Friday, January 17, 2025

Tuesday, January 17, 1775. Diligent attention in the use of arms.

The South Carolina Provincial Congress resolved; "that the inhabitants be diligently attentive in learning the use of arms; and that their officers be requested to train and exercise them at least once a fortnight." 

Last edition:

Friday, January 13, 1775. Governor Franklin urges New Jersey to remain loyal.

Thursday, January 16, 2025

President Biden Delivers a Farewell Address to the Nation

A farewell address, and a couple of comments.






The Statue of Liberty is also an enduring symbol of the soul of our nation, a soul shaped by forces that bring us together and by forces that pull us apart. And yet, through good times and tough times, we have withstood it all. A nation of pioneers and explorers, of dreamers and doers, of ancestors native to this land, of ancestors who came by force. A nation of immigrants who came to build a better life. A nation holding the torch of the most powerful idea ever in the history of the world: that all of us, all of us are created equal. That all of us deserve to be treated with dignity, justice and fairness. That democracy must defend, and be defined, and be imposed, moved in every way possible: Our rights, our freedoms, our dreams. But we know the idea of America, our institution, our people, our values that uphold it, are constantly being tested.

Ongoing debates about power and the exercise of power. About whether we lead by the example of our power or the power of our example. Whether we show the courage to stand up to the abuse of power, or we yield to it. After 50 years at the center of all of this, I know that believing in the idea of America means respecting the institutions that govern a free society — the presidency, the Congress, the courts, a free and independent press. Institutions that are rooted — not just reflect the timeless words, but they — they echo the words of the Declaration of Independence: “We hold these truths to be self-evident.” Rooted in the timeless words of the Constitution: “We the People.” Our system of separation of powers, checks and balances — it may not be perfect, but it’s maintained our democracy for nearly 250 years, longer than any other nation in history that’s ever tried such a bold experiment.









And the rest of the world is trying to model it now. It’s working, creating jobs and industries of the future. Now we have proven we don’t have to choose between protecting the environment and growing the economy. We’re doing both. But powerful forces want to wield their unchecked influence to eliminate the steps we’ve taken to tackle the climate crisis, to serve their own interests for power and profit. We must not be bullied into sacrificing the future, the future of our children and our grandchildren. We must keep pushing forward, and push faster. There is no time to waste. It is also clear that American leadership in technology is unparalleled, an unparalleled source of innovation that can transform lives. We see the same dangers in the concentration of technology, power and wealth.
















My first comment is that I fear what is coming.   No matter how he is looked at, Donald Trump is not committed to democracy and dark fears about dictatorship are not unwarranted.  Republicans who are willing to disagree with Trump are all but extinct, and Trump himself is backed by a movement in the population that would crown him king and excuse all of his massive failings.

The incoming administration will change the country.  We just don't really know how.  It may prove to be a temporary ineffective bridge to National Conservatism, which would also remake the country.  Or it may be four years of increasingly bizarre behavior.

That the country whose blueprint was laid out in the Great Depression and then constructed in the wake of World War Two has passed into history cannot be doubted.  The country that fought in the Second World War, albeit only after being attacked, and then contested the Soviets during the long Cold War is gone, replaced by one that has retreated into isolationism and even power worship.  The society that proposed a Square Deal, was given a New Deal, and aimed for the Great Society is also gone, and along with it, aspects of the Civil Rights Era.

American Exceptionalism is dead.

Gone too, probably, are the increasing lurches to the left which followed the Vietnam War and Watergate.  Indeed, they helped kill the era that has just died.

What comes up now, we don't know.  It could be something like the conservative Canada of before World War Two, if Trump is removed or dies early on.  Or it could be simply a second rate shit who that will descend into a comic version of itself, with an increasingly lower standard of living and behavior.

It is up to Americans on what we get.  We can accept the Trump oligarchy or resist it.

Biden is at least partially to blame for where we are now and that should not be forgotten.  He was supposed to be a bridge from Trump to a new era, but hubris wouldn't allow him to keep his promise not to run again.  A massive failure of the Federal judicial system is also to blame, being unable to bring in a conviction of a man within a year when it clearly should have.

The founders, Benjamin Franklin told us, gave us a republic, if we could keep it.  We have, but whether that will really last the next four years is an open question.  People, particularly Trump Republicans, will claim any doubt on that to be absurd, even as they make odd arguments about republics not being democracies.  Much of the public will simply go numb, and already has.

