to maintain a strong military defense for the protection of our people, our interests, and our way of life. Those who serve our country honorably deserve our deepest gratitude, highest respect and unwavering support.

Taxes

15. All taxes collected must be used for the constitutional purposes of government. It is irresponsible to run up debts that are passed on to our children and grandchildren. Taxes should never be more than necessary to meet the government’s constitutional obligations.

Education

16. The Wyoming Republican Party supports the teaching of the Constitution of the United States, the Constitution of the State of Wyoming, the Declaration of Independence, and other United States founding documents as well as the factual history and heritage of the United States in Wyoming schools and the historical evidence of the role of faith and biblical principles in the founding of our nation.

Water Rights

17. The Wyoming Republican Party believes in the state’s primacy over water, wildlife, minerals and natural resources; supports any actions which assures Wyoming’s primacy over its water; i.e. the doctrine of prior appropriations.

Right to Work

18. The Wyoming Republican Party opposes the unionization of public employees and supports the Right to Work Law.

Civic Duty

19. Our liberty and the continued success of our republican form of federal government demands continuous vigilance by “We the People.

Free Speech

20. Freedom of speech is a fundamental right secured by the United States Constitution and the Constitution of the State of Wyoming. Freedom of speech includes the freedom of the individual to express his or her beliefs, ideas and opinions without fear of retaliation, censorship or legal sanction by government.

As I've put the one up, I'll put the Democratic platform up here as well for contrast:

WYOMING DEMOCRATIC PARTY PLATFORM

Adopted June 6, 2020

The Wyoming Democratic Party seeks to ensure that all people enjoy the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness guaranteed by our U.S. Constitution. We are dedicated to ensuring that every person—regardless of race, ethnicity, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, ability, and political affiliation—has a voice in how we are governed. We work for equality, domestic tranquility, the common defense, the general welfare, and liberty. 

We envision a Wyoming in which all people are treated with respect and dignity. A state in which every person has access to justice, housing, healthcare, well-paying jobs, quality public education, public lands, a healthy environment, and the ballot. 

As Democrats—and more importantly, as citizens of this state, nation, and world—we are dedicated to working together to make this vision a reality now and in years to come.

SECTION 1: FAIRNESS & EQUALITY

Wyoming Democrats embrace the charge of our state and national constitutions: that all humans are equal and that this principle should be reflected in our local, state, and national laws, business, and societal practices.

• We oppose discrimination and racism in any form and demand equal access to justice, protection under our statutes, services, resources, and economic opportunities for every person in this country.

• We support the enactment of laws in Wyoming that provide equal protection to LGBTQIA+ people in access to quality health care and education, accommodations, employment, and housing.

• We support endeavors to close the wage gap that exists between women and men and we recognize the contributions that women make to every facet of our society.

• We recognize, respect, and support the sovereignty of Native American tribes, which has not been fulfilled in the history of the United States of America.

• We support the Establishment Clause of the 1st Amendment as it pertains to religion and an individual's right to worship or not worship as they see fit, the separation of church and state, freedom from religion, and the rights of all individuals to choose whether or how they worship.

• We support marriage equality.

• We support the rights of people with disabilities, and promote accessibility for their community to all public spaces, living wages, and civil rights.

• We support the reproductive rights of all Wyomingites.

SECTION 2: GOVERNMENT PRACTICES

Wyoming Democrats know that our government works best when it is transparent, accessible, and promotes public involvement.

• We support applying open meeting laws to every level and branch of government.

• We support the enforcement of ethics and conduct standards for all elected officials, public employees, and government contractors.

• We support the availability to citizens of all physical and digital public records of deliberations, votes, and decisions made at every level of government.

• We support electronic voting in the Wyoming State Legislature and that the votes be recorded and preserved for public review.

SECTION 3: VOTING AND ELECTIONS

Wyoming Democrats are dedicated to ensuring that election processes and voting are fair, transparent, and accessible to all citizens, and we believe that unaccounted-for money and influence in politics is detrimental to the integrity of electoral systems.

• We support the elimination of corporate money in politics and the overturning of Citizens United.

• We oppose foreign interference in U.S. elections.

• We oppose the gerrymandering of federal and state legislative districts.

• We support efforts and legislation designed to ensure that all political donations are transparent and traceable to their origin.

• We support laws prohibiting former lawmakers from becoming lobbyists within five years of leaving office.

• We support equal and fair access to media for all candidates.

• We support legislation requiring any federal or statewide candidate appearing on the Wyoming ballot to provide personal and business tax returns for the previous five years.

• We support automatic voter registration and the Universal Right to Vote By Mail Act.

• We support ranked-choice voting for local and statewide elections in Wyoming.

• We support the right to vote of convicted felons as a means of maintaining their connection to their responsibilities of citizenship in the spirit of restorative justice, and if they so choose, to run for and hold state and local office.

• We support the transition of county offices to becoming non-partisan positions.

• We support the end of the Electoral College.

• We support censuses and encourage all to participate to ensure a rightful and fair count for the state of Wyoming.

SECTION 4: HEALTHCARE

Wyoming Democrats understand that access to health care—both physical and mental—should be considered a right and not a privilege, from birth to the end of life, including reproductive health care according to personal choice.

• We support the adoption of a universal public health care system in the United States.

• We support the expansion of Medicaid in Wyoming.

• We support protecting and preserving Medicare.

• We support funding for research in critical health areas, including: gun violence, force used by law enforcement officers, drug and alcohol abuse, suicide, depression, infectious disease, and prevention and rehabilitation programs.

• We support efforts to strengthen, fund, and foster innovation in rural health care.

• We support the legalization and use of medical marijuana.

• We support family planning, Planned Parenthood, all reproductive health care services, and the right of women to make their own choices regarding their reproductive health, including the right to choose an abortion.

• We support responsible oversight of pharmaceutical companies and prescription drugs by passing common sense release of available data that does not violate individual patient privacy.

• We support increased funding and awareness for mental health and counseling services in Wyoming.

• We support adding emergency medical services as an essential service.

SECTION 5: EDUCATION

Wyoming Democrats believe in supporting robust investments in public education and agree with the state constitutional mandate that higher education be “as nearly free” as possible.

• We support equal access to fully funded public education from Pre-K through college.

