Diplomatic relations between the U.S. and Mexico were restored.
They had ended during the long Mexican Revolution, during which, for a long period of time, it was unclear who would govern Mexico, and the US found many of the options distasteful.
The Italian Navy shelled the Greek island of Corfu and then landed over 5,000 troops on the islands. Civilians were injured and killed in the bombardment. Following the landing, the Greek administration was arrested, but the small Greek garrison did not surrender and instead retreated to the interior of the island.
Mussolini declared that the island had always been Venetian.
An Anti KKK riot broke out in New Castle, Delaware.
President Zelenskyy has been in Turkey where he met with and received oral support from the Turkish government, and where he appeared with Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, the head of the Eastern Orthodox Churches.
July 10, 2023
US v. ISIL
US Reaper drones killed had been flying ISIL leader Usamah al-Muhajir, while he was riding a motorcycle in the Aleppo region. The same drones had earlier been harassed by Russian fighter aircraft.
July 11, 2023
Russo Ukrainian War
Turkey has quit blocking Sweden's admittance into NATO.
Russian submarine commander Stanislav Rzhitskiy, whose vessel fired on a Ukrainian city early in the war, was shot dead on a morning run near the Olimp sport complex in Krasnodar, southern Russia, according to reports.
July 12, 2023
Russo Ukrainian War
Turkey dropped objections to Sweden joining NATO, which shall now occur.
A missile strike reportedly killed Deputy Commander of the Russian Southern Military District, Lieutenant General Oleg Tsokov.
July 13, 2023
Russo Ukrainian War
Maj. Gen. Ivan Popov, the commander of the 58th Army, has been relieved of his command. He announced his removal to his troops.
The Group of Seven and NATO signed agreements to offer Ukraine long-term security commitments, signalling a more formal arrangement to come, likely after the conclusion of the war.
This more or less means that unless Russia completely defeats Ukraine in the current war, one of Russia's war aims has been lost.
July 14, 2023
Russo Ukrainian War
The US will be deploying 3,000 Reservists to Europe in support of the US's efforts to aid Ukraine.
July 14, cont:
By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including sections 121 and 12304 of title 10, United States Code, I hereby determine that it is necessary to augment the active Armed Forces of the United States for the effective conduct of Operation Atlantic Resolve in and around the United States European Command’s area of responsibility. In furtherance of this operation, under the stated authority, I hereby authorize the Secretary of Defense, and the Secretary of Homeland Security with respect to the Coast Guard when it is not operating as a service in the Navy, under their respective jurisdictions, to order to active duty any units, and any individual members not assigned to a unit organized to serve as a unit of the Selected Reserve, or any member in the Individual Ready Reserve mobilization category and designated as essential under regulations prescribed by the Secretary concerned, not to exceed 3,000 total members at any one time, of whom not more than 450 may be members of the Individual Ready Reserve, as they deem necessary, and to terminate the service of those units and members ordered to active duty.
This order is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person.
JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR.
This is the first time I've actually seen an order which refers to the Individual Ready Reserve. It makes sense, actually, as IRR troops may have individual skills that would be useful in a t raining role.
My guess is that the IRR troops will be all volunteers for activation.
July 15, 2023
Russo Ukrainian War
Putin has indicated that he intends to keep the Wagner Group as a fighting force, but separated from its leader.
The SA, we would not, never amounted to what it had been before Ernst Röhm was offed.
July 16, 2023
Russo Ukrainian War
Wagner has been seen in Belarus and there are plans for it to conduct joint drills with the Belorussian army.
Something about this is really odd, and has to relate to whatever deal was struck. The Belorussian Army is generally regarded as pretty bad, FWIW.
Russian 106th Guards Airborne (VDV) Division Commander Major General Vladimir Seliverstov has been relieved of his command. It is not known why, but he was noted for speaking up for his troops.
July 17, 2023
Russo Ukrainian War
Russia has pulled out of the Black Sea grain shipment deal.
On This Week, Chris Christie maintained that Russia's war in Ukraine is being backed by the Chinese for Chinese objectives. This is becoming a persistent Republican theme. That the Chinese may be backing Russia doesn't surprise me, but the suggestion that the war is a Chinese proxy war, which is being made, doesn't ring true.
July 18, 2023
Russo Ukrainian War
Attempting to take advantage of commitment of Ukrainian forces elsewhere, the Russians are mounting an offensive in northeast Ukraine.
Ukraine hit the bridge from Crimea to the mainland again, heavily damaging it.