When Caesar crossed the Rubicon and deposed the Senate, most Romans didn't know that they no longer lived in a republic. They wouldn't actually know that for years, by which time they were worshipping men as gods.

Sic Transit Gloria Mundi.

Tuesday, January 16, 1945. Der Führerbunker.

Hitler arrived in Berlin, where he would principally remain for the rest of the war.

The Red Army took Radom, Poland.

An Allied offensive to eliminate a German bridgehead over the Rhine north of Strasbourg was commenced.

"Pfc. Gerald A. Cohan, 9 Shaw Ave., Newark, N.J., mans a .30 caliber machine gun covering approaches to Salmchateau, as the 75th Division takes the town. 3rd Battalion, 289th Infantry Regiment, 75th Infantry Division. 16 January, 1945."

The Chinese took Namhkam in Burma.

The U-248 was sunk by US destroyers north of the Azores.

Last edition:

Friday, January 16, 1925. Leadbelly released from prison and some Italians got to vote a lot.


Huddie Ledbetter, aka "Lead Belly", was granted a full pardon by Texas Governor Pat Morris Neff  Neff for having served the minimum seven years of his prison sentence for the 1918 killing of Will Stafford, a relative of his, in a fight over a woman.

It was a least his second period of incarceration, with  his first being in 1915 for carrying a handgun, something that would not be a crime now.  

While in prison for homicide, he'd be stubbled in the neck by another inmate, resulting in a permanent scar.

The pardon came about due to Ledbetter writing the Governor and seeking the same, and the Governor visiting him more than once in prison.

Ledbetter would return to prison in 1930 for attempted homicide and 1939 for assault.

Perhaps not a pacific man, he was the greatest American folk musician and one of the greatest blue musicians of all time.  He was personally responsible for the survival of the twelve string guitar.  He was principally a bluesman, but the blues had not quite stabilized into its form at the time, and not all of his music fits the genera.  Indeed, this so much the case that at least one of his songs that is typically preformed as a blue piece, The Midnight Special, was not performed quite that way by Leadbelly.  He became known to the general public due to John Lomax's recordings of him in 1933, at which time he was again in prison.

Leadbelly was born in Louisiana in 1888 or 1889, and died of Lou Gehrigs disease in 1946 at age 61 or 62.  He took to music early and learned to paly the mandolin, accordion, guitar, harmonica, Jew’s harp, piano, and organ, with his principal instructor's being his uncles, Bob and Terrell Ledbetter.

His songs are widely preformed to this day, and once were part of the American music canon taught to school children.  Interestingly enough, he's associated with the first recorded use of the word "woke", in a spoken item after a song in which he stated; "So I advise everybody, be a little careful when they go along through there—best stay woke, keep their eyes open."

Italy passed a bill giving double votes to academians, professors, those with diplomas, knights, military officers, those with any military decorations, officeholders, certain business personnel, all those paying a direct tax of 100 lira or more, and fathers of at least five children, triple votes to members of the royal family, members of high nobility, cardinals, highly decorated war veterans, high officeholders, or anyone who met three conditions for double votes. 

Last edition:

Thursday, January 15, 1925. Trotsky gets canned, Ross addresses the legislature.

Wednesday, January 15, 2025

Raising and lowering flags.

 M'eh, keep them half staff.

Governor Gordon Orders Flags at the Capitol and State Buildings to Fly at Full Staff on Inauguration Day

 

CHEYENNE, Wyo. – Governor Mark Gordon has ordered both the U.S and Wyoming flags to be raised to full staff at the Capitol and all state buildings from sunrise to sunset on January 20, 2025 to recognize the Inauguration of President Donald Trump.

“It is correct for our country to celebrate the inauguration of a new president and honor it with our flags flying high, just as we should continue to honor the life and legacy of President Carter by returning them to half-staff on January 21. Both actions mark our respect and reverence for the importance of these times,” Governor Gordon said. 

Flags will be lowered again to half-staff from sunrise January 21, 2025, to sunset January 28, 2025, in remembrance of President Jimmy Carter.

-END-


2025 State of the State & State of the Judiciary

2024 Election Post Mortem, Part 3. First muted expressions of regret edition.

Alas, there's not that much time left until January 20, but the old thread was simply too large to keep going.