• We support robust funding of public education at the state and national levels.

• We support the inclusion of vocational training in our public education system.

• We support the inclusion of early childhood education as a fundamental educational right and moving it's oversight and funding from the Department of Health and Human Services to the Wyoming Department of Education, thereby ensuring adequate funding and recognizing its educational importance.

• We support the right of educators to negotiate collectively and participate in the certification process to ensure a high standard of quality in teaching and learning.

• We support funding for the University of Wyoming and the seven community colleges in our state, as well as cultivating a rich diversity of academic programs and opportunities.

• We support the promotion of the humanities, creative arts, social sciences, civic and government studies, natural sciences, technology, mathematics, and formal sciences at all educational levels and institutions.

• We oppose teaching “alternative science” that lacks a scientific base of fact or theory.

• We support the cultivation of a safe environment for students, faculty, and staff and oppose the arming of any school employees.

• We support academic programs at all levels that promote and cultivate the acceptance of diversity.

SECTION 6: ECONOMY, EMPLOYMENT, & TAXES

To achieve prosperity, Wyoming Democrats promote policies and practices that protect workers’ safety and rights, cultivate economic diversity, and consider important tax reforms.

• We support the right of employees to organize and enter into collective bargaining, including the legalization and formation of worker-owned cooperatives in Wyoming.

• We recognize that “right to work” is a manipulative phrase and oppose any legislation that leads to that purpose.

• We support equal pay for equal work.

• We support efforts and programs designed to study and promote economic diversity in our state and region.

• We support programs to support displaced workers through economic means and job education and training.

• We support a minimum living wage of $15/hour for all workers, including "Tip Workers."

• We believe that retirement income and pensions should be preserved even in cases of companies and firms becoming insolvent.

• We believe public safety is not a negotiable item between a corporation and its employees, and we support the adoption of policies and statutes that require a two-person crew for trains bringing freight through Wyoming.

• We support affirmative action policies to create diverse work environments and offer more opportunities to traditionally underemployed and disadvantaged populations.

• We support a system where the benefits of economic growth are distributed to workers who helped to drive that growth.

• We support effective and enhanced efforts to maintain and improve safe working conditions and standards for workers in Wyoming.

• We support the preservation of the U.S. Social Security System.

• We support the continuation of the U.S. Postal Service.

• We support progressive forms of taxation and establishing a progressive income tax in Wyoming as part of reducing our state's dependence on mineral severance funds.

• We hold that income from investments should not be taxed lower than those from earnings by workers.

• We support public banking and postal banking.

• We support the legalization of marijuana as an economic revenue source for the state, and we support marijuana tax dollars to be used for infrastructure that supports clean water and clean air, education, prison reform, and twenty-first century transportation technologies.

SECTION 7: PUBLIC LANDS, CONSERVATION, AND THE ENVIRONMENT

Wyoming is home to and known for the beauty of our diverse and dramatic natural environments. The access we have to public lands and spaces is unique and worth preserving. Wyoming Democrats recognize the importance of conserving wildlife, wildlands, and our rich legacy of connecting with the environment.

• We recognize that federal lands belong to all Americans and oppose any efforts to transfer the management of public lands to the state or any other entity.

• We believe that Wyoming’s travel, wildlife, and outdoor recreation sector is vital to our way of life and economy.

• We believe that any lands acquired by the State of Wyoming should be managed for the long-term benefit of all people, wildlife, and the environment.

• Recognizing the scientific research that climate change is driven by human activity, we support a Green New Deal that explicitly cares for fossil fuel states and workers.

• We believe that providing quality jobs and protecting the environment are not mutually exclusive goals.

• We support maintaining a diverse energy portfolio and emphasizing the importance of renewable energy and energy efficiency in economic growth, sustainability, and diversification.

• We support small farming and ranching operations in Wyoming and sustainable, responsible agricultural practices.

• We support the U.S. rejoining the Paris Climate Agreement of 2015.

• We support a common-sense option that is good for ranchers who willingly choose to retire their grazing permits, benefits American taxpayers, and the long-term health of our public lands.

• We support the enforcement of environmental protection laws that reduce pollution and ensure the clean air and water across Wyoming and the nation.

• We support actions that will lead to the participation of the United States in global initiatives to combat climate change and the spread of emerging diseases.

• We oppose any effort to curtail net metering and we support the right to participate in residential renewable energy.

• We support the formation of public-private partnerships to expand electric vehicle charging infrastructure across Wyoming and the United States.

SECTION 8: IMMIGRATION

Our country was built on immigration. Today, it continues to weave a rich tapestry of diversity that improves our communities. Wyoming Democrats appreciate and welcome those who choose to come to this country.

• We support immigration and advocate for an immigration system that provides a clear and consistent path to citizenship.

• We oppose the construction of a wall on the U.S. Southern border.

• We support keeping immigrant families together and strongly oppose the separation of children from parents and incarceration in cages at the hands of our government.

• We support a path to citizenship for individuals referred to as DACA or Dreamers.

• We oppose the building of private prisons and Immigration and Customs Enforcement facilities in Wyoming.

• We support exposing and eliminating human trafficking.

• We oppose any efforts to deny immigrants health care and human services, education, or access to justice.

SECTION 9: CIVIL RIGHTS, LAWS, AND JUSTICE

Wyoming Democrats recognize the need to protect the well-being of all people in our state and nation through our services, justice system, and laws.

• We support and defend freedom of speech for every person in this nation.

• We support the Second Amendment by attempting to balance the "right to bear arms" with the requirement to be "well regulated" to maintain this right.

• We support the U.S. Bill of Rights as written in the U.S. Constitution.

• We support the legalization of marijuana and ending the war on drugs.

• We oppose private and for-profit prisons, including Adult Community Corrections facilities.

• We support more effective laws addressing domestic violence and violence against all peoples, and we support the Violence Against Women Act.

• We support efforts, programs, funding, and legislation to address poverty in our state and nation.

• We support minimizing incarceration and promoting rehabilitation.

• We support public safety nets to help protect the vulnerable among our population.

• We acknowledge the toxic effects of white privilege and recognize the persisting damage done from this nation's history of slavery and discrimination; as a Party, we stand in solidarity in affirming Black Lives Matter.