July 19, 2023
Russo Ukrainian War
As Russian minefields take their toll on western-supplied tanks and Ukrainian sappers, their forces have so-far retaken approximately five miles of the sixty miles they need to split the land-bridge connecting Russia to Crimea. The land between Mariupol in the east and Melitopol to the west is seen as the vital ground to achieving this.
It is incredibly tough going for the Ukrainians. They lack the air cover and advanced jets to protect their ground forces from Russian attack helicopters and fighters. Their soldiers, meanwhile must negotiate miles of minefields, tank-traps and then ultimately the heavily dug Russian trench networks.
This gruelling endeavour was always going to take longer than the occasionally impatient international audience was prepared to wait for. It is a military effort of immense proportions, where mass, manpower, morale, equipment, stocks, logistics, grit and luck all play vital roles. So far, the Ukrainians are displaying all of these military qualities.
* * *
While much fighting remains to be done across Ukraine’s southern farmlands over the coming months, governments across the west must be prepared for the grim prospect of territorial concessions as one potential political outcome of a failed counter-offensive. Whether a Putinist Kremlin would respect such a deal if Kyiv were to receive security pledges short of full Nato membership is extremely doubtful.
Regardless, this would surely be a favoured outcome for China’s ruling “wolf warrior” foreign policy elite. Beijing would be utterly delighted if the war were to end with Ukraine divided, Russian troops permanently in the Donbas harassing Kyiv and Europe, and Nato fractured on political lines. Such an outcome would be a gift to China as Xi Jinping begins to ramp up his own imperialistic and extra-territorial ambitions across the Indo-Pacific – and a devastating defeat for the West.
The Telegraph.
Russia is amassing vast numbers of troops and equipment along the northern frontline in Ukraine, Kyiv has warned.
Serhii Cherevatyi, spokesperson for the Eastern Group of Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, told local television that Moscow had gathered more than 100,000 troops on the Lyman-Kupiansk axis, as well as 900 tanks, 555 artillery systems and 370 multiple rocket launchers.
Newsweek.
The Ukrainians are obviously not beaten, and ISW feels the troops in the north that Russia intends to commit to a counteroffensive are of poor quality and will not be successful, but it's obviously the case that the Ukrainian offensive is not achieving its goals in the face of Russian defense in depth and massive use of mines.
July 20, 2023
Russo Ukrainian War
Russia conducted a missile offensive on Ukrainian ports yesterday, no doubt designed to disrupt Ukrainian grain shipments.
July 21, 2023
Russo Ukrainian War
July 21, cont.
Igor Girkin, who is associated with the shooting down of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, killing 298 people, was arrested in Russia today by Russian authorities.
Heads continue to keep rolling.
July 24, 2023
Russo Ukrainian War
Now Ukraine is in a battle to get back more of the land that Russia seized from it. It's already taken back about 50 percent of what was initially seized. Now they're in a very hard fight to take back more. These are still relatively early days of the counteroffensive. It is tough.
Secretary of State Anthony Blinken.
Drones hit two buildings in Moscow.
A Russian missile strike on Odessa badly damaged the Cathedral of the Transfiguration.
July 26, 2023
Russo Ukrainian War
Ukraine has launched a massive offensive action against Russians in the Zaporizhzhia region. They appear to have cleared defensive obstacles and are pushing through.
There are now multiple reports that a "second phase" or "main phase" of the Ukrainian summer offensive have been launched
Niger
Members of the armed forces are attempting a coup.
Syria
Russian Air Force fighters continue to interfere with American drones.
July 31, 2023
Russo Ukrainian War
Ukrainian drones struck targets in Moscow again within the last 24 hours.
Former President Donald Trump, and current candidate, urged aid to Ukraine to be suspended until evidence regarding Hunter Biden is submitted fully to Congress.
These topics are not rationally related to each other, but Trump is demonstrating increasing irrationality in the face of multiple criminal investigations concerning his post election activities.
China v. US
It is being asserted that China has inserted malware into computer networks servicing U.S bases.
August 4, 2023
An attack on the Russian port of Novorossiysk by Ukrainian drones resulted in a Russian warship capsizing.
August 6, 2023
Niger
The military asked for help from the Wagner Group to defend itself against anticipated military action by African states to restore the democracy in that country.
Russo Ukrainian War
From the Trib:
DRONES STRIKE
RUSSIAN TANKER, PORT
Russia raised the upper limit for conscription to 30 years of age.
August 7, 2023
Niger
Niger has closed its airspace.