December 29, 2024

A major spat has broken out in the GOP between those who dislike H1B visas, which Donald Trump previously called "very bad" and "unfair", and those like Elon Musk who support them.  Maga figures have been throwing rocks at Musk, and Musk told them to go "fuck themselves in the face", an unlikely insult for a man whose obsessed with epic level procreation (which is a fascination of certain elements of the far right).

Yesterday Trump came down in favor of H1B visas, claiming he's always liked visas in general, which isn't true, but then Trump doesn't particularly worry about truthfulness.

Bannon also said this past week that Mike Johnson has "got to go".  One of Trump's sons claimed that the "vast majority" of Republicans were enemies, along with the Democrats.

Mike Johnson appears to have very little chance of retaining his position as Speaker of the House.  Guess leopards ate his face.

December 30, 2024

Donald Trump:
The extension of the Debt Ceiling by a previous Speaker of the House, a good man and a friend of mine, from this past September of the Biden Administration, to June of the Trump Administration, will go down as one of the dumbest political decisions made in years. There was no reason to do it - NOTHING WAS GAINED, and we got nothing for it - A major reason why that Speakership was lost. It was Biden’s problem, not ours. Now it becomes ours. I call it “1929” because the Democrats don’t care what our Country may be forced into. In fact, they would prefer “Depression” as long as it hurt the Republican Party. The Democrats must be forced to take a vote on this treacherous issue NOW, during the Biden Administration, and not in June. They should be blamed for this potential disaster, not the Republicans!

Donald Trump, head of the GOP, the party of fiscal responsibility. 

cont:

Trump endorsed Johnson for speaker.

December 31, 2024

Harriet Hageman was named incoming chair of the Anti-Woke Caucus.

I didn't know that there was one, but apparently it exists and is dedicate to fighting "woke" ideologies in government, business and society.

cont:


More here:  Case.

And:

My message to incoming President Trump is that first and foremost Canada will never be the 51st state of the U.S.

Pierre Poilievre, head of Canada’s Conservative Party.

January 3, 2024.

Today the new House of Representatives is sworn in, and the first attempt to chose a Speaker of the House will be made.

cont:

Johnson keeps his seat.

January 4, 2024

An interview with Senate Whip Barrasso.  As per usual, not much content, unfortunately.

Something indicating an award for real content, and character:

Cheney receives 2nd highest civilian award from Biden

January 10, 2024

Prosecutor Jack Smith's report will be released to the public.  Trump tried to prevent this from occurring.

This:


Trump will be sentenced by a New York judge today on his multiple felony convictions in the one case that made it all the way through the court.  They will be state law felony convictions.

cont:  

J. D. Vance resigned his Senate seat yesterday in preparation for being sworn in as Vice President on the 20th and waiting out the interregnum until he can take the oath of office as President.

Ohio Lt. Governor Jon Husted is widely anticipated to be the individual who will take Vance's place until the 2026 election.

cont:

Newsletter from Sen. Lummis:

Any athlete knows the pressure of going to battle on the court, fighting for their season, their teammates and their future. Throughout the past four years, female athletes have had to battle opponents who are bigger, faster, and stronger, but that is because biological males have stepped onto the field. This season, the Wyoming Cowgirls volleyball team courageously decided to forfeit their games against San Jose State University, a team that allowed a biological male to compete against female athletes.

Title IX is supposed to recognize the distinct biological differences between men and women and protect female athletes from harm on the playing field. The Mountain West Conference failed the Wyoming Cowgirls, and the woke policies of athletic organizations are failing women and girls across the nation. I joined my Republican colleagues to reintroduce The Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act, a bill that reaffirms Title IX be treated as "recognized based solely on a person’s reproductive biology and genetics at birth" and does not adjust it to apply to gender identity. 

Little girls who grow up with Olympic dreams should not have to see those goals crushed underneath the foot of a man competing against her. I am proud to fight for women and girls across the Equality State, and the nation.

Happy Trails,

  

January 14, 2025

How many senators have shown up drunk to vote at night?...And how many senators do you know have gotten divorced for cheating on their wives...it's for show....it is so ridiculous you guys hold yourselves to a higher standard.: 

Sen Mullin, Hegseth confirmation hearing.

Duckworth: How many nations are in ASEAN? 

Hegseth: We have allies in South Korea, Japan, and Australia 

Duckworth: None of those countries are in ASEAN

Same hearing. 