• We support a systemic change in the policing of people, including: the reallocation of law enforcement funding to social wellness and prevention programs, nonviolent crisis de-escalation training for law enforcement, education for law enforcement in mental health and racial justice, trauma screening and intervention for law enforcement, and a transparent process for improper use of force.

• We condemn violence against, and support protections for, indigenous women and girls.

SECTION 10: INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS

Wyoming Democrats recognize that we are global citizens and have a role to play in promoting peace and prosperity across the globe.

• We support diplomacy as the priority in international relations and we support the restoration of collaborative relationships with other nations that promote the principles of freedom, human rights, and compassion without the use of force.

• We support humanitarian aid to other nations and peoples and we support a pledge for the U.S. to rejoin the World Health Organization as a contributing member.

• We believe in restoring the constitutional authority of Congress to declare war and authorize policing or defensive military actions against other nations and peoples.

• We support a reduction of resources expended on militarism.

• We support the U.S. once again taking an active role in nuclear disarmament.

COMMENDATIONS

The Wyoming Democratic Party would like to recognize the work, contributions, and accomplishments of the following individuals, groups, and organizations:

• The nurses, doctors, and health care workers of this nation who are fighting on the front lines of the COVID-19 Pandemic.

• All emergency responders, firefighters, and police officers who serve our communities.

• The members of the armed forces—both current and foreign—for their willingness to serve our nation.

• Democrats holding office at every level of government who are advocating for the principles of our party, fighting for the least among us, and continuing to represent the interests of their constituents with integrity and statesmanship—especially those in Wyoming.

We'll comment on the platforms themselves some other time.

Joe Biden formally introduced gun control into the race following the shooting of two LA County Sheriff's deputies, stating that "weapons of war" had no place in civilian hands.  Weapons of that type, loosely defined, are already heavily regulated in California.

September 15, 2020

For the first time in its 175 year history, Scientific American has endorsed a Presidential candidate, with that candidate being Joe Biden.  Calling the election one that involved a choice between "life and death", the magazine went on to criticize the Trump administrations response to the Coronavirus pandemic.

September 16, 2020

JoAnn True, a member of one of the state's premier Republican families, was censured by the GOP for giving money to the Cowboy Run Fund, which helps sponsor and fund female candidates. The organization has given to female candidates.  True is the Natrona County GOP's state delegate.

It's hard not to imagine this having long term implications in the party and by extension the state's politics.  The GOP earlier took a run at Pat Sweeney but the censure effort failed.  That this one succeeded is remarkable in that it practically amounts to a declaration of war against one of the Republican party's oldest, most established, and Wyoming GOP establishment, political families.  It'd be roughly equivalent to the current GOP censuring Jenna Bush.  True's supporters are tying this to the fact that the organization supports women candidates, and are portraying it as a gender based action.  The GOP leadership denied the charge.

The effort was apparently started by a candidate who failed in a primary race.

September 17, 2020

Michael Bloomberg has committed $100,000,000 to the Biden campaign in Florida.

September 20, 2020

The death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg brought a sharp new focus to the election and what all is at stake in the contest.  Indeed, so much so that I considered starting a part 10 of this series, and still may, as it almost seems to be a new race at this point.

Of course, it actually isn't at all.

The death of Justice Ginsburg was followed by a record donation amount for the Democrats in this fall's campaign, bringing in $31,000,000 immediately following the news.

An oped in the Tribune termed the recent censure of a Natrona County GOP member by the state's party as "idiotic".  It was written by a prominent local Republican.  A second Republican also wrote in opposition to the move, while the person responsible for filing for the censure wrote to defend it.

September 21, 2020

In the first 28 hours after the death of Justice Ginsburg the Democrats have taken in over $90,000,000 in campaign donations.

September 24, 2020

An odd choice by Prince Harry and his wife Meghan Markle to record in a Time interview a message emploring Americans to vote is resulting in an odd controversy.

Markle is of course American born, but the younger royal couple has made a lot of news recently for essentially acting more or less like spoiled brats.  Markle wasn't ready, apparently, for the intense British media focus on the royals and didn't react well to it.  Tensions apparently also developed between the couple and the remaining royals.  Ultimately Prince Harry resigned from his royal duties and the couple was in turn surprised by the Crown stripping them of them of most of their benefits.

In order to marry Prince Harry Markle had to become a British citizen and she's still part of the royal household.  Prince Harry is of course a British citizen and by descent a member of the sovereign family, as she is by marriage.  Neither had any business commenting in any fashion on an American election.

This has in turn caused President Trump to comment, for which he received a little flak, but in the UK it's caused some in the British press, which already has a strained relationship with the couple, to suggest they ought to be stripped of their royal status.

All this is press the royals don't need.  Just last week Prince Andrew was back in the news as it appears that the family will take additional steps against him due to his association with Jeffrey Epstein.  Now Harry and Meghan are in the news again.  All in all, they come across looking poorly through actions like this, and just after the Queen had elevated the status of her office by her widely acclaimed speech to the British nation on the pandemic.

September 25, 2020

Earlier in the week President Trump, at a Press conference, made comments that suggested he might not be willing to smoothly transfer power by the date of the inauguration.

Trump's off the cuff remarks are often difficult to understand as he's a remarkably poor speaker and has the habit of simply speaking what occurs to him, a dangerous practice for anyone but a really adopt speaker and quick thinker.  At least one CNN reporter who really doesn't like Trump stated that his remarks were misunderstood, and what Trump meant is that if mail in ballots were done away with, which it is entirely too late to do, Trump would win, as the mail in ballots will be subject to fraudulent voting.  There's no evidence that they will be subject to fraudulent votes, but Trump has consistently maintained that.

His comments, however, appeared to suggest that if the mail in ballots were gotten rid of the transition would be smooth as there wouldn't be one, which sounded alarmingly like an anticipated refusal to leave if there's any doubt in the results  When combined with earlier comments, those assuming that's what he meant were not unjustified in their assumptions.

Added to that, the Atlantic wrote a deeply researched article in which it set out a possible way to basically have Trump ignore the ballots if the election is close.  The scenario would involve litigation in states with high mail in ballots, which there is very little time to accomplish, combined with a request for the states to appoint electors if there is no decision in time.

