The 2024 Election, Part III. Spring shoots

April 20, 2023

The Natrona County Republican Party committee is challenging the anonymous authors of WyoRino to a debate.

WyoRino purports to rank Republicans on their true Republicanism, which in historical context means it rates them as populists, not Republicans.

Frank Moore, well known Campbell County rancher, is contesting for Frank Eathorne's seat as head of the party.

On the Presidential front, here's whose running so far:

Donald Trump. We all know who he is.

Announced: Nov. 15, 2022

Nikki Haley, who is discussed above.

Announced: Feb. 14, 2023

Vivek Ramaswamy.  Ramaswamy is a conservative businessman and well known, apparently, in conservative circles.

Announced: Feb. 21, 2023.

Asa Hutchinson. He's a well known former Arkansas Governor who is an outright opponent of Trump's.

Announced: April 2, 2023

Tim Scott, discussed above.

Testing the water, the names are.

Ron DeSantis.  He's been in the news a lot lately as the non Trump, Trump.

Mike Pence.  Vying for the role of the world's most boring man, he's clearly on the edge of announcing.

Chris Sununu.  Well known Governor of New Hampshire and an anti-Trumper.

Glenn Youngkin.  Somewhat known Governor of Virginia.

Kristi Noem.  South Dakota right wing Governor.

Liz Cheney.  We all know who she is.  She's been mentioned, but I doubt she'll run.

John Bolton.  Also a known name, but I'd bet Trump's former National Security Adviser turned Trump opponent won't run.

Chris Christie. Former Governor of New Jersey and clearly thinking of running.

April 24, 2023

Polls out just before the weekend shows demonstrate that an overwhelming majority of Democrats, save for African Americans, do not want President Biden to run in 2024.

He's simply too old to run, and people know it. This is true of Trump too, but the populist wing of the GOP, which has a grip on the GOP so far, refuses to recognize that.

April 25, 2023

Joe Biden has officially announced his candidacy.

It can't help but be noted that the US presently has a gerontocracy.  The Republicans were so bold as to run a Twitter advertisement about Biden's age earlier today, when Donald Trump is only four years younger.  Their politics aside, neither man should be in this position at their current ages.

Indeed, as I've said before, the odds are good that either one, or both, of these candidates will die of natural causes before November 2024.  There's something fundamentally wrong with the country such that the only leaders the country will consider are so far above the nation's median age which, at age 38, is actually old in historical terms.

May 1, 2023

Perhaps its assuming too much, but it is my assumption that Secretary of State Chuck Gray views his office as a springboard to the Governorship and that he otherwise really isn't interested that much in the workaday role of the SoS Office. Certainly, he's doing a lot to keep his name in the news, or it is i the news anyhow.

Gray spoke at the University of Wyoming in front of a newly organized conservative student organization.  I suppose that makes sense, but what really struck me was the prayer offered by Gabe Saint, a figure in the organization, prior to Gray speaking.  According to the Tribune, it went:

Lord, please be with Chuck tonight. He has been a blessing to Wyoming and fights fervently for righteous change and to bring back American values,  Be with him while he is in office. Give him grace and wisdom. Lord, we ask that you deliver him from his enemies, because he has many. We ask that you protect him as he takes on the Goliath that is the enemy in the form of wokeness.

I'm not sure what to make of that at all.

This is another one of those areas where I find myself between two poles, between extremes on both ends, and wishing it was 1923, and I was riding out to check my sheep on a mule.

On one hand, I do feel that the American left is getting, leftier, if that's a word.  So perhaps doing on this on May 1 makes sense.

Not every proposition of the American left is nuts by any means, and depending upon what thread a person reads here, they might conclude from time to time that I'm a leftist, which I'm not.  But in the social arena, the left has gone completely off the rails and it's absolutely frightening.  That's what the right is referring to when it uses the term "woke".

On the other hand, the populist right has gone full authoritarian scary.

There are days anymore where it feels like Spain in 1935, hoping it doesn't become Spain in 1936.

Where was that mule. . . 

Anyhow, one of the things about the populist right and the far left is that they both live in a fantasy land.  The far left lives in one in which science, religion and reality don't matter. We can all be our own personal gods and everyone has to acknowledge that.  If Robert Reich came out tomorrow demanding that people who think they are polar bears be regarded as polar bears, it wouldn't surprise me a bit.  The far right, on the other hand, lives in a world where Donald Trump is some sort of heroic founding father saint and the election was stolen from him.

Most Americans don't like fighting much, as most people don't.  That's what the "advancements" in social issues actually means, on the left.  It isn't, quite frankly, that people have bought off on a LBGTQ+ agenda, they just want to be left the crap alone.  Of course, living in a society in which things are left alone, if they are corrosive, corrodes.  But that's what that really means, more than anything else.  The thing the right misses is that most Americans are not on the far right.  They're more or less in the middle, and right now I think they're moving to the left in reaction to the Republican Party looking increasingly like it's like the España franquista to be the national model.

Part of that reaction is the baffling adoption of lies by the populist far right. The rank and file really believe them, and by doing so fail to realize that they're a minority and becoming more of one.  That's giving us this goofball 2024 election in which it is increasingly likely that a 177 Donald Trump will be accusing a 180 year old Joe Biden of being old. They're both old.

There's plenty to fault both of them for.  Biden hasn't adhered to his expressed Catholic values, which should disturb voters, as a man who won'd adhere to his deepest values at least raises questions.  But he has done surprisingly well with the situation he was left with, and he isn't Donald Trump, which is why he's likely to win that contest.

Trump is either suffering from some sort of mental issue or a liar, or both, but he's absolutely scary in his contempt for democracy.

Which leads us to the prayer.

Chuck Gray is a Catholic, and the Catholic faith doesn't cut much slack for serious lies.  