January 15, 2025

A NPR panelist on NPR's Politics stated that after reviewing the biographies of former Secretaries of Defense and of War, Hegseth is the least qualified nominee for that position of all time.


Last edition:

2024 Election Post Mortem, Part 2. What's going on?

How did so many of us, become so mean?

Indeed I tremble for my country when reflect that God is just: that his justice cannot sleep for ever: that considering numbers, nature and natural means only, a revolution of the wheel of fortune, an exchange of situation, is among possible events: that it may become probable by supernatural interference!

Thomas Jefferson, Notes on the State of Virginia

An item from Cowboy State Daily columnist Dave Simpson (who is not from Wyoming, like so many of Wyoming's far right are not):

Dave Simpson: Wyoming Paid Us To Cut Dead Trees

Within the column:

Apparently California hasn't had the good sense to encourage landowners to clear their land of the brush that went up in flames around Los Angeles last week, taking 24 lives and destroying 12,000 homes so far. One report explained that landowners clearing brush could be fined for killing rare, protected plants.

Good grief.

Here in Wyoming, we made our places less prone to fire.

Too bad California didn't encourage landowners to do the same.

They're paying the price now.

What a massively ignorant and mean thing to say.

The replies on twitter, at least, were not clueless:

Stephanie Hewitt@Stephhewitt1 2h

But even with thinning the forest, the Snowy Range would not survive with hurricane force winds during a forest fire. Stop the grandstanding.

Indeed the recent fire in Albany and Carbon Counties more than proved that. 

Buckwild @veedawhoo 3h

Don't break your arm patting yourself on the back chief🙄

Exactly. 

Traveler@JuniperMesa 1h

Fill Sky will massive amounts heat trapping gases, catastrophically overheat Planet = catastrophic climate change, Aridification, Megadrought, FireStorms gone Runaway, beyond Apocalyptic self reinforcing feedback loop, not "potential", Rocky Mountain Ecosystem, not built for heat

And right again.

Of course, as Simpson, who actual Wyomingites would not regard as a Wyomingite (you have to be born here or in a neighboring state, wondering in as an adult doesn't count), is from the far right, and as a far right migrant who didn't grow up here with winters were real, probably is in the climate change is a fib category.

It isn't.

The old saying is "paybacks are a bitch". 

How naive and clueless can a person be to not realize that an urban fire.

There was a desert wind blowing that night. It was one of those hot dry Santa Anas that come down through the mountain passes and curl your hair and make your nerves jump and your skin itch. On nights like that every booze party ends in a fight. Meek little wives feel the edge of the carving knife and study their husbands' necks. Anything can happen. You can even get a full glass of beer at a cocktail lounge.

Raymond Chandler, Red Wind: A Collection of Short Stories

The fires were driven by Santa Ana winds, strong, extremely dry katabatic winds that originate inland and affect coastal Southern California and northern Baja California.

Chandler wasn't kidding. They're something else, and indeed "Meek little wives feel the edge of the carving knife and study their husbands' necks."

I fear that Wyoming is about to get a real dope slap.

California contributes five times more to the Federal coffers than it receives.

Then I rapped upon a house with a U.S. flag upon display

I said, "Could you help me out, I got some friends down the way"

The man said, "Get out of here, I'll tear you limb from limb"

I said, You know, they refused Jesus, too, " he said, "You're not him

Get out of here before I break your bones, I ain't your pop"

I decided to have him arrested, and I went looking for a cop

Bob Dylan 115th Street Dream.

Wyoming receives more than it gives.

Sitting there smug with a 307 beer can isn't going to change that.

And we have disasters, including fire related disasters, every year.

This year, the Hageman homestead was burned in one such fire.

Guess the Hageman's didn't know enough to clear the underbrush?

I suspect nobody is going to say that.

And if the fires return here next summer, and its been a very dry winter, what will people who hold such mean spirted views say?

And will Wyoming, which had its hand out for disaster relief in 2024, be too embarrassed to ask for it in 2024.  Simpson speaks for a common view here, and the GOP is threatening to hold disaster aid to California up.  Indeed, our Senator, in his new whip role, has hinted at that.

Nature and events have a terrible way of humbling the arrogant.

Every proud heart is an abomination to the LORD; be assured that none will go unpunished.

Proverbs, 16:5

Wednesday, January 15, 1975. Independence for Angola.