That approach would be legal, but it would be shattering to the country and, while it may be in some minds, I'll predict it won't occur.  Already, following his statements, senior Republicans are rejecting any possibility that something like this will occur.  At the same time the Press is now fully speculating on it, a speculation that's largely follows along the same lines as the Atlantic article.

The speculation is based on the fact that the President won't indicate that he'll concede the election if he loses and lacks the usually conciliatory skills most Presidents have.  And as he's been casting doubt on the validity of the upcoming election there's real reason to believe that this will end up immediately in the courts.  It's important to remember, however that Trump's popularity has never increased during his Presidency and he has always been an unpopular President who received a minority of the popular vote.  The surprising thing about his election has been the degree to which Republicans cooperated with him, but that was because of things they wanted, many of which they received.  Hitching the Grand Old Party to an extreme effort to retain the Presidency would end the GOP and do permanent damage to the country.  It's unlikely that the Republicans will go along with that at the national level, and frankly if it were to occur, which is unlikely, it would result in violence without a doubt in a country that's having a problem with violence right now.

While we're playing out extreme scenarios, one thing that the Atlantic article mentions that other commentators have not is the Atlantic's authors view, which has been run in the Atlantic before, that Trump is psychotic.  Indeed, that's a necessary aspect of their scenario.  I note that as I suspect, if Trump actually were to attempt a move towards state appointed electors in the fashion that the article sets out, there will be a back door move, and deal with Pence, to remove him as suffering from what will be termed a post election psychosis. This would also be a disaster for the country, but at that point we'd be in disaster mode anyhow.

All of these scenarios are, in my view, quite unlikely.  More likely, in my view, is that the vote comes in a lot smoother than anticipated.  These late comments on the election by Trump, combined with the drama that will be upcoming about the Supreme Court, will mean that undecideds are more likely than other to go with the Democrats, that Republicans who were reluctant but voted for Trump last time will go with Biden, and that Trump will largely only retain his base.  I suspect that the results are going to be much more quickly known that surprised and that these comments and those actions will cement a Biden election which seems inevitable at this point anyhow.

On ballots, I picked up my Wyoming ballot, and it had a surprise in the Presidential category.

The GOP,  Democratic, and Libertarian candidates were all there.  The Greens don't ever seem to make the Wyoming ballot.  On top of it, however were an independant slate.  That slate featured Brock Pierce as the Presidential candidate and Karla Ballard as the Vice Presidential candidate.  Ballard was a child actor who has gone on to be an entrepreneur and a philanthropist.  

Looking them up, Pierce actually is attempting to create a major third party, but it's hard to understand what it stands for.  It mainly wants to bust up the two party system, and it cites the example of 1824 as its model for this election.

Having not even heard of it until now isn't a good sign, but overall, the evidence is that third parties are going to get nowhere this year.  While it would seem likely that the number of people disgusted with both parties would be at a record high this year, what seems to actually be the case is that the two major parties have sucked all the air out of the room and therefore third parties aren't going to figure in this election at all.

September 26, 2020

Fractures in the Republican Party in the state widened with the news that several prominent Fremont County Republicans have endorsed Libertarian candidate Bethany Baldes over the Republican nominee Ember Oakley, although Oakley is still taking the lion's share of prominent GOP endorsements, in the a House race in that county.

The differences between the two candidates actually aren't all that great.  About the only notable one is some reservations about a provision that was removed from the original "Stand Your Ground" law regarding immunity that some featured would prevent prosecutions even in the event of confessions to a homicide.  Oakley, a Republican, expressed some reservations which isn't surprising given her occupation of being a prosecutor.  That was enough, however for her to become a target in the eyes of some on the 2nd Amendment.

It's been noted that this presents an interesting challenge to a Republican Party that just sanctioned a prominent Natrona County Republican for donating to a group that supports women in politics irrespective of party  Now the GOP has several Fremont County Republicans directly supporting a Libertarian candidate against a Republican who had no opposition in the primary and the question is whether the GOP will take action in a case in which those individuals are supporting a non party candidate whose views more or less align with the current right wing of the state's GOP.

On other news, a frequent topic the past several weeks has been that of exploring the "Catholic Vote".  With Amy Coney Barrett the probable Supreme Court nominee, this is getting a lot of press, and it's about to get a lot more.

We've taken the position herein the past that there's really no "Catholic Vote" in the United States anymore, and there really hasn't been since the 1960 election.  That's obviously not entirely true, however, and an interesting aspect of this may be the resurgence of Catholic orthodoxy in the Internet age, something going on within the church right now.  Following Kennedy's Catholic only on Sunday speech to the Southern Baptists in 1960, there's was a widely held view in Catholic circles that it was okay to be fully part of American life and politics more or less without deep religious conviction.  This was followed in the 1970s by the influence of "the Spirit of Vatican II" which, as commentators have noted, was a misinterpretation of Vatican II but one which lead to a lot of liberalization in the Church, often against a lot of the Parishioners desires.  

A backlash in the pews has been building to this for a very long time, but the scandals associated with events of the 1970s, which fairly have to go back really to the post World War Two era, combined with the self education efforts the Internet has brought about, and added to by the new force of Catholic media, has in fact built a new, strong and young Catholic orthodoxy.  As part of that some members of this movement have strongly maintained that certain moral issues are "non negotiables".  

The bigotry that's about to break out over the nomination of a Catholic jurist to the Supreme Court, which will go far beyond simply her judicial and political views but also sink to flat out insulting Catholicism in general is bringing this into focus for Catholics who hold a unique mix of political views.  Traditionally neither right nor left, a sense that left wing politicians basically disdain Catholics is aiding in really creating a Catholic vote in 2020 which may in fact have a significant role, for the first time in decades, in the election.

This is the closing edition, we might note, for Part 9.  It's now too long to easily accept updates.  On to Part 10.

__________________________________________________________________________________

Related threads:

The 2020 Election, Part 1

The 2020 Election, Part 2

The 2020 Election, Part 3

The 2020 Election, Part 7

Friday, September 25, 2020

Ranchers Form Co-Op to Address Meat Processing Bottleneck

As we've discussed before, there's been a major consolidation of the meat packing industry in the United States.  Here, some California ranchers have formed their own packing entity.

