Sunday, April 2, 2023

Weaponizing

One of my coworkers weaponizes his lunch (which contains approximately the same caloric quantities as the amount which sustained the Army of the Potomac during the Civil War) every day with Frank's Hot Sauce.  I've never had it, but it stinks.

Any long term student of politics and the American media knows that at any one time there's a World de Jour. Some catchphrase that everyone is incorporating into their speech.

A few years ago, it was "vette", as to vette, or vett, someone.  John McCain was accused of not adequately "vetting" Sarah Palin, and then things were off and rolling.  You couldn't listen to anything without there being commentary on somebody or something needing to be vetted.

After that, it was "double down".  It took  off and became simply absurd.  People didn't back off a bad idea, they "doubled down".  Everyone you went people were doubling down, like you were in a Los Vegas casino on amateur night.  It was really out of control.

Now it's "weaponizing".

Everything is being weaponized.  Justice, laws, whatever.  

Of course, the question is whether or not they're being misused.  Whatever the answer to that is, they certainly aren't being turned into Predator drones or something.

None the less, everyone is using the term.  Right now, I fully expect to have this conversation at a Burger King soon.

I'll have the Whopper with fries please.

Would you like to weaponize that by adding jalapeños?  

It's out of control.

FWIW, the "weaponizing", or misuse, of the justice system as a concept had its origin in my view in the Enron prosecutions in which, effectively, Enron executives, while they were in violation of the law, were made sacrificial lambs for the economy.  That really opened the door to an Athenian concept of democracy, in which people are prosecuted for failure.  Following that, it went ballistic with the rabid GOP reaction to the Benghazi embassy attacks, following which there was all sorts of nonsense about needing to prosecute somebody.  It was pure political theater and nothing more.

At least since 2016 the concept has been rampaging in the far left and far right, with Republicans in the 2016 election wanting to prosecute Clinton.  Now nobody can be a sitting President without cries of "impeach" and investigations into everything.

Which is not to say Trump shouldn't pay for any crimes he committed.  Any President should.

Friday, April 2, 1943. Bulgaria says Не (no) in response to a German Bitte and the Little Big Inch

King Boris III of Bulgaria told German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop that Bulgaria would not surrender its Jewish population to Germany.

Tsar Boris.

Tsar Boris, as he was also known, was on dangerous ground and he knew it.  He stuck to his position however and refused until his death later that year to yield on sending Jewish Bulgarians to the Germans.  Bulgaria ultimately conscripted Jewish men for labor on roads, but to some degree at least this seems to have been a pretext to help prevent their deportation.

Bulgaria, which did pass anti Semitic laws, had participated in the war as a German ally only to the extent of the war against Yugoslavia.  It wisely refused to declare war against the Western Allies or the Soviet Union, much to the irritation of Hitler.  Tsar Boris untimely death seems to have been due to the stress of dealing with the Germans, although it remains an open question if he was poisoned under orders of the Germans.

Sarah Sundin reports:

Today in World War II History—April 2, 1943: US War Production Board approves construction of the “Little Big Inch” pipeline to take refined oil from Texas to the northeast states.

We discussed the Big Inch earlier. 

Monday, April 2, 1923. Easter Egg Rolling, Oil Swindlers, Bad Debt Shooting, Japanese portrait.

The annual White House Easter Egg Rolling event occured.




The news of the day declared there to be oil stock swindles and a local shooting.  A New York crime waive was declared broken.
 

Two young ladies were photographed in Nippon.


They were sisters Matsu Miyoko 松美代子 ten year old and Matsu Shizue 松静枝 eight year old.

You heard it here first.

The item about Latino voters, that is. We've been saying that this trend, reflecting cultural conservatism, was bound to come about.

Latino GOP Voters Embrace Culture War & New AI Makes Disinfo Easy

I was wondering.

In the abortion debate in Wyoming, one of the plaintiffs has asserted that Judaism mandates abortion in some circumstances.

That struck me as flat out absurd, and a local Jewish figure did publish an article flatly rejecting that.  It keeps coming up, however.

Judaism has lacked, since the destruction of the Temple in AD 70, a central religious body, so perhaps more than any other major religion, it relies extremely heavily on conveyed tradition.  Islam, FWIW, tends to as well.  Interestingly, the body that split away from Judaism around AD30, but which remained mixed within it at the time, Catholicism, retains a highly central organization the way that Judaism did at the time of its founding.  

Anyhow, it's interesting to see what actual orthodox (small o) Jews think of this effort.  An article in Newsweek let's us know.  It's entitled:

Judaism's Stance on Gender Is Clear, Despite Attempts To Rewrite Torah | Opinion

Well worth reading.

The takeaway?  Judaism doesn't sanction abortion.  People who claim otherwise, really, are trying to co opt the religion. 

Saturday, April 1, 2023

Best Posts of the Week of March 26, 2023

The best posts of the week of March 26, 2023.