Catholics also tend to hold a fairly non compromising view of the world in certain ways, perhaps best summed up in this letter from the Second Century.

Christians are indistinguishable from other men either by nationality, language or customs. They do not inhabit separate cities of their own, or speak a strange dialect, or follow some outlandish way of life. Their teaching is not based upon reveries inspired by the curiosity of men. Unlike some other people, they champion no purely human doctrine. With regard to dress, food and manner of life in general, they follow the customs of whatever city they happen to be living in, whether it is Greek or foreign. 

And yet there is something extraordinary about their lives. They live in their own countries as though they were only passing through. They play their full role as citizens, but labor under all the disabilities of aliens. Any country can be their homeland, but for them their homeland, wherever it may be, is a foreign country. Like others, they marry and have children, but they do not expose them. They share their meals, but not their wives.  

They live in the flesh, but they are not governed by the desires of the flesh. They pass their days upon earth, but they are citizens of heaven. Obedient to the laws, they yet live on a level that transcends the law. Christians love all men, but all men persecute them. Condemned because they are not understood, they are put to death, but raised to life again. They live in poverty, but enrich many; they are totally destitute, but possess an abundance of everything. They suffer dishonor, but that is their glory. They are defamed, but vindicated. A blessing is their answer to abuse, deference their response to insult. For the good they do they receive the punishment of malefactors, but even then they, rejoice, as though receiving the gift of life. They are attacked by the Jews as aliens, they are persecuted by the Greeks, yet no one can explain the reason for this hatred. 

To speak in general terms, we may say that the Christian is to the world what the soul is to the body. As the soul is present in every part of the body, while remaining distinct from it, so Christians are found in all the cities of the world, but cannot be identified with the world. As the visible body contains the invisible soul, so Christians are seen living in the world, but their religious life remains unseen. The body hates the soul and wars against it, not because of any injury the soul has done it, but because of the restriction the soul places on its pleasures. Similarly, the world hates the Christians, not because they have done it any wrong, but because they are opposed to its enjoyments. 

Christians love those who hate them just as the soul loves the body and all its members despite the body's hatred. It is by the soul, enclosed within the body, that the body is held together, and similarly, it is by the Christians, detained in the world as in a prison, that the world is held together. The soul, though immortal, has a mortal dwelling place; and Christians also live for a time amidst perishable things, while awaiting the freedom from change and decay that will be theirs in heaven. As the soul benefits from the deprivation of food and drink, so Christians flourish under persecution. Such is the ChristianÂÂ’s lofty and divinely appointed function, from which he is not permitted to excuse himself.

 I don't know what faith Saint is, but his prayer strikes me as a sort of old time, classic, Evangelical one.  It actually reminds me a bit, and this isn't the only recent thing that's reminded me of it, of Theodore Roosevelt's 1918 speech in which he stated:

We fight in honorable fashion for the good of mankind; fearless of the future; unheeding of our individual fates; with unflinching hearts and undimmed eyes; we stand at Armageddon and we battle for the Lord.

Roosevelt stated that as he took his followers right into oblivion with the Progressive Party.

I'm not saying Gray and Roosevelt are co-political.  Roosevelt was a liberal Republican who became a radical one.  Gray is a far right populist.  I am saying that their branch of the GOP is probably taking it into political oblivious, however.

Anyhow, I'm not one to criticize a prayer as a rule, and I won't do so here.  People should pray for Chuck Gray, and for Governor Gordon.  But as part of that, for their souls and the courage to choose the righteous, honest path over the politically expedient.  Gray got his seat by flaming the flames of a fib, and that was expedient.  If he believes it, he's in serious need of reassessment.  If he doesn't, he should repent.

And as for ambition, and he's clearly ambitions, he should recall what was stated in Papal Coronation ceremonies between 1409 and 1963.

Sic transist gloria mundi.

May 3, 2023

Chuck Gray is starting to get a lot of questions about his out-of-office activities. Cowboy State Daily, which I'd regard as generally right wing, broke the news this week that 

Chuck Gray Skips National Secretaries of State Conference, Attends Gathering Run By Election Deniers

This occurred back in February.

Questions are starting to be asked about who paid whatever lawyer Gray used to try to intervene in the abortion suit that's pending in the 9th Judicial District.  It's a legitimate question.  Gray, who slammed his opponents' status as a lawyer, claiming she was aiming for the office for the pay (it probably would have been a pay cut in reality) has a lawyer on his staff, although I don't know that said lawyer was used.  Anyway you look at it, however, using state funds to pay for legal fees on an improper attempt to intervene in that suit raises legitimate questions about that being an improper act.

So far as Secretary State, we now know that Gray, who was previously employed in his family's radio business and who has no known outside work experience of consequence that's been reported on, has appeared as a witness in the legislature on campaign bills, went to the above referenced conference, appeared at a right wing event in Natrona County, and appeared at a right wing event at the University of Wyoming. This doesn't mean he hasn't been busy doing his actual job, but the state has never seen a Secretary of State behave in this fashion before.

May 7, 2023

Frank Eathorne easily turned back a challenge by more traditional conservatives for the leadership of the state's GOP, assuring that it retains a very Trumpist populist leader going into the next election.

May 9, 2023

Chuck Gray, who is clearly running for the Governor's office and using his newly acquired position of Secretary of State for that purpose, has proposed an administrative rule that would require investment brokers, broker dealers and securities agents doing business in Wyoming to disclose to their clients if they are using environmental, social and governance (ESG) principles in the course of their business. 

Chances are, none of them are, unless asked to do so.

This is pretty much theater and serves mostly to keep Gray's name in the news as a populist crusader.  It violates traditional Republican principals which would allow the clients of financial services providers to ask questions themselves.