Ranchers Form Co-Op to Address Meat Processing Bottleneck

It's somewhat surprising that this isn't more widely tried.  Consolidation in the packing industry really hurts ranchers and it doesn't help consumers.

We had an entire series on this blog about the Wyoming economy and how it might be reimagined.  One of the industries we touched on was agriculture, which we discussed here.

Lex Anteinternet: Issues In the Wyoming Election. A Series. Issue No. 1 (c). The Economy again. . . Agriculture

What's changed since we wrote that back in 2018 is that coal and oil are in worse shape than they were then and there's been recent rumblings that a careful observer should be listening to in those quarters of the economy.  The legislature actually is, in terms of attempting to find replacement revenue that they feel is gone forever.  

Replacement work is another thing, but as we noted in that thread and we've noted elsewhere in others, we're not doing much to maximize revenue from agriculture (although a recent issue of Wyo magazine, the magazine for UW alumni shows some interesting things that are going on).  Here we have the beef, but there's no large local packers.

It'd be worth exploring developing some.  The state recently loosened up the restrictions on direct sales, which will allow that part of the market to develop.  Direct sale cattle are packed at the same packing facilities that hunters use for big game, if they don't pack their own, but not at the same time of the year. That's a good development.  But a packer somewhere else, say Casper, Glenrock, Riverton or Torrington, would be a good thing for agriculture.  It might take the state to get it rolling, however.  But with some innovative thinking, that could be done.

It's an odd thing to realize that at age 68, Al Gore, . . .

who came out with 500,000 more votes that George Bush II, but who lost the electoral votes, remains younger than either of this year's contenders.


And yet he never ran again.

I wonder why?

Thursday, September 24, 2020

“Like playing with Michael Jordan”: Three former Ginsburg clerks talk about what it was like working for the justice

“Like playing with Michael Jordan”: Three former Ginsburg clerks talk about what it was like working for the justice

September 24, 1920. The Turkish-Armenian War


Armenian coat of arms.

This day in 1920 is regarded as the start of the Turkish Armenian War, but in reality it would be better regarded as the recognition of a conflict that had commenced several days earlier.

The root of the war was a Turkish decision to take back lands allotted to Armenia in the Treaty of Sevres which the Allies had negotiated with the Ottoman Empire but which the Turkish rebels, who had displaced the Ottoman government, did not recognize.  They correctly gambled that the Allies would not intervene on Armenia's behalf and commenced an invasion of Armenia on September 13, which should be regarded as the real beginning of the war.  On this date Armenia declared war on Turkey and commenced offensive actions, which worked at first.

The war soon went badly and the Armenians were forced to accept an armistice on November 18, 1920.  The Soviets then invaded on November 29, 1920, effectively putting an end to the country.  A peace treaty by the new government, essentially a treaty between the USSR and the Turkish rebels, was concluded on December 2, 1920.

The early 20th Century was one disaster after another for the Armenian people.  The Ottoman government killed over 1,000,000 Armenians during World War One and the Turkish rebels committed further atrocities upon Armenian civilians as it entered the country.  The country regained its independence on September 21, 1991.

Wednesday, September 23, 2020

September 23, 1920. Selling pencils.

 

Japanese students selling pencils for the National Sunday School Association of Japan, September 23, 1920.

The First Supreme Court. Who were they, and how many of them were there?

There were only six.  That number was set by the 1789 act establishing the Court.

The original Supreme Court heard very very few cases and much of its initial duties surrounded organizing the Court. The cases it heard were important, but the justices themselves had extensive extra obligations as they were also circuit judges, riding a circuit, for circuit courts.

John Jay was the first Chief Justice.  He served for six  years and went on to become Governor of New York.  He as confirmed in 1801 for a second term as Chief Justice, and declined it.

He lived for a long time after his retirement from politics, dying at age 84.

Jay was an opponent of slavery, although like many early opponents, had actually held slaves at one point in his life while still opposing slavery.

Scottish born James Wilson served until his death by way of a stroke at age 55.  He was one of the architects of the office of the Presidency.

His office did not cause him to escape misfortune and he spent his final years in poverty.

William Cushing served until his death at age 78.  He was the last Supreme Court Justice to wear a wig.  He was nominated to be Chief Justice and approved by the Senate, but declined the appointment. 

John Blair stepped down after five years on the Court, living another few years and dying at age 68.

John Rutledge  attained the position of Chief Justice on an interim appointment but he was subsequently rejected by the Senate. That and controversy surrounding his criticism of the Jay Treaty wrecked him and he stepped down prior to dying at age 60.

British born James Iredell maintained the position until his death at age 48, a death partially brought on by the burdens of riding circuit.

In 1801 the number of justices was reduced to five in an effort by outgoing President John Adams to limit Thomas Jefferson, his successors, picks.  That didn't last long and by 1807 the statutory number was seven, when a seventh judicial district was added. In 1837 it went to nine, by which time there were nine districts.  In 1863 it went to ten as there were ten districts.  In 1866 it was scaled back to seven, but then in 1869 it was put back to nine.

I wonder what they did after the war?

Warner Robins, Georgia. Air Service Command, Robins Field. Private Walter F. Guthrie, of Canadian, Texas, learning to handle a carbine. The instructor is Sergeant Dennis Maloney of Brooklyn, New York. Guthrie was a filling station operator in his home town; Maloney, a clerk in an A&P store.
 

Did they return to those jobs?

Tuesday, September 22, 2020

September 22, 1920. The St. Vrain Glacier.


 Mount St. Vrain's glacier, Colorado.  September 22, 1920.


Did we discuss Merrick Garland in 2016?

Yes, we did.

So what did we have to say?

Here's our first entry:

Monday, March 14, 2016

Monday at the Bar: Down to three potential Supreme Court nominees

Rumor has it that President Obama is down to three potential Supreme Court nominees, those being Merrick Garland, Sri Srinivasan and Paul Watford.  All have been vetted successfully by the Republican Senate before.

While the Senate leadership has indicated that it intends to stick to its guns and refuse to consider any pick prior to the next President taking office it has to be the case that the election, which has taken an unpredicted and odd course, may start to change some minds.  Most Republican Senators are undoubtedly of the view that a Trump nomination will go down to defeat against Hillary Clinton in the fall and everyone is aware that a Clinton nominee will be much more liberal than any of these three.  Backing down on their pledge not to consider a nominee would look bad, but the impact would not be as bad as suffering with a liberal appointee in the next Congress.