Violence and Simple Minded Analysis








Crossroads [Cover by Mary Spender Trio]

Thursday, April 1, 1943. Operation I-Go

SIGSALY, a vocoder, went into operation for a secure phone connection between the Prime Minister and the U.S. President.

The Allies took Sedjenane Tunisia.

The Japanese launched Operation I-Go, an air offensive in the Solomons featuring attacks on air installations and shipping.  It would run until April 16.

Japanese aircraft in Rabaul.

Easter Sunday, April 1, 1923

Members of the Wasatch Mountain Club members on the porch of the Hermitage, Ogden Canyon, Utah, Easter Day, 1923

It was Easter Sunday for 1923. 



The silent classic Safety Last!, starring Harold Lloyd and Mildred Davis, premiered.   The movie is famous for its harrowing stunts, which were preformed by Lloyd.

The United Kingdom began numbering its highways.

France reduced the compulsory military service period from two years, to 18 months.

Going Feral: Governor Convenes Pinedale Town Hall to Discuss Wildlife Losses

Going Feral: Governor Convenes Pinedale Town Hall to Discuss Wi...:  

Governor Convenes Pinedale Town Hall to Discuss Wildlife Losses

 


Governor Convenes Pinedale Town Hall to Discuss Wildlife Losses

CHEYENNE, Wyo. – This winter has been one of the hardest winters Wyoming has experienced in recent history. According to temperatures recorded at the Pinedale airport, the 30-year average for days of temperatures below zero is approximately 39 days. This year, there were 62 days below-zero temperatures. Compounding the winter conditions has been an unusually large  amount of snow, with many areas currently at 125-150% of the average snowpack. These factors have severely impacted Wyoming wildlife, and concerns from the public have grown as antelope, and deer carcasses have become substantially visible.

In response to the growing concerns Governor Gordon heard from constituents and legislators, the Governor called for a town hall meeting to provide an opportunity to hear directly from citizens in areas most impacted and to discuss solutions that work for Wyoming wildlife. The town hall was held at the Pinedale library and was open to the public through 
Zoom.

Joining Governor Gordon and Wyoming Game and Fish Department (WGFD) Director Brian Nesvik was Dr. Kevin Montieth, a professor at the University of Wyoming’s Haub School of Environment and Natural Resources. Dr. Monteith shared with the audience that in addition to tougher than usual winter conditions, antelope have been hit hard by a rare bacterial pneumonia, which appears to be spreading. 

Dr. Monteith further explained that some solutions that have been called for, such as feeding antelope and mule deer, are not good solutions because, unlike elk, the digestive systems of these animals cannot quickly adjust to hay. Monteith explained to an audience of more than 200 that the best solution to help Wyoming wildlife is protecting and enhancing the animals’ habitat and protecting migration routes so animals can more easily seek forage. Access to their natural foods over the summer and fall allows the animals to enter winter with higher body fat content, helping them survive winter when shrubs and sagebrush brush are scarce. 

Governor Gordon and Director Nesvik heard many suggestions, including limiting hunting quotas and seasons this year. Director Nesvik explained that this is an ongoing evaluation, and the WGFD continually monitor all the factors, taking them into account in future decisions. “We are experiencing one of the toughest winters for big game in Wyoming’s recent history,” noted Director Nesvik. We have difficult decisions to make, and I appreciate everyone who came to our town hall. Rest assured; those tough decisions will be made in consideration of biology and the advice we hear from concerned citizens.”

Concluding the town hall, Governor Gordon stated, “I thank all who came to the town hall in person or virtually. Wyoming people care deeply about our wildlife. That was clearly shown today. I greatly appreciate all the suggestions, questions and comments they shared today. Wyoming folks are not shy. I am committed to working with our citizens to provide healthy wildlife populations for generations to come.” 

A Zoom recording of the town hall can be viewed here

Pudelpointer – Dog Breed Form, Function, History, and More

 Great article:

Pudelpointer – Dog Breed Form, Function, History, and More

But let's be honest. . . .they're simply a very early Doodle.

That's not a criticism.  My dog is a North American Retriever.  I.e, a "double doodle".

Blog Mirror: WOMEN’S HISTORY MONTH: SPOTLIGHT ON BLM FEMALE EMPLOYEES IN THE FIELD

 

WOMEN’S HISTORY MONTH: SPOTLIGHT ON BLM FEMALE EMPLOYEES IN THE FIELD

Friday, March 31, 2023

Wednesday, March 31, 1943. Oklahoma!

Oklahoma! opened on Broadway.

Having a very long initial run, and having been revived from time to time, I have to admit, I've never seen it.

I have been, however, to Oklahoma on numerous occasions.


The Afrika Korps withdrew from Cap Serrat, the Tunisian city that's about as far north in Tunisia as you can go.  

The British took El Aouana, Algeria.  The ancient city is famous for the French discovery for four dolman there.  Dating back to Roman times, the city was named Cavallo, "horse", by the Romans.

A photographer was apparently touring the Port of San Francisco, which I've also been to.