In order for the policy to be implimented the Governor's approval would have to be forthcoming, which is unlikely, but which will serve to pit Gray against Gordon to the extent that they are not at odds already.

Gray claimed at the state's GOP convention, which Gordon did not attend, that he and his staff are working 18 hour days.  He also included the Democrats as part of a "troika" trying to keep consservatives from being elected in the state.  It's difficult to imagine that anyone actually thinks the Democrats are an influence on anything in Wyoming.

Laramie County paid its delinquent dues in an bid to end a feud with the state organization.

Last Prior Thread

The 2024 Election, Part II. What could go wrong?

 

Tuesday, May 8, 1973. End of the Seige at Wounded Knee.

Today In Wyoming's History: May 8: 1973    Militant American Indians who had held the South Dakota hamlet of Wounded Knee for 10 weeks surrendered.

US Marshals with duck hunter pattern camouflage raise the flat at Wounded Knee. From https://www.usmarshals.gov/who-we-are/history/historical-reading-room/incident-wounded-knee

Sudan, much in the news recently, released all of its political prisoners as a new constitution went into effect.

Palden Thandup Namgyal gave up his absolute authority of Sikkim in an agreement with India.

Fighting broke out between Lebanon and the PLO.

Bob Gibson of the St. Louis Cardinals made his 242nd consecutive start, a 20th Century record, in a game against the San Francisco Giants.

Saturday May 8, 1943. The plan to defeat Japan.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff approved the Strategic Plan for the Defeat of Japan.

Count Fleet won the Preakness.

The great Western The Ox-Bow Incident premiered.  Featuring Harry Morgan and Henry Fonda, the film was partially what inspired Fonda to join the Navy.

The book by Walter Van Tilburg Clark is excellent as well.

Just the kind of dim witted thinking that leads to places being just like the places expats, and natives for that matter, complain about.

 Kristi Noem

@KristiNoem17h

South Dakota doesn’t have nice ocean views. We don’t have warm winters.

What we do have is Freedom.

I’ve met hundreds of families who’ve fled Democrat-run states — we welcome all Freedom-loving families that want to live the good life in South Dakota!

Yeah, well Kristi, pretty soon you'll have 1) really extreme right wing politics, followed by 2) all the people who fled "Democrat-run states" wanting just what they left there, which will lead them to yapping up about how horrible the place they left was while they make South Dakota just like the place they left.

Rapid City, get ready to be Denver.

On the Coronation of King Charles III

Since the Act of Union in 1707, there have been only thirteen British monarchs, the first being Queen Anne.  The current royal family, if we discuss direct and not remote ancestry, dates back only to William of Orange, who was king from 1689 to 1702, prior to the Act of Union.  Anne was his successor and reigned until 1714.  She was in ill health most of the time.

Had the throne passed to Anne's nearest relatives, it would have gone to a member of the House of Stuart, who were Catholic. Anne was an Anglican, but she was the daughter of Charles II who became Catholic on his deathbed and who harbored strong Catholic sympathies, in spite of living a wild life, his entire life.  Indeed, his father Charles I was a High Church Anglican who teetered on that edge himself.  George I was chosen over 60 Stuart claimants simply because the Whigs had taken control of parliament, and he was a protestant.

I note this as people not familiar with the English monarchy, or perhaps more accurately the monarchy of the United Kingdom, seem to assume that the throne has always been inherited.  Not so.  It's been inherited since George I, when he was crowned the King over Catholic claimants who held undoubtedly better claims.

The second item of interest there is that the British monarchy is, therefore, by recent tradition, and by law, "Protestant", which his to say, Anglican.

Those watching the coronation yesterday, if they were not familiar with the process, would have been struck by how deeply religious it was.  I don't think people, or perhaps more accurately Americans, expected that, as Americans have the stupid Disney view of monarchy, in which there'd be a two-minute coronation involving beautiful people, rather than an hours long service.  Moreover, people with some religious knowledge, but not familiar with the process, would have been surprised that it was recognizable as a Mass, in Catholic terms.

Indeed, some commentators, including the Catholic Cardinal who participated in it, noted that it has "some" Catholic elements. 

"Some"?

Baloney, it's 100% Catholic in form save for the King having to take the mandatory oath that he support the United Kingdom's Protestant faith.

That became a topic running up to this because, in spite of the impressive performance, the Church of England is in real trouble in England.  It does remain strong in some places, but not in its old footholds.  In the United States and Canada, its North American expression, the Episcopal Church, is in really deep trouble.  In the UK, more Catholics attend services weekly than members of the Church of England, which is really something given that Catholics are a minority religion in the UK and have been at least since Elizabeth I forced the "religious settlement" on the country.  Lest that seem too encouraging for Catholics, all devout religious adherence has been on the decline in the UK for a very long time, a product of the disaster of the Reformation, which is playing out presently.

Be that as it may, at least to Catholic eyes, the absurdity of the English Reformation is brought to full light by such events.  The ceremony was so Catholic that the question has to be asked why the Church of England doesn't just come back into the fold, something which is becoming increasingly difficult in light of its recent accommodations to popular social trends.

Which brings me to my next observation.

I know one fallen away Episcopalian who is deeply anti-Catholic.  It's interesting how that tends to be the last thing that those raised in the "main line" Protestant Churches retain.  The Baby Boomer children of adherent Main Line Protestant churches may have chosen to ignore their faiths in favor of the world and its delights, but they remember the fables and hatred that the Reformation used to justify its actions, and still cite it as if they were buddies with John Calvin himself.  Odd.

I know that I'm personally tired of it.  But in part, that's because I'm tired of having to listen to two people I personally know debate religious topics as if it's a sport.  It isn't.  It's serious.  But then maybe I'm tired of people who argue just for sport as well.