Obviously, by that time, the Republican leadership in the Senate had already issued its pledge not to consider President Obama's nominee.  

A few weeks had passed, by that time, since Justice Scalia had died.  But it was only March and much of 2016 was left to go. Things were developing in the race, however, as our next entry pointed out.

Wednesday, March 16, 2016

Merrick Garland nominated to the Supreme Court

President Obama has nominated Merrick Garland, age 63, to the United States Supreme Court.

I don't know anything about Judge Garland, and indeed rarely do we know anything about a Supreme Court nominee prior to his nomination.  He apparently has a reputation as being a moderate to liberal Federal Judge.  He is a Harvard Law graduate (yet again) and he clerked for the legendary Judge Herbert J. Friendly prior to clerking for United States Supreme Court Justice William J. Brennan.  Brennan was a liberal Supreme Court Justice and we will likely be hearing about that if the confirmation process begins.

His remarkably older than recent nominees, which is interesting.  At age 63 this will be his one and only chance to make the Supreme Court.  He also has more experience, apparently, on the Federal bench than any other prior nominee.

Other than that, I can't comment much on him.  I would note that this is yet another instance of the Ivy League law schools having a seeming lock on the high court, which I don't think is a good thing, and its also another instance of the only people being considered being people who are currently sitting on the Federal bench in a lower appeals court.  Having said that, given the political dynamics in play, President Obama had to either nominate a sitting judge or a non controversial politician.  An attempt to do the latter seems to have been made with the vetting of Nevada's current governor, who declined to be considered.

On the politics of this, this now puts the Senate to the test.  If it declines to consider Garland it gambles on the Republican Party taking the Presidency, which is looking increasingly unlikely.  Garland is likely to be less liberal, maybe, than anyone Hillary Clinton, who is likely to be the Democratic nominee, may make.  Additionally, given the extreme contentiousness of the current political season there is some question, although only sum, on whether the GOP shall hold the Senate.  I think it likely that it will, but if it fails to then the next nominee will definitely be a more liberal judge. Indeed, it is not impossible that the next justice, under that scenario, could be President Obama, following in the footsteps of President Taft.

Of course, backing down from the pledge not to consider a nominee would have political consequences, the most likely one being that it would become fodder for the Trump campaign, which is currently under siege from the Republican "establishment" and which would argue that the GOP was betraying the base.

I thought, at the time, as is clear that the gamble the GOP was making in not taking up Merrick Garland's nomination was really risky. As it turned out, it was brilliant strategically. By waiting President Obama out, the Republicans were able to secure a conservative replacement for Justice Scalia, although certainly not one of his intellectual weight.  It was a gamble that paid off for them.  It's essentially the same gamble that Ruth Bader Ginsburg made in the latter stages of President Obama's second term, betting on a Democratic administration, which didn't pay off.

What I also thought, but which I didn't put down in these posts, but might have elsewhere, is that it was Constitutionally questionable for the Senate not to take up the Garland nomination.  The Senate's job is to "advise and consent".  It didn't do that.

Indeed, in retrospect, Democrats could have filed suit and sought a Writ of Mandamus requiring the Senate to hold hearings.  But it would have been to no avail.  All that would have occured, had they won, was to convene hearings sometime that Summer which would have lead, I suspect, to a non confirmation.  That would have been quite politically awkward for the GOP, and it might have had the impact of swinging the election to the Democrats.

Contrary to what people seem to believe, things like this aren't that unusual.  I've known one well qualified nominee to the Federal bench who didn't get on as the Senate didn't take up his nomination for political reasons. Granted, that wasn't to the Supreme Court, but to a Federal District Court, but nonetheless these things occur. They simply waited that nominees President out until there was a new one.  That's exactly what the Republicans did, very openly, in 2016.

It doesn't appear that they'll do that here, but the Democrats don't really have a good argument that the GOP should wait.  In 2016  they argued against it.  There's no Constitutional requirement that waiting be done.  

The real question, therefore, is whether lifetime appointments of this type make sense any longer. The better evidence is that they don't.

Monday, September 21, 2020

Monday Morning Repeat from the week of May 2, 2009.

This blog has certain reoccurring topics that get posted on a weekly basis, more or less.  The one that is most frequently posted is the Sunday Morning Scene series, but there are others, including Monday at the Bar (fairly rarely posted), Friday Farming, Poster Saturday and the like.

We're starting a new one here in an effort to perhaps get some old traction on older threads.  That is, to bring them back up now that this blog has some readership, which of course at first it really did not.

A lot of the themes at first introduced in these old posts were, of course, later much more developed.  None the less, as this version of the blog has been running over a decade, we'll cast some light on some of these older topics and hope that they get a second look.  We'll not pick more than one out from any one week during which it originally ran.

Our first one:

Transportation, late 19th Century

When we do this, we should note, we're not going to repost the entire thread.  If it looks interesting, people will have to hit on the link and view it, which I hope they do, and I hope, as always, some comment.

Saturday, September 19, 2020

Ruth Bader Ginsberg. 1933-2020


Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg passed away today, September 18, 2020.

In a year of seemingly endless oddities, difficulties and drama, the death of Justice Ginsburg comes at such a time as to seem to fit into the story of the year at a Cosmic level.  Now, added to all of the other drama of the final stages of the Presidential Campaign of 2020, we will have a Supreme Court Justice nomination, and confirmation.

Justice Ginsburg was born in Brooklyn and grew up in Flatbush.  Born to Jewish parents, her father was a Ukrainian immigrant.  She attended Cornell, meeting Martin Ginsburg, the man she would marry, at age 17.  After marrying she worked a variety of jobs while her husband served as an Army officer, having been commissioned following his university graduation through a ROTC commission.  In 1956 she entered Harvard Law School, transferring later to Columbia when her husband took a job in New York.  She thereby became the first woman to publish in Columbia's and Harvard's law reviews.