USS Albireo (AK-90), the former John G. Nicolay,  a Navy cargo ship at San Francisco on this day.

Cavalryman, Gen. Frederick Gilbreath, Commander of the San Francisco Port of Embarkation, on this day in 1943.

Actor Christopher (Ronald) Walken born on this day in 1943 in New York.

Russian writer and politician Pavel Nikolayevich Milyukov (Па́вел Никола́евич Милюко́в) died in exile in France on this day in 1943.  He had been a member of the Provisional Russian Government after the fall of the monarchy.   While an opponent of the Communists in his native land, he supported Stalin's efforts to expand Soviet territory and was an ardent supporter of the Soviet war effort against the Germans.

Railhead: Railhead: The not so great train robbery.

Railhead: Railhead: The not so great train robbery.

Railhead: The not so great train robbery.

Railhead: The not so great train robbery.: CN police, RCMP investigating Monday train robbery in Brocklehurst Mar 28, 2023 | 1:36 PM KAMLOOPS — Kamloops RCMP are assisting CN Rail pol...

So, two days later, what do we now know?

Not much more, perhaps showing the difference in media access in Canada vs. the US.

The RCMP is asking for help. but the details so far have been very limited.  It was an armed robbery, conducted by a man who felt in a white sedan, and who was wearing a hoodie.

That's it.

It's also the first train robbery in British Columbia since 1906.  That train was robbed near Kamloops as well, by Bill Miner the Gentleman Bandit.


 We know that Miner didn't do this one, as he died in 1913 at age 65 from gastritis due to drinking brackish water.

Lex Anteinternet: Down the rabbit hole.

Lex Anteinternet: Down the rabbit hole.: Down the Rabbit Hole And so, we find, a contemporary warped Zeitgeist, virtue signaling, cowardice, and bad reporting, have taken the state ...

Well, nothing here is a surprise, we must say.   And therefore, we should not be surprised that the Saga is headed, as it seems it needs to, to Court, while the sorority members themselves, head out the door.

On the latter, only ten of the fifty actual you women who are members are reupping.  The alleged details, and of course they are merely alleged, explain why.

Complaints, we should note, initiate lawsuits, and they are allegations, not proofs. That's important to keep in mind.

Be that as it may, the complaint is illuminating.  Among other things, it described the "transgendered" wanna be woman pestering the real women about sexual topics of a person nature, watching them, and getting an erection while doing so.  He hasn't left on "pajama" night on a timely basis.

Next year, he's moving in.

In short, he's, and he is a he, is sitting around on occasion in the sorority house getting a hard on watching the girls his own age.

The latter is a natural reaction.  What isn't natural is the situation itself.

And what isn't sane is a society that allows a young man to claim he's a girl so that can place him in a girls residence in a manner which sexually excites him, and threatens them.

Which brings me back to this point which was made in our last entry on this story:

Assuming he is intact, and to put it honestly which therefore will come across as indelicate and crass, he's got a dick and balls and male DNA, and he's with a group of young women.  His currently claimed psychological situation may be telling him he's a woman, but his testosterone and biology tells him he's a man, which he is.   And if we know anything about the biology of our species, the mammal with the highest sexual dimorphism and sex drive of any mammal that ever lived, it can override a lot.  Indeed, claimed homosexual men fathering children is not exactly unusual.

So, there's a man, perhaps intact, living in a sorority, simply because he claims to be a woman and has been dressing as one.

I'm not saying that he's going to do something improper.  Chances are he won't.  But I'm saying that, at a bare minimum, it's a bad precedent, as at some point, somebody will.

Let's be blunt.  It very well might not be this guy, and it might very well not be in Laramie, but some young woman is going to get raped in a situation such as this.  I'm not saying might, I'm saying she will.

We already know, of course, that putting young men and young women in close proximity in barracks like situations, or actually in barracks, leads to rape.  The U.S. Army has being dealing with this ever since it started off on its attempt to insert women in what is a traditional male role of combat soldier.  It's been working on it since day one, and it continues to, as the situation carriers on, as it does in the Navy, Air Force and Marines.  

And everywhere it's tried.  Just this past week, the Irish Defense Forces, existing in a land with a nearly homogenous culture with a much stronger religious nature in all levels of society, reported that over 80% of its female members have experienced some sort of sexual harassment, up to and including rape.

We also know, no matter how much some may wish to pretend, that men wishing to be women, and vice versa, is not psychologically normal.  It's also, it should be noted, not really the same thing as homosexuality.  Indeed, homosexuals by and large function in all other aspects of their life according to the mean.  Transgenderism is such a radical departure from reality, however, that it does not.  Something is deeply amiss in a person exhibiting it.

Chances are high that, at a high altitude level, men and women exhibiting are not really exhibiting the same thing.  One thing they are exhibiting, however, is a deep cry for help.  

They aren't getting it, in no small part as liberal sociology is sabotaging it.  Instead, what they are getting if "affirmation". That's not what they're seeking.