Profoundly Christian, and frankly about as close to Catholic in form as you can get and not be Catholic, another interesting aspect of the coronation was reinforcing the United Kingdom's Christian heritage. 

And that's a good thing.

The Coronation really brought the monarchy haters out in droves, which was interesting.  Lots of "Not My King" and "Not My Queen" individual protests were here and there. Well, unless Parliament abolished the monarchy, if you are English or a resident of the English Commonwealth, he is your king.  You don't have to love him, but that doesn't mean he isn't the king.

This also brought out a lot of sanctimonious blathering by people who hail from former imperial possessions about the horrors of the British Empire. Well, whatever they may be, King Charles III and his mother Queen Elizabeth II weren't responsible for any of them.

Indeed, it's been eons since there was a king or queen really had extensive power.  Maybe since King Charles II.  The UK has been a constitutional monarch at least since Queen Anne.  If monarchy had been what people imagine, one of her Stuart relatives would have been the next monarch, not King George I.  So if people have a beef with the British Empire, it shouldn't really be with Queen Elizabeth, whom some proclaimed they could not mourn, or with King Charles III, whom some proclaim they cannot celebrate.

Let's make no mistake.  Colonialism in general was bigoted and racist by its very nature.  The underlying premise of it was that the European colonial power, and here we will limit this to European powers, was empowered by some sort of superior value which gave it a right to take the land of others and rule its people. That was the underlying thesis of colonialism everywhere. Generally the "superior" something they had was technology, which made it possible, but which didn't make it right.

But before we get too self-righteous about it, we probably need to take a look at in context, and over time, and then ask if the compulsion that gives rise to it is a universal human norm. That would not mean that it was right, but it might lessen the overall guilt.

Indeed, in spite of what people might now wish for claim, when European colonialism started the concept of one nation ruling over another was not only common, it was the norm.  In the early 17th Century when British Colonialism really started, Ireland and Wales were already unwelcome members, to some extent, of the United Kingdom, and Scotland wasn't all that keen on it. Figuring out who governed in the Low Countries and the German Principalities requires an epic flow chart.  Russia ruled vasts lands with no Russians. This condition would go on well into the 19th Century, and even to some extent into the 20th Century.  Contrary to what people claim, national feelings existed, but people didn't regard empires and monarchies that ruled over a collection of nations to be abnormal.

And it would have been extremely difficult for Europeans, early on, to be confronted with foreign cultures beyond their seas and treat them as equals given the varied states of development.  It's easy for us to say that the British should have landed at Jamestown in 1607 only after asking for permission, but frankly, it would have been impossible for them to have conceived it that way at the time.

This might not be the case for later European colonial efforts, but by that time competition between European powers nearly mandated acquiring colonies and a person would have to be naive to imagine that if the British had abstained, the French, Dutch, Germans, Spanish, and so on, would have done so also.

Indeed, frankly, if we were to land humans on Mars today, and find something waddle up and address us in some bizarre Martian tongue, I don't believe we'd abstain from colonizing the planet now.

Which gets to this point.  I can't really think easily of a people anywhere that had the power to colonize, and didn't do it.  Everyone did.  It seems to go back to our earliest days.  That doesn't make it right, once again, but it's obviously a common human trait.

Which means in turn that the only really valid criticism of empire that mean anything today has to come in terms of relatively recent historical context.

A conversation on this point the other day made me realize how different my "relatively recent" is.  The actual conversation was on British primogenitor in the monarchy.  I sincerely regard everything after 1066 as recent in terms of the British monarchy.  

Apparently, other people don't.

In this context, however, i.e., that of empire, I'd probably go back to 1800 or so.  If you are going to levy guilt on the British, therefore, you might have to start in 1858 when Parliament caused the British to officially take over India.  

There's a lot to blame the English for after that, but then there's a lot to blame the French, Belgians, Dutch and Germans for after that as well.

It's really the late 19th Century and 20th Century when you get into the full-blown "shouldn't you people have known better" type of situation. The Scramble for Africa is pretty difficult to justify in any sense.

Which takes us, I suppose, to this.  In its late stages, while it was still an empire, and should have known better, at least the British did a good job of trying to administer what it was administering well. Its actions weren't always admirable or successful.  The Bengal Famine of 1943 provides a shocking example of that.  And frankly, there's no way to reconcile the claim that the British were fighting for freedom only during World War Two, except comparatively.  I.e., the Axis wasn't seeking to liberate colonial peoples, but to enslave them to somebody else less democratic yet.   But, having said that, the British, more than any other colonial power, managed to depart from empire gracefully and with some rationale hope that the best things it had given to the people it had occupied would remain.

It didn't always work out, but to a surprising degree it did.  British Dominions largely did evolve into full-blown parliamentary democracies and largely separated from the UK peaceably, although this was notably not the case with Ireland.  Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Ireland and South Africa are all democracies today due to the British example.  So, frankly, is the United States, the UK's first failed imperial endeavor.

The coronation of King Charles III probably contains within it a series of lessons that will only be evident in the coming days.  But for those who want to protest it, well you probably would better spend your time on real problems of the world, of which there are many.

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Monday, May 3, 1943. The crash of Hot Stuff claims the life of Gen. Andrews.

But, um. . . cereal is grain.

Wednesday, May 5, 1943. First Nuclear Strike Chosen

Not impressed. The U.S. Army on the Stg 44.

Thursday, May 6, 1943. The end of the Wolfpack.

The last major "Wolfpack" U-boat attack of World War Two took place, resulting in the loss of six U-boats. Convoy ONS 5 had been attacked by 40 U-boats over the course of a week, and had lost twelve of its party, ten on May 5, but it had been well defended, and the slow convoy marked the end of the Wolfpack.