August 13, 2023
Russo Ukrainian War
Poland is deploying up to 10,000 troops on its border with Belarus due to the presence of Wagner mercenaries being deployed on the Belorussian side of the border.
August 17, 2023
Russo Ukrainian War
Ukraine has taken Urozhaine.
August 18, 2023
Russo Ukrainian War
A Defense Department briefing of Congressmen has stated that Ukraine will not reach the southeastern city of Melitopol, presuming that to be a key objective, and therefore will not sever Russia’s land bridge to Crimea this year.
The report attributes it to minefields and Ukraine determining to ignore Western advice to use a schwerpunkt, particularly after having encountered initial heavy Russian resistance and large-scale losses, something amplified by a lack of air cover.
The report finds that Ukrainian forces will remain several miles outside of Melitopol at the conclusion of the offensive.
There's no way to put a happy face on this conclusion, if it comes true. Opting for attriting Russian forces was reverting to World War One tactics.
At the same time, however, there are now reports of Ukraine committing troops in large numbers which it had held back earlier.
August 18, cont:
A less gloomy view:
August 20, 2023
Russo Ukrainian War
Ukrainian troops have broken through to the north of Tokmak.
Ukrainian forces conducted a drone strike on Soltsy airbase in Novgorod Oblast.
Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin was on the passenger list of a jet which crashed killing all on board, Russia's civil aviation authority has said.
The BBC.
It can't help but be noted that opponents of Putin have a bizarrely high attrition rate and an unusual number of accidents. It could just be coincidence, but it's weird.
cont:
The early reports had this plane as shot down.
Video shows a plane that looks like it was shot down.
cont:
President Biden on the death of Wagner Group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin: "I said I would be careful of what I drink and what I rode in. I don't know for a fact what happened, but I'm not surprised."
CSPAN.
As an aside, somehow those who hate everything Biden and love everything Trump will find a way to criticize that pretty honest comment, whereas if Trump said the same thing (which he couldn't due to his weird diction), they'd think it the soul of wit.
She was the flight attendant of Embraer Legacy 600 Business Jet blown out of the sky in order to kill Yevgeny Prigozhin and other Wagnerites. The young woman had taken the flight in order to be able to return home and to her next station early.
It's not possible to weep for Yevgeny Prigozhin. He lived by the sword and died by it, and the actions of his men have been brutal. It is possible to hope that he realized the gravity of his sins and reconciled before his death.
But killing innocent stewardesses is just flat out murder.
August 25, 2023
Russo Ukrainian War
Ukraine conducted an amphibious commando raid on the facilities of the Crimean municipalities of Olenivka and Mayak.
August 27, 2023
Russo Ukrainian War
Ukrainian forces continue to grain in the western Zaporizhia Oblast and may be close to breaking out.
August 30, 2023
Gabon
The Gabonese Army has taken over that country in a coup following an election which returned to office a member of the family that has ruled the country for 50 years.
Russo Ukrainian War.
Ukrainian paratroopers, in a ground assault role, are flanking Russian positions at Novoprokopivka, a town that sits on the T0408/0401 road threading south through Tokmak to Melitopol.
Ukraine is receiving an additional $250,000,000 in U.S. aid.
A Ukrainian drone attack occured on the airfield at Pskov.
August 31, 2023
China v. Taiwan
The US has approved $80,000,000 in aid to Taiwan under the Foreign Military Financing, something normally only done for soveign states.
Taiwan, which is the Republic of China, has never declared independence from China. Rather, it's claim to be China's legitimate government has been quietly abandoned over the years. The People's Republic of China, of course, claims the island as it's own and continually threatens to invade it. In reality, Taiwan is de facto independent if not de jure, a status which really ought to change, and which this is a step towards.
It'll probably enrage the Red menance.
Russo Ukrainian War
Ukrainian light infantry has infiltrated east of Russian field fortifications near Verbove.
Chechen Republic Head Ramzan Kadyrov has reiterated his loyalty to Russian President Vladimir Putin in a continued attempt to distance himself from the late Yevgeny Prigozhin. I ownder if he's avoiding going up stairs recently?
Incoming University of Wyoming College of Law class (Class of 2026).
Wow, look at all those suits and ties.
These students are a nice looking bunch. A colleague of mine, who works in another firm, has a kid in it.
I didn't meet my law school classmates until the first day of law school. This group was apparently brought in early, and told to dress up. The first time I wore a tie in law school was actually after it, at my bar exam interview, back when Wyoming had a real bar exam rather than the Universal Locally Un-iformed Bar Exam.