Following law school she had difficulty finding employment due to her gender. The prejudice against female lawyers was strong at the time, and indeed would be for decades thereafter.  She went on to be a civil rights litigator with the ACLU. Her work lead her to be appointed to the United States Appeals Court for the District of Columbia in 1980, as one of Jimmy Carter's appointments.  She advanced to the Supreme Court in 1993 when nominated by Bill Clinton.

Ginsburg was a formidable intellect and will go down as one of the Court's titans.  Her position on the court can be regarded as having been on the center left.  In recent years she became the focus of the future direction of the Court as, after the resignation of Anthony Kennedy, she appeared to be the most likely justice to step down, due to age or health, or be removed by death.  Now the latter has happened.  It is well known that Ginsburg herself was carrying on in hopes of making it to the next Presidential term in anticipation of being replaced by a Democratic President.

Now she'll probably be replaced by a nominee named by President Trump.  It's clear that the Senate is highly likely to take this up rapidly under Mitch McConnell, but less clear that Republican Senators who are facing difficulties holding on to the Senate will be willing to stake their political fortunes to an act which will be hugely unpopular with Democrats and which will become a focus of the remainder of President Trump's term.  Indeed, to at least some extent, a rapid process on the part of Mitch McConnell, assuming a quick nomination by President Trump, will have a certain appearance of throwing Trump, and perhaps some Republican Senators, under the bus, as the act is likely to be so unpopular with Democrats.  That would also be a concession on McConnell's part, a concession which has already been made as a practical matter, that in the 21st Century United States the Supreme Court is the most important branch of the government.

At any rate, Ginsburg, agree with her positions or not, was a legal giant. Only Anthony Scalia, her friend outside of the court and opposite on the court, rivaled her in that regard.


 

Friday, September 18, 2020

September 18, 1970. The death of Jimi Hendrix

The greatest guitarist of all time, James Marshall Hendricks, was a Seattle born bluesman, for all practical purposes, who crossed over into rock music just as rock guitarist were struggling with how to deal with amplification and the full range of the instrument.  Unable to read music, Hendrix (he'd changed the spelling of his last name) embraced the problems that other guitarist had been unable to deal with, principally distortion, and took the instrument far beyond the frontiers it had been in.

A fantastic natural musician, Hendrix has never been surpassed.  Unfortunately, he fell prey to the evils that so often afflict the life of musicians on the road, and which were very much in vogue in the 1970s, drugs being paramount among them.  On this day he was taken to a hospital in London suffering from the effects of a drug overdose and drowned in his own vomit, a fact that was contributed to by the fact that English ambulances typically took patients to the hospital sitting up if they could, which is what they did with Hendrix.

Hendrix had spent his early years in the Pacific Northwest of the United States and Canada and grew up in a musical household.  His father played the saxophone, which he sold when he noticed his boy playing the air guitar with a broom.  Learning how to play the instrument without the benefit of formal musical education, Hendrix learned the blues the way thousands of African Americans had, at home and by ear.  Left handed, however, he learned how to play a right handed guitar upside down, something he did for the rest of his life.  He could, however, play right handed and left handed, and in concert sometimes did.  

After a stint in the Army, in which he was a paratrooper, Hendrix played with a lot of rock bands of the 1960s as a backup guitarist before successfully breaking out on his own.  Teamed by English producers with a backup band that was not up to his talent, dubbed the Jim Hendrix Experience, he came to fame with a series of radically advanced rock music releases, most of which were actually blues based pieces.  Purple Haze remains an emblematic piece of music, but nearly every major song released by Hendrix stands alone.  

Dissatisfied with his English back up band, Hendrix later was backed by fellow black musicians that he'd met while in the Army, and who were schooled, like he was, in the blues.  In that makeup Hendrix toured with the "Band of Gypsies".  A power house of a musician, Hendrix's psyche was increasingly impacted by drugs in later years, in which he freely indulged.  On this date, they took him and the world lost the greatest guitar player of all time.

The Aerodrome: Wyoming Air Guard 153rd AW activated again for fir...

The Aerodrome: Wyoming Air Guard 153rd AW activated again for fir...: Wyoming Air Guard 153rd AW activated again for firefighting : CHEYENNE, Wyo. – The Wyoming Air National Guard's 153rd Airlift Wing has o...

Thursday, September 17, 2020

In Memoriam. Winston Groom

Winston Groom, known by most due to Forrest Gump, died yesterday at age 77.

Groom was born in Washington D. C. in 1943 and raised in Mobile Alabama.  His original ambition was to have been a lawyer, like his father, but he switched to writing while in university.  Graduating in 1965, he entered the Army as an officer due to having been in ROTC and served a tour of duty in Vietnam with the 4th Infantry Division.  After leaving the service he worked as a newspaper reporter before quitting to write novels, with his first novel being Better Times Than These, about riflemen in Vietnam.  He returned to Mobile in 1985 and write from there.  A novel released in 2016 was his first in twenty years.  In between he wrote works of history, ultimately writing more of those than he did works of fiction.

He'll always be remembered for Forrest Gump, his fourth novel, with the title character being the subject of a sequel written after the famous move was released.  While Groom was a Southerner not all of his novels were set in the South.  Having said that, Forrest Gump was and it fits sort of uniquely, in my view, on the edge of the Southern Gothic literary genre.

Blog Mirror: A remarkable colorized photograph

Generally I'm iffy about colorization of black and white photographs and I used to really dislike the colorization of black and white film, but the technology has remarkably improved in recent years, as the amazing movie They Shall Not Grow Old demonstrates. At any rate, every now and then there's a really remarkable example of it.  Here's one such example on the Reddit 100 Years Ago subreddit.

[September 16, 1920] Wall Street bombing - colorized

I've seen this photograph before, but never noticed many of the details, such as the fireman dealing with his footgear or the Dalmatian dog.  Truly remarkable.

September 17, 1920. Arrivals

Olympic athletes returning from the Summer Olympics in Europe on the Aquitania on September 17, 1920. 


Opera singer Frances Alda arriving in New York City on the Aquitania on September 17, 1920. Alda is posed with a movie camera. 

 

Banker and publisher Marshall Field III arriving in New York City on the Aquitania on September 17, 1920. 
Maxine Elliott, actress and businesswoman, on the Aquitania on September 17, 1920.

And on this date, a merger or professional football teams brought the immediate precursor of the National Football League into existance.