I've known, as has everyone, people who are exhibiting really destructive traits.  We've all known drug addicts, alcoholics, and massive over eaters.  All of those things are external traits exhibiting something amiss internally.  The answer to their problems isn't another joint, another drink, and a third serving of short ribs, along with affirmation that it's okay to be a doper, an alcoholic, or massively overweight.  That's going to kill them, and they probably know that.  The kind thing to do is to try to help.

People are going down the transgendered path are asking for help.  They're fleeing from something.  

With women, probably what they think it means to be a woman, which probably isn't what it actually means.

For men, in some cases, they're fleeing from what it means to be a man, or perhaps screaming for attention which they feel they've been denied.

Indeed, no sane many would want to be a woman simply due to the hormonal nightmare and cyclical exsanguination they endure, let alone the second class status they put up with and will continue to for the foreseeable future, not the least of which is that women, far more than men, are judged by their appearance and those crossing over rarely make a good one.

All things insane make it to our courts, at which point the insanity is expelled or ratified.  We may be at the start of a return to reality, or about to abandon it full scale.

Abandoned with it will be the sorority system, we might note, which may have already received a fatal blow.  Be that as it may, those who were too cowardly to arrest this trip before it started ought to pay, at least with shame, for having allowed this to occur.

Blog Mirror: A bucket-list tour of Nebraska courthouses yields some elevator insights

 A bucket-list tour of Nebraska courthouses yields some elevator insights

Living the Meme

 

Living the Meme

Foothill Agrarian: Once a Sheepman...

Foothill Agrarian: Once a Sheepman...: Photo by Marie Malloy - taken during lambing 2022! Last week, I completed a survey about sheep production that asked, "how long have yo...

Thursday, March 30, 2023

Tuesday, March 30, 1943. The Martyrdom of Sister Maria Restituta. Patton and his B-3. UW wins the NCAA. The 505th Jumps.

Sister Maria Restituta, age 48, was beheaded under orders of Martin Bormann.  An absolute vocal critic of Hitler and Nazism, she refused to be quiet about her opinions, no matter the cost.

Sister Restituta.

Sister Restituta had been born in Austria, and was of Czech desecent.  Her full name, after becoming a nun, was Maria Restituta Kafka.  She had been born Helene Kafka and had joined the order in her 20s, having first been a nurse.  She was a member of the Franciscan Sisters of Christian Charity.

She was beatified in 1998.

One of the most iconic photographs of George S. Patton to be taken, was taken on this day in Tunisia.


This photo is justifiably famous, but it's sometimes a bit misinterpreted.  It really doesn't show anything that unusual for a senior officer of the period.

Patton is wearing a B-3 flight jacket, the heavy sheepskin jacket that was issued to aviators who flew at altitude until synthetics and electrically heated flight suits started to replace it mid-war.  It would not be fully replaced during the war.  Both the heavy B-3 and the light A-2 saw widespread use beyond airmen, however.

A-2s were issued as a semi dress item to airborne officers (and perhaps enlisted men, although I'm not completely certain on that), signifying that 1) they were an airborne service and 2) there were a lot of them.  A-2s made their way into the Navy in some roles as well.  They were also widely worn by officers.

B-3s were issued not only to air crewmen, but to ground crews as well, as there were a lot of them.  They were a private purchase item with officers, and senior officers sometimes favored them as they were warm.  

Patton's B-3 here has had some alterations made to it, including at least one front pocket.  You can see his reading glasses held in the visible pocket.  You'll frequently see it claimed on websites that Patton had epaulets added to this coat, but that's completely incorrect, at least at the time this photograph was taken. His general's stars are visible, but they are neither pinned nor sewed on epaulets.  Indeed, the seam that's visible is simply a coat seam.  Other, sometimes later, photos do show Patton wearing a B-3 with epaulets, but that probably actually depicts a different coat, or that this one was subsequently altered as he was promoted.

Patton, perhaps with same B-3 as it has reinforced upper sleeves, but now featuring also epaulets, with the coat featuring the 1st Armored Corps patch.  The other figure is Major General Geoffrey Keyes, whose coat features II Corps insignia.  This photograph was taken in January, 1944.

The odd things about those photographs are that they show that Patton had that coat at the time that he was the commander of the 1st Armored Corps, which he had relinquished prior to March 1943 when he took over II Corps.  Patton was a bit of a stickler about uniforms being correct, but at least in that case his having had the 1st Armored Corps patch put on an expensive coat probably proved to be a mistake, as it couldn't be removed, so he therefore kept wearing it.

The stars on this one, or this coat at this time, are probably painted on.

This coat does have a reinforced upper arm, which is also an alteration, but not one that's as uncommon as might be supposed.  I've seen at least one photograph of a conventional aviator with the same alteration.  Alterations, often done at the local level, were very common.  The location of the unit patch on the reinforcement probably explains why the patch was never replaced.  Subsequent promotion probably explains why epaulets were later added.

Sailors in 1950.