I'm impressed. This is what a law school entering class should look like, and I hope it bodes well for the future.
One of the nice things about being in a farm community as a working travelers is that their Sunday morning Masses usually start really early, as in 7:00 a.m. in this case.
At least not like portrayed in the movies, and certainly not like the silly "whaling for justice" type of stuff that the plaintiff's bar likes to shovel out.
Recently I tried a case out of town. I've tried so many in the past three decades I no longer have any idea how many I've tried, and if I stopped to try to count them, I know that I'd be inaccurate. When you apply for a judicial appointment, which I've done several times, unsuccessfully (obviously), you are required to count them up, and I'm sure my numbers weren't the same any time I did that, even though I made an effort to be correct.
I do know that the year COVID restrictions on the courts lifted, I tried three that year. That may not sound like a lot, but for a civil litigator it is. I know quite a few civil litigators who have tried less than that over decades' long careers. One law school colleague of mine who does the same work, has never, in so far as I know, tried a case. An ABA review I once read of lawyers who had long civil careers and then retired (which seems to be a rarity) remarked that one of the subjects was proud of her "six" trials.
Six.
Hah.
There are a lot of reason there are not very many civil trials and even fewer serious civil trials, but one reason is that trials are hard stressful work.
But I'll get to that.
This past year, dating back a year ago or so, has not been a good one for me on a personal level. I had surgery in the fall and missed the hunting season. It was colon surgery, and I've never completely recovered, which is to say that my digestive track has not returned to normal, and it isn't going to. During that process, it was revealed by a scan that I had a major thyroid nodule. Followup on that showed it to almost certainly be cancerous, so during the trial, was looking forward to a second surgery, a partial thyroidectomy, and if really lucky I won't have to take medicine for the rest of my life. There is, however, a good chance that I will have to.
Having the trial to accomplish meant that I didn't have to think about it, however.
In terms of good news, it turned out to be benign. Strange, but benign. It's basically a result of an old injury, one I don't ever recall sustaining.
Current wound status.
Hopefully the recovery time isn't really long, but it varies quite a bit for people.
I ended up never taking a day off from the second surgery, not even the day of the surgery, which was a mistake, I'll note.
Anyhow, for about a year running now, my life has been nothing but work. As noted, I missed the hunting season and what little I got in prior to surgery was marred by being incredibly tired. I'm not sure what was up with that (perhaps the thyroid), but I was. I couldn't go for big game after that least I rip my stitches out.
I did get out for waterfowl quite a bit late in the season, mostly on Sunday's after Mass. I'd work on Sundays but for the Commandment to keep the Sabbath holy, which I take seriously, although occasionally I find myself working on that day too.
That's mostly a reflection of my personality.
The trial in question had been from a pre COVID case and it finally rolled around to to. Just before it did, my opponent let me know that his young female partner was leaving, and she did before the trial commenced. I was stunned, really, as she was bailing out of a really good firm and she's a really good lawyer. She was leaving private practice to go in house.
No more trials for her.
Then my younger female partner let me know she was leaving. She stuck with me through the trial.
Finding a lawyer you can comfortably try cases with isn't easy. Frankly, maybe one in ten lawyers who do trial work are really talented at it and of those, maybe only 10% anyone one person meshes with well enough to have that role. But here she definitely did. Her leaving is a big loss to me, just as my opponent's younger counsel leaving was a big loss to him. I don't know, really, if I'll be able to replace her.
For some time I've frankly wondered how she does it, as she's married with young children. When I was first practicing law, the female litigators I'd meet, and they were few, tended to be childless, often by choice. Quite a few women started to come into the law about the time that I did, and by and large if they were married and started to have children, they dropped out of practice. It was just too much of a burden.
This recalls the old phrase, supposedly written by Jean Little, a Canadian author:
A man can work from sun to sun, But a woman's work is never done.
There's a lot of truth to that, quite frankly.
For some reason, even in our "modern" age, the traditional division of labor in which women are burdened with raising children while they're young and keeping the household has never gone away, even when the woman of the house is a professional and its first breadwinner. Perhaps its simply genetic, although we're not supposed to say that. About the only relief I see them getting is from willing grandparents, really, and that too, oddly enough, is a very traditional role for grandparents.
Anyhow, juggling a household and having a professional job that requires long hours and travel. . . that's brutal. I don't blame these women a bit for seeking something else out.
One more example of how our modern "you live to serve this ship" lifestyle makes no sense and makes nobody happy.