Admiral King ordered the creation of the Naval Combat Demolition Units following prior successful frogmen operations.

Sunday, May 6, 1923. Familiar places.

The big news was the terrible mine explosion in Colorado, but I linked this in due to the news about a Boy Scout injured on Garden Creek, above Rotary Park.

Rotary Park is still there, and a very popular spot locally.

The mine explosion killed ten miners.

Apparently it was the start of Baby Week.

First annual rodeo.  I didn't realize that the rodeo got started this late, which means this year may be the 100th Anniversary of the Central Wyoming Fair & Rodeo.

Or not.  Last year, the rodeo advertised itself as having its 75th anniversary, which would place the first one in 1948.

Seems unlikely it was that late, but there's probably a reason they calculate it that way.

Over 300 passengers were taken hostage by bandits on the Tianjin-Pukou Railway's Blue Express train as it passed through Lincheng in Shandong Province.

The first World Congress of Jewish Women opened in Vienna.

The British Fascisti, the UK's first fascist party, was formed by Rotha Lintorn-Orman.

A youthful figure in the formation of the Girl Guides, Lintorn-Orman was from a military family. She served as a member of the Women's Volunteer Reserve, and the Scottish Women's Hospital Corps in World War One.  Her conversion to fascism was motivated by a strong sense of anti-communism combined with an admiration for Mussolini. She'd die in 1935 at age 40, at which time she was heavily dependent on drugs and alcohol, and rumors existed regarding alleged sapphic escapades.  By that time, her party had all but ceased to exist, yielding to more and less radical parties.

The fact that the UK had a fascist party at all demonstrated the drift of the times.  Ireland would soon also have one.  In both instances, they never rally amounted to more than an annoyance.

In the basement.

 From the Cowboy State Daily:

Statues Of Esther Hobart Morris And Chief Washakie Will Stay In Basement Of Capitol

Head hunters.

 From the Cowboy State Daily:

No, You Cannot Chop The Heads Off Of Wyoming Winterkill Animals To Get Antlers

New Attacks on Public Lands.

 

TAKE ACTION: FIGHT ATTACKS ON FEDERAL PUBLIC LAND & LWCF FUNDING!

Not impressed. The U.S. Army on the Stg 44.

The Stg 44 is universally now regarded as the pioneering rifle that pushed the world into the assault rifle era.  There were certainly hints that things were headed in that direction before, but the Stg 44 went there.

The U.S. really wouldn't until AR15s made their appearance in the early 60s, first in a limited fashion, and then as the M16.  That fact may be partially explained by this wartime US examination of the Stg 44, concluding, "M'eh".