Wednesday, September 16, 2020

September 16, 1620. The day the "Pilgrims" . . .

 set sail for the New World.

It was at sea for ten weeks, putting in near Cape Cod on November 11, 1620.

Today In Wyoming's History: September 16, 1940. Conscription starts and the National Guard mobilized.

Some of those conscripted men in 1945.

On this day in 1940, a couple of monumental events occurred in the history of the US and the state. These were:

Today In Wyoming's History: September 161940 President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed into law the Selective Training and Service Act, which set up the first peacetime military draft in U.S. history.


1940 President Franklin Roosevelt orders the Army to begin mobilizing the entire National Guard for one year’s training. The National Guard's horsed cavalry regiments, would go into Federal service for the last time. Horse mechanized units, such as Wyoming's 115th Cavalry Regiment (Horse-Mechanized) would go into service for the first and last time.

The story is always told a little inaccurately, and even the way we posted it on our companion blog slightly is.  The 1940 Selective Training and Service Act, reviving a conscription process started during World War One, was the first "peacetime draft" only if we omit the story of state mandatory military service which had existed from the earliest colonial times (recognizing the colonies as precursors to the state) up until after the Civil War, when it petered out.  Indeed, this history is why the National Guard, not the Army or Navy, is the senior service, dating back to December 13, 1636.  People didn't "join" the militia, they, or rather men, were compelled to be in the militia.  Only when the Frontier period caused populations to be so transient did this really change and even today many states define all men of sixteen years to sixty to be in the militia.

But Federal conscription itself was an anomaly and had only existed twice before, once during the Civil War and then again during World War One.  It had never been in existence in peacetime. And for that matter, hardly any Americans in 1940 had a living memory of mandatory militia duty, although there would have been those had been alive when it still existed.

Also of huge significance was the mobilization of the National Guard.

The mobilization of the Guard in 1940 is well known, but underappreciated.  The U.S. Army would have been incapable of fighting World War One or World War Two without the National Guard. During the Great War the reorganized Guard, reorganized as its state determined peacetime branches did not all comport with the Army's needs for a largescale European war, constituted a large percentage of the actual fighting force throughout the war.  It's peacetime establishment was reorganized again in the 1920s to match needs upon mobilization and accordingly many of the Army units that fought in the Army's early campaigns, all the way into 1943, were made up of Guard units.  Indeed, to at least some extent the Army simply used up Guard units until it could deploy newly trained men.

The significant story of the National Guard in both world wars was downplayed by the Army as, in spite of its absolute reliance on the Guard, the Regular Army always looked down on it in this period and tended to ignore its contributions.  Those contributions were enormous, and the Army's treatment of the National Guard's history unfair, and the wartime treatment of its officers shameful.

Conscription would soon start a labor shortly and ultimately start a series of social crises, conflicts and changes that permanently changed the United States and its culture.  One year of service, as had originally been passed into law, would not have done that, but when that service extended into years and ultimately into the largest war fought in modern times, it certainly did.  World War One, coming in an era of more privative transpiration, even though it was only twenty years prior, had not resulted in the transcontinental mixing of races and cultures the way World War Two did, and of course the Great War was shorter.  Those conflicts certain arose, but many of them arose afterwards, as reflected in the Red Summer of 1919.  The Great War changed the country as well but those changes really bloomed during World War Two, for lasting good and lasting ill.  The Civil Rights movement that started with the integration of the Armed Forces in 1948 really had its roots in the war during which there was a lot of dissatisfaction on the part of segregated blacks in regard to segregation, both in the military and in society itself. By wars end that segregation was going to be on the way out, even if that wasn't appreciated at the time.

The war also started the process of dismantling the strong ethnic neighborhoods in the country's majority white population and to at least some degree turned the temperature up on the melting pot.  At the same time, the war encouraged a period of loose morals that would begin to reflect back on the country after the war, really starting off when Hugh Hefner took the wartime image of the town girl that had adorned American bomber after bomber and put her in glossy centerfolds.  Much of what the war brought is still being sorted out, and the full impact of it will likely take another half century or more to really appreciate.

And that process, for the United States, began today, eighty years ago.

September 16, 1920. The Wall Street Bombing.

On this day, at 12:01 p.m., terrorist widely believed to be Galleanist anarchists, set off a bomb in New York's Wall Street district which killed thirty-eight people and injured hundreds more.


The bomb, designed to deploy shrapnel, killed mostly young workers in the district at a time at which young workers were very young.  It was left in a horse drawn wagon, with horse still attached, and went off at the busy noon hour.


The direct perpetrators of the act were never discovered.











On the same day, a Polish artillery regiment was destroyed, with some prisoners and wounded, by a Red Army cavalry unit that outnumbered it after it expended all of its ammunition during the Battle of Dytiatyn.  The Red Army unit was itself destroyed by Polish forces a few days latter.

The battle became a famous one for the Poles who established a military cemetery there.  That was later destroyed by the Soviets following World War Two and the location is now inside of Ukraine.

Today In Wyoming's History: September 16, 1810. The Cry of Delores.

It is today, a noted on our companion blogToday In Wyoming's History, for this date, September 16 which marks the actual first strike towards the independence of Mexico: 

September 16

1810  Father Miguel Hidalgo y Costillo and several hundred of his parishioners seized the prison at Dolores, Mexico marking the beginning of the first significant Mexican rebellion against Spain.

As also noted, the first blow for independence from Spain was struck by a Catholic Priest, concerned for the plight of the average poor Mexican, who issued the "Cry of Delores".   Tragically, that cry, a speech from Father Miguel, and the reply of the crowed, has been lost, but it is known that it cried out loyalty to the Church, referenced the Virgin of Guadalupe, and struck out somehow against Spain.

The revolution started on this date started a series of rebellions that would continue, more or less as a single war, until 1821, when Mexico achieved its independence.  Unfortunately, during the process the leaders evolved from being a Priest concerned for his people to Mexican born Spanish military leaders who were concerned with the privilege of their class. That effectively set up Mexico for  a long lasting struggle that only resolved in recent years.

A process that began on this day in 1810, 210 years ago.

It's this day, not the 5th of May, that's celebrated as Mexican Independence Day in Mexico.