You always go to the location of the trial early.
On Sunday, I looked out of my hotel window and saw this:
Horses by an old homestead, still being farmed.
Sigh.
The only thing I got out to do was to go to Mass.
I like everyone to have their own vehicles at a trial. It gives everyone some independence. If I control things, and at my age I do, everyone drives themselves.
This, I'll note, isn't the case with some lawyers, although it is with all the ones I know. Those people must be the really extraverted ones who just think everyone needs lots of sharing time all the time, and therefore they make the whole team prisoners to their automobile.
Hotels have evolved quite a bit in the past thirty years. Thirty years ago I'd look for a hotel with a restaurant and then catch breakfast. Now, most hotels that I stay at are "business hotels" which means that they have a light kitchen with the bare minimum. As breakfast is an afterthought with me anyhow, I’m good to go with that.
I’m not good to go with these monstrosities:
I hate Keurig machines and their stupid one cup at a time system. I always have. I never drink just one cup of coffee bu several, and I don't want to screw around making endless little cups. To make matters worse, it's invariably the case that the person who stocks the rooms leaves you hardly any real coffee, but lots of stuff like Ceylonese Green Herbal Tea or something.
Blech.
We always go down and get a bunch of real coffee for the stupid Keurig machine.
One thing about trials is you get to wear your cool dress shoes that otherwise would look odd in our modern era.
These are saddle oxfords. Saddle oxfords made from buffalo hide, I might add.
I've never worn out, I might note, a pair of dress shoes. I have my black low quarters from basic training still. When I was first practicing, I bought a pair of wingtips made in Ireland, just like the dress shoes my father had when I was young. They've been resoled once, but they're still in good shape.
Indeed, I only have five pairs of dress shoes, one being the aforementioned Army low quarters I very rarely wear. I'm never going to need to buy another pair.
I do need to shine them.
Parking lot view.
One thing about doing a trial in farm country is that it always causes me to think how lucky some people are that they get to farm as a career.
I don't think they appreciate that.
I never think that about trying a case in a big city. I've tried cases twice in Denver and wasn't envious of a soul associated with Denver. The poor judge looked like he'd been rode hard and put away wet in the second one. Denver itself, out on the street, was like a Middle Easter Dysentery Ward in the 30s. The jurors had jobs I wouldn't have wanted.
Grim.
In farm country you see, however, people living the way that people are supposed to live.
Restaurant view. The field below is one I've hunted geese in.
I constantly hear people in agriculture complain about it, and by that I don't mean the weather or something, but about being in agriculture itself. Maybe complaining is just something people do. Pascal noted:
If a soldier or labourer complain of the hardship of his lot, set him to do nothing.
I'm not sure what Pascal was aiming at there, but I think it might have been that people just complain. I also think, however, that a lot of people who were born into agriculture have no idea what other work is like, including working as a professional.
I turned 60 recently as well, which of course is a sort of milestone for many people, although I really didn't pay that much attention to it at the time. It really started to set in, however, when I attended a mule action by video. Everything was too expensive, and I didn't buy anything, but leading up to it, I got a fair amount of opposition from my spouse. Most of it was of the nature of "you don't have time".
I don't have time, which is because I work a work schedule at the office, in this civil litigator line of country, that's very heavy. I work a schedule that's heavier than a lot of lawyers in their 20s and 30s. I have nobody, I guess, but myself to blame for that, sort of. Part of it too has to do with the circumstances during which I came up in the law, and part of it has to do with my own character.
When I was young, before I was a lawyer, I wanted to work outdoors.
It's never really stopped being in a least the back of my mind. The net effect of that is that from the exterior I'm one of the rare trial lawyers who tries a lot of cases. I'm cited to other lawyers that way, and because of the work that comes through my door, it's pretty obvious that my reputation as a trial lawyer is impossible to escape. But part of the reason that I can't escape it is that those immediately around me, including those closest to me, see me that way and can't imagine a world in which I'm not yoked to the plow in this fashion.
Elijah set out, and came upon Elisha, son of Shaphat, as he was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen; he was following the twelfth. Elijah went over to him and threw his cloak on him.
Elisha left the oxen, ran after Elijah, and said, “Please, let me kiss my father and mother good-bye, and I will follow you.” Elijah answered, “Go back! What have I done to you?”
Elisha left him and, taking the yoke of oxen, slaughtered them; he used the plowing equipment for fuel to boil their flesh, and gave it to the people to eat. Then he left and followed Elijah to serve him.