Machine Carbine Promoted M. P. 43 Is Now "Assault Rifle 44" To bolster troop and civilian morale, the German High Command is now widely advertising the general issue of an automatic small arm which Adolph Hitler has personally designated the "Assault Rifle 44" (Sturmgewehr 44). The much-touted "new" weapon is actually the familiar German machine carbine with a more chest-thumping title. As reported in the February 1945 TACTICAL AND TECHNICAL TRENDS, recently manufactured M. P. 43's previously had been re-designated M. P. 44, although only slight changes had been made in order to accommodate the standard rifle grenade launcher. M. P. 43's of earlier manufacture incorporating the same changes were merely designated M. P. 43/1. The completely new name of Sturmgewehr (assault rifle) may be intended to erase any recollection of the mediocre quality of the earlier M. P. 43's, at least so far as new troops and the public are concerned. In any event, the introduction of the title Sturmgewehr, together with the accompanying blast of propaganda concerning the weapon, is but another example of German efforts to exploit the propaganda value inherent in weapons with impressive-sounding titles, such as Panzer, Tiger, Panther, and Flak 88. Since the Sturmgewehr is more easily mass-produced than a rifle or machine gun because of its many stampings and low-power ammunition, and because a machine carbine is needed by desperately fighting German infantry in their efforts to stem the assault of American troops, it is natural that the Germans should make every effort to capitalize on its propaganda potentialities. By dubbing the M. P. 43 the Sturmgewehr, Hitler may also succeed in deceiving many Germans into thinking that this weapon is one of the many decisive "secret weapons" which they have been promised, and which they are told will bring final German victory. History of the Weapon The true history of this weapon is that, as a result of their combat experiences earlier in the war, the Germans rather tardily decided that they needed a weapon representing a compromise between the submachine gun (or machine pistol) and the rifle. Their requirements called for a gun with the full automatic feature and retaining the handiness and lightweight ammunition of the submachine gun but having greater effective range and accuracy than is possible with a submachine gun firing pistol-type ammunition. It is now believed that the new weapon was developed from an earlier model known as the Maschinen Karabiner (M. Kb. 42) because the general design is similar and the type of ammunition fired is comparable. Successive models of the Sturmgewehr 44. From top to bottom are shown the M. P. 43, the M. P. 43/1, and the M. P. 44. The present weapon incorporates a number of progressive changes made with the intention of giving the German infantry a suitable small arm for ranges beyond those of close-quarter fighting. First termed Maschinen Pistole (M. P. 43), it was successively designated M. P. 43/1, M. P. 44, and finally Sturmgewehr 44. Now one of the most common weapons issued to German troops, it is intended in a general way to serve the same purpose as the U.S. carbine, M1. As finally developed, the gun is a fully automatic, air-cooled, gas-operated, magazine-fed, shoulder weapon, firing from a closed bolt and a locked breech. A standard rifle grenade discharger can be fitted to the muzzle in front of the foresight. Limitations In their attempts to produce a light, accurate weapon having considerable fire power by mass production methods, however, the Germans encountered difficulties which have seriously limited the effectiveness of the Sturmgewehr. Because it is largely constructed of cheap stampings, it dents easily and therefore is subject to jamming. Although provision is made for both full automatic and semiautomatic fire, the piece is incapable of sustained firing and official German directives have ordered troops to use it only as a semiautomatic weapon. In emergencies, however, soldiers are permitted full automatic fire in two- to three-round bursts. The possibilities of cannibalization appear to have been overlooked and its general construction is such that it may have been intended to be an expendable weapon and to be thrown aside in combat if the individual finds himself unable to maintain it properly. The incorporation of the full automatic feature is responsible for a substantial portion of the weight of the weapon, which is 12 pounds with a full magazine. Since this feature is ineffectual for all practical purposes, the additional weight only serves to place the Sturmgewehr at a disadvantage in comparison to the U.S. carbine which is almost 50 percent lighter. The receiver, frame, gas cylinder, jacket, and front sight hood are all made from steel stampings. Since all pins in the trigger mechanism are riveted in place, it cannot be disassembled; if repair is required, a whole new trigger assembly must be inserted. Only the gas pistol assembly, bolt, hammer, barrel, gas cylinder, nut on the front of the barrel, and the magazine are machined parts. The stock and band grip are constructed of cheap, roughly finished wood and, being fixed, make the piece unhandy compared to the submachine guns with their folding stocks. The curved magazine, mounted below the receiver, carries 30 rounds of 7.92-mm necked-down ammunition. The rounds are manufactured with steel cases rather than brass; inside the case is a lead sleeve surrounding a steel core. With an indicated muzzle velocity of approximately 2,250 feet per second and a boat-tail bullet, accuracy of the Sturmgewehr is excellent for a weapon of its type. Its effective range is about 400 yards, although the Germans claim in their operating manual that the normal effective range is about 650 yards. The leaf sight is graduated up to 800 meters (872 yards). Operation Operation of the piece is simple. A loaded magazine is placed into the receiver, the cocking handle drawn back fully, and then released. The weapon is then ready for firing. A safety lever on the left side of the trigger housing should be retained in the safe or up position when the weapon is not being fired. Since it is impossible to determine whether or not a round is in the chamber, the weapon should be considered loaded at all times. A change lever for switching from single shot to automatic fire is located above and to the rear of the safety lever, protruding slightly on either side of the housing. For single shots, the lever protrudes from the left side so that the letter "E" will be visible; for automatic fire, the lever protrudes from the right side so that the letter "D" will be visible. The following steps are necessary for stripping and cleaning: 1. Press down retainer spring on butt locking pin and pull out pin; at the same time press the butt forward to counteract the force of the return spring. 2. Permit the return spring to extend and then remove the butt. 3. Lift out return spring from butt. 4. Swing grip and trigger group downward about its front retaining pin. 5. Draw cocking handle to the rear and remove pistol and breechblock. 6. Place a punch in a hole provided in the gas block screw, and unscrew gas block following a right-hand thread. 7. Insert a screwdriver under lip in rear of hand guard and remove. The mechanism is now sufficiently exposed for inspection and cleaning. Further stripping is not possible since all pins and rivets have been preened in production assembly. Field stripping of the Sturmgewehr, with nomenclature of its components. All things considered, the Sturmgewehr remains a bulky, unhandy weapon, comparatively heavy and without the balance and reliability of the U.S. M1 carbine. Its design appears to be dictated by production rather than by military considerations. Though far from a satisfactory weapon, it is apparent that Germany's unfavorable military situation makes necessary the mass production of this weapon, rather than of a machine carbine of a more satisfactory pattern.

Not as good as the M1 Carbine?

That was quite a conclusion. 

If that seems to suggest a lack of admiration for the M1 Carbine, the most mass-produced US weapon of World War Two, well that's because it wasn't great.

Never intended to be a combat weapon, like the Stg44 was, the carbine was intended to be issued only to rear area troops who still might find themselves in need of a weapon, and whom the Army thought would be better off with a longarm rather than a handgun.  As, in truth, nearly any soldier is better off with a longarm, rather than a handgun, their was something to their logic.  And the carbine was cheap and easy to produce, easy to carry compared to the M1 Garand, and used fewer materials both for itself and its ammunition.

Crew of a U.S. anti tank rifle in the Netherlands, 1944.  The soldier on the far right has an M1 Carbine, with this carbine being used in its intended role.  Of interest, however, the soldier next to him is carrying a M1903 Springfield and the soldier fourth from the left, second from the right, has a German K98k.

Not surprisingly, however, it spread into combat use, although not nearly to the extent commonly imagined.  A dedicated variant with a folding stock was manufactured for paratrooper, who didn't like it and preferred the full size Garand.  The Garand was the TOE issued weapon of all infantrymen, save for ones who were machine gun crewmen, and sidearms remained widely issued to NCOs and officers.  Nonetheless, particularly in the Pacific, the carbine made inroads into frontline service.

Marine on Guam with carbine.

Originally, the M1 Carbine was intended to have been selective fire, but in was produced as a semi-automatic instead. This was probably wise, given its intended use. By the war's end, however, the M2 was introduced which was selective fire, probably reflecting the wider than anticipated use of the carbine. After the war, numbers of M1s were converted to M2s, although not all of them.  The issuance of the carbine, additionally, spread as it was routinely issued to officers after World War Two and by the early Vietnam War was standard for officers, in addition to a sidearm.  Manufactured in prodigious numbers, it was given to many American allies in the post-war period, and it never completely disappeared from use in some places.  The US phased it out in 1973, just as the Army began to replace the remaining World War Two longarms from National Guard and Reserve use.

The Stg44, in contrast, was designed as a combat weapon from the very onset, and was intended to replace the rifle and submachinegun in German use.  425,000 of them were produced during the war, which was nowhere near enough to achieve its original goal. They saw more use, and earlier use, on the Eastern Front than in the West, which lead to an initial Western Allied view that it was an uncommon weapon.