Today In Wyoming's History: March 301943  Led by legendary UW basketball player Kenny Sailors, UW beat Georgetown 46 to 34 in Madison Square Gardens.  Sailors would enter the Marine Corps as an officer at the conclusion of that year.  UW would suspend basketball due to the war after that year.  Sailors eventually became a hunting guide in  Alaska, but returned to Wyoming in his old age, where he still lives, following the death of his wife.

Note: that item was originally penned, Sailors was in fact alive.  However, he subsequently passed on January 30, 2016, in Laramie, Wyoming.  Sailors remains a Wyoming basketball legend.

The 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment made a 2,000 trooper jump, the first such mass jump in US history.


The 505th had been formed in July 1942 and was originally under the command of James Gavin.  It had been assigned to the 82nd Airborne Division only a month prior to its first mass jump.

The jump took place near Camden, South Carolina.

Friday, March 30, 1942. The Laconia comes home, Mussolini ponders Italian emigration.

The SS Laconia completed its circumnavigation of the globe, becoming the ship to complete an around the world pleasure cruise.


It had departed in November 1930 and, before returning to New York, would be at sea for 130 days and call on 22 ports.

She'd be sunk on September 12, 1942, by a U-boat.

Mussolini addressed emigration from Italy in a famous speech, which stated:

The Sig. Director has compromised me, because he has announced my speech. Now almost all Italians know that I do not like speeches, but I accept with joy and resign myself this morning to this exception. He was also moved because he recalled with a warm voice of passion the history of the school—a superb history which all of Milan knows and admires. Also in this area, which could be defined as related to the problem of emigration—without prejudice to the question of whether migration is good or bad—is the "Carlo Tenca" School, and it has done very well, since when discussing the thesis you can argue endlessly regarding a conclusion.

For better or for worse, emigration is a physiological necessity of the Italian people. We are forty million squeezed into our narrow but adorable peninsula, with its too many mountains, and its soil which cannot feed everyone. There are around Italy countries that have a population smaller than ours and a territory double the size of ours. Hence it is obvious that the problem of Italian expansion in the world is a problem of life or death for the Italian race. I say expansion: expansion in every sense: moral, political, economic, demographic. I declare that the Government intends to protect Italian emigration: it cannot be indifferent to those who cross the mountains and travel beyond the Ocean, it cannot be indifferent because they are men, workers, and above all Italians. And wherever there is an Italian there is the tricolour, there is the Fatherland, there is the Government's defense of these Italians.

I feel all the excitement of life that stirs this new powerful generation of the Italian race. You certainly have meditated a few times on what you might call a miracle in the history of mankind; it is not rhetoric, it is said that the Italian people are the immortal people who always find a spring for their hopes, for their passion, for their greatness. Some two thousand years ago Rome was the center of an empire that had no boundaries except in the extreme limits of the desert; the civilization that Rome had given, its great legal tradition, as solid as the monuments, to the world—Rome had built a huge miracle that still moves us even to our most intimate fibers.

Then the empire decayed and crumbled. But it is not true that all the centuries which followed the collapse of the Roman world were centuries of darkness and barbarism. However, after a few centuries the Italian spirit suffered from an eclipse, but during that period of rest it was powerfully reinforced by new achievements, and so here the Italian spirit blossomed again through the creation of the immortal Dante Alighieri.

We were great in 1300 when other people were ill or were not yet born to history. Here followed the superb centuries, the Renaissance; Italy was once again the bearer of civilization to all races, all peoples. Then followed another political eclipse of division and discord, but it was barely a century and the Italian people recover, regaining consciousness of their historical unity. Rome returned, still playing its fanfare of glory for all Italians, it recovered the use of weapons that are necessary when it comes to saving its freedom, its greatness and its future. Then followed small wars, one state, conspiracies, the revolution of a people, martyrs, tortures, jails, exile. And just a century after the last war we made our political unity. However, alongside this political unity and geographical unity, the Italian people lacked the moral consciousness of themselves and their own destinies, even though after a victorious war this formation of conscience was in place. Under our eyes Italy will gradually become indestructible in its unity.

My Government will abolish bell towers so that Italians may see the august image of the Fatherland. This is the work to which my Government intends all its passion and a sense of religious faith. I am confident, gentlemen, of the destinies of Italy! I am optimistic for a simple act of will, because the will is a great force in people's lives and the lives of peoples.

We must will, strongly will! We must want, strongly want! Only with this power of the will we can overcome any obstacle. We must be ready for all sacrifices.

Recollect, then, in a moment of meditation after this rapid advance into the past. We love our willingness to project proudly of our time into the future. This young Italian people—fierce, fearless, restless, but strong. I am most certain that Italy will march towards a future of freedom, prosperity and greatness. Recollect in this vision, we tend all our nerves and all our passion towards this future that awaits us and we cry with a religious fervor.

Viva l'Italia!

It's hard to know what to make of this speech, but the vague references to past empire offer a clue of future fascist actions.