1 Kings, Chapter 19.
I've always thought Elisha's actions baffling. But they are not. He was wanting to set out with Elijah, who had just anointed him his successor. When he left the oxen and spoke to Elijah, Elijah seemed annoyed and told him to go back.
Yoke's were expensive, and so were oxen. By burning his wooden yokes, there was no going back.
If this seems harsh, consider the similar lines from Luke in the New Testament:
As they were proceeding on their journey someone said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.” Jesus answered him, “Foxes have dens and birds of the sky have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to rest his head.”
And to another he said, “Follow me.” But he replied, “[Lord,] let me go first and bury my father.” But he answered him, “Let the dead bury their dead.* But you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.”
And another said, “I will follow you, Lord, but first let me say farewell to my family at home.” Jesus said, “No one who sets a hand to the plow and looks to what was left behind is fit for the kingdom of God.”
In modern American life we imagine we can always go back and most of us live our lives that way. Had Elisha decided, well, I'll plow the field and bring in the crops and take up being a prophet later, he wouldn't have become a prophet. Those setting a hand to the plow, and looking back, don't plow a straight row.
And so back to the main.
There's really no glory in trial work, in spite of what people like to imagine. It's hard work. If you win, your clients view the victory as theirs. If you lose, it's your fault. Everyone wins some and loses some, and moreover, wins some they should lose and lose some they should win. It's so stressful that most civil litigators, truth be known, and this includes both plaintiffs and defendants lawyers, won't try a case. Those who will tend to be a tiny minority, and we try lots of cases, because we will. You get used to a lot of the things about it, but like the way Jock Lewes is portrayed in SAS, Rogue Heroes (stay tuned for a review shortly), some of that is suppression of anxiety rather than its elimination, although anxiety does indeed decrease with time. People who run around claiming they love everything about a trial tend to be weirdos or liars, more often the latter than the former.
And, for what its worth, I've tried a minor case since this one.
While I’m not focusing on events 60 years in the past (our links to 100, 80, and 50 are more than enough), occasionally I depart from something, particularly if it occured in the first few months of my six decades here on Earth. Here's an interesting one:
The Department of Defense made a one-sentence announcement to the press on this occasion, that being: "The direct communication link between Washington and Moscow is now operational."
It was not a phone link, by the way, but a teletype link.
The cassette tape was introduced by Philips at the annual Internationale Funkausstellung Berlin.
My mother had an early tape recorder which she used somehow in the context of her studies at the local community college. I recall that it was a gift from my father, and regarded as expensive at the time. She kept it in good condition. I recall it had a separate microphone.
I wonder what happened to it?
Eddie Mannix died at age 72.
Mannix is families to Coen Brother's fans as the central character in Hail, Ceasar!, although the quasi comedic portrayal given there considerably cleans up his actual nature. In the film, Mannix is portrayed as a devout Catholic family man burdened with the job of keeping Hollywood dimwits out of trouble. The portrayal is a great one. In reality, Mannix was a fixer, and actually was Catholic, but is associated with a string of at least rumored despicable acts. He and his second wife (his first wife died early in their marriage) never had any children.
His record of film costs has proved to be an invaluable historic resource.
CV-12, the second aircraft carrier of World War Two to be named the USS Hornet, was launched.
CV-12 being launched.
CV-8, the USS Hornet that had been in the Doolittle Raid, was sunk in October, 1942.
CV-12 was the eighth U.S. Navy ship to bear that name, the first being a merchant sloop acquired by the infant U.S. Navy in 1775 and captured by the Royal Navy during the Revolution. A second USS Hornet, also a sloop, was acquired in the Mediterranean during the First Barbary War, but served for only a year.
CV-8 was named in honor of a sloop of war commissioned in 1805. She's served in the War of 1812, but had been lost due to a material failure at sea in 1829, going down with all hands.
The foundering of CV-8's namesake.
The fourth was a schooner acquired in 1814 that mostly served the Navy by running messages.
The fifth ship to bear that name was a captured and renamed Confederate steam ship. Its career with the US Navy was brief, and she then went on to a brief career with filibusters, being renamed Cuba.
The Red Army captured Sokolovskym Yelna, and Taganrog.