The Stg44 was an excellent assault rifle, and it was the father of the genre.  Various designers had been groping towards what it achieved from some time, with the brilliance of the design really being a new, intermediate cartridge.  Prior attempts at something like the Stg44, vaguely, had either been hampered by using full sized rifle cartridges, which made for difficult to control recoil or heavy weight, or pistol cartridges, which always tended towards being submachine guns, although a very early Russian rifle using the the 6.5 Arisaka cartridge, the Fedorov Avtomat, was introduced in 1915 and holds the title of first assault rifle.  Limited to 3,200, that weapon did have difficulties and was, perhaps, underappreciated.

Given that it used a unique cartridge, the 7.92 Kurz, and was made in limited, if somewhat large, numbers the Stg44 basically disappeared after World War Two, although some limited use continued on.  The East German military made use of them and later supplied them to Syria, where they reappeared in the recent Syrian Civil War.  The French used some in the Indochinese War, and so did the Vietminh, which would have acquired them from captured Soviet stocks.  The French faced them again in the Algerian War, with those ones having been supplied to the FLN by Czechoslovakia.  In design features and layout, the AK47 family of assault rifles and the Czech Vz 58 are direct descendants, although not mechanically. The German/Spanish G3 assault rifle heavily leaned on the Stg44 for influence, even though the G3 is a battle rifle and not an assault rifle.

Southern Rockies Nature Blog: Shootout at the Watering Hole

Southern Rockies Nature Blog: Shootout at the Watering Hole: Photo: Colorado Sun  "Pastoral cultures are always violent," I read once in an anthropology book.  You know the scenario: two herd...

Saturday, May 5, 1973.

Secretariat won the Kentucky Derby, the first of his races on to the Triple Crown.

Wednesday, May 5, 1943. First Nuclear Strike Chosen

 

Choosing the first atomic target – May 5, 1943

From the linked in site:

May 5, 1943 is one of the most important dates, and possibly the least known, in the history of the nuclear age. It was the date when the first atomic bomb targeting decision was made — a full two years before the end of World War II in Europe.

Also from that site:

Like many I have concluded that the bombings were unjustified, though that is an opinion far from universally held. But some of my reasons may surprise you. I explained them in a talk I gave in Santa Fe in 2012, entitled From Pearl Harbor to Hiroshima.

I'll be frank, I also view the bombings as morally unjustified acts.  Indeed, of the worst sort.  There's simply no escaping that the scale of a nuclear weapon, when used on a city, is going to have the primary effect of killing civilians.  Indeed, no matter how dressed up, by the wars end, that was looked at unflinchingly and was largely the point.

Of course, by that war the Allies had acclimated themselves to firebombing in Japan with the intent to destroy civilian housing, and thereby deprive Japanese war workers of their dwellings.  Once again, the use of force was over matched to the goal.  Striking factories is one thing, burning people to death in their homes quite another.

Make no mistake about it, Germans, under the monstrous Nazi regime, had become monstrous themselves, and in a way that no individual German can really excuse. The Japanese, who retained a peasant culture to a very large degree going into the war, likewise did, with the average soldier routinely committing murders and the entire military being acclimated to atrocity.  The Allies undoubtedly had the moral side of the war, and there's no two ways about it.  Nonetheless, that doesn't excuse the crimes committed by the Allies themselves, which in the case of the Western Allies came principally from unprincipled bombing.  Over European skies, the British were much more guilty of this than the Americans, having turned to inaccurate night bombing early in the war out of necessity, but then having readily adopted the liberal bombing views of "Bomber" Harris thereafter.  In the Pacific, the United States, the major Western combatant, went to free bombing of civilian targets with firebombs by the end of the war, as noted.  In some ways, the atomic bomb could almost be viewed as an extension of the late war firebombing, but in a new, much more devastating, and horrifying, way.

Sarah Sundin noted a true World War Two technological landmark, the first flight of the P51B.

Today in World War II History—May 5, 1943: 80 Years Ago—May 5, 1943: First flight of production-model North American P-51B Mustang (with a Packard-built Merlin engine), at Inglewood, CA.

The combination of the British engine with the P51 airframe, in what had been an Anglo-American project to start with, would revolutionize and completely alter the performance of the fighter.  It would be the P51B that would really start long range bomber escorts all the way into Germany.

Sundin noticed several other events of this day on her blog, including that Admiral Sir Charles Little was naval as the Allied naval commander for the invasion of France from Britain, although he would not hold the post long.

She also noted that the Japanese launched an offensive south of the Yangtze toward Chongqing. The often forgotten front, to the West, in China, remained Japan's largest ground commitment and in many ways most important theater of operations in the war. 

Twenty-seven ships of all types were lost in the war on this day.

A new law went into effect in California requiring marriage licenses to identify race.  Interracial marriage was illegal in California, as it was in much of the United States.

Misplaced Priorities

 

Vox: We Need to Consider the Suffering of the Unborn (Chickens)

But not that human fetuses feel pain?

But, um. . . cereal is grain.

Grain free cereal?

Is that really possible?

Cereal is a world that literally means grain.

What is this stuff?

Tuesday, May 4, 1943. How did they intend to pay for the war?

The Federal Government, oddly for wartime, was looking for ways to reduce income tax and nearly passed an income tax holiday for 1943.

The Germans lost three U-boats, two in accidents, in a month that would later be called Black May by German submariners.

Tail Gunner, Cpt. Clark Gable, flew on his first mission:

4 May 1943

Taketora Yamamoto,  Santa Fe Rail Road machinist, at the Winslow. Colorado River Relocation Center, Poston, Arizona:

Friday, May 4, 1923. Trends of the 20s.