Before it becomes hopelessly buried . . .

 and it will, some things that should be considered, but won't be.

The Tennessee school shooter was a young woman "identifying" as a male.

The number of young women doing the same has increased enormously in just a few years.

She was also undergoing treatment for mental illness.

Frankly, her identifying as a male is a mental illness.

It's time to stop pretending otherwise.

I'm not saying that all girls identifying as men are shooting dangers.  That would be absurd.  But I am saying that this society has been on a forty-year spree of pretending that mental illness doesn't exist, while it has in fact been increasing.  We oddly acknowledge the latter while not the former.

The impacts of this, from extreme politics, to extreme violence, are inevitable.  Turning a blind eye to that, inexcusable, but that's exactly what will occur.

I'm not one to accuse the media of conspiracies, but the fact of the matter is that generally the media is left of center.  Given that, this story will largely ignore that 1) this act was perpetrated by a mentally ill young woman whose mental illness manifested itself in joining the transgender craze, and 2) she lashed out against a Christian institution.

Now, that doesn't explain all of this, society wide.  

But shouldn't be ignored.

Blog Mirror: 1948 Driving Safety Hints

 

1948 Driving Safety Hints

Blog Mirror: Trying to lose…

 

Trying to lose…

Wednesday, March 29, 2023

Thursday, March 29, 1973. Collapse.


Today In Wyoming's History: March 29: 1973  The United States completes it's withdrawal from Vietnam.

U.S. Army General Frederick C. Weyand, for the U.S. forces, stated: "Our mission has been accomplished," 

General Cao Văn Viên, for South Vietnam, stated to the departing U.S. troops: "We are going to do everything we can to see that your great sacrifices were not in vain."

The sentiments were no doubt sincere, but the mission had not really been accomplished and the sacrifices would have to be qualified.  We took a look at the war in that fashion here:


General Cao would go into exile in 1975 with the fall of South Vietnam, and died in 2008 at age 86 in the United States.  Gen. Weyland died in 2010 at age 93.

The war effectively destroyed the combat capabilities through moral decay of the U.S. Army and the U.S. Navy. The Marines and the Air Force came through it much less impaired.  The lessons learned caused the post Vietnam War military to abandon conscription, something it had relied upon since 1940, and a wholesale return to the pre World War Two volunteer/National Guard based force, something that has been a success.  It would take several years for the Army and Navy to return to combat effective, but it happened much quicker, with the volunteer force, than might have been guessed.  By the early 1980s, the service had been effectively restored and the damaging impacts of the Vietnam War largely put behind it.

The war would have a lingering effect on the military in other ways, of course, perhaps one of the most visual being the adoption of the M16 to such an extent that it has obtained record longevity, in spite of being a widely hated weapon by troops of the era.

Blog mirror item:


On the same day:
Today In Wyoming's History: March 29 By odd coincidence, this is also the day that Lt. William Calley was sentenced in 1971 in a courts-martial for his role in the My Lai Massacre, although his prison sentence ended up not being a long one.

Also on that day, the second to last group of US POWs left Vietnam.  The last POW to board the aircraft out of North Vietnam was U.S. Navy Lieutenant Commander Alfred H. Agnew.

Somehow oddly emphasizing the spirit of defeat at the time, the well regarded television drama Pueblo, about the North Korean capture of the USS Pueblo, aired on television.  Only tangentially related to the war, it was impossible not to notice that North Korea of that era felt that the US was so impaired that it could get away with this, which it did. 

It would not, now.

And making the day all the worse, President Nixon set a maximum for prices that could be charged for beef, pork and lamb.  This was in reaction to a consumer revolt in which consumers, mostly housewives charged with home economics, to boycott the same in reaction to rising prices.

Oddly, of course, this is the day that rationing had commenced on the same items in 1943.

You'd think that I'd remember some of this, but I don't on a personal level.

Monday, March 29, 1943 Meat and fat rationing commences in the U.S.


On this day in 1943, rationing in the US of meats, fat and cheese commenced, with Americans limited to two pounds per week of meat.

Poultry was not affected by the order.

This must have been a matter of interest in my family, engaged in the meat packing industry as they then were.

Contrary to popular memory, not everything the US did during the war met with universal approval back home, and this was one such example.  Cheating and black marketing was pretty common, and there were very widespread efforts to avoid rationing.  Farmers and ranchers helped people to avoid the system by direct sales to consumers, something the government intervened to stop and only recently has seen a large-scale return.

While wholesale inclusion of a prior item in a new one is bad form, here's something we earlier ran which is a topic that needs repeating here:

Lex Anteinternet: So you're living in Wyoming (or the West in genera...So what about World War Two?

Some time ago I looked at this in the context of World War One, but what about World War Two?
Lex Anteinternet: So you're living in Wyoming (or the West in genera...: what would that have been like? Advertisement for the Remington Model 8 semi automatic rifle, introduced by Remington from the John Bro...
 Wisconsin deer camp, 1943, the year meat rationing began.