In his second act of heroism, Lt. Kenneth Walsh, would push his deeds over the top as a Marine Corp aviator and win the Medal of Honor. His citation reads:
For extraordinary heroism and intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty as a pilot in Marine Fighting Squadron 124 in aerial combat against enemy Japanese forces in the Solomon Islands area. Determined to thwart the enemy's attempt to bomb Allied ground forces and shipping at Vella Lavella on 15 August 1943, 1st Lt. Walsh repeatedly dived his plane into an enemy formation outnumbering his own division 6 to 1 and, although his plane was hit numerous times, shot down 2 Japanese dive bombers and 1 fighter. After developing engine trouble on 30 August during a vital escort mission, 1st Lt. Walsh landed his mechanically disabled plane at Munda, quickly replaced it with another, and proceeded to rejoin his flight over Kahili. Separated from his escort group when he encountered approximately 50 Japanese Zeros, he unhesitatingly attacked, striking with relentless fury in his lone battle against a powerful force. He destroyed 4 hostile fighters before cannon shellfire forced him to make a dead-stick landing off Vella Lavella where he was later picked up. His valiant leadership and his daring skill as a flier served as a source of confidence and inspiration to his fellow pilots and reflect the highest credit upon the U.S. Naval Service.
Lt. Walsh had joined the Marine Corps in 1933 and retired in 1962, flying again in action during the Korean War. He died at age 81 in 1998.
The Lackawanna Limited wreck occurred when a Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad passenger train, the New York-Buffalo Lackawanna Limited collided with a freight train. Twenty-seven people were killed in the collision, and about twice that number injured, many from steam that poured into the railroad cars.
Having learned utterly nothing, apparently, from World War One, Italy was having a massive overreaction, or perhaps fascism, thinking it was immune from history, was taking advantage of Greek weakness.
A mob attacked a Ku Klux Klan meeting at Perth Amboy, New Jersey.
Oddly enough, I ran into this Jeep with a utility trailer on the same day I saw the Suzuki Samurai.
I'm on my third Jeep now, so obviously I like them, but they are a vehicle of limited utility in terms of what they can carry, which has been a problem with them from day one. Being a military vehicle to start with, they've always been built to accommodate a light trailer, and some civilian manufacturers now make trailers for outdoorsmen and campers for them, of which this is an example.
Note how heavily loaded this Jeep is and how its sitting back on its rear springs. Frankly, I wouldn't want to drive this example far like this. Jeeps are a squirrelly enough driving vehicle as it is.
Posted today only because at this point I need to update the list of candidates. As time has gone on, I've omitted a few
Democrats:
Joe Biden; the incumbent. While a majority of Democrats and voters in general are disenchanted with the aged President, he will take the nomination absent something unexpected occurring.
Marianne Williamson; gadfly.
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. Kennedy is receiving attention, but his candidacy isn't likely to go anywhere. Known for some unconventional views.
Republicans.
Donald Trump. The former President is in the lead in spite of his boatload of mounting legal problems and support for an insurrection designed to keep him illegally in office.
Nikki Haley
Vivek Ramaswamy. Youngest candidate, oddly tacking to the right of Trump on some things.
Perry Johnson, largely unknown businessman. Age 75.
Larry Elder, conservative African American radio host. 71 years of age, and first time candidate.
Asa Hutchinson, former Governor of Arkansas and conventional, non MAGA, Republican. Age 72.
Tim Scott, African American Senator from South Carolina.
Ron DeSantis, Governor of Florida.
Chris Christie, former Governor of New Jersey. Blunt anti Trump candidate.
Mike Pence.
Doug Burgum
Francis Suarez, Mayor of Miami.
Will Hurd, Congressman from Texas.
More on some of these candidates can be read about in the last edition of this thread, when GOP candidates really started entering what is now a very crowded field.
June 29, cont.
One of those people in the "will they run?" category is Liz Cheney, who made this very interesting statement the other day:
We'll see if I'm correct, but I take that as an indicator that; 1) she will run, and 2) there's a good chance she'll be on the "No Labels" ticket.
Regarding the GOP front-runner, a new book reveals that while he was President, Donald Trump made comments in front of White House employees about his daughter Ivanka Trump’s breasts, backside, and what it might be like to have sex with her. This prompted White House staffer John Kelly to rebuke him and remind him that she was his daughter.
These are reports in a book, of course, and my guess is that Trump will deny them. But if they are true that's deeply weird. Once again, it raises the question of how those looking upon Trump as some sort of crusader for (Southern) Cultural Christianity can hold that view.
July 9, 2023
The Iowa GOP caucus will be held on January 15, 2024. The date, just set by the GOP, means that the primary starts in just six months, and five months before the General Election.