Canada banned Chinese from entering the country unless they were diplomats, children born in Canada, merchants, or university students.

The law was repealed in 1946. Between 1923 and 1946 only 15 Chinese immigrants were accepted into Canada. The effect of the law, which precluded familiar ties and lead to an imbalance of genders, resulted in a decrease in the Chinese population in Canada.

On the same day, this baseball game was played in Toronto's Bayside Park.

Hitler, on the rise, delivered this speech in Munich attacking war reparations, something obligated by the Versailles Treaty, and also urging rearmament.

Dog Whistles

It is a tale, Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing.

— Macbeth (Act 5, Scene 5).

FWIW, if it's not completely obvious, the current left wing "the Supreme Court is corrupt and everyone [on the right] most go" or "Justice Thomas is corrupt and must resign" is the left wing equivalent of the NRA's "the Democrats are going to come for all your guns!" or "Nancy Pelosi is after everything own", or the Republican Party's "We're the only thing between you and Marxist rule by AoC.".

Just a way to whip up the base and separate them from logic.

Monday, May 3, 1943. The crash of Hot Stuff claims the life of Gen. Andrews.

Lt. Gen. Frank Maxwell Andrews, for whom Andrews Air Force Base is named, died in the crash of the B-24 Hot Stuff in Iceland, when it went down in bad weather.

He had been on an inspection tour in the United Kingdom.

Only the plane's tail gunner, SSgt George A. Eisel, survived the crash.  Eisel had survived a previous B-24 crash in North Africa.  He'd live until 1964 when he died at age 64.  Married prior to the war, he and his wife never had any children.

Hot Stuff was the first B-24D to complete 25 missions, well before, it might be noted, the B-17 Memphis Belle did the same.  Hardly anyone recalls Hot Stuff, as the Army went on to emphasize the Memphis Belle following the crash of Hot Stuff and the death of all but one of its crew.  Of note, Hot Suff, predictably, had a much more salacious example of nose art than Memphis Belle, and it's interesting to speculate how the Army would have handled that had the plane been popularized.  At any rate, the story that Memphis Belle was the first US bomber to complete 25 missions is a complete myth.

Andrews was the CO of the ETO at the time of this death.  A West Point Graduate from the class of 1906, he had been in the cavalry branch from 1906 to 1917, when he was assigned to aviation over the objection of his commander.  A prior objection had prevented his reassignment in 1914.

Sarah Sundin noted this event on her blog:

Today in World War II History—May 3, 1943: Lt. Gen. Frank Andrews, commander of US European Theater of Operations, is killed in a B-24 crash in Iceland. US II Corps takes Mateur, Tunisia.

She also noted the ongoing Allied advance in North Africa and the establishment of the British 6th Airborne Division. 

Mine workers called off the coal strike.

The United States Supreme Court invalidated a Jeannette, PA ordinance that required Jehovah's Witness members to acquire peddler's licenses before distributing religious literature.  The ordinance's license fee was a whopping $10.00/day.

Thursday, May 3, 1923. The attempt to depose Archbishop Tikhon.

 

Archbishop Tikhon, Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, was expelled by the church and declared a traitor by the Communist dominated All Russian Church Council and declared "henceforth a simple citizen—Vasily Bellavin."

The body further declared:

Inasmuch as the Soviet Government is the only one in the whole world fighting capitalism, which is one of the seven deadly sins, therefore its struggle is a sacred struggle. The Council condemns the counterrevolutionary acts of Tikhon and his adherents, lifts the ban of excommunication he laid on the Soviet Government, and brands him as a traitor to the Church and to Russia. It hereby formally abolishes the office of Patriarch forever and establishes an annual Church Council as the supreme directive body in Church affairs.

The Russian Orthodox Church naturally did not recognize the move, and he continued to offer Devine Liturgy for the rest of his life, which at this point was not to be much longer. The Russian Orthodox Church has declared him to be a saint.  The move by the All Russian Church Council lead to the establishment of a competing church, which died out in the 1940s.  Of note, the establishment of competing government aligned churches is a common practice by authoritarian regimes.  Communist China at one time established a rival church to the Catholic Church, aligned with the government, and Nazi Germany attempted to create an aligned Lutheran Church, although the German efforts failed.

The move would lead to a period of irregular leadership in the Russian Orthodox Church, which was unable to procedural choose a successor in the regular method for a period of time, after Tikhon's death.

Then Bishop Tikhon at the consecration of Anglican Bishop Reginald Heber Weller at St. Paul's Cathedral in the Episcopal Diocese of Fond du Lac.  Also present are Anthony Kozlowski of the Polish National Catholic Church in what sort of amounts to an interesting collection of clerics either claiming Apostolic succession, in the case of the Anglican's, or actually having it in the case of the Russian Orthodox and Polish National Catholic Church, and yet not being in communion with Rome.

Tikhon had been a clergyman for a very long time, but had only been head of the Russian Orthodox Church since 1917.  Earlier in his career he had been the Bishop of the Aleutian Islands and Alaska, which became the Diocese of the Aleutian Islands and North America, and was a naturalized American citizen.  He was a participant, which is to say receptive, to the conversion of Byzantine Catholics into the Orthodox Church due to the ill feelings caused by Catholic Bishop John Ireland's view toward Eastern Rite Catholics comporting with the Latin Rite and Pope Pius X's restriction on Eastern Rite priests marrying, the latter which was later changed and the former which is recognized as a signficant mistake by Bishop Ireland.

The Pan American Treaty was signed in Chile between(Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, the United States, Uruguay and Venezuela to "avoid or prevent conflicts between the American States.

The Union River flooded in Maine.

Going big.

You don't see headlines like this every day:

Wyoming Man Accused Of Threatening FBI Agent Had Just Come Home From ER Wounded From Shootout