Indeed, a person's reasons to go hunting during World War Two, besides all the regular reasons (a connection with our primal, and truer, selves, being out in nature, doing something real) were perhaps stronger during the Second World War than they were in the First.  During WWII the government rationed meat.  During World War One it did not, although it sure put the social pressure on to conserve meat.

Indeed, the first appeals of any kind to conserve food in the United States came from the British in 1941, at which time the United States was not yet in the war. The British specifically appealed to Americans to conserve meat so that it could go to English fighting men.  In the spring of 1942 rationing of all sorts of things began to come in as the Federal government worried about shortages developing in various areas.  Meat and cheese was added to the ration list on March 29, 1943.  As Sarah Sundin reports on her blog:
On March 29, 1943, meats and cheeses were added to rationing. Rationed meats included beef, pork, veal, lamb, and tinned meats and fish. Poultry, eggs, fresh milk—and Spam—were not rationed. Cheese rationing started with hard cheeses, since they were more easily shipped overseas. However, on June 2, 1943, rationing was expanded to cream and cottage cheeses, and to canned evaporated and condensed milk.
So in 1943 Americans found themselves subject to rationing on meat.  As noted, poultry was exempt, so a Sunday chicken dinner was presumably not in danger, but almost every other kind of common meat was rationed.  So, a good reason to go out in the field.

But World War Two was distinctly different in all sorts of ways from World War One, so hunting by that time was also different in many ways, and it was frankly impacted by the war in different ways.

For one thing, by 1941 automobiles had become a staple of American life.  It's amazing to think of the degree to which this is true, as it happened so rapidly.  By the late 1930s almost every American family had a car.  Added to that, pickup trucks had come in between the wars in the early versions of what we have today, and they were obviously a vehicle that was highly suited to hunting, although early cars, because of the way they were configured and because they were often more utilitarian than current ones, were well suited as a rule.  What was absent were 4x4s, which we've discussed earlier.

This meant that it was much, much easier for hunters to go hunting in a fashion that was less of an expedition.  It became possible to pack up a car or pickup truck and travel early in the morning to a hunting location and be back that night, in other words.


Or at least it had been until World War Two. With the war came not only food rationing, but gasoline rationing as well.  And not only gasoline rationing, but rationing that pertained to things related to automobiles as well



Indeed, the first thing to be rationed by the United States Government during World War Two was tires.  Tires were rationed on December 11, 1941.  This was due to anticipated shortages in rubber, which was a product that had been certainly in use during World War One, but not to the extent it was during World War Two.  And tire rationing mattered.


People today are used to modern radial tires which are infinitely better, and longer lasting, than old bias ply tires were.  People who drove before the 1980s and even on into the 80s were used to constantly having flat tires.  I hear occasionally people lament the passing of bias ply tires for trucks, but I do not.  Modern tires are much better and longer lasting.  Back when we used bias ply tires it seemed like we were constantly buying tires and constantly  having flat tires.  Those tires would have been pretty similar to the tires of World War Two.  Except by all accounts tires for civilians declined remarkably in quality during the war due to material shortages.

Gasoline rationing followed, and it was so strict that all forms of automobile racing, which had carried on unabated during World War One, were banned during World War Two.  Sight seeing was also banned.  So, rather obviously, the use of automobiles was fairly curtailed during the Second World War.

So, where as cars and trucks had brought mobility to all sorts of folks between the wars in a brand new way, rationing cut back on it, including for hunters, during the war.

Which doesn't mean that you couldn't go out, but it did mean that you had to save your gasoline ration if you were going far and generally plan wisely.

Ammunition was also hard to come by during the war.

It wasn't due to rationing, but something else that was simply a common fact of life during World War Two.  Industry turned to fulfilling contracts for the war effort and stopped making things for civilians consumption.

Indeed, I've hit on this a bit before in a different fashion, that being how technology advanced considerably between the wars but that the Great Depression followed by the Second World War kept that technology, more specifically domestic technology, from getting to a lot of homes. Automobiles, in spite of the Depression, where the exception really.  While I haven't dealt with it specifically, the material demands of the Second World War were so vast that industries simply could not make things for the service and the civilian market. 

Some whole classes of products, such as automobiles, simply stopped being available for civilians.  Ammunition was like that.  With the services consuming vast quantities of small arms ammunition, ammunition for civilians became very hard to come by.  People who might expect to get by with a box of shotgun shells for a day's hunt and to often make due with half of that.  Brass cases were substituted for steel before that was common in the U.S., which was a problem for reloaders. 

So, in short, the need and desire was likely there, but getting components were more difficult. And being able to get out was as well, which impacted a person to a greater or lesser extent depending where they were.

And, as previously noted, game populations are considerably higher today than they were then.

New Zealanders entered the Tunisian city of Gabès.

Hitler rejected the recommendations of the German Army to place V-2 rockets on mobile launchers and opted instead for them to have permanent launching installations at Peenemünde.

Life issued a special issue on the USSR.