The Alvor Agreement was signed at the Penina Golfe Hotel in Alvor, Portugal by Angolan independence figures Jonas Savimbi, Agostinho Neto and Álvaro Holden Necaca Roberto Diasiwa and Portugese President Costa Gomes.

November 11, 1975 was set as the Angolan independence date.

The very communistic flag of Angola.

It can't be said that independence for the country went well.  It would nearly immediately fall into civil war.

CIA Director William Colby confirmed that the agency had violated its charter by spying on American citizens for activities within the United States.

Last edition:

Tuesday, January 14, 1975. Un-American.

Monday, January 15, 1945. Hitler visits the Western Front for the last time and goes home to the bunker, Himmler orders the SS to cover its tracks.

Adolph Hitler met with Rundstedt and Walter Model at the Adlerhorst and ordered them to hold the Western Allies back as long as possible.

"Sgt. Clarence Pfeifer, Jordan, Montana, (with machine gun) and Pfc. Sherman Maness, Searcy, Ark., (driver) bring in two German prisoners captured near Longchamps, Belgium. 15 January, 1945. HQ Company, 63rd Armored Infantry Battalion, 11th Armored Division. Photographer: T/5 S. Slevin, 167th Signal Photo Co."

It was his last visit to the Western Front.  Most of the rest of the war he would spend in his bunker in Berlin.

"2nd Lt. Charles Pettit, of Bardstown, Kentucky, left, and Lt. Col. Benjamin J. Butler of Milton, Kentucky, read a copy of the Trimble County Democrat. 15 January, 1945. 168th Infantry Regiment, 34th Infantry Division."  The Colonel is is wearing a M1943 Field Jacket with a combat infantryman's bad and his overseas stripes (18 months) affixed, which is unusual.  Note also the sheepskin hat.

Heinrich Himmler, who by this point had a more realistic view of how the war was going to turn out, ordered the evacuation of Auschwitz and its sub-camps to the West.  All evidence of the existence of the camps was ordered to be destroyed, which would prove to be impossible.

Arthur Otto Beyer performed the actions that lead to his being awarded the Medal of Honor.

He displayed conspicuous gallantry in action. His platoon, in which he was a tank-destroyer gunner, was held up by antitank, machinegun, and rifle fire from enemy troops dug in along a ridge about 200 yards to the front. Noting a machinegun position in this defense line, he fired upon it with his 76-mm. gun killing 1 man and silencing the weapon. He dismounted from his vehicle and, under direct enemy observation, crossed open ground to capture the 2 remaining members of the crew. Another machinegun, about 250 yards to the left, continued to fire on him. Through withering fire, he advanced on the position. Throwing a grenade into the emplacement, he killed 1 crewmember and again captured the 2 survivors. He was subjected to concentrated small-arms fire but, with great bravery, he worked his way a quarter mile along the ridge, attacking hostile soldiers in their foxholes with his carbine and grenades. When he had completed his self-imposed mission against powerful German forces, he had destroyed 2 machinegun positions, killed 8 of the enemy and captured 18 prisoners, including 2 bazooka teams. Cpl. Beyer's intrepid action and unflinching determination to close with and destroy the enemy eliminated the German defense line and enabled his task force to gain its objective.

Beyer's parents were immigrants from Luxembourg.  After the war, he moved to rural Buffalo, North Dakota, and worked as a farm hand, eventually acquiring a farm.  He married Marian Hicks in 1962, and passed away in 1965 at age 55.

The 1st Ukrainian Front took Kielce, Poland.  the 2nd Belorussian Front crossed the Pilica and attacked toward Radom, Łódź and Posen.  The Germans commit their reserves.

The HMS Thane, an escort carrier was sunk by the U-484 off of the Firth of Clyde.

And, what the heck?


Advertisement from this day in 1945.

Last edition:

Sunday, January 14, 1945. Retreat in the Ardennes.

    Thursday, January 15, 1925. Trotsky gets canned, Ross addresses the legislature.

    Stalin fired Trotsky as head of the Soviet military.

    Oh oh. . . 

    Frankly, it made sense.  Trotsky has bizarrely retained cult of personality due to the James Dean Effect, but he was more radical in terms of the forced expansion of Communism than Stalin was, and his recent military schemes had been failures.  Moreover, leaving him in power in any sense was ultimately going to lead to a power struggle between him, and Stalin.

    Nellie Tayloe Ross addressed the legislature.


    Last edition:

    Monday, January 12, 1925. Ordering Thompsons.