July 31, 2023
The Trump campaign is expected to report this week that it spent $40M in campaign donations for the candidate's legal fees.
GOP Presidential candidate, Chris Christie, visited Kyiv on Friday and met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
August 8, 2023
Mike Pence has qualified for the GOP debates. The seven other qualifies are Donald Felonius Balonius Trump, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, businessperson Vivek Ramawamy, former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.), former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum.9 hours ago.
August 17, 2023
A Casper businessman, Reid Rasner, has announced a campaign against John Barrasso for the GOP contender for Barrasso's occupied Senate seat.
Rasner is running to the right of Barrasso and is associated with Wyoming's Freedom Caucus.
August 18, 2023
My gosh, Trump's utterances are getting increasingly weird.
Can people seriously admire somebody who writes and speaks in this fashion?
Isn't it obvious to everyone that there's something seriously wrong with this man?
Donald Trump has announced that rather than face his opponents in next week's debate, and probably most particularly Chris Christie who he is ill prepared to face, he's going to be interviewed by stooge Tucker Carlson.
Trump was of course fired from the Oval Office and Carlson from Fox News, so it serves their mutual self-promotion interest and is a safer venue than a debate.
In part of the embarrassing ongoing GOP saga in Wyoming, the Central Committee censured Rep. Sam Western of Big Horn County and asked him to resign. The Censure was over Western and Johnson County Commissioner Bill Novotny had been involved in sending a political advertisement accusing four individuals of “trying to tear our state apart".
One of the prime mover in the censure was a out of state far right candidate who has failed in prior elections.
I didn't watch it, but from the sounds of things, the GOP nationally is a lost cause, no longer standing for anything other than Donald J. Trump.
Chances are that, assuming no major course corrections, the 2024 election will be regarded as the end of the GOP. It'll struggle through as a whimper to 2028, but by then it will be a rump party and some new conservative party will have emerged to pick up the non populist elements.
More locally, the Natrona County GOP attempts to call out an anonymous critic:
Germany dissolved the Danish government and placed King Christian X and Prime Minister Erik Scavenius under arrest, with the German military in the Danish protectorate going into action to affect an occupation in Operation Safari.
Danish officers under arrest.
The Danes, who had a bizarre status as an occupied nation up until then, still being allowed to maintain their government and military, scuttled 32 warships. The armored cruiser Niels luel was sunk by German aircraft after Danes attempted to flee with it to Sweden. Four Danish ships, all minor, in fact made it to Sweden.
Effectively, Danish quasi independence ended, although it had been held in a precarious state up until that time since 1940 in the first place.
Notably, within the past week the Germans had taken steps to occupy their ally, Italy, and now were formalizing control of quasi independent Denmark. As its position on the battlefield deteriorated, its military commitments were growing.
The South Teton was scaled for the first time. The climbers were Albert R. Ellingwood and Eleanor Davis. That same day, Ellingwood became the first person to climb the 12,809 feet (3,904 m) high Middle Teton.
Granite Peak, in Montana, was scaled for the first time. The climbers were Elers Koch, James C. Whitham, and R.T. Ferguson,
Italy, taking a page out of the Austro-Hungarian Empire's book, delivered a seven point ultimatum to Greece, in response to the assassination in an ambush of an Italian general on a League of Nations', not an Italian, mission from the day prior.
It demanded:
An official apology at the Italian legation in Athens, even though guilt was not established.
A solemn funeral in the Catholic cathedral in Athens in the presence of the whole of the Greek government, quite a demand for anti-religious Mussolini to an Orthodox republic.
Military honors for the bodies of the victims, who were Italian, and who deserved an Italian funeral, not a Greek one.
Full honors by the Greek fleet to the Italian fleet which would be sent to Piraeus, as if that had anything to do with his at all.
Capital punishment for the guilty, who were not known in the first place.
An indemnity of 50 million lire within five days.
A reply was demanded within 24 hours. Surprisingly, Greece replied on August 30, 1923, accepting four of the demands which with modifications as follows:
The Piraeus commandant would express the Greek Government's sorrow to the Italian Minister.
A memorial service would be held in the presence of members of the government,
A detachment of the guard would salute the Italian flag at the Italian legation
The Greek military would render honors to the remains of the victims when they were transferred to an Italian warship.
Suzuki's idea of a Jeep, the Samurai was a little Jeep like vehicle that frankly recalls the Bantam that preceded the Willys, too light and too small.
I ran across this one just the other day. You don't see too many anymore, but for those who have them, and haven't rolled them, well, they're probably handy.
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