Nevada joined those states, such as Wyoming, which would no longer recognize Common Law Marriage.

Chapter 122 - Marriage

NRS 122.010 - What constitutes marriage; no common-law marriages after March 29, 1943.

1. Marriage, so far as its validity in law is concerned, is a civil contract, to which the consent of the parties capable in law of contracting is essential. Consent alone will not constitute marriage; it must be followed by solemnization as authorized and provided by this chapter.

2. The provisions of subsection 1 requiring solemnization shall not invalidate any marriage contract in effect prior to March 29, 1943, to which the consent only of the parties capable in law of contracting the contract was essential.

John Major, British Prime Minister from 1990 to 1997, was born, as was English comedian Eric Idle.

Blog Mirror: BLOG For career woman in 1930, “home’s still home”

 BLOG

Railhead: The not so great train robbery.

Railhead: The not so great train robbery.:

The not so great train robbery.

CN police, RCMP investigating Monday train robbery in Brocklehurst

Mar 28, 2023 | 1:36 PM

KAMLOOPS — Kamloops RCMP are assisting CN Rail police as they investigate a train robbery.

Spokesperson Cpl. Crystal Evelyn says RCMP were called just after 7:00 a.m. Monday (March 27). The incident took place at the junction of Tranquille Road and Ord Road in Brocklehurst.

It’s not known what was taken.

CFJC Today.

It’s not known what was taken.

Eh? 

Tuesday, March 28, 2023

Violence and Simple Minded Analysis

To a certain category of intellectual, left and right, everything is always explained by money.

Well, not everything is explained by money.

On this occasion, we focus on Robert Reich, who tends to be focused mostly on money, and while we sometimes enjoy his analysis, and whose columns we have linked in at this site, we find to be often acting with blinders on.

Here's Bob's latest after the recent Tennessee shooting:

The lives of our children or the greed of gun manufacturers?

This concept, that it's firearms manufacturer's greed that causes US violence, is a common one, but it's bunk.

Christmas Card of a Tennessee Representative.  It wasn't marketing by the firearms manufacturers that made this somehow seem cute or acceptable.  It was something in society that did it.

I've written about the AR15 Effect here before, and I'll be frank that the firearms' industry, which has played along with the glorification of combat arms, shares in a big portion of the blame for causing American gun culture to evolve from hunting and the field to imagined combat.  It's definitely happened. But the firearms' industry mostly followed the development, not caused it.  Indeed, some major manufacturers, Sturm Ruger being one such example, resisted the urge to make rifles with an AR15 appearance until market forces were so far down the path that continuing on in that direction was simply pointless.

To an extent, manufacturers deserve some blame for popularizing weapons that have a combat aura to them, but perhaps the NRA, which went from focusing on hunting rifles and target rifles to frequently featuring combat sort of firearms, in an effort to boost the fear of its members deserves some too.  Indeed, blaming manufacturers puts the cart before the horse.  The AR15 has been around since the 60s and served in military hands for many years before it obtained its current reputation.  The gun didn't create its own specialized market, but the market somehow evolved around the gun.

But it's not just that.  It's something deeper.  Bob's fellows have cried for years about how killing infants in the wombs is A-OK, as women get to go to work, their bodies flushed of infant, and that's kid, while indoctrinating a culture that killing a perceived problem somehow remains wrong.  You can't really have both.  The culture at large has gone from one in which many individuals had experienced military service and left it behind, to one in which men in uniform, nearly any uniform, are absolutely worshiped.  Presently the political left is busy ripping down what few standards remain, if they can, proclaiming such nonsensical monikers as LGBTQIAP2S+? real, when clearly they're delusional.

And we're surprised our politics have become extreme, and some violently unhinged?

Does that mean that we aren't at the point where legislation regulating semi-automatic rifles, of some sort, remains beyond being considered?  Politically, that probably is where we are at.

But make no mistake, even if legislation passed tomorrow placing semi-automatic rifles into the same category as fully automatic ones, it wouldn't address having dumped the mentally ill out on to the street and treating them as normal, flooding the streets with drugs, some legal and illegal, and continuing to have policies that treat the labor pool as if its 1953 rather than 1923.

That's going to take a lot of work, and neither political party has the slightest intent of engaging in it.

Related Threads:

Vietnam and the Law of Unintended Consequences: The AR15


Sunday, March 28, 1943. 8th Army takes Mareth

Today in World War II History—March 28, 1943: Montgomery’s British Eighth Army takes Mareth, Tunisia. Russian composer Sergei Rachmaninoff dies in Beverly Hills, CA, of melanoma, age 69, a new US citizen.

From Sarah Sundin's blog.  

The Afrika Korps was clearly coming to an end.  The 8th Army also took Tougane and Matmata.

The Caterina Costa exploded in Naples' harbor, killing 600 or more people and injuring 1,179 or more.

A fire had broken out on the vessel, but government approval could not be obtained to fight it or tow the vessel to sea.

USS Iowa.